Lawrence smiled down at his nephew, the little boy bouncing in his seat as they waited for the bell to finally ring.

The Halloween party had gone perfectly well, despite the initial worry and the heart attack that ghost - Desiree, he'd learnt later - had almost given him.

(He'd made sure to offer her flowers as a thanks, Jasmine more than happy to play the mailwoman for him.)

Now, as november began, there was another event to celebrate.

Little Nathan, named after his great grandfather Nathanael Lancer, had been living with Lawrence for three years now, ever since his parents had died in a car accident.

The 7 years-old had been excited for this particular day for months. Each day, he would ask when Uncle Law' would finally bring him to the 'grown-up school' and show him how good of a teacher he was.

His nephew was simply adorable.

Finally, the bell rang, and his students began pouring in the classroom, chatting between themselves, and only a few noticing the child sitting beside their teacher.

Samantha and Tucker came in last, Daniel nowhere in sight, but Lawrence was now used to the chronic tardiness of his student, and left the door open for him.

"Good morning, class. As you may know, today is a special day for us teachers, as it is the only day through the year where we are allowed to bring our children to work."

The class hummed in agreement. They did knew of this day, even though it had been cancelled the previous year, because of the still new and unknown threat of spirits.

Thanks to the new shield, the event had been scheduled again this year.

"As such, I'd like to introduce you to my nephew, Nathan. I hope you will behave and show him how studious and responsible high-schoolers, yes ?"

The students nodded, a collective smile in the room as they greeted and welcomed a blushing child into their group and Dash (Lawrence had never understood how the name Howard could melt into this particular nickname) volunteered to go fetch an extra desk for the kid.

When he came back with the furniture, he was followed by an exhausted looking Daniel, and two other people.

Lawrence blinked heavily, as he recognized the child that had reminded him so much of the youngest Fenton at the beginning of the year. They were dressed in a similar way they had been that day, same beanie, same hoodie, darker pants and what seemed like new shoes.

Their presence besides Daniel confirmed two things : they did knew each other, and they did look eerily like each other. If the age difference wasn't as clear, Lawrence would even dare say they looked like twins.

The other silhouette… now they were a frightening site.

Tall, dark and brooding. Long pitch black hair tightly braided, resting on their chest, almost to their navel. A thin, almost emaciated face, giving off an older look than the person probably was. Clothes a dark palette too, except for the bright, space-themed belt they sported around their waist, holding up their dark green, torn jeans.

Lawrence didn't question their eyes. They were blue, similar to Daniel and his little twin's, but he didn't miss the red circle around the iris.

All in all, they looked like triplets, all pulled from a different time of their lives.

After a minute of observation, Lawrence shook himself out of his surprise and contemplation, to turn his attention back to Daniel.

"Mr Fenton, could you explain please ?"

"Well, this is 'Bring your kids to work day' today, right ?"

"Indeed Mr- Daniel. That doesn't explain the presence of your friends however."

The smile he got for that was just a little too toothy and sharp for his liking.

"Well we're celebrating the holiday with you all ! I brought mine !"

"I- … Nevermind. Mr Baxter, could you accompany Mr Fenton to go fetch two more desks ?"

Lawrence didn't question Daniel anymore throughout the day, and asked his colleagues to do the same.

They would probably not obtain any kind of straight answers, only headaches inducing ones, and they wouldnt be anywhere closer to the truth.

But he didn't ask the two guests to leave either.

It'd been a long time since he saw that kind of joy on Daniel's tired face.

And if those Ellie and Van were responsible for it, he wouldn't be the one to chase them away.