Chapter 2

"Hey Ferdie, can you hand me the sand paper?" 26 asked as Oswald stepped into the garage. He closed the door behind himself as he took in the box car sized Viking ship almost complete sitting on saw horses. Ferdie passed his cousin the rough paper before going back to the varnish he was panting onto the wooden boat.

"This little boat's coming along nicely," Oswald complimented, stepping closer to look inside to see two planks for seats stretched across the inside. In the center was a strangely white piece of PVC. He looked over at where he remembered the mast last, it on the floor with newspapers under it as the PVC got a brown coat of paint drying. "26," Oswald started, turning to the bunny working on smoothing the bow of the ship. Two blue ears peaked over the edge of the ship, showing he had his son's attention. "Is the pipe connector gonna get painted?"

"Not until the paint dries on the mast," 26 admitted, his ears dropping out of sight as he went back to his work. "Wanna make sure the color's right first."

"Good thinking," Oswald praised, pleasantly surprised. "Anything I can help with?"

The sanding stopped for a moment as the boy thought before saying, "Actually, can you see if the mast is dry? We painted it a couple of days ago."

Oswald stepped over to the mast and carefully touched it with a finger. After a couple of tentative dabs at it he deemed the base to be dry and made his way up the mast to find it had completely dried. "It's good," Oswald announced.

"You think 102's finished making the sail?" Ferdie asked as he stepped back from his work to look it over.

"Maybe, he's fast when it's just basic stuff," 26 said.

"With the way this is going, we might be able to test her out before Uncle Mickey gets back!" Ferdie exclaimed.

"Maybe not that fast, but you are making good headway," Oswald warned.

"Could you go see how 102's doing?" 26 asked.

"You are repaying him for this, right?" Oswald asked, eyeing his son as he stepped around to the bow.

"Yes Paw," 26 drew out, looking up at the rabbit. "I promised him he could be on the first ride out in the Oseberg."

"Okay, Oswald said, remembering the child's past offenses. "I'll go see how he's doing."

"Thanks Paw," 26 said, resuming his work.

Oswald threw Ferdie one last glance before leaving the garage. Making his way through the ever busy house he headed upstairs and towards the room that had originally been designed as Ortensia's craft room. Like with Oswald's garage, any of the kids that had started using any of the equipment used the rooms as well. Cries of excitement caught his attention as he passed by the game room, getting him to peak in. A smile pulled at his cheeks as Morty leaned forward towards the screen with a controller in his hands with 64 cheering him on.

3 turned towards the door, the one closest, and smiled at Oswald. "We found our last player! Morty's great!"

"Maybe now we can try to compete!" 84 exclaimed with a large smile on her face.

Oswald left them to their game to head to the next room. Poking his head into the craft room he quickly found 102 sitting at a sewing machine with a burgundy cloth going under the needle. Ortensia was sitting at the scrapbooking table, the table hidden behind what looked like half of the sail as she manually checked through the stitches. "How's it coming along?" Oswald asked as he walked over to stand behind his son.

Focusing on the needle and his hands, 102 said, "We're almost done. Once I finish this and double check it's right, we'll sew the two together and make the loop so it can be put on the mast." He stopped and looked up at Oswald as he asked, "They're not ready for it yet, are they?"

"Not yet," Oswald reassured. "Anyway, you're not under a deadline."

"Maybe not, but I wanna get it done before Morty and Ferdie leave," 102 admitted, going back to sewing. "It's supposed to be 26, Morty, Ferdie, and me on the first ride out."

"Even after Uncle Mickey gets back they'll still be in town for a while longer," Oswald pointed out.

"It's just easier to do it while they're both here," 102 threw off.

Oswald gave his son a glance before stepping over to his wife. He put a hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table so he could lean over her shoulder and give her a kiss on the cheek. Keeping his voice under the sewing machine's hum he asked, "Did 26 tell him to hurry?"

"Not to my knowledge," Ortensia said in the same level of whisper. She kept to her work, moving the cloth as she checked the stitches, as she added, "This project seems to be straightening him out some."

"That's good to hear," Oswald said as he stood straight. "So you think by tomorrow this'll be ready?"

"Most likely," Ortensia said with a nod of her head.

"Alright, guess I'm going back downstairs," Oswald announced with a groan, pressing his hands into his lower back to give it a stretch.

"The exercise is good for you," Ortensia said with a laugh.

Oswald gave her a smile, knowing she was right. He left the craft room and retraced his steps back to the garage, listening into the conversations he passed. He put his hands in his pockets, content about how happy his family seemed to be today.

"I can't believe you guys got to be in those shorts," Ferdie said as Oswald stepped back into the garage. "They were more dangerous then."

"Didn't you and your brother end up in some of Uncle Mickey's shorts?" 26 asked, neither looking up from their work.

"A few but not anything like your first one was like," Ferdie said.

"You've seen the old shorts?" Oswald asked, surprised.

"Oh hey Paw. What'd 102 say?" 26 asked.

"Probably by tomorrow," Oswald relayed.

"Good, by then this thing should be ready to float," Ferdie said, sitting the varnish down on the workbench. He grabbed the lid and used a hammer lying beside it to close it up.

"Hey, it's not just a thing," 26 defended. "The Oseberg was a karves longship that could be used in war."

Ferdie let out a laugh as he said, "You're starting to sound like 49."

"What!?"

"I doubt he'd know anything about Viking ships," Oswald tried. "Anyway, everybody's gotta have their thing."

"And you'll take anything other than being a troublemaker?" 26 asked, eyeing the rabbit as he rose from his work on the bow of the ship.

Oswald looked at his son a moment in surprise before finding his tongue. "You could put it that way, sure," Oswald admitted finally. Taking the parenting role that had appeared he added, "You know your mother and I just want what's best for you."

"I know, I know," 26 threw off, walking over to where Oswald kept the sheets of sandpaper. He slid down the one he had been using in the folder with the rest of them before turning to look at the almost finished boat. "Shoot, how're we gonna get this to the lake?"

"I've already figured that out," Oswald threw off. "Just gotta get your mother's okay."

-.-.-.-

Oswald poked his head into the guest room, having told his children good night he looked for his nephews. He found Ferdie sprawled out on the bed while Morty was putting away something in their shared duffle bag on the floor. "Is he asleep?" Oswald whispered, throwing a thumb at Ferdie.

Morty rose to his feet and looked at the bed, giving a sound of confirmation. "I think he should've been a cat."

"Some people just need more sleep," Oswald said with a shrug. "Sorry you two got stuck sharing the bed."

"It's okay, Uncle Oswald," Morty said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

Oswald leaned against the doorframe and asked, "So how was your day? I think I saw your brother more than you today."

"Fun, I guess," Morty said. He put his hands behind himself to rest on as he eyed Oswald. "I played a lot of Smash. 64 really wants me to join their second team so they can try e-sports."

"Would you wanna join them?" Oswald asked.

"I don't know," Morty admitted. "I mean, I still like playing real sports and after the summer I could only be a part of the team through online. It just seems like it might be too complicated." His eyes flew open as he quickly added, "Don't tell them, please. I don't wanna ruin the end of their summer."

Oswald looked at the boy for a moment, recognizing the pleading look in his eyes. "You know they're gonna feel as bad whenever you tell them."

"It's not like I've already agreed to it," Morty pointed out. "I told them I had to ask Mom. But I'm sure she'll tell me no."

"Don't let your mother's voice in your head make your decisions for you though," Oswald tried. "Something I try to get into your cousins' head all the time. Figure out if it's something you really wanna do. If you really wanna play Smash with them and compete, you gotta make that decision on your own."

"It's just…" Morty stole a glance at Ferdie before saying, "I don't wanna get my hopes up and Mom says no."

"What if she does say yes?" Oswald pointed out. "If you don't ask, you'll never know. I mean, I'm pretty sure if you asked to go sky diving on your own or something like that, you probably would know she'd say no, but if you had good enough reasons and pointed them out civilly, you might at least get her side of why. And don't just whine 'why', that doesn't get anybody anywhere."

"Is this what you tell your kids?" Morty asked, raising a brow.

"Kinda," Oswald said with a shrug. "Sometimes they've gotta ask both of us- like with 26 and his ship. He and Aunt Ortensia haven't ever seen eye to eye so when he asked if he could, he did it in the wrong way. But to me he could explain what he wanted and, besides the cannons Aunt Ortensia turned down, the ship's turned out how he wanted."

"Some of your kids don't like you?" Morty asked in surprise.

"There's four hundred twenty of them," Oswald stated, eyeing the young mouse. "There's bound to be personalities that don't mix. Think about all the people that go to your school. You don't like all of them."

"I don't even know all of them," Morty pointed out.

"And now you've got the size of a small school in your family," Oswald said with a smile.

"Too bad you couldn't've given them all real names," Morty said with a yawn.

"You brush your teeth?" Oswald asked, pushing himself away from the doorframe.

"Minty fresh," Morty said, pushing himself off the bed.

"I'll lift your brother if you'll pull back the sheets," Oswald said, stepping up to the sleeping mouse. Carefully he put his arms under the limp form, lifting him up so Morty could do as he was asked. Laying Ferdie back in bed, he pulled up the covers before looking over at Morty to see he was putting himself in the bed. "You want me to tuck you in?" Oswald whispered.

"No, I'm fine," Morty said, pulling the blankets up to his neck. "Good night, Uncle Oswald."

"Good night," Oswald said with a smile. "You know where we are if you need us." He gave Morty one last glance before leaving the room, pulling the door to behind himself. He headed over to his bedroom, surprised to see Ortensia already there laying out her night gown. "Didn't think I took that long," Oswald joked as he stepped over to his closet. He pulled out his pajama pants and turned to look at the cat, worried at the lack of a response. He caught his wife turning her head away from him, digging out worry in his stomach. He tossed his pants onto the bed and stepped over to Ortensia, silently putting his arms around her. He gently pulled her head to his chest, petting the fur there as he felt her silent crying.

"I can't…" she breathed out.

"Yes, you can," Oswald said, gently.

"I'm not," she mumbled, rubbing the back of her hand passed the tears to wipe them away.

"No fair, I haven't even said it yet," Oswald said, looking down at the top of her head. "And you are. You're the strongest person I know."

"I can't even tuck my own children into bed," she mumbled as a fresh wave of tears rushed her. "I can't keep acting."

"Do you want me to check on the kids real quick?" Oswald checked.

"No, I asked 11 to handle it," she said, her voice clearer as she stated fact.

"Good, she's a good girl," Oswald said, moving his hand down to rub Ortensia's back. "You want me to fill up the tub? You need some relaxing time. Isn't that what your councilor suggested?"

"Yeah, okay," Ortensia said, pushing herself away to give him a nod.

"I love you," Oswald said, his arms still around her. "Don't forget that."

"I… I don't," Ortensia said.

Oswald tried not to let it show but it hurt when she couldn't say the words back to him. He knew it just meant she had gone numb and didn't want to lie to him. That in itself meant something to him, which is why he worded it as he did. He planted a kiss on her cheek as he let go to walk into the bathroom.