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thelastspeecher · 5 years

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The AU where Stan goes through the portal— Stan and Angie’s first holiday season without each other

I cheated a little bit. This isn’t their first holiday season without each other, since the first holiday season would be while Angie is pregnant, and I wanted this to take place after the babs had arrived. Also, this became REALLY long and I apologize for that, but I was struggling to find a good way for it to end, so.

Standucked into an alleyway. He stoodstraight against a brick wall, waiting for his pursuers to pass him. After a few minutes, the footsteps hadsufficiently faded. Stan slumped inrelief.

Thank god. It’s getting tougher and tougher to lose those guys. He rubbed his face. I needto get outta this dimension. Stanslid down the wall. I need to get home. He dugout his wallet, where he had stuffed a piece of paper with numerous tick markson it. He unfolded the piece of paper.

“Twenty,one hundred…” he muttered to himself. Heleaned his head back. “I’ve been gonefor over a year.”

It’s already December back home. I’m missing the holidays with my kids. Not just any holidays. The baby’s first ones. And unless there’s some sorta miracle, I’llmiss the baby’s first birthday, too. Stan swallowed. He took out oneof the other few things in his wallet, a photo of Angie and the girls fromHalloween. Angie was wearing a queencostume, while Danny and Daisy were dressed as princesses. He smiled. I wonder what they dressed up asthis year. Maybe Angie got a frogcostume for the baby like she wanted to for the girls. His smile faded. Thebaby. He looked at the photoagain. Without me around to be the voice of reason, she probably named itPosey. He stroked the photo. Posey’sprobably got Angie’s eyes. My ears. A snowflake drifted onto the picture. Stan sighed.

“MerryChristmas and happy Hanukkah, kids. Sorry I couldn’t be there.”

-----

Lutestrolled into the living room, bouncing Emory in his arms.

“Theworld’s cutest lil reindeer has been changed,” he sang. He looked over at the fireplace, where Angiewas hanging up the stockings. “Banjey,aren’t ya goin’ to look at yer lil boy?”

“Gimme asec,” Angie said. She stood on hertiptoes and carefully slipped the last stocking on a nail. “Okay.” She turned. “Aw, my goofy lilboy,” she cooed, crossing over to Lute. “Emory, yer such a looker!” Angiecarefully took Emory from Lute. Shekissed the top of Emory’s head. “Thankyou fer changin’ his clothes.”

“Noproblem. I’m happy to put him into thecute outfit Ma ‘n Pa sent.” Lute lookedaround. “Is Emmett in the playpen?”

“Yep. The fussiest snowman to ever exist is playin’with his teddy,” Angie said, continuing to nuzzle Emory. Lute walked to the playpen. Sure enough, Emmett was sitting in there inhis snowman onesie, excitedly tugging on a teddy bear.

“Hereally likes that stuffed animal,” Lute remarked. “Where’d ya get it from, again?” Angie took a while to answer.

“When thegirls were born, Stan’s mom sent us his old teddy bear,” she said quietly. “Danny ‘n Daisy weren’t too fond of it, butwe held onto it anyways. Turns out itwas the right thing to do, since it’s Emmett’s fav’rite thing.”

“…Oh.” Lute cleared his throat. “Well, uh, Ford ‘n Fidds ‘ll be here soon to helplight the menorah. Did ya…” He caught sight of the menorah resting on thefireplace mantle. “Oh, good. Ya did put it out.”

“We’llmove it before we light it, but I set it there while I was hangin’ thestockings.”

“Why’d yahang the stockings so early?” Lute asked. “It’s not even the Advent yet.”

“Lastyear when ya took down the decorations, ya packed the menorah with thestockings.” Angie shrugged. “Figured I might as well put ‘em up.”

“Makessense.” Lute eyed the stockings. Each one had an embroidered name on it. “I don’t have one up.”

“Ma ‘n Pasaid they’ll send yours in the mail, since it looks like you’ll be stayin’ hereto help with the kidlets fer longer than we first thought.”

“Good.” Lute’s gaze landed on the stocking hung nextto Angie’s. He sighed. “Angie…”

“What?”Angie asked. She joined Lute by theplaypen.

“Stan’snot here.”

“I know,”Angie said shortly. She set Emory in theplaypen. Emory immediately crawled overto a set of plastic toy keys, grabbed it, and began to chew on it.

“Why’d yaput up his stocking, then?” Lute asked. Angie’s face hardened.

“I puthis stocking up last year, too. Yadidn’t say anything back then.”

“You werea wreck. Even sayin’ Stan’s name made yaspiral. I didn’t have the heart to bringit up.” Lute rested a hand on Angie’sback. “Yer in a better place now.”

“I won’ttake it down,” Angie said. Her handsgripped tightly on the fence of the playpen. “Ma made him that stocking the first Christmas after he moved toGumption. I’ve put it up every yearsince. I ain’t liable to change that anytime soon.”

“He’s nothere. There’s no reason to-”

“No. If I take down his stocking, thatmeans-” Angie’s lips quivered. She set her jaw firmly. “That means I’m movin’ on, abandonin’ thepossibility of his return. And he will come back.”

“Banjey,I don’t think that-”

“Drop it,Lute,” Angie snapped. She glared athim. “I mean it. I’m not takin’ the stocking down.”

“Fine,”Lute mumbled. He looked down at Emory andEmmett in the playpen. “I’ll drop it.” The front door opened.

“Mama!”two voices shouted. Angie’s frustratedexpression was wiped away. She turnedand beamed at her twin daughters rushing to her.

“Howdythere, my babies,” she crooned, crouching down. Danny and Daisy embraced her. “Did ya have a good time at yer uncles’ house?”

“Yeah!”Danny enthused.

“UncleFord tried to make latkes and burned everything,”Daisy said with relish. Lute looked overat Ford, who, with Fiddleford and Tate, had entered the living room behindDanny and Daisy.

“Thattrue, Stanford?” he asked, amused. Fordturned pink.

“I don’tknow where I went wrong. I made themsuccessfully last year,” Ford said.

“We havedif’rent definitions of the word ‘successful’,” Lute said.

“Angieate them!” Ford protested.

“Angiealso ate a country-fried steak last December,” Fiddleford pointed out. “The food she hates most in the world. Ya can’t judge a food based on whether or notsomeone who’s pregnant would eat it.”

“Youdon’t like country-fried steak?” Ford asked Angie. Angie stood and shook her head. “And you didn’t like my latkes, either?”

“Honestly,Stanford, the best that could be said about yer latkes last year was that theywere edible,” Angie said. Forddeflated. “What if I help ya out? Did ya bring the recipe with ya?”

“Uh,yes. I did.” Ford beamed. He held up the bag he was carrying. “I also brought dreidels and gelt. The girls are old enough now that I think they can learn the rules.”

“Thatsounds like fun,” Lute said. He smiledat Angie. “Don’t that sound fun? We can all learn how to play withdreidels.” Angie crossed her arms.

“Don’ttake that condescending tone with me,” she hissed.

“Somethin’wrong?” Fiddleford asked.

“No,just- Lute and I had a lil bit of a tiff ‘fore y’all showed up. That’s all.”

“Overwhat?” Ford asked.

“Thestockings,” Lute said. He rubbed theback of his neck. “We- we had adisagreement over whether all of ‘em should get put up.”

“What doyou-” Ford started. He looked over atthe fireplace. His face fell. “Oh.”

“I thinkwe should revisit the stockings at a later time,” Lute said. Angie stormed out of the living room. Lute sighed. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“No, I’lldo it,” Fiddleford said, starting to go after Angie. Ford shook his head.

“Let me.”

“You?” Lutesaid. He crossed his arms, scowling. “I think you’ve done enough to Angie.”

“What’sthat mean, Unclute?” Daisy piped up. Lute looked down at his niece like he’d just now realized she was stillthere.

“Uh,nothin’, sugar cube.”

“What didUncle Ford do to Mama?” Danny asked. Lute ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh, geez,”Lute mumbled. While Lute fumbled throughan answer for Danny and Daisy, Ford headed into the kitchen. Angie stood in front of the sink, her handsgripping the counter so tightly her knuckles were white. Her shoulders shook. Ford took a nervous step back.

“What isit, Stanford?” Angie choked out. Hervoice was thick with tears. Ford clearedhis throat.

“Ithought I’d offer comfort, but I’m beginning to think that I might not be theone best suited for that. I’ll getFiddleford.”

“No.” Angie let go of the counter. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. I just-” She rubbed her eyes. “It’s the most stupid thing fer me to blow mytop over, but I can’t let it go.”

“What is?”

“Thestockings. Normally they wouldn’t evenbe up this early. Lute just packed theboxes wrong last year, and stuck ‘em in with the menorah. It would be so, so easy to just take downStan’s stocking.” Angie’s headdrooped. “But I can’t.”

“I’mgoing to bring him back, you know,” Ford said softly. Angie nodded.

“I know.”

“You don’thave to worry about the symbolism of the stockings. Stan will be back soon enough to put help putthem up again.”

“It’s theonly thing I can do, Stanford!” Angie said fiercely, slamming a fist down onthe counter. Ford took another stepback. “I can’t help with the portal, ‘causeyou and Fidds refuse to allow me down there. I had to take a sabbatical from my research fer my mental health. I can’t even take care of my children alone.”

“What doyou mean, it’s the only thing you can do?” Ford asked.

“It’sstupid.”

“I’veknown you for years. You’re many things,but stupid is not one of them.” Ford steppedcloser. “Explain.”

“If Imove on, if I take down the stocking, put away his clothes, he won’t come back,”Angie whispered. “He needs a beacon tobring him home, and severing my ties to him will just ensure he never finds usagain.” She shook her head. “It’s stupid. He wasn’t here when the boys were born. There’s nothin’ I could do that could bring him back, if that didn’t.”

“All Ihave to say about Stan not being there when the boys were born is that I knowhe wanted to be,” Ford said after a moment. “But that thing about a beacon…” He dug his journal out of his coat. Angie sighed. “I believe Stan tobe hopping from dimension to dimension, on his journey. Where he arrives is random, each time. But his destination could be swayed byoutside forces.” Angie eyed him.

“…Go on.”

“Stan’smolecules will want to return to their home dimension. That’s why he hasn’t stayed in one spot. Every fiber of his being is being drawn tothis reality. He won’t be content to stayin one place until he returns. But hismolecules aren’t certain of how to return.” Ford flipped his journal open to a specific page and handed it toAngie. She took it from him cautiously. “Your fondness for Stan could serve as a beacon,indicating to his molecules that this is where he is from.”

“Stanford,how would my love fer Stan be a beacon?” Angie asked flatly. She handed his journal back. “Yer tellin’ me empty platitudes in anattempt to cheer me up.”

“Strangerthings have happened,” Ford said. “You’vebeen there for some of them.” Angieshrugged. “And if I know one thing aboutStan, it’s that he’d do anything for his family. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mere presenceof his family in this dimension is what guides him home.” Angie managed a small smile.

“That’strue. Stan would move heaven and earth ferhis fam’ly.” She cocked her head. “Hang on, you did the opposite of what Iexpected.”

“What doyou mean?”

“Iexpected to be talked into takin’ the stocking down. All you’ve done is convince me it needs tostay up.”

“Whywould I convince you to do something I wouldn’t do myself?” Ford asked. Angie chuckled. “So, how would you feel about attempting mymother’s latke recipe with me?” Angiefinally grinned.

“I’d loveto, if it means you’ll keep tellin’ me I’m right.”

#normally this would be under a read more bc it is LONG #but it's also an ask and I don't like putting asks under read mores #anyways I hope y'all enjoyed Ford and Angie bonding a bit in this AU #Reverse Portal Stanley McGucket AU #Stangie #Lute McGucket #Angie McGucket #Fiddleford McGucket #Stanford Pines #Stanley Pines #Danica Pines #Daisy McGucket #Stangie Family #ficlet #my writing #ask #Anonymous

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