*Cough cough* "But Simon, I'm *cough* I'm fine!" Simon sighed and pulled Marceline into his lap. "Sweetie, you have to rest if you want to go exploring again soon. Good adventurers need to know when to rest." Marceline folded her arms and pouted. Simon continued, Hey, remember that chicken I caught for us yesterday? How about chicken soup and a song?"

"Ooh yes please" *cough*

"But Mommyyyyy, I'm no-*cough cough cough" "No. Marcie, you are sick, look at how much you've been dripping on your pillow! You need to rest sweetheart."

"But I don't want to! I keep telling you my dreams are weirddd!"

Nicole sighed and pulled Marceline into her lap, as she glanced out of the bunker Porthole. They were lucky they found this place, marauders were everywhere and it was dangerous. It was terrifying to think what would happen to them if they got discovered. "I don't blame you Marcy, my dreams would be weird too with all this scary crap.."

"What" Marceline looked up at her mom. "Oh, nothing sweetheart. Like I told you before, maybe you're just viewing your dreams differently than normal! How about a song to help you fall asleep..?"

"Sure mommy, I guess so.."

Simon opened his mouth and the words flowed out, the same way his mother sang it to him as a child.

"I wish for wind to be free and the flowers to bloom,
the perfect weather to have a nice picnic with you
I want to run cause I want to and not cause I'm scared
I want to relax and spend my whole days here with you"

Nicole opened her mouth and began to sing-

"If I could begin to be
Half of what you think of me
I could do about anything
I could even learn how to love
When I see the way you act
Wondering when I'm coming back
I could do about anything
I could even learn how to love like you"

"How did we get here
tangled up in this scary mess
It doesn't matter, with you here every day is a bright day
A day I wanna try hard and dress to impress"

"I always thought I might be bad
Now I'm sure that its true
'cause I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you"

"Look at you go
I just adore you
I wish that I knew
What makes you think I'm so special-"

And just like that, Marceline was fast asleep with the sweetest smile on her face.

"You're the light of my life
The sunshine of my days..-"

And just like that, Marceline was fast asleep with the sweetest smile on her face. If Simon could've seen inside her head what she was dreaming, he would've laughed and cried all at the same time-

Meanwhile, in Marceline's dream...

"Hahaha, higher mommy! Higher!" Nicole pushed Marceline on the swing a little bit higher. When Marceline had had enough Nicole lifted her up out of the swing and they went to set up their picnic and paused to look around. Once they spotted who they were looking for, Nicole waved over the tall bespectacled man to come join them. "Great to see you again, Simon," she said with a smile.

"SIIIIMOOOOONNNNNN!" Marceline shrieked as she tackled him to the ground. Simon guess what!"

He smiled and adjusted his glasses. Boy, that girl's energy and enthusiasm was hard to match sometimes. "What sweetheart?"

"Nothing, I just love you!"

NOTE: I feel this song fit with Marceline's mom singing to Marceline for two reasons. 1) Marceline's mom was voiced by Rebecca Sugar so 'Everything Stays' was also sung by her, and 2) Listening to the lyrics, it made me think about how hard and confusing at times, especially with Hunson's mostly absence, it must've been to raise a half-demon child. At times, Marceline's mom might've felt like she was inadequate, or a bad mom even because she couldn't fully help her daughter with the difficulties of her development (physical differences, nightmares, demon-related issues). But Marceline loving her mother anyways and feeling she did the best she could, made her feel a lot better, at the same time makes her feel shitty because she sees how sweet and optimistic and trusting Marcy is, and well...how much she herself can't be.

*ALL RIGHTS FOR LOVE LIKE YOU GO TO REBECCA SUGAR.*