Zack's Beginnings

Summary: A one shot story where Zack tells Tommy, Dil and Peter the story of his life before he met the Rugrats. Story will be told from Zack's POV. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Rugrats, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse, who is made reference to in Zack's story, is owned by Jesse Barrow, and just as I don't own the characters from Rugrats, I don't own the characters from Bobby's World either, as Bobby Generic is mentioned during Zack's story, and finally, the S.A.D. Club is owned by LilNate13.

Location: Yucaipa, California, October 9, 2013

Zack POV

It was a cool, fall night, and Peter was babysitting me, Tommy and Dil for the weekend. It would have been fun having the three of them at my place for the weekend, except it was one of those nights, where I couldn't decide whether to be frustrated by the constant crankiness that was going on around me, or to feel sorry for my friends. Between diaper rash bothering Dil, and new teeth coming in bothering Tommy, between the two of them, I thought I was going to get a headache!

"Got any ideas Peter?" I yelled, hoping he'd hear me over their constant cries of pain.

"No worries Zack, your babysitter, and king of the Confederacy, has the cure. A nice, warm bubble bath, and, a brand new treat, I give you, Reptar popcickles!" Said Peter excitedly, as he pulled out the box of brightly colored popcickles from the freezer. They were in the shape of Reptar, each one, a different color, and a different flavor.

Peter passed the box around the small dinner table, where I saw the colors. There was orange, red, yellow and green. So many choices, but I could only pick one. Peter took the orange one out of the box, Tommy took green, Dil took yellow, which left me getting the last one in the box, the red one. I was not fond of cherry popcickles, but Tommy and Dil seemed perfectly content with their lemon and lime popcickles, not to mention, Tommy's obviously looked like Reptar, cuz well, he's green to begin with. And finally, a moment of silence! I'd suck it up and eat my cherry popcickle if it meant a few moments of silence, giving my poor ears and head a break.

"So, like your popcickles?" Peter asked.

Tommy nodded.

"Mmmm hmmm." Said Dil.

I took mine out of my mouth, and licked my lips before giving Peter my reply.

"Yep." I said, showing my toothless smile. I tell ya, maybe getting new teeth in hurted, but I couldn't wait to start getting more teeth. I only had two at this time, though keeping in mind, I was in between Tommy and Dil age wise, so couldn't complain.

"So, after you finish your dessert, it will be time for your bath, and then, it will be bedtime. Last weekend, I let you guys stay up way too late while we watched that video that covered the history of your lives." Said Peter, as he took the last bite of his orange popcickle.

"True, but didn't we watch that to help make a point to Angelica?" I said, trying to recall the events of last weekend's slumber party at Tommy's, when we learned that Angelica told the world we didn't exist, and trying to prove once and for all, that we did indeed exist.

Peter nodded.

A few minutes later, we were all in the bathtub. Dil, who was never fond of baths, wanted to get out.

"I'm not having any fun, when will this be over?" Dil asked, about ready to cry.

"How can you not enjoy bathtime. It's loads of fun! Right Tommy?" I asked, turning to Tommy, who sat in the corner of the bathtub, playing with my rubber ducky.

Tommy nodded.

I had to say, he seemed unusually quiet tonight, but I guess when your teeth and gums hurt, talking is the last thing you want to be doing. Peter had given Tommy some pain medicine to take the owey away, in hopes it would kick in by the time we all had to go to sleep. And Dil's bath, was designed, to help with his diapie rash.

After the bath, Peter got us dressed in our pajamas, and we were sitting on the floor of my small bedroom, with Peter, in the big rocking chair.

"Now, who's up for a bedtime story tonight?" Peter asked.

"We are!" We all said in unison.

"So, what story would you like to hear tonight?" Peter asked.

"Well, I hearded you guys talking about how we watched that video last weekend, and, I was thinking, we never hearded about Zack's life. What was your life like before you metted us Zack?" Tommy asked.

It then hitted me that Tommy's pain meds must have kicked in, as that was about the onliest time he spoke that night, so I'd step in, and gladly give in to his request, as he was the guest, not to mention, a guest who was in pain most of the evening.

"So, you wanna hear about my life before we became friends?" I asked, hoping I heard Tommy correctly.

"Uh huh?" Replied Tommy.

"Ok, I'll tell you the story then." I said, as I stood tall in front of Tommy and Dil, hoping it would make for an impression. Not that they cared, but I had only knowed them for a short time, surely I was still getting use to the way things worked.

If anything, the friends I had now were the firstest friends I had ever knowed. Before I met Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, Peter and Jesse, I didn't know what a friend was. But maybe it would be safer if I went back to the beginning, rather than trying to confuse your little baby minds with such tangled up nonsense.

Ok, well, it all started when I was bornded, way back, a long time ago. When I first came into this world, I was in my mommy's arms. Yep, that's right, there was my mommy, Cathy Wehrenberg, my daddy, Michael Wehrenberg, my grandpa, Steve Wehrenberg, my grandma, Mary Wehrenberg, and the lady who saved my life, Aunty Celeste Wehrenberg. When I came into this new world, I looked around the hopcickle room, like it was a fascinating place. But the bestest part, was being with my new family. Of course, I didn't have my name for about a day or so. By the nextest day, I was known as Zachary Michael Wehrenberg, or Zack, for short.

Over the next several months, I spent lots of time with my family. I drank milk from my mommy, got rocked to sleep and sung to by my aunty and grandma, and listened to music with my grandpa. My daddy wasn't all that fond of me at first, but maybe it's a guy thing. I really don't know. I did know that he loved me, and that's what mattered mostest.

As I grew and changed, I played the baby Jesus at church my firstest Christmas. After a while, I got to where I could sit up on my own, my head didn't wobble around as much, or need to be supported by the grown ups that surrounded me anymore. My firstest solid foods were carrots and sweet potatoes, and boy did I agree with Tommy on that account, food, was an adventure! But then came a very difficult day, one that I don't wish upon any baby. You see, my mommy and daddy did something called work. This is when they'd leave the house, and leave me to be babysat by my grandma and grandpa. It was nice and all, but the only thing I gotted out of all of this was that mommy and daddy's jobs weren't going well. One day, they came home, crying!

"I got fired!" Daddy said through his tears.

"And we're broke!" Cried my mommy.

"Hmmm, my daddy didn't look like he was on fire, and my parents didn't look like they were broked." I thought to myself, but maybe something was broked on the inside that I couldn't see.

No matter, I just, gave my mommy and daddy a hug, only wishing I could do something more to help them get fixed, and put the fire out, but seeming like the only little one in a world surrounded by grown ups, I felt helpless. No matter, I continued to enjoy my toys, and some of the bestest times I had, were with my Aunty Celeste! Whenever she came over to play, we'd have lots of fun for hours! We'd play with a bunch of my favoritest toys, like Scout, Circle Bear, Square Bear, Triangle Bear, and my newest favoritest, Captain Bear!

Some time past, and mommy and daddy started leaving for work again, but I also founded out, that Aunty Celeste, would also be going off to work, and unlike mommy and daddy, who could return home every day, when Aunty Celeste went off to this new job, it would be too far away for her to come visit me so many days a week anymore.

"Now don't worry Zack, I'll be back to visit you at Christmas." Said Aunty Celeste, giving me a hug, and a kiss on the top of my head.

But that wasn't enough for me. I didn't want her to simply come up at Christmas when Santa Clause came for his visit, and I got to play the baby Jesus. I wanted things to stay the way they had always been. I wanted to see my Aunty Celeste more times of the year than just at Christmas. So I started to cry. I cried and cried, non-stop, till I couldn't cry anymore.

Then, one day, the hellophone rang. Boy did I love the hellophone, all of those buttons to push! There were numbers, including my favoritest number, the number eight!

"Zachary, telephone, it's your Aunty Celeste!" Said my grandma.

It was then that I stopped my tears, and scooted to the hellophone, as I was barely crawling at this time. I pressed the buttons and made my aunty laugh, but as soon as she said bye bye to me, I started crying again.

My parents couldn't understand, why I was so attached to my aunt, but not to them. I wanted to tell them that it was because they were too busy working, and well, that my Aunty Celeste was just, a lot more funnerer. Sure, my grandma and grandpa will play with me, but they can't get down on the floor with me like Aunty Celeste can. When Aunty Celeste is over, besides taking care of me, and feeding me my bottle, she was like, well, the playmate I always longed for, she was, in a word, my bestest friend. Several days passed. No sign of my Aunty Celeste, until one day.

I was eating some stars for breakfast, or as I was calling them that morning, my uh oh's, when we all hearded a car pull up out in front. Mommy tooked me out of my highchair, and together, we went to see who it was. It was my Aunty Celeste, and she was in a purple van! Now I didn't quite know until this time, that my aunty was blind, which means, you can't see. But she tolded us about her brand new driverless van, which allowed her to use a car like everybody else, thanks to state of the art technology, whatever that was.

I didn't care, I was just happy that my aunty came back. She scooped me out of my mommy's arms, and I laughed so hard, I must have wetted my diapie, as well as my jammies! She stayed for a couple of days, and we had a great time together, but something else was going on too. The things in my room, like my crib, and other furniture, was disappearing!

"What was going on?" I thought to myself, as I sat on the floor of a room, once mine, now empty.

While I was sitting there thinking, I hearded the doorbell ring. My daddy went to answer it. I was too far away to see what was going on, but the person on the other side of the door, didn't sound very nice.

"Good evening sir, how do you do?" Asked the man on the other side of the door.

"I'm fine, thank you." Replied my daddy.

"Well, I am here to let you know, that I am a part of an organization called The S.A.D. Club, and I am here to warn you, that you'd better give up your child, before you're sorry." Said the person at the door.

"Excuse me sir, but you can't have him. He's my son." Snapped my daddy.

"Oh come on, who wants children anyway?" Said the man on the other side of the door.

"I do, and sorry, but we're finished here. Good day to you sir." Said my daddy, as he slammed the door in that man's face.

A bazillion hours later, my Aunty Celeste came in, scooped me up, and took me downstairs to where the rest of my family was.

"Well, it's time for us to go. Say bye bye Zack." Said my Aunty Celeste.

I obviously couldn't talk to grown ups. Heck, I still can't talk to most grown ups, only Peter, but that's another story. Still though, I waved goodbye to everyone, and the nextest thing I knew, my Aunty Celeste was placing me into my car seat, not in mommy's car, not in daddy's car, and not even in my grandma or grandpa's car, but in her driverless van!

I couldn't believe it! I was getting to go for a ride, in my aunty's driverless van! Little did I know that it was going to be a long drive. Then, it hit me. My parents gave me up to be cared for by my aunt, to protect me, because that man who came to the door scared my parents to the point, that they didn't want to see anything happen to me. And, they must have run into him or somebody wanting to hurt me and my family, before that incident, as my furniture was already gone when that man showed up, which says something. No matter, I was just happy to be safe, and that nobody, was going to hurt me. So, it was obvious, that they did probably one of the toughest things a parent has ever had to do, but had I not gone, I might not be alive right now. I tried to take lots of nappies on the long drive, but at points, it was no use, seems as if the drive was going to last forever. Several times along the way, we'd stop to change my diapies, and get yummy food. There was even one time, where I had to get a painful shot, and the grown ups there tolded me that it was to protect me from getting the Gray Plague. Finally, the drive came to an end, and here I was, in this very apartment where I'm telling you guys the story from.

It appearedid that I was in my new home, and that I'd be living with my Aunty Celeste from now on. At first, I missed my mommy and daddy, but after a few days, I started to accept being in the care of my aunty, because not only is she playful, but she's kind, gentle, sings beautifully, and always makes me smile! But while she made me smile, there was something, missing from my life.

Was I the only baby on earth? I knew this couldn't be true, between seeing young children at church the previous Christmas, and other children playing around in the yards of the homes of my neighbor's when I lived with my mommy, daddy, grandma, and grandpa. But not once had I gotten the chance, to meet any of these small kids. Little did I know just how soon that was all about to change.

It was a bright, sunny day, and my aunty decided to take me to the park!

"Maybe you'll meet a new friend to play with!" My aunty said with a smile, as she scooped me up and putted me into my stroller.

A little while later, I was at the park, trying to figure out what I wanted to go do first. Then, it happened! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small child, roughly around two or three years of age, picking dandelions, looking pretty sad. He wore square glasses, and had long, orange red hair, sticking out in every which direction. I knew this was my chance, to make a new friend, so I gave in, and spoke up.

"Hi!" I said, surprising myself, as I had never talked before.

The kid replied back, and I soon founded out, that his name was Chuckie, and that he was lonely, because his bestest friend, had been in the hopcickle. I of course was sad, because I had never had a friend close to my age before, so we agreed to play together, and during that playtime in the park, we gotted to know one another. I was also amazed, that I metted him on his third birthday, who could have asked for a better birthday present, and just think, I was only eight-months-old at the time, still having yet to celebrate a birthday.

A little while later, I met Tommy, Phil, Lil, and Chuckie's little sister Kimi. You Tommy, well, you still didn't feel good, I could tell, as you mentioned that you weren't up for playing, you were tired. And Phil and Lil were not only fascinated by mud, but they were covered in it! So was Chuckie's sister Kimi! And your little brother Dil, well, I metted him while we all ated lunch, he was a little bit yucky, but I'm sure I could be like that at times too. I nearly losted Chuckie as a friend though, as I confronted him about how I felt about his other friends, only to have Chuckie tell me that this is how things were, and you were tired, cuz you had been in the hopcickle for so long. I was getting to go to Chuckie's third birthday party later that day, so decided to shrug it off, and give everyone a chance.

The birthday party was fun, but Chuckie was upset, cuz you, never showed up. I convinced Chuckie that maybe it was time to look into getting a new bestest friend, because no true friend, ditches your birthday party. Chuckie accepted my offer, so I went with it. The nextest day, I saw my firstest Reptar Live show, which I thought was really cool, considering I did get juice spilled on me by you, I'll admit, I was thankful you lefted that show during intermission, as you fell asleep, and your snoring in my ear, made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the show.

"I'm sorry about that." Said Tommy, interrupting my story.

"I forgive you Tommy, after all, you weren't quite yourself back then, and were on medicine that would make you do that, fall asleep that is." I replied.

"I wasn't happy I fell asleep, having to miss Reptar either." Said Tommy.

"Glad to know that." I said with a grin, before continuing my story.

Afterwards, Chuckie seemed upset that you had lefted early, so I was a smart alex, reminding him that maybe you weren't all you were cutted out to be. Of course, I should have just kept my mouth shut, because I had no clue of the history that you and Chuckie had with one another, and, let's just say, I only made things worser. However, I didn't learn until much laterer, that problems between you and him were going on, until a few days later, when my aunty was watching me, Chuckie and Kimi, but because she had to go to work for a while, she then lefted me in the care of Chuckie and Kimi's parents, who then needed some time alone, so they lefted all of us at you and your brother Dil's, where we watched a Reptar movie together. When I learnded that everybody liked Reptar, one of the few things that grandma turned on for me when I lived with them, yep, I'd watch Reptar Train, followed by Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and at night, before having to say night night to the oven and refridgerator, and eating my dinner, I'd watch The Alphabet Show, well, maybe there was hope for me after all.

You apologized to Chuckie for the fight you had the previous day, which made me happy, cuz it was obvious, that I was the cause of such quarreling. Then, you wanted to venture off into the basement to find your missing screwdriver, but we were stopped by your cousin Angelica, who I've never liked since that firstest time I met her, and she made us all be judges of her Cynthia fashion show. After a while, me and Kimi finally gave up on her, and went down to the basement, in search of you and Chuckie, who had been down there a while. I was glad I founded you guys, as you weren't doing well. Before I knew it, you and Dil were rushed off to the hopcickle, because Dil had been dropped on the floor by accident by his daddy, and you were having trouble breathing, as a result of the Gray Plague returning.

I just hoped everyone was going to be ok, especially since after that, your mommy and daddy separated for a time, causing me to more or less, never see them again. Or, I thought. The nextest day, I saw Phil and Lil again, along with Chuckie and Kimi, and after having fun on that adventure I had gone on the previous day, I decided, that perhaps I should give every baby a chance. I learnded, that you can't judge a baby by their interests, or spir of the moment happenings, you've gotta get to know them for who they really are, and that takes time.

I then saw your mommy disappear, and I continued to play with Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil, and somewhere along the way, I met Jesse and Peter. Jesse had just moved there from some place called Scotland, and Peter was a king! He was the onliest grown up who could talk to us, which I thought was really neat! Sure, Taffy, who my aunty finally hired to babysit me, because she needed someone to watch me while she went to work, while she was fun, she couldn't understand us like Peter could, so in that way, she wasn't as much fun, but she was a great care giver when my aunty couldn't be there, also playing music, and making sure I was taken care of.

Then, it finally came around, for me to go to your second birthday party. It was not only my firstest movie, but my firstest trip to the parking lot movie as Chuckie called it. Out of all of us in my aunty's van, Chuckie was the only one who had been to the parking lot movie before, to see some movie called Runaway Reptar. Sadly, the movie we went to see was some Dummi Bears movie, a sequel to one that had come out sometime ago, and Chuckie tolded me he never even saw the first one, all because you drug him off to look for Reptar, but we enjoyed the second movie, and while others will tell me the firstest one, A Land without Smiles I, has a sad ending, the sequel we sawed at your second birthday, had a happy ending, ending the two-part film, The Land without Smiles, 1 and 2, once and for all. Put it this way, by the end of that movie, everyone was smiling again, if that says something.

Then, we all went to eat birthday cake, only to learn that you weren't happy, cuz you still weren't cured of that Gray Plague, and I take it you hadn't been doing well.

"I wasn't." Said Tommy, interrupting my story.

"I could tell." I replied, before continuing with my story.

It was then that your luck changed. Your mommy had to cancel the rest of your party, because you'd finally be getting cured, so they headed off to the hopcickle, and my Aunty and I, tooked Chuckie and Kimi home, and I went to bed that night, where for the firstest time in my little baby life, I looked out my window, and made a wish on the firstest star I sawed.

"Star light, star bright, give me the wish, I wish on you tonight. I want some brothers and sisters." I said, gazing up into the sky, as I saw the stars twinkle back at me, before I closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

Seems as if those stars hearded me, as another week later, I saw you and your brother Dil again, and I met a you, who I had never met before. The real you. Not only were you healthy and happy, but you tolded all of us that we can't sit around, picking dandelions, cuz life's an adventure, and you never know when life might try to disappear. Of course, coming from someone who had to go to the hopcickle, and, who was a surviver of this Gray Plague thing, it hit me for the firstest time, that I believed you, and that maybe, you weren't such a bad person after all. Your mommy and daddy gotted back together, and ever since that day, I've not only had some of the bestest friends a baby could ever ask for, but Peter, Jesse, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, you and your brother Dil, have all become to me anyway, the brothers and sisters I always longed for. My wish came true, and I couldn't be any happier, than I am right now. In recent months, we've also all made a new friend, Bobby Generic, and I'm not sure if I can consider him a brother, but we're all still getting to know him, not just me, but all of us, so time will tell, if my friendship with Bobby, should ever get as close, as it is, with the rest of you guys.

When I finished telling my story, there wasn't a dry eye in that small bedroom. Tommy, Dil, and Peter were so moved by my story, that we all cried ourselves to sleep, as the tears of joy, rolled down our cheeks. And in closing, I'd just like to say, that I plan to stick by their sides, until the day I must go up into Heaven.

End of Zack POV

The End

Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that story. And, did you notice that it happened one week post my story, Prerugrats? And during Zack's story, he made references to things that happened during my story, Rugrats and the Gray Plague? Well, if you didn't figure that out, figured I'd let you in on that little secret. Also, I should let you all know, that in real life, my nephew Zack still lives with his parents and grandparents, his parents, or at least his dad anyway, is still at his job, and I'm lucky enough, to still live in town, so I can go visit Zack, whenever I want. And finally, the idea to have Tommy and Dil suffer from a teeth and gum ache and diaper rash, was inspired by the fact, that my poor nephew in reality, has been suffering from those lately. I also made up the concept of Reptar popcickles, however, had Rugrats continued, they already had Reptar bars, Reptar cookies, and Reptar cerial, I could have seen there being some Reptar popcickles eventually. And, so there's no confusion, in reality, my nephew was born in the year 2013, but the OC in my stories, that Zack, was born a year earlier, in 2012. And yes, in reality, Reptar train is Dinosaur Train, and The /Alphabet Show in both instances, is Wheel of Fortune, in both, real life, and my stories. Sometimes though in my stories, Zack will call it The Letters Show, like he did in my story, The First Word. Can't think of anything else I want to clear up in this story, should any of you readers be confused by anything, but if you are, feel free to PM me, or let me know in your reviews, and I'll be sure to fill you in on anything that's confusing. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that story, and, there'll be more stories, coming soon, and eventually, I'll finish up my other latest projects, my two Tales from the Crib stories, Sleeping Kimi, and The Sound of Minis, as well as the three alternate ending stories I posted up earlier today, but it's getting towards crunch time in the school semester, so you all may have to bare with me, and have some patience, as with Thanksgiving around the corner, I may devote my free time, to starting on the stories I plan to release on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday, which are in just barely two weeks from now. No matter, I thank each and every one of you, for your support and your reviews, you guys are the best, and, I shall return, really soon!