AN: So here's the new chapter. These things are getting longer and longer, it seems. Thanks to all you lovely folks who have read and reviewed so far, and I hope you all continue to do so in the future. I hope my writing stays up to snuff. Hooray for writing by the seat of your pants! ^_^

Chapter 4

The next morning, Finn was awakened by Jake knocking on the front door. He felt the dog in quietly, putting his fingers to his lips.

"The kids are still sleeping." He murmured. Jake smiled and nodded. Putting a comically large finger to his lips and tip-toeing exaggeratively upstairs. When he got there, he formed is hand into a trumpet and began pretending to play revele. The kids' eyes flew open and they pounced from their beds onto their father.

"Daddy!" They cried, hugging him tightly. Jake let loose a great basso chuckle.

"Man, you guys missed me! I was only gone for a day!" The children giggled as he formed seats for them on his shoulders and took them downstairs.

"Were you guys good for Uncle Finn?" The twin tykes exuberantly voiced their affirmatives. Finn spoke up from the doorway.

"They were great, as usual." Jake laughed and turned to the kitchen.

"Hey bro, guess what?"

"What?"

"As thanks for watching my pups, I'mma make you breakfast, just like old times!" Jake practically flew into the kitchen and stopped as soon as he looked at the icebox, fridge, and pantry to find them all empty save for a few frozen pizzas.

"Finn!" Jake shouted sternly. "Don't you have any food?" Finn cringed a little and started up,

"I usually eat out, and I don't really need to keep much here…" Jake shook his head as Finn trailed off.

"That's bullarkey! I shoulda known you wouldn't keep the pantry stocked!" He nodded his head definitively. "That's it, we're going grocery shopping." Finn groaned.

"C'mon, man! Can't we just…not?" Jake shook his head again.

"No, I'm gonna teach you to get more variety in your diet. Life skillz!" Jake flailed his arms at that last part. Finn sighed and resigned himself to boredom. Suddenly, and idea sparked in his mind.

"Hey, can I invite Marceline?" Jake was surprised, but acquiesced. Finn grinned and pulled out his phone, dialing the Vampire Queen's number. After a few rings, she picked up.

"Hello?" "Hey Marcie, Jake's gonna take me shopping or life skills or some crunk. Wanna come with so it won't be lame?" A pregnant pause followed, and Finn was nervous that she would decline, when she finally said,

"Sure, I'll be over in a bit." Finn grinned.

"Great! I'll see you soon." She hung up and Finn quickly got ready.

On the other side of the phone line, Marceline stared at her cell in faint disbelief. Did that little punk just ask her out? It was veiled, but… She snorted. He was probably too clueless to think of such a thing. Still, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Biting her lip slightly and smiling slyly, she floated over to her closet and began picking out an outfit. Her smile grew as her ensemble came together. Wait till that snot got a load of her!

Finn was practicing guitar outside when she arrived, completely oblivious to the world. After listening awhile, she decided to make her presence known.

"Ahem." She said quietly; his ears pricked up and he looked up at her.

"Hey, Marci-WHOA." His eyes grew huge as they took in her appearance. Outwardly she kept her face amused, but on the inside she was cheering that after these years she could still evoke such a reaction from him. Vainly struggling to appear nonchalant, Finn looked her up and down, from the black denim short shorts and bat-patterned fishnets that displayed her long, lithe legs, to the tight red v-neck with the plunging neckline that accentuated her more womanly curves. He gulped noticeably.

"Well, you look, um, nice." He stammered lamely. She looked down at herself, successfully hiding the way her heart(or what went for it) fluttered at his words.

"What, this? Psh, I just threw it on." That was a lie. "I didn't even think about it." That was a bigger lie. "So anyways, what're we doing?" Finn blinked slowly, as if coming up from hypnosis, and came aware.

"Oh, yeah, so Jake yelled at me for not taking care of myself, so he's taking me to the store to teach me or something." He chuckled ruefully and put his guitar back in its case. He straightened. "We were just waiting for you, actually. Jake, she's here!" he called into the house. Jake launched himself into the air from the inside, two kids in tow.

"Let's go!" He cried, before stopping a moment in puzzlement at Marceline's outfit before continuing, "Hey, we gotta stop by the Candy Kingdom and drop the kids off with Bubblegum." The other two nodded, and together the motley crew struck off down the path.

A small time later, the kids had been deposited with Princess Bubblegum and Prince Gumball(A story for another time) and now Jake, Marceline, and Finn were walking to the store, chatting amicably. Soon enough the large building came into view over the crest of the hill and they looked down upon it. There hung a large red banner proclaiming "Choose Goose Neighbourhood Grocery." The sign gave Marceline pause.

"Uh, I know I don't pay attention to the rest of Ooo much, but I thought Choose Goose was a crazy wacko in a shack by the river? How does he have a supermarket?"

"Good investment choices." Was Jake's reply.

"Oh." Said Marceline.

And that was that.

Soon, the group was at the door, and a grand display stretched out before them. From weapons and armour to food and drink to soaps and hardware, the store had everything, even-

"CD's!" Marceline squeed and flew over to a rack of shiny plastic cases.

"Life with no music is such a bore,

So I found some CD's to restore!"

Quipped Choose Goose, appearing seemingly out of thin air. Finn grabbed the rubber limbed waterfowl into a big hug.

"Choose Goose! How ya doing, ya big galoot?" Choose Goose chuckled maniacally, dancing out of Finn's grip with no apparent difficulty or concern for the laws of physics or reality.

"I've been quite happy, yes it's true,

But enough of me, how have been you?"

Finn grinned. Choose Goose was always exciting to visit.

"I've been good, Choose Good. Things have been good." Choose Goose flashed forward, eyeing Finn critically with his great googly eyes.

"I see you've let go of your fears.

Beyond that, you are out of tears?"

Finn was taken aback, shocked by Choose Goose's insight. He stammered,

"Uh, yeah, I am. How'd you know?" He asked, looking closely at the same thing. Choose Goose grinned and shook his head.

"The answer you don't need to know,

And on that note, I gotta go!"

Choose Goose ducked behind a counter and was gone. Left on the counter was a gift card and a slip of paper that read,

"Finn and Jake and Marceline,

Human, dog, and Vampire Queen,

I see you want to shop this store

This card will buy a little more!"

Finn picked up the card and looked at the amount readout. There was no number, only a large infinity symbol.

"Jake," Finn said slowly, "Does this mean what I think it does?" Jake grinned.

"I think so, bro, I think so."

"The most important thing about groceries," said Jake, "is to realize that you're usually only buying enough food for maybe a month at most. When you buy perishable foods, only buy what you can eat before it goes bad. Non-perishables, you can buy as much as you want, but they might get stale." Jake pulled a notepad from a pouch and scribbled down a quick grocery list as Finn strived to absorb all this knowledge. "Take this and go find as much of it as you can. I gotta talk to Marceline about something." Finn took the list, a bit confused, and walked off down the aisle. Marceline turned to Jake, trying to mask her dread and only partially succeeding.

"So, uh, what do you need, Jake?" Marceline was shocked to see how hard she had to work not to be cowed by the short dog's stony glare.

"Marceline," He said, casual and deadly serious at the same time. "What's going on with you and Finn?"

"Going on?" She spluttered, faking a laugh. "Psh, there's nothing… going… on…" Her act fell apart under his powerful gaze and she trailed off.

"Marceline, I'm a dad. I can tell when someone's hiding something. Spill, girl." He dropped into his "Deep Chocolate" voice at that last, which reassured her somewhat that this was still the Jake she knew. She sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you… I think I might be falling for Finn. And I think he likes me." Jake nodded, and motioned to her outfit.

"Is that the reason for that getup?" Marceline winced.

"Yeah… 'cause I'm still not sure how he feels about me, 'cause he almost kissed me, but then you called and he didn't, and he keeps on getting chances andnottakingthemandI'msoconfused." The words seemed to fall from her mouth like rain as she blushed, flustered. Jake looked hard at her for a moment longer, then let out an accidental snicker,

"Is this funny to you?" Marceline nearly shouted. At that, Jake lost it and collapsed into hysterical laughter. Marceline felt her face grow hot and hissed,

"What in Glob's name are you laughing about?" Jakes laughter slowly subsided and he picked himself up, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"All this angsting, it's hilarious! The whole, "does he, doesn't he" thing! You're what, a thousand? And you're acting like a schoolgirl!" Marceline was dumbfounded. She gaped, speechless, as Jake continued, "Marcie, Finn obviously likes you. The kid's transparent. If you really like him, make a move. But," and at this Jake's face grew stern again, "If you hurt my bro, I will mess you up. Got it?" Marceline nodded. Jake smiled. "Good. Now let's go find him." The two began searching throughout the massive store. Suddenly they rounded a corner and found Finn dragging along a shopping cart filled to the brim with all manner of miscellaneous items.

"Finn, what is all this?" Jake asked, exasperated. Finn looked sheepish.

"I… kinda went crazy with the shopping." Jake just stood there, shaking his head and chuckling.

"Alright, well, next time, we're gonna have to work on moderation. Let's get this rung up."

Soon enough the group had taken the groceries up to the treehouse and fully stocked Finn's pantry (a sight not seen in the house since Jake had moved out) and now, with the addition of Beemo, the group sat in friendly conversation in the living room.

"Oh, shoot, I gotta get home." Jake said, looking at his watch and standing. Finn got up to see him out.

"Alright, we still got that barbecue this weekend?"

"You know it, brudda. I'll see you there." With that, Jake padded off into the twilight. Turning back, Finn found Marceline staring with rapt attention at Beemo's screen. Finn was initially puzzled until he heard the strains of his improvised songs from the night previous. His heart fell and he felt a cold pit in his stomach as he closed his eyes and waited for the song to end and the ridicule to begin. He heard the song shut off and opened one eye. Marceline was staring at him with a strange expression.

"Yeah, heh, pretty lame, huh?" Finn said, rubbing his arm and affecting a chuckle.

"Finn." He looked up and suddenly she was kissing him, kissing him hard, filling him with sensations he had never experienced before, a feeling of bliss unmatched by any thing he had ever known. Unfortunately, the sensory overload proved a bit much, as as soon as she broke contact he fainted in her arms, a huge grin in his face.