Vince was still fast asleep the next morning as it was time to get ready for school, feeling cozy underneath a blanket that wasn't previously there. That is… until Marigold came over and started licking his face. Vince started to giggle as he recognized that feeling from when he was a kid. Archie used to lick him awake every morning.

"Archie, that tickles!" Vince laughed.

"Actually, I'm Marigold." said the pegasus.

Vince was a little more awake this time.

"Good morning, Vince."

"Morning." Vince yawned and saw up, noticing a knitted blanket he didn't remember having last night. "Where'd this come from?"

"Hmm… Master Luminara has been taking knitting with some of the other Jedi. It's become a popular hobby around here. She must have thought you looked cold."

Vince couldn't help finding it nice that a Jedi would do something so nice for him. It'd been a long time since he'd met anyone showing him any kind of motherly affection. His mom was dead, his stepmother treated him horribly, and his grandmother and aunts wouldn't speak to his father since he married Tatiana. In other words, his father being away most of the time and growing apart from his son combined with the lack of a motherly figure was not helpful to Vince's emotional state all these years. He was less than two years from graduating high school, which wasn't a lot of time to pull himself together if he wanted to head off to college, find a girlfriend, or get his dream job.

"What is it?" asked Marigold, amid Vince's silence.

"The last time someone did anything like that… was when my mom was alive. A lot of days, I can't help feeling like it's my fault she's gone. I could've done something. I mean, how hard is it to turn a wheel? I literally did that for a video game a million times!"

"Vince, it was a terrible accident. I wasn't there, but you didn't do anything to cause it. Storms happen. But… thinking about it. You mentioned the captain was unconscious. Did you ever get a sense of how that happened?"

"No. Remember, I was only six at the time. Maybe she was drinking on the job, passed out from exhaustion, fainted from the sight of the storm. I don't know. I'm not even sure if she made it out alive."

"Vince, time for breakfast." Luminara called from the other room.

"Coming." Vince answered.

Marigold started to think there was more to what happened the day Mrs. Hall died than even Vince knew. She decided to send out a message to Gabby; after hearing how she helped clear Comedia's name when she was framed for prank-related crimes, and how she loved a good mystery, it seemed only fitting to invite her to investigate a potential new case.

"Don't forget your lunch, Vince." Luminara said, giving Vince his lunch bag.

"Thanks, Master Luminara." Vince said. And then he walked into school.

"Check it out. Vince got himself a new mommy." one of the kids teased.

Vince rolled his eyes. Master Luminara was a nice woman, but no one would ever replace Vince's mom. With a sigh, he decided to walk into school and go about his day.

Prom season was also coming up soon, and Vince was already seeing guys asking girls to be their dates. Not surprisingly, none of the girls seemed interested in going with him even if he did ask them. It was just as well though; he felt sure he wasn't going to prom anyway.

In biology class, Vince saw Boba working on something in his notebook.

"What's that?" Vince asked.

"Something for Roya, my girlfriend. And yes, I settled for one girl I love."

Vince sighed; he didn't need to be reminded of when he first met Boba. He felt really stupid at that moment.

"Yeah, the old me was such a pig. And the guys I used to hang with weren't any better." Vince said. "No wonder so many girls look down on men these days."

"Hey, you're working to change. That's a start. It took a while for me to adjust and gain anyone's trust when I first got adopted."

"Was it harder because a Jedi adopted you, and your dad died in a battle with Jedi?" Vince couldn't help asking, then flinched when Boba froze. "Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No it's okay. Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that question. Yeah, it was kinda awkward for me at first for a lot of reasons. But, after a while, I received counseling, then I made some new friends, and eventually I felt more at home. And, it kinda helped that I had a loving mother for the first time ever."

"You never knew your real mom?"

"I never had one to begin with. I was the first clone, born out of a tube. My birth dad told me when he was hired to be cloned, he only agreed if he got one unmodified clone for himself. And then he got me. Only thing is, I'm only an exact replica outside, not in."

Vince was confused.

"What about your twin sister? She is a girl, right?"

"Omega was born pretty much the same way as me. Except, they modified her gender. I don't know why, or how Dad didn't seem to know she even existed, but I'm just glad now we're both safe from becoming science experiments. Even if the Kaminoans didn't have deranged plans to use me as a lab rat, my birth dad had expectations for me growing up. I was probably gonna be a bounty hunter, but now I'm figuring out what I really wanna do with my life."

"So, what's your girl like?"

Boba never hesitated to talk about how wonderful Roya was. She didn't need to be half-genie to make his wish come true, especially on his thirteenth birthday when she gave Boba something he'd wished for since their first date: their first kiss.

"Fitting that she's a princess too, I guess." Vince said.

"It's more than that. Believe it or not, even after my family learned they were royalty and I became one too, the hard part was winning over Roya's family. It's not exactly easy to win over your girlfriend's family when you're a former bounty hunter. And I thought getting the girl herself was hard. Our first date, I fell in a pond."

Vince chuckled and said, "At least you can swim."

"And that was before I had powers. But it did make Roya laugh."

"So you really didn't have some magic mutation that gave you powers before?"

"Nope. Unlike other members of my family, Omega and I earned them. Even my family's private teacher Garrett hasn't seen a lot of cases like that."

As for the thing Boba was working on, there was going to be a big dance at the Jedi Temple, and Boba was going to ask Roya to be his date, so he was writing a love letter and doodling little lotus flowers on the paper. The Jedi younglings all were really excited about the dance. It was a special thing for Jedi of all ages. And since Boba was in a family of Jedi, he got to go too.

"I didn't know Jedi had dances." Vince said.

"They didn't before. But since my sister led to there being changes in the Temple, they've taken to a few customs civilians do, you know, to get a better sense of who they keep the peace for. Building empathy, pretty much. And so the younglings can have the chance to, well, be kids. For some of them, starting families even helped them become better people too."

"What are the dances like?"

"Like regular school dances, I guess. Except we have music-corns and other magical doings. You should've seen the circus themed dance last summer. Garrett's old friends from the circus came to visit, but then there was a whole Hocus Chaos clavatization that destroyed the original decor. Luckily, we were able to move it to the ballroom at my house, and it turned out even better than planned. Garrett and Mariposa put on a big magic show and everything. This dance's theme is fairy tale themed. Gabby just loves her fairytales."

"She picked the theme?"

"Yeah. Everyone writes their idea for themes on a card, and then we vote on the first three that are pulled out. I wanted to do a Stranger Things theme, but the grownups thought it would scare the little ones. Then I suggested why not do separate dances for different age groups sometimes? As much as I love my sister, I'm kinda limited in what I can do with her because of our age difference."

"Tell me about it. I can never watch Stranger Things with Jacob around."

"You like that show too?"

"Who doesn't? Except Dad is always saying-"

"It'll give us nightmares." both boys said together.

Wow. The two boys thought. Something these two had in common. They both had a younger sibling, each of them lost a parent tragically, and they both like Stranger Things even though it gave them nightmares.

"Still, the fairy tale theme isn't too bad. I mean, they always end happily ever after. And it's a great theme to show a girl a romantic time."

Vince thought of something then.

"Boba, what do you know about girls? Seeing as you have a lot of them in your house."

"Well, I can tell you it's not easy. I may live in a palace, but I have three sisters, two girl cousins, two aunts, ten girl ponies, and my teacher has two daughters. It's a constant battle of curling irons, makeup, glitter, hairbrushes, and dolls. Well, except when I'm around Maybelle or Buttercup. That's where it's a battle of lassoes and sports equipment."

"What about girls who don't live with you? How would you… hypothetically talk to a girl who kinda hates your guts, but you wanna show her you changed?"

Boba had a feeling he knew where this was going.

At lunch later, Omega practically squealed when Boba told her that Vince liked a girl and wanted to impress her. The only thing, they weren't sure who Vince's crush was.

"Who exactly are you crushing on?" Omega asked.

"I'd rather not say now." Vince shook his head.

"Fair enough. Well, what's she like? How long have you known her?"

"Since we were kids, actually. But, I didn't notice her much then. But then freshman year, I saw her, and… she was hot. Unfortunately, she saw me scaring off another girl, and when I tried to ask her out, I literally got dumped."

"How do you get dumped by someone who isn't even your girlfriend?" Boba asked.

"By getting tossed into the trash can." Vince said. "I smelled like old tuna for three days. Guess it served me right at the time, though. Still, as crazy as it sounds, the fact that she's tough is pretty attractive. Dad always said an admirable quality to find in a woman is a strong spirit."

"What else about this girl do you like?" Omega asked.

Vince thought and told the twins all the things he liked about his mystery girl. She was cool, she was beautiful, she was tough, and she was definitely determined. She was not afraid to speak her mind, and anytime someone messed with her, it was the last time they did. And she was talented in music and sports too, and he'd seen her interact with her little brother. Unlike his relationship with Jacob, Vince's crush and her little brother were close and always looking so happy together.

"My stepmom wouldn't even let me hold Jacob when he was a baby. She always did everything she could to keep him away, and told him to never play with me or be friends with me. She just had to ruin everything in my life."

"So, the girl you like is someone who's tough, talented, and has a little brother." Boba thought. "Gabby hasn't made me watch Blue's Clues with her for a while, but I don't need pawprints or a notebook to guess who it might be." Boba said.

Just then, Myra and Comedia came over to sit with their friends.

"Hey, everyone. Sorry we're late." Myra said. "Someone got her tail stuck in a locker."

"I told you, I didn't see that girl closing her locker behind me." Comedia said, amid the messed up curls at the end of her tail. "Good thing my dress covers my tail, 'cause it'll take forever to fix these before the dance."

"If Remix is smart, he'll love ya no matter how your rear looks." Myra rolled her eyes.

Vince, however, blushed when Myra looked at him, and he tried to just focus on his lunch.

"B.T.W. Vince, my dad actually said he'd like us to go to his shop later. I guess Strawberry's got another new recipe or something. Ever been to Force of Flavor?"

"Not yet, but I've heard it's trending."

"Well that danish you downed yesterday, it was actually from there. But that was just one of the leftover treats. You should taste them when they're fresh out of the oven."

Vince actually liked the sound of that. He thought maybe Myra was growing on him and she wanted him to go to the cafe with her like a hangout or something.

Myra left the table when she realized she forgot to grab some extra napkins, and that was when the others noticed Vince looking at Myra in a way he'd never looked at any girl before. The twins for sure had seen that look on quite a few faces. Anakin whenever he looked at Padme, Qui-gon with Shmi, Obi-Wan with Satine, Mace with Brenda, Tech with Mila, Carmine with Caroline and vice-versa. In other words, the look of being in love.

"No way!" Comedia said. "Vince, are you crushing on-?"

"Shh!" Vince held Comedia's muzzle. "Why don't you let the whole galaxy know while you're at it?"

"Sorry. I just never expected you'd be interested in Myra of all people."

"Let me guess, you thought I'd go for a cheerleader? This isn't one of those high school movies, Princess."

"No. I just thought you were afraid of her like all the football players are. Honestly, she scares me a bit, and she's my best friend."

The twins had to agree. They loved Myra, but she scared them sometimes. She was Mace Windu's daughter alright. But, her friends knew she was a great girl. And they could also believe Myra would be the one to have tossed Vince into the trash can to teach him a lesson. She did the same thing when one of the teenage Jedi started playing Keep Away with Kade's kangaroo.

"Girl's got a temper." Vince said. "But I gotta admit, her fiery spirit just makes her that more attractive. Except, she'd never go for me. Not after the bad rap I got myself in."

"You don't know that. Believe it or not, before Remix and I got together, I hated his guts for a while because he stole some of my pranks to use on his sister. It took a long time for me to gain anyone's trust after my declavatization, and the way he did the pranks nearly set me back. Plus, the one he used took me forever to perfect. But, now we're practically inseparable."

"How'd he get you to be his girl after that?"

"Hard to say. But, my best guess, he showed me a better side to him, and then he showed me some of his real talents. In other words, he just had to be himself. A lot of girls think they need to find a prince or rich guy, but what I've grown to learn is that when it comes to finding your perfect match, it's what's inside the heart and soul that counts."

"You've been reading a lot of poetry, haven't you?" Boba said.

"That, and your grandpa told Remix that when he thought he needed to be more prince-like since he was dating a royal."

Boba definitely believed that. Qui-Gon was very wise, and getting to finally be with the woman he loved somehow added to that wisdom.

Vince still felt unsure, but maybe he could ask Myra if she would be his date to the Jedi dance. The only question was how would he convince her to give him a chance. And an even bigger question, how would he do it when her father was packing a lightsaber and powerful Force abilities?

After school, Round n' Round and Marigold came to collect Myra and Vince and take them to Force of Flavor Cafe. Vince was hesitant to get on Marigold's saddle.

"Okay… I think I remember how to do this." Vince said.

"Vince? Have you ever ridden before?" Myra asked, getting on her horse.

"I've ridden before…. When I was a kid." Vince got on the saddle; that was easy enough. "But, how hard can it be to ride?"

Moments later….

"Very hard!" Vince practically screamed as Marigold ran really fast. "Slow down! Marigold, slow down! Whoa!"

Marigold practically screeched to a stop, and Vince fell off. Luckily, Marigold used her wing to soften the landing.

"Well, that could've been worse." Marigold said. "Riding lessons goes on the To-do list as of now."

"Agreed." Vince said, Myra offering her hand.

Vince froze a little when he felt Myra's hand in his, and he felt like he might fall down again as he stood up all the way. He looked at Myra for a bit.

"What?" Myra said.

"Nothing. Uh… thanks for the lift."

Round 'n Round caught a whiff of the air and liked the scent.

"Mmm. We came at a good time. I smell lemon cake coming out of the oven." she said.

So, the two horses and the human teens entered the cafe, where they were greeted by Strawberry Sundae as she was just finishing helping a customer.

"Myra, good to see you again." Strawberry said. "And I see you brought a friend."

"You haven't met personally." Myra said. "Vince, Strawberry Sundae. Strawberry, Vince."

"I thought your horse said there was lemon cake baking." Vince said. "I smell strawberries."

"Actually, that's me." Strawberry said. "I'm a Pega-scents pony. So, that's why I naturally smell of strawberries, which is how I got my name."

"That explains why I also smelled strawberries in a few of the Temple's halls." Vince said. "I just thought Jedi must really like strawberries or something."

"Well, we didn't bring you here for the scents." Mace said.

Vince looked to a table to see Myra's father there, but he wasn't alone.

"Dad?!" Vince gasped.

"Vince-" Mr. Hall began.

"What else are you gonna say? Tatiana's an angel and I should start calling her Mom? I've made it clear that's not gonna happen! Not that you'll listen, but that woman has been a gold digging bitch from the start, and she would've sold her own mother to con you out of everything."

"I know."

"And another thing, wait… what?"

Now Vince was silent and perplexed. That was one response to his dislike for his stepmother he did not expect to hear. Vince and Myra's fathers had them sit down to talk over some cocoa and lemon cake. Mr. Hall told Vince that all through the time he'd been missing, and in the recent time since Vince had been staying at the Temple, Mr. Hall had gotten to finally see Tatiana's true colors, and finally had enough of Derek's troublemaking and freeloading. For years, he thought if he kept pushing, Derek would turn a new leaf and be more responsible, but he never did. He only spent all his time getting drunk, forgetting to pick his brothers up from school, and leaving Vince to do all his chores. So, for once, Mr. Hall made a smart decision and kicked both his wife and first born out of the house and was filing for divorce from Tatiana, and she was getting nothing.

"Really? You actually filed for divorce?"

"I did. And that's not all. Sadly, not all the news you're hearing will be good news."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I went to the doctor recently and-"

"Are you sick?"

"No! No, I'm fine. Physically. Vince, do you remember when you were eight and you told me about an… incident while I was away that I didn't believe you about?"

"How could I forget?" Vince shuddered. "I was not old enough to walk in on that. I needed serious counseling, but I had to settle for lying awake all night for a week."

"What incident?" Myra asked.

"Let's just say I walked in on my brother teaching me where babies come from way too early!"

Myra grimaced in disgust; now she really felt bad for him.

"It turns out, I've been infertile since the yacht accident, which was ten years ago."

"But, Jacob's only seven now. Which means…"

"Turns out, I'm not the father. Derek is."

Vince's jaw dropped at that, and so did pretty much everyone else's. No one knew what possessed Tatiana to even get that close to Mr. Hall and make him think the baby was his, assuming she even knew Derek was the father.

"Just when I thought I couldn't hear anything worse. Turns out my little brother is actually my nephew!" Vince facepalmed. "Does Jacob know about this?"

"No. He doesn't. And for now, it might be best to stay that way until he's a little bit older. He may technically be your nephew, but I imagine you still see him as your little brother. Don't you?"

Vince thought, and realized it was true. He'd only ever known Jacob as his little brother, and despite the revelation, he couldn't see him as anything else.

"I talked to CPS earlier today. They said it's clear for both you and for Jacob to come home. But… Vince, I know you've been angry with me lately, and I realized I can't blame you. I should've listened a long time ago. You were right. I haven't been around as much since your mother died. When she died, I died too. I should've been more present and just done my job as your father, and I should've realized that not being around more when she wasn't anymore would only hurt you more, and… my Lydia would never be able to rest in peace."

Vince couldn't believe all the things his father was saying. It was nice to hear him admit to his mistakes, and it was clear he was still grieving for his true love. Well, some anyway. But, Vince had some stuff on his mind too.

"Vince, didn't you also have some things to tell your dad?" Myra said.

Vince was hesitant, but he decided to say something.

"It wasn't just your absence that upset me." Vince said. "I hated all the things you made me do. I don't like playing football, I hated that you kept setting me up with random girls who didn't even like me, and I don't even want to take over the record company! I know those things helped you become successful, Dad, but I'm not you, and they're not what I wanna do with my life. I know you also don't want me to turn into Derek, but the path you took almost did, and it might have if I hadn't had some… new friends to help me out when I thought I was in too deep. Turns out I just hadn't met anyone brave enough to dive in yet."

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I did! A million times! You didn't wanna hear it." Vince said. "I didn't mind it at first, but then it became a PTSD trigger. Getting tackled reminded me of all the times Derek beat me, and the padding can only protect me from so much."

"But you're so good at it."

"Just because I was captain doesn't mean I liked it. I wanted to try out for other sports when I was a kid, but you insisted I do football. The only other sport you let me do was ballet, and only to help me in football."

"I didn't know you took ballet." Myra giggled.

Vince turned red as a tomato when he realized he admitted that.

"Did I really just say that out loud… in front of a girl?"

"Yeah, you did. No biggie. I won't tell."

"Anyway… Dad, didn't you ever wonder why I chose to get a job at the animal shelter of all things?"

"Didn't you tell me it was the only place that hired you?"

"Yes, but that wasn't true."

Truth be told, when Vince decided to get a part time job, he'd applied to a lot of places. Bookstores, restaurants, and many other pet stores. All of them accepted him because he did well in school and was physically strong too. But, he chose to work at the shelter for a very special reason he always wanted to tell his father about.

"I chose to work at the shelter because the head vet there writes letters of recommendation for high school students applying to veterinary school."

That surprised Mr. Hall. A lot of parents dreamed of their kids growing up to be doctors, only for them to want to pursue careers in music or art. But in this case, it was reversed.

"I want to be a vet like Mom was, and help her dream come true of helping less privileged families care for their animals like I used to care for Archie."

Mr. Hall remembered all too well that day he gave away his late wife Lydia's dog Archie. He recalled how Vince was always so happy playing with the dalmatian as a little boy. But when he learned Tatiana was pregnant and he was the father (or so he thought), and decided to marry her, only for her to inform him he was "allergic" to dogs (she just didn't like them), he would never forget how Vince cried and begged him not to give Archie away. Archie was one of the last things either of them had left of Lydia, and Vince would never forgive his father for throwing away his best friend for some floozy. That being seven years ago, it was much too late to undo that deed. Vince couldn't reclaim his furry friend, but that didn't mean he couldn't help others with theirs.

"I had no idea you felt that strongly." Mr. Hall sighed. "I'm so sorry, son. I can't bring Archie back, but I can try to make up for my mistakes. Come home, Vince. I promise things will be different, and we'll be a real family again."

Vince wasn't sure he was ready yet. Words were one thing, actions would be the thing to earn his trust.

"If I come home… can Marigold come live with us?" Vince said. "She's my new emotional support horse."

"Queen Reigna herself matched us." Marigold explained.

Mr. Hall had to think about it though.

"Do you even know how to take care of a horse?" Mr. Hall asked his son.

"I take care of lots of different animals at the shelter, big and small. Only difference between them and Marigold, they can't talk, and she's already housebroken."

"I'm accustomed to living indoors too." Marigold tossed back her mane.

"If your horse can stay, will you come home?"

"Are things really gonna be different?"

"Cross my heart."

"Will you let me choose my own extracurriculars, and my own girlfriend?"

"Yes. Go for any sport or extracurricular you like. And if marriage is something you want in the future, you can find a great woman on your own terms."

"I only hope she'll be willing to find me." Vince sighed.

Vince hugged his father for the first time in a long time, his father embracing him tightly. They hadn't felt a hug like this since Vince was little; it felt so wonderful, as this was now looking like the beginning of a father and son rekindling their relationship once lost.

So, Vince soon did return to his old room in his family's mansion. Mr. Hall cleared out Derek's stuff and made a special space for Marigold to sleep, like the stable the Skywalkers had in their old apartment. Mr. Hall was very happy to have his son back. And true to his word, he was going to be home more, and run his company over the phone and holo-chat so he could be at home and continue to raise Vince and Jacob.

Days went by, and Vince started to feel a little more comfortable at school. He also went back to work at the shelter.

For the first time in a long time, Vince actually felt happy. Except, he didn't know that Marigold and Gabby had been investigating another mystery Vince was not going to like the results of.