Hey readers! Back with another chapter that I hope you all enjoy.

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Bye~

Ford woke up later than usual but wasted no time in starting his day. He didn't feel like taking a bath so early in the day, it felt weird taking one at any other time than right before bed, so he just put some street clothes on.

A white t-shirt, some basketball shorts, and an old pair of sneakers. He was glad to have such loose, yet comfortable clothes. Anything like pants or a hoodie would be too much for his sore body to

By the time he got downstairs, his brother, sister, and father were gone. Even Marge and Maggie were gone. She'd left a note telling him that there was some more eggplant in the fridge if he wanted to heat some up for lunch and that they were going to spend the day shopping for groceries and clothes.

He looked at the clock. It was almost 10:30. 'Hmm. I'd really rather not eat alone. And since I also need a ride to Grampa's and the bank…'

A minute later, he was walking out of the house and next door to the Flanders. Knocking on the door and stepping back a bit, he waited for Ned to open the door. 'Hopefully Ned can give me a ride. He's not doing anything in particular, I think. The 8:00 morning mass is already over.'

The door opened, revealing a chipper looking Ned Flanders. "Well~ hi diddly ho, neighborino! It's good to see you back in good health. The whole family was praying for you." Ford couldn't help the smile.

Ned was always greeting people with a smile and praying for others. It was a pretty refreshing sight considering which town he lived in and the people in it.

"Well, Ned, they must've been some amazing prayers since I'm amongst the living once more. Thank you. So, uh, how was church this morning? I've been hearing rumors that there've been some changes in the way some of the songs are sung."

That got him going. A whole three-minute speech on how new and exciting church seemed now that the lyrics and tune of the songs were changed so drastically. There were even some new ones that Reverend Lovejoy heard in a church during his trip to New York a few days back.

"That's great. I'm glad you and the family enjoyed it. I actually came over here to ask for a favor." Ned nodded his head, a sign to continue talking. "See, I don't have a car right now and I have things I gotta do in town."

"I was wondering, if you're not busy, could you drive me there?" Ned laughed. "No problemo! I'd be happy to help. When do you want to leave? And where are we going?" Ford loved having Ned as a neighbor. The man was willing to do a lot more for someone than anyone would even think about doing.

"Well, first I gotta stop by the retirement home and see my grandfather. He hasn't seen me in a while, two weeks is like an eternity in old people time. Also, the water that comes out of our shower at home is too rough for the bruises on my chest, so I was going to use the adjustable showerheads in his shower."

He only needed to go to two other places after that. "Then I was going to go to the bank to cash a check."

Ned nodded again, turning in to grab his coat and his keys. "I'll meet you in the car, I gotta leave a note before I go. If I'm gone when they get back, who knows how they'll react." He also needed to grab the check.

Walking back to his house, he wrote them a quick note telling them where he was and who he was with. On his way back out, he slipped into his room, took his wallet and the check out of his sock drawer's hidden compartment, and made his way back to Ned's car.

Getting in, he had a thought. "Hey, Ned." The man turned to him. "Would you and the family want to join me for lunch? If you guys don't have any plans, that is."

He thought about it for a second before unbuckling his seatbelt. "We'd love to! I'll be right back with Maude and the boys." As he left the car, Ford closed his eyes and rested his head against the seat.

He was still tired and the car was warm from the morning Sun shining through the windows. He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until the car made a sudden stop at a red light. "Mmm…" He stretched his legs a bit and yawned

He opened his eyes and, momentarily disoriented, had no idea where he was. He looked to his left and saw Ned focused on the road. Then he remembered asking Ned for a ride. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to fall asleep on you guys."

"That's okay, Ford." Maude spoke from the back seat, in between the boys. "It's nice to sit with the boys in the backseat from time to time." The best part about her statement. It held no malice of any kind. Not even a little bit of discontentment.

Something Ford was happy to detect. If someone fell asleep in his family's car, no doubt the annoyance and the resentment would be palpable.

"We're here." Seriously? He looked out the windshield. 'Huh.' He hadn't even realized that they were that close.

"Alright Flanders." Ned spoke to his family. "While Ford is taking care of his business, let's all sing some tunes." Before the singing could start, Ford left the car. He could stomach everything about the Flanders except for the singing. That's where he drew the line.

Walking up to the receptionists' desk, Ford gave a smile and leaned onto the counter. "Hello. I'm here to see Abraham Simpson." The woman waved him off and Ford began making his way towards his grandfather's room.

Along the way, he said his 'Hello's' and 'Good mornings' to each of the men and women he came across. They all looked so starved for attention from their family. It made him thankful that at least he was around to see Abe.

And he could understand that his father's childhood wasn't that good what with Abe constantly putting him down. But even with that in mind, the others should at least try to seem interested in the man.

He knocked on his grandfather's room. The door was practically swung open, Abe visibly excited for his visitor. Even if there was a good chance it was just the nurse doing medication rounds.

"Grampa! I've been gone for only been two weeks and you've already replaced me with a younger new model." Ford was referring to the elderly woman sitting on Abe's bed.

The old man was slightly senile, and dressed like it on his worse days, but he could still romance a woman like nothing Ford's ever seen. Old people were surprisingly active in the bedroom. Especially women.

'Maybe this kind of thought process is why people don't visit their cast away relatives anymore?'

"What the bah bh- Ford! I haven't seen you in…" He did the numbers in his head. "…three years!?" He gave his grandfather a tight hug, it hurt a little, but was worth it to see his smile. "Two weeks, grandpa. I was in the hospital, remember? Car accident? Coma?"

The lost look on his face said it all. 'Of course, they didn't.' His family hardly spoke to Abe ever since they'd put him in here.

"They didn't tell you, did they?" He shook his head sadly. "Well, that doesn't matter. Point is, I'm fine, I'm sorry for missing those two weeks' worth of visits, and I need to borrow your shower for a minute. The one at home hurts my chest when I use it."

"Okay, just don't take too long. I've got company." He looked shyly back to his lady friend. She gave him a playful smile and an accompanying wink. 'Oh~ gross!'

Yep. It was time to hurry the hell up. Moving to the bathroom, he grabbed one of his grandpa's spare towels and locked the door behind him. As he did, he was sure to press the needle down on the already spinning record.

He could here one of his grandfather's favorite songs being played as he showered. The softest setting the showerhead had was just perfect for his mild bruising and the hot water felt good against his skin.

After a good fifteen minutes of showering, drying, and getting dressed he opened the door ever so slightly. He honestly didn't want to stumble across old people having sex for a third time.

Luckily, the two were only dancing in the middle of the room. It was a heartwarming scene. Once he hated to interrupt, but… he opened the door.

"Alright grandpa. I'm heading out. I'll see you in a few days when you're not putting the moves on this pretty young lady, here." He gave her a wink as he opened and walked out the door.

As he closed it, he could hear the woman talking. She must not have realized how loud she was being. The joys of growing old and losing one's hearing.

"Quite the charmer you got there, Abe. And seeing how that's the second Simpson man to compliment me so smoothly today, I'm beginning to think it runs in the family." His grandfather chuckled at the thought.

"Well, almost. It might've skipped a generation." Ford laughed at the reference to Homer. But, Ford had to refute that. His father was actually quite the charming man when he actually tried to be. How else could he have gotten someone like his mother to fall for him?

"Now, what's this I hear about you putting the moves on me." Yep! Time to go!

Leaving the building, he could see the Flanders sitting in the car still singing. He took a breath, before making his way over. Getting in the car, he noticed Maude had stayed in the back seat rather than moving up to the front while he was gone.

Turning to the back, he spoke to the boys. "Sorry for the wait guys. Alright, now let's head to the bank and from there we can get an early lunch. Brunch, technically, if you think about it. How's that sound?" The boys nodded excitedly.

"Great! Let's go." He looked over to Ned, who put the car into reverse and took off towards the bank.

It was exactly what you'd expect the First Bank of Springfield to look like. A small, homely looking building that had all the charm you'd expect from a bank that operated in Springfield.

"I'll go in with you, Ford. I happen to have a check to deposit." He was going in too? Ford would have to be careful about what Ned heard and saw. He didn't want anyone to know what kind of cash he had on him or in the bank.

"Sure. But let's try to be quick, those two back there look hungry enough to eat an entire cow." They shared a laugh and both men went inside.

'Laughing with the Flanders was the exact opposite of laughing with my family. Instead of laughing at each other, we laughed with each other. A very weird concept…or maybe I'm just jaded?'

The line was short, given it was still early and most everybody else was either at work, in school, or somewhere another such place that people with things to do went.

"Next!" That was him. Ned had gone to handle his business privately. Apparently, he was planning on setting up a business of some kind? Ford hadn't heard everything, but he didn't think it was supposed to be heard by him at all.

"Good morning. I would like to, uh, deposit this…" he leaned in and pulled the check out of his wallet. "…check for eighty-five thousand dollars into my account." He spoke quietly, more than little paranoid about being overheard.

He still wasn't sure about such a large amount of money being given to him. Wasn't that a large loss on Fat Tony's part. In reality, it would have been a rather medium sized loss to Fat Tony to randomly hand out eighty-five thousand dollars.

But Ford was a lucky man who found himself in a position that wasn't all too far off from an 'everybody wins, and nobody loses' outcome. In preventing the men in the car from escaping, he gave Fat Tony's men to discover what rival organization had done this.

In discovering who they were, he was able to act swiftly and consume their operations as a whole. And because of this, the competition he faced was lessened, the amount of money people owed him increased significantly, markets previously unavailable to him were now opened, and his pool of resources and information on other, still existing, organizations were much more detailed.

In the long run, eighty-five thousand dollars was a small price to willingly pay in the face of all the money he stood to make because of it. Plus, he was only going to get a quarter of what he currently had.

The only reason he didn't was because Anna had peaked at the Simpsons' financial records, they had an 'understanding' with mayor Quimby and asked for a 'small favor', and found them in sore need of money.

If the woman at the counter had any issues with Ford's hushed voice and the way his eyes scanned the room, then she didn't show it. Instead, she lowered her voice as well.

"A check that size will need to be cleared first. When it is cleared, perhaps three or four business days from now, you can come in and take out as much as you wish. Would you still like to cash your check?"

So I have to wait a couple days before getting my money? Damn. How am I going to pay for lunch for the five of us if I only have thirty dollars on hand and the food's expensive as hell?

"Is it possible to get some of the money right now? Like, twenty bucks?" The woman smiled. "If you deposit it now, you'll have access to a portion of the amount deposited." At least he's have something.

'Whew! That would have been beyond embarrassing to have to tell Ned that I couldn't pay for everyone when I said that I would.' Ford thanked the woman, deposited the check into his account, and immediately took out three hundred dollars.

Of all the things Ford could do with three hundred dollars… buying lunch was the first he could think of. But the second! The second would be much better. As for how much better? He'd think of that after lunch.

"Thank you! Have a nice day." He turned and walked away from the teller, out to the car. It was another fifteen minutes before Ned came back from his private little meeting. Ford caught him and Maude sharing a nod in the rearview mirror, which Ford took as a sign that they were in on whatever it was together.

"Now the moment we've all been waiting for! Brunch!" Cheers rang out from the back seat. They spent the next five minutes driving around and looking for a good place before spending an hour and a half at an all you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet.

Homer had taken them here often enough for Ford to be able to do the price calculations in his head. And since none of them ate like Homer did, the time spent there would be substantially shorter.

Overall, it was the perfect place to go eat.

After eating and paying, Ford and the Flanders drove back Evergreen Terrace. Coming up on their houses, Ford could see that no one was home yet. Which means he had time to go do something his mother would surely disapprove of.

"Hey, Ned. Could I ask for one more favor from you?" Ford hated asking for too much from Ned. Anything more than one thing a week felt like too much to ask for. "Sure thing, Ford. What do you need?"

They pulled into the driveway. Maude and the boys got out first. The boys rushing inside and pulling their mother along with them to check out a new board game Ned had bought for them on their birthday the week prior.

Which reminded him, he needed to get them a gift. Whichever one had the birthday, that is.

"I was wondering…do you and Maude have any plans to use the car for the rest of the day? Because I was hoping to follow up on a promise I made to Lisa before the accident. See, I was supposed to pick her up from school, so we could go to the Museum of Natural History before this cool exhibit on Egypt ended."

If Ford could get Ned to agree, he'd be able to run into town and pick Lisa up from school early. That's make her day. Hell, he might even grab Bart, too. Maybe. He'd decide when he got there. "But me getting into that crash really put a damper on…those…" He didn't get a chance to continue. He didn't need to.

Ned was already holding the keys out to him, visibly moved. Ford swore he could see unshed tears in Ned's eyes. "Now what kind of neighbor would I be if I didn't help you keep a promise to little Lisa? Go on and do what you need to, Ford. The Flanders will be staying in tonight!"

"Thank you, Ned. Despite the many rants my dad makes about you, you're a good neighbor and a good friend." Without another word, Ned got out of the car and walked into his house. Ford, needing to change into something else, got out of the car and went inside his own house as well.

It didn't take too long to put together something comfortable and stylish. A vintage-looking brown leather jacket over a khaki green jumper, brown leather belt, cuffed blue jeans, and brown shoes had Ford looking all kinds of handsome.

He'd need to dress in something more than basketball shorts, old sneakers, and a plain t-shirt if he wanted to charm those teachers into letting him take Lisa, and possibly Bart too, out of class early.

He looked at the clock. 'School lets out at 3:45 for them. It's 1:45 now. I can be there by 2:00 if I hurry. But…that'll only give me two hours to hang out since its Thursday and Bart has detention while Lisa has band practice! Ah, I'm such an idiot for not realizing this sooner!'

He got all dressed up for nothing. Great. Now what was he going to do? He had Ned's car. He had two hours and a pocket full of cash to burn…what could he possibly do with his time?

He didn't like to drink, didn't have any girlfriend to speak of or friend friends to take out, and…he was a complete loser, wasn't he? "Shit! I am a loser, aren't I? Well, that blows!" Throwing down the keys to Ned's car onto the table, thinking that maybe he should look into hanging out with people outside of the family.

'…Nah~ Maybe just a girlfriend would suffice?' There were plenty of women he knew that were interested in him. Most of them were women his mother's age, but he wasn't all too bothered by that. In fact, he was more interested in those women than he was in the girls from his high school.

Older women usually knew what they wanted and how they wanted it by the time they reached their thirties. They had the mental capacity that many girls his own age didn't. To top it all off, they were simply greater in number and…other physical aspects.

Ford felt he could share in their passions, their search for a decent career, their interest in having great sex, and most especially the pursuit for that one true someone with whom they could have great sex.

He may have looked like the average seventeen-year-old on the outside, but on the inside, he was so much more. He had ambition, an already chosen career he was already overqualified for in his personal opinion, the mindset to devote himself to his partner, and the means to support them once he actually got the job at the plant.

That being said, he wasn't ready to have all of that thrust upon him yet. He was still only seventeen and had no plans to marry young and have children like his parents had. Getting pregnant with him at the tail end of high school was almost like a death sentence towards the rest of their lives.

It was him putting two and two together about this that set him on the path to being who he was today. Four-year-old him was still a very smart kid, despite the lack of worldly experience.

He had no understanding of the fact that they saw having him as a sign that they were meant to be together forever. Unfortunately, with Bart, Lisa, and Maggie it was less of an occasion of celebration and pure joy than it was the coming of another hungry mouth to feed.

And so, the misplaced guilt that came with being the one who ended their lives before they really started was life altering.

Anyway, now Ford was going to town for a different reason. It was time he stopped basing his social life off of his family. Instead, he should start basing it off other people as well. And with that in mind, his search for a girlfriend began.

He'd actually been thinking about this for quite some. Every weekend he ended up doing the same thing. Fridays he'd spend watching movies and television show marathons. Saturdays were spent outside the house at the gym or the library. And Sundays were the days he spent with Bart; checking his homework and helping him understand the material.

Nowhere in those three days did he meet up with kids from school. Just other Simpsons. Man…this was all starting to really depress him. Which is why he was going to start his journey through the dating scene.

But where would he start his search? He looked thought hard, trying to make a list of all the different places he could try finding women.

Moe's? 'I'd really not pick up anyone from a bar.' The church? 'That's probably not such a good idea.' The bank? 'The teller was cute, but I don't want cute. Girls are cute. Women are beautiful, and I want beautiful.'

The hospital? 'Nurse Feldman gave me her number…but I was getting more of a friend vibe more than anything else. Hmm…maybe…the school? What teachers did he know from Bart and Lisa's school?' There was Principal Skinner, who was a man, so he was out.

Lisa's teacher, the one who's kind of a hard ass, was an option. According to Lisa, she was a hard ass because she was just an overall miserable person. At least, that's what Ford had gotten out of what she really said.

'Who else? Who else?' Oh! Ms. Krabappel was another teacher he knew. From what he could tell, she wasn't married and she wasn't uninterested in him. And that was good enough.

Ford had met her a few months ago when Bart's grades had suddenly dropped lower than ever they'd ever been before. He'd gone from getting D's and the rare C to three consecutive F's. It was very unlike Bart to get anything lower than a D if he could help it.

She'd called the house in order to get ahold of either Marge or Homer, so a parent-teacher conference could be arranged. But that day both of his parents were resolving some mess Homer had caused. So, he was the one who had to answer the phone and deal with Bart.

The meeting was what tipped him off to his brother's issues. Before that, he just assumed Bart didn't care about school. He never would have guessed that he had actual trouble learning and understanding. Ford believed that it must've been a trait he got from Homer.

But it sure did explain a lot. And the hardest part was keeping it a secret from the rest of the family. Bart was…embarrassed about his difficulties. He'd begged Ford not to tell anybody what he'd figured out.

And he didn't; much to his reluctance. Though, he promised to do so under the condition that he and Bart would work towards getting him a C average at the least. Ford would be damned if he was going to let his little brother screw himself over.

Anyway, Ford set out to the elementary school to put his plan into action. What plan? Well, technically he didn't have one yet. But he would! Just as soon as he got in the car and thought of one.