A/N: As always, thanks for the reads, reviews, favorites, and follows! I hope you're all still holding it together in the midst of all this chaos.

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I stepped inside Teidoll's house to find Marie and Daisya sitting in the living room. That was what I got for telling Teidoll that I was coming over. It just figured that he would invite the others and turn it into a family affair. Now I'd have to sit through dinner with everyone, and getting what I came for without those two learning about it was going to be incredibly complicated. I knew I could leave and come back at a different time, but I unfortunately had a deadline.

As expected, the very first question that they asked after my arrival was about Allison; two years later, and Teidoll was still way too excited that I had a girlfriend. Telling him that I'd recently had dinner with her extended family was probably not the greatest idea, but it apparently satisfied him enough that he didn't pester me about her any more that night, so it all worked out.

Daisya, on the other hand, did not shut up so easily. He found it incredibly hard to believe that I was the one with the stable long term relationship. But he was easily ignored. Especially once the topic switched to Marie's girlfriend.

I felt a little bad about that, I thought Teidoll already knew about Miranda, but he apparently didn't. Of course that led to me having to explain how I knew about Miranda, and telling them that I'd met her through Allison just brought the conversation back around to my relationship.

Fortunately for my sanity, Daisya left as soon as the meal was over. Marie left not long after, clearly taking advantage of Daisya's exit to make his own. I probably would have left too, but there was a reason I had come.

Expectedly, I got roped into helping Teidoll wash the dishes. Ever since I was younger, he had always insisted that we help with the chores. It was a walk down memory lane that I didn't particularly want to take, as all thinking about Teidoll's parenting style did was make me wonder what my own would be like.

When the dishes were nearly finished, Teidoll finally acknowledged that I had had a reason for coming over. "Now, what was it that you needed again?

I focused all my attention on the plate I was drying, not wanting to see Teidoll's face when I made this request. "You told me once that you have my mother's wedding ring. Is that-"

I was cut off by the sound of a plate shattering on the floor, and I was immediately enveloped in a soapy hug. I tried to make Teidoll let go of me, but it clearly wasn't going to happen. The old man knew that there was only one reason why I would want my mother's ring, and he was overjoyed that I was thinking about proposing to my girlfriend.

The hug only lasted a few seconds though, as Teidoll turned to business unusually fast. He dried his hands and led me down to the storage closet in the basement.

There were a lot of boxes in that room, especially considering the fact that the three of us were all adopted when we were preteens. It was rather amazing that Teidoll had held on to some of that stuff. Then again, Teidoll was a sentimental old artist, so maybe it wasn't hard to believe that he'd want to hold on to those memories.

Teidoll seemed to know exactly what he was looking for in the disorganized mess of boxes. He led me straight to the far corner, where there were three identical plastic bins on the top shelf, each the size of a shoebox and labeled with one of our names. He pulled down the one with my name and offered it to me. "This box contains everything important of yours from before you came into my care. I always planned to give it to you when your memories came back, but I guess I just never got around to it."

Teidoll had a melancholy look on his face as he waited for me to take the box from him, but I couldn't make myself do it. The reminder that there were years of my life that I couldn't remember was painful. I turned away from him and leaned against the wall, trying to block out the hazy memories of Alma that were surfacing. "I still don't remember..."

"Oh. Sorry."

The comforting hand Teidoll placed on my shoulder disappeared almost immediately. I wasn't watching him, but I heard the dull thud of him setting the bin down and the sharp crack of him popping off the lid. He rifled through the contents for a moment, then came the sound of the lid popping back into place and the bin being put back in its original spot.

Teidoll's hand returned to my shoulder and he led me out of the room. As he closed the door behind us, he finally spoke. "I won't pressure you, but you know where to find it if you decide you want to look, ok?"

He held a black ring box out to me, but when I reached for it, he pulled it away. I scowled at him, but the concerned look on his face made my anger fade to apprehension. "Are you sure you want it? If you couldn't handle just looking at that box, maybe it's best if you don't take the ring."

"It's fine."

"Ok. If you're sure." Teidoll handed me the ring box again, but when I grabbed it, he didn't let go. Instead, he clasped his other hand over mine. "What about Allison? Is she going to be satisfied with a second hand ring?"

I snorted at the ridiculous question. "I'm fairly certain that she wouldn't want me to drop a ton of money on a ring. She'd be much happier with an heirloom than something new."

Teidoll laughed, but when he finally let go of my hand, he had the ring box. This time he looked conflicted about giving me the ring; his indecisiveness was really starting to get on my nerves. "I have to ask, what brought this on? You've been dating this girl for two and a half years, you've never expressed any interest in anything permanent with her, and then, out of nowhere, you suddenly decide that you want to marry her. What changed?"

That night after dinner with Allison's family flashed vividly through my brain. That bomb she'd dropped on me was clearly what had changed, why I suddenly felt like I needed to make our relationship into something more tangible. I sighed heavily and turned away from my adoptive father. "... Allison's pregnant..."

It wasn't until I found myself wrapped in a tight bear hug as the old man sobbed into my shoulder that I realized I should have lied. But I hadn't thought of that, which meant spending the next ten minutes in Teidoll's arms as he babbled about grandchildren and how proud he was of me for becoming a father.

Eventually he let go and gave me the ring box. He clasped my hands in his and kissed my forehead. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. And be sure to tell me when you're ready to tell people about the baby so that we can have a party."

He disappeared upstairs before I could respond, leaving me alone in the basement. I turned my attention on the ring box, snapping it open so that I could see the ring; I didn't know what it looked like, and I needed to make sure it was good enough for my Moyashi. The ring was a plain gold band with three small diamonds and a few colored stones around them, the perfect blend of fancy and simple. The sight of the ring didn't spark any memories, but knowing that it was my mother's meant a lot. This was the perfect ring for me to give to Allison. I could only hope that she would accept it without putting up a fight.