Echo woke up and realized that one of her fathers must have come in and covered her up. She sighed, grabbing the stuffed dog she'd had since she was a baby. She hugged it to herself. She knew she had overreacted to what she heard. But she also knew that she did feel hurt. She had been trying so hard to be the best daughter they could have, she had straight A's. She took care of her siblings, especially Declan. She knew that Papa wasn't biologically related to her, they had told her as much. But for him to say that, trying to get out of a school event for her…

She would have understood if he had just…said it differently. But no, he brought up that he wasn't actually her father.

"I'm going to shadow travel in there."

"No, you're not. That would just make things worse." Dad said firmly.

"You heard what Leo said. We have to talk to her."

"So, knock." Dad said.

There was silence for a moment.

"What if she hates me?" It was barely whispered. Shaky and desperate.

Echo hugged her dog, then got up and went over to the door. She hesitated, then opened the door.

Her fathers stood in front of her, Papa closest and looking devastated.

Dad's shoulders relaxed as he saw her.

"Echo," Papa reached out and gently cupped her face in his hand.

She allowed it, "Why am I not good enough for you?"

Papa's eyes widened, "Echo, you're more than I deserve.I didn't mean what I said yesterday, you're my daughter by all rights. You don't have to do anything for our love." He told her, meeting her eyes.

Echo looked at the floor, biting her lip.

"Echo, we know we haven't been taking care of you as much lately. You've helping us so much that sometimes we forget that you need us too." Dad stepped around Papa to put an arm around her. "But it was never our intention to make you feel like you needed to earn our love, or to neglect you. You're our daughter. Our oldest, and I'm sorry. That means that you're going to bear the brunt of our ignorance and experiments, we're still learning."

Echo nodded slightly.

"We love you, more than words can express." Papa said, planting a kiss on her forehead. "And we're really happy that you didn't run far."

Echo smiled a bit.

"Yeah, if you're going to run again, please continue running to friends houses so that you're safe. That's very important to us. Your safety."

She rolled her eyes a bit, "I gathered."

The doorbell rang.

She glanced at both of them as they glanced at each other.

"Time to get dressed!" Dad hollered, then ran to get the door since he actually was dressed.

Papa ran to his room.

Echo quickly closed her door and changed, then brushed her hair and went out.

"Uncle Travis!" She exclaimed upon seeing him, then hurried over to give him a hug.

He gave her a tight hug, grinning at her, "Hey, Echo Lark. How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm so happy to see you! And Riley!" She turned to the small boy.

He grinned at her, his blue eyes bright and excited, "Hi!"

She hugged him, "Hi, Riley. How's your knee?"

He scrunched up his nose, "It hurts. But I'm okay!" He finished with a grin.

Echo realized that he actually looked kind of like Declan. He had lighter brown hair, and it was slightly curly. He had completely blue eyes instead of brown with blue flecks. His smile was a little crooked and his skintone a little more pink than the yellowish tone of Declan, but otherwise they could definitely be said to be related if they were to be seen together.

Travis ruffled Riley's hair, "He's been a was so bummed about seeing everyone that we're making the rounds and since I knew that you guys are pretty much always home on Sunday, I thought we'd start here."

Dad just grinned, "We're glad you could stop by, we were just saying a couple days ago that it had been ages."

Rory came racing out, "Uncle Travis!"

He caught her, and hugged her, "Aurora, reckless as ever, I see."

"It's not reckless, it's determined." Rory grinned.

Ana came out, walking like a civilized person, "Hi, Uncle Travis."

He looked at her, and surprise crossed his face as he flinched slightly. "Hi, Ana…wow, you…look like…wow." He was still smiling, and he hugged her, still unable to complete the thought.

She looked a little confused, but didn't really question it.

"Mom, she looks like mom!" Riley grinned, "That's cool!"

Travis looked at his son and grinned, "Yeah, that is cool."

Ana just smiled and shrugged.

Echo looked toward the hallway, wondering what was taking Papa and Declan.

Papa came out, "Stoll, ever hear of calling ahead?"

"Yeah, I've heard about it. Always forget to do it, though." Travis shrugged, a mischievous smile on his face now.

Echo slipped away to check on Declan, pulling him out, reminding him that he liked Uncle Travis.

"Hey, there's Declan! How are you, little Dude?"

Declan stared at him, then looked at Echo, "You're sure we know him?"

"Since birth." Echo nodded, giving him a little shove.

Travis squatted so he was more on Declan's level, "Don't remember me?"

Declan slowly shook his head.

"Ah, that's okay. Sometimes the mind can be a tricky thing." Travis offered his hand for a high five.

Declan hesitated, then gave him one.

"Come and sit down, how's work been?"

"Ugh, it's so time consuming. And this traveling is getting on my nerves. They're looking for a replacement for me which would be nice. But…" Travis sighed, sitting down, "I miss teaching. I miss having students and helping them learn things. I miss having time to see my family and friends. I can't even remember why I took this job."

"The travel, as I recall." Dad grinned.

Echo helped Riley over to the living room, basically carrying him. She didn't mind. He was a small kid. Thin as a rail. Must have been a Stoll trait.

"Yeah, well, I miss teaching." Travis shook his head, then smiled at Echo, "Thanks for helping him."

"No problem, he's a small fry." She said lovingly.

Riley folded his arms, "I am deeply offended!"

"You're seven, it's only natural that you're small. You seem to be very tall for your age. You're the same height as Declan."

Riley grinned easily, "I was only joking."

"Okay," Echo laughed, then took a seat with Declan. "You were a teacher, Uncle Travis?"

He nodded, smiling, "Yeah, I taught elementary students. Then middle school. That was my favorite.I guess cause I was used to middle school aged kids at camp. I was making good progress with changing the program at the school, help kids with dyslexia and ADHD."

"Students were upset when he took the job at the university." Papa smirked at Travis.

"So, why don't you go back to teaching?"

Travis shrugged, "I might, I'm mostly waiting for them to find a replacement for me so I can actually consider my options."

"Where would you want to teach?"

He shrugged, "Don't know. I guess we'll see where life takes us." He ruffled Riley's hair lovingly.

Riley looked up at him with a grin, "Maybe by Uncle Connor and Aunt Katie? Or here! By everyone else!" He bounced a bit.

Travis just grinned at him, "Maybe."

Dad nodded, "It'll be good for you guys to settle somewhere. You've seemed restless for a while now. Unsatisfied. And your blood pressure is high."

Travis groaned, "I forgot he was a relentless doctor."

Papa grinned, "He's always right about the medical stuff, though."

"True, very true.I'm working on it. Maybe try yoga or something." Travis made a face.

"Or see if a change in job does the trick." Dad said, smiling. "You might have to light a fire under your superiors to find a replacement."

Travis nodded, "Yeah. How are you kids doing in school?"

Rory groaned, "It sucks, I mean, math moves so slowly! And science is too easy."

Ana blinked, "English moves too slowly and history is too easy."

"Gym is pretty good."

"Music better." Ana finished. "But—"

"Otherwise, school is—"

"Really good."

Travis shook his head, "Still weird when you do that. What about you, Echo?"

"Really well, I'm passing with flying colors." Echo responded, hugging Declan. She shrugged, "Mundane, really."

He smiled, "You work hard, then?"

Echo shrugged again, "I have to, its hard with dyslexia, but I try to make it work."

"Yeah, I know how hard that is." Travis said, understanding.

Riley bounced some more, "I hate math."

"Easy on your knee, kid. Besides, you hardly focus on your math." Travis chuckled, flashing a grin at Echo's fathers.

Riley went still, tapping his fingers on the floor instead, "It's so boring!"

Travis shook his head.

Declan looked up at Echo, "Can I go play?"

Echo glanced at the adults, then at her siblings and Riley, "You guys want to do a puzzle?"

Riley's eyes lit up.

Declan smiled, "I like puzzles!"

Rory and Ana nodded, "We'll go grab the new one." They said in sync, then gave each other dirty looks that screamed at each other to stop saying what the other was did that every once in a while. They never really noticed when they finished each others' sentences, but when they spoke the same thing at the same time, they hated it.

Echo waved them both off, "Go get the puzzle." She got Declan up, then helped Riley up and over to her room where they would work on it. She had known it would be a good choice. She knew Riley and Travis worked on puzzles all the time, ever since Riley was because of Riley's knee, he wouldn't feel left out. Declan liked puzzles because it was okay if he didn't remember. He could always figure it out. Rory and Ana didn't feel as much like kids and Echo could have some peace and quiet.

Riley smiled at her as she helped him, "What's it like having siblings?"

She looked back at him, smiling, "Never boring." The way he was looking at her reminded her of Declan again. And the fact that they had the same mom. She wondered if Travis would ever tell Riley.

Riley tugged on her shirt, stopping her, "Daddy says that we have the same mom."

Echo felt surprised, "Um…yeah, we do. She had me and my siblings for my fathers."

Riley grinned at her, "So…we're technically siblings, right?"

"Yeah, I guess we are." She kissed his cheek, "But, Declan doesn't know yet."

Riley nodded, "Okay, I won't say anything." He hugged her briefly, then they continued into Echo's room and sat down.

The twins came with a puzzle, and they started working on it together. Five siblings.