It was strange, coming back here after so long, but unlike many of his peers, Ford wasn't afraid of the facility. It was simply... strange. Besides visits to his girlfriend's farm or the rare trip to get stuff he needed around the house, the sloth spawn almost always confined himself to his apartment. The space was all his for a change, and he found he quite liked being a pseudo bachelor for a while... until he didn't. As much of an inconsiderate a*****e as Sander had insisted on being, he had managed to be a mostly-present inconsiderate a*****e. It didn't take long for Ford to realize he missed the company.
He knew he could have - and probably should have - asked Marcy if she wanted to move in, but somehow that didn't seem right. She adored her family, plus he was fairly certain she was waiting for something more from him, something he still wasn't entirely prepared to give her. Ford had made another choice, managing to convince himself that picking up a strange new kid would in no way strain their relationship. The depth of his delusion was kind of charming, really.
It was a warm, cloudless day when Ford rode his bike over to pick up his new toddler. They told him she was sloth and abstinence like he was, but she certainly didn't look it. At first, it didn't seem she would act it either, as boisterous and curious as she was, but once he got her out into the sun and situated on his lap (seriously, he was going to have to learn to drive a car at some point) her true nature made itself known. The little girl fell asleep almost immediately and couldn't be awakened for anything, not even when he accidentally steered through a deep rut in the road and nearly went flying into traffic.
He didn't have any toys, or even a bed, suitable for a child, but he would find in the weeks to come that the spawn made her own fun, whether it was running naked through the apartment after a bath or inviting all of the neighbors' cats in for a tea party, and she could sleep anywhere, bed or not. For now, he placed her on the sofa and peered at her, as if he expected her to implode or die while on his watch. Instead, she started to snore.
