Disclaimer: All characters used belong to J.G. Quintel. If you don't know who that is by now, get your ass out of my story.
Prerequisites: Full understanding all concepts of this chapter will require having seen: S2E27, "Temp Check"

The blue jay collided with the smaller otter, sending both of them to the floor, straddling the mammal's body while holding down his arms.

"What the hell are you doing Mordecai? Get off of him!" Benson screamed in shock and anger.

"What are you saying? Do you not remember what he did?"

"Get off of him NOW!" The gumball machine yelled, his face becoming a bright crimson. The blue jay stubbornly got up and off of the smaller male, refusing to break the dirty glare between him and his boss.

"Benson," The avian began again. "Why is he here?"

"He's here for a job."

"And did you give it to him?" Mordecai asked, pointing at Doug who was just awkwardly standing to the side with an embarrassed look on his face. The otter tilted his hat so that the visor obscured his face from sight; allowing him to feel a bit more secure in the tension.

"Of course I did. We were down one man, so we needed to hire another. Plus he's already had experience working here, and I can promise you he did a lot better than you or Rigby."

"Do you not remember the part where he tried to replace Rigby?"

"I do," Benson stated plainly, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "But isn't that exactly what we need?" The bird could only stand there staring at the gumball machine, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"Why do we need to replace him?"

"Well, seeing as how he's no longer working here..." Benson answered in a smart tone. The avian remained, his face unchanging as he waited for an answer. His boss just let out a sigh. "We're going into bankruptcy; we need as much help around here as we can get right now."

"What?"

"Mr. Maellard has been working very hard lately on stack after stack of paperwork; our financial status has been plummeting."

"Wait, why?" Mordecai asked in confusion.

"We haven't been making enough money to satisfy the expenses needed to keep the business of the park thriving."

"But... Mr. Maellard is a billionaire. Why does he need money? The gumball machine pinched his nose in aggravation, letting out another stressful sigh, and the returning his eyes to the bird.

"Yes, he has a lot of money, but this park is where he gets that money. We've been lacking in visitors, so at this point, he's just losing more to keep this place open than he is making."

"Losing it on what?"

"Workers like you and me," Benson said in a serious voice. "So, unless you want that to change, you best be okay with this. He has spent majority of his life on this park, he isn't going to give it up so easily. Also, how do you think Pops would react to it? Having spent his entire life here, I doubt he'd be able to adapt well." The gumball machine explained. The room was quiet for a while, Skips appeared as if he hadn't moved, or even blinked this entire time. Doug was just shifting around uncomfortably while fiddling with his tale every now and then, anything to avoid eye contact.

"Can't we just call Don or someone over to help?"

"An audit and bankruptcy aren't the same thing, you idiot, you should know that." Benson scolded. "And anyhow, do you really think that he'll want to help us after you ran his brother out of this park?" The blue jay tried to think of something to answer with, but remained quiet. There truly wasn't anything that could be done.

"How can Benson be okay with this though? Replacing Rigby so easily, he needs to have more damn empathy,"The avian thought to himself, then realizing what he was doing. Earlier that day, he had thought to himself about how strong he was doing without the raccoon, yet here he was; utterly devastated when it came time to replace the mammal. Why had it been so easy to just shrug it off earlier that day when he had been talking to Pops?

"I don't have time for this." Benson spat, making his way for the door. "Oh, by the way, real nice of you to ditch work." The avian could only stand there quietly. "Go do your job, and don't lay a finger on Doug. If I find out that you did, so help me I'll hire someone to take your place," The gumball machine slammed the door on his way out of the house, leaving the remaining few inside in a deep silence.

"Well, I'm leaving." Skips said plainly, following Benson's lead and exiting. The blue jay was now left alone with the otter, who continued shyly remain quiet.

"Don't think that you can actually replace him," Mordecai said, heading towards the kitchen to get his list of things to do.

"I didn't mean to offend you..." Doug said, cautiously following the avian into the other room. "We got along just fine last time..."

"Whatever," Mordecai grumbled, crumbling this list in his hand. The blue jay figured that if he ignored the problem, maybe it would just go away.

For the next several hours, the bird worked hard outside in the cold, his sweater proving to be of no true help after a while. Doug assisted the avian with his chores, even though Mordecai had not asked for help. While one would take this a kind gesture, the blue jay couldn't accept it as well; he was definitely taking the raccoon's replacement a lot harder than he had been earlier, so the otter's help was only frustrating to him. Although, he held back, and refused to say anything about it. So, the two just worked through the rest of the day in an endless silence, both refusing to say a word to the other; Mordecai out of refrain, and Doug out of fear. By the time their work was finished, they both let out a tired yawn before going back to the house to join Pops for dinner.

"I'm so overjoyed to have you back at the park, Doug!" Pops said giddily, giving a friendly smile at the otter, who was eating his second serving of food. "I'm glad you like the food too, I made it myself!"

"Yeah, it's amazing, definitely better than prison food." He said with a chuckle.

"I imagine it was quite the unpleasant experience, however did you get out?"

"Yeah, how did you get out?" Mordecai cut in, looking intently on the mammal. Doug sat there quietly, pushing his food around on his plate as the other two patiently awaited a response.

"Good behavior I guess," The otter responded with a fake smile.

"Ah yes, manners will get you far in life," The lolliman said, returning a the smile. The blue jay just sat there, gaze still focused on Doug; he wasn't buying it.

Once dinner was over, Pops took his leave, and the two were alone again. Doug had offered to wash the dirty dishes which he accomplished rather quickly. He then made his way up to the second floor, and knocked on the door to the bird's room. Mordecai soon opened the door, and peered out at the otter.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"Er... where should I sleep?"

"Dunno." The blue jay stated, closing the door again, and leaving Doug in the dark hallway. The mammal made his way downstairs once more, and laid down on the couch. He didn't even bother going to ask for a blanket, ensuring to himself that his clothes would be enough to keep him warm.

Meanwhile, Mordecai lay in his bed, dully looking out the window where dim moonlight shine through. He couldn't seem to get a break, as soon as something good happened, something bad always followed. Things always turned out to be much more difficult than he had expected as well; he couldn't even manage talking to Rigby.

"What did he mean..?" The blue jay muttered to himself as he thought back to what Allan had said earlier that day. Was the raccoon doing perfectly fine without him..? This entire time, he had thought that the striped mammal had completely depended upon him, yet, he was able to move on so easily. He dug his hand in between his mattress, and fished out the pocket watch that was nestled beneath.

"And then there's this problem..." He grumbled, the empty watching shining in the outside light. The bird pulled back the sleeve of his sweater to look at the ruby numbers that shone beneath.

'8:13:21:39'

'8:13:21:38'

'8:13:21:37'

...