Hi! Sorry for the cliffhanger, we are evil :3 Hope you enjoy, drawings in deviantart :D Check my tumblr too if you want!
It was there! Bill! Bill was back! They were in danger! They were all going to die! He was going to die! He couldn't take it anymore!
The bat was swung…
But the hit never came.
CCCCRACK!
Sebastian's eye was glowing a bright red as he grabbed the bat just a few inches away from Zully's head. The bat snapped. Ford blinked. When did Sebastian get here-
Seb's entire body was shaking, his brown hair was slowly turning red. He snarled. "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" His voice boomed.
Startled by the shout, the babies all began to cry, which only agitated Seb even more. Ford scrambled away, wide-eyed and gasping as his brother advanced towards him, growling loudly. His arms turned black with golden marks and from his snapping and breaking torso, long clawed yellow arms surged out, along with sharp teeth and long black tongues.
This all happened in just a few seconds, and when the rest of the family got there, Ford had been lifted up by the throat, squeezed, squeezed tightly, and the broken bat was held in one of the black arms. Ford gasped as he was slammed against the wall. "Sss-Seb-!" He tried to speak as he was choked. Sebastian snarled again, lifting Ford away from the wall and throwing him across the room. Ford slammed into the other wall and gasped for air, coughing. But he wasn't clear yet, Seb ran over to deliver a punch to his face. "YOU!" Once he started, his fist started hitting automatically.
Carla and Melody skirted around the men to scoop up the crying babies and get them to safety. Shermie, Stan and Dipper tried to pull Seb away from Ford. It was pretty difficult. "Seb! Calm down!" Stan grunted as he strained against his brother's monster form. "Shermie! Dipper! Get Ford outta here!"
Ford's nose was bleeding, he looked dazed and in pain, he was muttering things under his breath. Dipper quickly ran over and grabbed his arm to swing around his shoulder. Dillon ran over to grab his other arm. Which was good because Shermie couldn't let go of Sebastian, the former demon had almost broken free from Stan's grip. The two athletic brothers struggled to hold Sebastian back, getting pushed a little across the ground as Sebastian tried to make his way to Ford again. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
Ford had a dazed look in his eyes, paralyzed with fear and trapped in a flashback of one of the many times Bill had tortured him.
"Seb! Please stop!" Shermie grunted as he pushed against his brother. He didn't know what this scary demonic form was all about, but he knew that once Seb calmed down, he'd be devastated if he hurt Ford. (Any more than he already had, at least.)
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" The monster screamed as he struggled to break free. "I'LL KILL YOU YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF INSIGNIFICANT SHIT!" No one was going to touch his children! NO ONE! If he hadn't Seen! If he hadn't felt the sudden need to check on the kids! This-this stupid ASSHOLE would have hurt his daughter!
"Dammit Seb! The kids are fine!" Stan gasped. "Zully's fine! She's-!"
"HE TRIED TO KILL MY BABY!" Seb shrieked, straining and clawing at the air, trying to get to Ford, who was being dragged out of the room by Dipper and Dillon. "I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"
"Seb! I'm sure Ford didn't mean to-!"
"AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET HIM HURT THEM!" Seb screamed. Stan sighed. He wasn't listening. He was too angry. Dipper and Dillon were struggling with Ford too. The man had fallen to his knees, and was just babbling incoherences and crying. Stan let out a startled yelp when Seb freed himself with a new pair of arms and threw himself over Stan and Shermie, landing in front of his oldest brother, who just started screaming, terrified.
"BILL IS BACK! WE DIDN'T DEFEAT HIM!" Ford was crying, blood dripping down his face and a large bruise forming where Seb had punched him. Ford was sobbing with fear, shaking so bad that Dipper and Dillon nearly lost their hold on him. "I'LL NEVER GET RID OF HIM! HE'S ALWAYS GOING TO COME BACK FOR ME!" Ford wailed, not entirely aware of his surroundings.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Ford was screaming in panic. Mabel was crying as she hugged her grandmother. Poor Kari was terrified and at a loss as to what to do. Dipper and Dillon redoubled their efforts to get Ford OUT of there before Sebastian did something he would regret.
Shermie picked up one half of the bat and with an apologetic look, swung it at Seb's head with all his might. Seb's red and yellow eye went back to normal before he fell forward. He wasn't unconscious, but almost. He was stunned just enough to be properly held down. "Calm down, dammit. Calm down…" Shermie was terrified of this monster form Seb apparently had, but he was still needed to stop him. So despite his fear, he stayed with Seb, holding onto his arms (the human ones at least) to make sure he was pinned.
Seb's body slowly, painfully slow, went back to normal, his bleeding torso fixed itself and his extra arms sunk back into his flesh. He closed his eye, gasping for air, he was focused on the pain on his head, he wasn't thinking of anything right now.
They spent a few more minutes waiting to see if Seb was really back to normal before Shermie finally let go and stepped away. "Are you alright Seb?" He asked quietly. Sebastian hissed out a breath between his teeth.
Wanda was frozen in place. She...had never seen Seb like this...She...She only saw him use his fire...She let out a shaky breath, she could finally breathe again. This was so scary…Scratch that, it terrified her. Zoe and Zully hadn't stopped sobbing the entire time, (they felt how angry daddy felt and that made them upset), and she was holding the twins against her chest. "S-Sebas…"
Stan sat down, exhausted and ran a hand through his hair. Fuck. Fuck all fucks. Dammit Ford! What the HELL!? He glanced over at the crying babies in Wanda and Carla's arms. Melody had handed the twins off to Wanda and then made her way back to the kitchen to find the first aid kit. Probably a good call, Ford looked like he'd need it.
Stan looked over at his younger triplet. He couldn't help but wince. Seb was going to feel so bad later. Anxiety and panic hitting him at once. After months of being fine. Again, fuck ALL fucks.
He went over to Carla to hold Diego. "It's ok, champ...It's ok." He looked around. Everyone was shocked and scared. Everything felt tense. And sad. Stan hated it. Diego eventually calmed down, leaning against his daddy's broad chest. Stan hugged Diego. Fuck. Stanford was so close to hurting Zully very, very badly...If Seb hadn't suddenly run away to stop him…
He could have hurt his nieces or Diego…
Stan clenched his eyes tightly. He should stop thinking about it. It didn't happen (thank GOD) and the babies were fine. There was something he needed to do. He held Diego closely and made his way out into the hallway to try and find where Ford had been taken. He found Ford in the bathroom. Melody was cleaning the blood off his face with some toilet paper. Ford looked really awful, trembling, bleeding and half unconscious. Well deserved, Stan couldn't help but think. Soos wasn't there, he was back in the living room with Seb, worrying his poor little heart out. Stan glared at Ford.
"Oi, poindexter." He said firmly. Ford glanced up at Stan and flinched. "Do you have any idea what you did?" Stan asked, glaring. Ford shuddered. "I just-"
"You were about to HURT Zully!" Stan growled. "You could have hurt Diego or Zoe as well! What the FUCK were you thinking?" He continued before Ford could respond. "No, don't even try to make excuses. Ford, you NEED to get therapy. This can't go on. You…" He sucked in a breath. "Next time, we might not have gotten here on time." He hissed.
Ford looked down in shame. Stan could see his hand was trembling, he could also see Ford was trying hard not to cry. Probably because it could hurt, he had been slammed against the wall several times. Ford coughed up some blood from his mouth, he'd bitten his cheek during his beat down. "I'm sorry…" He whispered, still looking down at the blurry floor. He didn't even know where his glasses ended up. He was just so, SO scared...
Diego yawned (tired from crying so hard earlier) as Stan shook his head. "I'm gonna look into some therapists you could go see." Ford couldn't even protest. He knew he'd messed up. Really badly.
And worst of all...He was still scared. He still tried to justify his actions… still wanted to claim that Zully was Bill and that she needed to be… stopped? But… Ford whimpered pathetically as Melody gently dabbed his broken nose. But, even as terrified as he was, Ford got a gut feeling that if he ever tried to go near Zully again, Seb would kill him for real.
It took a while for Sebastian to go back to normal, and when he did, he realized what he did. "I...I hurt Ford…" He turned into a monster, he was a monster, he wanted to kill his triplet...
But Ford wanted to hurt his babies. They weren't safe. Ford hated him, he hated Seb's babies, because he knew they were monsters, Seb had made them monsters with his stupid genes and Ford hated them too.
Wanda and Kari were holding him tight, with both women holding back tears. Zully and Zoe were in his lap, Seb had hugged them to himself, worried out of his mind and desperately needing to hold them, to assure himself that they were safe. His breathing was heavy as he tried to calm himself.
Mabel was sobbing into her hands. "I shouldn't have left uncle Ford alone with them!" She cried. Dipper and Dillon were sitting beside her. "It's not your fault, none of us thought he would actually…" Dipper's voice cracked and no one even teased him for it.
Dillon was grumbling under his breath. He knew it. He knew Uncle Ford was horrible! He was going to hurt the babies! He could have hurt his little brother! How could he DO THAT?! He was just plain EVIL! How could dad and his other Uncles stand him?!
Of course, the dark-haired teen didn't really know anything about Stanford...He didn't know how he grew up or what he'd been through, he only knew about Seb. He didn't know how Ford felt or thought. He didn't know how traumatized and scared the poor man was.
They all retired to their rooms after making sure Ford's wounds were treated and he was asleep. (They also made sure Seb and Ford didn't cross paths again that night). Kari accompanied Wanda for a few more hours, seeing as how Seb seemed unresponsive. The women were worried.
They all felt distressed. This shouldn't have happened, not again. Seb and Ford had been fine before, they were getting along, and now it was all gone. Not only that, they had been too blind to see the oldest brother needed help too until his health started to decline. He was always so focused on his work, getting his mind distracted with something else. But if you left a person like Ford (who spent years trusting absolutely no one, and had trouble even fully trusting Stan) free time to wonder and think about stuff, he would start worrying, imagining the worst outcomes possible…
Unfortunately, but not unexpected, Seb woke up screaming that night, covered in cold sweat and unable to breathe. "No! No! I killed him! I KILLED HIM! HE WANTED TO HURT ZULLY! AND I KILLED HIM!"
It took poor Wanda several hours to calm him down, with her eyes full of tears and her heart in a tight knot. Stan and Soos helped her, while Carla took the babies away so they wouldn't feel Seb's panic and get upset. They seemed to be very emphatic to strong emotions.
While this happened, (the entire house was awake by then), Ford was dying of a headache and hearing his brother so upset (upset because of him. He did that. He hurt Seb again-but Zully- it was fire- he thought, he needed to-) wasn't helping at all. He was so tired but his mind wasn't going to stop. He couldn't sleep.
The older twins went to look for him, and watched their oldest uncle struggle to keep it together. They didn't...if they had noticed...Maybe if they hadn't… Mabel sighed, leaning against Dipper for support. She had been mean to Stanford when she first met him. It was true, he was a dick, but he was also struggling, he was also hiding his real feelings and problems, just like Uncle Seb had been doing…If she had known...
The boy hugged his twin, who was still the same size as him (people said she was taller, but it was because Mabel's hair was puffy and she liked big hairstyles...) He just hoped his uncles would come out fine from this latest upset. He wanted Uncle Seb to get better, he wanted the great Author to get better. He was such a brilliant man, and he was nice once you got to know him...It would suck if everything he worked for, his research center, his investigations, the fame that was starting to build around his name, went to waste because he was struggling with his own mind...
Seb felt awful for ruining this for everyone, they would hate him, he was awful, he was a monster, he just proved it to everyone! And Wanda had enough.
She took Seb and the twins back home on the next plane.
-.-
"I'm sorry for changing your schedule again.. "
"Eh~ Don't worry, I needed an excuse to get away from home anyway…" Linda mumbled. Stupid Reese.
"Why?" The brunet asked curiously and Linda leaned back. "Because Reese is stupid and I hate him."
"Is that your partner?" Seb asked and Linda opened her mouth to tell him when she realized he was changing the topic. "Anyway, we are here to talk about you, not me." She told him. Seb went back to pouting.
Linda felt bad for Seb. He felt so guilty for falling again and he had felt so bad. He felt like dying, he couldn't breathe. He wanted to hurt himself and she was glad he resisted the urge.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" The blonde woman asked softly.
Seb unconsciously took his finger to his mouth. "Ford wanted to hurt my daughter."
Linda nodded slowly, worried about what might have happened. "Ok...Did-Did you brother do it on purpose?"
Seb wiped his sad, pathetic tears. "Y-Yes! How could gra-grabbing a baseball bat and swinging it at a BABY be an accident?! He-He was saying Zully was a monster! And he wanted to hurt her! And-And I-I almost killed him...kill him for real…" Seb sobbed. "I broke his nose and-and I just wanted to make him pay and-and I just acted like-like...the monster he thinks we are…" Linda let the curly haired man sob until he could continue speaking. She was struggling to control her own rising panic at the fact that Stanford, Seb's oldest brother, had apparently tried to hit a baby with a baseball bat-
"I-I don't understand! Why-Why is he like this?! Why doesn't he like me?! Why does he HATE my daughters like he hates me?! I thought he didn't hate me anymore! But he clearly does because-because he is the only one who realizes I'm a freaking monster and disgusting and horrible and-and I almost killed him!" He laughed humorlessly. "I was...THIS close from...tearing his arms apart…"
Linda had to do her own breathing exercises to calm down. "Okay, let's rewind a little. What happened? Did your brother just pick up a bat and start swinging out of nowhere? Did something instigate this?"
Seb nervously pulled at his hair. Linda had to remind him to breathe a few times. "Uh-Uh...I don't know...He-He was looking like shit...He wasn't sleeping...And-And-" Seb thought about what happened. It hurt. He didn't see it, but he Saw it, and that was way worse. It left him cold. And so fucking scared for Zully… "He...He was saying Bill was back, now that I think about it…" Seb started chewing on his finger. "Zully's hand was on...was on fire…"
It kind of made sense in Seb's mind, now that he thought about it. Ford had been worried about Bill coming back. Hurt him in the process but they apologized in the middle of the year and they were 'fine', but Seb didn't talk to Ford for months. Stan didn't tell him about Ford either. He must have known Ford was not doing well and didn't want to stress Seb about with the knowledge of it...Then Ford tried to hurt his baby because that dumb Bill Cipher idea came back…
"He's insane…" Seb whispered. "Pudding brain...Bill fucked him up…" More than he thought. He tried to protect his triplet as much as he could from Bill when they were in the Fearamid, he tried pissing Bill off to make the demon punish him instead of Sixer, but of course he couldn't stop Bill from torturing Ford too, or erase all the years Ford spent under Bill's influence.
Linda frowned. "I'm quite sure I'm missing most of the story here, but from the sounds of it, your brother is suffering from some sort of paranoid anxiety, which, paired with sleep deprivation, and possibly hallucinations, made him think your daughter was… the demon version of you from your past life?" Linda tried very hard to put Seb's ramblings together.
Seb nooded, seemingly ok with her answer, in fact, he stood up and started pacing. "That stupid fucker is sick! Like me! And he had the balls to tell ME to go to therapy!" He snarled. "And because HE'S SO FUCKING STUPID, he tried to HIT MY DAUGHTER!"
Linda nodded slowly. At least Zully was fine. She didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if Stanford … "He needs help too...But what he did was not good, even if he's sick."
"Like HELL it was!" The brunet screamed. "I'm going to kill him!" Seb grabbed a pillow and punched it to the other side of the room. Linda frowned worriedly. "Ok...How about we talk about your panic attack? You were feeling down because you had another one after months of being fine."
Seb's angry face morphed to one of sadnesses. Oh… "I...I passed out...Wanda was there...and my mom…I-I felt really bad for hurting him, and I STILL feel bad! But he's stupid, he doesn't deserve me feeling bad for him…" Now he was angry and worried. "I felt bad for falling again." That was the only thing he knew for sure. He felt like shit, for doing it to himself, to Wanda, to his family. "I want my pills back."
Linda nodded. "Perhaps you should. Do you know if your brother is going to get any help with his own trauma?" Seb shrugged. "I'll ask Stan later…" Seb looked at Linda with his lip wobbling. "But...Zully didn't deserve that, right? Even if-if she was a monster because-because I made her one...you said so, like, how I didn't deserve what-what Filbrick did to me, right?"
Linda shook her head. "Of course not, Sebas. Neither Zully nor you deserve to be hurt. Even if you are or were monsters." Linda assured him. Seb nodded slowly, trying to believe her words.
Seb curled up on the couch again, missing the pillow he threw. "I'm a horrible mess, Linda…I'll never get cured because I'm broken! I'll stay at home forever…"
Linda addressed the next issue she wanted to talk about. "Listen, Sebas. You can't do this to yourself." She noticed this was very common after Seb had a fall. He got too incredibly depressed and wanted to curl up and die for a few weeks.
"We will go back to your pills ok? But you can't keep doing this to yourself. You had a fall? Yes, and it will surely happen more times until you learn to control it, but you shouldn't let that get you down, Seb. You can't stop your life after a panic attack." Linda said gently. "Everyone has a bad day. It's not your fault, you don't have to blame yourself for breaking down."
"I'll try…" Seb finally said. "It-It's hard though...It-It-URGH!" He pulled at his hair again, blaming his stupid tongue for not being able to express the stupid emotions he never understood and will never understand. "This wouldn't be happening if the Axolotl had erased my memories! But no! He wanted to fuck with me! And make me suffer! He's a dick!"
Linda massaged her temples. Reincarnation. She knew that was a thing. Seb Pines forced her to investigate more about it. There were testimonies and many religions who believed in it...She even asked some colleagues what to do if her patient claimed to be one. They essentially told her to treat her patient normally and simply take things as they come. Well, she was still having a little trouble with figuring out if Seb really was a reincarnation or simply believed it. It wouldn't even matter if it didn't upset Seb so much.
But it wasn't important. Not anymore at least. Seb was her patient now and it was Linda's job to help him however she could. And right now, that meant making that real or invented past life something that Seb could look back on and not fear or hate.
To make things a little happier, Linda changed the topic. "So, can you tell me how are the twins? It's been a while since I last saw them. Zoe still bites?" Seb smiled, appreciating the change of subject. "More than ever! Poor Pinetree had his cheek bitten and Zoe refused to let go and-"
Linda smiled a bit. She was going to help this poor man.
She just hoped his brother had someone to help him too...
-.-
"Geesh…" Tate patted his dad's back as he bravely made his way to the research center. Fiddleford told him about the disaster with Uncle Ford...He better get his shit together. His dad didn't need to be around him if he was like that. "Good luck." The teen said and Fiddleford ruffled his son's hair, kissed his wife goodbye and made his way to find Ford. They had work, but before that, they had things to discuss.
Very. Important. Things.
Ford was stupid.
Not stupid, stupid. But he was an idiot. One of the biggest idiots Fiddleford had even known. He just refused to notice. That was how Ford was. He was always denying that he was wrong about something. He just refused to even think about ever being wrong. And that was the problem. Fiddleford set his shoulders in a determined stance. Well no more. Stanford's stubborn denial had nearly cost him his niece's life, and that was something that had to be addressed NOW.
No more denying that there was something wrong, because there CLEARLY was something very wrong in that head of his and Fiddleford felt he needed to help. After all, he knew better than most what happened when you allowed trauma to fester.
(Though, that metal plate apparently prevented Ford from using a memory gun, so at least that was one risk they could check off the list.)
Fiddleford left his stuff in his lab before making his way to the Shack. He walked inside like he owned the place, and kindly asked Soos where Ford was. Soos seemed still upset with the scientist for what he did, he hurt his best friend! But Soos was a kind soul and couldn't stay mad for long, and he was also worried. Because he had seen first hand just how much Ford suffered at night, how many sleepless nights he had and how he disappeared in his lab for days, making it seem like Soos was alone in the house with his Abuelita.
Soos said Ford was in his room on the basement, Soos didn't let Ford go to the center because he was grounded, and Abuelita left him a soup and crackers. The blond smiled, thanked the former handyman, and went to Ford's room. "Hey, Stanford. It's me, Fiddleford. I'm coming in."
Ford was tinkering with something on a lab bench. When Fiddleford got closer he saw that it was that Weirdness Scanner that Ford asked Fiddleford to help him build a while back. He was shuffling through the readouts, a pen in hand and many notes scribbles across the pages. Most of them were crossed out.
"Stanford?" Fiddleford asked.
"But what if Wanda secretly had some non-human ancestors? Would that account for it?" Ford mumbled to himself. "No, that still makes no sense. There would be signs! And Wanda is completely human, I've scanned her multiple times-"
"Stanford!" Fiddleford rapped his knuckles on the table, Ford jumped and nearly fell off his chair. "F? What are you doing here? When did you-"
"How long has it been since you've slept, Ford?" The mechanic sighed as he placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder who looked like a zombie. "You can't keep doin' this to yerself. You're not getting sleep, you're barely eating and you-" Fiddleford snatched the papers out of Ford's hands when he noticed the scientist wasn't paying attention. "You need HELP!"
"I don't need help! I can figure out the reason for this anomaly by myself." Ford tried to get his papers back but Fiddleford held them out of reach. "Not whatever this is, I mean YOU need help. I heard you nearly killed your niece. That…" he glared. "That ain't good, that ain't fucking good! It's bad! It's terrible! Can't you see that you need ta go see someone about this? Your trauma, your mental health and all that stuff."
"My mental functions are fine." Ford scoffed. Fiddleford rolled his eyes. "So you meant ta try and brain Zully with a baseball bat?" He asked sarcastically. Ford shuddered. "No! I was-"
"You need to go see a therapist or sumthin' is what you needs to do!" Fiddleford jabbed his finger on Ford's chest. "Before anything WORSE happens and I hear about your death. OR the DEATH of any of the kids!"
Ford weakly tried to get his papers back, looking more tired than before. Fiddleford crumpled them and put them in his pocket. Ford screamed, and the blond forced him to stand up. He should be grateful he didn't destroy this crap. He should. It was only hurting him.
"Fiddleford, F! F! Let me go! I need to do this! If the world isn't safe, I'm the only one who can stop it! We need to stop it! Let me-Let me fix this! This is my fault! Let me be the hero this time! I'll not put anyone in danger this time! I promise! I promise!" He then started saying incoherencies, like the world would end again and the monsters were coming back to take over the world. Fiddleford glared and slapped him hard enough to shut him up.
"LISTEN TO YERSELF, STANFORD!" He shouted, loud, and Ford flinched, because angry Fiddleford was scary. (And because he might unconsciously flinch a little to any shout loudly directed at him when he felt vulnerable. When he felt like a child, because he flinched to his father's shouts when he was a child too).
"ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?!" He exclaimed exasperated. "YOU-YOU SOUND INSANE!" Fiddleford cried, voice breaking with how emotional he was at the moment. "YOU ARE HURTING YOURSELF! AND YOUR MIND! YOU KNOW HOW AMAZING YOUR MIND IS?!" He snarled. "AND YOU WILL DESTROY IT IF YOU KEEP THIS UP! YOU'LL GO CRAZY AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU BREAK LIKE I DID! NOT IF I CAN PREVENT IT!" He slapped Ford again, just to get it out of his system, his blue eyes full of tears.
"Wha-What do you want to achieve with this?! Do you think killing yourself like this will do anything?! Or hurting your family?! You'll lose EVERYTHING if you keep this up! Do-Do you want that?! Do you want to be alone and abandoned by EVERYONE until y-you're livin' in a dump wi' raccoons and-! Because you can't think straight anymore because of something you did to yourself?!" The blond's tears streamed down his cheeks. "What-What do YOU WANT, Stanford?!" Fiddleford screamed and Ford covered his face with his six-fingered hands, trying to hide his own tears.
He didn't know.
And that was the worst of all.
He didn't know what he wanted to prove. Millions of things were in his mind right now, and he couldnt get rid of them. It only made him more and more anxious, he wanted to sort them out but he couldn't, he wanted to stop thinking bad things but he couldn't!
Fiddleford pulled his stupid friend towards him for a hug, and Ford's started crying, shoulders moving up and down. He didn't want to lose his family though. That was the only thing he knew for certain.
"Stanford, you need to see a therapist about this. You can't keep doing this. You're getting worse and bottling it up isn't helping you." Fiddleford slowly pulled away from the hug, mind racing as he thought about what he could do to help his friend. "I can introduce ya to my own therapist, he's been a big help wi' my own problems, what with the memory gun, insanity and mental torment from when I met that triangle fella inside the portal."
Ford startled. Right, he'd forgotten that the final traumatic straw that set Fiddleford down the path of memory loss was from falling into the portal and seeing… something. He never spoke about what he'd seen, that Ford knew about, and Ford hadn't really considered that Fiddleford might also have issues stemming from his own experiences with Bill Cipher. Ford slumped. He was an awful friend.
"But I can't-" Ford choked out. "They'll think I'm crazy!"
Fiddleford gave Ford an annoyed look. "Stanford. You ARE crazy, you haven't slept in heavens knows how long and by the definition of mental health, you're utterly fucked." He stated.
Ford sniffled and wiped his nose with his sweater sleeve. Fiddleford grimaced a bit and leaned back in his chair. "It will ruin my reputation, everyone will know, a paparazzi will see me and then I'll be mocked and it will be the end! The government will stop funding us! And-And say goodbye to making this international! We will lose credibility and everyone will hate us, dammit!"
The blond sat down as Ford ranted, watching him with an utterly unimpressed expression. When Ford stopped at some point because he needed to breathe, Fiddleford spoke. "Ya finished already?" Ford very much pouted and nodded.
"Since the research center started getting built, I was searching for a therapist myself. You know how much time has passed? Like a year. It's been a year. And the world didn't end. The research center is not closed, in fact, I've just signed 2 research papers. Ye know why I wanted a therapist? I did it because I wanted to be better for Tate and ma wife, Stanford. You don't get magically cured after going through serious shit. I got my memories back, but that doesn't mean I wasn't scared, that I hadn't spent 13 years out of my mind…"
"I-I didn't know there were therapists in town…" Ford mumbled after a while. Fiddleford grinned a bit. "There isn't. Ashton lives in Montana. We've only met face to face a few times. We have our sessions through video chat over my own secure channels."
Ford managed a very exhausted smile. "I-I want to stop thinking bad things...I don't want to end up like you..." He quickly corrected himself. "I mean, I mean! Like, insane! Like, out of my mind, I mean, like, abandoned, crazy, uh-Dammit!" Ford shouted. Why didn't he have a filter for his stupid mouth?!
Fiddleford smiled kindly, he understood what Ford was trying to say. "Don't stress yourself, I get it~" He went serious again. "You're going to therapy though, you need it."
"I-I'll think about it." Ford muttered but Fiddleford laughed. "Thinking ma ass! You ARE going! I talked to Stanley and he agrees with me." Ford groaned. "No~ Don't get my triplets involved, they are annoying!"
"They are annoying because they worry about you. I bet Sebastian still does, even after what you did." Ford's metaphorical tail tucked between his legs. He was so sorry. He doubted Seb wanted anything more than skinning him alive and eating his limbs. He almost hurt his kid after all. As Ford stressed over this, Fiddleford tinkered with a little something he pulled out of his coat. "You need help Stanford." Fiddleford said simply.
"But what if whatever therapist I get tells the press? I'll be the laughingstock of the scientific community!" Ford whined. Fiddleford clicked his tongue. "Naw, ol' Ashton won't say a word to anyone. Totally confidential. That nano-bot I done put in his tea will shock'em if he tried anything fishy." The mechanic grinned. Ford blinked. Well. With Fiddleford's penchant to react to all stress by building a giant robot to rampage until he felt better… yeah, this didn't really surprise him.
Still, Ford was stubborn. He sat down heavily at his work bench and sighed. He stabbed at the half finished experiment he was building with a screwdriver. "I might need therapy, but there's no one I can trust to talk to. I-I can't just open up to some stranger! Dammit, F, my whole issue is that I don't trust people!" He pouted. Trusting a stranger to talk about how he didn't trust strangers and got paranoid about little things...What a great idea!
Fiddleford hummed as he checked over the handheld device he was tweaking. "Right, well. I suppose this probably wouldn't help with your trust issues…" He walked over to Ford. "Hey, can you just hold still for like 5 seconds?" Ford blinked and turned halfway to face his friend. "What do you-"
And then he slumped over unconscious and Fiddleford turned his device off. He calmly pulled out his phone "I've got Stanford. Is the room set up?" He heard Stan on the other end sigh. "I feel kinda bad we had to knock him out." They had the therapist brought in and Fiddleford was supposed to try and convince Ford to go see him. And if he couldn't convince him, they would knock him out and just drag him to the therapist instead.
Fiddleford looked at his unconscious friend. Well, now he just had to carry Ford to the office. He-He could do that! Ford wasn't that much taller than him...He heaved an arm over his shoulder and wheezed.
He took it back! Even if his friend didn't eat...He was very fucking heavy! Soos later saw him, took pity on him, and the two took Ford to the Shack where Ashton was waiting in the attic room, changed up into a makeshift therapist office. Nice guy, he would have fun listening to Ford.
Stanley couldn't help but smirk when he saw Ford, carried bridal style by Soos because McGucket's noodle arms couldn't hold his triplet. Ashton gave Fiddleford a raised eyebrow when he directed Soos to the chair to put Ford. "Is that Stanford? Is he sleeping?"
"...You could say that…" The blond told his therapist. Stan massaged his temples. He was seriously here, all the way from home to make sure Ford didn't attack his possible therapist… He'd seen the way Ford woke up after being knocked out, got to see that a lot on the other side of the portal.
Before Fiddleford woke Ford up, Stan checked for guns on him (he knew the places his bro kept them, they were together for 13 years), and disarmed him. Ashton blinked in surprise at the amount of strange looking guns Stanford carried with him, even when he was wearing what seemed like sweatpants that could easily be Pjs.
"He's all yours~" Stan told the therapist before motioning for McGucket to wake Ford up. What did he do to Ford?! He was totally dead to the world. Fiddleford messed with a few dials and Ford jolted up with a gasp. He looked around frantically, hand on his chest and heavy breathing. "Fi-Fiddleford! I-I don't know what-I! I suddenly blacked out! What-" He held his head. What happened?! Oh no his body wasn't functioning anymore! He was going to die.
"It's ok, you just fainted because ye haven't eaten." Fiddleford lied, but not quite. Ford hadn't eaten or slept in a while, passing out was only a matter of time. "Yeah, Sixer calm down." Stan reassured his brother.
Ford frowned at the familiar gruff voice. Stanley?! When did he get here?! And why...why was he in his lab? Before he could ask though, he noticed an auburn haired man standing next to his triplet.
"Who are you?" He asked bluntly. The stranger waved. "Hello. I'm Ashton Kimbel. I'm Fiddleford's therapist, and perhaps yours as well."
Ford looked at Stanley and Fiddleford leaning against the wall, and glared when they fist bumped. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"We're sorry, but you were refusing to go! So we brought the therapist to you!" Stan grinned, waving his hands in a jazz move. The blond nodded. "We will stay with you, so you aren't alone, and because we fear for Ashton's life."
The man really hoped they were kidding. He didn't know much about Stanford...but he went through the same things Fiddleford did...Oof. It meant he had a lot to work on with him.
Ashton looked at Ford. "I know you don't trust me, we don't know each other, so I really can't force you to tell me things you don't want to."
"Yeah. At least someone understands that…" Ford grumbled, glaring at his friend and brother. "I'm actually fine though, I don't need someone looking into my mind, I already had enough of that for a fucking life time." Ford stood up to entertain himself with something else as the other men watched.
Ashton nodded. "Yeah, I can imagine...Maybe my presence is not so required after all. You two are also too busy for therapy. Fiddleford barely makes time himself for his sessions."
"We have a lot of work to do. Science, research, weirdness..." Ford nodded, looking at the man with a small suspicious look.
Fiddleford and Stanley shared a look.
Ashton nodded again, actually impressed by the mess this place was. He could SEE Ford was busy. He had books everywhere, papers, half finished machines laying around all throughout the house, he saw it on the way up here to the attic room… "You know, I did a year of engineering at college before changing to psychiatry, and I wasn't bad, if I say so myself."
"Pft, a year!" Ford grinned. "A regular student learns the basics in that time! It's nothing! Anyone would know that! I even skipped multiple semesters."
"You did?! How?!" Ashton asked with a surprised gasp. Ford puffed out his chest, very much wanting to brag. "Simple. Studying. And reading. I just took the finals." Ashton raised an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose if you can prove you know the subject matter, it wouldn't matter if you've spent the time in the class."
Ford sat down, somewhat invested in the conversation now. "Yes. It would have been a waste of time. I like school but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life there just because I wanted to take all the classes- you know I have 12 PhDs."
Ashton clapped his hands. "That's amazing. You must be very good at retaining information." he wasn't even just pandering to Ford's ego, he was legitimately impressed at the type of passion, work and dedication it would have taken to apply for and gain that many PhDs. "What made you want to get that many degrees?" He asked.
Ford scoffed. "Well, I was interested in the subjects, and that was how many I managed to get before my time at college was up and the ones I managed to test into and earn in between my work." He pouted. "I would have gone for a few more but the school claimed I had to take a break." He looked almost petulant when he admitted this point. Ashton chuckled. "Well, perhaps they thought you were overworking yourself." like you are right now, that part went unsaid, but Fiddleford and Stan certainly heard it. Ford didn't notice as he was eagerly continuing to rant about how unfair it was that the university just didn't understand that he could handle that level of work with no ill side effects.
"Because, I mean, they get too worried for nothing!" He pointed at Stan and Fiddle, watching from their spot. "Who hasn't stayed up all night studying? It's something everybody does! And, well, it's not like I have trouble learning things, I have a photographic memory and, and I'm a genius!" He left out the part about how he was tricked by a demon...but it was a DEMON, a supernatural being of pure energy that had knowledge of EVERYTHING, Ford thought that not even he could have seen it coming… it was simply so… amazing to learn from Bill. Everything and anything Ford had wanted to know, Bill had known, it was easy for him, child's play… Ford frowned. "And maybe I'm not getting much sleep, but it's not as if the human body can't survive with less, I drink coffee!"
Ashton nodded. "Well, personally, I enjoy sleeping. It's relaxing." Stan nodded. Sleeping was amazing~ ESPECIALLY after tiring workouts, and ESPECIALLY after spending quality time with his fiancee~
Ford shuddered. "I don't like it. It's a waste of valuable time that could be spent working. It's a pain to have to put my projects on hold for four hours just because I have to-"
Stan muttered to himself "Four hours is definitely not enough sleep for a human being…"
"-but it gets hard to see straight when I don't rest my eyes-" Ford paused. "Should I get mechanical eyes instead? Then they wouldn't get tired…" He pulled out his journal and wrote that down. "See about building robotic eyes to replace inferior biological ones…"
"You definitely shouldn't do that." Fiddleford grimaced and Stan made a very worried face. What the actual fuck?! Ashton sent them a look to shut up and he looked at Ford. No one with a clear and half healthy mind would do that. "That sounds dangerous, replacing your EYES...have you always worn glasses?" Ashton asked simply.
Ford nodded as he was already designing a prototype. Fiddleford hugged Stan who was getting more worried. "Uh? Yeah, glasses, got them when I was 5, my father has very bad eyesight, all my brothers and I seem to have inherited this trait…" One more reason to CHANGE HIS EYES! Imagine how COOL would that be! He-He could even put sensors and scanners so he could detect weirdness and know who to avoid! That would solve the problem of his paranoia completely!
Ashton looked at Ford's hand on the journal. Huh… "I haven't noticed your hands before...Is that hereditary too?"
Ford's writing hand stopped and Ashton didn't miss how his free hand turned into a fist and Ford dropped his journal in his lap to fold his hands behind his back. "I...I am not quite sure. Not that-Not that I've heard of, no…"
Ashton nodded slowly. Stan and Fiddleford watched. What was he trying to do?
"Does it have a scientific name? I've heard of people with six fingers but I've never seen it in person."
Ford grumbled. "Yes, polydactyl, many fingers, I get it." Stan couldn't help but add "I discovered it first~ But I thought that was a dinosaur when we were kids!"
Ashton smiled, holding back laughter when the tired scientist managed to chuckle. "Yes, I remember that. You and Sebastian called me a dinosaur, then I did my own research because yours came from uncredited sources, and one: a pterodactyl is not a dinosaur, two: you were pronouncing it all wrong!" He lectured his brother. Stan rolled his eyes.
Ashton nodded. "Ah, so polydactyl, I suppose that means the condition is polydactylism? That sounds pretty cool." Ford turned to stare at him. "Cool?" He asked faintly. "No, it's a mutation, an abnormality."
"But it's got a name. Which means it's happened before, and enough times that science has a name for it." Ashton pointed out. "So you're not a unique case. And if it's shown up in other people through history, then it's not really all that much of an abnormality, now is it?"
"Giving it a name just means it's registered, it doesn't make it cooler." Ford deadpanned. Tell anyone with a mutation that it's cool! Of course! He looked down bitterly. IT wasn't cool. It was unnatural.
"Oh, I'm not saying it's cool because it has an interesting name." Ashton shrugged. "I'm saying it's cool because having extra fingers seems quite useful. If you learned how to play an instrument, would you be more skilled? Or if you had to do any other dexterous activity." He pointed out. Ford huffed. Instruments. He couldn't play them. It was dumb, he should be able to. "Though, I suppose it must have been difficult to grow up in a society that caters to 5 fingered people." Ashton mused aloud.
"Yes!" Ford huffed even more. "They don't make gloves I can wear, I have to special order them! And don't even get me started on the rubber gloves I need for when I'm handling chemicals!" It was a huge pain that he was forced to struggle during the science classes that involved gloves.
"My parents should have just fixed them when I was a kid but they didn't!" Ford said, fake cheerful. "So, I just had to deal with the aftermath."
"Fixed? What do you mean by that?" Ashton asked, he had an idea of what Ford was talking about but he needed confirmation. Ford gave him a grin that looked more like a grimace. "Surgically removed them, then I would have fit in just fine!"
Ashton could see this was a major issue with the poor man. "So you believe your parents should have 'fixed' you as a child? As a baby?" He asked carefully. Ford laughed bitterly. "Yes!" Save him a childhood of bullying! That would have been so much easier for him!
People would have only bothered Seb-! Ford caught himself before he could finish that thought. He felt cold. He felt sick. Had he really just thought that? Had he really just thought that having the bullies only go after his brother would have been better? "But, not to be better than anyone…" He clarified. "Just, just for myself…" He paused. No. That still made it sound like… "I mean, to feel better...And they should have fixed Sebastian too…" He said, but his voice came out weakly.
Stan glared. "And what? You think ma and pa should have cut off his finger too? And ripped out his eye as well?" He asked. Fiddleford was shivering. Ashton looked back at Stan with a frown. So they had another brother with birth defects? Ashton sighed and turned back to Ford. The scientist looked uncomfortable. "W-well if Sebastian didn't have his extra finger and that ugly eye, he wouldn't have suffered as bad as he-"
"Did you just call Sebas UGLY?" Stan growled as Fiddleford pulled him back. "Hey, how about we go and step outside for a bit…" The mechanic sweated.
"No, not HIM! Just, just his eye! Like my fingers! Which are disgusting! I can call them ugly too!" Ford was getting frustrated at Stanley not understanding what he meant to say. "See!? Ugly! Disgusting! Freaky!" He waved a hand at Stan. "It's not about Sebastian being ugly-!"
"No they're NOT!" Stan all but roared. "Your fingers are FINGERS. And Seb's eye was his EYE. He didn't want his eye anymore when he was older, and that's fine-" Stan shook. "But Seb thought his eye was COOL until OTHER people told him it was ugly! That's why he started wearing an eyepatch and he could NEVER feel comfortable without it ever again! Just like you started feeling like your fingers were freaky, and you tried to hide them." He glared. "Your fingers aren't the problem! The problem is that OTHER people made you feel BAD for them!"
Ashton let Stanley rant, he clearly had something he wanted to get off his chest. The therapist wondered how many of their family needed therapy. He hoped they were getting the help they needed. That Sebastian brother sounded like he must have gone through a lot too. Ashton sat back and observed Stanford's reaction to Stanley's words.
"Stanley you've NEVER had anything to worry about! Ever!" Ford emphasized. "You didn't suffer like us! Because no one targeted YOU! You were just the COOL GUY! Who could have had ALL THE KIDS AT HIS FEET if you wanted to! If you HADN'T STUCK WITH US!" Because Ford discovered that people thought Stan stayed with them for pity, because no one liked the weirdo and the crazy weirdo. Stan had nothing to worry about, he was just dumb for staying. He should have stayed away and lived like a normal kid!
"I HAD TO WORRY ABOUT YOU AND SEB!" Stan retorted. "Who do you think got beat up protecting your skinny ass all through our childhood? And who do you think got prodded and STRIPPED NAKED by the guys in the changing room as they tried to SEARCH me to see where MY mutations could be? Because of COURSE I must have something wrong with me TOO! We're identical triplets after all!" Stan's hands were clenched tight. "I had to work HARD to get people to think I was COOL! And why WOULDN'T I stick with you an' Seb?! You're my triplets! And we stick together! It was us against the world! That's how it's always been! But-But we got split up! And THAT'S what ruined everything!"
Ford flinched back. The other kids had stripped Stan? To… to try and find any defects on him? "I…" Ford shrank in on himself. "I never knew…" he whimpered. Stan scoffed. "Of course you didn't. You only ever thought about yourself. Always have." Stan clenched and unclenched his fists. "But I never cared. You two were my brothers. And I just wanted to make sure you were both alright." He looked away. "And even now, I'm just worried about you. I just want you to be safe and happy. And you never cared about that. Always off in your own head with your own worries without ever thinkin' about how you're making the rest of us feel." His voice did NOT crack. Stan would deny that forever. "You're hurtin' yourself and you refuse to accept my help. I can't…" Stan rubbed at his eyes furiously. "I ain't smart like you. But I sure as hell am smart enough to know that what you're doing here-" Stan gestured at Ford. "-ain't healthy! And this whole thing you've got? With the whole callin' yourself a freak because of some measly extra fingers? That ain't healthy."
Stan strode over to stand in front of his triplet. "There ain't nothing wrong wi' your fingers, Ford. Just 'cause our shithead of a Pa thought so, and the stupid judgmental shit brats in our neighborhood thought so, don't mean it's true!" Stan lifted a hand and poked Ford's chest. "And I want you to get that through-through that stupid thick metal plate of yours! And-And if it's not me! Then someone else will have to! Because-Because I don't want to turn into an old man and-and watch you two STILL fighting and arguing and thinking you're horrible or whatever the FUCK it is in your head! Because you AREN'T! Heck, see what you've done! We survived space! And you opened this place! And so many people work for you! And I bet those assholes who laughed at you as a kid don't even have ANYTHING like that in their lives! They haven't done a THIRD of what you have! Because they were stupid! And you aren't! And you can't-you can't let some stupid fingers get you down for that! Or dumb stupid ideas of demons and monsters! Ok?! Is that CLEAR?!" The man shouted with his eyes leaking tears that he couldn't hold back anymore, and Ford, frozen in place, stared deep into Stanley's eyes with his own tearfilled ones.
Ford nodded slowly. "Ok, Stanley…" Stanford whispered in a soft voice, holding back an unmanly sob. Stanley nodded with a firm expression. He pulled his brother into a hug and patted his back. "Ok...Ok...Right…" The two pulled away and Stan felt kind of embarrassed for bursting into tears in front of everyone. "So, Ashton is going to help and-and you are going to stop telling him you are a freak."
Ashton was very surprised with the display. He had intended to get Ford to tell him what he felt about his hands and begin to understand his reasoning, but Stanley's outburst (understandable, with how protective he seemed to be over his brothers, he was surely triggered by Stanford's very interesting words about their other sibling) had provided him even more valuable information about Stanford, his family and childhood than he thought. There was a LOT to unpack here, he couldn't deny it, and it was certainly very complex too, but now he really wanted to know what was going on and how to help.
Stanley nodded, satisfied when Ford nodded again. God. That...That actually felt quite...liberating. He had needed that. Stan had gone to a therapist after returning home from the portal. He needed to be in perfect mental health, for his son's sake, for his career's sake, for Carla's sake. He wanted to be a good father. He couldn't do that if he wasn't at his 100% and Stan had talked about a lot of stuff with his therapist. But this? This here? Stan hadn't admitted to his therapist about the way he'd been treated as a child, he'd mostly just talked about how his triplets had been, and how that had made him feel. So… this felt good, to get off his chest.
Ford felt scolded. But he knew Stan was right. He was always right in this kind of stuff. He wasn't sure how not to feel like a freak though, even if he tried to act like it didn't bother him anymore. It did, and it felt like it will always bother him, even a little bit. And just how he could stop overthinking and thinking about 'demons and monsters'. There was so many things he thought about...but he could recognize he needed help. He didn't want to 'not care' about others, the way Stanley put it made him feel like a selfish monster, as if he didn't love him or Sebastian...He did, but...thoughts, thoughts like the one he had before...They ALWAYS appeared… And he wanted to get rid of them...
Ford coughed, clearing his throat and rubbing his face with his sleeve. "So." He coughed again. "I think, telling Mr. Kimbel that I think I'm a freak is kind of what I'm supposed to do. And then he's supposed to convince me I'm not, and make me believe it too." Ford pointed out sheepishly. He thought that was how a therapy worked? Stan blew a raspberry (like the mature adult he was), "Psyeah, whatever. You're still not a freak. Don't ever call yourself that again."
Ashton nodded and finally intervened "Yes, your brother's right, putting yourself down for something you can't control isn't healthy, you must come to terms with your hands and accept it as a normal part of you." Ford grimaced and Ashton nodded. "Yes, I know it sounds hard and like a very long journey, but with the right help, I know everything will be cleared. Recovery takes time. Healing takes time."
Ford nodded but let out a sigh. "But for that I need therapy…" Ashton nodded patiently as Stan rolled his eyes (he'd been saying that for months!) And Fiddleford, who was still a little shaken by the shouting, nodded at Ashton. He knew Ashton would help, he was amazing at his job, and he wasn't sure how he did all this and how the Stans ended up fighting, arguing, crying and apologizing (his strength were the machines, not the human brain), but...he did it. Ford actually seemed like he recognized he wasn't fine? At least, a little?
"I...I think you might be right...Talking, talking wasn't that bad either." And Ashton didn't judge or comment on what he told him, he listened, he was actually interested and Ford liked that. He felt comfortable, as if he was talking to his triplets or to F. "Very well, I think I can have therapies sessions or whatever...Fi-Fiddleford said you lived in Montana?" He looked at the therapist with a resigned look. He would get therapy. He cared about others, he just didn't do it right, he didn't know how, but if this was going to help him, then he guessed he had to do this...
"Yes, but we can arrange sessions over the laptop and face-cam if you prefer." Ashton assured. "I work with many of my patients virtually."
"Can you not call me a patient?" Ford grimaced. "Makes me sound crazy and sick."
Fiddleford deadpanned as Stan rolled his eyes. But Ford WAS crazy, and sick! What did he think he was? Ashton was a dear though and promised not to call him a patient. "What would you like to be called?" He asked. Ford thought about it before responding "Client."
The man left after agreeing on the days to work with Ford, and the 2 triplets plus Fiddleford watched Ashton leave to go back to his hotel. Stan grumbled under his breath about how he spent money paying him to come see Ford, but he had to admit it worked out better than he expected.
Stan wondered if he should tell Seb. His kids almost got hurt because of Ford's problems and Stan thought he had a right to know their older brother was FINALLY getting some very much needed help. You know, miscommunication and no communication at all was what caused half their relationship problems. Stan wasn't going to let that happen again.
He pulled out his phone to call Seb and tell him he got Ford to agree to therapy.
-.-
To say Seb was relieved would be an understatement. Seb nearly sobbed at the news. "Thank circles!" He wept. Ford was getting help! Seb wiped at his eye. "When do you think it would be safe for me to have the twins near him again?" He asked Stan with a shaking voice.
"Eh… I'd say give it a year. I'm not sure." He wasn't a doctor. "But you can still video chat with him. Let him see and talk to the twins without being physically near them."
Seb nodded. "Yes. Right. That… that would be good." Even if Wanda was still very much pissed with Ford. She was very angry and hating him with all her might. "I don't care if he's your brother! He wanted to hurt the twins and he managed to hurt you many times already! Do you really want something like this to happen again and put the babies' lives in danger because some psychopath wants to beat them up?! "
Seb hardened his glare, just enough to show that Wanda's opinion of his brother upset him. And he would tell Wanda how he felt about her words, because Linda said he had to tell people he loved about how he was feeling. "You don't get to talk about my brother like that, ANY of my brothers, ok?! And, and do you REALLY think I don't care about our daughters?! Do you think I'm that stupid to take the same risk twice?" He asked, taking deep breaths to keep everything under control. They hadn't had serious discussions like this before. Nor arguments. He didn't want to start an argument. "I'm angry for what he did, and I-I'm never going to forget that. Now, I'll be more careful with the twins and who they are with." He cared about the twins, they were his babies, he would kill and die for them, he cared about them more than anything else in the world.
"But-But just like you can't sentence someone with mental problems to prison, I-I can't say Ford WANTED to hurt the girls. He also needs help, like I do, Ford let Bill into his mind and that fucked him up." Seb was just seeing the superficial problems, not the ones cemented since childhood. He was only arguing to defend Ford's issues from Bill, and disregarding all the shit Ford had done even when they were children, he didn't want to talk about that, it would just give Wanda more ammunition to throw against his brother.
"He's stupid for trying to hurt the twins, they don't deserve it, but he only thinks that because he's paranoid and fucked up. If he's fine again, then it'll be safe for him to see the twins and not immediately think of a demon. He wouldn't hurt them if he was thinking straight!"
Seb rubbed his face, breathing deeply. "You-You said that, that it wasn't me when I let my demon side take control back when I was a teen...or-or when I almost kill Ford. And it very much was! But I can't consciously remember it. I wasn't thinking right, and you said that the things I might have done to Ford wasn't me, that I wasn't someone who would kill so easily." Seb grimaced. "So, please understand that it's not my brother's fault that he needs help and that me wanting to help or forgive him doesn't mean I don't care about Zully and Zoe." His lip was wobbling now, and his eye wanted to leak. But he said it anyway, it had to be said.
Linda had helped him see that. Seb had felt awful about hurting Ford, he was so scared for the twins now, worried they weren't safe with their own family, and that Ford had every right to feel angry at Seb too. But Seb also had every right to think his brother didn't mean to try and hurt the twins, because Ford needed help too, and while that didn't excuse him, it explained it, and helping Ford with that would prevent any more situations like this from happening and will help Ford feel more safe too.
And Sebastian still loved his brother, he couldn't stop loving his brother, even after everything. Wanda scowled, her green eyes still gleaming angrily. "No. I don't like him anymore."
"I'm sure you won't be mad too long." The former demon said. "You can't hate someone who I love, can you?" He blinked adorably.
"Watch me." Wanda huffed.
"Ok, I know you're mad, and you have every right to be so…" Seb stroked her arms gently. "Sixer was mean, and you don't like mean people."
"Yes." She had been very close to throwing that man into prison for attempted murder of an infant. But Seb stopped her!
"But he will stop being mean and we will be friends again, and you love me having friends~" Wanda grumbled and looked down. "I guess… but if someone has hurt you so many times, you shouldn't go back to them!" Seb leaned closer. "But if they are making an effort to be better, then I will give them another chance. Isn't that good?" He could see Wanda wavering, unable to keep the glare up.
"So I promise everything will be fine~" He kissed her lips for several long seconds, pulling her close by grabbing her by the waist. "Besides, hating isn't good for you~ You'll get older and wrinklier and very grumpy~" Seb distracted Wanda from pouting by kissing her neck. The tension in her shoulders was eased and she let out a happy soft hum.
"Because I know there are better things to do than hate, right~ Make love not war or whatever~" He was deepening his voice a little bit and Wanda melted at how sexy he sounded. Yes, well, there WERE better things to do than hating that idiot, now that her hands were sneaking under Sebastian's shirt, she could remember a few things~~
"Maybe if I remind you how to make love, it will make you forget about your anger~" Seb picked her up easily (helped by his powers, Wanda was not heavy, but he wasn't as strong as his brothers) and took her to their room. "Yes! I want you to remind me!" The blonde pleaded and wrapped her legs tighter around his torso.
Seb grinned. Yes! Wanda was distracted now! He couldn't believe it worked! Bargaining with sex actually worked! He'd read somewhere some primates did that and humans were just apes a little more evolved. Seb pouted. Bleh, he was an ape. How humiliating. But it didn't matter. The thing was that animal instincts worked!
Or his girlfriend was just up for it every single time? Actually, yeah, maybe Wanda was just always horny. Seb shrugged to himself before yelping as Wanda pulled him down by his collar, hungrily kissing at his lips and neck. Wait, why was his shirt off? When did that happen? And his pants were gone too?! Wanda grinned up at him. "If you really think you can distract me, you'd better prepare yourself." And Seb 'meep'ed as Wanda held up his underwear (when had she removed that too?!) and threw it off to the side. "I might need several hours of distracting~" Wanda purred.
Anyway, Seb was glad the twins were having a grandparent's day with mom Linda and Elijah…
-.-
Linda and Elijah were panicking.
"What do you mean you lost the grandkids?!" Linda wailed as she watched her husband spray the fire extinguisher on the carpet. He tried stomping it out at first and it almost worked, but then it spread to that really ugly throw rug that his in-laws had given them as a wedding gift years ago (and okay, maybe Elijah allowed it to burn a little, just a little! Just enough that he would have an excuse to throw the old thing out!) and then the fire grew to the point that stomping wasn't going to cut it. Elijah grunted as he sprayed the carpet and checked to make sure the fire was out. "Well, I've been somewhat distracted! I thought you were keeping an eye on them!" He retorted.
Linda looked around frantically. "Kids? Babies? Where are you?" She knelt down to look under tables and behind the tv, in case they had gotten behind there. "Oh where could a pair of almost two year olds have gone? It's not like they can open doors!" She wailed.
"Oof!" Zoe grunted as she twisted the knob. The door swung open and she quickly let go and dropped back to the ground. Zully whined when their sister got off their back. Why did Zoe always get to stand on top? Wasn't fair! "Ah bah bah!" Zoe grinned at her twin and stuck her tongue out. Zully huffed as they got up from where they were on their hands and knees to let Zoe stand on their back to reach the door. "Nah!" Zully complained.
Zoe had the gall, the utter GALL, to roll her eyes as her sibling. "Meh." She said to Zully's complaint. She giggled and toddled into the new room she'd opened up. Zully followed behind, a little more cautiously. "Ah beddy?" Zully asked as they looked around what was clearly a bedroom. It almost seemed like mommy and daddy's bedroom, but different. The colors were different. The items were different. It smelled weird.
Zoe looked around and pulled a loose blanket. This was hers to chew now. The small blonds walked around the room, examining the things, holding them close to their faces, touching them eagerly, smelling them and even biting them. So far, Zully found some very nasty candies and spat them out. They made their mouth too cold! Zoe stomped over them for hurting Zully. "Dah! Dah!" Zoe growled as she broke the candies and then hugged Zully, comforting them after their awful mouth experience. "Okie?" Zoe asked. Zully nodded, hugging their sister back. "Okie."
Zully didn't put any more weird candy in their mouth. Too gross. Zoe was chewing on that blanket she found quite happily. It was soft and fluffy stuff came out when she ripped it. She glanced over to Zully pulling open some drawers to pull the clothes out and run their hands over the fabric, marveling at the different textures. It was like daddy's workroom with all the fabrics that daddy used to make clothes! Zoe toddled over and magnanimously handed Zully another corner of the blanket she'd found. "Wah?" She asked. Zully smiled gratefully and took the offered corner. "Ah!" Zully stuck it in their mouth and chewed on it too.
The twins sat down to chew on the blanket together. It was nice.
Eventually, Zoe got bored (like she always did, frankly, she couldn't see how Zully could be fine with just sitting around and staring at things for hours at a time) and stood back up to pull more things down so she could mess with them. There was a large plastic box with plenty of buttons that Zoe immediately wanted to mess with. But it was on a table. She looked around for something to climb on but didn't see anything. And Zully was still busy with carefully chewing the blanket (Zully liked to eat in straight lines around things) and Zoe didn't want to stop them. So she reached out to shake the table instead. It wobbled. Zoe shook harder. The big plastic box shook and moved a little. Zoe shook harder. The box tipped over and then Zoe's eyes widened as it fell at her. "AHH!" She cried as she flinched, closing her eyes and covering her head. She'd had things fall on her before. It always made an ouchie!
It wasn't an ouchie this time though. She opened her eyes when she heard a loud "Sooee! No!"
Zully had their hand out, glowing blue and eyes wide with worry. And the plastic box…
Was floating.
Surrounded by blue and floating just an inch above Zoe's head.
The girl blinked at her twin and them back at the floating box. It was just there. Like daddy made things stay just there too. But daddy's glow was yellow! She moved out of the way and Zully lost concentration, the box then hit the floor with a thump. Zoe picked it up and took it to Zully. How did they do a 'just there' trick like daddy?! She wanted to do it too!
"Ah?" Zoe asked, waving her arm in the air. Zully looked at their hand and shrugged. "No?" The two babies sat beside each other, Zully scooting over to press against Zoe's side, and looked at their hands. It was almost like the fire. It felt like it too. But different. And they still didn't really know how the fire thing worked either. Zoe got bored again and started pushing buttons on the box she got. It clicked a few times before turning on and Zoe's face lit up with a grin.
It was a music box! (A radio actually, not that either of the twins knew the word.)
The box was playing something loud and vibrant and Zoe was already singing along (getting all the words wrong, since she didn't know the words, but she was matching the melody as she copied it's sound.) "Ah bah bah la la la laaaaa!" Zoe sang, happily drumming her hands on the box. It wasn't any uncoordinated drumming either, she was following the beat.
Zully stared at the box in confusion. They still didn't really get it. Daddy and Zoe really liked making those strange sounds. But Zully didn't understand what was so great about it. Zoe nudged her sibling. "Laaaah! La la la!" She sang, trying to get Zully to sing with her. Zully was weird. They never sang properly. Whenever Zully did try to sing along, they hit all the wrong notes. But Zully tried anyway. Zoe appreciated that. It made her happy!
"Lah la lah?" Zully tried to sing. It was all wrong but Zoe didn't care. It wasn't about sounding good. It was about sounding terrible together! (Mabel would have been proud to be privy to Zoe's thoughts on this matter). She laughed and kicked her little feet as she continued singing with the song.
Zoe stood up to try and dance, like she'd seen daddy do when he got really into the music. Zoe's clumsy baby limbs meant that she tripped and fell more often than not, but she landed on the blanket so everything was good. Zully danced as well, doing a better job that their sister, managing to turn their falls into a controlled tumble. The twins were having a blast playing together. They were so looking forward to showing daddy and mommy their new abilities when they came back!
"AH HAH!"
The small twins screamed their little lungs out when the door was thrown open and granny Linda appeared. "THERE YOU ARE!"
Mom Linda walked towards them and picked them up to hug tightly. "I've been looking for you two forever! How did you get up here?!" She heard the radio going off upstairs and had come up to check. This was the second floor and she was sure she closed the door.
And then the woman slowly realized the state her room was in. Mint candies on the floor, chewed and drooled on clothes, shoes everywhere, a totally destroyed blanket, and the radio on the floor, blasting music. It would seem two puppies came here instead of two babies.
"Oh my god!" Linda wailed. "Elijah! Come here!" She shrieked. The twins shared a look and squeaked when granny squeezed them in her desperation. Elijah came into the room and gasped. "Wow. They really went to town in here, huh?" He couldn't help but chuckle. "You're two little trouble makers aren't you?" He bent down to pinch their cheeks. Zoe protested and Zully whined.
"That's not the point! This is awful! My clothes!" Linda implored her husband to see the problem here. Elijah looked down and winced. "Yeah, looks like they went for my shoes too. We should probably go wash their mouths out now." He didn't want them getting sick. Linda still looked upset but knew that the baby's health came before anything else. The two carried the twins to the bathroom and brushed their mouths with the sparkly baby toothpaste that tasted like delicious bubblegum. Zoe complained the whole time but Zully appreciated the clean feeling in their mouth afterwards.
After a while, Elijah commented "You know, since the twins destroyed your clothes, you can ask Sebastian to make you new ones." And THAT made Linda light up. "Oh! Yes! I can!" She squealed in delight. Yes! A perfect excuse to get her darling baby Sebastian to make her some of his lovely designs! She grinned down at the twins. "Okay, I'll forgive you two this one time~" She patted their heads. Zoe rolled her eyes, not understanding what granny Linda was saying but knowing it was probably something dumb.
Elijah also rolled his eyes at his wife's excited smile. Linda loved Sebastian too much to be healthy… He narrowed his light brown eyes. Hmph! The only thing that reassured him is that Linda saw Sebastian as a baby (while the poor man was even older than Wanda and SHE wasn't a baby) and his daughter was protective of Seb, so she wouldn't let Linda get too close. And frankly, Elijah liked the man. Sebastian was a good boy. And he clearly was devoted to Wanda. It made Elijah glad that his baby girl found someone who cherished her so much.
So he would try to push his jealousy aside.
The twins were cleaned and now that they found them, they gave them dinner, dressed them in their Pj's and after suffering to put them to sleep, (because Zoe was missing daddy already and Zully was missing mommy, and they didn't want to fall asleep without them!) Zoe eventually settled down and fell asleep, clutching her very torn up shark plushie. Zully was holding onto their yellow baby blanket, apparently Zully got stressed when they didn't get to sleep with it.
Linda and Elijah sat down on the couch, exhausted from babysitting, searching for mischievous babies and cleaning the mess left in the livingroom and their bed room. "I feel like our kids weren't this much of a hassle." Linda sighed. Elijah shrugged. "I don't know, remember that time Wanda squeezed out a whole tube of toothpaste and smeared it all over the walls?"
Linda sighed. "Yeah...The walls smelled like mint for days...And worst of all, she was 5, not 2… Hah, remember when Junior brought a dog home and it ran on the carpet with dirty paws? Followed by him, also covered in mud?"
"Oh, Junior was and still is a mess…" The two laughed together, leaning on each other. Linda sighed. "You know, I was a little afraid when Wanda told us she was pregnant." She admitted quietly. "I know I shouldn't have worried, Sebastian is a good boy and he would never have left her over it." She pressed her eyes shut. "But I couldn't help but think of that asshole who left me pregnant with Wanda. God, I had to raise her alone…" Elijah hugged his wife. "But then I found you." He bent down to kiss her forehead. Linda laughed. "Yeah. I'm so glad we met. You're the best father Wanda could ever have." The two hugged and just sat quietly together for a while.
"I never thought I'd marry again after Mary died." Elijah admitted. He leaned his head on top of Linda's. "But I'm glad I did. Raising our kids together, being with you, having these wonderful years together, I can't imagine life without it, without you."
Linda laughed. "Look at us! Being all cheesy and reminiscent! Are we getting old?" She joked. "Nope. We're just wiser now!" Elijah cheered. Linda giggled into his chest. After a bit, she brought up, "Speaking of marriage, when do you think Wanda's going to pop the question?" Linda had come to terms with the fact that her baby son in law would never ask it (he was a baby, too pure and innocent and shy) and it would be up to Wanda to do it...as much as she still thought it was weird.
Elijah sighed. "Wanda will ask him when she asks him. You can't rush these things. You know I spent months planning out the perfect way to propose?" He told her. Linda laughed and raised an eyebrow. "After we spent those months discussing marriage and how we both wanted to get together?" Elijah scoffed. "Of course we had to talk it out first! It would have been horrible if I simply dropped the question on you without checking to see if you were open to the idea of it!"
"True, true~" Linda nodded, green eyes gleaming with mirth. "You were a dummy for thinking I wouldn't accept~ You're amazing, and very handsome~" Linda snuggled closer. Elijah beamed. Yay!
The two entertained themselves watching a movie, and when it was done, they realized Wanda and Seb hadn't even called! "Where is that girl!?" Linda complained. "I can't believe she forgot her kids!" The babies didn't have enough things to spend another day here. Linda huffed and pulled out her phone to call her daughter.
It rang for a bit before Wanda finally picked up. "Shhh-mom? This is- a bad time." There was some shuffling sounds in the background, along with some faint whimpering sounds. Linda scowled. "Wanda! You're supposed to come and pick up your children!"
"What? But that's not until 8- oh shoot it's 9:20 already?!" More shuffling. "Seb! Seb! Get up!" More tired whining sounds. "Ah, ok. I guess I'll go by myself. Get some sleep baby." More shuffling. "Here, water bottle. Now get some sleep. I'm gonna go pick up the kids." A grateful sounding groan. "I know Seb. Here, I'll open the bottle for you." Some sloshing sounds and then a sizzle, like water boiling away on a hot pan. "Huh, you should probably go take a bath actually. There's a lot of steam. How's your temperature? I don't want you catching on fire."
Linda waited on the phone. Looks like Wanda forgot she was still on.
"Come on Seb. Drink some of it- don't just pour it on yourself!" More sizzling sounds. The sound of the bathtub faucet running and then a splash. Linda heard Seb's voice moaning in relief. "Yeah, cool down. And drink your water." The sound of a kiss. "I'm gonna get the kids. See you soon."
Linda waited but with the muffled sounds and the shuffling, she was pretty sure Wanda had stuffed her phone into her pocket and forgot to close the call. Linda pressed the red button to close the call herself. "Ugh, that girl. Tiring out her poor boyfriend." Linda sighed. Elijah blushed. Well. If Wanda was anything like her mother, he felt a little bad for poor Sebastian.
His younger years were one of the happiest (but also most exhausting times) of his life… So many nights… Feeling out of breath… passing out…
Yeah. Elijah pitied his son in law.
Half an hour later, Wanda dared to come pick her kids up. She was wearing sweatpants and Seb's shirt. "Hi, I'm sorry mom, dad...I was working…"
Linda rolled her eyes as she and Elijah brought the sleeping babies to her. "Right. Working very hard I'm sure."
"Um, yeah…" The younger blonde had the decency to blush. "Thanks for babysitting…" She kissed her mom and dad goodbye before quickly running back to her car. She stopped and went back to her unamused parents to take her children from them. Oopsie~ She was distracted. She left Seb, about to catch on fire, alone, and wanted to return to him as soon as possible. Wanda drove carefully but quickly, trying to ignore the blush on her face.
Seb dozed lightly in the bathtub. But at least Wanda wasn't upset anymore. He twitched. He couldn't feel anything from the waist down…
He didn't mind doing it, he liked making Wanda happy. But she was… very… um… Sebstian blushed. He enjoyed the first hour, but then it got to be a bit much. Still, Seb smiled. It was nice. It made him feel loved and happy. He drank some water, moaning in relief at the cool liquid. He heard footsteps and Wanda's voice call out "I'm back~ and I put the babies to bed."
"Good. I'll go and check on them later." Seb sighed as he splashed around to lie more comfortably. Wanda came in and laughed at the sight of her boyfriend. His brown hair, which had grown out a little, was wet and slicked back away from his face as he lounged in the cold water. He sat up and waved at her, the water glistening off his slim chest. Wanda grinned.
Seb saw her look and sighed. "No more. I'm too tired!" He whined.
"...not even a little?" Wanda pouted. Seb shook his head. "No. I can't feel my pelvis." Wanda laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry baby~" She bent down to kiss her poor boyfriend. "Do you need help getting out of the tub?" she asked. Seb whimpered. "Yes."
The two managed to get Seb out and dried off. He was too tired to put his clothes back on (he only managed to put on a robe for decency), and passed out fast asleep on his bed before Wanda could get him to the twins. She sighed fondly. All her babies were asleep now. Well. She laid down beside Seb and smiled as she fluffed the towel around his hair. "Good night Sebas~"
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