They piled into The Secretary's immaculate car, Greg unusually silent as he made an effort not to infuriate her. As soon as Wirt was strapped in, he helped Greg set up the booster seat already sitting in the backseat for him. He then sat back in the seat as The Secretary adjusted her rear view mirror and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

Six and half hours, three bathroom breaks, one stop for a late dinner at a KFC buffet and a stop at McDonalds for breakfast later they were pulling into his dads small Iowa town.

Up until this point the ride had been spent either comforting a crying Greg or crying quietly to himself, but as they pulled up to the long, fancy, driveway Wirt scrubbed his eyes hard. His father was a mean businessperson. It wouldn't do to for him to see he had been crying, mourning for his mother and stepdad.

That would have to come later.

All he had really wanted was good relationship with his dad, he was old fashioned, believing that woman were stupid and useless and the firstborn son was the most important one of the family, because he would follow in his father's footsteps and take over for him when he died, just as he had done with his own father.

Wirt had clear childhood memories of asking his dad to just do things with him, normal father/son things. He had seen a boy his own age playing catch in the park with his father and had begged him to do the same. Dad had only sighed and walked away, flicking a hand at The Secretary and telling her to play catch with him and Stevie.

He had hated every second.

And now, here he was.

No Mom

No John

But he had Greg.

They parked in the garage, and Wirt unbuckled to help Greg out of his booster seat. He yawned, still half asleep, and buried his head in Wirt's chest, whimpering softly. Wirt stiffened. Only a month ago, he would have pushed Greg away, complained to mom that he was being clingy again, but now he only relaxed and stroked his hair comfortingly, mumbling softly that it was okay. Jason Funderberker poked his head out of Gregs bag and gave a soft "rowoar" that Wirt's fairly new skills at understanding animals translated to be a kind of bleary "what" "Stay hidden please" Wirt whispered to the frog. The Secretary did not know about him and Wirt knew the frog would be taken far away and put in a pond or even killed on the spot if his dad or The Secretary or even Stevie found him.

They got out of the car, into the giant, fancy foyer where his father and brother were standing formally in matching suits. (cue mental eye roll on Wirt's part) Greg, his sorrow momentarily forgotten, hopped out of Wirt's arms and ran over to give Stevie a big hug. His appalled expression was really quite funny, as he winced away from the little boy, breaking his impeccable composure. "Hiiiii Brother 'o' mine!" He chirped. "I am not your brother" Stevie said, disgusted. Greg considered that for a moment "Nah, your my brother" Stevie rolled his eyes. He was used to this by now from the summers he had come to visit. Steve cleared his throat and Wirt momentarily hoped he was going to actually say something meaningful, some reassurance it would be okay maybe, or 'i'm sorry about your mother/maria and your step dad/Jonathan'. But he didn't say anything other than "Thank you, Sophie. Steve Jr., please show Wirt and Greg to their rooms." "Yes Dad" he murmured. He turned back towards them. "Come on" they began to climb the stairs as Dad walked into a side room and The Secretary swept after him.

Two days later Wirt stood outside the doors of Elroy High School with his a new school backpack and all the supplies he needed, plus Jason Funderburker so Greg didn't have to bring him to school later, as supplied by The Secretary (Minus Jason of course). Greg was still at home, as his kindergarten class started half an hour after Wirt and Stevie's own school. There was no private school in this town, but his Dad didn't want to put in the work to move just so Stevie could attend a private school and he had grown up here, so Stevie simply attended the local public high school with 'common folk' as he had so eloquently put it.

His brother was a jerk sometimes.

Well, this should be fun.

A/N: Yes, KFC buffets are real things in MN. They are heaven. 10/10 would eat there again.