The house is done.

In fact, it was done ten years ago.

It took two years to get everything done and running, then the next ten years passed in a blur.

Though still, they kept waking up to cries and screams.

Not Joan's. But Felicia's. And then Auden's, and currently still Mae's.

Yup. He convinced her, then had a stage where he regretted it because people were pulling his hair, vomiting on him, crying at him, and a lot more. But then it was alright.

"I want pink," the oldest girl says.

Gally takes a pink crayon before moving his daughter against the wall, noting her height. "You've grown at least two centimeters, little one. Austen, what color do you want?"

"Green," the boy says.

Felicia steps away so her brother can reach the wall. As she does so, the long, brown, wavy hair flows after her. Half of it is tied up with a (handmade by Joan, obviously) white bow.

She turned seven a while ago. Austen's four, and Mae almost one.

Once Austen's done, Joan walks over to the wall with a sleepy Mae in her arms. "Guess we'll get her height tomorrow."

"Sure. You keep them busy as I cook?"

Back when they were younger, she'd admitted he can't cook at all. It was one of the first days in their house. He made a meal and all, but it tasted like shit. He heavily agreed, and from that moment, started spending more time with his good old friend Frypan.

"Alright. What do you kids want to do?" She puts Mae down in her cot before sitting down on the couch, the other two kids beside her.

"Play doctor!" Felicia offers. She looks at her brother for agreement.

Yeah, everyone is convinced the kind gene could only be coming from Joan's mother, Mary.

He agrees by taking the little med-kit Jeff gifted them. Most things, except for the bandages, are fake, so there's no danger in playing with them.

"Okay." Felicia puts the fake glasses on. "Ma'am, you called us for an appointment. What exactly are your complaints?"

"Hmm. My nose keeps running, my chest is heavy, and I'm hot and cold at the same time, doctor," Joan replies.

"Our patient got the flu," Auden decides. "Felicia, flu shot and bandage, please."

The girl hands him the fake syringe. It's so thick and fake that Joan is okay with them using it on her.

Once, she has accepted an injection. It was highly necessary when the flu really did break out and Auden, who was still unborn back then, could be in danger. It took a lot of reassuring and a lot of trusting the nurse, but she did it, and didn't like it at all.

I'll never get over some things, she had thought.

"There you go." A bandage gets wrapped around her wrist as if that's gonna help with her 'flu'. "That will be a thousand dollars, ma'am."

Sighing, she hands Felicia the invisible money. "Thank you, Doctor. I already feel so much better."

"Good."

Austen pouts. "That was short."

"Well, then go check up on your father and see if he's not letting anything get blown up. Perhaps help him."

"If anyone will blow anything up, it's you," Felicia replies, grinning. "Remember when—"

"Shh." Joan presses a hand on her daughter's mouth. "Moving on, what do you want to do?"

"I want to paint the shells we found yesterday."

She looks around for a few seconds. "Not sure if we have enough time to do that. Daddy's gonna be done soon."

"Okay. After dinner, then?"

"Okay." A smile forms on her face. "You want to hold Mae?"

Felicia's eyes grow bigger. "I can?"

"Yeah, of course. Why not?"

"I almost dropped her last time. Daddy was helping me hold her because I'm not strong enough to hold her, but then he let go when you walked in."

"Oh." Joan laughs. "We'll just sit down on the couch and hold her on your lap, yeah?"

She nods, wiping dirt that wasn't there off her dress (which, of course, Joan also made). Carefully, Joan places Mae on her lap.

The baby's hair is growing fast. It's brown, just like Felicia's, but thinner. It usually stands straight up.

Austen has blonde hair, surprisingly. It's lighter than Newt's, and he even has curls.

"Another story from the Glade?" The girl asks. "Please?"

A sigh leaves Joan's mouth. "Not a lot of them are the happiest. What do you want to know?"

"You and Daddy. The whole story."

"Alright. Well, he hated me. Despised me. And I have no idea why because I was literally the sweetest person in the whole Glade. I guess he was jealous of my amazing looks."

"Daddy says your eyes start twinkling when you tell lies you think are funny," Felicia states. "You're lying."

Ah, man.

"Okay, fine. He hated me and I hated him. You know about the connection we shared. Then one day, dear Jeff and Clint—"

"Who's Clint?"

She swallows. "Clint was Jeff's best friend. He was very kind, and a good doctor."

"What happened to Clint?" The girl lies a hand down on Joan's arm.

"He got taken away by a Griever." Joan takes a breath.

And when she tries to tell them not to, only more keep coming.

They're no longer listening.

Thomas killed the piece inside of her. The piece that could control them.

"Anyways— they locked me and your father up. But you knew that. You already know everything except for the hating part."

"Why did you guys hate each other?"

"Don't you agree that your father can be an absolute prick?"

"Not to us."

"I know. He's kind to us, and he has grown out of the grumpy phase. Correction: he was a prick. Ask Thomas, he'll give a description in full detail."

"I will." She chuckles.

They continue talking until they get called for dinner. Joan puts Mae down in her own baby chair, then sits down next to Gally.

"From Chuck's garden." He motions at the soup and vegetables. "We better go thank him later on."

As Chuck is Austen's favorite person, the boy almost makes a jump in the air. "Yes!"

"What a lovely relationship you have grown with that boy," Joan teases, aware of Gally's 'hatred' toward Chuck before.

"He's no longer a kid. Mature, he's better."

Joan takes a sip of the soup, chuckling. "He's not mature."

He squeezes her knee. "Neither are you."

"I'm very mature."

"You begged the kids to watch kid movies with you."

"You love them, too."

Without another comeback, he shakes his head, unable to hide his smile. "Hope it tastes good."

After a few minutes of silence, Felicia speaks: "I can immediately ask Thomas what an absolute prick you were back in your grumpy phase, Dad."

Joan chokes on her food as Gally's eyebrows raise. "Sorry?"

"Mommy says you're a prick."

"Were."

"I think your mommy was also a prick. She dyed all my clothes pink."

"You painted a dick on my wall!" She blurts out, then her eyes widen.

"Dick," Mae repeats.

Now all mouths fall open.

"Did she just-"

"Your first word-"

"Oh my God-"

Joan buries her head in her hands. From all first words, Mae chose that one.

"Okay, little one. You can't say that word again, especially not around grandpa Vince, got it?"

The girl points a tiny finger at her father. "Dick."

"Hey-"

Austen bursts out laughing, with giggles and all, and Felicia joins in.

Gally points a finger back. "That is not nice. You don't know what that means, and it is very rude. Except to Thomas. Thomas loves the word. Feel free to call him that, but not me."

Joan looks back up, shrugs, and goes back to eating. "Yes. Call my cousin that, please."

He leans closer to her ear. "We're the worst parents ever."

"We're the best. Teach 'em young."

"Oh, so I should just tell them the flower story."

"Absolutely not."

Gally stands up. "Everyone done eating? Perfect. Let's see if our, unfortunately, neighbours are still alive."

It takes way too long to put everyone's shoes and coats on. By the time they've succeeded, it has gotten dark outside. Doesn't matter, though; it's a quick walk to Thomas, Newt, and Chuck.

Yup, they stole her idea of adopting Chuck. But it was fair enough, since they can't really get biological kids anyway.

Gally lifts Austen up so he can ring the doorbell. It only takes a second for Chuck to open the door, beaming at the sight of his visitors. "Hey, guys."

Though Chuck has also grown twelve years older, he hasn't changed much. Austen won't let go of the 'fact' Chuck is as old as him.

They all get inside the house, which is smaller than theirs, but still cozy thanks to Newt's decoration skills.

The second Thomas gets in sight, the kids prove they can listen. Mae points at him, "Dick," and Felicia runs over to him, "Was my daddy a prick?"

Confused (or it's just his rest face), Thomas looks around. Joan shrugs, attempting to hide her grin, and Gally shamelessly grins right in Thomas's face.

"What?"

"Mom taught us."

"No, I didn't-"

Newt walks in, leaving Joan unable to finish defending herself. "Oh, hi. Just on time for a dessert. You like cake?"

The two oldest kids immediately reach forward. Even Mae senses something good is coming, and she moves her arms towards her siblings.

Joan puts her down on the ground, taking her hand so they can make their way to the kitchen.

The journey to there is the same as always. Passing the living room and the kitchen table, and then looking to see what snacks Fry gave Newt this time.

The journey of her mind is also the same. Inspect, think, pull a conclusion. It has only gotten smarter through the time.

Her view on life has changed. Kids aren't always little rats. Thomas isn't that annoying. Navy blue must be the best color out there. Sewing flowers onto her bra was actually the best idea ever.

And Gally really isn't an absolute prick.