A/N: So, part two. This is the longest part of the threeshot by far… and it's also my least favorite! Mainly because I detest the OC in this… for reasons that should be completely apparent… and I kind of feel… well… bad for even thinking her up.

Anyhoo, toddler!Dib is also pretty… uh… language proficient and coordinated for his age. Unnaturally so but… eh, he's an advanced child? And… you know, he's bio engineered and stuff so… give me a break, eh?

Hope you enjoy.

--

The head stone had changed little in the year that had since past. The harsh weather they had experienced had done nothing to erode the finely crafted marble; it was just as smooth as ever, the words just as readable.

And, once again, that day was beautiful; sun warming the parts of the scientist's skin that were still visible through his large lab coat. Clouds were lazily drifting through the sky, occasionally covering up the sun, causing a sharp temperature drop.

"Clouds!" the boy in his arms unexpectedly exclaimed, pointing upwards with one of his tiny hands. It was ten months ago that he was born, if it could be called that, and had already begun to speak a month ago. He was a bright boy, Dib.

"Yes, cumulus clouds," the scientist confirmed, making the boy clap happily at being correct, but he did not share his son's happiness. Although he was proud of his boy – their boy - it was hard to feel happy when he looked upon her name.

"Dad?" the boy asked curiously, glancing between his father and what appeared to be nothing more than a rock to him.

"That's your mother," the scientist responded simply, but this only seemed to confuse the child more. Not old enough to put his confusion into words, however, he remained silent as his father simply stared at the object before them.

Eventually, though, the scientist knew that Dib would be able to question him on the subject of his parentage. He wouldn't hide his mother from him, but the boy would no doubt notice that he was born after his mother had already passed away. There was no way around it, and it would have to be addressed eventually.

He was not looking forward to that day.

"Excuse me," a voice said from behind him, causing the man to twitch ever so slightly. With a bemused expression, he glanced at whoever had spoken from the corner of his eye. Underneath his goggles, his eyes widened.

It had been a woman who had spoken; that wasn't remarkable, in of itself. But… she looked so much like her. Still, there were differences. This woman's hair was a darker color, curved at the corners and her face was much sharper than hers had been.

Not receiving a response, the woman frowned, "I couldn't help but notice that you come here every month," she explained lightly, before adding quickly, "My husband died recently, you see."

"Yes, I see," the scientist answered cautiously.

"Oh, is this your son?" she abruptly changed the subject, strategically choosing to 'notice' Dib at that moment. The scientist didn't seem privy to her tactics, however, and nodded at the question.

"This is our son, Dib," he answered, eyes flickering toward the head stone. "Say, 'hello', Dib."

"…Hi…" Dib muttered, scooching farther back into his father's grip, as though he didn't want to be anywhere near this woman.

"Well, hello there, Dib," the woman greeted the boy with saccharine sweetness, before her eyes shifted back toward the scientist. "My name is Saline, may I ask yours?" He wasn't given a chance to respond, however, as the woman glanced at the tombstone.

"Oh," she said, "Tabor? You must be that famous scientist I'm always seeing in the papers." Saline smiled, "You know, I've always been interested in science…"

--

Saline was quite a woman. She would always know what to say, and how to act, and exactly how to get her way. And she did. Only a few months later did she become the second Mrs. Tabor, his second wife.

Now, although he was a smart man, the scientist was never a very good judge of character. If he was, then perhaps he would have never married her. Or maybe he was still too distraught from the death of his first wife. Either way, they were wed.

And it wasn't too much later that they had a child, a girl. Kindly, Saline had insisted that he name her. Her reaction was the first indication of trouble.

"Gaz?" she had scoffed, "What kind of name is that?" Her eyes narrowed briefly, before widening again. "I mean, why do you want to name her that, honey?" she questioned in a far more delicate tone.

"My wife and I agreed on it," the scientist retorted, although they hadn't exactly done that. Nevertheless, he was certain that she would have found the name 'Gaz' extremely amusing.

Scientific enough for you? He could practically hear her asking.

"Well, I'm your wife, now," Saline reminded him darkly, but only received a questioning look in return. "And… it's a… wonderful name," she finished through gritted teeth.

Whether or not she found the name to be wonderful, the scientist would have insisted upon it, anyway. Thankfully, there was not much argument about it and things had gone smoothly enough for his taste.

However, Saline's reaction to their child was less than overwhelming, and she barely seemed to care that the girl existed. But he was happy with his daughter's existence, at least, smiling down on her as he tucked her into her crib for the first time. Normally he wouldn't be able to bother with something so trivial and would have entrusted that duty to the nanny he had hired, or even Saline.

Beside him, the now two year old Dib stood on his tip-toes to get a glimpse of his little sister. "Hi, Gaz," he whispered, watching the baby squirm as his father wrapped blankets around her, "I'm your big brother, Dib."

"Hurry up!" the woman of the house called impatiently from outside of the room.

"Don't you want to say goodnight to your daughter?" the scientist called back in a half whisper, not wanting to disturb the baby as she slipped off into a sleep.

"Not really," Saline sniffed indignantly, lowly enough so that he couldn't make out what she was saying. This was abruptly amended, "Of course," she replied cloyingly before gliding into the room to hover above her daughter. Dib instinctively backed away as she drew closer.

"Goodnight, Gaz," she hissed, jabbing her hands under the blankets roughly in an attempt to tuck the girl in. It only seemed to hurt the baby, however, and she let out a sort of whimper.

"Now, I'm going to bed," she announced, giving a nasty sort of sideways glance at the children before looking at her husband, "Are you coming with me?"

"Yes, in a moment," he agreed, not noticing the scowl that had grown on her face from his words as she shuffled out of the room. "It's time for BED, son," he informed the boy, patting him on the shoulder before moving to follow his wife.

"Aw, okay," Dib said, sounding disappointed as he made to follow his father out of the room. He paused out in front of Gaz's crib, however, satisfied that their father was out of ear shot. "Don't worry," he breathed, "She's scary monster, but I won't let her get you."

"Son?"

Head jerking toward the sound, Dib gave one last look at his sister before running out of her room.

--

As the weeks since Gaz's birth drew into months, the scientist began to spend less and less time at home. It wasn't because he didn't want to be home, spending quality time with his children. And it wasn't that he didn't want to see his wife… no, it surely wasn't that.

No, he was just too busy. As of late his achievements had been garnering more attention, and to live up to the expectations of others, he had buried himself in his work. He was barely even sleeping at this point.

So it must have been lack of sleep that was driving him when he asked Saline to watch the children, that night. The nanny had called in sick; something was going around. Maybe he would work on a cure for that, next.

And if that hadn't been the lack of sleep, it must have been lack of sleep that allowed him to ignore her growl of a response. "Take care of those two sniveling-" she had begun, but was cut off as the scientist kissed her forehead automatically and left with only a quick 'thank you.'

The majority of the day had gone alright after that. Dib managed to keep to himself, although he generally avoided Saline altogether. Occasionally he would pass by Gaz's room, to make sure his surrogate mother hadn't eaten her.

As the sun began to set, however, Dib realized that something was wrong. He hadn't even had lunch and now it was nearly dinner time. His stomach was growling, and his could hear Gaz crying from within her crib. It couldn't be good for babies that small not to eat.

Not wanting to talk to Saline, Dib instead searched all over the house for the nanny that was usually there. She was nice and she didn't yell at him when he asked her a question. After several minutes of this, the boy finally decided to give it up. He would have to talk to that scary lady… even if she was probably the one that had made the nanny disappear.

"Mrs. Saline?" Dib asked quietly, approaching the woman. She was leaned back into their sofa, eating chocolate and watching a show where people attacked each other with their faces.

"What is it?" she spat, as though this boy was something that tasted foul. She didn't seem to mind that the boy hadn't called her 'mom'. She wasn't his mother, and was glad she wasn't actually related to him.

At the loudness of her voice, Dib withdrew somewhat, before managing to steady himself. "Well, it's almost dinner and the nanny's not here…." He trailed off, staring up at the woman with wide, glasses-covered eyes.

The only response Saline gave was a malice-filled glare.

"Um… Gaz is crying… and I'm real hungry…" Dib continued in a voice that grew progressively quieter. His own need was so quiet that it was doubtful that she heard it.

"Then tell her to shut up," Saline answered carelessly, waving her hand as to brush the boy away.

"But…"

"You'll do what I tell you," the woman snarled, and Dib took a step back, now looking terrified. "Now, go tell your sister to stop being such a baby."

Not bothering to protest that Gaz was, in fact, a baby, Dib fled from the horrible monster woman as fast as he could. Quaking as he opened the door to his little sister's room, he slammed the door behind him.

Now that he was in the room again, Gaz's cries were louder. Still looking aghast, Dib walked up to his sister's crib. He was a little taller now, though, and didn't need to stand on his tip-toes. Normally this thought would have made him smile, but not today.

"Shh, Gaz," Dib shushed, trying to pacify his sister to no avail. Her wails only grew louder as she flailed about in her bed sheets. "Please, Gaz, she's scary," he whispered, grabbing hold of the bars that separated them.

Realizing that his little sister was not about to be quieted, Dib took a look around the room. Spotting what he was looking for, he dragged it awkwardly over to the crib. It was a baby stroller and it was much taller than he.

With a worried look on his features, Dib somehow managed to pull one side of the crib down. "Shh, Gaz, shh," he insisted, pointing to the stroller. Somehow the girl seemed to understand what her brother was saying, for she grew silent, crawling over toward the edge.

Wobbling on the side of the crib, Gaz finally fell over into the stroller, nearly falling off onto the floor in the process. Dib quickly reached out and pushed her back into the seat. Breathing a sigh of relief, he clipped his sister in.

Now came the hard part.

Carefully, Dib opened the door, standing on the very tip of his toes to just barely turn the knob with the ends of his fingers. It creped open, and the boy pulled it farther agape. Slowly, he began to push the stroller into the hallway, checking both sides of him to make sure that the horrible woman hadn't seen him.

Satisfied that she hadn't, Dib began the arduous task of getting the unwieldy object down the stairs. Putting all of his weight into keeping the wheeled carrier from slipping and tumbling down the stairs, he began to descend, one step at a time.

Somehow, Dib didn't know how, but he made it. Allowing himself a small, childish grin, he glanced down at Gaz. She was still being silent, but was looking expectant.

Smile fast fading, the boy took a few steps away from the stroller. Looking all around the living room, he was relieved to see that monster lady was still watching the television. Taking a deep breath, he began to inch Gaz toward the kitchen, hoping that something loud in the television wouldn't set her off crying.

"What are you doing?!" Saline abruptly screeched, making Dib nearly jump out of his skin. Heart beating almost painfully hard, he turned around to explain but found that she was still staring at the television.

"Why'd you turn him down, you idiot?! He's rich!" she yelled, chucking one of her chocolates at the actress on screen.

Dib released a breath he hadn't even known that he had been holding. Not wasting any more time in the living room, he scampered into the kitchen. Skidding somewhat as carpet gave way to linoleum, he struggled to stop Gaz's stroller.

"Hmm-mmm," Gaz whined, making grabby motions at the high chair that she was accustomed to sitting in.

"No, Gaz," Dib whispered, "That's too tall." He furrowed his brow as he glanced up at the chair, before shaking his head. It would be hard enough to get to the food cabinets; there was no way he would be able to get Gaz into that thing.

How was he going to get to the cabinets, anyway?

Gaze flickering about the room, the boy's eyes eventually fell upon the regular chairs, the ones that his father and… that lady used. Bracing himself, he pushed up against one of them as hard as he could. It made a horribly loud scraping sound. He stopped immediately, glancing out toward the living room.

It didn't seem as though Saline had noticed.

Satisfied that it was alright to continue, Dib continued to scoot the chair over to the counter. Not realizing how far he had went, he gasped when he felt it could go no further. "Oh," he breathed, relaxing as he realized he had simply hit the counter.

Taking another suspicious look around the kitchen, Dib began to climb up onto the chair, wobbling dangerously at first. Grabbing the back of the chair to steady himself, he continued to carefully crawl up onto the countertop.

Shaking lightly, he shuffled carefully over to the cabinets. The cabinets jutted out just above the counter, leaving only a small edge that Dib could stand on. Cautiously, he began to pull out the materials he would need for their dinners.

He only seemed to finish after an eternity of precariously balancing on the side of the counter, and rushed down with his spoils as quickly as he possibly could; only pausing on the chair to pull out some silverware.

Breathing deeply and trying to steady his legs, which now felt like jelly, the boy made his way back to his sister. "Dinner," he said, holding up a cereal box.

--

It was much later when the scientist returned, looking tired and unfocused. Instantly, his attention was drawn to his wife, sitting on the couch still watching the television. "How are the children?" he inquired.

"Who?" Saline replied without interest, not even looking up at her husband. "Oh, oh, yeah, they're fine," she added, "I think they're in bed." At this, she yawned, stretched, and pressed the power button. "Are you coming to bed?" she questioned harshly, tone implying that he had better be.

"In a moment, honey. I have to get changed!" he exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek before rushing upstairs. She soon followed, shutting off the living room light behind her.

Still inside the kitchen, Dib frowned as the living room light was turned off. "Dad?" he asked timidly, sticking his out of the opening between the two rooms. He couldn't see anything through the blackness.

Getting no response, Dib stepped back into the kitchen, where cereal bits were scattered messily about. The siblings had both long since finished, but an unforeseen circumstance had arisen: Dib hadn't been able to push the stroller back up the stairs. Having nowhere to go, he had returned to the kitchen to wait for his father, who, even now, was nowhere in sight.

Appearing somewhat afraid, Dib pushed the stroller into the inky dark of the living room. He was defensive, seeming to think that something would come out of nowhere and attack him. Apprehensively, he stopped in front of the couch. Staring at it briefly, he began to unbuckle Gaz and shove her onto it.

Dib followed, glancing around again, although this time hoping that his father would emerge from the shadows to protect them, and take them up to their rooms. Shifting in his seat, the boy nuzzled in closer to the cushions, shivering slightly as the room temperature began to drop.

"…Goodnight," he whispered.