"Daddy, stop lying on the couch. The couch is bad and makes your back stiff." Jazz ordered, poking Marshall in the cheek. 
"This is all stupid Jeremy's fault." Dessie huffed, sitting on the floor. 
Marshall sat up, nodding at that, before sighing. "Perfect Jeremy is certainly missing most of the knives in the silverware drawer."  

Both children stared at him, and he sighed again. "Look, kids. I just... I need some time." 

"Because you're sad about Mommy?" 
"Yes." Marshall resisted the urge to snap at Desdemona. 
She looked at him, her face cradled by her hands. "Because she's your true love?" 
Something snapped inside Marshall. "There is no such thing as true love." He hissed through gritted teeth. Part of him wanted to take out all of his anger at stupid perfect Jeremy on stupid perfect Jeremy's daughter. But Christ if he'd let Jazz see him like that, or make Fi's kid cry. 

"Yes there is! It's in all the movies!" Jazz came to Dessie's defense. 
Marshall drew a deep breath. "The movies aren't real life. Real life doesn't have a happy ending." 
"It won't if you don't try." Dessie pointed out quietly, looking at him with big eyes. "Please? I want you to be my father instead of Jeremy. Then Jazz and I can be sisters and Mommy can be happy." 

"She's happy with him!" Marshall protested, the bite creeping back into his voice. "Fionna wouldn't just date him if she didn't want to! Fionna's smarter than that, she's stronger than that! If she didn't like him, she would have sent him packing, because she doesn't need him!" 
Everyone was silent for a minute, then Jazz asked, "What if she thought Dessie needed a father and that you weren't interested?" 

"I don't think you two understand the concept." Marshall sighed. 
"You can still win her over." Dessie decided. "She just met Jeremy again. And if Jazz could stop you from dating Mommy, I can stop her from liking Jeremy." 
Marshall listened intently, but Jazz made a noise of disbelief. "You? You aren't naughty." 

Dessie fidgeted. "I-I can be! I'll get rid of Jeremy, you'll see!" 
Jazz scoffed. "No. Because I'm going to help you. I am very good at getting rid of people." 
Marshall and Dessie regarded her with disbelief, and she scowled, crossing her arms. "Anyway Daddy, we'll help you with Fionna." 

Marshall smiled a little. "Thanks, kids." 

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He strummed the guitar lightly as Fionna left the apartment, sitting on the staircase. 
"That sounds really nice." She offered. 
He smiled at her, before he began singing softly. He didn't really have any words for it yet, so he made it up as he went along. He sang of sunshine and warmth and sky blue eyes and how he felt about her. However, he eventually ran out of music, and they were forced to talk. 

"Did-did you just come up with that?" Fionna asked, trying to keep the conversation light. 
Marshall shrugged. "The words, yes. The melody, no. So, why are you just letting Jeremy back into your life like the prodigal boyfriend?" 
"He didn't want to leave." 
"Mm. He didn't want to come back either." 

Fionna recoiled. "What do you mean?" 
"He's an adult, Fi. He's clearly been an adult for a while. Why let him be controlled by his parents?" 
Fionna glared at him. "We can't all destroy all ties with our parents on a whim, Marshall." 

Marshall struck a discordant note in surprise, before muttering, "They had to be there in the first place, now didn't they?" 

Fionna winced. "I didn't mean it like that." 
He looked her straight in the eye. "Neither did I. Dessie doesn't seem to like Perfect Jeremy very much, now does she?" 
Fionna fidgeted. "He has a right to get to know her." 

"So that is what this is about." Marshall sighed, half in relief, half in exasperation. "I was wondering how you were going to tell Phoebus that he'd really just been a placeholder for perfect Jeremy." 
"He's not perfect." 
"Then he doesn't deserve you." 

"Don't put me up on a pedestal." 
"Fair enough. But I don't like stupid Jeremy. And I know most of it is based in jealousy, but Dessie doesn't like him either, so..." 
Fionna smiled sadly. "If I let my five year old run my life, I'd be living off of Coco Puffs and glitter." 

He forced a smile. "Well, obviously not stuff like that, but... you know you don't have to date him, even if you want Dessie to get to know him?" 
"If she doesn't like him now, imagine if she had to spend entire weekends with him." Fionna pointed out. 

"Hey, if Jeremy hadn't come back... would you have started a relationship with me again?" He asked quietly. 
She grimaced. "We never had a relationship in the first place, but... yeah. I probably would have. Now let's stop being so sad, Marshall! It's messing with my head." 

He rose, towering over her. "What if we got rid of perfect Jeremy and it was just you and me and the kids..." He breathed, leaning in close. 
She ducked out of his way. "Let's not cross that bridge yet. Jeremy said you had a girlfriend?" 
"Again, you are not actually my girlfriend. And if you're asking about the flowers I was going to give you, too late. They are now wilted and pretty much dead." 

Fionna smiled. "I'm not much of a flower girl anyway." 
"Ah, well. I guess it's a good thing that he interrupted us then. I would have made a very fatal mistake..." He leaned in again, before pulling away, mostly because of the look she was giving him. It wasn't necessarily aggressive, but there were also undertones of sadness. This was just hurting her. 

"Yeah." She agreed, grinning. 
He started walking backwards, keeping his eyes on her. "You know, one of these days, I'm going to win you over." 
"What changed your mind, anyway?" She huffed. 
"Jazz said she was fine with you joining the family. And she's the only family I've got, so I tend to listen to her." He shrugged, grinning.