Ash's breath hitches, and she stumbles back before turning and running down the hall and out the back door. She can hear Ethan running after her, calling her name, but she ignores him. Breathing hard, she sprints down the yard, snow crunching beneath her feet. Tears are streaming down her face, and she furiously rubs them away with her sleeve. She doesn't stop until she's at the edge of the duck pond, just a few meters from the treeline.

Oh, God. Oh fuck. Fuck!

She had been absolutely terrified that the polyamory Megs and Cara had planned wasn't going to work— that Ethan and Peter would decide to just be together without her— and here she is now. Alone, in the cold. The sun's already set, so it's dark, too.

Despite the snow still falling, Ash barely feels the cold. Or maybe she does— she's shaking, hard, but until now she's chalked it up to how upset she is. It could be the cold.

Either way, Ash doesn't really care.

She sits at the edge of the pond, bringing her knees to her chest and ignoring the way the snow seeps into her jeans, and slowly calms down as she stares at the frozen-over water. Footsteps approach her quickly, and she can tell by the weight and pace that it's Ethan. Ash wraps her arms around her knees, and wipes away her half-frozen tears.

She doesn't want him to see how deeply affected she is.

"Go away," she mumbles.

"Ash, I—" his voice breaks— "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have—"

"I said go away," she snaps, tightening her arms and burying her face.

Ethan doesn't move a muscle, knowing just how bad he's fucked up. He goes to sit next to her, hearing her sniffle.

"Baby, please—"

"Don't call me that," she mutters, flinching away from him, and Ethan sighs, knowing he deserved that.

"Ash, I'm not leaving you," he says quietly. "I love you."

She flinches again, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. The tips of her fingers are practically frozen solid, and her butt is soaked, but she doesn't care. Ethan can tell, and hurriedly sheds his leather jacket off and tries to put it on her. She pushes it off, but Ethan's persistent. Ash eventually gives up, letting the jacket rest on her shoulders.

It's still warm from Ethan's body heat, and her shivering slows a bit.

"Ash, I'm not going anywhere," he whispers, cupping her face with one hand. She's too tired to pull away again, and Ethan takes it as a good sign. "I love you so much," he continues. "I shouldn't have kissed him without talking to you first. I got ahead of myself, and I can never apologize enough for that."

She sniffles, and leans into him. He wraps his arms around her and rests his chin on the top of her head.

"I can tell you like him— or, you did," he says quietly. "You weren't as subtle as you thought you were. Kinda like us before we started actually dating. And um— I like him, too. And he likes both of us, not just me."

"You're suggesting polyamory," she mumbles. "Where we all date each other?"

Ethan nods, pulling back to look at her. "If you say no, then nothing else will happen between me and Peter, I promise," he says softly, pushing hair back from her face. "You're my priority, remember? You and me. Team California."

Ash's eyes slide to the left, looking over Ethan's shoulder to see Peter standing nervously about halfway up the yard. She looks back to Ethan, searching his eyes for sincerity. It's the only thing she finds.

She leans in and presses her lips to Ethan's, and Peter relaxes. He doesn't come closer, though.

When she pulls away, Ash rests her head on Ethan's chest. "You should have talked to me first," she mumbles, "but I can understand getting too excited about something."

"So you wanna try it?" Ethan asks, and she nods against him.

Ethan grins, waving Peter over. Ash shakily gets to her feet, and goes over to meet him halfway. Wrapping her arms around Peter's shoulders, she hugs him close and buries her face in his chest. Ethan comes over and hugs them both from behind her.

After a minute, Ash pushes them both off her. "You're both freezing," she says softly. "And so is my ass… let's go back inside. I wanna put on some dry clothes. Ethan, you probably should, too."

She takes one of each of their hands, and leads them back up to the house. Theo's standing in the kitchen, right by the back door, eyes wide. They'd followed Ash to the front bedroom and had seen the whole thing.

"You're an idiot," they tell Ethan, shaking their head. "But you fixed it, so… um, congrats?"

Ash blushes, and so does Peter. Ethan just sighs, squeezing Ash's hand. She squeezes back in reassurance.

"I'm gonna go change," she mumbles, letting go of both Ethan's and Peter's hands.

Going to the front bedroom, she closes the door behind her and quickly grabs a change of clothes from her backpack. She can feel her heart racing, no longer from anxiety, but rather from relief and excitement.

Things are going to be okay, now.

When she's dry and a little warmer than before, Ash heads back out to the kitchen. Hannah and Tim are sitting at the table, now, coloring some pages that Theo had made for them. Theo's making more, too, their hair dry and colorful. Ethan's braiding it for them.

Peter is the only one to look up when Ash walks back in, smiling shyly at her. She returns the smile, going over to sit next to him at the table and laying her head on his shoulder. Ethan sees, and grins.

Hannah sees, too, but she frowns in confusion, looking up at Ethan. Her confusion only grows when she sees his reaction. She taps the table to get Ash's attention non-verbally, and points at Ethan when she has it.

"It's okay, Banana," Ethan says. "We're, um…"

Hannah's eyes widen in panic. "Broken?"

"No!" Ash says quickly, lifting her head. "We didn't break up, Banana. We just… added Peter."

Hannah mouths the word added silently, still looking confused.

"Sometimes you can love more than one person, Hannah," Ethan says softly, finishing Theo's braid and crouching next to the five year old's chair. "Your sister and me… we love each other, you know that, but we also realized we— we really like Peter, too."

"It's called poly," Ash adds, reaching across the table for Hannah's hand.

The five year old glances between her sister and Ethan, narrowing her eyes at him as Webby explains it softly in her mind. "You hurt her first," she accuses, and Ethan blushes, looking away in shame.

"It was an accident," Ash says quickly. "He didn't mean to, Banana. I forgave him already."

Hannah's hostility lessens as she looks back to her sister again. "Did you thank him?" she asks, which only makes everyone else confused.

"W-what?" Ash asks, tilting her head.

"Long time ago," Hannah explains. "You said Ethan Green could step on you, and you'd thank him."

Ash blushes furiously, while Peter and Theo both snicker. Ethan just smirks.

"Did she?" he asks, and Hannah just nods.

"I—" Ash can't come up with a reasonable response.

"When was this?" Theo asks, and Ash shoots a small glare at them.

"Not helping," she hisses, but Theo just smirks and shrugs.

"Old world," Hannah mumbles. "Group chat."

Theo and Ash both freeze, all playful hostility and embarrassment forgotten. They stare at each other, wide eyed, before looking at the five year old in the same way. Peter and Ethan glance at each other in confusion, and Tim's totally not paying any attention. He's completely focused on the picture of Batman and Robin that he's coloring in.

"I'll go get the others," Theo says, looking at Ash again.

Ash scoops up Hannah, nodding. "I'll grab Dad and Henry. Lab in five?"

"Sounds good," Theo says hurriedly, before rushing off.

Ash hurries off, too, carrying a squirming and protesting Hannah in her arms.

Ethan and Peter just look at each other. "What the hell was that about?" Ethan asks. Tim knocks one knuckle on the table, and Ethan groans, fishing a nickel out of his pocket. "It's a quarter if it's the f-word," he grumbles to Peter.

•~~•

Ted and Henry had been… busy, when Ash had knocked on the door, so she paces in the lab while she and Hannah wait for them to make themselves presentable and join them. Theo, Megs, Cara, and Lucy arrive first.

Ash shakes her head before anyone can ask. "They're c— they're on their way," she says, correcting her own word choice and shuddering slightly.

And I thought walking in on my real parents in the old world that one time was bad enough, she thinks.

Henry and Ted slip in behind the teens, faces a little red and their clothes not quite sitting normally. Ash avoids looking at either of them, which tips off her friends. Megs and Cara snicker, while Theo pulls a disgusted face. Lucy groans. Ash sighs.

"Okay, we need to talk," she announces, and Theo nods.

"Hannah said something in the kitchen a minute ago," they add. "Ash and I think it's important that Ted and Henry know the truth."

"What truth?" Ted asks, looking very confused. Henry zones out for a moment, staring at a space on the wall just behind Hannah, before snapping back into focus.

"Holy sh—" he starts, then cuts himself off. "Fascinating… I have a friend in theoretical physics who would be very interested to know of this."

"Webby just told you?" Megs guesses, and Henry nods.

"None of you know how it happened?" he asks.

"How what happened?" Ted asks, getting slightly annoyed at being out of the loop. Hannah fidgets, and he goes over to hold her.

"We—" Cara indicates herself and the other teens— "are from an alternate dimension."

"Cara, I've known you since you were in diapers," Ted deadpans.

"Physically, we somehow already exist in this world," Ash clarifies. "But consciously, we've only been here since Saturday morning."

"It's true, Teddy," Henry says softly.

"How is this even possible?" Ted asks, starting to look distressed.

"Black and White," Hannah pipes up.

"How does an ugly little monster doll gain a gigantic cult following?" Megs asks rhetorically, crossing her arms.

"How does anything weird happen, ever?" Cara adds.

"So how did you get here, then?" Ted asks. "And how did you already know so much about Hatchetfield if you've never been here before Saturday?" He directs the second question directly at Ash. "And you knew what really happened with Charlotte!"

"Because in our dimension, Hatchetfield is a fictional town from a theatre company called Team Starkid," Lucy says. "We all met through the internet, as fans of this company."

"They've done two shows about the town, so far," Ash continues. "Last year they did The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, and this year they're doing Black Friday."

"Guy is from an alternate version of Hatchetfield," Theo says. "It's about Paul and Emma fighting off the Apotheosis and… inevitably losing."

"Black Friday is about this apocalypse caused by Wiggly," Henry guesses, and all five teens nod.

"Bad blood," Hannah mutters.

"A different version of it, yes," Ash says with a wince. "This exact version of events… is actually from a group chat the five of us were in together. We were role-playing what could have happened after the show ended, with some major changes. For one thing, um… we decided Ted was Lex and Hannah's dad—"

"Who's Lex?" Ted asks.

Ash blushes. "Um… me, I guess. In the show, I obviously don't exist. Hannah's older sister's name is Lex. Ethan was her boyfriend… and he died to protect Hannah from the mob wanting the Wiggly in her backpack."

"So… why did you replace this Lex, then?" Henry asks, slowly getting a little more confused. Webby hadn't mentioned this part.

"Another part of the role-play was adding in ourselves as other survivors," Megs says. "Ash hadn't gotten around to introducing hers yet, but she was playing Lex, so we think she ended up replacing her instead."

Ash blushes again.

"I mean…" Ted trails off, swallowing as he tries to think of the right thing to say. "So none of you remember anything that happened— from a personal perspective— before Saturday?"

The teens all shake their head with varying degrees of rapidness. Ted keeps his eyes on Ash, though, who won't look at him. He steps closer to her, gently holding her shoulders.

"I don't care about some girl you supposedly replaced," he says softly. "I have memories of raising you, Peanut. You are my daughter, no matter what's happened or what will happen."

She bursts into tears, hugging him tightly. He holds her just as tight, rubbing her back. Hannah comes over to join the hug, clinging to their legs and looking up at them.

"M-my parents," Ash mumbles,"in the other w-world… they h-hated me being b-bi."

"Mine too," Megs and Cara both mumble.

"Well, you all have us now," Henry says firmly. "That is, if you'll have us."

"None of them have much choice," a new voice says from the doorway. Everyone turns to see a redheaded woman other than Becky standing there, and Ash gasps softly.

"A-Aunt Judy?" She asks, then sighs when she takes a closer look and sees the purple eyes. "Webby…"

"What do you mean they don't have much choice?" Henry asks sharply.

"We don't have to go back, do we?" Megs asks fearfully. Webby shakes her head.

"No," she says. "In fact, you can't."