In the following days, Stretch wasn't leaving the nursery much at all. He was just wanting his kids to get to know him again. He was trying to learn to become the father they needed him to be if he was going to keep them. Though he found he needed help. As much as he loved his kids, they were a little overwhelming to deal with sometimes.

Stinkie and Fatso were not allowed near them. They wanted to go haunting with Stretch, but he wasn't leaving his twins in fear of something happening to them. The two of them found they had to go scaring without their leader. If they weren't doing that, they were mostly eating or watching tv, or sleeping.

Stretch would let James or Casper help with them at times, mostly Casper. Kat offered help sometimes, but just because she was a girl didn't mean she knew everything about babies. James was often busy with his patients too, so it often found Casper helping Stretch. Casper would bring his Uncle Stretch his meals when he got hungry.

He just didn't want to leave his kids alone in fear of losing them if he did. He was also keeping a strong eye out for Chaos. He knew most likely that she would come back for the twins. She could be out there right now watching the house.

Stretch would find that he could only take care of one baby at a time. But when they were crying at the same time for food or changing, that was when he needed help. Maybe at some point he would let his brothers help him, but he just wouldn't let it happen right now. He didn't trust them.

Stretch had always been the leader of the trio and the patriarch of the family for a long time. And this was his burden and joy to bear.

…..

Chaos and Tammie had returned to Maine as well. They found an empty house to stay in for the time being. Chaos' old house had been bought and fixed up since so that was out.

"So, where does this Stretch live?" Tammie asked her friend.

"At the castle mansion at the top of the hill way on the outside of Friendship." Chaos replied. "Whipstaff Manor."

Tammie looked and could see the house. "That place is huge. Sure looks good enough for even you to live there." She stated.

"Yes, but I won't live with fleshies. They have fleshies living in their house too." Chaos declared in disgust.

Tammie flinched at that. Her friend had a point. "Then Stretch shouldn't have those babies. You have been there for them every day for the past three years and he hasn't been. But do you think Stretch would be a good father?"

"His genes were all I needed from him. I also liked that I succeeded with having a male ghost carry my offspring than me carrying them." Chaos spoke smugly. "He's a strong leader for his brothers but he is often too childish. I did like his leadership qualities though. Men don't take caring for kids as seriously as women do."

"True." Tammie stated. "So, how do we get Stephen and Brenda back?"

"Leave that to me." Chaos said. "I will need you to stay here for when I get the twins back from him. You'll need to watch them for me."

"I'll be happy to. They're like my kids too." Tammie agreed.

Chaos definitely had somewhat of a plan forming to get back at Stretch for taking her kids from her. She would go to the Whipstaff house daily and watch for any possible openings to get at Stretch. She wanted him alone to implement her plan.

…

After his fourth day of welcoming home his twins, Stretch was finally worn out enough from caring for them that he finally felt like leaving the nursery. To him, his kids were now Shriek and Screech.

The babies were getting used to Stretch again. He was different in caring for them compared to how they knew their mother to care for them. But he was gentle and caring to them, different in ways in how he abused his nephew for so long. Along with feeding and changing them, he would read some books out loud, sing to them, rock them, and just talk to them about scaring. Shriek and Screech started to be comforted by their dad's voice again too. They were beginning to make a connection again.

Stretch couldn't wait to one day start teaching his kids about scaring. Given they were his kids, they might take easier to scaring than Casper did as they got older, but that was still a ways away. Stretch could enjoy his kids being babies for a long time yet, compared to having Casper having to be an older boy.

He had gotten his twins to sleep and was ready for a break from them. "Ah, taking care of twins is really hard work." Stretch said as he wiped some sweat from his face. "I'm ready for some tv for a little while."

Stretch went to the living room to watch some tv for a little while. He had a baby monitor with him that he set on the couch beside him. His brothers were nowhere around. "Good. I have the tv to myself for a change." He picked up the remote and turned on the tv. He was looking for one of his favorite programs, Gidget, if it was on.

It wasn't on. He had to settle for a paranormal show about ghosts. Oh well. Better than nothing.

He settled down to watch tv and a tired feeling overcame him. He didn't realize how tired he was. The program soon put him to sleep.

Casper soon came flying up to the living room while looking for a bucket to do some more of his daily chores and he found Stretch alone on the couch. "Whoa, he must be tired after taking care of my cousins almost nonstop." The young ghost realized. "Well, I'll let him sleep for now." Then he was off again to do more chores.

Casper had heard the twins sleeping on the monitor. He wasn't going to disturb his exhausted uncle when he had been taking care of the twins constantly. His brothers he knew were out scaring somewhere at the moment.

The young boy ghost flew into the library to see Dr. Harvey. He was currently not in session with any patients.

"Hey, Dr. Harvey." Casper said.

"Hi, Casper. What are you up to?" James asked.

"Doing my daily chores but I also found Uncle Stretch on the couch in the living room." Casper replied.

"He's finally out of the nursery?" James asked.

"Yes. He looks exhausted." Casper stated.

"Well, babies are a lot of work, Casper." James said. "And Stretch has two to take care of."

"I know. Well, at least he's finally taking a break. They must be asleep if he's out of the nursery finally." Casper guessed. "I would think he would want to go haunting with Uncle Stinkie and Fatso."

"Casper, he just found his twins again and he's going through a paternal bonding time with them again. He didn't get to have that full experience last time. Well, if only for a short time before the lady abducted them from him." James explained.

"I know, it's just strange seeing Uncle Stretch like this. I mean, he's not abusing me and instead, asking for my help with them instead of from my other uncles. He's also asking from you too since you're a dad." Casper explained his thoughts.

"Yeah, seeing a more mature thinking, gentle Stretch instead of the demanding bully we usually see." James agreed. "Where are Stinkie and Fatso anyway?"

"I think they left to go do some scaring on their own." Casper replied.

"Well, it is good for them to take breaks from each other sometimes too." James declared.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go check on my cousins." Casper said. Then he flew out of the room.

James was impressed with how Stretch was devoting himself to be a good father. He didn't know he had experience with them at all, save from when Casper had turned into a baby a long time back. But the whole household needed to be devoted to them too.

Of course, the two older kids, Casper and Kat, both had school on the weekdays. But they could help out when they could.

When Casper went back to school, he had told Ms. Banshee that Stretch now had his twins back. She was happy for him, but it still wouldn't make her be just his girlfriend. But she might babysit one of these days. She knew all the Trio wanted her to be their girlfriend.

Casper arrived in the nursery, and he saw that his cousins were asleep, like their father. They were so adorable when sleeping. But when they woke up, they would be wanting some food most likely. Casper left the room after tucking them in some more. He was like a big brother to them.

They slept for a good while. When Screech and Shriek woke up from their nap, they began to cry for their father. They had full diapers again as well.

Stretch was awakened from the monitor on the couch to his babies' crying. He still felt tiredness in his eyes, but he knew he had to go take care of the twins. "Oh, just doesn't seem like I get enough sleep." Stretch yawned. He picked up the monitor and flew back to the nursery.

The cries could be heard all over Whipstaff. Casper was cooking now for his uncles. He had to go check too. He made sure the food would be okay before going.

Stretch got there first. "Hey, hey. What's ya all crying for?" he asked softly as he appeared over their cribs smiling.

The babies stopped crying for a moment and started holding their hands out for their daddy to hold them. Stretch smirked and picked them up for a moment. "Alright, Daddy's gotcha." He said gently.

Casper then flew into the room. "Uncle Stretch?" he asked.

Stretch turned and saw his nephew. "Hey, Casper." He smiled at his nephew.

"Need any help?" Casper asked. "I'm also cooking dinner."

"Yeah, I need to change these diapers before feeding them." Stretch stated.

Both ghosts went about changing the diapers and then Stretch and Casper flew them down to the kitchen. Stretch was now wanting to start feeding them in the kitchen. They needed to get used to the house.

"Shriek and Screech are going to start being taken to other parts of the house where I go." Stretch declared.

"That's great to get them out of the nursery." Casper smiled.

Stinkie and Fatso came home then too, wanting some dinner after a long day of being away scaring. "Hey, Bulbhead, where's our dinner?!" Fatso demanded furiously.

"Hey! Be quiet!" Stretch ordered angrily at his brothers.

Fatso and Stinkie saw why their brother was being snappy at them. He had his babies down there with him. Great.

"I see you got the little stinkers out of their room." Stinkie mentioned.

"Yeah, and they're going to be coming out a lot more with me." Stretch snapped at them.

"Your dinner is almost done." Casper said. He then got some baby food out of the fridge for his cousins.

Shriek and Screech were put on the table while Stretch got the lids off. He got two spoons to feed his kids. This was something he liked doing himself. Casper checked on the food cooking.

Stinkie and Fatso took their seats far away from their eldest brother, knowing he probably didn't want them near his twins. Stretch would wham whack or hurt them most likely. He was very protective of the babies right now. To them, it was amazing he was even allowing Casper to get near them, but then, Casper was good with kids, and being a kid himself.

"Stretch, are you ever going scaring with us again?" Stinkie asked cautiously.

Stretch's gentle gaze turned into a glare looking at his brothers. "When I feel like I'm ready to go scaring again, Blister brains." Stretch snapped. "I'm still getting a handle on bonding with my kids that I didn't get to do before."

Stinkie and Fatso still didn't entirely understand the paternal bonding their brother was going through but would take him at his word. They didn't want him to hurt them no more than he already did. They knew the twins were their kin now, but they weren't crazy for sharing their brother and their house with these noise makers. The twins were changing their afterlives, and they didn't like it. They were wishing in their minds that they hadn't found Chaos at that scavenger haunt event.

But life was going to be like this as long as Stretch deemed it fit. He wasn't parting with the twins anytime soon in his mind. He was still getting used to this, being a parent. It was hard but worth the work. Haunting had been the farthest thing from his mind right now.

The food was soon done, and Casper served it to his uncles before serving himself. Stretch didn't eat no matter how hungry he was until Screech and Shriek were finished with their food. He laid them down on the table while he then proceeded to eat his own food. He needed some highchairs for them if they were going to eat here in the kitchen with them.

After dinner, Stretch wanted to watch more tv and he and his brothers went up to the living room again. This time, he brought the twins with him. He asked Casper to go bring out the little cribs they had for the twins to rest in the living room.

Casper was happy to be of use. He found the cribs and brought them to the living room. Stretch placed his son and daughter in their cribs.

"Now, Screech and Shriek are going to be with us so I can keep an eye on them. Is that understood?" He demanded firmly to his brothers.

Stinkie and Fatso quickly nodded. "Yeah, yeah, it is, Stretch." They responded in words. They easily feared his moods.

"Good. My babies are going to start learning how we live our afterlives." Stretch decreed.

"Just hope they remain quiet." Stinkie blurted out, annoyed at this new event.

Stretch immediately whammed him from his hand as a hammer. "My kids can make all the fuss they want to!" He growled at his smelly brother. "Now shut up!" He settled back near the kids.

Stinkie now knew Stretch was serious about this. He and Fatso would have to watch what they said around Stretch and what they said about their newer nephew and niece. They weren't used to a niece.

"And eventually, I may let you two start to handle them too. I can't do this alone." Stretch's tone softened a bit.

"Still hard to believe you're a father now, Stretch." Fatso stated but hoping to not get whacked.

"Yeah. But I wasn't giving up on them. I knew about them for nine months before they were born. Yeah, life was going to change for us when they came, but never thought that they were going to be stolen from me." Stretch proclaimed.

"How are we going to handle haunting anymore, Stretch?" Stinkie asked cautiously.

"Casper can watch them when we are away. But we are going to have to change our haunting hours to when he's home from school." Stretch declared. "I won't leave them alone."

Stinkie and Fatso thought the idea was lame but would abide by Stretch's rules. He was the boss and eldest.

During their program watching, Shriek and Screech were mostly quiet this time. Stretch took out one at a time to hold on his lap or next to him if he was laying back. He wanted his brothers to get used to having them around. They had to learn to become like parents too.

At one point, Fatso started looking at Stretch's stomach. He wondered how his brother had carried two babies inside his belly for so long and none of them knew he had been pregnant at the time. But then, there had been a time when he was still thin, but his belly had gotten bigger, but not as big as his belly.

"What did it feel like to carry the babies, Stretch?" Fatso asked.

Stretch jumped at that. It had come out of nowhere. "I thought we already talked about that." He stated.

"Not really." Fatso said.

"Fine. It could be nerve racking. But if you like kids, the feeling of them moving inside ya is something unique. A feeling that just makes ya feel… different. Something that we never feel again once they come out." Stretch explained.

"And you had to even share everything you ate with them." Stinkie added.

"Yeah. They could also nauseate me too." Stretch replied. "But glad it's past that time."

They went back to watching tv while the twins fell back to sleep on him. But Stretch would never forget the feeling he had in his stomach for those months. All that fluttering, rolling, and punching him. He had had to be careful about not letting anything harm his stomach during those months.

Even though Stretch was now allowing his brothers to start being around the twins again, it didn't mean he was going to drop his guard around them. Not until he knew he could trust them with them.