Oh. The length consistency didn't last very long at all. The next one goes back to being 1500 words, though, don't worry. Whoops, this one's a little longer.

Oh, if anyone's curious, this story takes place in October of 2034. Normally I wouldn't bother deciding something so specific for a fanfic, but it actually really helped out with details to make the story more interesting, (days of the week and such for example,) so I thought I'd share.

Finn's POV

As expected, Stacy had trouble falling asleep that night.

The Cozy Cone room she has gotten from Sally had two beds and a pullout couch. Stacy and I shared a bed, as did the girls. Leland had the couch to himself. He wasn't very happy when Stacy accidentally woke him up while setting up the couch, but he was happy about the privilege of sleeping on it alone.

I could hear Stacy tossing and turning, sighing to herself occasionally, while I stayed absolutely still.

Eventually, she gave up, realizing she wasn't going to be drifting off anytime soon. For a moment, I thought she was simply getting up to use the restroom, but I heard the door to the motel open and close.

I sat up to see that Stacy had gone outside. Glancing over at the children and seeing they had not been disturbed, I got up to follow her.

She didn't even jump at the sound of the door opening.

"Stacy?" I spoke quietly. She didn't answer, so I walked up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. She didn't even flinch.

"Stacy, what's gotten int—?" I turned her to face me, and she fell, limp, to the ground.

"Stacy?!" I dropped to my knees and turned her over. She was pale, and her eyes were closed.

Her eyes then shot open to reveal glowing red ones. "Stacy's gone," Stalker Siddeley grinned at me, and laughed.

Breathing heavily, I sat up in bed.

Good Lord...

I looked to my left to see Stacy sleeping soundly. I put my head in my hands and tried to steady my breathing.

I didn't get any more sleep that night.

...

No POV

The next morning, Finn and Stacy dropped their kids off at the café with some cash for breakfast and asked Mater to keep an eye on them, while the two of them went to visit Siddeley.

Brooke opened the door. "Uncle Finn...? Aunt Stacy? What are you guys doing here?" She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned. She seemed a bit annoyed she had to be out of bed somewhat early on a Saturday.

"Who is it, Brooke?" They heard Becca call, thought she had a pretty good idea.

Becca walked into the foyer and smiled. "Morning," she said. She was wearing jeans and a green tshirt as opposed to her usual attire.

"Hey." Stacy smiled back. "Long time no see."

"Yep." Becca agreed as Brooke left upstairs to get dressed—or maybe go back to bed. Probably the latter, although Becca hoped otherwise.

"Can I get you anything?" Becca asked. "Coffee, breakfast..." She listed, unsure of what to offer.

"Some coffee would be wonderful, thank you." Finn smiled.

"Great," Becca nodded and went back into the kitchen, Finn and Stacy following after her.

"What about you, Stacy?" Becca asked.

"Actually, um, do you have any tea?" Stacy awkwardly asked. "I, um, I can't drink coffee."

Becca sort of snorted. "What, does Finn say you're not allowed? Does it make you too hyper?" she grinned.

Stacy shuffled her feet and wrung her hands. "No, it, um, it makes me sick."

"Ah." Becca shrugged. "Yeah, we've got some. You can look for yourself if you want, uh, tea bags are on the second to top shelf in the pantry."

Stacy nodded her thanks and went to search where she was directed.

"Where's Siddeley?" Finn asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"He was in the shower right before you got here. He should be done soon." Becca explained, pouring Finn's cup of coffee. She set it in front of him, then took the seat on the opposite side of the table. "Where'd you put the kids?" She asked.

"Gave 'em cash for Flo's," Stacy replied as she stood deciding over some boxes of tea.

"I should send Brooke down there." Becca said, more to herself than her company as Stacy made her way over and sat down next to Finn.

The room had fallen silent except for the coffee maker and the clinking of glass as Stacy stirred her beverage. The stairs creaked, and they all redirected their gazes to Siddeley coming down the stairs.

"Hey," he greeted. Stacy and Finn politely smiled.

"We came as fast as we could," Stacy reassured him.

"I know. What time did you get here last night?"

Finn sighed. "Late."

"Did you guys get any sleep at all?" Becca asked.

"I don't even know," Stacy admitted as she downed more tea. "Probably."

"A little." Finn agreed.

"Finn, I'm sorry..." Siddeley took a seat across from his friends.

"It's not your fault, Sid." Stacy cracked a smile. "But, so... What exactly happened...?" She asked, brushing some hair behind her ear that had fallen from her bun.

"Brooke?" Becca called.

"Yeah?" Came their daughter's voice from upstairs.

"Your cousins are at Flo's, do you wanna go join them?" Becca suggested.

"Sure," Brooke said as she made her way down the stairs. She still looked tired, but eager to spend time with the other kids. She smiled at her parents, opened the front door and was gone.

"Be safe!" Siddeley called before the door shut.

"Sure thing, Da-a-ad!" She obliged, once again awkwardly holding out the "A."

"When does she get off for break?" Stacy asked, ignoring the strange way she addressed her father.

"In a few days. Kinda weird that it starts in the middle of the week, though." Becca shrugged.

Siddeley sighed. Becca took his hand in hers and they exchanged a glance. She softly smiled at him, as if telling him to go ahead.

"Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call." He began. "That's what I told you, that he called me." Siddeley's voice was trembling.

"Sid, what exactly did he say?" Finn put down his cup of coffee.

"J-just two words," The volume in which Siddeley spoke lowered tremendously. "He said, "hello, Siddeley"."

"Is that it?" Stacy asked. Her mug of tea was shaking slightly in her hands. "Just... Hi?"

"It means he's here... Or going to be here..." Finn leaned back in his chair, his hand over his mouth in thought.

"So, basically just, 'Yo Siddeley, sup, I'm comin' to visit and you can't do anything about it, haha'?" Stacy raised an eyebrow. Finn lightly elbowed her, receiving a quiet, "hey…" from her afterwards.

"What exactly do we do?" Becca asked. "It's not like we can prevent this, right...?"

"We could salt—"

"No." Finn shot Stacy a look. "We're not salting the windows.

Stacy crossed her arms. "Okay, so but did we ever find out exactly what he is? We got the main idea, but it could work on him...!"

"He's not exactly a ghost, Stacy." Siddeley sighed. "Besides," he looked over at her. "How do you know that superstition works, anyway?"

Stacy opened her mouth to reply, then closed it.

"...Holy water, then."

Finn groaned.

"I don't hear anyone else coming up with ideas!" She snapped at her husband.

"What about Andy?" Finn asked. He turned back to Sid and Becca. "Is he still here?"

Siddeley and Becca looked down at the table, around the room, anywhere except Finn and Stacy.

"...he's... not still here, then..." Stacy gathered.

"You could say that..." Becca was twiddling her thumbs.

Stacy and Finn started at their friends, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Oh, my god." Stacy suddenly gasped. "He isn't...? He's not... gone, gone... Is he?"

"No, no," Becca quickly reassured. "He's alive and well, he just... Um... How do I explain this?"

"He mutated one of his cats and had to leave town." Siddeley cut in.

Stacy was first to answer. "...oh."

"Well..." Finn wasn't sure what else to reply, either.

"Yeah..." Siddeley cringed.

"But, I mean... He didn't take all his inventions with him, did he?" Stacy asked.

"No, I don't think so." Becca shook her head. "We can check later."

"Sounds good." Finn nodded.

"In the meantime," Stacy stood up and sighed. "I'm gonna make sure the kids aren't giving Flo too much trouble. Thanks for the tea." She smiled.

"No problem," Becca told her.

"Finn?" Stacy turned toward her husband.

"I'll stay here and chat with Sid, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. I'll call you if I need anything." Stacy smiled.

"See you soon!" Becca called after her as she left.

"Yup!" Stacy agreed and was gone.

…

"You're sure that's all he said?" Finn asked once again.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Siddeley sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

"I understand." Finn looked at the ground.

"Bet this must be awkward for you." Siddeley cracked a smile. "Remember when you didn't believe me about this? Now we're here talking about it without even greeting each other like old friends." He chuckled darkly.

Finn sighed, though his mouth was crooked in a half smile. "Yeah. Interesting how that worked out. We didn't, though, did we?"

"No." Siddeley agreed. "How are you?"

"Fine." Finn mused. "You?"

"I'm good. We're good. Brooke's good, too."

"Good, good." Finn nodded.

"So many 'goods'... And your kids?"

"They're fine." Finn smiled.

"And Stacy's doing okay?" Siddeley looked over at his best friend.

Finn sighed and looked down at the floor. "She was." He admitted. "Now she's... We're... Scared."

Siddeley let out a deep sigh. "I know the feeling..."

"Stacy's really worried about the kids." Finn explained. "And the... Doors." He added. Siddeley shivered.

"I feel the same way. Brooke is so young... She shouldn't go through what we did. None of the kids should."

"What should we tell them? They're already curious why we're here." Finn pointed out.

"I don't know." Siddeley shrugged. "To be honest, I thought Stacy would've come up with a story by now.

"Trust me, she's been trying." Finn laughed quietly. "Everything she comes up with would sound exciting to the children, though."

"Yeah, probably. I'd try telling them you're on a mission, but they'd want in on it. And what else would you tell them, you're helping me with supernatural activity?"

"They wouldn't believe us." Finn smiled.

"Maybe just say it's something boring. Like..." Siddeley sighed.

Finn looked at the analog clock on the wall. "I should probably get going." Finn announced.

"Yeah," Siddeley agreed.

"Who else have you told about the call?" Finn asked as he rose to his feet.

"Besides Becca? Just you two. Becca was gonna tell Flo later."

Finn nodded in understanding. "I don't know if we should make everyone aware or keep them in the dark for a while..."

"Let's keep it to ourselves, for now. We'll tell them if we need to." Siddeley suggested. Finn nodded.

"What about Cammie?" He asked.

"I called her... But I didn't... I mean, not really..." Siddeley frowned. "Should I?"

"If you think so. I'd say she deserves to know."

"Yeah, but... I don't know. She's busy with school, and..."

The two friends glanced towards the window when they heard faint thunder in the distance.

"Hm..." Siddeley hummed. "That's weird."

"A bit, yeah..." Finn agreed. "Alright. I'm going." He announced with a sigh.

"Yeah." Siddeley nodded. "If we don't see you later, we'll see each other again tomorrow morning to check out Andy's old place."

"Sounds good." Finn nodded again, and after saying goodbye to Becca, left.

"Her eyes then shot open to reveal glowing red ones. "You must have misunderstood. SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?""
yes I'd like to formerly apologize I just think of Chara whenever I think of red eyes now okay I'm sorry I'm Undertale trash forgive me
currently laughing for 50 years

It's crazy that I'm actually like making progress and posting this story. Like. For like 3 years now this fic has just been a huge continuous story in the notes on my phone. And people are actually ENJOYING it? It's crazy, man.

Reviews make me very very happy btdubs