Gideon knelt in front of his aunt's bookshelf, a frown on his face.

"Hey, Paz? Have you seen my journal? I could've sworn I put it down just a minute ago…"

Pacifica walked into the living room, a can of Pitt soda in her hand. She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips in concentration.

"Hmm…I think I saw it in our room this morning…"

Gideon shook his head, frustrated.

"No, I checked there already…" He sighed, kneeling down further to look under the bookshelf. "And I checked the kitchen, front porch, hallway, Grauntie Carla's room…" He flopped down onto the floor in defeat. "I just don't know where it could be!"

Pacifica's eyes wandered around the room, before she spotted a particular object on the couch. She looked at her cousin on the floor and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe it's on top of the couch about four feet from you." She crossed her arms in front of her and smirked at him.

Gideon turned his head to look at the journal resting on the couch without saying anything. For a few moments, silence filled the room, before he sighed and shook his head.

"Why am I like this?"

Pacifica laughed and sat down next to him, ruffling his hair.

"It's fine, that sorta thing happens to me all the time." Her laughter ebbed as she noticed a book far bigger than the others on the shelf in front of them. Curious, she pulled the book off the shelf and inspected the front. "Hey, Gideon, look at this!"

She turned the book to face him. It was pale blue and patterned with tiny drawings of daisies. It was simply labeled 'Memories'. It wasn't actually a book, per say; it was a very large three-ring binder. Gideon took the book from her, opened it, and grinned.

"Awww, look at this!"

Pacifica scooted closer to him, looking down at the picture he was pointing at. In the picture, three little girls stood on the beach with their arms linked. All three were wearing Easter egg yellow dresses, and all three looked as joyful as could be. The picture was faded, and obviously taken a long time ago, but both Pacifica and Gideon could vaguely recognize the little curly-haired girl in the middle, giving them a gap-toothed grin from across the years.

"Is that really…?"

They heard someone clear their throat behind them. Both kids whipped around to see their aunt standing there, looking amused.

"I see you found my old photo album." She chuckled, sitting down with them.
"Man, I haven't looked through this thing in ages…"

Gideon held up the book and pointed to the beach picture.

"Is this middle girl you?" He asked, smiling. Carla looked at the picture fondly.

"Yep, that's me. That was taken in…wow, 1960. That means I'm six years old in that picture." She pointed to the girl who'd been standing on her right on that day in 1960, a tiny thing with hair as curly as Carla's had been. "Gideon, that's your grandma Crystal. She was three that year…" She then pointed to the third and final girl, who was the tallest of the three and wore very fashionable looking sunglasses and a sunhat. "And Pacifica, that's your grandma Camille, rocking her movie star look." She chuckled wistfully. "She was ten in this picture."

Pacifica stared at the picture with great interest. She had never met her grandma Camille, as Camille had passed away before she was born, so any time she was presented with a photo she hadn't seen, she made sure to pay attention. Carla was still staring at the old picture of her and her sisters, a look akin to sadness on her face.

"You know, Paz, I think you have her eyes." She gave her niece a warm smile and squeezed her hand. Pacifica smiled back at her, genuinely touched by the comment. Gideon looked at his aunt hopefully.

"Grauntie Carla, d'you think you could show us some more photos in here?"

Carla looked surprised but slightly flattered.

"Okay, I guess…I have no idea why you'd be interested in my boring life, but whatever." She took the book from him and began turning pages. Many of the photos early on took place on the beach; it seemed that their aunt had spent much of her youth playing in the sand or the water. Many of the pictures also included her sisters. There was a picture of her and her sisters on their bikes, a picture of them building sandcastles, a picture of them all dressed up in their mother's makeup and jewelry…the three had obviously been very close.

Pacifica and Gideon noticed something strange, however; there was one final picture with her family, one where a teenage Carla was posing with a slightly younger Crystal in a 50s style diner, and then they just…stopped. None of the pictures after that contained Carla's sisters, or her parents for that matter. Neither Pacifica nor Gideon made any comment on this, however, for fear there might be a painful story behind this change in photos. Carla cheerfully continued to flip through the pictures as if nothing was amiss, before coming across one that caused her to burst out laughing.

"Oh, gosh! Kids, this one was taken a week before my first arrest!"

Pacifica and Gideon started, neither sure if they had heard their aunt correctly. She was chuckling to herself. "Okay, let me explain. I rented a room from this guy who I thought seemed pretty trustworthy. Turns out he was wanted in three states, and the cops came busting in at about one o' clock a.m. looking for him! They went ahead and arrested me for good measure…good times. I mean, not really, but you know."

Gideon still sat motionless, shocked, but Pacifica nodded. She didn't know, though. Her aunt was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, continuing to flip through pictures. One picture caught Pacifica's eye, and she put her hand on her aunt's to stop her.

"Wait! Was that Dr. McGucket?" She pointed at a photo showing her aunt at about thirty years of age, her hair pinned back in a high ponytail, sporting a denim jacket and knee-length hot pink skirt. By her side stood a young man with tawny blond hair and small, round glasses perched on his nose. He was also wearing an olive green tweed jacket with the sleeves somehow rolled up to his elbows. They were standing in front of the Mystery Shack, each with one arm around the other. They looked worn out, but incredibly proud.

Carla smiled and nodded. "Yeah…this was taken the day I opened the shack. Fiddleford helped me out with that. Helped me set up shop, lent me a little cash; he even helped me run it for a little while! He's a good man, Fiddleford. And a good friend."

Pacifica and Gideon exchanged a look. They'd had no idea that their aunt and Dr. McGucket had been friends for so long. The kind, albeit rather eccentric man came around the shop practically every other day to check on the family and help out where he could. Though the children sometimes joked about there being something romantic between him and their aunt, they both knew only a strong friendship was there. Apparently this friendship had been around longer than they'd thought.

Suddenly, Carla let out a yawn, followed by a tired sigh.

"Okay, kids, I'm calling it a night. You should, too. I'm giving you ten minutes before I expect you to be upstairs." She handed Gideon the book, stood, stretched, and began to walk out of the room. Gideon flipped through the book a few pages backwards, and his eyes widened.

"Grauntie Carla, is this Mr. Pines in this picture?"

Carla turned around a little more quickly than could be considered casual, and eyed the book.

"Uh, nope. Must be someone else. Go to bed." And with that, she left.

Pacifica scooted closer to Gideon to look at the picture and raised an eyebrow. In the picture, their aunt, about forty years younger, was standing in a diner with a young man. She wore a sunset orange dress, and her hair was in ringlets. The man standing with her wore black pants and a white shirt with red suspenders. He had messy brown hair and a fair amount of stubble; he may have been much younger, but he was definitely Mr. Pines. The two were smiling sweetly at each other, which Pacifica and Gideon had never seen their aunt and her competitor do. They looked at each other with wide eyes, not saying anything.

There was evidently something their aunt wasn't telling them.