It was finally the day Pietro was being released from the hospital, and Violet and Wanda were waiting by the front doors to greet him. Violet held a few balloons in her hand. She couldn't resist picking up some helium balloons from the grocery store for the occasion, but now, standing outside the hospital, she kind of wished she hadn't bought them. The brightly colored balloons (of which there were three) were attracting a bit of attention.

Violets thoughts snapped back into the present as a nurse wheeled a silver-haired man out the hospital doors in a wheel chair. Wanda immediately rushed over to her brother, smiling. Violet followed at a slower pace, feeling a bit of apprehension at meeting the brother Wanda talked about so much.

Pietro and Wanda were talking fast in a language that sounded almost like Russian. Violet approached them and stood behind Wanda awkwardly. She nodded at the nurse as he walked away, not bothering to talk to them at all. After a few minutes, Wanda straightened up from where she had been kneeling in front of her brother (who was still confined to the wheelchair, a fact he clearly resented), and made the proper introductions between her long-time brother and her newfound friend.

"Uh… I got these for you." Violet said after she was introduced, and held out the balloons.

"Thank you." said Pietro, taking them from her outstretched hand. He held the balloons awkwardly, unsure of what to do with them.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence while people entered and left the hospital through the doors beside them. They probably would have stood there for a while more if Wanda didn't break the awkward silence and suggest that they return to Violet's car. They spent a while trying to fold up the wheelchair and fit it in the trunk of the car, which was, unfortunately, not that big. After a few minutes of trying, they gave up and Wanda suggested that they just leave it in the hospital.

So, after Violet deposited the empty wheelchair in the hospital waiting room, the three superheroes got into Violet's car and she drove away from the hospital. They were glad to see it go. During the entire ride back to the Parr's house, Pietro was plastered to the window, taking in everything he could about this strange new world he and his sister had somehow ended up in.

After quite a while of driving (the hospital Pietro had been taken to just happened to be all the way across the city from the Parr's house), Violet finally turned into the driveway of her parent's house and was so surprised by the unexpected extra car in the driveway that she almost slammed on the brakes. Instead, she parked in front of it.

But she knew who was here at the Parr's house. Violet could recognize that obnoxious shade of lime green anywhere.

Dash was home.

By the time Violet had gotten out of her car she had thought up a dozen questions she wanted to ask Dash about what was more important than visiting family. But then she realized her mom had probably already asked all the questions she could think of and more.

By the time the rest of the people had all gotten out of the car, the front door swept open, and out stepped Dash in all his golden-haired glory. Violet wanted to punch him. She was feeling particularly violent today and she didn't quite know why. She made a mental note to hit a punching bag (with Dash's face on it) later.

"Violet!" Dash grinned cheekily, and walked up to her as if he was going to hug her. Violet stepped out of his reach and glared at him. She considered crossing her arms, but that would seem too childish. It was then that Dash noticed the two people standing awkwardly behind his sister, their hands brushing (for comfort). "Hello," he said, stepping past Violet and holding out his hand, "My name's Dash."

Violet huffed and stood there, ruffled, as she often was when Dash was around. Before she could interrupt Dash and bring Wanda and Pietro inside, her mother appeared at the (still open) door and shouted into the front yard. "Hey, are you all going to come inside, or are you just going to stand out in the garden like a bunch of lawn ornaments?"

"Well, that is my cue to leave." said Dash as he started walking backward towards his car.

Violet wasn't letting him go that easily. "Why? We just got here."

"I've already eaten lunch."

Violet lost her train of thought. "What does that have to do with anything?" she said, crinkling her nose in confusion.

"Your sister's right." Mrs. Parr supplied from the doorway. She stepped out onto the porch to let Wanda and Pietro through (Wanda had decided this was not a conversation she was interested in, so she was taking Pietro on a tour of the house).

"She's always right." Dash muttered under his breath.

Mrs. Parr gave Dash a look that made him shut up. "When is the last time we've been together as a family?" Dash started to say something. "Christmas doesn't count." she replied to his unspoken question.

Violet nodded, glad her mom was taking her side for once.

"I have a ton of homework and… projects and stuff. I don't have time." Dash said.

"Well that's too bad. I made chocolate cake." Mrs. Parr said, smiling and turning as if to go inside.

"Did you say cake?"

Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting at the kitchen table, each with a piece of chocolate cake. It was triple chocolate, with chocolate chips baked into the cake and chocolate icing on top. The general consensus was that it was amazing.

Dash was shoving cake into his mouth faster than was humanly possible. His right arm was only a blur. Wanda and Pietro almost stopped shoving cake in their mouths to watch him eat. The rest of the family (Jack-Jack had joined them when he discovered there would be cake and was now sitting beside Violet, totally engrossed in his slice) was unaffected.

"Alright, that's enough." Mrs. Parr said after Dash's fifth piece. "If you eat anymore you're going to have a stomachache."

Dash sighed, but he knew all too well how true that statement was. It had happened often enough when he was younger. He would eat a ton of food at once and be bedridden for the rest of the night. "Fine." he said, pushing his plate away from him. The others were still consuming cake. Mrs. Parr was still on her first piece.

Dash made a move to get up from the table, but his mother put a hand on his arm and told him to wait until everyone else was finished. "It's the polite thing to do."

Dash knew she just wanted him to stay a bit longer, but he sat back down.

"So why did you come home now?" Violet asked between bites of cake.

Dash just shrugged. "I couldn't find something. Thought it might have been left here, but I can't find it."

"What did you lose?"

"His favorite pajama pants." supplied Jack-Jack.

"I thought you just lost your spatula." said Mrs. Parr.

Dash looked at his mom quizzically. "Why would I need a spatula?"

"To cook with."

"I don't cook."

"Well then I hope you marry someone who can."

"His girlfriend can't cook." said Violet.

"Break up with her." advised Jack-Jack.

"Just learn to make noodles. You can eat noodles for all three meals." Pietro said jokingly.

Wanda almost slapped him on the arm. "No you can't."

"At one time the only thing you could make was noodles."

"But noodles are so bland!" exclaimed Jack-Jack.

"I hate noodles." Wanda muttered. Only Pietro heard her.

"White rice is bland too, but you like that." Violet said to Jack-Jack.

"That's different. Rice doesn't have the consistency of slightly damp laminated cardstock."

"Only mom's noodles taste like that." said Dash.

"Excuse me?" said Mrs. Parr, "My noodles are amazing, just like everything else I cook."

The three Parr children all turned to look at her, disbelief written on their faces.

After a few seconds, Dash turned back to Jack-Jack and continued the conversation as if their mother hadn't spoken. "I know some great Chinese restaurants that have amazing noodles. I'll have to take you sometime."

"Maybe we can all go, and I can taste those noodles that are apparently so much better than mine." Mrs. Parr said.

Dash was about to speak when the door flew open, revealing a mud-coated figure standing on the welcome mat. It took them a while to recognize it as Mr. Parr. A very muddy Mr. Parr.

(Pietro was unsure of who this new person was or why he was covered in mud, but Wanda didn't seem scared, so he didn't worry about it)

"Is that cake?" asked the muddy giant in the doorway.

He almost stepped into the house, but Mrs. Parr got up and stared at him. "Oh, Bob." she said sounding exasperated but slightly amused. "What was it this time?"

"Did a kitten get stuck in a gutter?" shouted Dash from his vantage point in the kitchen.

"How would a kitten get stuck in a gutter?" asked Violet incredulously.

"If it was small enough…" said Wanda.

"But then it would just climb down the pipe and get out." Pietro added.

"No, it wasn't a kitten in a gutter." said Mr. Parr as he was taking off his muddy shoes, as instructed by his wife.

"Then what?" asked Jack-Jack.

Bob waved off his wife's warning of what would happen if he got mud on anything, made his way over to the kitchen, and looked at the group of superheroes sitting at the kitchen table. Violet noticed a twinkle in his eye she hadn't seen since he caught the thief that had been pickpocketing people at the park.

"I just fought a supervillain." He said mysteriously.

Did I seriously just write an entire dialogue about noodles?

I think I did.

Apparently Jack-Jack really hates noodles.

Who knew?

Also, yay, Pietro's back!

So I have decided to screw my updating schedule and update every few days if I have a chapter written. Hopefully this won't change the consistency of my updates, they'll just be on different days. School is really stressful rn, so I might not update as much. Sorry if I don't.