Betty Deville hoisted her first grandchild up so he could get a better look as he made a very important choice. "What do you think, pup? What would be the best ice cream to have after lunch?"

"Nilla!" Benny proclaimed, pointing at the gallon pail in the grocery freezer. But just as she reached for it he called out, "Starberry!" betty went for that one only for Benny to again call out, "Nilla!"

"He means Vanilla Ice Cream with strawberry syrup, mom," Phil said, leaning against the shopping cart, Petey gurgling from the baby seat. His youngest beat his hands against the fabric cover Phil had put over it, laughing at the funny sounds it made (Phil knew there was crinkly paper in the cover to make the sound… Petey knew it was magic). "We stir it up for him to make it into pure strawberry… easier than getting Neopolitan and ending up with only vanilla and chocolate. And he's not a fan of Strawberry ripple or the like."

"I know what he was getting at, Phil," Betty said with a dismissive hand wave. "Don't forget I raised you and Lil for years and had Chuckie and Tommy and Dil and Kimi and the rest of your friends around. I've learned how to speak toddler." With ease she opened the cooler door and grabbed a pail, hefting it up with a grin. When Langdon, who had been standing off to the side picking out Lil's favorite brand of drumstick ice cream, attempted to grab the pail from her Betty twisted away, placed the ice cream in the cart, and smacked his hand in the span of 4 seconds. "And I've been hauling babies and ice cream around for years! I don't need you coddling me! I'll have you know that just last week I completed my 5th Iron Man competition. Not Iron Woman, mind you… Iron Man. Those silly boys needed to be shown how it's done! So don't you go treating me like some little old bitty!"

"Yes ma'am," Langdon said, rubbing his hand.

"Hmmmpf, call me Betty, okay? You're going to be my son-in-law… right?"

"Assuming Lil says yes? Yeah."

"She better!" Betty complained, looking at Benny who nodded his head in agreement. "If that girl gives up the best man she'll ever find I'll put her in a headlock!" Langdon puffed up his chest a bit at that, glad that at the very least his girlfriend's mother was rooting for him.

"Yeah, and I certainly shouldn't be offended that my mother is discussing my wedding with my semi-serious boyfriend like I was a piece of cattle being sold off in India," Lil complained as she, Gina, and Howard walked over, their cart loaded up with the supplies needed for Howard's birthday party. While most people would have thought it wrong to shop for your own party Howard liked to be involved, picking out the food and such so he could ensure that not only were his favorites grabbed but everyone else's. One too many parties with Didi Pickles odd health food combos taught that lesson well!

"I'm just saying that it's about time you stopped stringing this along and got hitched."

Langdon, knowing his girlfriend, wisely stayed quiet. Thus it wasn't him that Lil turned on, hands on her hips. "Seriously mom, what happened to all that 'female empowerment' stuff you used to teach me?"

"I taught you to be strong and capable… not to be an idiot and shove aside those you love just because you have commitment issues, young lady."

Phil leaned in close to her sister. "She has you there, Lil."

"Quiet Phil," Betty said sternly.

"Yes mom."

Clair, meanwhile, giggled. "That's what I tell yous all the time! Even g'anma knows you silly and she thinks I'm a doggy!"

"You keep thinking you can just play around with people's feelings and one day you'll regret all the days you lost being flighty!" She looked at Benny and instantly smiled. "Come on, let's find that syrup, pup!"

"Okay!" Benny said happily.

"Don't fret, Lillian… your mother just wants you to be as happy as she and I are," Howard said, walking up to his daughter and putting a hand on her shoulder.

Lil smiled and kissed her father on the cheek. "Why do you think I am so picky, dad? I want what you and mom have."

"Everyone wants that, sweetheart, but you can't just wait forever for a sign that you have it. Sometimes you need to just go for the brass ring." Howard nodded at Langdon, who'd taken Benny from Betty so she could reach and grab the syrup from the top shelf. Langdon leaned in close as Benny whispered something before letting out a laugh. "He's going to be a great father, he treats you right, and he already feels like part of the family. So do your old man a favor… when he asks… only turn him down once or twice."

"Once or twice?" Lil said in surprise.

Howard shrugged. "I know you, sweetheart… you'll need a few tries before you feel like saying yes. Just don't drag it out."

"I won't," Lil said, taking hold of her father's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Now before we go check out," Betty said calmly as the whole family regrouped around their two shopping carts, "I have only one thing to ask: what in Steve Yzerman's name is that?" She jabbed her finger against Petey's cart cover, the baby giggling as the material made a crinkling noises.

"It's a cart cover," Gina told her mother-in-law wearily, her and Phil sharing a look. They all knew what was coming now: Betty questioning their parenting methods. "It protects the baby from germs."

"It also makes funny noises and has duckies on it!" Petey declared, slamming his hands against the blue fabric. "Benny, look at the duckies! I'm surrounded by duckies!"

"Cool, Petey!" Benny said; even though his little brother always told him about the duckies when they went shopping Benny knew part of being a big brother was being nice to your little brother. And Petey was a pretty good little brother anyway so he deserved the best from him! Petey always was coming up with games they could play and would use his cute looks to get them out of trouble so always discussing the duckies with him was a fine tradeoff.

Betty, however, wasn't as won over. "Seems like another way to trick parents out of their money if you ask me. Is that another idea from that Lipschitz quack Didi was always preachin' about?" Petey looked up, wondering if there were more duckies.

"No mom, it isn't," Phil said with a sigh. "Do you realize just how dirty and disgusting grocery carts are? Especially the baby seats… babies poop and spit up and sneeze on it and other customers put leaky milk and dripping raw meat and all sorts of chemicals on and in there… it is a major risk to babies so you use the cart cover to protect them. We are able to wash the fabric every trip-"

"With special baby-approved soap and in a baby-approved washer?" Betty snarked.

"No, with Tide," Gina said, her tone making it clear she was annoyed at her mother-in-law's attitude. Normally she could deal with Betty's attitude but already she was coming on far stronger than normal. "Sometimes the generic stuff… depends on what's on sale."

"Be that as it may," Betty said, completely ignoring the glare Gina was sending her way, "I think it is all a waste of money. I put you two kids in the cart all the time and you were fine!"

Lil and Phil just stared at each other for a moment. Finally Lil said, "Mom… we used to eat worms."

"Meh, gave ya your protein, what's your point?"

Clair let out a gasp. "HAVE YOU BEEN FEEDING ME WORMIES! BABY KICK!" She began to thrash.

Phil rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We aren't exactly the barometers of a normal baby."

"Pssssh, you two were fine! I man, yes, you got sick a few times and neither of you technically graduated from daycare because you kept getting the flu and one doctor almost named a disease after you two-" Langdon and Gina shared a look at that, startled, "but I honestly think you are making too big a deal of this. Besides, I bet Petey would love to ride in the cart without being surrounded by fabric."

Betty stepped forward to remove the cart cover only for Petey to let loose a wail, flinging his body over the cover. "NOT THE DUCKIES! WAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAA!"

"He likes duckies, granma!" Benny called out over the sobs, Langdon doing his best to ensure Benny didn't freak out like his brother.

"Save the duckies!" Petey continued to cry, thrashing about wildly. "Waaaaa! Waaaa! Waaaa!"

"Betty, stop it!" Gina said, moving to try and comfort Petey. "He likes it… that's all that matters."

Betty just shook her head. "Just proves my point… it's not about the germs, it's about him likin'em."

Phil growled as he looked around, spotting a stuffed yellow mallard sitting on a shelf. It didn't matter it was a chew toy for dogs… he needed something to calm Petey down. "Look buddy!"

Petey let out a gasp. "A DUCKIE!" He instantly stopped crying and reached out and to his shock his daddy actually let him GRAB the duckie! He could hold it! Give it a hug! And it squeaked hello! This… this was the best day of his life! Petey cuddled the toy, murmuring softly. "Benny! I get a duckie! You want one too?"

Benny looked at his dad. "Petey wants me to have one too."

Howard moved and grabbed a squirrel chew toy and gave it to Benny. "Here you go. Remember the squirrels we fed last time you visited?"

"Yes! T'ank you!" Benny said loudly.

Phil, Lil, and Gina all glared at Betty, who just stared at them, confused. "What?"

"Mom… why can't you accept that we might know things you don't?" Phil asked. "My job involves looking at bugs and slime and plants… I also know some stuff about germs. Gina is a doctor. Langdon knows the law. Lil… shoots people."

"Thank you Phillip," Lil muttered.

"We might know what we are talking about."

Betty just shook her head. "You're just makin' mountains out of molehills. Ya worry too much about the pups and waste your money on things you don't need."

"And you're an idiot that thinks I'm a doggy!" Clair shouted. "First time you pick me up I'm spitting up in your mouth! And stop hurting duckies! I don't know what they are yet but I bet they are smarter than you!"

Phil opened his mouth to say something everyone would regret when another cart almost collided with him.

"Oh, I'm sorry there," the woman pushing the cart said, blushing in embarrassment. She looked at them for a second, eyes widening in surprise. "Betty Deville?"

"Mrs. Hanover!" Betty let out a laugh. "What a small wolrd! Kids, you remember Mrs. Hanover, don't you?"

"How could they forget, considering how much time they spent in my office?" Mrs. Hanover said with a chuckle. "Phillip, Lillian, good to see you both. What are you two up to?"

"We-" Phil began only for Betty to cut him off.

"Ah, ya know. These wild pups are always getting into mischief. Running around, playing in the dirt…"

"I'm an FBI agent, mom," Lil reminded her.

"I have two doctrines," Phil commented.

But their mother ignored them, happily talking to Mrs. Hanover until Phil and Lil finally decided to walk away.

"Uh, kids?" Howard called out.

"We'll see you at the checkout, dad," Lil called out. "Assuming we're old enough to do that on our own?"

Howard grimaced and shut his eyes. "This is going to be a fun birthday…"

~MC~MC~MC~

"Oh, just look at him!" Didi cooed, lifting Louie up high, causing the baby to giggle in delight, chubby little legs kicking as he laughed. "He looks just like you when you were a baby, Tommy." She brought Louie down so she could rest him on her hip, tickling his tummy and earning another peel of laughter. "All he needs is a blue t-shirt. In fact I'm pretty sure I still have a few of your old shirts in storage…"

"You have twenty of them, Deed," Stu said with a laugh, settling into his easy chair, Brian sitting on his knee. "Remember, we won a lifetime supply of those things?" He shook his head. "That was the weirdest contest ever."

"Wait," Tommy said, "THAT is why I always wore the same shirt?"

"We weren't going to let them go to waste, champ."

Angelica frowned."I just assumed it was some weird parenting method."

"Didn't you wear the same dress?" Kimi asked, Angelica ignoring her.

Dil raised a hand. "Then why did I get stuck in the purple shirt?" He pointed to a picture of him and Tommy from Dil's first birthday, him wearing a violet t-shirt and a diaper while Tommy wore a yellow shirt and blue overalls.

"Someone threw Tommy's red t-shirt into a load of the blues," Didi said, shooting Angelica a look.

"Hey, to be fair…" she trailed off before sighing. "Okay, I have nothing."

"That was very naughty, mommy!" Melinda said, sitting on Kira's lap and playing with a necklace her grandma was wearing. "But its okay because forgivey-nessies is the moistest importantest part of the healing pwocess! That will be two cookies and a sucker! See Katrina to pay your bill!"

"Such a little charmer," Kira said, running her fingers through Melinda's hair.

"Yeah, you two will be beating off all her suitors with a stick," Chas said with a laugh.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Chuck complained. "I am NOT looking forward to that."

"Brian, why would they hit Melinda's boobers with a stick? Mama says not to hit!"

"I think boobers are monsters," Brian said sagely. "Bad ones that live under sinks."

"But not like Gabe, right?" Louie asked, concerned. "We feed him our food in the sink!"

Brian nodded quickly at that. "Gabe lives IN the sink, not under it."

"Aaaaah. Okay!"

"I can go get some of the shirts now. I saw them while I was packing up." Didi got up, murmuring to herself. "Now maybe there is one in your size Tommy…"

"Mom, that's okay!" Tommy called out, not wanting to 1) Force his son to go through the same thing he had and 2) do a 'twins' photo with Louie because that was just creepy.

"Packing?" Dil asked, elbowing Angelica. "Told ya… divorce, remarry, incest babies."

"Yes, you keep saying that!" Angelica hissed. "And why do you seem excited about that?"

"And look at you sport," Stu said, bouncing Brian on his knee. "Getting so big… you must be an utter handful, right? Taking after your daddy and your uncle?" The 18 month old smiled up at his grandfather, neither of them noticing the watery smile that flashed on Steph's lips. It didn't matter how many times she saw them it seem made her heart clench when Stu and Didi treated Brian no different from Louie. It didn't matter that he wasn't related to them by blood. That her sperm donor (because Steph wouldn't even give Tony the honor of calling him 'father' even if it was to state he was Brian's birth father) had walked out of her life when she refused to get an abortion and Dil had swept in and not just grown to love her but had loved Brian as his own. Dil had been there when Steph had given birth. Held her hand and encouraged her to push. When Brian had come into the world at 2:12am kicking and squawking Dil had been the first person she allowed to hold her son. And a month later when Dil had slipped up and said that he was Brian's father Steph had been the one to agree without a second thought, his smile brighter than the sun.

Didi and Stu had embraced Brian as their own, same as Louie.

So screw Tony's parents only contacting her a month ago demanding she 'see reason' and let them raise Brian because she was traveling and they had a stable home and they were sure they could get Tony to come around and be a father to his son. Tony didn't have a son. Dil did.

"He's actually rather good for us," Dil said with a smile. "When we have to film he stays real quiet and he knows when to stay put if we are in areas that aren't exactly safe for babies."

"You aren't risking him and Louie, are you?" Didi demanded, shooting her sons both The Look. "I know your jobs are dangerous-"

"They are perfectly fine so long as they don't get into mischief," Tommy assured her. "And Louie and Brian are very good about being safe. They never wander off."

Louie tilted back so he could look at his cousin. "Should we tell daddy about the shiny rocks we found in that cave?"

"Nope!" Brian declared, thinking back to the treasure hunt the babies had done in Africa… in a diamond mine. And the 3.5 million in diamonds that were currently hidden in one of Brian's socks in the bottom of his toy chest.

"Well, I really do think I should get a picture of Louie in your old blue shirt," Didi said. "Remove his socks and put that on and I can recreate that old photo I have of you playing with your Reptar doll. Oh, that would be so cute!"

"Mom…" Tommy said, still weirded out by everyone trying to get Louie to be a little clone of him.

Stu though spoke up, saving Tommy from that headache. "Deeds, don't bother. You packed all that stuff away and it would take far too long to find the clothes. We want to spend time with the kids, not undo all our packing."

"Well… I suppose you're right," Didi finally admitted. "And we do need to work on lunch."

"And I want to show everyone the latest project I'm working on." He looked over at the guys and grinned. "A giant Thorg figure… they were only produced for a few weeks before they were taken off the market… something bout terrifying kids or something… lawsuits and all that. But a Thorg collector managed to snag one and wants me to get it back to mint condition."

Tommy and Chuck for some reason they didn't quite understand both shuddered at the same time.

"Stu had been really into this," Chas said with a smile. "Talking about it non-stop."

"Hey, it reminds me of my robot Reptar, that's all. Though hopefully this one won't, hehe, almost eat Dil."

"What, what now?" Dil asked in confusion.

"Yeah, that was a thing," Angelica said with a shrug. "You almost got eaten."

"And… why am I just hearing about this now?"

"Well, I think we should start on lunch if we hope to eat before supper," Kira said, smiling as she adjusted Melinda's bow. She was already making quiet plans to convince Didi to let them swap off after they ate, as she wanted to spend some cuddle time with Louie as well. "It is rather late."

"Uh… guys?" Dil said. "Almost eaten by a robot?"

Kimi waved her mother off. "It's fine, mom. We are still jet lagged."

"Well, let's all get started," Stu said before looking down at a smiling Brian. "Though, I think it might be a good idea to put these tykes in the old playpen… between the cooking and what I'm doing downstairs might be better if they are kept nice and safe."

"Robot… baby Dil… almost consumed?!"

"You know," Tommy said, frowning as he looked at the old playpen from his childhood, "I don't think that's a good idea. Maybe I should stay with the kids."

"What are you talking about Tommy?" Chas asked his son-in-law.

"Robot-"

"Yes, yes!" Angelica said, rolling her eyes. "You almost got eaten by a robot and Tommy destroyed a priceless fossil! Move on!"

"We never really liked the playpen," Tommy said. "And according to Angelica we were always escaping it."

"It's true," Angelica said, turning away from a still jaw-dropped Dil. "I swear that you guys spent more time outside of it than in."

Didi though shook her head. "That simply isn't true. You guys loved spending time in there. Oh, we let you out to play-"

"They escaped, Aunt Didi," Angelica insisted before nodding to Chuck, who lifted up Melinda and began to pat her down.

"What are you doing?" Kira asked, bemused.

"Checking for tools," Angelica stated as Dil and Steph did the same for Brian and Kimi and Tommy inspected Louie. The babies giggled and laughed as their parents opened their diapers to make sure nothing was tucked away in them. "Screwdrivers, little wrenches…"

"Oh come on, you're just being silly!" Stu said grabbing the babies and depositing them into the playpen.

"He's right," Chas said. "Don't you keep Melinda in one of these all the time?"

Chuck shook his head. "Our 'play pen' is built directly into the floor, is made up of a padded mesh, is too tall for the babies to climb up, and has no latch. Oh, and we also have people around 24/7 to keep an eye on the kids since some of them come to us with emotional problems."

"Well its just these three and they'll be more than fine," Stu wagered.

"Dad, don't blame me when they escape," Tommy said even as his father grabbed him and dragged him, Dil, Steph, and Angelica down to check out Thorg while Kimi and Chuckie went to help Didi and Kira with getting lunch ready.

"Did I almost die any other time?" Dil whined. "Wait… did Tommy really almost let monkeys eat me?!"

Louie and Brian looked at the playpen, curious. "What is it, Brian?"

"I think it's a fencey… but insides the house!"

"Why?"

"Uh… because they are painting it?" He poked at a spot where the original paint was chipping off.

Melinda though giggled and toddled over to the soft cloth bag of toys Didi had left in the playpen for the babies to have fun with. "It's a playpen! Mommy and daddy have one at work! Except its squishy there."

Louie studied the pen carefully, giving the wood slats a wiggled. And just like his father and mother before him Louie took in the playpen and all it meant and came to a conclusion. "This… is awesomes!"

Brian was just as delighted. "It's a fort for babies!"

The living room dissolved away and the three little ones found themselves behind the protective walls of a western fort, a flag flying with a bottle on it making clear that the fort belonged to them. Outside the carpet had become a desert with the couches and chairs high plateaus. Within the walls there was a place to rest, and a little saloon, and even a stable for horsies.

Melinda, dressed in a fine suit, walked around before nodding to herself. "I can set up my clinic here! Help lots of peoples!"

Brian nodded, now outfitted in a cowboy outfit, adjusting his hat. "But we have to makes sure the fort is protecteded."

"Yeah!" Louie, in a similar outfit, declared only to blink. "Uh… from who again?"

"Them!" Brian declared, pointing to a pillow that Dil had accidently knocked to the ground, which now appeared to the babies to be a herd of buffalo. "Batten down the hatches!"

Utterly entertained, the babies soon lost themselves in a rousing game of cowboys.