After Demon’s mother completes rehab and returns home, Demon is allowed supervised visits at their house instead of at McDonald’s, though Demon still has to return to foster care afterward. Miss Barks drops Demon off and waits outside for the hour, explaining that Demon’s mother is “earning trust” through drug tests and that reunification by Christmas is a realistic goal. During the first visit, Demon sees signs of his mother trying to act “normal,” hears that Stoner still resists Demon moving back in, and collects only a couple small action figures to secretly leave for the younger foster kids, Swap-Out and Tommy, since anything valuable would be taken by Fast Forward.

On the ride back, Demon finds himself happiest simply talking with Miss Barks. Miss Barks shares details about her own life: she is young, taking night classes at Mountain Empire Community College, living in an apartment in Norton, and aiming to become a teacher because she loves kids and wants a better future than DSS provides. When Miss Barks asks what Demon wants to be when he grows up, Demon admits nobody has ever asked him and that his main goal is “still alive.”

Later, Demon gets a full Saturday with his mother, and she reveals a shocking surprise: she is pregnant, having only discovered it through blood tests. Demon is excited and overwhelmed by the idea of becoming a big brother, and the day feels briefly restored to their old closeness as they rake leaves, jump in them with Maggot, measure height on the wall, dance to music, and play games. When Demon asks about the baby’s room, his mother becomes vague, revealing tension with Stoner about needing a bigger house and his lack of enthusiasm for the pregnancy.

To meet the visit requirement of “learning to be a family,” Demon waits for Stoner to come home and say hello. Demon, haunted by memories of the overdose night and his own violent drawings of Stoner, freezes as Stoner arrives and immediately shifts the mood. In a forced talk, Stoner reframes Demon’s foster experiences as an “attitude” problem and claims counseling has taught him terms like “opposition disorder,” which Stoner says Demon has and should be medicated for if he wants to move back in.

Demon’s mother tries to steer the conversation to Christmas reunification and happier plans, but Stoner tightens control. Stoner forbids Demon from seeing Maggot and the Peggots despite Miss Barks’s approval, insults Miss Barks, and claims he will get an injunction so Demon would be arrested for going there. Demon sees his mother subtly deny Stoner’s claim with a tiny head shake, but Demon remains trapped between dread of the kitchen and dread of returning to the foster farm, watching the microwave clock count down until Miss Barks returns.