June 3rd, 2002

Nicola set the last of his things on his old bed with a huff. "Thanks for letting me move back in Dad."

Stan glanced over from the box of textbooks he was rifling through with a grin. "Not like I was using this dusty old room for anything." He held up a book on music theory. "Ya still need these or can I sell 'em?"

Nicola shrugged. "Knock yourself out."

The firm thumps of a knock echoed down the hallway.

Stan's grin widened in that same way it did when he was about to rip someone off. "Now who could that possibly be?"

Sparing only a brief chuckle at the faux innocence in his father's voice, Nicola raced down the hall and threw open the door.

"SURPRISE!" The small group waiting on the other side exclaimed.

Emma-May held a cake with Welcome Back written in purple icing, while Tate and Priscilla stood just behind, but Nicola's attention was on the blond toddler in Priscilla's arms.

"Pacifica!" He greeted with his arms stretched out to the little girl. Priscilla passed her over. "How's my favorite godchild?"

Priscilla walked through the doorway. "Considering she's your only one, she better be your favorite."

It was only then that Nicola got a good look at her face. "Cilla? What happened?"

The soft, if occasionally snobby expression he was used to was gone, replaced by tight skin and a gaping smile. It looked wrong, unnatural, like someone had cut Priscilla's face off and stretched it over a carnival mask.

Priscilla grimaced, at least as much as her changed face allowed her to. "I was starting to look old, Preston hired someone to take care of it. I don't like it very much, but he insists I look better."

Tate stepped between them. "You looked great before and you still look lovely now. Can we move on to cake already?"

Emma-May entered with the aforementioned cake. "I got it from an out-of-town place, it's supposed to be chocolate raspberry with real fruit between the layers!"

Stan finally emerged from the hallway. "Sounds delicious Em, I've got plates set out in the kitchen if you want to serve it up."

As the group moved to the kitchen, Nicola felt his dad's hand on his shoulder. "Sorry I didn't warn ya kiddo. It happened a while back so I forgot you didn't know."

Nicola adjusted his grip on Pacifica. "It's fine Dad, just caught me off guard is all."

Once everyone else was in the kitchen, Nicola took a moment to look down at his goddaughter.

"Don't you ever do anything silly for the sake of being pretty you hear? You're already the best girl there is."

Pacifica smiled.

July 13th, 2002

Nicola was flipping through the paper looking for apartment listings when he heard his Dad shout from across the shack.

"Nic, I need someone else to man the cash register! We just had two buses pull up!"

"Sure thing Dad!" Nicola shouted back, folding up his newspaper to bring with him.

In the giftshop, Stan stood by the window, bouncing on his toes like a small child about to meet Santa.

"With a crowd like this we really gotta pull out all the stops!"

Nicola adjusted the postcard rack. "So they pull out all their cash?"

"We take credit too. But not checks! Too easy to forge."

"I'm hoping you're saying that from experience and not just because we watched Seize Me Provided That You Can."

Stan ignored him. "Where's the golf cart? People love the private tours on the golf cart!"

"Still broken."

"Where's our handyman then?"

"Edwin?" Nicola peered over Stan's shoulder at the lawn. "Looks like he's hammering the totem pole."

Stan sighed. "I swear, if his mom hadn't been your teacher, I never woulda hired him."

"Yes you would, you don't pay enough for anyone more experienced to be interested."

"Experience shmereience, I 'm just lookin' for competence!"

Nicola moved behind the counter. "We're wasting time talking about this, those tourists aren't gonna fleece themselves."

"Too true, too true." Stan straightened his fez and winked at him. "Wish me luck kiddo!"

"You don't need it!" Nicola shouted after him.

As with any cashier position, the people came in waves. Some waves were overwhelming, some annoying, and some, like now, were mind-numbingly boring.

Nicola had exhausted what little material was in the paper ages ago and was now left with people watching as his sole form of entertainment. Or rather, person watching, given that a boy in a birthday hat was the only other resident of the Mystery Shack gift shop at the moment.

Feeling a bit like a creep for just staring at the kid Nicola finally spoke up. "Hey man, what's with the hat? You come here from a party?"

The kid turned, flashing him a buck-toothed smile. "It's my birthday actually, I'm just here for a snack."

Nicola waved an arm towards the vending machine. "So long as you've got the quarters, be my guest."

Just then, the window by the counter slammed open, and two brunette kids jumped through.

Nicola raised an eyebrow. "You know we have a door, right?"

The kids froze, their eyes darting to him. The one closest to Nicola, a girl, smiled brightly. "We know! We just think jumping through windows is better. It's like a sneak attack of fun!"

The voice of the boy in the birthday hat interrupted any further conversation. "Come on candy, fall!"

Nicola started to get up, intending to give the machine a whack to dislodge the trapped treat, but the girl beat him to it.

"Allow me! You just gotta know a guy on the inside!" She cheerfully cried, then proceeded to bump the side of the machine rhythmically. Amazingly, the glass pane protecting the snacks swung open.

I didn't even know it could do that. Maybe she knows someone who builds vending machines?

He watched the birthday hat kid wander over to the T-shirt section, gazing longingly at one of their question mark shirts before looking down at his own.

Nicola quickly checked out the now open window to ensure his Dad had moved the tour to the opposite side of the building before calling out to the kid. "Hey, you!"

The kid looked at him quizzically.

Nicola pointed to the shirt. "You want one of those?"

The boy nodded.

"Grab one and bring it over."

The kid looked between the cashier and the shirt with hopeful eyes. "Really?"

Nicola motioned to the bags of candy in his arms. "I'll let you pay in candy since it's your birthday. Now hurry up before Mr. Mystery gets in here."

The boy hustled over, placing his candy and the shirt on the counter. "Thanks dude!"

Nicola gathered up the candy. "Don't mention it. I mean it, don't. My Dad would never let me hear the end of it."

Before the boy could respond, a woman with graying hair appeared at the door, calling for him.

The boy (apparently called Zeus?) pulled on the t-shirt and waved to Nicola before leaving.

Nicola turned back towards the vending machine, intending to question the two kids who'd jumped through the window, but they ran out the door before he could. Shrugging, the musician walked over to the vending machine, and began to try replicating the girl's banging,

It was near the end of the day when Stan's patience with Edwin finally ran out.

"That's it! You are singlehandedly the worst handyman I've ever seen! Tell your Mom to find you another job!"

The lanky young man looked up pleadingly. "B-but-"

"No buts except yours off my property! Now scram!"

Nicola watched from the doorway as Edwin Durland scrambled away. "That seemed a little harsh."

Stan rubbed his forehead. "You've only seen half the damage he's capable of."

"Still, it's not like a new handyman is gonna show up out of the blue."

As if on cue, the boy from that morning wandered up the hill, Mystery Shack shirt on and screwdriver in hand.

Stan gave Nicola a grin before shouting to the boy. "Hey you, gumdrop. Think you can fix a golf cart?"

The boy looked hesitant. "Well, uh. I don't know if I-"

"You're hired. Already got the uniform and everything," Stan's eyes slid to Nicola, his tone becoming suspicious. "Wonder how that happened?"

Nicola raised his hands in surrender. "I plead the fifth."

Sorry it's been a while, got hit with some serious writer's block plus life stuff. Also, this show's timeline is a mess.