Family Dynamics

by BarracudaHeart

A sequel to "A Story About Grownups". When Sadie is offered a chance to promote her books in Beach City, Lars and Ronaldo join her, and family shenanigans ensue.

Having been up half the night working on planning out the layout of the first floor of his family's business , Lars was still half asleep one Sunday morning when he stumbled out of his room that he shared with Sadie, mumbling a 'g'mornin' to his other partner, Ronaldo, when he passed him by on his way to the bathroom. Ronaldo gave him a funny look, seeing him with messy hair, stubble, and bags under his eyes.

"Did you get the floor plan out?", Ronaldo hummed, grabbing a packet of instant coffee.

"I think," Lars yawned, still shuffling forward towards the bathroom. His hairtie came undone, leaving his mess of hair in his face and all around his back and shoulders. Scratching up his spine, he yawned as he stepped in, not noticing Sadie sitting on the edge of the bathtub, still in her pajamas.

When he did actually notice her, he didn't question why she, the early riser, was still in her pajamas and messy looking, he just chirped "mornin' Sadie", kissing her on the mouth as he always did in the morning, and with his eyes still closed in semi-sleep, he fumbled for his toothbrush, and began to brush his teeth, foam soon covering his mouth.

Sadie had mumbled something, and he didn't hear it. He gave a hum, as if to ask her to repeat.

"I'm pregnant."

Lars didn't react, continuing to brush his teeth. His brain needed about ten seconds to wake up. And when ten seconds had passed, and he was aware of what she had said, he sprayed spitty foamy toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror and sink, eyes bugging out wide.

He looked at her in shock, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded, handing him the little lavender striped stick, "I took two of these tests within two weeks, both read positive."

Lars had looked at her, still absolutely stunned, "...uh...wow," he mumbled, still in need of coffee, but having been woken up enough by that revelation to already start thinking about what this all meant. It wasn't like this had been entirely unexpected. Sure it wasn't planned, but half a year ago, the two had decided that they wouldn't deliberately try to have a baby, but they wouldn't try to not have one anymore, so if any preventative measures were forgotten, it would be no big deal. But this was all happening right in the middle of preparing to open their business, so it was a little bit of bad timing.

"Congrats, all those times Ronaldo accidentally kicked you in the balls during those scary movie nights didn't affect you," Sadie sighed, patting his knee, and stood up, stretching, "This just means we have to speed up the whole process of getting our business running so then we can focus on preparing for a baby."

"D-Damn...", Lars was able to mutter, rubbing at his eyes to wake himself up a little more.

"If we still have some of Ellie's old stuff, maybe we can use that, and use our storage room for a nursery. I don't know," she shrugged, still fairly nonchalant about the whole thing, "We could also just make room in our own room until things clear out. I guess it's too early to decide anything though, y'know?"

Lars was still standing there, toothpaste dripping off his mouth, almost speechless. He was going to be a father of two now, and he learned this while he was still in his pajamas. Sadie sighed, and wiped his mouth with a towel, "You gonna be ok, baby?"

Giving himself three seconds to not freak out, he gave a shaky nod, "I just...uh...I didn't expect that," he laughed awkwardly.

"Well neither did I," she shrugged, and began to wash her face, "Are you going to continue freaking out in here in your pajamas, or are you going to get ready for the day?"

"I-I'm uh...", he began, and Ronaldo's footsteps went past the bathroom, and Lars promptly turned his head, as if the panic button inside him was pressed, "SADIE'S PREGNANT."

"WHAT?", Ronaldo almost shouted.

Ellie told them all to shut up, so she could sleep, and all three were left staring at each other, so many things needed to be talked about, but nothing was said for the entire rest of the morning.

---

"Order to table 8!", Lars called to Ronaldo as he slid the plate onto the pickup rack and got right back to prepping the next plate, and checking on the items still being cooked on the stove. Staff had fallen short that morning, their hired employees for that day not having arrived in time for the start of the breakfast rush, leaving the two gentlemen to take care of this crowd. Ronaldo's paranormal lectures not even occurring until evening, Lars was lucky that he wouldn't be having to cook and wait tables all at once. That would have been disastrous.

Ronaldo grabbed the plates ready to be served, leaving newly taken orders in their place. Lars stuck them onto his work station, and prepared those plates as efficiently as he could.

The two employees they had for the day apologized for being two hours late, citing traffic and carpooling as reasons for their absence, and immediately got to work, leaving the workload a little less for Ronaldo, who then had time to organize the register for Lars, and collect tips.

"Hey man, you wanna check on Sadie upstairs?", Lars asked his partner, "I dunno how busy the bookstore is this time of day."

Ronaldo checked. Sadie was fine. She didn't need help. Ron could go back to the restaurant. Tell Lars to chill.

"Maybe I should check on her-"

"Lars, you have to cook. She can handle it," Ronaldo sighed. He knew how jumpy Lars was about Sadie for the last handful of months, and didn't blame him, he was just as stressed as he was, but Ronaldo was capable of not worrying about it during the breakfast rush.

Giving a small huff, Lars kept working, wanting to ramble to Ronaldo about how with all the coffee the customers were ordering, and the pastries to go, they were bound to want to go up to the bookstore, and then want to buy books, and then all crowd and overwhelm Sadie with questions, complaints, and purchases, which would then cause her excess stress and be bad for both her and the baby. He did that yesterday, and Ronaldo had to pinch his lips shut.

During the slow time between breakfast and lunch, Lars snuck away to check on Sadie. She gave him a disapproving look, and waved her hand from the register while she completed a sale, and whispered, "Shoo!", and then laughed to the customer that 'her husband was being nosy'.

It comforted Lars a little to hear her call him that, something that intimate he supposed. Granted, it was true, they were married, three years and counting, but they hadn't had any wedding ceremony of any sort. They didn't really want one either. They loved each other dearly, and didn't need a marriage document to prove it, but for sake of medical insurance plans, it was the option they chose, and had a quick marriage at city hall. He did the same with Ronaldo a year ago when the idiot broke his leg, and needed medical care. It was pretty easy. Fill out the papers, say the words, and it was done. Lars married Sadie under Lawrence Cheng, and Ronaldo under Lim Ning Cheng. It all worked out, and it wasn't that big of a deal.

Regardless of Sadie telling him to scram, Lars decided to fix her a quick cup of tea and rush it back up to her. "You're not making yourself stand too long are you?", he asked as casually as he could when her line of customers was done.

"I'm fine," she assured, taking a sip, "Grab me some sugar?"

"Yeah, no sweat no sweat!" he spoke quickly, heading back downstairs and carrying several packets back up in record time, dropping them onto her table, and she sighed at how recklessly excitable he was.

"You can head back to work," she whispered, patting his arm.

"OK!", he chirped, giving double thumbs up, "See you in a bit, babe! Lemme know if you need anything! Just take it easy!", he spoke nervously excitable platitudes as he headed back down the stairs and got back to work.

"Need some water for your thirst?" Ronaldo smiled smugly as Lars got back behind the cooking station.

"Oh shush," he mumbled, "You'd be nervous too if you knew what having a kid is like."

"I never said I wasn't nervous," Ronaldo shrugged, "I just think Sadie knows what she's doing."

"Of course she know's what she's doing!", Lars whined, "I just wish she knew what it's all doing to me!"

"If you don't relax, you're going to die before you even meet your baby," Ronaldo snorted, kissing his nose, "Be of peace, my liege."

"If you weren't so charming right now, I'd slap you," Lars muttered, and grabbed vegetables to chop.

This constituted most of what happened during the day, Lars occasionally checking on Sadie in the bookstore during slow stretches, and even trying to convince her not to overwork herself when she prepared Ronaldo for his nightly discussion with his followers, setting up the sound system, chairs, projector and the like. Lars had to convince Ellie to help, even when the girl insisted she had to finish her homework for school the next day.

When it was closing time, Sadie worked away to close down the bookstore, while Ronaldo and Ellie both distracted Lars with closing down the restaurant.

As much as Lars pestered her during the day, Sadie didn't mind when they were in bed that night and he massaged her back carefully, asking her if she was sore, or needed hot water for her feet. Her feet were fine, her back appreciated the attention, and she found it cute how he gently rubbed her growing belly until he dozed off and snored like a log.

This continued on for the next few months, until the third trimester reached, and then things got weird on Sadie's end. She tended to have much less patience with Lars or Ronaldo, and sometimes needed a break during the day, and would call in for a replacement in the bookstore. Even with all the massages she got before bedtime, she still had the oddest sleeping hours, feeling wide awake and talkative at three AM, but she didn't ever want to wake Lars or Ronaldo, knowing they'd have to work in the morning, and Ellie was still a child, and would probably just think she was being weird.

So she'd get out her laptop, and do all of her writing and other work during the middle of the night.

And it was then during the middle of the night, during month 7 and a half, that she got an email from the publisher she had worked under, offering her a chance to promote her recent book, the second one of her series, in Beach City.

She initially tried to hide it from both Lars and Ronaldo, knowing that they'd both tell her no way, not in your condition. But she knew her own body better than those two, and she knew she could handle it.

But when the trip was scheduled to be at the beginning of month 8, she knew that was going to be a disaster that she couldn't get around explaining to those two loony loofahs.

Both Lars and Ronaldo freaked, and begged for her to reconsider.

"Statistics show that you are more likely to die in relation to travel while pregnant than encounter snake people!" Ronaldo blurted, not wanting anything that big to be risked in this last month, "And you encounter snake people VERY FREQUENTLY!"

"Listen to this very smart man Sadie," Lars nodded frantically, "HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT!"

"Lars, for God's sake, I'm going to be back before you know it! And Ronaldo that's not even one bit true, you made that up!"

"Don't go Sadie!", Lars nearly cried, "If something happens to you, and I have no way of knowing about it, then there's nothing I can do!"

Sadie sighed. Lars did have a point. Well, partially. If something did happen to her on this trip, he did at least deserve the right to know. And in the slightest and very unlikely possibility that the baby decided to come early, she'd feel bad if Lars missed it because she was across the country.

"OK fine, I'll make a deal. You guys come with me, but don't get in my space, understood?", she crossed her arms.

Lars was still reluctant to let her leave Palm City, but after some coaxing, gave in, and accepted it, albeit with grumbling.

The grumbling because he'd now have to close the shop for a week.

---

"And remember," Ellie told the bookstore employee they put in charge of watching the building periodically and the sea urchin, "Spike eats the finest of fish guts, as I've placed in this container right here. If his spines appear dull, call me. I have emergency contacts too."

The employee looked at her with a bit of confusion, and Lars muttered to them once the girl walked out, "That thing hardly moves, just feed it once a day and you're good."

Putting the last suitcase in the taxi, Sadie assured Lars this trip would be fine, and that they'd be back to Palm City in a week, and he would be allowed to spoil her rotten all he wanted.

He almost seemed to calm down with her assurances, but the whole stress of getting through the airport and on the plane just seemed to rile him up more. While Ronaldo and Ellie kicked each other's asses on Mariokart DS in front of them, Lars tried to convince Sadie to get some sleep on the flight, but she insisted she was too awake to even doze. Things only got worse when she felt a few dull pains from the baby kicking in the middle of the flight, and Lars nearly panicked, and was in high alert mode for the next four hours, even when all the pains subsided after an hour.

By the time the plane landed, Sadie was convinced she was going to murder Lars before the week was even half done.

Steven cheerfully greeted them all at the airport, and grinned, "How was the flight?"

Ronaldo and Ellie had no opinion, having either dozed, pestered each other, or played video games to pass the time, and the daggers Sadie glared at Lars were enough for Steven to decide it was probably best not to ask anymore questions regarding that, and escorted them out in cheerful but awkward silence.

Once they reached the temple, it was late evening, and Lars had insisted he carry in the luggage, even Sadie's, and she told him she could handle it.

"These are heavy, y'know, you don't want to stress yourself out on-"

"You're stressing me out!", she finally screamed at him, letting loose her pent up frustration, "Would you just back off already? I'M FINE. I mean, for God's sake you can't leave me alone for a second can you? I don't need your help, you are being so flipping annoying! Could you just relax and not be hovering over me like I'm fragile? Because I'm not, and you need to stop being so paranoid! This is why I didn't want you to come on this trip in the first place!"

Her outburst was enough to spook Lars into complete silence, and before she could have a chance to cool off, he stamped inside, muttering, "Fine," feelings obviously hurt. She sighed, and carried her luggage inside, while Steven was obliviously giving them the tour of the temple.

"We added some things over the last few years...like a basement...and a bigger kitchen...", he began listing off, and opened a door, "A guest room...for when my dad comes to stay..." he admitted with a shrug, then grinned, "It should be perfect for you two," he pointed to Lars and Sadie.

Sadie gave an awkward smile, "Ah, thanks, Steven," and Lars gave a grumpy scowl, not saying anything, just hauling luggage into the room. Steven sucked in a breath.

"He OK?"

"Yeah...", Sadie sighed, "It's just been a long day," and went into the room with her own luggage, shutting the door.

Lars was sitting on one side of the bed, haphazardly pulling out a set of clothes for the next day from his suitcase, and pulling off his shirt from the day, putting on a nightshirt and taking off his pants, throwing them on the floor, still looking pretty grumpy.

Sadie sighed, and sat on the other side of the bed, changing into her own nightclothes with no trouble, and spoke softly, "Lars, I'm sorry I snapped. But damn, you were not going to relax any time soon, and I don't know how else to tell you I'm fine! I know you want to worry about me, but I'm tough! I fought a monster remember? I'm not any less tough now, you know that..."

Lars didn't answer, just remaining sat on the bed, arms crossed.

Sighing, she slowly moved herself to scoot over to his side of the bed, "Look, it's been a long day. We both need sleep, alright?"

Just as she laid down, flat on her back (which wasn't that comfortable for her, but it was all she could do at this point to sleep), he had inched right next to her under the covers.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you," he mumbled, "If something happened where you needed me, and I wasn't there, I wouldn't ever forgive myself."

Gently stretching an arm over to rub his shoulder, she sighed, "I know...But you know me well enough to know that I'll let you know when I need you. I always will, you know that, right?"

"...Right," he sighed, and gently hugged her, pressing his face against the crook of her neck. When he gave it a kiss, she giggled, and slid an arm around his waist.

"That tickles."

He gave a small smirk, "It does, eh?", and gave her more kisses, which made her laugh more, and she began to squirm. Within a couple of minutes, they were kissing excitably, hormones making Sadie a little more than frisky in the moment.

She had already pulled his shirt off and was grabbing his butt when the door opened wide, and they both yelped, Lars shouting at Steven to 'close the goddamned door'.

"Whoops, sorry!", the half-gem laughed awkwardly, "Just making sure you guys are all settled in OK! Well, ah, nighty night!", and shut the door, looking quite flushed. He'd learned enough about romance and adult activities to know how far those two could take things.

Lars grumbled a little, and put his shirt back on. Mood killed, Sadie snuggled against him, "We need to get some sleep anyway," she sighed, reaching for his hand, and stroking it. His grumbling soon subsided into drowsy murmuring, and he gave her a sleepy goodnight kiss on the cheek, keeping one arm draped over her.

Sadie gave a sleepy smile, knowing this sort of attention he gave her she could enjoy without complaint.

Ronaldo had made himself comfy on the couch, and Ellie had stolen Steven's childhood bed. Before her step-parent could fall asleep, she had commented on one of the manga volumes strewn about on the floor, calling it dumb, prompting Ronaldo to lecture about it for the next hour and a half. It would have been two hours, but Ellie shut him up by throwing the book at him from her bed.

---

The next day, Sadie quickly discovered that Lars' protectiveness of her was nothing in comparison to the steps her mother took. Barb had been quite excitable at hearing she was going to be a full fledged grandmother as well as a step-grandmother, and Sadie had to tell her there was no need for her to visit Palm City, she had to beg her not to try and visit. So when Sadie had told her she would be visiting Beach City, the mail woman was more than a little excited.

"Mom, I'm telling you my feet are-"

Barb put a footrest under her daughter's feet while she sat down, "Oh come on, Sadie, let yourself get spoiled a little, huh?"

"Lars does that enough," she sighed, "I nearly chewed his head off for it the other day." She had visited her mother alone, leaving Ronaldo or Steven to distract Lars for at least a few hours.

When her mom handed her a cup of tea, Sadie sighed, "And more tea?", she whined, "I've been drinking this stuff every day for the last half year because that lunkhead still won't settle down!"

"Oh, he's just a big ol' worrier," Barb shrugged, "I remember you two as kids, that boy wouldn't let himself calm down!"

"Yeah," she groaned, "It's going to probably be worse when we get back to Palm City, he won't let me out of his sight!"

"Well," Barb shrugged, "What if you just stayed here for a while?"

"Oh, mom I couldn't do that, I can't leave them there-"

"Well, what if they stayed too? I mean, you all miss this place, right?", her mother smiled hopefully.

"I do. But Lars' family here isn't...well, you remember them right? He doesn't like talking about them. And Ronaldo's dad's gone, and his brother's traveling all over...so there's not really anything for them here. And then my stepdaughter has nothing she's connected to here, and we all love our shop mom...it's going so well. I like visiting you, but I think I'm happy where I am now..."

Barb sighed, "I guess I can't sway you, huh?"

"Nope, sorry," Sadie sighed, sipping her tea. Lars' tasted better to be honest.

Her mother gave a smile, gently ruffling her hair, "You're a tough girl, y'know?"

"I know," Sadie smiled, kissing her mom's cheek, "Thanks for understanding."

---

Lars still couldn't believe his old house was still standing. He'd thought, after all these years that it would have been abandoned and torn down. But here it was, still looking like it was being somewhat maintained. The yard was trimmed, and the driveway looked clean. So whoever lived in here now must have been taking good enough care of it.

Maybe Dad still lives here, he thought to himself. And if that was the case, he didn't want to see him. He'd decided to take a walk in his old neighborhood to take his mind off of Sadie and everything else. He didn't want to walk by the donut shop, he'd just think about her, and get antsy. Even with his cellphone on hand if she called, he still felt nervous.

As if his luck couldn't get any worse, the door cracked open, the homeowner having seen something outside, and was staring right at him. His red hair was graying, his eyes equally gray, and his hands and face weathered with age.

"...Lars?", he asked, looking more confused than anything else, "Lars, is that you?"

Nope. Lars was not going to deal with this now. He turned on his heel, and ran out of sight as fast as he possibly could, hoping that the elder man would not try to pursue him.

And thank God, he didn't.

---

It seemed so strange to Ronaldo to see the old family business gone. The building was still there, but the signs, the serving counter, all the decor they had: gone. He looked in the window and saw the tables and chairs had all been taken out, and the storage room where there had been sacks of potatoes before was completely empty.

The deep fryers had been ripped out of the wall, and while there still lingered the smell of old grease and smoke, it was more like the skeleton of a building than anything else. Nobody had actually bought the business, from what Ronaldo knew, and he'd probably have to ask Peedee what offers had been given for it, if at all.

He was tempted, while he was in town, to go to the cemetery and visit dad, but he wasn't sure how that would make him feel. This trip was for Sadie, and well, he didn't want it to be somber.

He also didn't want to trigger anything that would worsen his problems. He'd been doing pretty well as of late, but he didn't want to break his streak of good days over bad.

He decided to check on the old lighthouse, and saw everything was much dustier than normal, looking like nobody went into it after he left. He didn't know why people would go into it anyway, considering the light inside was broken beyond repair. He didn't know if the stairs were safe to walk on after years of being abandoned, so he wasn't going to risk falling through them going up to his old 'office'. Everything had been cleared out of there anyway, when he told Peedee he was staying in Palm City. Everything had been shipped to him.

It was strange to no longer feel any sense of paranormal activity in the lighthouse, finding it all seemed to leave when he did.

After only two hours, Ronaldo decided to return to the gem temple, and saw Steven, Ellie, and Amethyst crowded around what seemed to be some weird looking stone with a hole in the center.

" 'sup Curly," Amethyst waved as her hand inched for the large button on top of the stone, and Steven swatted it away.

"Er...what is that?", Ronaldo asked, "Some sort of alien weapon?"

"Er, it's not a weapon," Steven shrugged, "It's called the Wailing Stone. Gems used to use it for communication."

"Allow us a demonstration!", Amethyst grinned again, and before Steven or Ellie could stop her, she slapped her hand on the button and she quickly plugged her ears.

As the sound ripped through the temple, Steven and Ellie yelped and covered their ears, and Ronaldo yelled as he was taken by surprise, plugging his own ears. He was pretty sure his glasses were cracking.

Steven gave a disapproving look to Amethyst, who grinned, "Hey it works!"

"We know it works," he sighed, "But something else is making it go off."

"Something perhaps from this other world?", Ronaldo's eyes sparkled.

"Eh...maybe," Steven smiled, "Could just be a stray signal from another gem and-"

"Can I help solve this mystery?", Ronaldo grinned, sitting down by the group.

"Er...sure!", Steven laughed.

"What about the communication hub? Do you think we should check that thing out?", Ellie shrugged, remembering Steven listing that as a possibility.

"It could be. We...still can't really warp to it anymore," Steven admitted.

Amethyst blushed, looking embarrassed.

"...It's a three hour walk. Want to go look?"

Ronaldo immediately butted in, "Yes. It will be very much worth it."

Amethyst stood and stretched, "Yeah, we can go look. Not much else to do."

"Oh my god, is this one of those gem things? It's one of those gem things, right?" Ellie grinned.

"You bet!", Steven chirped.

"Yesssss!", she grinned under her breath and slapped Ronaldo's hand in a high five.

Ronaldo was incredibly excited. Beach City was going to be weird once more!

...The source of the Wailing Stone's spasms, turns out, was not the communication hub, and was instead a stray message from a gem who had the wrong stone to address, and Ronaldo changed his mind. This was definitely not worth it. His legs were jelly as they trudged back towards the city, disappointed. Amethyst was walking with no trouble, Steven was faltering a little, and the two humans were absolutely useless. Ellie had climbed onto Steven's back, looking dead, and Ronaldo was just planking it on the ground every half mile or so until someone hauled him up.

"Jeez, work out!", Amethyst snorted, "You shouldn't be this out of shape!"

"I am not out of shape", he protested, "Round is a shape!"

"Everything hurts," Ellie wheezed on Steven's shoulders.

"Steven, why did we bring them along?", Amethyst whispered.

"Because that way we keep them out of Sadie's hair," he shrugged.

"I have no trouble with Sadie-" Ronaldo wheezed.

"Me either," Ellie groaned.

"...because these things are fun as a group," Steven corrected himself.

"Whatevs," Amethyst sighed, "...you think I should drag the big guy, or can we just let him lay there?"

"Amethyst," Steven scolded.

---

Later that evening, Ronaldo and Ellie were still both completely useless on the floor of the temple, but had insisted they join in on the next gem related mystery. For Ronaldo, it was a matter of seeing how weird Beach City was again, and for Ellie to have at least something she could brag about at school when they asked her what she did on summer vacation.

Sadie had settled herself on one of the couches, and was talking with all three gems, considering how much they adored her.

"-But yeah, I'm sort of glad Lars gave me some space today," she smiled, "It was good for me to get out on my own a bit."

"Does that guy ever chill?", Amethyst snickered.

"No," Sadie sighed, and gave another laugh, "He really needs to relax and stop worrying!", she smiled, rubbing her stomach, "What's the worst that can happen?"

All three gems awkwardly glanced at Rose's portrait, then Sadie's pregnant belly, and then looked away.

Sadie sucked in her cheeks. Oops.

Meanwhile, Lars was leaning over the fence on the porch, overlooking the beach, deep in thought. After running across his father, he had decided to simply walk on the beach, in hopes it would ease his anxieties. By the time he had returned to the temple, it seemed everyone had left except for Garnet, and she did not seem to be one for conversation. Lars could live with that. He'd pulled out a sketchbook and worked away in it, not having much else to do. He had given a suspicious look to Steven and Amethyst when they had returned from wherever it was they had traveled to, and his partner and daughter were virtually exhausted and useless. What had they been doing all day? When Sadie had returned, seeming to be alright, he had relaxed a little more, and had decided to get some fresh air.

He was a bit anxious, wondering if his father would end up trying to come look for him, knowing his son was in town. Maybe he'd miss the opportunity by the time Lars left, or maybe he'd find out Lars was only staying a week, and try to be gung ho about finding him. Either way, Lars would probably feel really shitty, and didn't want to think about it anymore.

He was interrupted in his thoughts by Steven playfully swatting him on the head, offering him a glass of what he assumed was lemonade? Maybe? He took a sip, and spit it out. Whatever it was, it wasn't lemonade.

"Er...sorry," Steven laughed, "Amethyst tried to make well...something."

"I see," Lars muttered, placing the glass on the ground, continuing to lean on the railing.

"Did you get a chance to get reacquainted with the city today?", Steven asked.

"Not exactly," he mumbled, "I uh...ran into someone I didn't want to see, so it kind of screwed everything up."

"Oh...", Steven mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Eh. Tomorrow will be better," Lars sighed, deciding that would be a very well-used mantra for a while.

"That's a good way to think," Steven smiled, and leaned on the post too, sighing, "We've gotten old."

"I've gotten old," Lars snorted, "You're still a kid in my book."

"I certainly don't feel like one," Steven admitted, "Though sometimes, I do...and lemme tell you, that freaks people out."

"Oh, uh, the whole aging thing, right?", he glanced over.

"Yeah," he muttered, "It can be a little annoying."

"Yeah, yeah," Lars mumbled. He'd learned about Steven's age being able to fluctuate a while ago, under what he kind of thought to be rather humorous circumstances. There had been a teen's only party one night, and Steven, determined to get in, had tried to age himself up to a teenager. But because he still felt so much like a kid, he ended up aging down to his normal self, in front of Lars, which definitely spooked him. They ended up talking about it later, which then led to a whole philosophical conversation about how Steven was potentially able to stay young while everyone else grew old, and how he would quite possibly live past everyone who was alive today, and the following generation too. Well, it was mostly Steven doing the talking, and Lars realizing how much that kid probably thought about when he slept at night. And it left Lars wondering; would Steven remember him and everyone else after potentially hundreds of years? Or would he become numb to the idea of human mortality?

"Lars, you're spacing out again," Steven nudged his arm, interrupting his thoughts, "I was asking you something."

"Huh? Oh uh, go ahead, man."

Steven suddenly pulled out a little box with a ring, and Lars looked at him, "What the fuck, man? You're like half my age!"

"This is for Connie!", Steven groaned, "I need advice on how to propose."

"I'm really not the guy to ask for that man. I mean, I married Sadie and Ronaldo on pretty casual terms. I mean, for the occasion. Sadie and I we're kinda like...'together-together' and Ron and I, it's complicated, but uh, there wasn't really a proposal or anything..."

"Oh," Steven sighed, "I don't know if I should ask Ronaldo. I don't wanna dig up any skeletons about his fiancee, you know?"

"Yeah," Lars sighed, "Probably good decision not to ask."

The younger scratched his belly, hand going across his gem, "As a married man, any advice for me?"

"Me? My advice is horrible," he laughed softly, "I was the guy who said snorting wasabi would cure your cold."

"I still don't forgive you for that, and you owe me a new sushi lunch," Steven smiled.

"Noted," he grinned, and sighed, "Geez, I guess just...communicate man. Don't be an idiot like I was and keep everything all quiet and stuff, just like... talk to her when you can, y'know? That shouldn't be much of a problem for you though, since you never shut up," he gently nudged Steven's shoulder.

"Elderly advice acknowledged, "Steven nodded, and nudged him back.

"Hey Steven!", Amethyst called from the house, "Is orange dish soap a good replacement for honey?"

Steven and Lars looked at each other in horror, and Lars spoke sternly, "Make sure that when I'm not here, she does not feed any of her cooking to Ellie or Sadie."

"I don't think they'd even dare to try it..."

---

"You sure you don't want me to come along?", Lars asked Sadie as he helped her put her shoes on, since she couldn't exactly bend over.

"I'm sure," she smiled, "I think you'd just get really bored while I talk to old editor friends and stuff. But you'll totally come to my book thing tomorrow, right?", she smiled as she hopped off the side of the bed, and grabbed her purse.

"Course I am," he grinned, and kissed her head, "Got your phone and stuff?"

"Yeah," she smiled softly, and kissed his face, "You have a good day ok? Don't freak over anything, alright?"

"Of course. I am the master of chill," he grinned.

"Master, right," she laughed, and waved as she headed out.

She was glad that for the last couple of days, Lars had stepped back a little. Sure he was nervous about her still, but he wasn't trailing her 24/7, so she had time to get around town by herself, to see how things were, and reconnect with old friends. Yesterday, she had reconnected with Kiki and Jenny, who were both still running the pizza place, and seemed to be handling everything well.

After a short walk, she reached the newspaper office that ran the Beach City Bugle. Of all the staff of ten people, only three of them were people she remembered. But they were sure excited to see her again.

"I was pretty impressed to see you get published in hardcover, Sade," one of the writers piped up, "Your stuff's really matured, y'know?"

"Oh, really?", Sadie laughed.

"Yeah, you were able to get away from the cutesy column stuff and get real with your stuff," another added.

"Er...uh...real, you say?", she smiled awkwardly. She didn't exactly appreciate her column work being trashed in favor of her newer work. She'd always been proud of her writing.

"Yeah, I mean, this is real writing you're doin nowadays. I mean, your column stuff was cute and all, but I dunno if it was really worth reading, you know?"

"Uh...I don't know," Sadie frowned, "I actually really liked my column, and I really liked doing it."

"Oh, well I'm sure you did. You liked whatever you wrote," they shrugged, smiling smugly.

Sadie gave a tight smile, "Can I see the numbers of subscriptions to the paper over the last few years?"

"Uh, sure go ahead," one of the others piped up, handing her the numbers.

Sadie scanned it over, "Mm. And could I see the numbers from when I was working on the paper?"

The writers looked at each other awkwardly, and after printing out the papers, they handed them to her. Sadie leafed through them, and gave a small 'huh', and looked up, "So my last year on the paper, 48 people were subscribed to our dailies. And the number of the year after was 26. So I guess 22 people thought my work was worth reading. Wait wait, let's see...the most recent numbers for this paper are...my gosh! 12 subscribers! Wow! And there are ten people working on this paper, who all have automatic subscriptions...so let's see...the number of people who read this paper on a daily basis is 2! I think I saw an old lady with a copy on my way here, so I can't imagine who the last subscriber is! I think I should get going, guys, but thank you so much for letting me know how important I was for this paper! See you at my book talk tomorrow!", she grinned, and left the office without another word, cackling to herself.

Maybe she should have brought Lars, because he would have absolutely had a fit of laughter at the looks on those people's faces.

---

Finding it much more de-toxing to retreat to the beach with a sketchbook, Lars was, for a while, feeling less nervous about everything. The weather was fairly nice, and he was able to zone out with the gentle noise of the ocean waves, and nobody to bother him. He had his phone on his knee just in case Sadie were to call. He held back the temptation to call her, promising himself he could do so after he finished his sketchbook page, which he was working away on diligently.

Earlier, Pearl had been kind enough to model for him so he could draw a slender figure, and he was now just adding the bigger pieces of the drawing around her, adding in careful watercolors and highlights.

Right as he finished the drawing, and felt a slight sense of peace, he heard a muffled explosion from the temple, and then heard Ellie scream, "WOOHOO!" as she was launched into the air towards the ocean.

Lars screamed as he saw her plummeting towards the water, immediately starting to rush forward, and froze in place as he saw some sort of parachute bloom from behind her, and she sailed carefully into the waves, not even a splash created. He watched her, jaw virtually dropped off the planet, as she floated back to shore, cackling, "THAT WAS AWESOME! I WANNA DO THAT AGAIN!"

Sputtering and speechless, Lars marched over to her, "What in the name of GOD were you doing?", he nearly yelped, "WHY WERE YOU GETTING LAUNCHED INTO THE SKY?"

"Dad dad dad!", she grinned, grabbing him by the hand and tugging him towards the temple, "Amethyst found some awesome air cannon buried on the island we went to and-"

"Waitwaitwait- you went to an island?", he frowned, marching up the steps of the porch with her, still frazzled.

"Yeah, we all warped there and Steven told us about how you and mom were stuck on there and-"

"That island?", Lars groaned.

"We found your phone!", she grinned, "It got washed up on the beach years ago!"

"WHAAAAT?", he began to freak out, and stumbled into the house, almost screaming as he saw the skylight opened where they launched his daughter. Amethyst was showing the mechanics of the thing off to Ronaldo while Steven was climbing into the cannon, "STOP," Lars spoke aloud. All three looked over.

"WHY DID YOU LAUNCH MY DAUGHTER OUT OF A CANNON?", he asked very loudly, and sounding very disheveled.

"She asked politely," Steven smiled, "And she had a parachute-"

"And a raft," Ellie added.

"You stay out of this, young lady!", Lars glared at her, "You're grounded! No getting shot out of a cannon!"

"What? No fair!", she whined.

"No arguing! Go to your room!"

She gave an angry noise, and stamped up the stairs to the second floor, and glared at him over the edge of the platform.

Ronaldo walked over, "Hey, Lars, it's ok, we-"

"Ohhh boy, don't even let me get started with you," he grumbled at Ronaldo, "I will be the one to decide if my kid gets shot out of a cannon, not you, understood?"

Flushing a little, Ronaldo looked at his feet, knowing he probably overstepped his authority this time. He reached into his pocket, clearing his throat.

"We uh...found your phone on that island...", he decided to segway into the discovery, and pulled out the phone, which was completely outdated, waterlogged, and covered in barnacles.

"Oh jeez," Lars mumbled, then gave a stern look, "What were you and Ellie doing on that island anyway?"

"Well, uh, I wanted to explore a little," Ronaldo admitted sheepishly, "For uh...new blog material..."

"Oh criminy," Lars sighed, sitting on the couch, "At least it's just for the rest of this trip I guess, and then I don't have to worry about Ellie or you getting blown up."

"Yeah," Ronaldo mumbled, awkwardly scratching his face, "...I kind of really like it here now...I mean, doing all this different stuff..."

"...What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything!", Ronaldo shrugged, "I just am having a good time in Beach City!"

"Good for you," the other rolled his eyes.

"Y'know...we could probably help this town revitalize a little with a business like ours..."

Lars looked straight ahead, and felt his stomach tighten, "...what?"

"I mean, just imagine if we had our shop on a beach, then it might have a bit more of a different crowd, and we'd get more tourism and-"

"Ronaldo."

"I could blog about this place again-"

"Ronaldo, STOP," Lars snapped, suddenly glaring at him, "We are not going to move here! We worked our asses off to get our place together in Palm City, and we have more to look for there than we ever could here!"

Looking a little hurt by Lars' words, Ronaldo glared back, "Well what would you know about that? Maybe you're just mad that I'm finding things really exciting here, and you're not! Sadie's getting her book promoted here, which has never happened in Palm City, so maybe she wants to move here too!"

Lars visibly tensed up, glaring at Ronaldo. He didn't get it, he wouldn't get it, and he couldn't tell him. And the idea of Sadie wanting to move here again, it made his anxiety spike.

He got up from the couch, and stormed out of the house, ignoring Ronaldo's exclamation to come back.

Stamping along the beach, he ended up crossing to the part of town he hadn't explored yet, where his old work used to be, where his friends used to hang out, everything there.

He saw the fry shack was stripped down to nothing but the building, along with several other familiar businesses being out of action, which made this place feel a little like a ghost town.

He saw the building where the Big Donut once was. And just like the fry shack, it was empty. The large metal doughnut on the roof was gone, the tables and chairs missing, and the inside of the building cleared out. It made his stomach churn, and he almost felt sorry for it.

"I thought I might find you here sooner or later," a gruff voice spoke from behind him, making him jolt forward in surprise. Lars turned around and saw his father standing there, hands in his pockets

Lars desperately wanted to flee.

"I just want to talk," his father spoke up again, "I haven't seen you in so long. I haven't seen you since you left after Christmas that one year-"

"You know why," Lars spoke, words stuck in his throat. After a heated argument in which his father struck him hard across the face, Lars had decided Beach City was history, and bailed.

"...Yes. I know why. And I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you or your mother with-"

"Well, you did."

It was quiet again. Lars quietly sat on the edge of the wall by the water near the shop, and his father followed him to sit nearby.

"I heard you have a daughter now. How old is she?"

"Nine," Lars spoke, staring into the sun, gaze fixed and unbroken, "She'll be ten in five months."

"You'll have to introduce us sometime-"

Lars looked at him as if to say 'no chance in hell'.

"...You'll have to show me her picture sometime...", he settled.

Giving a sigh, Lars shuffled into his pocket and grabbed his phone, finding one of the recent pictures of her, and passed it to his father.

The elder man looked over the picture and gave a small smile, "Ah. She has your eyes. And your mother's hair."

Lars took the phone back, and still didn't answer.

"Are you married now?"

"...Yes."

"Who are you married to?"

Lars crossed his arms, "Sadie and Ronaldo."

"...both?"

"Yes. I love them both, and wanted them both with the same insurance benefits, so I married them both."

"...That's not very responsible, Lars..."

"What do you mean?"

"You...can't just marry everyone who you like, you have to settle with committing to one-"

"I highly disbelieve you're the expert on this," Lars glared , still gazing at the ocean.

"...Sadie isn't your daughter's mother, is she?", his father deduced, tone still soft and disapproving.

"...I think you've said enough," Lars mumbled, voice unwelcoming, "Don't try to contact me again."

"...Alright," his father sighed, and stood up, "I just hope you're happy with yourself."

"Happier than you," Lars spat, tone still eerily calm, "And for the record, I do not accept your apology, because I don't think you really are sorry."

"...I am...I really am, Lars."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the older man walk away, down the boardwalk, and out of sight.

Lars regretted nothing. He had been too empty as he talked to even feel regret.

But after several minutes, he felt a soreness in his chest. He now had another unpleasant memory to add to this city, and when he got back up he saw Ronaldo standing there, absolutely quiet. He had listened to the whole thing.

Lars didn't acknowledge him, just slowly walking past him, and looking into the abandoned donut shop again, seeing his reflection in the window. It looked so blank projected against the wall, which was a great visual to how he felt about this place now.

"...I'm sorry," Ronaldo spoke up, "I...guess I forgot about how you feel about this place. I wouldn't want you to be in a place you hated-"

"I don't hate this place...I just...I don't feel anything for it anymore. I see Steven enough on visits that I don't miss him, and everything else...I don't even recognize this place anymore, Ron," Lars' throat tightened, "It feels like I'm walking in a cemetery of this place, everything I remember is so different or not even here anymore..."

Drawing in a breath, Ronaldo gently took him by the shoulder, "To be honest, there really isn't much here for me either. My dad is gone, Peedee's gone, the shop is gone, the lighthouse is condemned and all ghosted out...I guess I got carried away with all the exciting things I was doing with Steven, I forgot about the exciting things we're doing together," and pulled him into a hug, "Steven can keep Beach City Weird for me. My new calling's wherever you or our family is. And to keep that weird."

Lars gave a small smile, and Ronaldo beamed, glad to see him crack a tiny grin again, and kissed his face all over, "There's my possum pants!"

"Don't ever call me that again," Lars muttered, still grinning shyly, sinking into the hug, and ended up letting Ronaldo carry him back to the beach house. Being cuddled against the other's chest was so relaxing.

"Hey, Ron, you're still taking your meds and stuff, right?", he asked softly, not always sure how the other was really feeling.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Still feeling OK on this trip?"

"So far, so good," Ronaldo assured him.

"Oh good," he breathed. One less problem to worry about then.

He ungrounded Ellie on the condition she never set hand on a gem weapon for the rest of the trip.

---

Sadie's eyes felt way too heavy for it to be morning, and she groaned as she saw she had woken up an hour before the alarm had gone off. Groaning, she scooted herself so she was pressed against the snoring redhead beside her. Lars rolled onto his side again, arm flopping over her face, and Sadie huffed, giving his arm a lick.

That woke him up, and he yelped, jerking his arm back, "Hey!", he whined.

"Your arm was on my face," she laughed softly, "Woke up early again," she sighed.

"Oh," he yawned, "Any discomfort yet?", he asked, wondering if it had something to do with the baby.

"None except in my back, as always," she sighed.

"Want a massage?", he mumbled, hugging his pillow, hair a completely tangled mess.

"Mm, yes please," she spoke into her own pillow, and slowly sat up, trying to lean over a bit. This sort of attention was something she had no problem with in the mornings.

"Ready for the signing at the bookstore?", he asked her, fingers gently rubbing into her curves and along her spine, occasionally digging his palms in, just how she liked it.

"I guess," she yawned, "Just gonna wing it, I guess. I get nervous with these sorta things, y'know."

"Aw," he mumbled, kissing her ear, "Don't be."

"Go lower," she instructed, feeling his hands working her shoulder blades too much.

"Aight," he murmured, "Well, you got this in the bag, I bet. Besides, even if you look nervous, people still like your stuff, so they'll go for it anyway," he figured. He didn't have much charisma when talking with clients, but when they saw his work, charisma was hardly even considered.

Sadie gave a yawn, "Damn I'm going to be glad when all this is through. With the book and the baby, I guess it'll be nice to put my feet up."

"How's 'Shrimpy' by the way?," he snickered, letting one hand creep around to her stomach and gently rest on it.

"Moving, but not a pain in the ass as much," she hummed, "They've been kicking around noon more often than the night, which isn't so bad."

"Yeah," he smiled against her cheek, "If you want me to I'll tell 'em to stop giving mom a hard time or I'll ground them."

"Not even born and you're already prepped for that," Sadie rolled her eyes, then stared ahead, "I'm guessing with all the travel and stuff, it'll be born in a week."

"Yeah," Lars mumbled, "I've got a suitcase packed in case it does happen here though, y'know."

"...it doesn't have your rock music does it?"

"...well..."

"Lars," she frowned.

"Come on, baby's gotta enter the place like a champ," he grinned against her ear, "I've even got a playlist."

"Oh jeez," she snorted, and gently hugged his arm, letting him give her a gentle squeeze in return.

"I gotta get up soon," she mumbled, and eased herself off of the bed.

"I'll help you get ready," he offered, and swung his feet over the other side of the bed, and immediately felt them connect with someone else's face. Both parties screamed.

"RONNIE!", Lars yelped, scrambling to get his feet off of his partner's face, "What are you doing?"

"Thanks for apologizing for kicking my teeth," Ronaldo grumbled, "The couch was starting to give me a backache, so I moved into here. I was gonna ask if we could share the bed, but uh...I think Sadie growled at me in her sleep."

Sadie stifled a giggle, and Lars groaned, "Oh jeez, next time lemme know where you're laying, man, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Fair enough...can I have a back massage too?", Ronaldo smiled as cutely as he could muster, "I'm not pregnant, but I am just as pleasant to rub your hands on!"

Lars rolled his eyes, "Lemme help Sadie get ready and I guess I can give you one."

"Aww!", Ronaldo grinned, kissing his cheek, which made him flush brightly.

Once Sadie was ready for the day, she grabbed her things to take to the bookstore with her.

"You sure you don't want my help setting up?", Lars offered.

"I think I'll manage," she smiled, and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek, "See you there though," and headed out, walking along the beach.

"Did you see Steven at all this morning?", Ronaldo asked Lars as the other massaged his back.

"I don't think so," Lars shrugged, "He could be out with his gem ladies or somethin'...God your muscles are knotted," he muttered as he worked his hands along the other's back.

"I have no idea what that means, but OK," he sighed, "That feels nice."

"Glad you think so," Lars mumbled, and once Ronaldo deemed it was enough, he let him stand up, and stretch.

"You look like you're feeling better," Ronaldo smiled, suddenly looping an arm around the other's shoulders.

"Whaddya mean?" he glanced up, slowly leaning against his partner's gut.

"You don't look like a nervous wreck for once," Ronaldo chirped, and kissed his head.

"I am master of calm, we've discussed this," Lars pouted, and looped his arms around the other's neck, "I am also master of climbing. Now shut up and stay still while I scale your slope."

"You guys, some of us are still trying to sleep," Ellie grumbled from her bed on the second floor.

Lars rolled his eyes, and climbed onto Ronaldo's shoulders, "You're getting easier to climb every time, I swear," he snickered.

"Do you want me to be tough to climb?", he tilted his head up to look at him.

"Sure. Gimme a challenge once in a while, eh?", he smiled, and flopped his face into the other's curls. God they were soft.

Ronaldo grabbed Lars and flipped him over his head. When Lars gave a yelp, Ronaldo snickered as he caught the other in his arms, and squeeze cuddled him.

"You may be master of climbing, but I am master of cuddles," he smiled, and kissed his face.

"True, true," Lars rolled his eyes, and snuggled against him, laughing when the kisses started to tickle, "Hahahahahahaha OK stop stop!"

"Guuuuuys!". Ellie whined, and stomped out of bed, down the stairs, "I was sleeping!"

"Well too bad, it's already eleven, so you slept in enough I'd say," Lars smiled smugly from Ronaldo's arms.

"Fine," she muttered, and stormed to the bathroom, slamming the door, making the other two wince at the noise.

"...Are you sure we can handle two of your offspring?", Ronaldo snorted.

"We'll survive," Lars shrugged, and stretched up to pull him into a kiss, which was quickly interrupted by his phone ringing. Thinking it was Sadie, he frantically picked up, "Hello?"

"Er, Lars, this is Steven-"

"Oh," he sighed in relief,"What's up?"

"I'm at Dead Man's Mouth and well...we've kind of got a problem..."

---

"So uh, remember that one planting of moss a few years ago that never seemed to grow, and just kind of fell back in the water and never came back up?", Steven looked at the filthy green pond.

"I recollect," Lars nodded, looking quite distastefully at the moss. As pretty as it became when it bloomed, it was still all green and gross. He couldn't eat pea soup anymore because of it.

"Well, it's come back up, and it's...er...pretty aggressive," he described, and dipped a stick in the water. Within seconds, it was nothing but the green stuff.

"Ick..."

Ronaldo and Ellie were watching from a distance, the former holding his phone out to snap pictures. Ellie had been told not to get near the moss, and Ronaldo didn't want to touch it. Anything that had infestations and was green or sporelike gave him allergies.

"So I guess we have to be pretty fast with getting this stuff up the hill. I've got the shovels, nets and gloves, If you get in the driver's seat, then we can rush this stuff up to the hill. Let's see if we break record time," Steven smiled, giving a shrug.

"Alright," Lars sighed, "Get the trunk open, and I'll start scooping this stuff in."

Net in hand, Lars swooped it into the green muck, getting a large amount, and relayed it over to the trunk as fast as he could, slamming it into the metal container before it could even attach to the net.

Steven was grabbing his own net when he saw Lars get distracted for a split moment by Ronaldo shouting a cheer at him, and yelped, "Lars!"

Just as the older man turned to face Steven, the netful of moss he was carrying engulfed the net and a large glob of it leaped onto his face. Lars screeched in shock as it started to swarm his body.

"Lars!", Steven and Ronaldo shouted, and ran over.

"Dad!", Ellie screamed, and started to run over.

"Don't!" Lars shouted at her, "Get back! This stuff is danger-"

It had swallowed him like it was nothing, leaving a large mass of moss on the ground.

"Dad!", Ellie nearly cried, seeing this horrible green goopy fuzz covering her father.

Ronaldo was freaking out, "Whatdowedowhatdowedo?"

Steven was equally anxious, "O-Ohhh god, OK ah...we have to get the rest of the moss out of the pond! I'll get Lars taken care of and we-"

The moss on the edge of the pond had gripped onto Steven's shoe, and he yelped, "Not again! OK change of plans, I'll get the rest of the pond moss to get on me, and carry it as fast as I can over to the trunk, and, Ronaldo, you help me get Lars into there! COME AT ME, MOSS!", screamed Steven dramatically, and leaped into the water. He crawled out several seconds later, inching himself towards the car, trying to resist being engulfed too fast.

"Steven, I will tell your story!", Ronaldo sobbed, thinking it was certain death, "And Lars'!"

"No, you idiot! Just get us to the top of the brooding hill, we'll be fi-"

Steven was now but a huge mass of green fuzz, plopped next to the moss formerly known as Lars.

Ellie began to cry, and Ronaldo was panicking inwardly. Grabbing a huge stick he saw, he slid it under the moss mass to lift it into the trunk and slam it shut. He'd need help getting all that moss out of the trunk, and he knew Lars would kill him if he asked Ellie to get near the green menace.

Before he could even tell the girl to calm down or to accept their fate under the reign of the potential moss king pulling the strings, he saw her scrambling away, hearing her shout something about grabbing her mom.

---

Sadie was flushing excitably when people clapped approvingly as she finished her speech, and she was promptly escorted to a table to sign books. The line of people growing, she felt this trip was very well worth it.

One fan who looked strangely familiar, towards the end of the line, had smiled when Sadie signed her book, "I was meaning to ask you after your speech: You were talking about how you had some pretty dark times in your life, and they inspired you to keep writing. I wanted to know what else keeps you inspired?"

Sadie capped her pen as she thought of how to formulate her answer, "My family is a big one, and what I like to call the 'counterweights', all the good times of my life that were prominent, even more so than those darker times. I think about those times a lot, where I was able to develop more as a person, and how I can look back on myself now." Sadie had talked about how, two years ago, during a stressful bump in her relationships with both Lars and Ronaldo, she had relapsed in her sobriety, and it took another handful of months to get back on track. She hated how it had hurt the two people she cared about most, her stepdaughter, and most of all herself. She ended up attending more AA meetings than she ever did in Beach City, and had to slowly repair her fractured relationships. It was hard and it was stressful, but it was a thing of the past.

"Would you do it all over again if you had to?", the fan asked, smiling brightly.

"Most of it, yes," Sadie smiled.

"If you could go back in time and tell yourself something, what would it be?"

"Don't change yourself for anyone," she smiled, "Change because you want to be a better person."

The fan smiled, "I was so lucky to meet you today...thank you," and walked away.

Sadie could have sworn that girl looked almost like herself...

As she was finishing up the last few signatures, she realized she had not seen Lars or Ronaldo at all during the whole presentation. Maybe they were stuck behind the crowd?

She suddenly saw Ellie weaving through the remainder of the line, looking out of breath as she rushed over, "Mom-!"

"Ellie? What's going on?"

"Dad...moss...hill...NOW," she wheezed, and looked at the last two people in line for a book signing, "HURRY IT UP!"

Sadie, immediately anxious, hardly even scribbled a line in their books, and ran out, Ellie running close by. Sadie couldn't run as fast as she used to, but thankfully she knew this town from top to bottom, and it was not that difficult for them to get to the hill, just as Ronaldo pulled up with the moss transportation vehicle Lars and Steven had modified over the years (IE Greg's old van with a metal box in the trunk to prevent it from growing inside the vehicle).

Ronaldo ripped the trunk door open, and Sadie was left to see the clumps of moss that were Steven and Lars. Her stomach tightened, and she immediately rushed over. Before Ronaldo could warn her about the moss, she had wrapped her arms around Lars, and was hauling him out as best she could. The moss was quickly starting to cover her hands, but she was managing to drag him, praying that he would be alright, that he was still under there. The idea of losing him this soon, just before they had a chance to settle down made her want to cry.

"We have to get them up to the top!", Ellie insisted, standing by the van.

Ronaldo, with no choice but to touch it now, was hauling Steven and the rest of the moss up over his back, and groaned as he felt it starting to cover his torso and legs, "This stuff is itching like crazy!", he whined, and yelped as he suddenly tripped. He was unable to get up, and started to crawl the rest of the way before he reached near the top, and was eventually incapacitated beyond action.

Sadie shouted at Ellie to run for the top of the hill when the girl complained of the moss starting to grow on her shoe, and she obeyed. As Sadie felt her legs get slowed down even further, she tried to exert herself further, to reach up to where Ellie was standing, the girl looking conflicted as whether to try and drag her weird step-parent and half-gem honorary uncle up to the top.

Fighting back tears, Sadie took another step forward, and against her will, dropped to her knees. Seeing no other option, she pulled her moss covered lover to her chest, hugging him tightly, and screwed her eyes shut as she waited to be completely engulfed, and remain a frozen statue with the man she married and their unborn child.

Before the moss could even cover Sadie's face or get past Ellie's knee, the sun broke through the clouds, and like clockwork, the moss was starting to bloom into the lovely pink flowers, the horrible green fuzz dissipating away. Sadie felt her ability to move return, and she sighed in relief as she saw Lars start to twitch, spitting out moss, and groaning.

"I lost track of how long that took. I don't think we broke our record and-"

Sadie nearly crushed him in a hug, burying her face in his shoulder, "Oh my god," she whispered, "I nearly lost you."

Lars smiled awkwardly, and before he could respond, he was interrupted by the loud sneezing of Ronaldo, who cursed, "Damnit! These- achoo! -flowers are insufferable!"

Steven groaned as he got off of the blogger, and stretched himself off, "Well, that was interesting," he sighed, and looked over seeing Lars and Sadie sitting on the hill together, and grinned to the redhead, "We made it!"

"Barely!", Lars laughed, "I think we need to retire from this."

"And miss out on the flowers? No thanks!", Steven smiled.

"I could- achoo! Do without them!", Ronaldo whined, nose red and eyes watering like a certain blue gem's wings.

Ellie had realized a flower landed in her hair, and took it, smiling, "Hey Steven, you gave these to me years ago!"

"I did! You remember!", he smiled, and walked over to her, helping up a pathetically sneezing Ronaldo, and the three stood on top of the hill while Steven went on about the first time he and Lars had encountered the horrible moss.

Lars had been looking at the flowers, grinning, "Whaddya think of the front row view, Sades?"

"It's beautiful," she sighed, "Just don't ever scare me like that again. I worry about you. A lot."

"You worry about me?", he laughed softly, "And here I am calling you every thirty minutes asking you if you need me."

Sadie would have laughed, but she was feeling a sudden strangeness in her belly, like a growing pain. She laced an arm around Lars, deciding to ignore it in case it was nothing, and continued looking at the flowers sailing through the air. A sudden sharp jolt of pain after a few minutes made her gently squeeze his arm, and Lars probably thought it was a move of affection, considering he slid his arm around her back, looking content. A little too content.

"Lars, I need you," Sadie spoke quickly, realizing the week they thought they had was moving to a handful of hours. She was starting to panic, all the buried worries and fears of the whole thing starting to come up to surface.

"Hm?", he glanced down, snapping back to focus.

Sadie looked at him nervously, gripping her stomach, "I need you!"

---

Realizing exactly what she meant, without even a word beyond a panicked, "OH!", he lifted her up, and began rushing her down the hill and to the van. Lars had opted not to gather the three at the top of the hill, not wanting to waste any minutes getting Sadie to the hospital.

"OK LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!", Lars shrilly exclaimed in an attempt to be cheery, but he sounded more terrified than anything, and Sadie asked him to calm the hell down. He stared at her with an etched smile and screamed like he was gnawing on a brick, "I AM CALM", and maniacally laughed as he stepped on the gas.

Steven turned his head, and saw Lars driving away with HIS car, and yelled, "HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? MY CAR?"

"Your house, then hospital, sorry, no time!" Lars shouted, and sped away in the car, intending to stop by the temple to grab the suitcase.

Steven sucked in his cheeks, "Whoo boy. Looks like things are starting up early."

Ellie watched the car descend almost recklessly down the slope, swearing she heard laughter, and watched it disappear through the trees and buildings, and then in a record time of less than two minutes, it pulled up in front of the beach house which could be seen from the hill, and then saw a tiny figure dart out, rush inside, disappear for two minutes, and then rush back out, into the car, which then sped away like a bat out of hell.

"...We're going to have to walk home, aren't we?", Ellie muttered, and started down the hill, picking up the errant flowers that were scattered on the ground.

Ronaldo, absolutely plugged up from the allergies, was starting down the hill as well, muttering something about needing Benadryl, and vowing to kill Lars for leaving him behind.

---

"Look, I'm sorry man, I was freakin' out! I wanted to make sure Sadie got here in enough time! She was panicking in the car for God's sake!", Lars explained over the phone as he stood outside of Sadie's room for sake of better reception, "Also, Amethyst, for some fuckin' weird reason decided it would be a good idea to put the suitcase I packed for the hospital IN THE FRIDGE. WHO DOES THAT?"

"Well you know now that you had plenty of time, considering it's been three hours already and nothing's happened, but now you can't leave to get me because I know Sadie probably wants you, and I'm going to miss out on everything!", Ronaldo whined.

"OK, for starters, I don't know if you remember this, but Beach City's hospital is frickin' tiny. They only let so many people in the delivery room at a time, and I had to BEG so they could let me in, and two, you're probably gonna handle this like a weenie. You fainted during health class in high school when they talked about childbirth and showed pictures, remember?", Lars snorted.

"But I count as an immediate family member!", Ronaldo insisted, still whiny, "And we're not in high school anymore, Lars!", he spoke indignantly just as Steven stepped inside, "I'VE HAD SEX TOO Y'KNOW!"

Steven had walked in on that last exclamation, and his eyes met with Ronaldo's. Instead of getting wildly embarrassed, Steven grinned, and clapped, "Good for you!", and cheered, holding back snickers while Ronaldo gave a dirty look, and continued the phone conversation.

"Hey, look on the bright side, as soon as we get the all clear you can be the first visitor!", Lars grinned, "And then we can all agree I have great genes."

"I think Sadie's genes will be the winners here," Ronaldo mumbled, "Call if anything happens, OK?"

"Yeah," Lars sighed, "Bye," and hung up, walking back into Sadie's room, "Ron's a little peeved we didn't stop to get him in the car."

"We should have," Sadie sighed, feeling more tired than pained or panicked now. Whatever medicine they put her on was making her zonk out.

"I know," he sighed, "I wasn't sure how fast this was gonna be or what. I mean, Ellie was fast, like less than two hours," he mumbled, "And how many'd they say this was probably gonna be?"

"They dunno. Probably more than four hours," she mumbled, "I feel sleepy more than anything else, but I'm too excited to sleep."

Lars kissed her head, "You can try to nap if you wanna, I'll still be here."

"I'll try," she sighed, and stared at the ceiling, "...god, now I'm starting to panic," she mumbled, "Just thinking about everything you know? I mean, I tried to be calm about everything but now that it's like...here, I'm just freaking out...", she fumbled with her hands, "Like, if something goes wrong? Or like the stuff I read about where I guess it really takes a toll on your mental health, with postpartum and stuff? I dunno," she mumbled, "And seeing you potentially dead is just throwing me for another loop. I really don't want to end up regretting any of this...", she admitted, throat starting to tighten, "I don't want anything to happen where someone gets hurt because of me, or I end up being someone I hate and I-"

Lars pulled her into a tight hug, having been silent as she rambled so suddenly, so he could take it all in, and held her to his chest, "H-Hey, it's gonna be OK," he mumbled, "God now I feel terrible for making you panic so much, I guess I kinda screwed up there," he mumbled, gently playing with her hair, "I dunno about what's gonna happen in the next weeks or even months, but I'll be here, OK? And Ronnie will be here, Ellie, and all the people back home," he tried to assure her. He'd done the same when she had relapsed in sobriety a couple of years ago, and since then, for her sake, owned no alcohol aside from what he sold in the restaurant's bar.

Sadie suddenly winced in pain, her entire body tensing as a contraction passed through her body, and she gripped tightly onto Lars' flannel jacket, giving a silent gasp of pain.

"Woah- oh jeez," he mumbled, rubbing her back, "That was a bad one if you could feel it with that epidural, huh?"

Once it was over, Sadie was shaking slightly, and panted, "Yeah. That was pretty bad..."

"That was like 30 minutes apart right?"

"27," she muttered, "I was counting in my head."

"Damn, that's impressive," he snickered, and kissed her head, "Want me to rub your back or stomach or anything? Call your mom?"

"Mm, don't call my mom until after the baby's out, but the rubs, yes please," she sighed, and settled back on the pillow, feeling sore, "Show me that playlist of music you were talking about..."

While Lars gave her tummy rubs and sang the praises of Judas Priest for the next hour, Ronaldo had flopped on the couch, occasionally scrolling his phone for updates, and groaned into a pillow.

"Any word yet?", Steven asked him as he walked past the couch.

"No," he sighed, "Everything's going slow, and Lars is still a butthead."

"We all knew that," Steven snickered, "You excited?"

"Yeah," Ronaldo admitted, "It's fun being a step-parent, I never really expected to be one, but I like it. It's like being the 'cool parent' on a regular basis." Ronaldo hadn't expected to get as attached to Ellie as he did, but he was glad to call her his step-child, and tried to make clear that in the instances where she would have issue talking to her father or stepmother, she could always talk to him, the weird one who didn't judge her. He'd been the one who gifted her a DS for Christmas, as well as games they could do together. He'd be there for her if she did need another parent, and he'd make sure he'd always be there for her if she needed a friend.

"Like my dad," Steven grinned proudly.

"...yeah...sure," Ronaldo shrugged, and rolled onto his back, checking his phone again. Nonchalantly he spoke up, "So what's this I hear from Lars about you wanting to marry your lady?"

Steven flushed, "He told you about that?", not having expected Lars to go and talk to him about it.

"He just brought it up, saying you asked for advice. My advice is to first not ask Lars about romance, because he is not a romantic whatsoever in the slightest, I know this myself, and secondly-" he paused as he tried to best think of his words, "Don't take her for granted. Ever. Don't make her wait for you to realize she needs you." That had been Ronaldo's fatal mistake with Florence. He regretted what had happened between them, but he didn't regret where he was now, with a family he loved dearly.

"That's...actually the best advice I've ever heard from you, Ron," Steven glanced over, "No offense."

"None taken."

"...any advice on how to propose?"

Ronaldo hummed in thought, pushing his glasses onto his face, "Keep it classy but casual...candles here, maybe flowers there-", he paused, "And keep it small. Unless you know she likes public proposals, don't do it. You don't want her to be pressured to say yes, and you don't want to be embarrassed if she says no."

"Connie hates crowds...so I guess a public one's out of the question...", Steven mumbled to himself.

"I didn't even really have anything prepared until the hour before. Basically I bought a ring, we were sitting together, and I asked her if she wanted to get married- and I didn't expect her to say yes," he mumbled, flushed, "Oh well."

"You've got Lars, he's no romantic, but I can tell you love each other."

"We do," he mumbled, "A lot. I'd thought for a bit about lingering in Beach City a little longer, but then I realized how bad this place makes him feel in comparison to where he is now...and I didn't want him to think I'd put exploring over him..." Lars was not going to be like Florence again.

"That's probably a good call," Steven admitted, "Everything that happens around here is all related to gem stuff, but over in Palm City, all that weirdness? That's the stuff you can connect to your research and discoveries. You'd get really bored here after a while..."

"Good to know."

The room was silent for a while, the two men keeping quiet as the sky turned orange and pink with the setting sun, Ellie outside gathering all the fallen flowers she could find.

"Connie comes back into town next week," Steven mumbled, "I'm not gonna survive the next several days."

"Believe me, with all that's happening in my world, I won't either."

---

It took Ronaldo several seconds to realize his phone was ringing in the dead of night. He'd tried to stay up until he actually heard a call, but around 1 AM his body crashed, and he was flopped on top of Steven, who was sound asleep, with Ellie sprawled like a cat on the floor.

He picked up, stifling a yawn, "H'lo?"

"Hey, Ron," Lars sounded tired on the other line, "Question, what was the stakes of our bet on what the baby was gonna be?"

"We didn't bet, remember?", he rubbed his eyes, "Sadie said if we bet on it, she would make us both eat a bowl of dicks."

"Oh right," he mumbled softly, "So uh...I guess I can't lie and say I totally expected it to be a girl, right?"

"Wha...holy crap, FINALLY," Ronaldo shouted, waking the other two up, and spooking the hell out of them.

"What?", Steven yelped, "What is it?"

Ronaldo poked Ellie, who swatted him, "Congrats you have a sister, wake up and get dre-"

"Woah, uh-" Lars said over the line, "It's three in the morning, kid's barely an hour old, and Sadie's pretty exhausted, the whole thing was kinda a big stress bomb,", he yawned, "Do you guys wanna wait 'til first thing in the morning instead? That way, I can actually like, pick you guys up or something, and return Steven's car and apologize for maybe getting a parking ticket on it?"

Holding his breath, Ronaldo wanted to throw a small fit at having to wait longer to see his new step-daughter, but knew Lars had a good point, and sighed, "Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow. You get some sleep too, alright?"

"We'll see," Lars mumbled, "I'm still kind of shaking."

"I bet," he smiled, "Any names yet?"

"Haven't thought that far yet, we're both just kind of dead and looking at the little meat loaf," he snorted, "She's got Sadie's cheeks and my hair...and my dashing personality...ie she's done nothing but sleep and squawk."

"Aww. Ok, get some sleep," Ronaldo smiled, and hung up, "Sadie's fine, Lars sounded dead."

Steven cheered, "We have a new Beach City native!"

"How are we gonna get her back to Palm City?" Ellie yawned, laying back on the couch, "I don't wanna be sitting next to her on the flight back!"

"Eh, we'll figure it out," Ronaldo mumbled, crashing back on the sofa again, "Your dad isn't coming until morning, so we should just get back to sleep."

"Thank you," the girl muttered, not entirely gung-ho about leaving in the middle of the night to go to a hospital. Soon, the whole house, once the excitement died down, was back to snoring, dead asleep.

Meanwhile, after pocketing his phone, Lars slumped on the floor next to Sadie's bed, resting his head on the bed, "You doin' OK?", he asked, voice quiet.

"Mhm," she smiled tiredly, sitting up a little, realizing she was starting to melt onto the bed, "Logically, we should get some sleep before she wakes up again, but I'm kinda still staring at her," she laughed softly.

"Yeah, I feel you," he mumbled, resting his head on one of his arms, "Remember how we always joked our kids were gonna be ugly when we were younger? I kinda feel bad about that now," he laughed softly, gently petting the small wispy tuft of reddish hair on the newborn's head with his finger, "'Specially since this one's pretty damn cute."

"Yeah," she giggled, "Just wait until she wakes up though. Then she's probably not gonna be so cute right?"

"Yeah, I can vouch for that. Very much so," he muttered, and glanced up at her like a scolded dog, "So uh, are you still mad about me playing the music during the delivery?"

"Oh, you bet," she mumbled, "What made it worse was it was 'Welcome to the Jungle', not the most positive song for a baby to hear the instant she's born."

"Hey it's not my fault, it was on shuffle," he admitted, "If she'd waited about three minutes longer, it would have been Enter Sandman...maybe that would have gotten her to sleep sooner," he joked weakly.

Sadie gave a disapproving look, really exhausted.

Lars sighed, fluffing her hair which was a mess from all the stress and sweat, "So uh, next time we ever do this, I guess no Guns N Roses, right?"

"Oh we don't have to worry about that," she mumbled, "I'm going to make sure we never have anymore children after this."

"Eh, that's fair."

"Speaking of 'roses', that reminds me of names. I know we had a list and stuff but-"

"Yeah?", he hummed, resting his head on her pillow so it was right by her shoulder, and looking at their daughter, who barely moved aside from a small squirm here and there.

"I think I really like the name Rose."

"What, from the band?"

"No," she frowned at him, and swatted his head which made him give a small whine, and sighed, "So uh, you know how Steven told you that his mom, Rose Quartz, planted that moss and stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, after watching it bloom after it nearly killed you and scared me half to death, I started thinking back to when we were younger, and uh, Steven showed me a tape his mom had made for him before he was born."

"...really," he mumbled, "What was it about?"

"Well, it was uh...she was filming his dad, and I guess they were just making a little video for him and stuff, and then she started talking to him, and how much she loved him, and uh, it sort of made me think of my own mom too." She motioned to the baby, who had given another little squirm that made Sadie smile, "And now I'm thinking about her, and how much I care about her, and you care about her."

"...Also Rosie is a cute name, so there's that too," she added as an after thought.

"...Rose...", Lars mumbled, looking at the baby's pudgy face inherited by her mother, and then gave a tiny smirk, "I like it. She's our little Rosie! If I was more into 70's junk, I'd totally have played that Neil Diamond song 'Cracklin' Rosie' y'know?"

"Isn't that song about wine or something?"

"There was nothing sober in the 70's," he snickered, and gently let one of his fingers rub Rosie's shoulder, "I'll figure out a good Chinese name for her later...if...that's OK with you?"

"Of course it is," she smiled, kissing his face, feeling prickly stubble on his chin, "You need to shave," she laughed tiredly.

"And you need to sleep," he smiled, "Want me to put her in the little bed over there?"

"Yeah," she yawned, and passed her over carefully, Lars looking suddenly terrified of dropping her, but his hands were thankfully very careful, and he held her to his chest as he got up and walked over to the bassinet, "God, she's small," he muttered, observing her in his own arms. He was trying to think of names.

"She's got a small mom," Sadie grinned, and sighed in relief at being able to roll onto her side, and scooted over to let the other crawl in with her once the baby was settled down, and squeezed him tight. Within several minutes, both were sleeping like logs, utterly exhausted.

About six hours later, Lars was still disheveled; hair, face, and clothes a mess, but his eyes sparking with excitement as he drove the car back to the temple and asked his partner, daughter, and Steven if they were excited to meet his Mei Gui, his Rose.

---

"And remember Steven, if you or your girlfriend are looking for extra money, you could always give our shop a hand," Lars mumbled as he pulled the last suitcase out of the car and onto the airport curb.

"We'll remember," the half-gem laughed, and shut the trunk, "You guys have everything? God I can't believe it's been only two weeks."

"I know," Lars mumbled, "Thanks for putting up with us an extra week though."

"It's no problem!" Steven grinned, "All the better for Rosie to get better acquainted with her funcle!"

"Funcle?", Sadie asked, popping into the conversation.

"Don't ask. Really. Don't," Lars spoke deadpanned, and checked all the luggage tags on the suitcases, "OK, we're set," he mumbled, and gave Steven quick hug, "Take care of yourself, man, don't touch anymore moss without me, aight?"

"Can't promise it," he laughed softly, "Have a good flight," and after giving everyone else a farewell, drove away from the airport.

"It's gonna feel good to get home," Ronaldo admitted, stretching his legs once they had all gotten through security and were waiting to board the flight.

"And you really don't wanna stay here?", Lars asked, smiling a bit at him.

"Nah. I thought about it. Way more diversity of causation in Palm City. Beach City is still pretty weird, even without me constantly monitoring it. Besides, I've been meaning to write my autobiography and complete list of theories and analysis of them, and I figure the best place to do that would be in a bookstore!"

Lars gave a small smirk, "Two authors in the family, hooray," and squeezed his hand, and the other hand reached for Sadie's free arm to gently pet it. She glanced over, "What?", she laughed softly.

"Did you want to stay in Beach City?", he laughed.

"And miss out on my bookstore? Nah," she smiled, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

"What about your mom? She seemed pretty stoked when she met Rosie," he gave a soft grin.

"Yeah, but with her retirement coming up, she'll have plenty of time to come visit us. And make us sack lunches," she teased.

"Yum, my favorite," he laughed, and saw Rosie in her carrier seat, looking wide awake and curious. He prayed that she would sleep during the flight, being stuck between him and Sadie.

His prayers were answered for the first three hours, and he relaxed in his seat, stretching his arm through the crack between the two seats in front of them to mess with Ronaldo and Ellie, who both swatted at him for interrupting their DS Pokemon battle, and he snickered. "Love you too, guys. Don't destroy Ronnie completely, Ellie." Pulling his hand back, he glanced to Sadie, "Is it weird for me to say now I'm glad to be getting back to work?"

"Coming from you? The proud marathon slacker? Yes," she laughed.

"I was thinking...if you were interested, you might want to write a book I could illustrate? Having Rose now, I kind of want to get back into the illustration scene", he smiled at her, gently nudging her arm, "It would be an honor to work with my favorite writer."

"A collaboration with my favorite artist?", she laughed, "How could I say no?"

---

I ended up wanting to type out a short sequelish story to "A Story About Grownups", and this was the result. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Rosie's Chinese name, Mei Gui is sort of a play-on because the Mandarin word for 'rose' is 'méigui'. I mighta messed that up, please correct me if I did!

Anyway, thank you for reading!

(And yes, because Steven is his mother, he got his wish of the baby getting named after him 8'D )