Clifford 'Ford' Simpson woke up much like he did every other morning for the past seventeen years; ready to start the day. The Sun had yet to come up, meaning he would be the only one awake for another two hours; which is how long it would take for him to wash the dishes, put away the dry ones, sweep the floor, clean the bathrooms, start a load of laundry, and make breakfast.

He enjoyed doing his morning ritual as it allowed him to put together his thoughts for the day. The rest of his family, though he loved them dearly, were too crazy in the mornings for him to deal with.

After finishing up breakfast, leaving the plates of food in the oven to keep warm, he made his way to the bathroom he'd just cleaned and took a nice, hot shower. There was nothing he loved more than spending ten minutes taking a relaxing shower.

That was also a benefit being up the earliest provided him. He always got to take the longest showers with the hottest water.

Getting out, he took a minute to dry off before combing his hair and looking at himself in the mirror. He took pride in his full head of hair. His father said that ford looked a lot like him when he was his age minus the face full of pimples that Ford made sure to void getting through a good diet and prescription strength medication.

At first, Ford almost had a meltdown at the prospect of going bald by the time he was thirty. But after going through some family photo albums he realized that Homer's hair started visibly going away around the same time Bart turned one.

And if the last ten years with Bart had been any sort of indicator, Homer's baldness was definitely stress related. He couldn't deny his little brother was a menace to the rest of the world. Then again, what ten-year-old boy wasn't?

Going into his room, his grandfather's old room, Ford picked out a black t-shirt, hoodie, blue jeans, and a pair of boots. It was easy to tell what was his and what was the rest of the family's since he was the slimmest one there aside from his mother.

He quickly got dressed, the downside of taking a hot shower was the cold air outside the bathroom, and headed back to the kitchen to check the food. The oven went on the fritz sometimes, so there was a possibility the food might be slightly blackened.

Opening the oven and seeing the food was perfect, he closed back up and left the room to check on Maggie.

'Sleeping peacefully, like she always does right before it happens.' He looked down on his little sister, taking in her sleeping form. He loved all three of his younger siblings. But out of all of them, Maggie held the biggest spot in his heart.

'She usually begins to get fussy right around…' Soft cries began to fill the room. '…now. It's almost clockwork.' Reaching into the crib, he picked Maggie up and began walking around the room.

He smiled as her little hands reached out for his face. She didn't want her bottle, she didn't smell, and he she hadn't needed to be burped either. "Uh-huh. I knew it. You just want me to hold you, don't you? Well you're lucky. I like holding you."

Maggie let out a cooing noise, which Ford playfully took as an admission of guilt.

Once she fell asleep in his arms, Ford placed her back down in her crib and crept back to the kitchen. This time he took the food out and placed it in top of the stove, turning off the oven and placing some plates and silverware on the table.

He served himself some eggs and bacon, poured some orange juice in one of Bart's Radioactive Man plastic cups and ate breakfast by himself. Looking at the clock, he had about 3…2…1…

An alarm from his parents' room went off. The first of three alarms to wake Homer up so he wouldn't be late to work at the plant.

His mother, of course, was always ready to start the day by the first one. Which was why her plate at the table already had food on it by the time she came down.

Marge Simpson was a woman who liked being housewife. She enjoyed taking care of her children, even if they gave her hell while she did. She kept Bart in line and focused on his schoolwork, spent time taking Lisa to and from her saxophone lessons and helping with school projects, and had Maggie attached to her hip the entire day.

And she loved every minute of it. Ford, however, was the only one of her children, Homer included, who didn't need or even want her to take care of him. From an early age, he was a big proponent of being independent.

He wanted to crawl or walk wherever he went, he wanted to feed himself, dress himself, clean up after himself, and do all the things that Marge would normally do on his own.

To Marge, Ford was her firstborn who she'd watched grow up for seven whole years before getting pregnant once again.

At first, she had a hard time accepting it. Her sweet little angel was suddenly wanting to grow up before she was ready to even face that catastrophe. But it wasn't as though Ford could help it. He was just a naturally mature person.

Now that he was seventeen, though, he'd already had a good thirteen years of wearing down his parents to let him be. And now that Maggie was a part of their lives, Marge had to admit that life was good this way. Better than what it could be, even.

Instead of being overwhelmed with taking care of her family by herself, she had someone to help her. While Homer was focused on work most of the time, as well as avoiding most of his other responsibilities, having the housework split between two people was a load off her shoulders.

The deal was that Ford took care of the household chores while Marge dealt with Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The unspoken part was that Homer would earn his paycheck as his contribution. The two feared that saying anything to him would result in it backfiring in their faces.

"Good morning, mom. I made eggs and bacon and your plates already on the table." Ford walked around the table, kissing her on the cheek before going back upstairs. Alarm two just went off, meaning he needed to go up and wake Bart and Lisa.

He knocked on Bart's door before going in. 'Ugh. This kid's room is always a mess. I thought told him to clean it up.' He placed a hand on Bart's shoulder, shaking him awake. "C'mon Bart. It's time for you to get up. If you don't you'll miss the bus."

He heard what he felt was the fakest snore to date and could tell Bart was just pretending to be asleep. Ford knew that he was a light sleeper and was probably woken up by the sound of him showering. "And if you miss the bus and force either mom or me to drop you off…" he leaned in.

"I'm going to pound you into the ground twerp." His eyes shot open, the fear of getting one of Ford's poundings scaring him out of his pretend slumber.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He shot out of the bed and into the bathroom, seeking to avoid getting an Indian burn or a charlie horse or, worse, a dead leg. Punishments that he'd frequently get from his older brother when he did something that annoyed or upset him.

Ford had mixed feelings about his butthead of a little brother. Bart was an okay kid if you could get past the rough parts of his personality. Ford genuinely enjoyed the times that the two spent trying to help Bart catch up to the rest of the kids from his grade study-wise.

(Something they had been doing for the past few months.)

It was those times during the weekday nights that the two really got a chance to hang out together that was more than just Ford smacking him around for doing something stupid and otherwise destructive.

Bart may have appeared to not care at all about school on the surface, but it was a rather large insecurity issue he dealt with internally. Too afraid of being ridiculed to ask for help and too free spirited to try his absolute hardest to get by without needing it.

The kid was stuck between a hard place and a rock before Ford stepped in. And Bart, admittedly, was afraid of what his older brother might say. Or do. He'd usually be so gentle and caring with Lisa and Maggie whenever he was around them.

But with Bart, it was strictly a 'If you annoy me or I catch you doing something you shouldn't be doing I'll beat the crap out of you' kind of relationship.

Instead, he found himself sitting next to him as they went through his homework and test reviews together. Before that moment, he'd never realized how much his brother actually cared about him.

Things were more or less the same after that, but Bart was managing to maintain a C average. So at least there was some progress going on.

While Bart was busy showering, Lisa came next. He knocked on her door, waiting a second before opening it and going in.

"Lisa? You awake yet?" He gently shook his little sister, not being as rough with her as he had been with Bart. She never gave him much trouble beyond the spats she'd get into with their brother.

After a few seconds, she mumbled in her sleep. "C'mon Lisa. It's time for school." More mumbling. "If you're late, you'll miss the bus~" If anything, the thought of riding a bus full of kids who'd ridicule her sent her into a deeper sleep.

He leaned in close. "If you miss the bus…you'll be late for school…which means you'll be missing out on what was it you were excited about yesterday? The first day of the book fair?"

That did the trick. He inwardly sighed as she shot straight up, much like Bart had. Only, it was the threat of missing a school book fair rather than a beat down.

'Oh~ Lisa. You are such a nerd.' He couldn't help but shake his head as he fondly commented on her passion for being a good student.

And hell, Ford knew he was even smarter than she was and liked to learn just as much as she did. He had self-diagnosed himself as a genius, or just really, really smart, when he turned eleven after managing to memorize and comprehend over half the words in the dictionary in only six days.

The difference was that he kept it under wraps. There was no sense in letting other people know exactly how smart he was. They'd only bother him about it with their plans and ideas for his future. At least, he could see his mother doing that.

There was no doubt they'd be plans that weren't his own and would hold none of his interest because the thing is, he already knew where he wanted to go in life after school was over for him.

While it would have seemed like a bad idea to his mother had he told her, as well as any sane person in Springfield who heard it, Ford felt that working in the powerplant was the best way to go in terms of a steady paycheck.

Contrary to what one might expect, the amount of money Mr. Burns paid his workers were pretty standard fare. The only reason the Simpsons struggled was because Homer liked to drink, the kids were given allowances, six people meant six times the amount of water and electricity the water and electric companies charged for, and the fact that these bills were being taken care of with a single man's salary.

Ford recognized the need for an additional income. The way they were just barely scraping by was unsettling. Should any of them have some sort of serious injury, say a heart attack because his family's eating habits were atrocious, their savings more than likely wouldn't be able to support the costs.

Thinking along those lines sent him into full blown panic mode. Ford's family was his everything. And because they were his everything, he'd spent the last three years researching and studying everything he'd need to know about operating, repairing, inspecting, and maintaining a powerplant like the one in Springfield.

With a combination of books from the Springfield Public Library and the unwisely unused manuals and handguides from the powerplant facility itself, Ford was able to become more knowledgeable on the subject than his father was.

If you wanted to find a more learned mind on the subject of nuclear plants in all of Springfield, you couldn't. And yet he could only hope Mr. Burns would hire him despite his young age.

Lisa was about to jump out of bed but was stopped by Ford's arm. "Hold your horses. Bart's in the shower already and I don't think you want to run into him in there." She giggled at her brothers grossed out face.

"So…I was thinking. Maybe we could hang out tonight. Just you and me." Lisa smiled, overjoyed that Ford finally wanted to spend some time with her. It felt as though they hadn't really spent any time together over the past couple of months.

Her relationship with her oldest brother was the single greatest thing in her young life. She had always connected with him the most out of everyone in her family. Her father was kind of an idiot, her mother lived in her own world of naïve ideals, Bart was her polar opposite in every possible way, and Maggie was just a baby.

But Ford? Somehow…Ford always understood her in a way nobody else did.

When she expressed heartfelt thoughts and ideas that she thought would better her family, Ford was the only one who wouldn't roll his eyes or shut her down. Rather, he would embrace them and find a way to introduce them into his own life.

Even when she herself grew out of an idea, Ford would stick with it if he genuinely thought it would better himself.

A few years ago, when she tried getting her family to eat more healthy foods and drink more water she was met with the usual teasing from Bart and partial support from Marge. Homer, who just wanted to eat whatever he liked, tried for a few hours and then failed miserably.

Ford, however, was more open to his sister's idea. At the time, he'd been developing a bit of an extended gut. Something he didn't want in common with his dad. He flashed a smile and gave a wink when she looked his way for any of his usual support.

Much to her joy she found that the next time they sat at the dinner table, everyone but Ford was eating pizza and drinking Mountain Doo. Rather, he had made the two of them some salad with a nice tall glass of ice water. And ever since then Ford made it a habit to have a salad at least four times a week.

"I was thinking we could go to the mall and look around for a bit. There's a new Thai place that just opened. And if you want, we could also go see a movie."

If it was possible, the ear to ear smile she had widened even further. This was turning out to be such an amazingly great day and she hadn't even gotten out of the bed yet!

"And maybe, just maybe, I might bring you to the Museum of Natural History….if we have time, that is." She was practically bouncing at this point. She wrapped two arms around Ford and squeezed as hard as she could. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

He laughed, enjoying her enthusiastic gratitude. "Alright, alright! You can let go now you little monkey." The only way she would let go, however, was through-

Ford ran his moving fingers up and down her sides, eliciting several snorts of laughter from his sister. She tried to escape but her attempts were in vain in the presence of Ford's larger size and strength.

After a few more embarrassing snorts she was let go. "Bart's still in the shower, so go downstairs and eat what you can before the two bottomless pits we live with get down there." Lisa nodded shakily, still struggling to contain her giggles as she descended down the stairs.

Now it was time for the final struggle of the morning. His father. Who was currently sleeping straight through his third alarm. 'Every morning it's the same thing. He really needs to start taking more naps at work.'

It was painfully obvious to Ford just how incompetent Homer was both at his job and various other parts of his life. And while that was true, he loved his father very much regardless of that fact.

Because at the very base of his ignorance and tendency to do incredibly stupid things on an almost weekly basis, Homer Simpson was a man who loved his family and did what it took to take care of them.

Granted, Ford didn't always feel the way he did about his father. In fact, until Maggie was born he didn't have that much of an opinion of him at all. And when Homer finally paid the last of his outstanding debts off, a new and much more negative opinion of the man came flying out.

He thought Homer was crazy to quit his steady job at the plant and go work at some bowling alley.

It was one thing to follow your dreams as a young man with no responsibility other than himself. But to willingly leave the safety of financial security with a whole family to support, Ford felt like Homer couldn't have possibly done anything worse.

He would find himself being proven wrong countless times in the future, but for that moment in time it was the absolute worst thing Homer had ever done. Especially when they found out Marge was pregnant with Maggie.

His negative opinion of Homer only grew as Marge's pregnancy went on as he believed that their carelessness was the reason for the extra burden on the family; almost resulting in Ford actually hating his father for the situation he'd put the rest of them in.

He was only seven when they brought Bart home and still only barely nine when Lisa was born, so his interest in them didn't really peak until they began to move around on their own. Now, with the necessary maturity, he appreciated the miracle that was Maggie Simpson from the very beginning.

This increasing hostility towards him, however, was brought to a grinding halt the day his father brought him to work on 'Bring Your Child to Work' day. Seeing as Marg didn't have a job, Ford decided to bite the bullet and go with Homer.

He didn't exactly know much about how he got his job back, but it was fairly obvious that Homer did so at the cost of his self-respect. That much was certain by the miserable look on his face every time they sat down to eat dinner.

The circumstances of his rehiring, however, came into light when Ford saw the place Homer sat at the entire day. Nothing about it was too different from any of the depictions he read in the manuals, aside from the empty pizza boxes and burger wrappings.

And one other thing…something that didn't belong in the room. It was a gold plaque with pictures covering most of it, pictures of Maggie that he'd been looking for but couldn't find. He couldn't read the entire thing, but what it read changed how he saw Homer.

DO IT FOR

HER

He was curious as to what the rest of the thing said. To his surprise, his father happily told him. Homer sounded happy that his alteration to the plaque didn't go unnoticed by Ford.

Apparently, Mr. Burns made it policy to put up the plaque to crush the spirits of those people who came crawling back for their jobs.

According his father, the entire plaque read:

DON'T FORGET:

YOU'RE HERE

FOREVER.

After that, Ford found it damn near impossible to muster up much anger at the man. What's more…after considerable thought…he couldn't exactly blame everything on Homer. Accidents happened, though he hated to think of his little sister as an accident.

One thing he hadn't really considered was the fact that Homer had given up on his dream job to make enough money to raise a baby.

Which is how the two came to be where they are today. From basic indifference to almost hating his guts to appreciating all that he's done.

Ford wouldn't be able to wake his father up by normal means. Leaning down towards his ear, "Breakfast is on the table and I made you an egg sandwich. If you don't wake up and get down there soon, Bart's gonna beat you to the table and-"

It took a minute to realize that the bed was empty. It seems Homer had left the moment Ford had mentioned that breakfast was ready and waiting. He seriously hoped that he would be spared his father's tendencies to overeat as he got older.

Having finished his morning duties, Ford decided to go down and sit with his family for a while. He was on break for a few more weeks while the high school was being detoxed and renovated.

He sighed, thinking that only in Springfield would a school somehow have both lead paint and asbestos at the same time.