Finn could see the change. After all, Jake was his homie. Homies could tell when something was wrong.
It was dark in the room they shared. Outside the window, a gentle rain was falling. Jake and Beemo had long since gone to sleep, but Finn lay wide awake with worry, watching Jake.
Like he'd been doing for close to a month, Jake was muttering and moaning in his sleep. Finn could never decipher any words, but he always thought that Jake sounded scared.
Tonight, however, Finn heard Jake call out plainly, "TV."
Finn sat straight up and stared at Jake. The dog's face was contorted into a pained look as he continued to murmur.
Finn stood up gently and tiptoed through the darkness to Jake's bed. He stood inches away, listening intently.
He strained his ears and was able to make out more of Jake's babble.
"Viola... Charlie... Kim Kil Whan... Jake Jr... TV..." Jake kept repeating fretfully.
"Oh my grosh," Finn thought, "Jake misses his pups."
"Charlie... Viola... Jake Jr..." Jake continued to say.
Finn crept back to his own bed and silently resolved that he was going to do something to help his buddy.
He waited until he saw the sky outside the window begin to show the coming of dawn, then, before Jake could wake up, started to prepare for his plan. He put on his clothes and placed an item that Jake didn't know he had in his backpack: the universal translator. When Jake had cast it aside after what came to be known as the "Finn/LR Incident," Finn picked it up and stowed it away, thinking he may just find a use for it someday.
After gathering his supplies, Finn slipped out the door as quietly as he could. There was a fresh smell in the air from the previous night's rain, and the ground was soft and wet under his feet. The sky along the eastern horizon blushed pink with the coming sunrise.
Finn walked quickly, trying to get out of sight of the house as fast as possible. He walked so swiftly, in fact, the he soon found himself at his destination: Lady Rainicorn's house.
He knocked, and shortly after, Lady Rainicorn answered the door. Upon seeing who it was, she immediately began chattering to him in her strange foreign tongue.
He held up a hand to stop her. "Hang on, Lady," he said, and dug into his backpack. He found the translator and fastened it around her throat. "There, now talk."
"Oh, Finn," she said in the translator's grandfatherly voice, "what are you doing here so early?"
"I need a favor, Lady."
"Of course," she responded. "Would you like to come inside?"
"Okay."
She led Finn inside and they both sat down on her sofa.
"So what favor did you need, Finn?" Lady Rainicorn asked.
"I need you to gather up the puppies and have them come to our house," Finn said.
"Oh, but Finn, they live all over Ooo now, and why do you need them to come to your house, anyway?"
"Because Jake's missin' 'em like crazy, only he won't tell anybody about it. I only know 'cuz I heard him talk in his sleep."
"Oh, no," Lady said worriedly, "I thought he seemed different lately. Alright, Finn, I'll send them a prism-gram."
"Cool. Thanks."
Lady Rainicorn scribbled a short message and sent it out in five bursts of light. Seconds later, five bursts returned and hit her horn. She smiled.
"They all say they'll come, Finn," she said. "They'll be here this afternoon."
"Sounds math," he said contentedly. "Thanks again, Lady."
"You're welcome."
Finn unfastened the translator's collar and stuffed it back into his backpack, and Lady Rainicorn's voice reverted to its usual femininity. "See you later, Lady," he called as he walked out the door.
He returned home to find Jake staring wistfully out the window, steaming mug of coffee in his hand.
"Where you been, bro?" Jake asked.
"Just walkin' around."
"Okay, cool. You want some b-fast?"
"Sure."
After their meal, Finn, Jake, and Beemo relaxed for a while, full and satisfied. Finn soon began to feel restless, though. He looked at the clock. There were still at least four hours to fill until the puppies arrived.
"Hey, Jake," he said, "you wanna go adventuring? We could beat up monsters and junk."
"No, man, I'm not up for that today."
"Would you like to play video games?" Beemo offered.
"No, thanks," Jake replied.
"C'mon, Beemo," Finn said, "I'll play with you."
They went into the other room and started playing. Finn hardly focused on the game, though. His mind was still with Jake in the dining room. Refusing an adventure and video games definitely didn't seem like the Jake he knew. Finn's brow furrowed with disquiet.
And so, the hours whiled away. Finn was in the middle of a racing game when he heard the knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" he called.
He raced downstairs, opened the door, and saw them. He immediately noted how right Jake had been about rainicorns aging fast; all five were virtually full-grown.
"Hey, Uncle Finn!" Jake Jr. said loudly.
Finn held a finger to his lips and shushed. "Hi, guys. Try to keep it down, okay? I want to surprise Jake. He's been like turbo-max-missing you. Follow me."
He led them sneakily into the house and upstairs. Then he went to the room where Jake was.
"Who was it?" Jake asked.
"Nobody important."
"Oh."
"Hey, will you come in the other room with me? I wanna show you this insane high score I got."
"Okay, sure," Jake said.
Jake followed him and soon found the real reason Finn had summoned him. As Jake locked eyes with his puppies, a wide grin lit up his face, tears welled in his eyes, and Finn congratulated himself on a job well done.
Jake rushed over and hugged his children, tears freely streaming down his cheeks. He kissed each of them, with many utterances of "I love you" and "I missed you so much".
They all spent the day together. Jake marvelled at the puppies' much-matured talents, both the stretch-powers inherited from him and the rainicorn magic from their mother. It never ceased to amaze him that a simple act of love between Lady Rainicorn and himself had gifted not just him, but the entire land of Ooo with five beautiful, unique, amazing pups.
All too soon, though, the crimson glow of the sunset was coming through the windowpanes. The puppies had to leave, but before they did, Jake pulled them into one last hug.
"I love you guys," he said, voice only slightly muffled by the five bodies.
"We love you, too, Dad," they responded warmly.
"Bye."
"Bye."
Finn and Jake walked outside with the pups. Waving goodbye, the two friends watched them fly off into the fast-darkening sky.
Jake turned to Finn. "Thanks for doing that, dude."
Finn shrugged. "No big."
But to Jake, nothing could have been bigger. He continued to stare into the evening sky long after the puppies were out of sight. He knew in his heart that he would always be their dad, even though he barely got a chance to raise them. The rainicorn childhood was painfully brief.