Word count: 2547

"𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄?" 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 called as she peeked out of the window, worry growing inside of her as she saw two figures approaching in the distance.

"Yeah?" he asked as he came up to her side before he followed her gaze and looked out the window. A look of recognition came into his eyes, and he called over his shoulder, "Diego!"

"Hm?" Diego walked over to them with raised eyebrows. He squinted his eyes as he looked out the window, and he gave a nod. "Ah."

"What?" Valerie questioned as she turned to them, her eyebrows furrowed. "Who are they?"

A grin grew on Diego's face as he nodded towards the door. "Come on, Five. Let's go talk to them."

"Val." Five offered a hand to her as Diego waited at the door.

"What?" She scrunched her face as she shook her head. "I don't know them, you guys go. I'll stay here."

"No, I'm not leaving you alone." He didn't wait for her to answer as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, catching up to Diego's side.

The sun was beginning to set, and the sky had turned from a pale grey to a soft pink. Most of the snow had melted, leaving damp, green grass with a few small patches of white that decorated it. It was still a little chilly, but a lot warmer than it had been when they had first arrived.

"Who are they?" Valerie repeated, looking at either boy for help.

Diego answered, "Herb and Dot."

"You have to realize that doesn't help me," she pointed out with a scoff as her eyebrows furrowed. "Give me something else."

"What else is there to say?" Diego shrugged. "Herb and Dot."

"Wha—Diego."

"From the Commission," Five murmured to her as he tightened his grip on her hand. "I worked with them when I was there."

"Okay, that's a lot better." She nodded, sending a glare to Diego, who gave her a quick wink and grin in return.

Valerie got a much better look at Herb and Dot as they approached.

Herb, the man on the left, was short and stout, wearing a large, grey overcoat, and matching hat. He had a briefcase in his gloved hand, and thin glasses rested on his nose.

Dot was much taller than him, with dark skin and a warm smile on her face. She wore a light blue coat and a small beret whose colour matched her coat, and a light brown purse was held by her wrist.

The three of them met the other two a few feet away from the house, and they came to a stop.

"Herb. Dot," Five acknowledged with a small nod.

"Hey," Herb greeted.

Dot smiled. "Hi."

"Sup, Herbie?" Diego grinned, reaching out and exchanging an intricate handshake with the much smaller man.

"Hey!" Herb chuckled. "My man."

"All good?" Diego questioned.

"Good to see you guys." Herb grinned, blowing air out of his mouth to finish off the handshake. He sighed, his expression becoming more serious. "I can't believe it. Is she . . . ?" He didn't finish his sentence, rather just dragging his hand over his throat to indicate his thoughts.

"Really dead this time?" Five finished his sentence with an amused smile.

"Oh, yeah," Diego confirmed.

The other two nodded, not seeming to upset by the news.

"Now that the Handler's gone, what happens at Commission?" Five questioned, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked between the two of them.

Herb began to stammer, his mouth moving in all sorts of directions as he awkwardly tried to speak.

Dot nudged him with a small smile as she encouraged, "Just tell them."

"Eh . . . Well . . . we need to elect a new board of directors. But, until then, I, um . . ." He gave them a grin and shrugged. "I've been voted in as acting chairperson."

Dot gave an excited squeak, clapping her hands together lightly as Diego grinned. "No shit. Congrats, Herbie. That's huge."

"That's great!" Valerie smiled before leaning towards Five and whispering, "I'm so confused."

"Just go with it," he whispered back, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"I'm so goddamn nervous." Herb trembled with excitement, his grin practically taking up half of his face.

"You'll do fine," Five reassured him, and Valerie tried to keep in her surprise; Five was being nice—unprompted, too!

Herb seemed a little surprised as well. "Oh, thank you!"

Five gave a small nod before sighing, "Herb, we need a favour."

"Oh" —Herb nodded— "sure, anything!"

"A briefcase," Five elaborated as he glanced over to Diego, who nodded in agreement. "Get back home, where we belong."

Herb gave a small finger gun before both he and Dot turned to look at the hundreds of dead Commission workers that had free briefcases laying next to them. "Take your pick."

—♫—

Valerie sat at the kitchen table about twenty minutes later, her head in her hands, sniffling slightly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She wasn't all too sure why she was crying, but it was either due to the happiness that they were going back home or from the pain of the pounding headache that had finally hit her from her lack of energy (let's be honest, it was probably the latter).

She felt a presence take the seat next to her, and a warm hand placed itself on the side of her face and turned it towards them.

"Hey," she murmured, sniffling.

"Hi," Five said softly, his eyes worriedly wandering over her face as he wiped her tears away. He shifted his chair closer so that there was practically no space between them before asking, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she reassured him with a small smile. Her eyebrows furrowed as a question came to mind. "Hey, Five . . ."

"Hm?" he hummed as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his eyebrows knit tightly together.

Valerie's brown eyes focused on his green ones in an attempt to distract herself from the pain, and she chewed on her lower lip for a moment before murmuring, "Back at the barn . . . how'd you know that the Handler was coming?"

"I, um . . ." Five sighed as he interlaced his fingers with hers. "I went back in time."

Valerie's eyebrows furrowed even further as she uttered, "You . . . huh?"

"The first time around, the Handler came in, and killed . . . everyone," Five began, his voice low. "You and I . . . You were still alive; your healing helped, and I . . . Well, the bullet didn't hit anywhere fatal," he explained as he gave her a small smile. "And just before the Handler finished me off, the Swede came and killed her."

"Oh," she breathed out with a curt nod. "Then?"

"You got up and knocked him out before he could get me. But he . . ." Five swallowed before reluctantly continuing, "killed you. Before you . . . you know, you told me what Dad had said before—about travelling back in seconds."

"So you went back by a few minutes and stopped her," Valerie finished for him, receiving a small nod of confirmation in return. "I'm glad you didn't mess up this time."

"Me too," he chuckled lightly. His eyebrows furrowed in worry as she lifted a hand to her forehead and he gently placed a hand on the side of her face. "Seriously, Val, you all right?"

"It's okay, just a headache. I didn't run all that much today, don't worry," she reassured him once more, leaning forward and planting a kiss on his lips.

Before she could fully draw away, Five placed both hands on her cheeks and pulled her in before he kissed her once more. She placed a hand on the side of his face, unconsciously rubbing away some of the dust and grime that littered his skin as he moved his hands down to settle on her waist.

His tongue traced over her lower lip, and she soon opened her mouth and felt his tongue slip inside. The kiss then became more passionate, and his hands lowered to her hips as he pulled her into his lap.

Valerie soon pulled away from the kiss and rested her forehead on his shoulder as she let out a small groan and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her headache had reached its peak, and she tried her best to concentrate on the hands that were soothingly rubbing her back, the light kisses that Five was pressing on to the side of her head, and the grooves of the piano pendant as she reached up to play with it.

His eyes glanced over to the kitchen before he mumbled into her hair, "How much food would you need to feel better?"

"Ten times what this house has," she murmured, shifting her head so that her face was now concealed in the crook of his neck.

"Shit," Five exhaled, stroking the back of her hair lovingly. "I should've had Elliott make more bars."

"It's okay." She let out a small intake of breath as a sharp pain hit her head. "I'll eat when we go home."

He hummed in agreement, the arm enveloped around her strengthening and his fingers gently detangling her hair.

They stayed in silence for a few moments, simply enjoying each other's presence and the feeling that they hadn't felt in so long—relaxed. And all the others were occupied in different rooms, giving them the peace and quiet they had needed after so long.

"Hey, darling," Five said softly, causing her to lean her face up and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hm?"

He looked down at her with the smile that she hadn't seen in some time and missed so dearly, inspecting her face for a couple of moments before murmuring, "I love you."

Valerie felt a smile creep onto her lips as she kissed him lightly and whispered back, "I love you too."

—♫—

It was dark by the time the family spilled out into the front yard, the only things giving them light being the lights on the front porch and the dim moonlight that glowed.

Five led them down the steps, his focus on the briefcase in his hands as he set it to the proper time. He looked around as everyone huddled around him, and raised his eyebrows. "Everyone ready?"

"Let's do it," Luther said with a nod, "yeah."

"Okay," Five breathed out, preparing the briefcase as everyone made sure to make physical contact with the people on their sides.

Valerie placed her hand on Five's shoulder and used her other hand to hold Allison's tightly.

"Wait!" Klaus suddenly called out, his eyes widening.

Everyone turned to him, their eyebrows furrowing as they waited for him to say or do whatever was so urgent.

He gave them a small smile before trotting past them and grabbing a black cowboy hat that was sitting on the railing of the porch. He hurried back to his spot next to Luther as he put the hat on, and slid his hand over to the brim.

Diego leaned towards Five, who was giving an incredulous glare to Klaus. "Fifty bucks if we leave him here."

After receiving nods from everyone that they were ready, Five unlatched the briefcase, and immediately, blue lightning began to spark out of it as it cracked open. The vortex that they had been faced with quite a few times appeared again and enveloped them as it crackled.

Suddenly, they appeared in the main foyer of the Academy, the lighting dim and the room cold. They all groaned from the uncomfortable pain that had taken over them while travelling as they leaned onto the circular table that they had appeared around.

"Oh, good God," Luther groaned. He watched as Five scrambled to grab the newspaper in front of him, and pointed. "Wh—what day is it?"

"April 2nd, 2019," Five declared as he looked up at them. "Day after the apocalypse."

"Wait, so we stopped it," Allison realized with wide eyes.

Vanya gave a small gasp. "My God, it's over?"

"Did we . . . actually succeed at something?" Klaus had a grin on his face as he celebrated. "That's incredible!"

Hearing the others chatting behind her happily, Valerie wandered into the living room and heard as the rest of them followed inside to look around and relinquish in their success.

Something felt wrong.

Valerie didn't know what it was, but something was off. As much as she hoped she wasn't right about her suspicion, she knew that they hadn't returned to the same home that they had lived in for most of their lives.

And with a sinking heart, her suspicion was confirmed as she noticed that her and Five's painting's had been replaced with another.

"Guys," she called out, her eyes wide as she stared at what was in front of her. "Why is there a painting of Ben over the mantelpiece?"

Everyone surrounded her, trying to get a look at it before their happy smiles died down.

"I knew you'd show up eventually."

Their heads turned to see Reginald at the far end of the room, having just stood up from one of the sofa chairs.

"Dad," Diego breathed out as they registered the familiar face that only brought back bad memories and the gold monocle that glinted in the light.

"You're alive," Luther whispered in shock.

Reginald's eyebrows furrowed. "Why shouldn't I be?"

"Yeah," Luther quickly corrected himself with a shake of the head. "Y-Yeah, you're right. I'm . . . I'm just happy that we're home and . . . together again."

"'Home'?" Reginald repeated incredulously. He shook his head. "This isn't your home."

"What are you talking about?" Allison's eyebrows knit tightly together. "This is the Umbrella Academy."

"Wrong again," Reginald said, his hands clasping behind his back as he received confused stares in return. "This is the Sparrow Academy."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached from behind them, and they turned around to see the silhouettes of five people appear on the second floor, along with a glowing green cube that floated on the side.

Just then, the entire group flinched as another person walked out in front of them, with a face they instantly recognized.

Ben.

Although, he was looked a little different. He had a little facial hair, a long scar ran across his face, and his hair was longer than when they had last seen him. And on top of that, he was alive.

"Dad," he said with disgust as he looked around at the group, "who the hell are these assholes?"

Staring at Ben with horror, the Umbrella Academy collectively spoke. "Shit."

A/N: Hey, guys! Thank you so much for reading this story! I guess it's over for now, but (assuming I still want to by that time), I will make another chapter announcing the third book when season 3 comes out, so make sure to keep this story in your library/reading list! If you're interested in the other TUA fanfics I've written, I have another for Five (Moonlight), one for Diego (Once Again)! <3333