Reviews :

chuckiboo : *SCHEMING INTENSIFIES* I can't say really anything without spoiling a lot. I also can't say anything without making it SEEM like there'd even be a lot to spoil in the first place. So whooo knows :D

faolan1230 : Hahaha trueeee. Gideon's mental health most definitely comes in waves. He's at a high for now, but, eh... Yeah, like I said, waves. And, thank you so so so much for the compliments! I know, I love putting all of Kepa's kitty characteristics into the story, I LOVE cats so so so much.

Snake557 : Thank you! YAY okay good! I was worried you guys may get annoyed of it haha

Burgie : Thank you! And yes, absolutely! Kepa finally learns all about her new phone haha.


*Chapter 83*

"Probably the oddest palace meeting you've ever called," Oliver mumbled in a show of gentle warmth, he heaved a grunt and clumsily lowered to a sit on his father's huge couch. Koko cutely plopped next to him as Tessa rounded about the living room furniture and made herself comfortable in an easy stance right in the center of the action, directly before Ralph's and Vanellope's powered off television. Oliver scratched his head and cutely eyed his mother and father as they both eased past Tessa and sat on the other bend of the couch, adjacent Oliver and Koko. Oliver's deep voice pressed on with a wary amount of smiling concern, "...I'm only just now noticing you called all of us Schweetz kids to this meeting, excluding Gideon."

"Wow, I'm shocked you noticed," Tessa meanly mumbled, this caused Oliver to long-blink in a recoil of whole entire surprise at Tessa's words.

"...Excuse me?" Oliver staggered through a quiet chuckle of disbelief, certain he'd heard Tessa wrong, though she firmly shut her yees and shook her head in flustered irritation.

"I'm sorry Ol, I'm sorry... I've had a really bad day, I'm not trying to take it out on you," Tessa rushed quietly as Ralph raised his eyebrows and caught side-eyeing glances with Vanellope, as if to quietly warn the other to tread lightly.

"What happened?" Koko cooed in a downswing of a slump, she tilted her head in a full show of tender compassion for her big sister, to which Tessa inhaled a long breath through her nose and casted her gaze across her siblings present, and parents.

"I know mom and dad are aware of this, and that you two are cued in, but I just had a really hard conversation with Gideon, this morning, and he's confirmed to me that he's not attending Academy," Tessa mumbled, she shook her head and shrugged, "I guess I wouldn't be so bent out of shape over it if it weren't for the fact that... I think we're partially at fault."

"What did we do wrong?" Koko defended in firm, nervous disbelief.

"We didn't do anything wrong, he's just so incredibly sensitive," Oliver firmly retort as he sat up a little and looked as if he was at the end of his rope, with this issue. He flagged his bigger hand and peered to his mother and father, and though they looked to be immediately taking neutral stances on the subject matter, Oliver felt a wall of defenses, for Gideon's sake, stare right back at him, as if he wondered if he should tread lightly. Nonetheless, he powered on with his full frustration, "For User's sakes, you so much as look at the guy wrong, you have any form of an outing WITHOUT him, he's just so sensitive and I'm so tired of walking on eggshells for him."

"He's not home, is he?" Koko whispered in a sharp sting of worry as she tossed her glance over her shoulder and in the direction of her mother's and father's dimly lit corridor, which lead to not only their bedroom, but Gideon's at the end of the hall, as well.

"No, no, he's out with Lash, Mara and another friend, I guess," Tessa mumbled assuredly as she slipped her phone out of her pocket to check for any notifications that declared otherwise, as well as the time.

"Another friend?" Vanellope prod with uplift.

"Yeah, I... I guess he's made a friend, in Turbotime," Tessa sighed, she wanted to smile, she wanted to eagerly reveal to everyone that Gideon had found the infamous lighthouse he had been dreaming of, the center of his musing focus for the past few months, though she largely refrained. She knew this was Gideon's news, though he had very fervently let fly that he had made a new friend, as well as revealed her name, to nearly everyone in this room the night prior. She sighed and peered to her family in forlorn nervousness, "Her name is Kepa."

"Her!" Vanellope chirped in full uplift, to which Ralph lulled his eyes closed and gingerly placed his much bigger hand on the backs of her shoulders, as if to silently tell her not to get ahead of herself; she sagged and curiously peered into Ralph's eyes as she slowly got the hint.

"Yeah, I don't know anything about her, but... I had a talk with Lash, I guess Gideon and Kepa hang out with Mara and Lash all the time, so... She IS real," Tessa huffed a shaky giggle and smiled, "I thought he was bluffing. He sort of spilled the beans about it, to us, last night."

"She IS real, then?" Oliver repeated, having previously doubted this.

"Yeah, she's real, Nox told me, last night, that Lash talks about her, sometimes," Koko nodded and smiled into Oliver's eyes, "Well... I'm glad he's at least making friends, and is brave enough to bring her around someone like Lash, for User's sake."

"I was thinking the same thing, poor girl probably has no clue what hit her," Tessa rubbed the back of her head, cocked an eyebrow and looked off, "I'm trying to imagine meeting Lash without the context of him having Sugar Rush in a vice grip..."

"Surely she's got thick skin, then," Ralph grumbled cutely as he tossed his gaze in Oliver's direction, though he stiffened in billowing agitation and glowered Oliver down upon noticing a rather moody, irritated look on his second born's face, "Hey, grumpy, you just got finished telling us that Gideon is too sensitive and now you're over there pouting. What's the deal?"

"I'm not pouting, I'm just frustrated!" Oliver urged as he gestured his arms and now looked as if he was due to coming unglued. The first person to fervently defend family, Tessa could tell that at the root of Oliver's frustration was a big brother that adored his baby brother, no matter the circumstances, no matter how defensive it looked on the surface, "I always promised Gideon I'd be there for him, I was so excited to have a brother and really shell out what a brotherhood would look like. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters, but... I just..."

"I think we had this cookie-cutter idea of what our sibling-hood already looked like, and when Gideon started to come into his own, unique little character, well..." Tessa trailed off and looked down to her twiddling fingers.

"He threw us a curveball," Koko mumbled shyly; the most cordial and easy-going of the four, it took a lot to get Koko to agree to any negative notions towards anyone. She apologetically looked to their parents and shrugged, "We should just sit him down and ask him what he needs..."

"He'd just say he wants to be left alone," Oliver grunted, "He doesn't give second chances. You hurt his feelings once and it's all over, there's no redemption."

"Oliver, you have to understand something," Tessa urged sharply, "You and I had a whole WORLD of hurting each other's feelings, as children, because, well... We were children. We grew up together, our brain coding hadn't fully developed yet. Whatever was said and done was eventually dropped or forgiven because we both were growing, we both were learning."

"Well, what about now? There are times where you still hurt my feelings, but we talk through it and all is forgiven," Oliver complained, he gestured to his chest and shook his head, "And we're adults. I don't think making mistakes is just a thing for children, Tess."

"I'm not saying that... What I'm saying is, we hurt each others feelings and got past it, as children, because we were learning and growing together," Tessa urged sharply, "We, as adults, have hurt Gideon's feelings whilst he was a child. He trusted that the adults in his life would have his best interest at heart, and though we have made very forgivable mistakes, children are extremely impressionable... He, at a young age, has been able to discern that adults are sharper and smarter, and these types of flippant mistakes shouldn't be made towards someone still growing and learning. He relied on us to treat him right and we failed him."

"What was even done to cause this level of deterrent and damage?" Ralph argued Tessa gently; although his and Vanellope's feet were a bit more stationed in Gideon's camp, they still looked mildly hurt by all of this upset, "Surely just misunderstandings, we should sit him down and right everything, one by one."

"Dad, that list isn't just a simple one-by-one list, I'm afraid, we both got into a heated argument this morning and he only listed a few things, but... I know he's sitting on a whole pile of receipts" Tessa muttered, "Last Christmas when Penny accidentally forgot to make Gideon one of those beautiful stockings she gifted us?"

"She eventually made him one," Oliver argued, Tessa now began to feel the need to glower Oliver down and seat him back in his place.

"How about when he accidentally spoiled your birthday gift and you and Callum made him feel like hot garbage over it?" Tessa urged, to which Oliver now angrily furrowed his eyebrows.

"I didn't do shit, Callum was the one with the mean remarks," Oliver defended.

"How you guys advise I not tell Gideon about Koko's proposal because of said birthday incident? And like an IDIOT I agreed?" Tessa fervently gestured to her chest and shook her head, "The time you booked our summer vacation and forgot to put Gideon on the list?"

"I FORGOT! It was an ACCIDENT!" Oliver now shouted, Ralph gestured his hand to hopefully quell the two, though Tessa clenched her fists and took a daring step closer to Oliver's sat, though still much larger figure.

"How many times are we just going to forget and disregard the poor guy until he TURNS on us?" Tessa hollered, and though it looked as if Oliver was due to retorting, and Ralph was due to stepping in to separate his children, everyone froze and peered to Tessa in a spike of confusion.

"He wouldn't hurt us," Koko whimpered in mild question as she glossed her eyes to their mother and father.

"No," Vanellope urged in a lilt of gentle confusion, to which Tessa now angrily glossed her eyes about her family.

"Listen. I got Gideon's guidance counselor fired from Arcadia today because I'm almost certain the two were beginning to conspire against the lot of us," Tessa rattled as the group fell into a sharper prickle of nervous silence, "I went to Flint's office today to give Flint Gideon's phone number, per Gidoen's request, and Flint had absolutely nothing nice to say to me. Whatever happened in Gideon's childhood, it was all spilled to Flint, and now Flint thinks we're all monsters."

"We need to speak to Gideon right now, then, can you call him?" Vanellope urged nervously, desperate to get to the bottom of this, to which Tessa inhaled a thick breath through her nose, shut her eyes and shook her head.

"No, we... We can't go in guns blazing, we have to just stop and really calculate our next move," Tessa urged, "Not only is he incredibly sensitive, he's incredibly intuitive, his discernment is through the roof. We have to treat him like a crab that has been backed into his shell, we have to do things with him that INCLUDE him and make him feel special."

"So baby him, in other words," Oliver muttered, "Where was this treatment for me and you? For Koko? Not even Ace or Berri or Theo! None of us got babied to THIS extent-"

"It's either we baby him or we LOSE him!" Tessa suddenly bellowed down to Oliver's position on the grid, which ultimately shut everyone up. Oliver stiffened and nervously peered up into his big sister's eyes, Tessa grit her teeth and pointed down to the ground below her, "I don't care if we have to kiss his ass every day for the rest of our lives, what we're going to do is make up for all the hurt we have caused him and we're going to do it with love in our hearts and a smile on our face, god dammit!"

"Baby," Vanellope cooed softly, Tessa's eyes sharply peered to her mother's in a rile of soft desperation.

"I got a reaaally nasty gut feeling this morning, in both Gideon's presence AND Flint's," Tessa stabbed, "I will NOT have some stranger infiltrate the inner workings of our family, like this, not again. I've personally dealt with Flint, and now our next move is to treat Gideon like the royalty he is, the royalty we all have been treating each other, lest Flint get too deep into Gideon's ear."

"So what do you suggest we do, from here?" Ralph wondered nervously, "He'd surely suspect something if we all of the sudden switched gears and ramp up the attention given to him, y'know?"

"Just a slow and steady thing?" Koko tenderly inquired.

"No, it can't be slow and steady, but we do need to pluck him from his daily routine and get him somewhere where an amped amount of attention won't seem fishy," Tessa urged, "I've set up a family stay at our cabin at Honeydew Ridge over the winter break that Litwak's is closed. It will be just the Schweetz kids, mom and dad, and our swap mates. Gideon will likely want to bring Novus, so not to be outnumbered."

"Just us?" Koko lit up a little and smiled, she eased her loving gaze about the group and was the only sunny aura in the room to keep the grid from coming undone.

"Just us," Tessa repeated with a nod, she eyed Oliver and tried not to glower him down, "We ALL owe Gideon an apology, in one way or another. And sure, he's handling this poorly by running off and unfortunately getting his guidance counselor to break his contract and spew hate in my direction, but... We need to do solid groundwork of earning his trust, once more. There's worlds we don't know about him, and I don't care if you guys can't relate to him or think he's maybe a little strange or too sensitive, but we HAVE to center our family, once more."

"...You think maybe it'd be smart if we let him bring Kepa?" Vanellope tenderly wondered, to which Tessa shifted on her lean and looked off in contemplation.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least let him know that he could bring his friend," Tessa shrugged.

"Then he REALLY wouldn't be outnumbered," Koko assured.

"Yeah, but we'd all be there with our husbands and wives, and he'd be there with his FRIEND that just so happened to be a girl?" Ralph rattled, "I think that'd unfortunately do more harm than good."

"Good point," Vanellope snipped in humbled defeat.

"Mom just wants another child-in-law," Koko sneered cutely as she shrugged her shoulders, Vanellope looked off in sheepishness.

"I spoil Emery but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wanted another daughter-in-law to spoil, as well," Vanellope mumbled as she smiled and looked down to her hands.

"What ever happened to Chase?" Oliver wondered as he shook his head, to which Tessa tried desperately not to shoot him a dirty look.

"You'd know if you'd ask," Tessa snipped, to which Oliver's bad attitude rose from the dead and now matched Tessa's.

"I've laid off the bitey remarks, Tessa, knock it off!" Oliver loudly urged, to which she crossed her arms and looked off in pursed frustration.

"Kids, come on," Ralph grunted as he flagged his much larger hand, "Look, I get we're all tense, but let's not jump at each other's throats anymore. We all have played a part in this mess, so let's play different parts and clean it up. You want us to tell Gideon about said cabin getaway, then?"

"Yes, please," Tessa snipped, "It'll look forced coming from me, considering him and I fought this morning."

"How long are we going to be there?" Koko wondered.

"About three nights," Tessa stated, she held up her fingers, "It'll be mom, dad, me, Zed, Oliver, Emery, you, Nox, Gideon and Novus."

"You're not gunna bring Lickity?" Ralph wondered, Tessa shook her head.

"No, I don't want Novus to have an excuse to go off without Gideon," Tessa clarified, Ralph nodded in understanding.

"I don't want to fight, on this trip, Tess," Oliver grunted as he got to a stand; although towering nearly two feet over his big sister, she stood her ground and tried not to glower her eyes up into his honey-brown gaze of warm nervousness, "With you, OR with Gideon."

"Then do better, welcome yourself into his world," Tessa tightly rattled, "I've witnessed the grandness of his imagination at full-mast... It's unlike anything. The poor thing just wants to share his heart with people who truly show care towards him. Although we've given him a fair amount of love, we've all dropped the ball when it's come to fully doing what we can to make our family a safe place for him."

"You gave him that wall, though," Koko urged nervously.

"The wall is simply a monolith of his ability," Ralph's deep voice ushered the group with finalized care, "We have yet to really designate waypoints, in each of our hearts, that signify a spot of safety for Gideon."

"I, too, have seen the extent of his imagination on full display, and as Tessa said, it's nothing short of incredible," Vanellope mumbled in a downswing of regret, "He's brought a very different and strange perspective to this family, one we definitely weren't ready for. This rebelling he's doing is his notice. He's given us ample amount of warning signs that he's due to slipping away, and... I just hope it's not too late."

"How do you start over with someone who wants nothing to do with you?" Oliver begged, to which Tessa caught eyes in the upswing of her annoyed gaze tight to Oliver's, once more.

"You bring humility to the conversation, Ol, I guarantee that you boys will probably have a heart-to-heart on this trip, and I don't want it to include either of you puffing your chests and thinking one is bigger or better or more right than the other," Tessa fervently urged, "If you bring humility to Gideon's feet, he's gunna give you the world back... I made the mistake of rushing into our conversation, this morning, with a bad attitude and he was very quick to shut me out and make me feel as if he was an enemy in the making."

"So, how long is this little friendship with Kepa gunna last, then?" Oliver muttered, "What does this chick have that we don't?"

"Well, for one, she's not family, and for two, she's a brand new individual who knows little to nothing about Gideon's past or how he was as a child," Ralph firmly rattled, "She's a fresh face to start over with. Who knows if they'll get close enough to get into deeper more substantial fights, who knows if she'll go running at the first sight of his vulnerable, sensitive tendencies or if she's hardwired to break past that hard, crabby shell of his. Really only time will tell."

"He's good friends with Lash," Tessa mumbled aimlessly with a shrug.

"Lash now has Mara's User intuition and feminine sensitivity," Vanellope blurt a giggle, "NOTHING gets past that girl, surely all that coupled with the fact that Lash is another guy, Gideon likely feels as if he has it made in the shade. He has a User best friend and a brand new fresh face of a friend, that JUST so happens to be a girl?"

"On top of Mara's familial yet distanced camaraderie and this... Flint character," Koko nervously stated, Ralph lulled his eyes closed and huffed a chuckle.

"Yeah, he's surrounding himself with people he must deem trustworthy. Good news is, two of these four people are not only family, but they're Users," Ralph grumbled, "I'm sure Kepa is harmless, but... His guidance counselor has me worried. We met him a few times, seemed incredibly nice."

"He called the lot of us 'fuckers' today, to my face," Tessa muttered as she used air quotes, Koko sharply gasped and rested her hand to her sternum in full, taken aback disbelief.

"Damn, where is this guy?" Oliver grunted a he put his hands on his hips and bobbed a nod, Vanellope subtly began to crack her knuckles, "Wonder if he'd be brave enough to talk to me."

"Oliver! We wouldn't be IN this mess if it weren't for US having our heads in our asses!" Tessa suddenly cried, causing Oliver to flinch and peer down to her in a slope of humbled surprise, "Flint wouldn't hate us so much if it weren't for us maybe welcoming Gideon to house parties, for us checking up on him the next day after being left out due to his bed time, making sure we kept our word, making sure we didn't miss his events!"

"Yeah, the art show? I know Koko was just proposed to, but you two could've taken time out to go to your brother's show," Ralph muttered in dallying annoyance, "You two SAID you'd meet up with us, but never did."

"We've already talked about this," Oliver muttered in a further downslope of defeat.

"Gideon is marking his own path, he's doing his own thing and he's rallying his own brood," Tessa rattled, she shook her head and desperately looked about her family, "I know we all have been marinating in this whole, amazing sense of normalcy after years of chaos, but... We've unfortunately left Gideon out of it. We need to bring him back into our world, all while genuinely inquiring about his."

"Yeah, from what Lash tells Nox, he paints these incredible pieces on the back of Lash's shop," Koko added with a small smile, "I've been wanting to include Gideon in on my wedding planning. You think that would deter him?"

"NO! He'd LOVE that, he just wants to be noticed and appreciated," Tessa rushed, as if this was a side-quest Koko had suddenly opened up and she was eager to saddle Gideon with said task, "I'm absolutely positive he wants to share his ability with us, we just have to show that we want it. You give him a small bread crumb of want and he will give you the world in return. No one wants to go through life feeling unwanted..."

"Wanting him has never been a question, it's just every single little thing done results in him isolating himself and shying away from conversation, thus making it IMPOSSIBLE to approach him," Oliver urged, to which Tessa sealed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"It's hard, and it's annoying, I know... I KNOW," Tessa firmly gestured her hands and desperately peered up into Oliver's eyes, "But we HAVE to break that barrier. You have to stick your neck out a little. We've really hurt his feelings, and sure, he's hurt ours, but... We have to wrangle him back in. I'm NOT going to lose any more of you, I'm just not. I've spent my whole life doing what I can to keep this whole family glued together, and I WILL NOT let this fall apart from the inside out."

The group fell silent and tenderly peered to Tessa in a softened stance of understanding. She heaved a shaky sigh and tried not to well up, the sheer idea that she had gone such lengths to right wrongs, to bring peace and normality, and with her huge success, along with her children's successes, she squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head and looked down to her opened palms in an aimless show of contemplation. Thankful the group was silent and ready for her final word, as Queen, she inhaled a steady breath and finally eased her glassy eyes about her beautiful family unit. Devastated that Gideon wasn't in her line of sight at this moment, she was eager to get everyone to Honeydew for a vacation that hopefully rebuilt tattered, nearly-burned bridges, that relaxed agitated souls, she was praying this was the medicine her unit needed in this weird and trying time.

"We leave Monday morning," Tessa huffed quietly in soft, certain conclusion, she brought her attention to her parents and bobbed them an authoritative nod, "If you two have trouble getting Gideon to agree to this vacation, just send him my way. I'll make this right."