William Beardsley wasn't sure that he had ever been this exhausted in his life. But then, he had never captained his father's boat in the name of saving his father and step-mother's marriage, either. He stretched back across his bed, staring at the opposite wall, or, more specifically, at the red eyes that Dylan had spray-painted onto the wall on his side of the room. William sighed, rolling his eyes back to look at the walls that he could claim as his own. Save for a shelf of books above his desk, they were just a blank, white space. After spending so much time around the vibrant Norths – and their decorating preferences – his own space looked drab in comparison. He stared at the blank wall for a second, thinking that since he now knew that they would be staying in the lighthouse for quite some time to come maybe he ought to spruce it up somehow.

But how?

His eyes flickered to Dylan's space and back again before his eyes landed once more on the painted glare, and an idea began to form in his head. He mulled it over for a second before deciding that it might be worth a try. He sprung up from his bed and out of the bedroom, going in search of Dylan.

William finally located his brother behind the house, taking a can of spray paint to a canvas. "Hey, Dylan?" he called out, stopping far enough away that the paint fumes didn't reach him.

"Yeah?" Dylan asked, turning away from his latest masterpiece.

"You know that huge roll of paper you've got?"

Dylan eyed him curiously, saying, "The one that I cut pieces off of to tack up on my easel and paint? The one that I'm using as we speak?"

William barely refrained from stammering as he said, "Yeah, that's the one."

"Well… what about it?"

"Do you mind if I use a piece or two of it?"

The artist nearly snorted, asking, "For what?"

You'll see later," William smirked adding, "But only if you let me use it."

"Alright," Dylan gestured at the paper. "Take however much you want."

"Thanks."

"No problem, bro."

Three days later, Helen North-Beardsley came into Dylan and William's room carrying a basket of their laundry, and instantly yelped in surprise when she saw what had been done to William's wall. While the subject wasn't one characteristic of Dylan the action was, so she screamed for her son, ready to give him the ninth degree over what she assumed he had done to William's space.

"What's up?" Dylan asked, jogging into the doorway of the room.

"That is what is up," she replied, pointing sharply to the wall.

Dylan's eyes widened as he looked at it. "Whoa!"

"So you're going to tell me that you don't know anything about this?" Helen asked.

"I don- Hold on."

With his eyebrows drawn together into a frown, he angled past her and went over to William's side of the room, picking up one of his paintings from off of the floor. No, wait, that wasn't a painting.

"Mom, this is a stencil," he held the evidence up for her to see clearly. "I don't use stencils, you know that. I didn't paint that."

"I did." William spoke up proudly, coming to stand behind Helen as he looked between her and Dylan, then at the navy blue rendition of the eagle from the United States Navy emblem that was on his wall.

"This is the paper you got from me, right?" Dylan asked. "You used it to make a stencil of the Navy emblem's eagle?"

William nodded, asking, "What do you think?"

"Not bad for an amateur," Dylan said with a teasing smirk and eyes that held an almost proud gaze, looking first at the wall and then at William.

"What about you, Helen?" William asked her.

"I think it looks great, William," Helen said with a smile that was probably a little wider than the boys would warrant as necessary.

But the truth was, as she looked between the eyes on Dylan's wall and the emblem on William's she saw more than just paintings. She saw that, while all of the people in this family were retaining their individuality, they were becoming one family at the same time. She saw a sign that they were finally blending.

The first in a series of drabbles/one-shots centered about some of the small signs that the Beardsleys and Norths are blending into one big family post-movie. I'm going to try and include each of the children in at least one chapter. This is my first stab at this category, so I would really appreciate some feedback on how you think I'm doing. Thanks!:)