"Fathers just have a way of putting everything together." - Erika Cosby

Celeste Scam dipped her brush onto her palette absentmindedly before adding a carefully applied stroke of paint to her canvas. She glanced up briefly at the time – 3:30 a.m. Lately she'd been staying up increasingly late (or was it early?) to indulge in her artistic passions, as they were a welcome relief from the stresses of her daily life. For that, she had her father to thank – several years ago, he'd added a large room to their mansion in Beverly Hills while she was gone attending various camps and workshops over the summer, and converted it into her very own personal art studio. Then again, she thought to herself in amusement, there was nothing Tim Scam wouldn't do for his own children.

The Scam family had developed an infamous reputation in their community for having wildly successful children. Jerry had tried suggesting once that this was due to the fact that the Scam children were "doubly blessed", each having two spy genes, but Tim had abruptly shut him down by retorting that his and his wife's parenting skills played a far more significant role – and the results were undeniable. As the baby of the family, sometimes Celeste felt overshadowed by her brother and sister, Rick and Steffy, who had each developed legendary reputations in their respective high schools and were constantly competing, each trying to one-up the other. Rick had inherited his father's knack for science and technology – Tim had tutored him in math to the point where he was the only freshman in the history of his school to have taken and aced calculus, and he'd also become known as the "tech whiz" ever since he'd developed his first iPhone application in middle school. Through tinkering with electronics in his spare time, he successfully patented three inventions and founded his own start-up company as a senior. Far from being classified as a geek, Rick was also the captain of the varsity wrestling and swimming teams and practiced mixed martial arts as a hobby.

Steffy was the all-around superstar, excelling in just about every subject she tackled. She had by far the toughest course load of anyone at her high school but still managed to ace nearly every one, graduating as valedictorian by a wide margin. She was also student council president, editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, homecoming queen, and captain of the varsity volleyball and tennis teams. On top of all that, somehow she'd also managed to win the state science fair through submitting a paper she wrote after conducting chemistry research over the summer, having been advised by both her parents. She was extremely ambitious and aspired to work in politics or finance someday. Celeste occasionally wondered if her sister even slept at all, given how tight her schedule was on some days.

Being surrounded by such incredible talent was no walk in the park, as Celeste knew all too well. Her mother Samantha often worried that she was stressing out too much over constantly trying to compare herself to her siblings, and this fear was only exacerbated when Celeste once collapsed from pure exhaustion during a cross country practice in seventh grade. Tim, who was also concerned, suggested that she should respond to her feelings of anxiety by investing herself more deeply into what she loved best: her art. To date, that had been the best advice she'd ever received from anyone, and it was only fitting that such advice would have come from her father. She was no slouch herself – she'd since compiled an impressive portfolio of all her creative pursuits – poetry, drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, and fashion design – and was named concertmistress of the school orchestra, as well as being captain of the varsity dance and track teams and head of a community service club. Still, it occasionally felt as though it wasn't enough, despite Samantha's persistent affirmations. Even Rick and Steffy referred to her affectionately as their "artsy sibling", and she was glad she'd become known as something to them, but with how gifted and motivated everyone in her family seemed to be, nothing ever seemed enough.

The colors on the canvas before her eyes seemed to twist into patterns of their own like a kaleidoscope. What time was it now? 4:30 a.m.? Whatever; sleep was overrated anyway. Rick and Steffy barely seemed to sleep at all themselves at times, and they turned out fine too, didn't they? She stifled a yawn and carried on with her work. Such erratic sleeping patterns couldn't be healthy, but then again, her own father Tim was a perpetual workaholic. Even now, she felt truly blessed to be his daughter and was still continually amazed by his support of and dedication to his family. After a successful career in the weapons development industry, his net worth was currently over a billion dollars due to the wild success and widespread use of his inventions, aided by shrewd investments on his part. Although she knew that he had been a wanted criminal at one point, he'd since been acquitted of his crimes, and judging from what her mother said, he'd also been just as dedicated to crime back in the day. Though she never told anyone this, that fact only made her respect him more, because it showed that he had strong character and was willing to stick to his values no matter what. He'd brought that same character and focus to the members of his family, and had played an instrumental role in raising her and her siblings. His knowledge was truly encyclopedic: he'd taught Rick all about diverse subjects ranging from computer programming to wrestling techniques to survival skills until he knew them like the back of his hand, helped Steffy manage her impossibly packed weekly schedule while advising her with planning and leading school events, and even frequently suggested ideas for her own artistic designs. The secret to the Scam family's sheer success lay primarily with the man who led it, and she was proud of that fact.

A ship's foghorn sounded from miles away, and Celeste peeked up to see the sun just beginning to rise over the Pacific Ocean right outside the large glass window of her studio. It was then that she sluggishly realized that she'd worked the entire night on her art. "I suppose I should start packing up now," she murmured aloud to herself, standing up and carefully moving her easel and canvas to the side of the room. She picked up the paint-stained pages of newspaper from the floor and threw them away before heading to the sink to wash off her palette and brushes. By this point, her head felt so heavy that even the cold water running over her fingers did nothing to awaken her in any way, and her movements felt slow and robotic. Turning off the tap and putting away the supplies, she caught sight of the desk nearby with her sketchbook lying on it, and in spite of how tired she felt, she just couldn't stop working when it came to her art. She opened it up to a new page, produced several graphite crayons, and began doodling, doodling, doodling…

Half an hour later, the door to the studio opened and Tim Scam stepped inside with a freshly cut bowl of fruit for his daughter, having seen the light on from the crack under the door. It didn't take long for him to notice the soundly asleep girl resting her head on her desk, her tousled auburn hair splayed out over it, as her hand gripped a graphite crayon. Without a word, he set the bowl down, gently pried the crayon out of her hand, and picked her up as her body snuggled against his chest for warmth.

"Poor dear," Samantha sighed over her morning cup of coffee as she watched her husband carry their youngest daughter up to her bedroom. "She's been overworking herself again."

"What can I say?" Tim asked amusedly in response, quirking an eyebrow at her as he walked past. "She obviously takes after me." Samantha giggled and playfully nudged him before entering the studio herself to clean up.

There wasn't much left to clean as Celeste had done most of the work herself, save for the few crayons on the desk that were still out of their box. After carefully putting them back, Samantha briefly dusted off the desk and picked up the bowl of fruit that Tim had left behind before she turned to leave and saw just what her daughter had been working on all night. It was a picture of Tim that she had painted from memory, and Samantha found herself marveling at how accurately she'd captured his features – high cheekbones, chiseled jaw, thick head of brown but now slightly graying hair due to his advancing age, but mostly his mesmerizing eyes, which had never lost their luster through all the years. Having reviewed her portfolio, Samantha knew that Celeste had done countless studies and portraits of people, but this one showed a particularly sentimental nature towards its subject, who had aged handsomely and gave off a distinct, refined impression – and she knew exactly why.

Grinning to herself, Samantha exited the studio and went upstairs eagerly to look for her husband to show him what she had found.

A/N: I had way too much fun imagining this particular scene. In my opinion, it beats Sam's future shown in "Futureshock!" (i.e. living with Clover and Alex well into her thirties) by lightyears. What do you think?