Slices of Life and Family

by bluefrostyy

PART 3 of The life of Sebastian Pines! (Read that first, I doubt you'll understand what's going on) The story follows Seb's life after Gravity Falls. Bill was defeated, but the Pines family still have thousands of adventures together. Old characters will come back, new characters will make an appearance, all to accompany Seb through his journey as a human (Cowritten with Mizuuma)

58. Ch 57: Post wedding shenanigans

Hi, sorry for taking forever uh, busy life xd Hope you enjoy it

(Author's note: We chose to base the human tribe that adopted Max on an indigenous tribe from the New Jersey area because we were trying to figure out how to give Max a workable legal human identity based on his location, but what we write here is unrelated to the real group of people. If you are curious, you can look the real tribe up yourselves to learn more about them.)

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Each newly wed couple planned different ideas for their honeymoons. Mabel and Max wanted to go out and explore, have adventures! So they packed their bags, got their passports ready and were ready to travel around the world, with Max's goal of tasting different dishes around the world and Mabel's more unrealistic goal of petting and booping every cat in the world. Abi made Mabel promise to get a rabies vaccine first.

Meanwhile, Dipper and Pacifica wanted none of that. They wanted to get pampered . They were old souls and wanted (needed) to destress and not worry about constant flights, or hotel accommodations. So they reserved a room with a resort near the beach, that will provide spa days, a big pool, water slides, an open bar and even some singing events, music, buffets and all the time for themselves~

It was a special moment they should enjoy with their partners, after all. Because then they'd return back to reality and it'll suck . Ugh, going back to work…

"Thanks, dad." Dipper deadpanned at his dad's gentle reminder. "See you in 2 weeks. Don't call us."

"We won't even remember who you are." Shermie crossed his arms. He and Abi never got to have a honeymoon after their marriage. Their life was nothing but working non-stop to raise these kids. No, Shermie wasn't jealous at all, what are you talking about? At least, he and Abi got their vacation that fateful summer when he just dumped the twins on Seb. Heh. Damn, Shermie wanted to go on vacation with his lovely wife again.

"Bye, dad! mom! See you soon! We'll call everytime we can!" Mabel hugged her parents and Shermie stroked her head. "I know, princess, keep us informed ok? Mom and I will be thinking about you every day."

Dipper deadpanned at his twin. Pacifica giggled behind her hand.

-.-

Mabel and Max started their adventurous trip around the world. The former eix leel wanted to see animals up close, in their own habitats . So they were now on a safari tour, in some random part of the world.

His tail wagged excitedly as he looked at the environment that didn't exist back in his own world. It was beautiful here!

His happiness was later replaced by his heart stopping however when Max (and the rest of their tourist group) watched in astonishment, as a lioness approached their car in the natural reserve and let itself be petted by his wife. "Aaawww baby kitty~ She's licking me!" Mabel cooed.

""She's tasting you."" Max and the tourguide said at the same time.

"No, she's not! She's a good girl." Mabel squealed, ruffling the lioness's face and rubbing her nose against her. "Who's a sweetie, fluffy kitty? You are!" (The lioness was rather confused by this human's behavior. But there was a scent of something around her that made her hesitate to attack, not to mention there were so many humans around it simply wasn't wise to do so.)

"Do you have travel insurance?" The tour guide asked Max who nodded solemnly. "We do." The other tourists were shocked at how she was even doing that!

-.-

On the other side of the world, Dipper lowered his Raspberry martini and narrowed his eyes. Pacifica lifted up her sunglasses to look at her husband, who was wearing only his bathing suit and laying next to her on the pool chair. "You ok?" She appreciated the view as she asked.

"...I have a feeling Mabel's doing something very stupid right now…" He slurped his drink, still with his eyes narrowed.

" Is that a twin thing?"

"No, we don't really have that." Dipper responded, though this sudden feeling was…new. Were they finally getting a twin telepathy or something?! (Later, he would ask uncle Ford if prolonged contact with places or people with Weirdness energy could somehow unlock latent powers or something.)

Pacifica sighed as she turned around so the nice warm sun could now reach her back, and smiled "It's probably nothing~ Can you help me put some sunscreen on my back~?" She said softly in a flirty way. Dipper grinned at the offer.

-.-

"Look! They boil the meat for hours before even adding the other ingredients!" Max gushed as he watched the locals cook. Another part of their trip was trying out different dishes . They visited some fancy restaurants, but they were mostly interested in visiting small businesses to appreciate the way they cooked. Right now, they were somewhere in Asia. The street markets were a treasure trove of wonderful meals and local cuisine that wouldn't be found in restaurants that were trying to cater to western tourists. Currently Max and Mabel were in southern China.

They ate a lot of delicious common plates, different types of soups, salads, noodles and pasta, and different ways to prepare chicken and meat! But Max was also willing to try anything and everything that most tourists would never do, that included the weird stuff. After all, an eix leel already ate everything of the animals they hunted, nothing really surprised him.

Fried pig intestines? Yes! Jellyfish? Hell yes! He'd missed that dish from home! Max was even open to trying Durian despite the smell. He told Mabel that the taste was perfectly fine, and it didn't smell as bad when it was fresh. Mabel gagged and refused to be around him all day though, even grounded him in the bathroom and made him wash his teeth and use mouthwash the entire day.

The poor girl went pale more than once in many places. He reassured her that if she didn't want to try, it was perfectly fine, and then they looked for other places where she could eat. She snuggled him. That's why she loved him so much. So understanding~!

Max was learning a lot from this though, writing down the recipes he ended up liking from the different countries they visited. It made up for the extreme adventure sports Mabel convinced him to try at every place they went. Why were so many of them related to throwing him off cliffs?! Humans were so strange. And insane.

Mabel shared some photos of them doing zip lines and bungee jumping. Max looked terrified out of his mind.

Dipper and Pacifica were having a great time just lazing around, indulging in the pampering. Right now they were getting full body massages. With hot rocks. Dipper moaned softly as the hot rock was rubbed against his lower back. Ohhhh… he needed this…

And everynight, Pacifica would pounce on Dipper and 'try for babies' until Dipper couldn't move anymore. He needed relaxation and massages to stay alive.

Of course, as nice as it was to sit around doing nothing, it got boring after a while.

So Dipper, being the nosy bitch he was, started looking around for anything to mentally stimulate him. Which resulted in him taking out his tablet to continue working.

Pacifica had personally messaged his damn Boss and told him to not call him during their trip. At all. So no matter how much he refreshed his email, nothing but spam came. Urgh! He needed to know how things were doing!

So Dipper just started drawing and animating random things. It was good practice, he could put it on his Reel. Pacifica was a little annoyed he was working when they were supposed to be relaxing, but working and keeping busy helped with his anxiety, so she just cuddled against his side to read a saucy romance book. Sometimes she read it to him aloud, just to distract him. Most of the time, both ended up putting their book and tablet aside to do much more fun stuff.

They also met another couple on their honeymoon…and Pacifica and Dipper hated them. They hated them SO much…

That couple SOMEHOW thought they were friends now after talking once and now they followed Dipper and Pacifica around for breakfast and wanted to go on tours together! Help! They clearly couldn't take the hint that Dipper and Paz didn't want other people around them during this time, and it pissed them off that now they had to hide from extroverts !

Their trip finished earlier than Mabel's, but eventually, both twins and their partners were back home. Abi kissed both their foreheads and Shermie hugged his baby girl tightly once she was back. Dipper again, deadpanned.

-.-

"Still negative!" Pacifica growled, angrily tossing the strip away.

"Maybe we should take a break, gimme some time to actually build up?" Dipper sighed, sipping his morning coffee.

"What is fucking going on, Dipper? I've been off the pill for like 3 months now! Anyone would have gotten pregnant already!" She raged as she threw a pillow against the wall. Dipper winced and offered her coffee. "Hey…Maybe it's not the right time yet. Let's save up some more for the three~ babies you want and it'll happen when it happens?" Dipper didn't want to admit it, but he was so relieved Pacifica wasn't getting pregnant yet. He was terrified of being a father.

"...Fine…" She finally relented and sipped the coffee. She needed to go meet her patients early today. She didn't study clinical nutrition and did internships and passed her exams to obtain her license as a dietician for nothing .

-.-

Max returned home with a lot more experience in the kitchen, inspired by many cultures they visited. Truly, humans could be crazy, but they were very creative in a lot of things!

Being married to a chef had its perks~ You never got the same dish twice and Mabel got to eat delicious meals every time. Yes, you should be jealous! She also got a great view watching him cook~ Those big arms flexing and moving~

She really won the best husband lottery here!

It was really annoying that they had to work and they couldn't be together all day like when they were younger, but bills had to be paid and their degrees had to be used. Max worked at a very pretty restaurant as the Commis Chef, which was basically Junior Chef. Mabel knew Max could be Chef de Partie, a higher position, because everyone in there knew of Max's talent in the kitchen, but he was too shy to even ask for a raise or promotion. She'd have to help him with that later.

Meanwhile, she was an event planner and she specialized in hosting weddings and showers, but she could do anything really because she was just that awesome! Mabel hadn't talked much with Max about it, but it'd be awesome to open a restaurant together, that way they could keep being their own bosses. She kinda preferred that.

But it didn't matter, they'd get there eventually. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy her present and enjoy every day she had with her husband who was now hers forever and ever~

Waddles oinked at her and she giggled, stroking his head.

-.-

"Got all the papers you needed, boss." Riley handed Ford a big folder with the papers he asked her to look for. She was his assistant after all. She was also very nosy and liked to see what Stanford was up to.

Said papers and documents were necessary to enroll the scientist's babies to school for the first time.

Ford was definitely stressed. He loved town, he did…But the school system here was…

"Bad?" Riley offered.

"Shit." Yun scoffed. "Have you seen the people in town? No offense to them, but… they aren't very smart. Partially due to the chemicals polluting the water supply, partially because there used to be a cult who would mentally destr–" Ford put his hand over Yun's mouth. The woman narrowed her odd eyes at Ford for censoring her.

Ford adjusted his glasses. "Ehem. While I won't confirm nor deny that statement, I want the children to go to the best school we can provide them. One where they receive proper education and stimulation."

"And one where they will be safe. Very important." Yun added.

"Well, here's the list of schools I found in the state with their number to contact them too." Riley pointed at the folders she brought. She made a face. "To be fair, most schools are either very far away from town or are Catholic schools-"

"Yuck." Yun and Ford shuddered.

"-Yup. Predicted that." Riley shook her head fondly at Ford's annoyed face.

After that, Ford and Yun (or Xin when he was around), dedicated their free time to searching for a school worthy of having their precious little baby angels. They didn't have time to feel bad or awkward around each other because they were busy, they didn't fight either because they agreed on the basic points the schools needed to have and they were actually… bonding through their hatred of the USA public school system forcing them to look for private options. Ford made a mental note that he still needed to do something to help the local school. They couldn't be neighbors of the most advanced research center and not be as competent as it should be.

Most of the schools on the list weren't prepared for kids like the twins or Lux and Ira, others were pretty but basically 4 or 6 hours away from town.

"We could just teleport them." Xin suggested massaging his temples. (Yun and Xin both here right now.) Ford glanced over and there was a moment of double-take at the dragon's golden eyes. Right, still getting used to that. Ford didn't know why MizBill's forms were… getting more 'Bill' like, but… Wanda had said that part of their break was for MizBill to rediscover themselves and figure out the person they wanted to be. So… Ford was going to have to get used to it.

"It'd be convenient, but it's unrealistic. Schools ask for an address. My teleportation devices are not public yet and it'd be impossible for someone to travel such distances in the time needed." Ford replied, also massaging his eyes. They were hurting. His head hurt too. He was very stressed right now.

Yun reached to touch Ford's shoulder while he looked down, but her hand curled up and she put it away at the last second. Ford didn't see how she turned away with a strained expression.

-.-

The newly wed couples were hanging out in Mabel's apartment. They were having a few beers and joking around. Their dear old pig had decided to curl next to Dipper to get scritches. Waddles missed him!

"Ugh, and then we had to hide in our room for like 2 hours because they were at the pool!" Pacifica sipped her can. "Seriously, they even knocked on our door!"

"We were this close to asking the hotel to give us another room." Dipper groaned.

Mabel and Max laughed. "You two are so boring! We made so many friends on our trip!" The curly brunette showed them the thousands of photos she took as she smooched her husband's cheek.

"Hey, what about this photo?" Dipper asked curiously and showed his sister and brother in law one where Mabel was taking a selfie with a newborn in their crib.

Max grinned. "It's Dr. Allie and Dr. Dylan's newest grandchild."

Pacifica cooed and leaned against Dipper with a little grin.

Mabel smiled. "Yup! We went to visit them last week, after they visited the lenni lenape tribe~"

Max shot Mabel an annoyed 'Don't you dare' look, to which Mabel replied with a 'Watch me' look.

Mabel grinned, "Don't you think MAX~ Should have invited his human tribe to the wedding~ And visit them more~?" Max glared at the young brunette woman.

Dipper frowned, passing the phone to his twin. "Why don't you want to visit your human tribe? Did something happen?"

Max grumbled and finally gave up, pulling at his braid. "Nothing bad happened, I just don't feel right to pretend I'm one of them. They were kind enough to help me set up my human identity, but I'm not really a member of their tribe, so anything more than this just feels like I'm taking advantage of them."

"But… you're not." Mabel sighed, "Your human form is based on them, and they even know about what you are. They chose to help you and welcome you in as a member."

"And I'm thankful. But I don't want to ask for anything more." Max hugged his tail. "Mabel, you don't understand." He shook his head, "I'm not one of them. I wasn't raised with their values and traditions, and I don't want to discard my own just to pretend. I might be Ienni Ienape on paper, but I'm not… I just don't feel comfortable doing this, alright?"

Pacifica raised her hand. "Hold on. I'm not getting it. They know you're not human?!"

Max threw his head back, like a drama queen. "My doctors, Allie and Dylan, they were also cursed and exiled, right? When the humans found them…they were pretty hurt from the transformation. They didn't understand much English but they were taken to the hospital to treat their wounds…"

Allie and Dylan had it a lot harder than Max in their healing process. Some cops found them curled up by the beach, naked and bleeding in lots of parts of their body. Judging by their skin color and their non ability to speak English, however, the police thought they were natives and basically, with no intention to help them anymore, and after making sure at the hospital that they weren't gonna die, a cop took them to the nearest reservation to deal with them.

Of course, those were the Lenni Lenape, who were rightfully confused and angry they'd dump some people here without even asking them if they were part of their own. However, they couldn't let two people suffer. They were given clothes, blankets and they took care of the young couple until they felt much better. Still, none of the two parties knew who the other was.

The council was confused, and didn't know what to do with Allie and Dylan. That was until the grandfather of one of them remembered a story. He always thought it was very weird, but apparently it could explain their situation.

He explained that, according to this old story, not many remembered anymore, centuries ago, the tribe had met another …unusual tribe…of non humans. They used to interact with them and even exchange goods. The non-human tribe didn't live in their lands however, but in another realm, which helped establish that there wouldn't be any competition between them for resources.

These other people had control of magic, and they came up with an ingenious way to alter their physical appearance, using some human elements like hair, teeth or nails to make an illusion. The humans of the time were shocked but allowed the eix leel to cross and visit them that way. They were friendly towards each other. There wasn't exact information of the illusions, but to them, it'd explain how weird these two looked. The girl had bright green eyes, while the boy had almost red ones, and once their hair began growing back, they noticed it was tinted with greens and reds that didn't really belong to human hair, and especially to their people.

"Ooh.'' Dipper mused. "So at the time, they managed to figure out that your doctors were eix leel who turned human…but how?"

"Eventually, by the seal." Max tapped his chest where his own was. "It wasn't like anything they had seen before. And Dr. Allie told them about the Eix Leel once she knew enough english to communicate."

"But your people tried to cook us," Dipper remembered with a deep frown. "How did they go from interacting with humans to Hating them?"

Max winced and Mabel leaned on his chest. "Xin says it's the same reason as always, colonial humans fucking up with everything and forcing magic creatures to hide."

Max grimaced. "Yeah…The doctors didn't tell me much because neither them or the tribe know for sure…But it is thought that after colonizers came, eix leel got scared of humans with their guns, to which, fair , and the native humans were too busy defending themselves…After that, it just became normal to keep to ourselves, avoiding humans out of fear. But the way to create human illusions remained as an emergency resource. And eventually, some of us, like me, would venture out to get resources that we're lacking on our sides of the Rift."

"Wow…" Dipper and his new wife said softly.

The young couple was completely lost and alone in the human realm. And the council at the time, decided they couldn't let them fend for themselves. Their people used to get along with theirs, they used to be friends and got separated and isolated by the same cause. So, they took the decision to 'adopt' them into their tribe, so they could have a home, and people who will take care of them. After all, they could help them to get used to being humans and teach them how humans acted and lived nowadays. They didn't even ask them to give up their traditions for theirs, just to be respectful.

Adapting was particularly hard for both. Allie found herself in a world where women had no respect, and Dylan found out that he had it, but he couldn't speak because of the damage to his throat, which brought a series of problems on its own.

That was decades ago. But, of course, they proved everyone and themselves that they could do it. They adapted to the human traditions, they learnt some of their adopted tribe and were happy to participate in what they could, they helped them with everything they could. For them, they were their family, they had no one else but them who supported them or to rely on. They cared so much for them.

In return, their adopted family helped them learn their language and English, they got them papers and they managed to study and become doctors together. Years later, the now old couple brought another unlucky former eix leel boy, with green eyes and green hair.

Max tried. He truly did. He tried to feel what the older couple felt when they were with the tribe. But he couldn't. It made him feel like an invader, as if he was using them. He always tried to help as much as he could, and he hoped that, when he got older and famous, he'd be able to give them a platform to speak for themselves…

But then why did he still feel like he didn't really belong? Why couldn't he understand why the couple of doctors enjoyed it so much and were willing to just forget about themselves and do everything they could with the human tribe!

Without his desire or consent, his wife kidnapped him (pushed him through the bluish portal) carrying a backpack full of wedding souvenirs to give to everyone in his human tribe.

"Why are we doing this, Mabel?" He grumpily carried a box of stuff.

"Because they are your friends, and you need to stop acting so grumpy and distant with them." Mabel stuck her tongue out at him. Max sighed. "I keep telling you, I feel uncomfortable. I'm afraid I'm taking advantage of them."

"And I told you, as long as you're not being a jerk to them, or trying to harm them, I think it's fine."

They reached the tribal community center and Mabel immediately began waving and saying hi to everyone.

"Hey! It's Max and Mabel!" The people around smiled and rushed to meet the couple.

"Hey, guys!" Mabel giggled. "We brought gifts! For everyone!" She began handing out gifts and chocolate souvenirs. Everyone smiled and received the gifts with a fond look. "How was your honeymoon?"

"Oh it was so great! I booped all the cats' noses! They were so soft!" Mabel immediately went to talk with a group of women and Max stayed there, staring and unable to comprehend how he married someone so sociable.

He was fine with having Mabel talk to everyone so he didn't have to. The people smiled at Max, some even tried to strike up conversation, but he just wordlessly held up more gifts.

A woman smiled and took one of the gifts. "Shy one, huh? It's alright dear."

Then his face heated up and more people laughed at him. He covered his cheeks as he heard Mabel say "Oh yeah, he's the shy one but not when we're alone together~" Followed by laughter. Oh this was horrifying!

Max remained quiet, letting Mabel joke and socialize as much as she wanted. The people were very kind. Max understood that. But they weren't his family. Even if he tried to think of them as one, it just didn't click. Mister Sebastian, Dr. Stanford and the Great Dragon were more like 'family' than the tribe of humans who welcomed him and helped him get a proper legal identity.

Max felt guilty. He felt like he was just using them. Because they helped him out, adopted him, and yet he didn't see them as family. He didn't share their struggles or history, so it felt wrong to claim them as his own. He didn't understand why Mabel didn't understand that. Then again, she was so friendly she could just integrate herself into any group if she wanted, probably.

Mabel took his hand and squeezed. Max squeezed back, smiling despite himself. He didn't feel like being here, but as long as Mabel was with him, it wasn't bad.

An old man came by later, when Max and Mabel were sitting down as Mabel chatted with some women about the souvenirs that Mabel brought. Max glanced at the man, recognizing him as one of the chiefs, who had officially accepted Max into the tribe.

"Hello again."

"...hello, sir."

"Still feeling uneasy around here, aren't you?"

Max looked to his knees, "Sorry."

The man chuckled, "It's fine. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I…" Max sighed, "I feel like I shouldn't be here. I'm not really a Lenni Lenape, I– It's like I'm lying."

"And what's wrong with lying?" The man grinned, "We're the ones who chose to help you. We chose to lie for you. I don't mind. As long as you're not running around causing trouble, I don't see how it's an issue."

" I…I just feel so ungrateful!" Max exclaimed, stressed. "Dr. Allie and Dylan love coming here and their family looks so happy here! And I… I am here sulking, despite how kind you've been with me…"

The chief sighed and sat down. "Max, you are like, what, 20?" ("I'm 27!") "We met Allie and Dylan even younger than you. Look how many years they've been human compared to you. And they had NO ONE except our community to nurse them back to health and teach them to fit in."

Both glanced at Mabel, cheerfully talking to the group. "You had friends, a partner, and family to help you already. We know and we understand your situation is not the same as theirs. You three are not the same person and you don't deal with things the same way." He laughed.

Max thought about it. "They formed their new family here…Like I did with the Pines. " He reasoned. The older man nodded.

"But then…why can't I stop feeling so awkward?"

The chief asked him to follow him. They reached the headquarters where they had a shop. "I did research myself~ Talked to some other Lenni Lenape from other states." Max nodded, he dove into learning everything about his human tribe.

"Our people were friends, neighbors, Max." The chief said with a simple smile. "I got word of other people knowing the stories, we taught them various things about the stories we knew, we shared them." (Max thought about it, about how some stuff didn't make sense to him while he was a priest apprentice.)

"They weren't a tribe, but no one had the intention to harm the other. I'm not sure if there have been any romances like yours, but someone did tell me a story of an eix leel saving a boy at the sea. And it's not just us, other Nations have similar stories."

"...There must have been other rifts in the past leading to other humans…" Max whispered, green eyes full of tears as he listened in fascination.

The chief opened a cardboard box and pulled out a really old carving. A member from another tribe sent it to him. Max examined the piece as the tears slowly fell down. By the looks of it, it was a female and male eix leel.

"We want you safe and happy, kid. You're our guest here and our doors are always opened if you want to come by…We hope you do soon! Mabel keeps talking about your delicious food and yet I haven't tasted it!" The man scolded with a grin and laughed.

Max chuckled wetly and wiped his eyes. "I can do that now, if you want?"

"Oh yes! Let's all join together for lunch!"

Max and Mabel spent the rest of the evening there, cooking, laughing and joking around. The former eix leel smiled a bit as he held onto his illusion amulet. Y'know… seeing things from the chief's perspective made him feel a lot better. He wasn't gonna pretend unless it was necessary, but they were his friends , and he could enjoy participating and spending time with all of them...

They used a portal to go home, and Waddles (laying on the couch and apparently watching tv) oinked in welcome. Max took the curly haired love of his life and kissed her gently on the lips. Mabel melted at the kiss and purred.

"What was that for~?" She giggled.

"Thank you for forcing me to go."

"Tsk, you just have to trust me on stuff, honey!" Mabel wagged a finger and Max laughed loudly, pulling her into a hug.

-.-

Stanford was so TIRED. He hadn't realized finding a school to enroll his children into would be so… difficult…

Riley brought him another cup of cool water, he gave her a nod of thanks as he chugged it down. "Whoa there big guy, don't choke." Riley chuckled.

"If I get taken out by a cup of water after everything I've survived, I'm sure my brothers would put that on my grave." Ford deadpanned. Riley cackled at that, slapping his back.

"Heeeey~" Xin peered into Ford's lab, "Funny as it is that you're using your work time to do personal research, you need to take a break. It's lunch time." The dragon wondered if he should just give Ford the entire list of schools he found via Looking. But Ford said he wanted to actually research it, instead of cheating? Xin sighed, doing it the human way was so tedious~ but Ford didn't like when Xin just deus ex machina'd everything. (Most of his human family didn't seem to want it. Which was so frustrating sometimes!)

"Oh." Ford glanced at his watch, "It's lunch time."

"Come on~" Xin stomped his foot, "You've been working for five hours already! Go eat!"

Riley snickered, "He's right, you know~?" She nudged Ford's shoulder.

"Fiiiiine~" Ford groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. Ugh. His poor back did not enjoy him hunched over his desk for hours, reading through information about school curriculums and disability accommodations.

Riley, Xin and Ford walked to the cafeteria, Riley and Xin chatting about the meals available today and which ones would be best. Ford cast them a weird look before going back to being stressed and overwhelmed.

"There's tilapia today~" Xin gushed, staring off into the distance. "I'm limiting myself to just one."

"Why? You clearly like it." Riley raised an eyebrow, "Are you worried about your diet or something?"

"Well, I could eat everything in the room if I let myself." Xin huffed, "But that would be unfair to everyone else."

"Why? How much food do you need anyway?"

Xin looked down at his feet as they walked, "Technically I don't need to eat. I just enjoy the experience of it."

"Then that's more reason for you to eat more than one. You can't get sick from it!" Riley was so confused at the 'god''s reasoning. She fixed her hair bun as they walked and Ford found himself staring at the action. Hm… Riley putting her hair up, having her hair bob and flutter around… It looked so cute. Xin always had his hair down, which was very pretty, and Yun's hair was short, which was also cute. Why were the three causing him the same 'feeling' if they were so different?!

"Nah, it'll be a waste of food that other people could have eaten." Xin pouted.

"Well, if you're worried about taking food away from someone else, then just eat the leftovers at the end of the day that would be otherwise thrown out." Riley said as if it were obvious. "It'll be good for keeping down the trash we have to throw out." She nudged Ford. "Right?"

Ford was taken back to reality.

"Uh? Uh…"

"The Center gives a lot of the leftover food to the homeless shelter at the edge of town." Xin pointed out. The shelter wasn't very big, but McGucket had it built years ago for the sake of supporting anyone who couldn't afford to get their own meals. Because he'd been homeless for years without anyone's support and he didn't want the town to continue being like that.

"Then eat the leftovers from the shelter. I see no issue here." Riley poked Xin's arm. "But you don't need to go that far just to try and let other people eat. We've got more than enough here for you to eat several servings."

Seeing Xin still insisting on only having one, Riley rolled her eyes. "Well! I'm hungry! So I'm gonna go get all the food! Go find a table!" She pointed at her boss as she rushed to the line.

Ford blinked. Huh…? Right…table… "Um… I'll pay for your lunch, if… you want." He awkwardly said, not really looking at Xin. After all, workers paid less in the cafeteria than 'guests'.

"Nah, I can support myself. I DO have money. Well, Yun has money, and she lets me borrow her credit card." Xin chuckled. Ford hummed with a small smile before going to look for a table.

He saw Dr. Clark and Dr. Jerald were already eating so he waved at them. "Hey! Ford, thought you wouldn't come." Dr. Clark grinned. His grin wavered when he noticed Xin there.

…O-Oh..

"H-Hi, Xin…" Dr. Clark grinned as Dr. Jerald waved sheepishly. They knew what happened with Ford and his partners. Of course they knew. They were the gossipers of the Center. Ford and his 'taking a break' time months ago… Specially marked by the arrival of their new coworker Riley, who, mind you, was Stanford's new pretty assistant…

The dragon waved back, knowing that they were worried about what could happen if Ford officially broke up with him. Mass destruction and fire, mainly. Xin sighed. He wouldn't do that. He had much more self control than that. Besides, even if he and Ford no longer dated, Ford was still his Zodiac Sixer now. And Ford would never be able to escape that. Not once MizBill had chosen him. Ford was his forever… Xin shook his head, nope. Stop thinking about that. His demon was showing. Ugh.

"I was kind of dragged out by Miss Adams and Xin." Ford rolled his eyes, his nervousness still visible on his body by how he kept pulling on his sixth finger and not noticing the other men's reaction. Not nervous because of eating with his work friends but because he was stressed over finding a school.

The two men welcomed Riley when she came back with her tray of food. What could they say? She was a lovely woman. Energetic, with a contagious good mood, suuuper intelligent as well. She was a great addition to the Center and they knew she could probably get a formal job soon as well. Frankly, the only reason she was only on as Ford's assistant was because she didn't have the legal papers qualifying her for a position. Yet. Once she finished her contract with Ford, she'd be able to apply as a full on Scientist in whichever field of study she wanted here.

"Hi guys! Have I mentioned how much I adore this food?!" Riley sat down and began eating immediately. Ford and Xin grinned.

"Go get yourself some food or no one talks to you!" Riley ordered Ford and Xin. The two blinked and quietly obeyed. Couldn't resist that stern tone.

They served themselves some food and then went back to the table. Ford didn't put much on his plate, barely at all, but Xin held himself back from telling him to get more. He shouldn't bother Ford. The dragon also decided to just get one tilapia filet. He would have to eat it as slowly as he could.

Riley made Dr. Clark and Dr. Jerald clap at Ford for getting some food and they laughed at his grumpy grumble. Dr. Jerald frowned at Xin's plate. "Are… you ok? That's not a lot of food."

"I know right?" Riley pouted.

Dr. Jerald shook his head, "No, I mean… Xin usually eats a lot."

"Well I'm cutting down on eating." Xin looked away, poking the fish with a fork. "I'm… uh… on a diet?"

"Why does that sound so unsure?" Dr. Jerald raised an eyebrow.

Xin just stuck the fish in his mouth so he didn't have to answer. He moaned softly, a sound that made the humans shiver at how sensual it was. Riley stared at Xin before 'whispering' to Dr. Jerald, "Does he do that whenever he eats?"

"If he likes the food, yes." The scientist pulled on his collar as Xin continued moaning as he chewed, oblivious to their embarrassment as they listened. Oooh~ the tilapia had capers on it, and he could feel each tiny ball squishing under his teeth as he chewed, that sharp sour flavor, complimenting the taste of the fish~

"And what has him frowning this time? Something didn't explode the way he wanted?" Dr. Clark asked Riley as Ford poked his rice.

"Oh, he's trying to find a good, relatively nearby school to enroll his babies in. He's got high standards." Riley explained, very understanding. She really liked to tease Ford, but when it came down to it, she really hated to see this angry, overwhelmed Ford. He'd get really angry and want her to leave and not talk to her, scowling and gasping for air and hitting the table. She really hated to see him like that, it pained her as well.

"Oh. Well, uh, my daughter goes to ELAMP Academy." Dr. Clark told them. "It's a half hour drive away, which isn't too bad. Melissa drives her, since the buses won't come this far."

Ford gulped his drink with a hum. Right. Dr. Clark had a kid with his wife, now that he thought about it. Sometimes he forgot, but in his defense, his friends spoke a LOT. …He went to that wedding now that he thought about it. Damn. He spaced out sometimes.

"I thought schools don't let people attend if they're too far away." Riley blinked. They'd been trying to find public schools within driving distance.

"Some schools have a limitation like that, not all." Dr. Jerald explained, "Public schools usually want locals to attend for various reasons."

Dr. Clark nodded, "This one is a private school. It's also an international school with kids from other countries! Part of the IB network of World Schools, the International Baccalaureate-" He clarified. "It's very expensive, but it's so worth it. We're in love with the place and our kiddo loves it. She's a year and a half older than the octuplets I think." He grinned.

"It's not a Catholic school, is it?" Xin asked once he swallowed.

"Hell no." Dr. Clark shuddered, "No offense to Catholic schools–"

" All the offense to catholic schools!" Xin cheered.

"They're not ALL bad." Dr. Clark pouted.

"You know some schools made kids do the pledge of allegiance to a photo of Ronald Shlump?" Xin raised an eyebrow.

"""Ew.""" Everyone gagged.

"Ok, some are bad, but still not all ." Dr. Clark sighed.

"It gives me Mao vibes and I don't like it." The dragon muttered darkly under his breath.

"How come we didn't hear of this school till now?" Ford gasped, metaphorical tail wagging in excitement.

"It's a private school. You need a recommendation from an alumni or administration to get in. Or pay a shit-ton of money."

"Well, Bruce can recommend us!" Ford hit the table with a grin.

Dr. (Bruce) Clark rubbed his neck, "Uh, I can. I mean, I only managed to get in because my dad knew a guy who knew a lady who worked in the administration."

Ford gulped down his food before excusing himself to go back to his lab. He needed to look up more information about this school.

"...And he's gone." Dr. Jerald grinned. "Nothing's gonna stop Stanford now." Everyone nodded in agreement. He was very stubborn. Riley leaned on her hand and smiled. Yup. Very~

Xin blinked and his eyes buzzed into static and flashing images for a few seconds. "Hm… it's… not… bad." He relented. They have a full medical clinic on campus, and dorms for kids who need it, not that they'll be dorming. Xin hasn't considered this school because it was a private school, but, if Ford liked it…

"You think Ford will like it?" Riley asked, unintentionally speaking what Xin was thinking.

"Yes." Dr. Clark took a big bite of his corned beef sandwich.

-.-

The website of ELAMP Academy was filled with the benefits of going to this school. It was a place with a Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system, the photos showed a HUGE campus and amazing heavily equipped classrooms, playground, sports, arts~

Ford melted. How come this didn't exist when he was a kid~ (He ignored the fact he'd have never been able to step foot inside a school like this as a child because no way his parents would have the money for it).

"They have accommodation for disabilities." Xin leaned on the table, "As well as teachers trained to handle neurodivergent children's needs. And from what I can tell, it's not one of those, 'train the kid to act normal against their will' type of thing." He tilted his head, as if staring off into the distance. "There's different classrooms designed for different types of learning, not just memorization of the textbook."

"Look at these laboratories! And these smart screens in the classrooms! And the kindergarten classes have so many actual stimulating toys and not gender stereotypical garbage!" Ford squealed.

The scientist had made up his mind, "Well! I've contacted them and I scheduled a meeting for tomorrow morning!"

"So soon? You don't even know if you'll be able to make the drive there." Xin frowned.

"It's just 30 minutes." Ford reasoned. "If Bruce's daughter makes it there, why not us? Besides, the summer will be ending, and we don't have a school for them. I'd rather put them in a good school soon…You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Yun rubbed a pair of hands while the others were hidden behind her back. "...I'll go too…"

That's how the oldest Pines triplet found himself very early in the morning agonizing over what to wear to give a good impression. Yun wasn't home yet, so Unit 27 was supervising to make sure that the children he was supposedly doing this for (was it? Ford thought he might unconsciously be doing this for himself as well), were eating breakfast.

"I'm going to see a possible school for you eight. So, please be on good behavior while I'm gone." He pointed a finger at them, narrowing his eyes.

The kids giggled. Daddy was so funny.

While Ford wondered whether this was a suit wearing situation or not, he felt some static and electricity before a portal opened behind him.

"Hi, Sixer!" "What's up, nerd?"

Sigh…

"Uuh~ What are you doing~?" Seb asked as he saw his suit was out on his bed. "You have some conference or something?"

"Or a date~?" The middle triplet teased before getting a (hah! weak!) punch from Sebastian.

"No… I scheduled a guided tour to see a possible school for the children… and I don't know…" He trailed off, nodding at the clothes.

Seb gasped and squealed as he grabbed Ford to drag him back to his room and began rummaging through his brother's closet. Don't worry, big bro! I'm going to save you!

Stan groaned, lifting up the six pack of beers he was carrying when he followed them. "We wanted to have fun!"

"...As fun as drinking at…" Ford glanced at his clock. "9am- sounds like, I really can't today." Seb handed Ford the clothes with a "It's the best I can do with what I was given," and sent him off to change. While he was in the bathroom, the youngest suggested. "Hey, can we go with you?"

Ford groaned. "Do you really have to?" He came out and now he was wearing dark gray pants, a red turtleneck (Seb frowned, finding 4 of the exact same model), and a dark brown jacket. He would be wearing his black dress shoes once he left the house.

"Hey. I styled you for free. You owe me now. Besides, it's my godson's future! I must be there!" Seb put his hands on his hips.

Stan opened a beer. "Eh. I'm free today so I came to bother you both."

Ford shook his head with a fond, but exasperated smile. Fine. "But don't drink. I don't want you smelling like alcohol in front of the school authorities!"

-.-

Yun texted him, saying she'd be going directly to the school, so Ford drove there, taking his brothers to start testing how he felt about the distance.

"Why not homeschool them?" Seb wondered. "Both our kids are homeschooled and that's basically having private education."

"I know… But… I don't know, the twins and Diego at least started in public school and got some social interaction in kindergarten. I… don't want to take that away from the children." Also, Xin insisted on them being exposed to people and making friends.

"Yeah, I think Diego should go back to school to be honest, he's becoming a little too much like you for my liking." Stan grinned just to annoy Ford. It worked.

It was honestly a relatively easy drive. There was a designated parking space for the school, which already looked HUGE.

Seb and Stan stared. "Is this Hogwarts…?" Seb whispered.

Yun popped up and grinned at the other two triplets. "Hey!"

"We come to help decide." Stan commented as Seb and him walked towards the main door. Ford and Yun waved at each other with a little grin and followed the younger triplets as they babbled about something.

They were just in time for the tour, and the person responsible greeted them at the school's administration office. She was a little shocked seeing the triplets standing there, but Ford shook his head. "Greetings. I'm Dr. Stanford Pines, PhD, I was the one who contacted you. This is Yun Lin, my… the children's mother."

Stan and Seb winced at that, Yun remained still.

"It's a pleasure." Yun shook hands with the woman, keeping her 2nd pair of arms very still and mostly hidden behind her.

"These are my triplets who wanted to accompany me and see as well, I hope it's not a problem." Ford said.

The woman smiled kindly. "Yes, Dr. Pines, Ms. Lin. Welcome! We were waiting for you. And of course not. We encourage healthy family relationships and it's pleasant to already see you come from a close and supportive family. Let's start the tour, shall we?"

She turned around and began walking, making Ford stare agape. Seb and Stan snickered and high sixed before running after her. Yun adjusted her loose blouse hiding her 2nd pair of arms. "You look…great." Yun commented more casually than she felt.

Oh no, he looked so hot!

Ford pulled his sweater neck. "Heh… Sebastian chose it, I couldn't have come up with a coordinated outfit even if my life depended on it… and Stan and I had to pass by a dimension where you were arrested if you were unfashionable."

Yun giggled. "Let's go see if the school is as great as the website makes it sound."

They were first taken around the outdoor spaces. "Here in ELAMP Academy we believe children should have the appropriate spaces to perform physical and recreational activities. Over here we have the Kindergarten and Elementary section and you can see the playground for them. The games are free for the younger students to use, they're designed to be safe, but still help them develop coordination and motor skills."

Seb gasped. THIS was like a park! The twins would love it! "Hey, what's th-"

""That's-"" Ford and the guide spoke at the same time. The man blushed and stepped back.

"That's a modified carousel, it allows a wheelchair user to ride on it." The woman gestured to another part of the playground, "There's also wheelchair accessible swings."

Ford smiled so widely and held Yun's hand as he listened.

They walked some more to visit the Auditorium where the children held plays at the end of the school year, the Gymnasium, where, for the first time, the group saw kids playing.

Stan frowned. "Isn't it Summer?"

"Oh yes, those kids are in Summer classes, the school opens some workshops for those who want to stay. The school sports teams also practice during summer as well." The guide explained proudly.

"Sports, huh? What does this place have?"

"We teach basketball, football, swimming, the pool is on the other side of school, gymnastics, lacrosse, golf, tennis, badminton, baseball, hockey, athleticism, archery and many more."

Stan blinked and nodded as the guide kept walking. "Ford, if the kids don't get in, I swear…"

Seb blew a raspberry. "Calm down, it's just some sports. He won't determine a school based on that~"

They visited the school buildings themselves after. They checked the Kindergarten classes and they were just like the website showed! A few tables, lots of space, decorations, toys, phrases in different languages!

"Your children would receive personalized education with their teachers. There's a class assistant until 3rd grade to help the kids and a psychology department available for them if they are distressed or upset." The guide explained. "Parents are always informed of their kid's progress, and if your child needs extra help, there's tutoring hours and summer courses to help level them in the main subjects, such as Math, Language or Science, in case of the older students."

Seb gasped softly. Teachers… actually caring? Was it too good to be true?

They were then shown new classrooms. "Besides our excellence in academics and sports, we pride ourselves in our complete curriculum, where the children are encouraged to study the Arts. We have the Choir, band, painting, dancing classes, ceramics, and cooking and carpentry for the older students."

Seb's eyes widened and he stared at Ford.

Yun nodded slowly. "Two of our kids are intersex, would that be a problem here, or do you have non-gendered bathrooms?"

"Oh, yes, we have smaller, one person bathrooms separate from the general male and female ones. And our staff are trained to respect gender identities. We take this very seriously."

Ford spoke up, "I might not have explained this as well over the phone, but also, two of our kids are…ehem, conjoined twins… None of the other schools we've seen so far seemed prepared to handle their needs and it is one of our priorities that the twins will be comfortable here." Would suck if they get into this amazing school and the twins can't use anything because they can't access it.

"Oh…Hm…" The tour guide furrowed her brow in thought. "We haven't had a set of conjoined twins before. If you could give us more information about what sort of needs they have, we will find ways to help."

"That would be lovely. Well, first off, they have a wheelchair. They don't need it all the time, but sometimes their legs get too tired to carry both of them, since they only have two legs between them." Yun explained. "I've got them a chair right now that's super light and it can fold up. Though I'm planning to get them one that offers more mobility as their arms get stronger."

"The twins also have constant medical checkups and take medicine that makes them really sleepy, so they might need some flexibility in their attendance." Ford added "And a place where they can rest if they get tired."

"The girls are such sweet kids. They love learning and reading." Seb smiled. Stan leaned against him. "And all the kids are very active, so they'd love all yer games and stuff, but what about my nieces?"

"We have quiet-rooms for naps, separate from the main kindergarten classrooms if they need rest at a time when everyone else isn't on nap time." The guide hummed. "I'd have to ask what the school can offer in case of P.E but rest assured Dr. Pines, Ms. Lin, that if you consider enrolling them in ELAMP Academy, they'd get the best treatment."

"...I will hold you to that. Would it be alright, once the kids are enrolled, if I can come by to watch sometimes, to see what they're doing and how they seem to be adapting?" Yun asked.

The guide made a sheepish smile. "I know the transition to kindergarten is hard, but unfortunately, parents aren't allowed in class. The kids can get distracted or they might not want to cooperate because they see their mom is there…"

She frowned seeing Yun's worried face and the triplet with eyes of different colors squeezing her shoulder. Her boss would kill her if the Pines didn't get hooked…

Their school boasted about how open and accepting they were. Having families who were POC, or of different sexualities or nationalities, it all helped to boost their school's reputation. The Pines (and Lin) children were like a gold mine of good publicity if they joined!

The father, Stanford Pines, was a world renowned scientist, who was Jewish, and he was in a non-traditional relationship as a poly trio! The mother, Yun Lin, was (according to some rumors) the owner of the rapidly growing company, Void Deliveries. The other one, Xin Cipher, was a trans-man. Seriously, getting them to enroll would bring so much to their school's reputation. Of course they would also do their utmost to give those kids the best education and care as possible.

Their school was incredibly expensive, so they had to really make themselves seem super appealing to get more enrollments. And part of that required them to do background checks on any parents that were interested. They didn't find much about Ford's partners, but Ford himself was a gold mine of information.

The guide once again gave her a polite smile. "However, due to your kid's special needs, maybe we can talk to the principal about your case and get to an agreement. We know not all our alumni are the same and therefore need the personalized attention we always offer."

That seemed to reassure the parents a bit. The guide relaxed a little. Of course, when the call came in about this family, the school had to do a thorough background search. They couldn't get too much information about Stanford's partners, unfortunately, but they were both immigrants from Asia. The school was still doing some searching, hopefully something would come up, but even if it didn't, so long as the family could pay the tuition for all their children…Eight…Wow.

They were finally brought back to the school's secretary office where Yun and Ford sat down while the younger triplets stood behind them, staring at each other. Now that the pretty tour passed, here came the punch of reality…The cost of tuition.

The guide printed them ("It's recycled paper!") the information for the tuition and enrollment rights and handed it over. "This school is very focused on giving quality education, so children from low income families apply every year~" She tried to sugarcoat it as she saw their eyes widening in shock. "Sometimes they can get a scholarship, but that's generally for older kids who want to transfer in for high school. But as your children are entering Kindergarten, there's no scholarship option, only the… tuition you would need to pay."

Ford wasn't gasping like Stan and Seb were, but he did fix his glasses very awkwardly. The brothers shared a look and in their triplet connection, they swore they could hear each other say 'HOLY FUCK!'

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" The guide asked.

"It's fine…We'll call if we decide something." Ford said, feeling faint at the huge number behind that dollar sign.

The guide accompanied them outside and nodded. "Bring your kids next time, so they can see the facilities too."

They smiled and got in the car (while Yun waved and walked off into the woods around the school), where Ford immediately said. "Well… this monthly tuition on its own wpuld be ok, but paying for all eight kids… I can say it is higher than my monthly salary wpuld be able to afford…"

Seb winced. "Yeah… that's… not cheap."

Stan stared at them, running the numbers in his head. "Not cheap?! Hogwarts over there is 10500 dollars a year?! That's 84,500 dollars for all of them!" The middle triplet agonized. "And that price just keeps getting higher the older they get!" Stan poked at the given papers.

Ford began pulling his finger as he once again felt the familiar lump in his throat. Fuck… Fuck! He really wanted this school! Of course it was gonna be this expensive with 8 kids!

Ford's phone rang. He picked up and put Yun on speaker. "...Yes?"

[I've got enough to pay the tuition for all the kids.] Yun told them. [And unlike Stan, I don't care about keeping all my money and refusing to spend it.]

Stan pouted, "Hey!"

[We can talk at your house?]

Ford felt the deep stares of his brothers "...Yes, see you there." He hung up and started the car. Now that he thought about it… He was gonna need a new car to fit all his kids… Uargh.

Seb and Stan remained silent for a while, awkward at the reminder of the 'break/breaking up' situation, until Stan tried to be funny and said "Heh… So the girl's gonna pay for you."

"That's NOT funny!" Seb growled as Ford groaned. "Stan, why are you like this?"

"Uuurghhh I forgot I was with a bunch of babiess!" Stan fell back as Seb began punching his arm. Ford ignored the backseat fight as he drove.

-.-

"Are you sure you can pay the tuition?" Ford asked Yun. It was… a lot of money.

Yun shrugged, "Ford, I'm the CEO of my own company. I make money even when I'm doing nothing, because that's how Capitalism works." She continued into a half-rant-half-lecture.

"I'm quickly catching up to Forest as the most used delivery service in the world. And since I'm cheating with magic and technology that my competitors don't have, like how they need to pay for stuff like electricity or upkeep for machines and warehouses, and I don't, I just use magic to send items to where they need to be picked up and then delivered by a human worker." She deadpanned. "Heck, the most I spend my money on is PAYING my workers a living wage. And even after paying off my staff salaries, I'm averaging around 25 billion dollars a year. Which is still nowhere near Forest making 500 billion dollars a year. But they don't bother to pay their workers properly, so…"

Yun sighed. "Anyway, I have tons of money saved up in my various bank accounts around the planet, and frankly, the way the money system works here means that even if I do nothing, if I have at least one billion dollars in the bank, the interest will earn me around 200000 dollars per day with a basic 8% rate." She let out a frustrated sound. "So literally all I have to do is open multiple bank accounts, put 1 billion into each of them, and then sit back and do NOTHING, and I will still be making money. Its fucked up." She stressed.

"The money system on this planet is so fucking BROKEN!" She thumped her fists on the table. "I can't spend the money I have, faster than I'm making more money, even after I've increased wages for the sixteenth time! And donated millions to charities!"

Ford stared. "I thought you were only making a few hundred thousand a month?"

"Well, that was when I first started my company. There's been exponential growth over the past two years due to my company's reputation and the positive attitudes of my workers…" Yun buried her face in her arms. What the FUCK did Forest CEO do with his stupid amount of money?! What the fuck was wrong with all those 1% people who continued to just… accumulate wealth?! Hell, she was looking at Stan too, since he was getting up there soon. What were they doing just… sitting on their money and not putting it into the economy to help everyone?!

"Wow."

"Yeah… besides… I liked the school, actually. And it's obvious they want us in, so they'll treat our kids well… I think our kids deserve the best." Yun shrugged.

Ford nodded.

"I mean, they're definitely trying to use us for their reputation boost, and also money from having eight kids enrolled at once, but it's fine. I expected this kind of thing." Yun waved off. "It's understandable, I don't blame them for it."

"So…ELAMP Academy~?"

"Yeah, let's do this!" She reached to pull her Fordsie into a hug but stopped right on time. Ignoring her hesitation, Ford grabbed her upper pair of arms and pulled them around him, wrapping Yun in a firm hug. "Thank you." Ford whispered into her shoulder. "I… I can't afford the tuition, so thank you for that." Stan's comment still hurt his male pride, and he felt embarrassed about it.

"Of course, they're my kids too." Yun held herself still, unsure if she should hug back or not. Maybe Ford was fine touching her, as long as she didn't touch back?

"I'll pay for the kid's school supplies and uniforms." Ford told her, not wanting to be useless in this. Yun grinned into his chest. "Okay~ You go shopping with them then. Good luck finding turquoise and dark blue notebooks~"

"Oh no."

Yun cackled.

"You know, I forgot to ask what ELAMP stands for. I couldn't find it on the website."

"Educational Learning Above Most People." Yun rolled her eyes, "It's kinda elitist of them, but considering the tuition, there's lots of rich kids."

Ford stared at her before he sighed, "You know, I think that it's good you don't just… pay for all of my stuff for me."

"You'd hate it if I did, dear." Yun shrugged.

—.-

After paying to reserve a spot for their kids, and the first month tuition one month ahead, they were given the supply list they had to buy and the uniforms.

Because, oh yes, the school had uniforms. Ford had seen them in photos on the website, but now it was a reality. They had to buy the uniforms. There was the P.E one, which was a white shirt and blue shorts, only white or black sneakers were allowed, and only white socks (Worn during hot weather and PE). And the normal one, where boys wore a white shirt, a blue tie, a gray blazer, blue pants, blue socks and black shoes, and girls wore a white shirt, a blue bowknot bow tie, a gray blazer, gray skirt, long blue socks and black shoes.

Ford already saw complaints coming from Amelia having to wear a skirt… But apparently, kids can choose pants or skirt as long as the uniform was worn correctly.

Yun wasn't very fond of it, and they haven't even bought it yet. It was- She won't be able to color code her babies! Well, fuck them! She'd find a way. In the meantime, Yun asked her kids which ones wanted a skirt, pants or both.

As expected, Amelia (Ira) hissed at the very thought of wearing those stupid fluttery things. Yun snickered, "Yeah, I get it. You can't climb trees very easily with a skirt."

Amelia, Isaac and Nicholas wanted the pants uniform, Marie, Elizabeth and the twins wanted skirts. Florence wanted both, for the days when they wanted to feel the skirt fluttering against their legs, versus the days when they didn't want to feel any air touching their legs.

"What will we wear…" Emmy (Superbia) asked shakily.

"Don't worry. Once we buy it, your uncle Seb will fix it just for you two. " Yun poked their noses. "I wanted to do it, but uncle Seb begged me while crying to do it." She joked. The twins held hands and giggled.

Nick, holding an apple, was jumping around. They're going to school like big kids! He was gonna tell Ammy when he visited! "And we will walk there like big kids do? Or use bikes?"

Ford chuckled as he measured Elizabeth to know what size to order. "This school isn't in walking distance, Nick. I'll be driving you there."

The octuplets suddenly stopped, startling their dad.

"But the town's school is close."

"You're going to another school! It's really pretty!" Yun exclaimed but their faces weren't changing.

Suddenly Ira shouted "But our park friends GO THERE! I WANT THERE!" She sobbed, and soon enough, the 8 of them were crying for different reasons. Friends, mommy and daddy away, new places.

Yun twitched. Then she had a Look on her face. "I need to speak to your friends' parents about something…"

Ford stared. "Don't tell me you're going to pay tuition just so the kids' friends go to the same school." He deadpanned.

"They haven't finalized their school plans yet. And it's a really good school, their kids would make friends with the children of rich and prominent families, and they wouldn't have to pay for it. I will ask their parents." Yun nodded to herself.

"Yun!"

"No! Seb and Wanda didn't let Miz pay for Amanda, but I'll pay for the kids' friends!" Yun stood up straight, "As long as their parents agree."

She crossed her arms. "I'll do it whether you like it or not. It's my money. Heck, if I could pay tuition for every kid–" Yun stopped and got a Look on her face. "You know, that ain't a bad idea…"

Ford rolled his eyes. Impossible to deal with. Absolutely impossible.

Yun huffed. She didn't want to tear her children's friend groups apart. Soooo she was going to talk to their parents and discuss this. If they said no, then it was a no. And she wouldn't force them or bribe them. But she had to at LEAST ask first, she hoped they said yes.

(As much as she wanted to just… do it without asking. This was something that involved lots of paperwork, so she couldn't just anonymously donate a shit ton of money to the parents and hope they chose some school they never heard of. Ugh. Ok, direct confrontation it was!)

—

To Yun's disappointment, they didn't agree. They were quite uncomfortable with the thought of Yun paying for their kid's tuitions. Not fair! She even organized a nice meeting with snacks! Well, she respected their choice, but her offer remained open. The hard part was breaking this news to the kids.

–-.-

"I'm glad my niblings will go to a beautiful school… then why am I so jealous? I feel guilty we can't pay for something like that for the twins." Seb complained to Wanda.

Wanda closed her laptop from where she was checking this school's website and sighed. She wasn't gonna lie… It was a dream school. What could she say?

"Miz did offer." Wanda sighed, "Of course we couldn't take it. She's our daughter. It's not her responsibility for this sort of thing." She patted Seb's arm, "And you know we can't afford something like that."

"I know… I mean… maybe?"

"We talked about this when we considered private schools before homeschooling. It'd mean a large shift in our monthly expenses, sure we could pay it, but it'll mean… I don't know, sacrifices that we didn't want to give up. A big house, living comfortably, ehem, good healthcare insurance, allowing ourselves to buy the kids what they want… And they are getting more or less the same thing already." Wanda reasoned, putting her hand over Seb's 6 fingered one. "Think about it. Personalized education, music instruction, theater classes, gymnastics and they have friends in those spaces…"

"So we aren't bad parents for not doing it?" Seb laid on her boobs and stared ahead.

"I… don't think so. We're being realistic in accordance with what we can do. Don't compare yourself to your brother. You're different people, with different ways of life." The woman said, much more practical than her emotion driven husband.

"Hm." He burrowed his face in her chest, making her chuckle. "So archery huh? I wouldn't want Zoe near arrows… ever. Terrifying." Wanda joked, playing with the head full of messy graying curls in front of her. So hot.

Seb snorted. "Yeah, maybe you're right… Can't even trust that kid with a kitchen knife yet. Even if Miz insists on teaching the twins how to cook."

"We can tell her to start them off on things that don't use knives. Though Zach could use the plastic ones. They can cut lettuce and vegetables." Wanda giggled as Seb snuggled into her boobs. "Anyway, are you feeling better?"

"With this ? Yeah."

"Gasp! Pervert!" She mock-cried.

"You're one to talk." Seb raised an eyebrow.

"True~" She leaned down to kiss him.

"I've been assigned to tailor the twins' uniform too. Yun begged me with tears in her eyes~" Seb said dramatically. Wanda rolled her eyes. She sure did. "Well, that's nice. You love fixing their clothes."

"Urgh Emmy and Jane are so pretty and cute and tiny!" Seb gushed and cooed. He was kind of sad that they were… He shook his head. He couldn't think that way of his nieces. "I love making them feel pretty. That's my job."

Wanda rolled around so she was now on top of Seb, snuggling him and kissing him. Seb pulled apart to breathe. Stupid lungs. "Is this a… lock the door situation?"

"You bet it is~"

-.-

"Hey," Wanda said as she and Seb cuddled. "I've… been reading up on demons and stuff, don't know how relevant the info I found was… but… well, Miz is stressed because she's been trying to suppress her demon-desires and stuff, yes?"

"Yeah. Even though I keep telling her it's fine." Seb sighed.

"Lots of places say that demons are all about destruction and mayhem. Well, I found a thing called a 'rage room' where you go to the place and they give you stuff to destroy. And it's totally legal, and allowed."

She watched as Seb's brown eye sparkled at the word 'destroy'. "Maybe you can take her there. It might help her…"

"Yeah. That sounds AWESOME!" Seb giggled. He pulled out his phone to begin looking up any places nearby.

Wanda grinned teasingly. "Of course you COULD wait outside for her~ Doesn't sound like you wanna go~"

"Noooo!" Seb squeezed her and Wanda laughed. "I wanna go toooooo!"

The two looked up places together, finding places that had rage rooms for smashing stuff, and paint rooms for throwing paint around. Some places even had themed rooms. Seb snickered, "This one has 'office' rooms. Set up to look like you're working a cubicle job, with computers and desks and even a printer you can destroy!"

"I'm sure it's a good stress relief for people." Wanda rolled her eyes in amusement.

"This one also has escape rooms in the same building." Seb scrolled through. "These actually look like tons of fun."

"Well, take Miz and maybe then we can take the twins. I'm sure Zoe would enjoy it as well."

Seb smiled. Aw, their little demon spawn. She totally would. He wasn't sure about his baby boy though, he was so calm and sweet~

Seb brought it up to Miz and the demon seemed confused, but… was that excitement? Seb held back the urge to go, 'Yeeeees!' when she actually agreed to it. He booked the room for the two of them on a free day in their schedules. And finally the day came. Miz held his hand as they walked in, peering around at everything.

"Hello! Welcome to the Smash House! Are you the Pines group?" The receptionist asked.

"Yup! That's us! The Pines group!" Seb repeated, hugging Miz by her shoulders. "Gotta destroy something, and fast!"

The man chuckled. "Great, we can help with that. Follow me."

Seb had chosen the city destruction room. So they had a whole space that was made to look like a miniature city. There were toy helicopters in the air, dangling down from string, there were tiny little figurines of people littered all over the city. Tiny trees, tiny cars… There was a table next to the door with various tools like hammers, a blunt hand ax, even thick boots with metal toes. Seb patted Miz's head. "Go on." He whispered.

Miz trembled, her breathing coming out faster and faster. Then she let out a growl and POUNCED into the middle of the city, disregarding any of the tools and just biting down on the buildings and tearing them apart to shake around and fling off through the air, hitting down one of the helicopters.

Seb sniffled and wiped away a tear. He was so proud. "Whoop!" He dodged a flying car before it smacked him. He grabbed the ax and channeled his anger. Carol, doing taxes… his fabric provider giving him shitty quality fabric… the store running out of his hair gel! He growled and swung at the building. Die! Die!

Miz was hissing as she had her claws out (luckily her claws were small, so anyone looking would just think she had long nails), crushing another building. She straight up just chewed up cars. They were made of a mix of plastic, paper and metal, which didn't stop her. The buildings were a mix of soft wood and paper plastic.

"Miz! Catch!" Seb grabbed a torn building and used the ax like a baseball bat to hit it towards her.

She was on all fours, tensing and then leaping up and swinging her leg in a side kick that sent the building hurtling towards another helicopter.

"Wooo!" Seb cheered, throwing his hands (and improvised bat) into the air. It landed on a group of tiny people in a tiny park. "Oops~ They're dead now~"

The workers were watching from the security cameras with traumatized looks on their faces. These 2 were going feral in there! The girl was– was she SWALLOWING the tiny people?!

Finally, the whole city had been razed to the ground. And part of it was on fire for reasons none of the workers could figure out, but they went in with fire extinguishers. "Are you two… alright?"

Seb grinned with a maniac look, ruffling Miz's already disheveled hair. "Yeah! This was GREAT! We're definitely coming back." He tried to fix his own disheveled hair too.

"Thanks." Miz said calmly while handing them a small stack of $20s as tip, and walked after Seb, as if she hadn't just been manually destroying and setting the tiny city on fire minutes ago. The workers stared at the mess they would need to clean up to prepare for the next group.

Seb took her to the car and when he was sure she was calmed, he headed to a drive through to get fries and ice cream just for them, that way they wouldn't have 3 blonds pouting and asking for their food.

"Did you like it? We can try all the other rooms next time!" Seb suggested as they waited for their order.

Miz thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, I did."

Seb beamed and smiled even more when his bag of warm delly fries was handed to him.

Miz hummed. "It… was fun." She said finally. Seb reached over to pat her head. "See? There's ways you can let go and it's ok. We can try out all sorts of things."

"Mm…" Miz smiled. She ate her fries without Seb having to ask her, which was a great sign.

"It can be our thing too!" Seb parked somewhere to enjoy their junk food. "Like, our soul-brother-sister thing! Or adopted kid to adoptive dad? Or human to little monster kid who I now house and feed?" He joked.

"...I would like that." Miz looked away, wiping at her face. Seb pretended he didn't see it, she was shy about things sometimes. He was… just hoping that she would start being happy and cheerful again. Not that he required her to be, but being down all the time wasn't good. He made a note to find more human-approved things she could do.

—.-

Soon enough, summer was over, and Ford and Yun's precious little baby angels were ready to start school.

Elizabeth was screaming around when her uniform arrived, she just loved to have new clothes. "Take a picture to share it, daddy!"

Ford rolled his eyes fondly as she modeled her 2 uniform versions and he sent it to the family group chat. [Elizabeth wanted to share her outfit] He texted.

[AAAWWWWW💞💞💞💞 💞 😭😭 💞 ] Was Mabel's immediate response to her younger cousin's photo.

[👍Gd luck] Was from Dipper.

[She looks adorable ] Pacifica sent next and then the chat was flooded with encouraging messages for the youngest Pines, soon starting school.

Ford had taken the children to buy the list of stuff the school asked for kindergarten classes. The hardest part was finding backpacks, pencil cases and lunch boxes that were the kids' color, but they managed. He spent a couple hours wrapping notebooks and pencils, tagging everything with their names. He had ordered their working and reading books as well and honestly, this was kind of exciting! He'd been revising the books they'll read in the Reading Plan and they were very age appropriate with messages about self esteem, respect, and about nature.

He was only left wistfully sighing, wishing he had studied in a place like this as a child. He had peaked on the syllabus for older classes and they were excellent, with books the children were expected to read and learn to analyze to develop reading comprehension… something people nowadays very much lacked.

The day arrived. The uniforms were ironed by Unit 27 and carefully hung up in the children's room (the P.E one). The backpacks were packed with some books and a brand new pencil case with 12 colors, 2 pencils, 1 eraser, sharpener, ruler, markers and child scissors.

Ford was up very early that day to make sure everything ran smoothly. Yun also came early to prepare a special breakfast for her kiddos on their first day.

The two parents went to each room, smiling at the curled up balls under the covers. Ford went to Isaac, Lux and Nick's room while Yun went to Ira, Marie and Elizabeth's. The twins were left to sleep a little more. Ford sat down and gently shook his firstborn awake. "Good morning, Isaac~ Wake up." He kissed his forehead. Isaac opened his big brown eyes and snuggled back under his covers.

"Sleep forever…"

Ford pulled his covers and went to shake his other kids too, plus their morning kisses. "Today's your first day of school, son, no can do!" The 3 kids yawned as their dad passed them their new uniforms. "Want me to help, or you can do it on your own?"

"Hmpphh…" They grumbled but eventually Isaac and Lux rubbed their eyes and began dressing up while Nick lifted up his hands with his eyes close to be dressed by dad.

The 3 kiddos were now in tiny white shirts, blue shorts and super clean white socks (They would get their shoes on once they were leaving the house). "My bracelets." Nick made grabby hands. Ford passed each of them a pink, purple and blue bracelet. Yun wanted them to still have some color on them, so she made bracelets and headbands with their colors. Each one had small dots with their siblings' colors and they loved it. (Of course these were magically charmed protection spells, but Yun didn't bother to say so.)

Ford sent them to go sit and eat and passed by the girls' room. Elizabeth seemed to be about to have a meltdown because she thought she'd be using the skirt uniform and couldn't find it, but Yun seemed to be handling it well, so Ford went to the twins' room.

They were already stirring from the noise. Ford reached to kiss each little forehead. "Good morning, pumpkins~ How are you feeling?"

Gloria seemed to wake up immediately, "First day!" She squealed in excitement, while Emmy pulled to go back to bed. Ford chuckled. "It's true, let's get you ready."

"Belly hurts…" Emmy (Superbia) complained. "Not true!" Gloria shook her head. Ford raised an eyebrow. "The truth, please."

Gloria sighed "It hurts a little… but not as bad."

"How's your back? Can you stand up?"

"No." "Yes!" Ford sighed as he checked them over. "Maybe you can use your wheelchair today."

"Noooo!" Gloria complained as her dad unbuttoned their pjs (snap buttons for fast access to chest and back in case of medical emergencies). "If your sister feels better during the day, then you can just leave the wheelchair aside." Ford explained as he grabbed their shirt. Seb had been modifying clothes for the twins since they were babies so he was a pro on fitting exactly to their body structure, making them look like 2 separate pieces even.

Ford snuggled them. "Let's get you breakfast so your mom can style your hair." He helped them into their chair and the twins babbled about the hairstyle they wanted as they rolled themselves to the kitchen. Ford's smile dropped. He was so fucking worried for them, all the time. He guessed he just had to trust the school would follow their medicine schedule and be kind to them when they felt bad…

The 8 kids were then having cat shaped banana pancakes with fruit and milk. The school started classes at 8:45am, which was amazing, because it actually followed recommendations from pediatricians about the benefits of not having zombie kids going to school without breakfast. That gave them more time to get ready, but not much, as they still had to drive there, which would take a half hour. So they had to hurry.

The stampede rushed to the bathrooms, laughing, to brush their teeth and comb their hair. Ford left the 8 backpacks (2 of them were rolling backpacks so the twins didn't have to carry them on their sensitive back) and 8 lunchboxes by the entrance and ran outside to check on his Other baby.

His new. Fucking car!

He smirked and dramatically made his way towards the parked car, unaware some scientists were watching him from the windows of the Research Center and giggling at him.

Everyone was witness to how Stanford had been agonizing about getting a new car to move ALL his children around. The minivans he saw were too huge, or too uncomfortable to carry the twins' wheelchair in, or simply not good enough. Fiddleford, president of the United States, engineer, best known by many as the one who built a huge robot of Gideon Gleeful and the Shacktron to fight Him during That, listened to his poor friend's complaints over facetime and decided to do something about it.

He drew up some blueprints and sent them over to the engineering team in the Center and to Ford, if he liked the model. Ford hadn't felt this happy seeing a blueprint since Fiddleford and him built the portal. "Oh thank you, F!"

Ford paid, of course, but his ideal car was built and he was hugging the team after it was finished. Then he hugged and stroked his brand new dark blue car. Oooh~ Stereotypical male primal instincts kicking in, car go vroom, car make happy!

It had the driver and copilot seats, 8 normal seats behind them, with 2 modified seats in the back –but wait! There's more! When activated, those 2 modified seats folded to comfortably incorporate the twins' wheelchair. It was activated by a button in the drivers' seat, which also released the ramp. It was a freaking dream. Air circulation, seats that could warm or cool for whatever weather they're having, a top that could slide open to have a sunroof… four wheel drive! Gorgeous leather upholstery, windows that could tint themselves and block out both light and heat, a built in map of the whole planet so even if they didn't have satellite signal, they can still know where they were–

His three brothers had come when the car was finished to take a look, and despite their differences, the 3 younger men had gushed over the car as much as Ford did. Car make men go brr~

Ford patted the side of the car, giving a glare to the forest in case Steve was considering snacking on it, and started accommodating the children's car seats. Just as he finished with the last one, his eight babies came rushing outside, dressed in their uniforms, hair combed, teeth brushed, holding their little lunchboxes and carrying little backpacks (The twins had theirs on their lap).

The scientist's look softened and Yun got them all together for a photo of their first day to share with the family.

Strapping each of them was a nightmare, and then he had to secure the twins to the wheelchair and strap the wheelchair, but he did it! Yun wasn't getting into the car ("That's a van, Ford." "Shut up!") but she would teleport ahead of them.

"You're seriously not going to get in the car–" ("Van.") "-with us?" Ford pouted.

"I barely allow Seb and Wanda to drive me." Yun folded her arms. "So… no." She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, hurry up Fordsie, they're going to be late." Yun pointed at the van ("Car!") and Ford sighed and walked over to seat himself.

"See you soon." He smiled at Yun. She smiled back and Ford pulled out of the driveway.

"Mommy said our friends would come to school too…" Marie kicked her feet.

"No, mommy said she'd ASK their parents, and they decided to keep going to the local school in Gravity Falls." Ford explained, making them whine. "Besides, I'm not a bus. I'm not gonna be able to drive you AND your friends." he sighed, it was already a pain to have Yun whine at him about how the other kids' parents turned her down. He didn't wanna hear his kids complaining too.

"But this is like a bus."

"It's a car!" Ford groaned exasperated. "It only has enough seats for you guys!"

"Bus! Bus! Bus!"

Ford groaned. This was going to be the entire ride, wasn't it?

—

The school looked very different with kids and parents coming to drop them off. Ford's brown eye twitched for the last time as the children's music blasted in his ear. He had tried changing it for, you know, good music, a couple times, but their moans and complaints and whines were insufferable.

"Daddy, hungry." "Daddy, look! look! Did you see that deer over there? Daddy!" "Daddy, Lux is gonna open their juice now!" ("Don't you DARE, Florence!")

This situation needed to be fixed if he was gonna be doing this 10 times a week…You know what? Fuck this, Yun was in charge of picking them up after school!

He sighed in utter relief when the building came into view and he parked. Other parents (or the people they hired to take their kids if they weren't in the boarding school program) were unloading their kids, all of them dressed in their uniforms and ready to learn.

Ford began freeing his kids, who had gone from smiling and excited to fearful. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"...Wanna go home…" Nick mumbled with tears in his eyes. Ford sighed, "But didn't you all want to go to school?"

"Too many people." The kids huddled around Ford's legs, staring around at how many people were here.

"Well, that's what schools are. Lots of people all in one place." Ford explained. The kids didn't seem any happier. Yun showed up then, walking out from the forest. Ford nearly kissed her in relief. "Yun! Help."

Yun tilted her head as several of the kids ran over to clutch her legs. "Whoa kids, what's up?

"Don't wanna go to school anymore." Nick wailed, raising his arms to be picked up. Yun pulled her son into her arms and rubbed his back. "It's scary, right?" The kids nodded.

"I know it is, but it's important for you to go to class and learn and make friends. You'll make more friends here and then you can introduce them to Louise, Leo and Brendon, huh?" (Those were their town friends). "And, you can still play with those three when you're back home. Can even invite them over if their parents agree."

The octuplets wiped their tears off their chubby cheeks. It made a little bit of sense, but they still didn't let go.

Ford crouched to be eye level with them. "Hey. It's alright to be scared. New places are scary… I was scared to start school too when I was your age."

"Weally?" Ira pouted. She didn't believe that. Daddy was big and brave.

"Really." Ford nodded solemnly. "But you wanna learn a secret? You all and I got something other kids don't." Ford said secretively.

"What?" Nick asked.

"I had your uncle Stan and uncle Seb with me, and we kept each other company." Ford grinned. Yun smiled a bit at that, she loved when Ford spoke so fondly of his triplets. "And you are way more lucky, because there's eight of you!"

Yun smiled softly as the kids looked at each other, considering their dad's words. They finally nodded, huddling closer together. She kissed their foreheads. "There you go, brave nuggets. Be good and don't burn down the school, this place is nice, would be a shame." ("Yun!") The alien giggled and waved them into the building.

Ford, Yun and the other parents of new kids approached the school and a teacher greeted them. "Ah, welcome to your first day of many happy years full of knowledge and fun!" The teacher crouched to look at the kids eye to eye. Some other kids were making a scene, crying and holding onto legs or the door, refusing to get in. The octuplets didn't want to be stared at, but they did glance back at their mommy and daddy for reassurance. Yun smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be here after school to pick you up. Sometimes I might be late, but I'll always come to get you." She patted each of their little heads and kissed their foreheads.

"What-what if-" Marie sniffled. "What if I don't have food anymore and I'm hungry…" She choked down a sob as Ford choked down a bark of laughter. His daughter was always hungry, much like her mommy. Yun nudged him.

"If you get hungry and you have no more food, you can buy a fruit snack in the cafeteria like we saw the day we visited." The demon explained to her wittle ones patiently. "You don't need to hand physical money, they will keep track, and mommy will pay for it later, but let's be responsible with it, ok?" Yun had a contemplative look on her face. "If you can do this, then there's somewhere cool that I wanna bring you all sometime." She smiled.

"What if I need to pee?" Ira pouted.

"They have little bathrooms that are small and you can reach the toilet." Yun assured them.

'What if I want… I will miss my cartoon!' Lux grumbled, as they signed lazily.

"I'll record it for you, or Stream it later once you're home." Yun poked their forehead with a grin.

"And if the twins hurt?" Isaac asked, holding Superbia's hand.

"There's a medical bay here with really good doctors." Ford reached down to caress the twin's cheeks before doing the same for the others. They all sniffled and nodded.

The octuplets were guided by the teachers welcoming them. There were 2 of them, as there were 2 classes for kindergarten, A and B. The list was released just today, so their parents didn't warn them they could end up splitting up.

Yun told Ford that the school allowed her to go in to check on the kids as long as she didn't go inside the classroom to distract them, so she promised to keep an eye on them for as long as the school would allow her to stay. Ford nodded and gave Yun a quick hug (during which she stayed very still) and he left to get back in his car to drive home.) Yun had to leave her kids here and walked to the administration door where she was told to wait, sign some papers etc before entering the school proper. Security here was strict.

The teachers frowned at the attendance paper. "Um… I think… something is wrong…" The two teachers looked down at their paper and then up at the children. Specifically, at Emmy and Jane. Emmy was listed as Class A. Jane was listed as Class B. One of the teachers groaned, "I think the computer messed up when it split the entering group of kids." They entered all the new student's names into the system and it would just randomly assign the kids, to prevent favoritism.

The teachers glanced over at the twins. They… had never actually seen conjoined twins before. They tried their best not to stare. The other children were already staring at the twins.

"Hey, how come you're stuck together?" One boy asked.

"We're can-joy-ned twins." Jane said proudly. "Mommy says it's because we loved each other so much that we didn't wanna leave each other when we were born."

"""Oooooh…""" The other kids just accepted it. Because why would they question it? No one ever told them that someone couldn't love their sibling so much they got stuck together. The teachers relaxed a little in relief that the kids weren't going to call the twins weird or creepy. They would have to make sure the kids continued to get along.

But first…. they would need to fix this room assignment problem. Mr. Aranya went to tell the principal and administration office to fix this. Meanwhile, Ms. Uvala smiled at the students who were holding their bags and lunchboxes, looking confused because they still didn't have a classroom!

"Ok, since there's so many of you here, you'll be split into two classes. Now, when I call out your name, please walk over here and stand. Once I'm done, I'll take this group here to Class A. And my colleague Mr. Aranya will take Class B. Ok?" She looked around the crowd of students. "My name is Ms. Uvala. It's very nice to meet you all."

The more extroverted kids waved while the introverts shrunk a bit but acknowledged her presence.

Ms. Uvala cleared her throat and began reading off names. She named Amelia, Florence and Nick. That meant the other octuplets were going to the other class. (Ford had put his foot down on enrolling the children with their 'human' names. Yun sighed and grumbled, but agreed.)

Nick glanced at his other siblings and back at the woman. "No! I want Invi! I want my brother!"

"I'm sorry, dear, but we had to split the group, it's random to be fair." Ms. Uvala told him gently. "You'll see all of your siblings during recess and lunchtime. Meanwhile, you will get to meet new friends here in class."

Nick's lip wobbled and he began screaming, throwing himself to the floor, his dad's worst nightmare. Ford had hoped Nick wouldn't throw a tantrum at school. Luckily, Ford wasn't here to see this and feel embarrassed.

Isaac sighed loudly. He left his stuff on the floor and trotted over to Nick. He placed a little hand on his brother's forehead. "Ava, it's fine." He hugged his octuplet as Nick began sniffling. "It's ok to be upset and cry, but it's like we are playing in different rooms, and we'll see each other later. We're still together, like daddy said."

The teacher couldn't help but stare impressed at the emotional matureness of Isaac.

"Hmph!" Nick sniffled and eventually nodded. He glared at Ira and kidnapped Lux before dragging them to the classroom.

Mr. Aranya returned and welcomed the other half of the kids. The young man was approached by Ms. Uvala. "Keep an eye on Isaac…"

"Oh?"

"It's nothing bad, on the contrary, actually." The other teacher nodded and each closed their pretty decorated doors.

Yun finally finished filling the papers to enter. The doors had a little window to peak in so she stood outside, just watching her babies, needing to see them.

For starters, the teachers handled the silly class assignment of the twins better than expected (they simply rock-paper-scissored to see who got the twins in their class, and then moved one of the other kids to the other's class) , and were now helping them set their table, and helping them get their materials out, both giving assistance and teaching them how to do it themselves.

Yun also approved that when they began a round of introduction, Lux wanted to sign, and the teacher understood, so she let them tell the class their name in ASL. She even asked Lux why they signed instead of spoke, and after getting their answer, she told the class that Lux was more comfortable not talking and she'd teach them all some signs that will help everyone be able to talk and make friends without even having to speak aloud. Some kids found it annoying, but others thought it was cool. It was a whole secret language!

Yun watched them in both classrooms do games, drawings and some writing. Both teachers had the same professionalism and care for the kids (maybe because they weren't underpaid? And had a manageable class size? The maximum ratio for student to teacher is 20:1, and these two classes had 20 students each. There were several more kindergarten classes, in different wings of the building, some of them only had 18-19 kids.) Yun watched them have class, eat some snacks, another activity, and then lunch (the classrooms had microwaves) before going out for their first recess, the second one to eat and play will be in another hour or so. The twins were still in their wheelchair and they looked so happy to see games adapted for them too. They all seemed to have made new friends too, so it was just incredible to watch.

Yun returned to the Administration area and smiled. They'll…They'll be ok here…

She checked her phone and chuckled. After sharing the kids' photo and getting coos from the family, Abi, Seb and Carla shared photos of their kids' first day too. Even Kari rummaged through her old albums and found the triplets' and Shermie's childhood ones.

Her babies will be fine.

-.-

"-And, according to my trustful sources, I think there's a supernatural creature here, Uncle Ford!" Diego gushed. Ford grinned at his youngest nephew.

"That's very interesting, Diego." He smiled as he got photos of Diego's notes. He was such a clever young boy. He reminded Ford of Dipper when he was Diego's age. Ford was still impressed at Dipper's bravery to take down the alien robot to free him, and now his other nephew was very set on finding a creature on his own, just like his older cousin before him.

"Do you think there's a creature in New York?"

"Uh huh. There is a very real possibility of such a thing. A city that big? Many things can hide there." The underground tunnels alone would be sure to be brimming with all sorts of anomalous material and creatures.

Ford stroked his chin in thought. When he tracked down Gravity Falls' anomalous concentration, it was around 30 years ago. Just like any creature, they could follow migration patterns, especially because of human intervention or the mere presence of them. "Well, maybe I could take some time to go and check it out."

"And I will help!" Diego grinned confidently. "I have magic on my side! And I know the city!"

Ford chuckled. He really liked this kid. He was into supernatural science and was blessed by a confidence and charisma only Stan could pass down. "Ah yes… do be sure not to set things on fire." He joked.

"-We're home~"

Ford's trained ears heard little feet stampeding towards the kitchen where he was. "Oh, the octuplets are back home. Send me more evidence and I'll analyze it. But please don't get in trouble"

"No hacking into the government database. Got it." Diego winked.

"Please don't." Ford deadpanned. That boy didn't know fear.

"Meh!" The call ended and Ford got distracted with the kid's hugs. Yun took them to play with their local friends at the park before bringing them home, and they were rather hyped up.

"Hey." Ford smiled at Yun a bit. "How were things?"

"They had fun. Gula didn't stop talking about the school's cafeteria though."

Ford chuckled at that. She sure did. His phone buzzed with new messages from his young nephew.

"Oh~ Who you talking to? Is it Riley?"

"What?" Ford looked down as he felt his blush forming."No,no. It's Diego. He is pretty sure there's cryptids in New York and he wants me to come check it out with him."

"Aawww~" Yun cooed. "Like a baby Dipper ~ How does it feel~?"

"Super weird, but amazing, that he wanted to– wants to go cryptid hunting in New York." Ford grinned. "Not many in the scientific community are dabbling in the study of weirdness, it'd be nice to see him continue the research"

"Well, since Dipper's busy, are you trying for a new apprentice?" Yun teased. She hoped this wouldn't hit a nerve. That was the danger of teasing. "Though… There are actually a ton of people who are into cryptozoology. Just… Not the science part of it." She muttered.

"Huh?"

"Those many, MANY humans who film themselves 'ghost hunting' or 'bigfoot hunting'." Yun rolled her eyes. "In which they only want the views and aren't actually trying to scientifically prove anything."

Ford nodded, knowing what she was talking about. "As amusing as it is, that can't be published in an indexed journal." Yun rolled her blue eyes at that.

"Almost makes me wanna mess with them, so at least they're getting some real evidence ~" Yun purred before she shook her head and gave herself a small smack. No. Bad Bill!

It didn't go unnoticed by Ford, who sighed softly. "Well, I'm thinking of meeting Diego this weekend. Can you watch all the kids at your place this time?"

"No problemo~ got plenty of room." Yun gave him a quick movement with her hands in an 'o' shape tapping against each other with a slight twist of her wrist.

Ford wanted to ask if maybe Yun will let him see this house on her island, but abstained himself from it. If you… were on a break, you didn't ask for that, right? He looked down, gosh, this sucked…

"Do you need help packing for your trip? I can make some lunchboxes in the time-stop Bentos so they'll be fresh and ready whenever you need them?" Yun asked.

Ford blinked at the offer. "You…sure?" He didn't really want to ask her stuff. He wasn't sure how to act with this "taking a break". Sometimes it felt like nothing happened, sometimes…it was clear things were not well…

"Yeah, I would worry if you were eating properly otherwise. You have spent hours on Cryptid hunts without food before."

He had to roll his eyes at that, but he couldn't deny it. "I…was actually gonna ask my ma if I could visit." Having to deal with Stan wasn't in his plans and yum~ He wouldn't deny some of his ma's cooking~ and then having a portable lunch on the go would just be a bonus.

Yun brightened, "Yes! Go visit her! She misses you."

"We see each other a lot in family meetings." Ford pointed out.

"Yes. But that's a formality." Yun waved off, "She's your mom. And you guys are her babies. She would like to have casual visits too."

Ford heard his kids playing and laughed to himself. "I'm actually wondering if she'll let me in if I'm not bringing her her grandbabies. " He joked.

"Well you can show her all the cute photos you've taken of them, if that'll appease."

They went quiet for a bit before Ford coughed. "I-I'll go tell Riley she's in charge while I'm gone…And-pack my stuff."

Yun nodded and looked contemplative. "You know, you don't… have to be so awkward? Even if we're on a break, you're still my friend, right?" She asked, "We're still friends, right?"

"Awkward? I'm not awkward." Ford shifted, a little offended and pouted. Yun giggled. "You totally are though." She said bluntly.

"You're my friend, Yun. Of course you are." He sighed. "I just…This is hard! I-I'm still not sure what I should be doing in the break or-or if it's working…I miss you."

"Well I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to do in a relationship. I mean… you're my first, after all."

"Me neither, but still…I'm… I would rather have what we had…but not with you hurting. It wasn't my intention to hurt you…" His brown eyes were glassy behind his glasses.

"...I'm sorry… for… being so difficult." Yun moved her hand over, not touching him, but leaving it there as an invitation if he wanted to take it. "I'm not the easiest thing to love."

"You aren't." He agreed, and after hesitating a bit, he squeezed her hand. "But I never liked easy anyway."

Yun blushed hard, finding that incredibly hot for some reason. Ford apparently noticed the thing his choice of words caused and stepped back. "I-I'll…yeah." He walked away.

Yun watched him go, flexing her hand a little, still feeling the leftover sensations of his touch. She sighed.

-.-

Ford portal'ed to his mom's place when he had packed all his necessary equipment to go cryptid hunting with his nephew. Kari squealed when she saw her son and ran over to hug him. "My baby~"

Ford rolled his eyes and accepted his mother's hug. "Hello mother." He hugged her back.

"So you will spend some time with Diego, huh? That's so adorable, Ford. I'm glad you make time to play with your niblings."

Ford decided that correcting his mom about how he wasn't gonna play wasn't worth it and just nodded. "I think he has incredible potential, I'm happy to inspire him."

Kari squeezed his cheek as if he was a child.

"Do you want me to make cookies?" Kari grinned. Ford's eyes widened. "Chocolate with chocolate chips?" He asked in a soft voice, already drooling.

"How else do you make cookies?" Kari grinned as Ford cheered. Ford could just imagine the look on Stan's face when he realized he missed out on this, and Ford got his mom's chocolate chocolate chip cookies ALL for himself! They were the best sugary snack anyone could ask for!

This was shaping out to be a good start to his weekend! He looked at his mom searching for ingredients. Her hair wasn't as black anymore, it had turned gray with the years, and her skin had more wrinkles, but her eyes were as bright as ever, her voice was as strong and her smile was still beautiful.

And Ford was suddenly struck with the realization that he really missed her. Yun was right, he should visit more.

-.-

"Are you seriously gonna go who knows where with Ford?"

"Yes!" Diego exclaimed, raising a fist.

Stan frowned. "Y'know, Diego, one crazy demon hunter in the family is more than enough." Listen, Stan loved his brother, ok? But he was and still is a dangerous know-it all who had a history of dragging kids between this age range into problems.

Diego shrugged at him. "He took my cousins to all sorts of places. I wanna learn too! I'll be a scientist! And a wizard!"

Stan blinked.

"You can't go out without supervision though." He changed tactics.

"Uncle Ford is an adult."

"And who's gonna supervise him ?"

"Me. Duh." Diego rolled his eyes. He checked his notepad of prewritten glyphs, the kind that would function without needing Miz nearby. They took much longer to draw, so he made sure to make a ton for all sorts of situations.

"If we get attacked, I'll save him with my magic! And he will see I'm good for monster hunting!" The preteen fixed his glasses and hugged his book. Dipper had once told him about the awesome alien robot and how he took it down! Diego wanted cool adventures like that too!

Diego just wanted his uncle to be impressed with him… No one understood him here… mom would say that Wizard wasn't a career path. Dad said that won't make him money. Diego pouted. But magic was REAL! Diego was a real ass wizard! Who could use real magic! Why couldn't they understand how COOL that was?

Stan didn't understand.

He lifted his glasses to massage his eyes. Ford officially stole his child. Seb stole Dillon. What did he get?! They were HIS kids! Why did they all prefer his brothers?

"Anyway, bye dad." Diego ran off to head to his grandma's apartment. Stan sighed when the door shut. Not fair. He kept thinking about his niblings. He couldn't even claim Seb's squirts, both were daddy's kids. Dipper also preferred Ford, Mabel…well, he did teach her stuff on how to handle her business and how to be a better boss…so…he had that? He couldn't even say anything of the octuplets, they were too little …Sigh.

While Stan had a meltdown, Diego eagerly abused the doorbell. "Grandma it's me! Can Uncle Ford come out now?"

Kari opened the door, chuckling at how Diego made it sound like Ford was some kid he wanted to play with. "Wow, you're very early, sweetie. Come in. He arrived this morning so he's checking his hunting toys."

"For the last time, ma, they aren't toys!" Came Ford's voice from the guest room. Kari giggled and gave her grandkid a cookie before he went to meet his uncle.

"Uncle Ford! Hi! Are we heading out now?" Diego grinned.

"Just need to unpack and put my stuff away." Ford told Diego. ("I told you to unpack earlier!" Kari's scolding voice rang out.) "Then I'm all set." Ford told the boy as he sorted his stuff. He wasn't staying long, but he wanted to know that he brought everything.

Ford looked at the clothes he packed, a few were things Bill had made for him a while ago. They were simple, comfortable and he supposed the text on the t-shirts weren't bad. He held up a shirt with the words 'N(itrogen)ER(bium)Ds(armstadtium)' and snorted. Geez. Xin insisted that t-shirt pajamas were the best, and had made several for Ford. He smiled faintly at the memory. And then he remembered that neither Xin nor Yun were sleeping beside him anymore. He shook his head to refocus.

He quickly put everything away, put his blue journal in his coat pocket and hid the luggage under the bed before going back to the living room. All he needed on him was his jacket with his tools, and his backpack.

Diego followed him close, practically vibrating with excitement.

"So do you have some kinda Monster scanner?" Diego asked.

"Even better, I have a Weirdness scanner." Ford proudly held up a little device shaped like a U with a wire coming up from the top.

"Is that what you used when we all became monsters?" He wiggled his fingers.

"Well, Weirdness scanners would actually overload while in Gravity Falls unless I make it waaaay weaker. So this one is a new one I built for use outside Gravity Falls." Ford explained as he turned it on.

"Because of the grand unified weirdness theory! The town has a high concentration. And due to the law of mass attraction, the higher the density of weirdness, the more it attracts even more weirdness! Like a weaker version of a black hole! Or like a magnet that's only tuned to the supernatural and paranormal."

"I-yeah…" Ford smiled, impressed. "Didn't know you read my academic works."

"Eh, I am a casual enjoyer, I don't know all the concepts though…" Diego mumbled, a bit ashamed.

"Well, I'm pretty sure with how clever you are, you will in no time." Ford absently petted his dark brown curls. Diego gasped.

"Besides, the previous research notes you sent me were impressive. It'll help us find the concentration of weirdness way faster."

Diego brightened and pulled out his phone. "I have a map of all reports of ghosts or monsters throughout the city, there's higher concentrations here and there, a BUNCH in the subways…"

"You're correct. I've done a little research into the unusual sightings in the New York area myself to complement your information. As we are in Manhattan, we've plenty of places to look. And the public transport will make travel much easier." Ford opened his journal to flip through. "So, the weirdness concentration in the subways correlate to the sightings of a Nessie-like creature somewhere here in New York as well…"

The preteen blinked in awe. "And we're capturing it for science?" Diego asked. Ford ruffled his dark curls. "Everything is done for science and the sole pursuit of knowledge, Diego."

"Alright, let's go!" They headed out.

Ford looked around. The bustling streets of New York all around him. He had his journal in one hand and a backpack slung over his shoulder. He used to think paranormal creatures only existed in the wilderness of Gravity Falls, or at least, that all the most interesting ones were there. But after finding Max's people and even seeing the underwater kingdom off the coast of New Jersey, he realized that magic and weirdness could be found everywhere if you only looked.

Diego skipped next to his uncle, so excited to be part of this. "You think we will capture it before 8? Ma told me to be home before 8 because it's dinner and she doesn't want me out too long… And I'd like to show it to Dad so he knows I'm serious!"

"Yeah, my mother told me the same." Ford mumbled under his breath. He wasn't a child anymore! Why did he have a curfew? Muttering about the unfairness of it all, he started off down the street. They were in a relatively safe neighborhood. Besides, if anything happened, Ford still had his wits about him. He could get them out of any problem. He was a grown ass man who could wrestle a dragon into submission!

"Cool! And how will we find monsters? Just follow the scanner? Or asking people about stuff they've seen?"

Ford hummed. Asking for information from locals. Now, this wasn't Gravity Falls, so the people here probably won't take time out of their busy schedules to talk to strangers, even if it was a little kid. New Yorkers were terrifying.

"Well first off, we will visit the larger bodies of water nearby the train stations. Then we will turn on the scanner and go from there." Ford said, Diego nodded.

They got on a bus to go visit one of the largest lakes in upstate New York. Travel time might be a bit of an issue but he had hours to investigate. He asked a few people on the bus but most of them told him to "Shove off!" Or "Don't bother me." How rude. He was right about the difference in attitude between rural towns and the big city.

They got to one lake which had reported sightings and Ford twitched at the tourist attractions set up all about the supposed creature. They were giving tours and even had a gift shop selling paraphernalia about the lake monster. "This...is all just a ploy to get money!" He cried. It reminded him of the Mystery Shack.

"Welcome to Capitalism~" Diego rolled his eyes.

Ford looked around. No. He couldn't give up so easily. There might still be a real monster here. Just like the Gobblewonker was real, he now had another lake monster to (hopefully) find. They asked around for reported sightings, history, locations, theories…

Most people just talked about it like the tourist attraction and weren't serious about believing it was real.

Diego seemed really excited with their investigation though, he was even writing down what he was learning about the history behind how and why the tourist shops were opened.

Ford wondered for a second if this was how it would be like if Dipper had accepted his apprenticeship. He shook his head with a smile. He was glad his older nephew didn't accept. He was happy in his career. Besides, Ford had the Center. With interns who were pretty much apprentices… but… he discovered having people who weren't his family wanting to be so close to him was… exasperating. He fired Jason (for trying to sneak into people's labs without permission) and a new intern replaced him, a boy barely starting college… Stefan? Stephen? Ford hoped he did a better job. Viola was in charge of the interns now, so Ford didn't even really mentor them anymore.

Diego bought ice creams while his uncle suddenly stopped and got lost in his own thoughts. He gave him one and they sat down to think. "It's all the same, they sent multiple exhibitions and sonar scans along the lake bottom but still can't find anything." Ford muttered. "How could the creature be hiding so well...unless…"

He looked up and glanced around. "Does this lake drain out anywhere?" He ran to ask about it. There was indeed a small drainage that kept the lake from overflowing. But it was automated, no one really went down to check on it. Which means…

"Perhaps the creature swims in and out whenever the drain opens. It must be somewhere in the pipes now. But where would they lead…" Diego and Ford hummed. "We need to find out that, Diego. The sewer maps of the surroundings and… get in." He said dramatically as his nephew stared at him weirdly. "Get in? The sewer?! Ew!" He whined.

Ford put his hands on his shoulders. "It's for science , Diego! For weirdness and the supernatural! We just need to find a way to see that map…" He muttered. A quick check on the internet (he needed to thank Bill for forcing him to learn to do this, she got frustrated with him spending hours in the library reading through all books until he found the information he wanted) and discovered there were entire websites devoted to mapping out the sewage system of various cities. Huh. Convenient.

Of course, getting the map was just the first part. They still needed to find a way in.

Diego stared at the map and hummed. "What if we go down using the sewer covers in the street? Like in movies!" The kid smiled. Ford hummed at the idea. "Well, that would be an easy access to find… Let's see where we can find one…" He ruffled the boy's hair and Diego giggled, happy to be useful to the investigation.

A quick scan of the area allowed them to find a relatively easy access point. He needed to open it, but luckily he came prepared! Magnet gun!

"Uncle Ford, there are cops there!" Diego pointed at the men looking at them suspiciously. Ford hummed in thought. He pulled his nephew away and they hid behind a dumpster. "Here, can you hold this gun?" It was fine to give children weapons, right? And it wasn't a REAL gun anyway. It was kinda heavy, but Diego could hold the gun, much to Ford's relief. "Dad took me to practice how to use one!" the kid explained.

Diego, being not an idiot, shoved it inside his backpack and out of sight. He knew better than to have any gun-like object in sight while cops were around.

Ford began crafting the plan in his mind. He figured that if he kept the officers distracted, Diego could open the lid. He could be the distraction, lead the cops away from the area, then run back to meet up with Diego.

He turned to look at his nephew. "Ok, Diego. On the count of three. When I do this sign, you open the lid."

"Oh… So I put the lid back?"

Ford's eyes widened at the sight of the circular metal lid his little nephew had next to him. "Wha-What? How?"

"The Gun still works from inside my backpack, I don't need it out in plain view." Diego shrugged.

"That's– brilliant." Ford gushed, giving Diego a hug.

"O-oh" Diego fixed his clothes when Ford put him back down. The two of them snuck past the police and climbed down the manhole into the sewers. It… wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

"Do you think we will find the monster?" Diego asked in the darkness. They reached the bottom and Ford pulled out 2 flashlights. "That's the point, yes…" He looked at his phone and zoomed on the map of the sewers. "Alright, let's go this way, in the direction of the lake."

Diego skipped behind his uncle with a wrinkled nose, wondering if his nose worked. It didn't smell as bad as he thought, but it was still musty! "Uncle Ford, did you go on lots of adventures with Dipper and Mabel and Dillon when they were kids too?"

Ford slowed down a bit. "Well… I had some adventures with the twins, Seb and your Dad… but not with Dillon."

"Why not? After your trip in space with Dad you could have." Diego said innocently. Ford chuckled. A trip… "You're right. I should have gone on more adventures with him too, I'm sorry." He really should have, but even now that his older niblings were young adults, and every difference and grudge had been pushed past them, he still wasn't close to Dillon and he understood, you don't have to get along perfectly with everyone!

"Ok, I don't think Dillon would have liked them anyway…" Diego giggled at the memory of his older brother sobbing to their mommy when Max's family almost ate him.

"I like going on adventures with you…" The child confessed. Ford blinked. "Oh. Thank you Diego. That means a lot to me." Ford pulled out his Weirdness scanner. He remembered how it had nearly exploded when he pointed it near Miz once (and that had been the weaker version he'd made). Well, hopefully, whatever was down here wasn't quite as… intense. The small device hummed as Ford waved it around. That way.

Even with the scanner, they had to consult the map multiple times because sometimes it would lead them into a wall or a dead end and they had to find a way around. Diego tugged on Ford's shirt. "I'm hungry." The child said. Ford looked back at him. "Ah…" right, he couldn't let Diego go hungry.

Ford consulted his map to find the nearest exit point and made his way there. They could come back down after eating the packed lunches Yun made. Ford sniffed his shirt. Er… they should probably clean and wash themselves too. He should have thought this through a little better.

As they climbed up, Ford noted the scanner was indicating that whatever was down here had been moving around. That was a good sign actually because it meant that whatever was setting off his sensor was alive. Ford helped Diego climb out and they immediately searched for the nearest public restroom.

People avoided them as they passed and Ford tried his best to ignore their disgusted faces. Luckily they found a restroom and Ford thoroughly scrubbed down his arms and face with soap. He helped clean off Diego (didn't want the kid to get sick, Stan would kill him) before the two were finally clean enough to get food.

Sitting on a bench, Ford found the lunchboxes Yun had packed. He would share with Diego, there was more than enough. Ooh, Yun made egg and vegetable fried rice with a side of chicken tenders!

"There wasn't anything suspicious down there." Diego commented as he chewed on his lunch. "Maybe I was wrong…" He clutched the tupper sadly.

"No, you were right. The creature is still down there." Ford ignored his food as he wrote down the numbers and levels of weirdness the scanner registered down there. Diego stole some of his chicken. Aunt Yun's food was so delly~

"Do we try again!?" Diego smiled excitedly. Ford looked at the hour. "Well, we do have time, if we Portal home, we should be able to stay much later." ("Yay!") "The energy reading moves, so it must be something alive. Following behind it won't get us any closer, we need to see where it's headed, and get to the sewer area ahead of it."

Diego understood, "So we gotta map out our route to intersect with it's." He glanced at the sewer map and then at the scanner. "Is there a pattern to its movements?"

"None that I can see so far, but it does appear to be going through the larger tunnels."

Diego stared at the map, tracing things here and there, "Well there's a big one here, an intersection. Can you portal us down there so we can wait for it? If it's heading this way, it'll have to pass through. And portalling down would get us there faster than having to run through the tunnels."

"...I could, but calculations for this would be harder…." Ford couldn't pinpoint the exact depth, unlike with portalling to anywhere on the surface.

"You could call aunt Yun and ask her for the coordinates." Diego went for the easiest answer. It was like how he would just Doogle for anything he wanted to know. Why not just ask the all knowing things about stuff?

"Well, son, sometimes you can't just count on your All-knowing demon to tell you how to solve things." Ford said, very solemnly. Diego blinked.

"Besides, where's the fun in being cryptid hunters if we let Yun do all the fun work for us?" He ruffled his hair. "It won't take me too long to do this anyway. Let's get home, and get prepared for tomorrow. I'll teach you how to configure the coordinates."

"Awesome!"

–

"Where on earth did you go?!" Kari wrinkled her nose at the smell.

"We… er… went… into the…" Ford suddenly realized that telling his mother he took her grandson into the sewer system of New York will probably… uh… piss her off. "...hiking through the city…" He said awkwardly. Kari gave him a long stare. He sweated.

"Well get those clothes off now, and dump them into the washing machine." Kari pointed. Ford sheepishly trudged off to the laundry room.

"To be honest, I'd burn those." Kari crossed her arms

Diego laughed. They'd gone directly to Stan's house, because Kari was keeping Carla company.

"You too, mister." Kari scolded. "And if I have to wash clothes smelling as bad as today, I'm grounding BOTH of you."

"You don't have to wash my clothes, I can do it on my own." Ford rolled his eyes, and pointed it out as he threw his turtleneck into the washing machine.

"Me too!" Diego ran after his uncle. "It's what comes with being a scientist, granny Kari." He said solemnly.

"Getting all smelly?" At least that was a thing Diego shared with Stan.

"...considering all the hiking I've gone through the woods, mountains and ponds, yes." Ford stressed. "Besides, being out in space was much worse. Water couldn't be found in some dimensions." Made bathing… difficult. Other species would just take a dip in the equivalent of bleach, but humans didn't handle that sort of treatment.

Diego's eyes sparkled. Just when his uncle couldn't be cooler!

Kari shooed both away. "I don't want to see either of you until you are clean. And don't let your mom see you, Diego."

Ford was about to complain about how his mother couldn't order him around. He was a GROWN man with his own kids, but recognized it was important to give Diego a good example so he just deadpanned at Kari's smug grin and went to a bathroom.

When Stan was back home, he found his brother and son surrounded by papers covered in calculations and diagrams. "Nooo! Don't tell me you got Diego into that board game too?!"

"Well, seeing how much it annoys you, I might as well learn it." Diego grinned.

"You already played DD&MD when you were younger." Ford reminded him. ("Yeah, but I didn't know how to actually play for real.")

Stan moaned and Carla laughed as she came out to meet him. "Someone's jealous~" She whispered.

"Pfft." Stan waved a hand. "Of course not. Mah kids love me!"

"Uncle Ford is cooler than you~" Diego sang.

Ford smiled into his calculations as he heard his brother fume. "Ah, don't worry, Stanley~ I'm just teaching him how to calculate coordinations."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Stan rolled his eyes. "Least Diego doesn't have a twin you can steal him from." He saluted at them, half annoyed, and left to find something to eat.

Ford glared. Ouch.

"Pffth, if I had a twin, at least I'd have someone to play with." Diego muttered. "Or a younger sibling… instead I have Dillon. "

"He's not that bad?" Ford said slowly.

"You don't have a much older brother who likes to boss you around, so you don't get to talk." Diego rolled his eyes. "In fact, you were the bossy older brother according to Uncle Shermie!"

"Hey!" Ford complained. Diego laughed when Ford poked his belly.

The 2 nerds calmed down eventually and kept working. Diego looked up at his uncle. "Uncle Ford…do you have your notes about your adventures in space with Dad?"

"Oh, unfortunately I got rid of my old journals where I wrote some of them down, but uh, is there anything in particular you want to know?"

"Do you think I could become a space explorer too?" The boy asked innocently. "How did you even go to space in the first place?"

Ford stared blankly into the distance for a while. The memory of being flung into the unknown, never knowing if they would end up somewhere safe, or if they would have to run for their lives the moment they touched down…

"Portal accident. Too dangerous to make portals that go off the planet." Ford shook his head.

Diego thought about it, playing with his hands. "Maybe when I'm older I could… I will also be a fully trained witch. That could help."

Ford smiled despite himself. "Hey, who knows? You're a very capable boy, son. Maybe you will! Y'know-" Ford looked around to make sure no one was around. "When I was around your age, your dad, Sebastian and I found our very own cryptid~"

"Woww!"

"And tomorrow you'll find your own." Ford petted his curls. Diego giggled excitedly and snuggled against his arm. "Uncle Ford."

"Yes?"

"...You're my favorite uncle…" He whispered. "But don't tell uncle Seb."

Ford felt a warmth in his chest. Oh… "Thanks…"

The two managed to figure out multiple different teleport locations to try tomorrow, having calculated multiple intersections within the sewers that they could pop to depending on where the source of Weirdness might go.

"Diego, Ford~ Time to sleep~" Carla grinned. Kari grabbed Ford's hand to drag him to her apartment. "Maaaaa~" Ford whined.

Carla picked Diego up, who had fallen asleep. "You can play tomorrow."

The octuplets facetimed their dad and granny for a while before they all went to sleep.

-.-

"Day two of our investigation. We believe that the monster, or monsters we are searching for, move from the lake to the sewers." Diego narrated into his phone's voice recording. "We have come prepared to catch them!"

Diego skipped along merrily beside Ford, shining his flashlight along the walls of the sewer. They had found a lot of rats and cockroaches so far. He was hoping they could find an alligator. That would be cool. "Mommy made us snacks because Dad didn't like us spending 38 dollars yesterday." Diego added and Ford snorted. He would give it back...eventually.

Ford pointed at the water, hoping to see any movement. There were a few rats swimming around but it was otherwise unremarkable.

"Ew~" Diego wrinkled his nose at the rats. "How long until we find a monster?" he pulled out one of his snack bars.

"Science requires observation and patience, we will have to keep trying to-" Ford was cut off when the scanner started beeping rapidly.

"Did we-?!" Diego started, but he was quickly shushed by his uncle. Ford put his phone away and pulled out a gun (a real one, though not one created by humans). "Shush...Diego, walk behind me, point the flashlight…" He ordered in a whisper.

Diego huddled behind Ford, dropping his snack bar in his rush to do so. Ford pointed around, searching for any movement. The water beside them surged and a large slimy appendage surged out and grabbed the food before pulling back into the water just as quickly. Ford twitched but it was there and gone too fast for him to actually shoot.

"What was that?" Diego gasped. Ford looked down. "There weren't claws, seemed more like a longfin or flipper. Surprisingly dexterous and incredibly fast." He shivered. If that thing had grabbed Diego instead of his food…

"Ok, maybe we should leave already." He couldn't put his nephew in danger. Diego pouted at him before his eyes lit up. He searched into his backpack and pulled out another snack. He always got to pet doggies by offering them food. "Yah!" Diego threw the snack as far as he could and stood next to his uncle. "Let's get him out with snacks!"

Ford stared at him before looking at the water. He was more surprised by this kid every day… (Though this was also a dangerous thing to do.)

The water rippled before that large appendage came up again. It snatched the snack and disappeared into the water again. Ford frowned. Wait. What if they tried this…

"Diego, can you give me one of those snacks?" He asked. The child handed him another one and Ford pulled out his tranquilizers. His gun was loaded with them but it was too fast for him to shoot so what if he…

Ford placed one of his tranquilizers in the snack and tossed it over to the edge of the water.

Once again, the snack was taken and they waited in silence. Ford almost thought the tranquilizer didn't work, when the water bubbled and splashed. A body floated to the surface. He grinned. Yes! Now they could inspect the creature.

Diego tried to go up but Ford held him back. "Wait, we must still be cautious." He shone his flashlight but it blinked before dying. "Urgh, damn it!" Ford hit it against his palm, but he couldn't revive it.

Diego grinned and pulled out a bunch of papers. "Witch~" He touched it and light emanated from it. Ford gaped in awe.

"Let there be light~" He whispered and handed one to Ford before activating one for himself. Incredible. It worked better than a flashlight.

Ford moved the light along the creature and blinked in surprise. It was...a giant goldfish? The fins were much longer than they would normally be and appeared to have developed muscles to the point they were almost 'arm' like. It certainly could move those tendrils like it. Otherwise, it looked very much like a goldfish...except that it was the size of a pony. He was about to inspect it closer when his scanner whined with a high pitched sound and MASSIVE jaws rose out of the water to clamp down on the fish. Ford gasped.

Once the water settled into perfect stillness once more, Diego spoke up. "So there ARE alligators down here."

"And giant ones at that…" Ford looked down at the water where the goldfish had been dragged. The scientist pointed at the water with the scanner and it beeped softly.

"Oh! Oh! Uncle Ford! What if those animals were MUTATED?!" Diego gasped in realization. "Like the Mutated Adolescents Turtle Fighters?!"

Ford blinked. He'd heard those tall tales of pet fish and reptiles flushed down the toilet and ending up mutated in the sewers. Didn't think they were true. "I think you may be right, Diego." he paused. "But I highly doubt there would be actual intelligent beings down here. Mutant or not, intelligence is something quite different." He shook his head. "That cartoon is probably just a cartoon-"

He was cut off when there was a splash and the tranquilizer dart was thrown out of the water and rolled across the stone floor to stop beside Ford's boot. He stared down at it. "...or not." He said faintly.

"Should we run for our lives?" Diego asked innocently. Ford got his gun ready and motioned for him to start running. "Definitely." they backed off quickly when the water rippled.

The two started running towards the ladder, screaming as a loud roar came behind them. "Aah! It's getting closer!" "Quick! Run!" Neither of them dared to look back as the wet sounds of steps and the growls got closer. Ford practically threw Diego up and the two climbed back to the surface.

The scientist caught sight of yellow-green eyes before slamming the metal lid shut. Uncle and nephew gasped for air. "That...That was close…"

"That was so cool!" Diego cheered.

Stan would kill him if he ever found out about this. Ford turned to Diego with a pleading look. "Let's not tell anyone what we found out today."

Diego pouted, but agreed. This was HIS discovery. He wasn't sharing. "So…are we done exploring for today? Isn't there anything we can do?" Ford nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't want to come back here without my supplies-" and armor. And back up.

Carla sent Aaron, the boy's driver, to pick them up from their little games. He also brought them clean clothes. A lifesaver.

On the ride back home, Ford noticed his nephew's sad look, and he ruffled his curls. "Hey. don't be sad. You did find new creatures in here!"

He showed him the new entry in his journal he had been writing.

Mutant Sewer creatures. Possibly intelligent. Will require further study.

Diego hugged his uncle. "Not as impressive as saving you from a robot though." He mumbled angrily. "You wouldn't ask me to be your apprentice like you did to Dipper when he was my age…"

Ford softened his look. Was this what it was all about? "Diego, do you mean you want to become my apprentice?"

Diego wiped his sneaky tears and nodded, ashamed. Ford smiled a bit. "Oh, buddy. Look, I'm very honored you believe there's stuff I can teach you."

"And aunt Yun. I'd train to be a witch faster! I'm not gonna say no like Dipper did!"

"But I was wrong to offer your cousin that. He needed to grow up, live his childhood and become a man to follow his own dreams. And so do you."

"But I could be so much better than him! I-I thought I could prove it …"

Ford chuckled. "Diego, you are one of the most intelligent kids I know."

"Better than Dipper?"

"You don't have to compare yourself with your family. You're both intelligent in different ways." Ford sighed. Would his kids start to compare themselves with each other when they were older? For Tesla's sake, he hoped they didn't.

"But…not fair."

Ford raised an eyebrow. "What isn't?"

"I do wanna become your apprentice." He grumbled.

Ford chuckled, ruffling his hair. "Well, right now I'm not hiring 12 year old apprentices, but if you still like it when you're older, you could apply for an internship in college."

"...What if you're too old by then?"

"Hey."

Diego laughed. "Fine. You'll hear from me again! In college!" He held out his hand.

"Can't wait to have you then." Ford, amused, shook Diego's tinys hand. The rest of the way back, the kid slept on his shoulder.

Ford deadpanned as he carried the asleep boy home and Stan grumbled and snatched Diego away. "Mine." (Ford hoped Diego didn't mention the future internship, Stan would be pissed.)

-.-

The scientist took a well deserved shower and joined his mother for movie night. Just to keep her company. He technically could teleport back home… but he didn't see his mother much and he should .

The two got enraptured by the movie, even though it was one of those cheesy ones Seb (and secretly, Stan) loved. The two ate brownies for dinner and a bucket of ice cream each. After a while, Kari offered him beer ("Ma~!" Ford laughed in surprise.)

"What? I'm old as fuck, Stanford. I can drink whenever I want." She declared as she gulped down the bottle that she made her son open. The two mindlessly watched what was on TV as the woman slowly made her way to lay against her son's arm. "Hm…" She sighed melancholically.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just love you so much."

"Pft."

Kari smacked her arm-pillow. "I'm being serious. I'm being serious and yer laughing." She scoffed before caressing the arm again. "You are my son, Stanford. My first baby."

"By 15 minutes…"

"It felt like an eternity." She nodded sagely. "When I finally saw you and held you, so tiny and crying like you didn't need to breathe, heh, it was the greatest moment of my life…" She smiled. "Heh, probably gave me the strength to go at it 2 more times, see."

Ford snorted even louder at that, ignoring how his eyes got a bit wet. "Not that you expected it."

"Not really… But until Stan was born, I guess you felt lonely, you wouldn't stop screeching and making it everyone's problem, so I had to do something about it."

Ford groaned, embarrassed at his newborn self. "Don't tell Stanley that. He'll think he's important." He joked, and Kari laughed loudly before calming down again.

Kari let out a long sigh. "I seriously don't know how you three ended up so well… I really don't know… I wasn't a good mom to you… You got all your trophies and shiny medals but I couldn't pay attention to all three of you like you deserved… Seb needed more time but you… you and Lee also needed me, and then- the baby came and you became an older brother to 3 crazy kids…" She wiped her eyes softly. "You're doing such a better job with the octuplets than-than I did with just four…"

"You were alone ." Ford reminded her, taking her thin manicured hand into his huge ones. A hand that once held his when it was half its size. "You did your best with what you could, and none of us blame you."

"Maybe you should blame me a little." Kari grumbled. The boys saw her as a perfect mom, and she wasn't…

"Well, I don't see why. You were our only present parental figure, you did everything you could with what you had at the time."

"Stanford, let me mope, please."

"...Alright."

Kari sighed, gently tracing Ford's fingers, gently massaging over every healed scar. "I was not able to deal with you three."

"Well, we were indeed very reckless children." Ford conceded. "We got in trouble more often than not."

Kari huffed. "Yeah. You did. Even you. Everyone used to say 'oh, Stanford is so well behaved'. Yeah, right. See him obeying me to wear sunscreen or to take a bath, or stop pulling tricks on his baby brother or stealing pies with his brothers!" She poked his side. Ford shrugged with a little smile.

"When you got lost though, I thought I had lost you forever. I hadn't felt that scared since I couldn't find Seb at the beach."

"I got lost? When? You mean in space?"

"Don't you remember? I took you three to the local markets, I was still pregnant with Shermie and you were suddenly gone!" She pointed an accusing finger to him.

Ford rubbed his chin in thought.

He tried very hard to think about that, he got lost as a kid? It felt like it would have been something he remembered…

It was a particularly chaotic day. Kari knew it would be from the moment she woke up with Sherman's hard, restless kicks inside her belly.

She groaned, rubbing her swollen belly. Her body was aching particularly bad today, the joys of her last month of pregnancy, and the three 9 year old boys' screams outside weren't particularly helpful.

Once she got there, she found them arguing over cereal, and Seb was crying because the Stans got the last servings of the one he liked.

"You arrived late!" Stan hugged his bowl as his triplet tried to snatch it.

Seb sobbed and it broke Kari's heart a little. "I-I get late because I'm in the attic… And pulling the door is hard..."

That broke it a little more.

Kari stroked her soon-to-not-be youngest's wet cheeks. "We'll get more cereal later, I'll make you something else for now."

Seb usually had his head somewhere else, but he was stubborn with things he wanted.

He pestered Kari all morning for his cereal until she finally cried out irritatedly (he flinched away) and told him to get his brothers. Guess she'll take them grocery shopping for a few stuff. All of them, because she couldn't trust Filbrick to watch them...

Besides, they wouldn't want to stay anyway. It was summer vacation and they liked to go out.

She did storm to the pawnshop (or more like wobbled with her huge belly) and extended her hand. Money. Now. Filbrick didn't put up a fuss today. She snatched the bills and the triplets rushed after her.

It should be easy...

-.-

It was not easy.

The 9 year olds began complaining almost immediately about the sun ("I told you to bring hats.") and how much their feet hurt.

"YOUR feet hurt?" Kari looked back at them annoyed. "Try walking carrying around 6 pounds in your belly with swollen ankles! Shut up."

Seb frowned "Dumb baby." as his brothers stuck their tongue out ""Yucky.""

They got to the long street full of stores and stands.

They were near the park the triplets sometimes played in.

She got food, annoyed with the long waits and lines as the kids looked around.

"Mama?" Seb pointed at a store selling his favorite Doritos and pouted. Kari rolled her eyes. "Ok. Just one though." She handed him some coins and ruffled his fluffy curls. She had a soft side for him, sue her!

Stan came over as well begging for toys.

"ONE."

"What if I get 2 and I share one?" He negotiated.

"What if you get nothing?" She wiped off her sweat and groaned as he began whining. "Fineeee~"

"What do you say?"

"...Please..." Stan begged her. Kari finally relented and passed him a few bills. He ran away with the money and a, "Thanks mom!"

She absently thought that now the boys will need a bath. Ugh. Why did they sweat so much?!

Why were there so many people today?! She seriously wasn't in the mood for this!

Shermie accentuated her discomfort, wiggling and kicking.

She finished getting the bags and handed some over to Seb and Stan. "Let's go, Ma! The ice cream's melting!" Stan shoved the bucket of ice cream into his bag

"Where did you get that?!" Kari scolded.

"Me and Stan used the spare money we both had and got ice cream for everyone!" Seb cheered, swinging his assigned bag everywhere carelessly and almost hitting a couple people. He made sure his cereal was in there. Kari didn't want to argue and just began walking. Fine. If that kept them from fighting and angering their father...

They were out of the busy store street, Kari scolding Seb for the third time for swinging and hitting the groceries around as he jumped and skipped

"Urgh, just, give it to me!" Kari snapped, "If you're just going to hit it on everything."

"N-No! I help!" Seb hugged the bag and shrieked.

"Then DON'T hit it!" She raised a hand, Seb flinched in fear of getting hit, looking down.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I'll be good."

Stan was concentrating on watching his bucket of ice cream, thinking that if he stared at it, it'd take longer to melt.

Kari took a deep breath, hand on her belly and was about to keep walking when Seb chirped behind her. "Mama… Where's Ford?"

She swung her neck so fast. Indeed. Only two chubby and curly brown haired kids staring back at her. Stan looked up from his ice cream wide eyed.

Her heart dropped to her stomach, so low probably Shermie could kick it.

"STANFORD!"

Ford left her side to check out a stationary store and ask for the price for new notebooks where he could draw in. He meant to just look and return to the group fast. However, he got distracted with all the cool markers and books that they had. He wished he could get everything! He could draw so much! And then, he got particularly distracted when he saw a frame with a weird butterfly, one half was male, the other half was female. An anomaly!

"Hey kid, where's your mom?"

Ford gasped, looking around. He rushed out of the store and started running up and down the street, trying to find his family.

He whimpered when he couldn't find his mom or his brothers. He was so scared. He sat down on the corner of the street and tried to think of what to do. But he was only nine, and he was so scared.

"Hey kid, are you lost?" A woman's voice called out gently. Ford sniffled and hid his hands.

"Hey, it's ok. I'll stay with you until we find your family, ok?"

Ford glanced up to see a lady with bright red hair. It was super pretty.

She smiled at the kid. "Hi, what's your mom look like?"

"U-um... she's got long black hair, tied up. She's pregnant, so her belly is big."

The woman nodded, ok, that's actually pretty helpful. Pregnant woman would be easy to spot.

Ford hiccuped and curled up some more.

"Don't worry, honey, let's wait here together. I'm sure your mom is looking for you."

Ford sniffled and sat there while the lady chatted, standing and looking around, since she was taller than him and could see around

"There's a lot of people today, huh? Is it usually like this? I'm not from here."

"No… There's a lot of people today..." He looked around. "I shouldn't have walked away… I just wanted a new notebook." He choked down a sob.

The ginger lady petted his curls. "Hey. It happened. Now we just wait for her to come back. If you get lost, it's better to stay where you are instead of wandering around..." she glanced around. "Hey, let's go get you that notebook, do you want that?"

They were just outside the stationery store. Ford sniffled and considered it. He nodded. The woman went inside while Ford stayed on the corner, wondering if he should go in or not.

"Ok, you stay by the door to see if your mom walks by." The red head instructed him. "Which notebook did you want?" ("Um… the one w-with the stars.")

"What are you doing with him?" the cashier asked her.

"Oh… He can't find his mom, I'm staying with him until she appears."

The seller shook his head. "I told the boy to go back before he was left behind… he and his brothers are known troublemakers."

She pouted and left the store with her purchase. Soon, both were back to hanging out in the corner, waiting. But the curly haired boy was now hugging his gift and much more calm than before.

Ford glanced up at the lady, "What do you work in? My dad has a pawnshop."

"Oh~ Well~ I'm sort of a scientist myself~" she grinned.

"Woah! Really?! So you know all about science? In the store, there was a butterfly with two different shaped wings. Why is that?"

The woman hummed. "Might be a mutation. A pretty crazy one… like red hair~ That's also a mutation." She flickered her high ponytail and Ford giggled.

"Is BigFoot real?" The little boy asked next.

"Probably, and he's hiding because he doesn't wanna pay taxes." She rolled her eyes.

Ford laughed louder, kicking his feet.

"You're funny," Ford giggled. "Look, I have a loose tooth!" He pointed at his open mouth and wiggled the little baby tooth with his tongue. "I read that they fall so we get adult teeth that are stronger."

The blue-eyed woman nodded "And that's very right! Good job~ will you put it down for the tooth fairy?"

"Uh huh! My brothers and I keep trying to capture her!"

She laughed. "Well, she's very sneaky. She'll wait until you are completely asleep."

Ford hummed. "Then we won't sleep!"

"But then she won't come~"

Ford noticed the woman turning around, as if she caught something. She noticed a glimpse of a woman screaming a name and… She was pregnant!

She stood up and waved her hands to call her attention.

Kari was looking around wildly. Stanford was so small, there's no way she could spot him in this crowd! Then she heard a woman's voice call, "Ma'am, are you looking for your son?"

And she turned to see a red haired woman with her arms raised, waving to be seen.

There it was, her baby boy! (He didn't look scared anymore, clearly was more comfortable with this lady after the gift.)

Kari's soul came back to her body at the voice and she rushed towards it, holding Seb and Stan's hands as she did.

Ford looked up, realizing who was coming towards them and he gasped. "Mommy!" He sobbed and rushed towards her, just to throw himself against her legs and burrow his head in her round belly. Tears he's been holding were finally shed. "I could-I couldn't find you!"

Kari painfully crouched to hug her oldest and kissed his round cheeks over and over. "Where did you go?!" She scolded, the adrenaline still in her body.

"Yeah! You disappeared!" Stan complained. He had given up and opened the bucket of icecream to eat it now or it'll be soup once they get home.

The lady smiled, and made to walk away, but the woman gasped at her, "Thank you!" She blinked, "Oh, you're very welcome. You must have been so worried and I couldn't leave him alone." She stared though, three boys, identical triplets?! And another baby on the way. Oof.

The red head stared. One of the kids was eating a bucket of ice cream and the other was facing backwards but jumping and whining for his turn to get a spoonful. She cooed when the taller one scooped a lot of ice cream into the spoon and fed his brother. That was probably the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Ford was still clinging to his mom, holding his new notebook in one hand. "Where did you take that?" Kari frowned, knowing none of her kids had problems taking stuff without paying (especially Lee).

The woman waved a hand. "Oh, don't worry, I got him that. It's a gift."

Ford nodded. "She bought it when she waited with me, she's nice! And she's a real scientist!"

Kari nudged. "And you thanked her?" She deadpanned.

Ford blinked. "Thank you for the gift, Miss."

Kari took a wobbly step, incredibly tired now that her adrenaline was fading. "Are-Are you sure? I can pay you for-"

"It's fine~ Really" She just looked at Ford. "Just promise me you'll draw a lot in it, ok?"

"I will!"

Kari smiled, exhausted from walking everywhere. Her restless fetus kicked hard so she wouldn't forget her day wasn't over.

"Oof."

Kari smiled when she caught the lady staring at her belly.

"Do you wanna feel? He's been insufferable all day." Kari offered, noticing her smile.

She nodded excitedly and gently placed a hand on her round belly and immediately felt the kicks.

"We'll have a new baby brother" Ford told the ginger. "He'll be born next month!"

Kari smiled, ignoring Stan and Seb pulling at her to leave.

"I'm sure you'll be a great big brother." The red head chuckled.

"Are-Are you new in town? I haven't seen you around." Kari smiled at her.

She made a so-so gesture. "I'm actually listening to a few classes in Princeton College..."

"Oh wow~" Kari nodded.

"What's that?" Ford asked.

"That's a college, so I can learn more about science."

Kari pulled Ford closer to herself. "Do you wanna go to college when you grow up?" The ginger asked.

The child seemed to consider it. "No, I'll hunt ghosts with my brothers!" He shrugged (the movie they watched felt like a good plan for the future), and ran towards them to get some ice cream too.

Kari and the lady just had a good laugh at that.

"Thank you so, so much for staying with him..."

"It really was no problem, I'm glad I could help." she picked up her own bag with groceries.

Kari rubbed her belly. "My name's Caryn, if you ever need anything, come to the pawnshop in Lead Paint district, we'll be happy to have you."

"-Ok I get it! Let's go!" Stan complained, pushing and pulling his mom so they could get home. Kari made sure the 3 were in front of her before walking.

The lady smiled and waved softly when the little curly boy waved back one last time. "...I probably won't see you again, though." She said almost sadly, glancing down at her watch before walking off and disappearing into the crowd.

Kari blinked slowly as she and Ford talked about that day.

"Oh right, I remember now. I got an awesome notebook." Ford rubbed his neck, "She was very nice. I wish we'd at least gotten her name."

"Eh. Well, I'm sure she was happy to have helped." Kari's eyes slowly widened as she realized– because she never forgot a face. She KNEW it! And then she let out a chuckle. Oh. Oh my~ she glanced at her son, he just wouldn't have a normal life, would he?

Well, she wasn't going to say anything. She just snuggled her son. "You were so adorable~You filled every page of that."

"It was a good notebook." Ford nodded in agreement. He pulled out his blue journal and the two went back to watching Tv, enjoying each other's company. He didn't think much more of this. Though he knew he still had that notebook, stored away with all his others.

---

hope you enjoy it :)