Meanwhile, in the basement...

Stanley Pines worked down into the basement, reading every note about the Portal he could get his hands on his brother kept. He grumbled and cursed, not understanding a lot of what his twin babbled on about. He only had one of the Journals and the other two are somewhere in the whole stinkin' town. Carla came down the stairs, bringing him a cup of water and a sandwich to sate the hunger and thirst he must be feeling.

"Stan?" She gets his attention, wiping his brow with a sigh. He sees the beverage and food in her hands, thanking her.

"Thanks, Hotpants. Poindexter has really thrown me into a loop here." He eyes at the physics books and tools, his eyes growing heavier by the minute from sleep deprivation. He really has no clue what he's doing, "He's so much smarter than I am... while I'm a-"

"Don't you say it, Stanley Pines." Carla cuts him off, knowing exactly what he's going to say, and she won't stand by while he berates himself, "You have made plenty of mistakes, true, but your heart has always been in the right place; even Colombia, I knew you were trying to do it for me and the twins - along with greed. You have always been good to me and the children we made, and I couldn't ask for a better man than you." Her eyes turned to the portal, her expression turning to a smile in hope, "And what you're doing here is an incredible feat, but you can't do this alone. I, as well as the kids, will help you through this and get Ford's ass back here! You two are long over due to make amends." She looks to Stan with eye filled with love for him, lightly kissing his lips.

Stanley was taken back by what she said, he couldn't help but to set the drink and food aside to give her a big hug. He whispered in her ear, his voice full of emotion only her could hear, "You and the twins are the best things to happen to me... I don't deserve you all." He couldn't hold back the tears he usually hid from anyone else, only for Carla and his kids could he truly be himself, not the persona he displays to suckers.

Carla whispered back, "You deserve to be happy..." She lightly touched the back of his shoulder where the burn still stings him, "Let me check on that wound. Can't let it get infected from all the sweat, now." She got the water and medicine to apply to the burn, she can tell it was going to leave a permanent scar. She talks aloud, "If I were there, I would have made you two stop and clam your asses down, and give Ford a piece of my mind."

Stan couldn't help but to laugh a little from her comment, "You're one amazing woman. Did I ever tell ya that?" He grins to her.

Carla giggles, finishing up mending Stan's wound, replacing the old bandage with a fresh clean one, "Always, Stan." She hugs him from behind, his hands touching hers, "You really need to get some sleep. I'll see what I can do here in your place."

Stan rubbed his eyes, he couldn't deny it any longer, accepting that his wife is right, "Alright then... I really do need sleep. When I wake up, I'll get right back to work on this." He slowly got up from where he sat on the cold floor, helping up Carla from off the ground.

"Okay." She simply said. Then it hit her when realizes something important, "Oh yes, the kids. They're outside playing in the snow, but it seems they've been gone for awhile."

"We should call them inside; don't want either of them sick."

The couple walked back upstairs and to the front door of the house, when suddenly, they see the kids come back with nervous smiles on their faces, having something to hide. However, they quickly took notice the items - and extra kid - they have with them.

"Look what we found!" The twins spoke in unison. Stan and Carla didn't know how to react at first, but the coaxed the trio inside from the cold. The twins could see the questioning looks their parents were giving them, James and his sister do their best to explain.

"We can explain." Jessie spoke, rubbing her arms for warmth.

Knowing they can't lie to their parents, who have to lie for a living, telling them about the bunker and Shifty. Jessie reluctantly gave the daggers to her mother, her catching them in her daughter's deep pocket. Shifty sighs, giving back Jessie her parka and revealing his true, amorphous form, anticipating them to scream in fear. Stan and Carla freak out at the sight of young creature's intimidating, putting Shifty's guess to light. Carla letting out a brief scream. James and Jessie nervous smiles change to a frown in fear for their new friend.

"Holy Moses..." Stan rubs his head, the lack of sleep not helping him process all the information, "I'm gonna need to lie down for awhile. When I wake up, we're gonna need to talk more about this. Right now, I need sleep."

Carla pats Stan's shoulder, "I'll talk to them, honey." She gives Stan a kiss on the cheek, the man showing a smile before he goes to the couch and collapsing on top of it to sleep, snoring as he does. Carla takes a deep breath as she closed her eyes for a moment, turning her attention to the kids, "Okay, I can see you two are not joking about this. And sorry about the scream, Shifty... we're still getting used to all these strange things, Ford stored up in this house."

Shifty nods, seeing her point, "I can turn into something less scary if you want... I'm really good at it, but I can't change into large things yet." He morphs between a dog, butterfly, and then into the young boy he appeared as earlier, not feeling accepted.

Carla sees this saddening the boy, shaking her head and kneels down to Shifty's level, "You don't have to, dear. We want to get used to the real you, just need to be someone else in front of other people that aren't so. We're your family now and that's never going to change from here on out." She offers a motherly smile, being genuine. "Now about that hot chocolate; I haven't forgotten. Do you like hot coco, Shifty?"

Shifty nods, feeling better, "Oh yes! I'd love some hot chocolate, please. I can eat a lot of things, beans being my favorite, but I'm tired of eating beans for now. " The three kids and Carla made their way into the kitchen, Jessie giving James a high-six in success of Shifty getting accepted into their family by their parents. The young shapeshifter drinks his hot chocolate in one gulp when it cooled, not having had it in a good while.

Carla sits at the table with her twins and Shifty herself, needing a break, "So Shifty, would you know anything on how the portal works? And would anything from the bunker help us?"

Shifty thinks for a moment, he wasn't allowed into basement when Ford, Adeline and Fiddleford were working on the portal project for safety reasons. He shakes his head, "No, Daddy wrote everything about it in the journals. I wasn't allowed in the basement when they were working down there. Momma and Daddy would tell me about it some about their progress. I don't think stuff from the bunker would help either.. I'm sorry miss." He lowered his head.

Carla nods, understanding he doesn't know, "It's okay, Shifty. We're working with what we got to bring back your father. You can call me aunt Carla, dear." She looks at the Journal 3 in James' arms, carrying it with him like a favorite toy, "And thank you both for finding that Journal, it will really help with this. Now we just need the second one... But let your father and I worry about it. It'll turn up somehow."

James was reading through the journal as he drinks his hot coco, being careful not to get any stains on the pages, "This is really far out what uncle wrote and drew in here. He's even seen ghosts that appeared to him! Not all of them do that. Maybe when dad is not using the first journal, can I read it along with this one, mom?" He hands her the journal, knowing they're going to need it.

"I think that would be okay, I'll let your dad know. For now, you three can spend the rest of the day inside and play board games." She picks up the empty mugs, placing them in the sink to clean in a bit.

"I know of a good game we can all play." Jessie got up from her seat, excusing herself to head upstairs to the attic room where her and her twin have been sleeping in. James leads Shifty to follow Jessie to the room. There, Jessie picked out the game 'How to deal with Life: 80's edition' from the pile of board games that were found in the closet.