Title: Going Back to Move Forward

Summary: Sequel to the Binary Swap AU "The Rabbit Returns to Toontown", Rhoda made a lot of mistakes. She hadn't been very brave. Or very smart either. But since when is naivety an excuse?


Chapter 1: Contract Breached

When the weight of candles on your cake is heavier than you, you'd hate birthdays too.

Baby Mina looked sullenly from the birthday seat of the table, confetti and balloons contrasting the hardened muscles of her jaw. Guests mingled and laughed, some chasing each other in her private manor. Most she recognized and there's a reason why she wouldn't invite them in her house. They have the tendency to-

CRASH!

"Whoo! Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo!" a black blurr said, bouncing around like a pinball in espresso. Following her with blurred, murderous purpose, was another duck, white this time, speed-ranting into gibberish.

And wielding an axe. Great, the guests also got into her armory.

"Donna!" Mika Mouse cried, her hands raised with concern. She looked like she was about to intervene. Beside her, the equally big star of another studio, leaned back against the balcony.

"Nyeeeh, they're jus' catching up to all the times they haven't murdered each other," Buggy Bunny said with a lazy shrug of her carrot hand.

Sylvia Cat waltzed by, bodily tugging around Leroy Hyena, out of sync with the music. Leroy was bruised and dazed. Correctly so, because last time Mina checked, he was twirled into a wall, do-si-doed into a shelf, swayed into a lamp and got introduced into other blunt furnitures that Mina was mentally listing to replaced.

The other guests were becoming suspiciously happier while turning interesting colors of blue, pink and purple. On the buffet table, Kit E. Coyote and Mavis the Martian "spritzing" the punch, up in their ears with test tubes and chemistry set apparatus. But the Roadrunner, who's already blue, has another side effect. Her beeps were now the sounds of a ship horn and hyena's baby.

Why oh why did she let that rabbit stay in her house at the month of her drawnday?

Rhoda never forget when Mina's drawnday was. Smack her with a mallet and asked her that question, she'd say it without missing a beat. Apparently, it had slipped from Mina's mind. So she wasn't exactly prepared when Rhoda had burst into her room singing "Happy drawnday!" and something about belonging to a zoo.

Before Mina knew it, she's wearing a paper crown and a colorful paper chain having "Happy drawnday" shrilled at her ear by a dozens other guests that Rhoda had invited.

Where is she, anyway?

"Heave-ho!"

Something shadowed Mina and she looked up. A large cake was rolled in front of her just across the table. The giant baked thing was extravagantly larger than a wheel and higher than a wedding cake of someone rich and showing off. It was iced in all colors and choked with garnish. The toons surround it, curious of the turn of events. Spotlights shone on it, the center of attention.

"Haven't I blown the candles already?" Mina groused.

Daffy grinned, her face widening with evil. But multiple elbows dug at her sides simultaneously. .

Mina wondered why everything became quiet.

"Sugarpie honeybunch!"

Her jaw dropped. Wha-?

"You know that I looove yoooooouuuuuu…."

That was definitely Rhoda's voice. It was muffled. Barely discernible. As though-

Mina slapped a hand over her eyes.

Rhoda had baked herself inside the damn cake.

"I can't help myself," the cake shifted like a multi-colored, fluffy behemoth, "I love you and nobody else…."

Mina began to creep away while all eyes were on the stacked tumor of icing. But two figures were suddenly on her side.

"Where you going, Aunt Mina?" Jack grinned on her left. Then music blasted intrusively. Rose nodded, casually sliding beside Mina's right.

Mina stared in disbelief, swiveling her head at Brutus and Judas. "I've treated you like my own paint and-"

The cake burst! With a sticky "SHLOP!"; sprinkles, frosting and chunks of multi-colored cake bread flew everywhere, spattering walls and everyone inside. That rabbit must have dyed the batter first before baking. Because the huge hall looked like a crime scene of mass rainbow slaughter.

"In and out my life

You come and you go!"

Rhoda looked like she got out of the wrong end of a unicorn. Yet she was sashaying towards them in time with the music.

"Leaving just your picture behind

And I've kissed it a thousand times "

Their friends clapped and whooped. They all look like they just survived a cake apocalypse. Mina let out a yelp when Rhoda grabbed her and began twirling her around. Still singing.

"When you snap your fingers, or wink your eye,

I come a-running to you

I'm tied to you, baby,

And there's nothing that I can do"'

The crowd went wilder. Jack and Rose smiled at their aunt and mother dancing. Or rather, their mother twirling and hugging and singing to their aunt who was swearing and yelling and wrestling out of her grip.

"Rhoda!" Aunt Mina yelled.

"'Cause, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch

I'm weaker than a girl should be, oooh-"

"Will ya-"

"-can't help myself, I'm a-"

"Fool!"

"-in love 'ya see!"

Jack sighed, shaking his head, "Never was there a stronger friendship."

Rose hummed as their aunt bodily threw Maman away. Their mother simply bounced back singing. Rose happily checked off her mental list. Plan the party. Check. Instruct the guests. Check. Surprise Aunt Mina. Check.

As the music played on, their mother whispered in Aunt Mina's ear. Their aunt went from scowly-flustered to surprised. Then her face flowed smoothly into a smile -of a Grinch plotting to steal Christmas.

The space between Rose's brows knit together. "Is this part of Maman's plan?"

"CAKE FIIIIIIIIIGHT!" Aunt Mina suddenly yelled, head thrown back as sound waves bellowed out of her throat and spilled to the very corners of the great hall.

Chaos.

"Wait-" Ash was about to protest. But a slippery feeling of icing splat on his side. The Disney prince turned to see Frost White smiling innocently at him. After that, he forgot about protesting.

No one took prisoners. Every toon for himself. No one knew who struck first. It didn't matter. The music of I Can't Help Myself played on.

A whoosh of breath left Rose as she leaned against an upended table, a sanctuary from the madness. She had grabbed Jack and ran to safety just as the first barrage of cake guts were thrown.

She turned to Jack, "We need to-"

Empty space.

She blinked. Where is he?

"Vive la révolution!"

Rose put a hand over her face, sighing.

Then the guests pitted against each other in partners. Then teams. Then studio against studio. Anyone who skid over icing and flat on their face would soon find themselves gunned down by cake artillery. As Jack learned to his sorrow.

He gasped, stumbling to stand, as though some slobbery Cake-zilla chewed him thoroughly before spitting him out with a large dollop of diabetes.

"Jack!"

Rose was suddenly by his side, holding a silver tray. She, too, hadn't escaped the cake's explosion -in a good way.

The swirly basketweave design of the cake adorned her dress. Sprinkles glitter in her fur. A string of dragées adorn her hair like a headpiece. She whipped around in all directions, blocking incoming buttercream with the flat of the tray like a magical candyland warrior princess.

Jack gaped at her, garnish dripping down his rabbit ears. "How come you still look good?" he asked before a ball of icing hit him square in the face. It dripped down into a rainbow dwarf beard gone wrong.

In the background, looking like a four-armed Pillsbury monster, Mina crowed on Rhoda's shoulders. Four hands and rabbit ears slinging mushed cakes at everyone on sight, Mina threw back her head with evil laughter. After not getting into a barfight for a decade, Mina's berserker mode was relishing its freedom.

There was no order. No winner. As the laughter died and people exhaustively sitting on the sugar-smeared floor, Rhoda shaped the icing on Mina's head like a crown.

"Hooray to our birthday queen!" she shouted, putting Mina on her shoulders again.

Unseen by the rabbit, Mina looked down at the top of her head with an exhausted smile, suppressed as though mindful of the people applauding. She simply rolled her eyes and gave the rabbit's head a pat.

XOXOXO

"Almost 20 years of friendship and she doesn't want to see me come out of a cake!" Rhoda exclaimed, showing the last guests out of the door.

Daphne wiped cake crumbs off her bill. "She prefers to see you come out of the closet."

"I heard that!" Mina snapped from the halls.

Daphne and Buggy shook off the cake lathered in their bodies, spattering an already caked Rhoda. She simply shrug. She can always take care of it later.

"Welp, that was a great shindig, Rhoda," Buggy said as they exited out of the gates.

"Yeah, beats the whole cardboard cakes showgirls come out of."

Rhoda blinked. "They use a cardboard cake?"

After several moments, she was waving goodbye to their retreating figures. She was about to close the gate.

"It seems like the party hadn't been that eventful."

Rhoda turned around to see a tall, suited form in the remaining rays of the setting sun. The lamplights flickered.

"Jesse!"

A huge chunk of icing on her ear chose that moment to slide out and splat over her eyes. She waved her arms around in surprise, crying out about talking donkeys and holy lights striking people blind. She heard him chuckle. A large, gentle hand cup her chin and she could feel a hanky being wiped across her eyelids.

Rhoda stilled, letting the soft swipes do their work. "I'm sorry about the mess. Buttercream can get icky. I hope it didn't splash on your suit."

There was no response but an unmindful hum. She felt him adjust her chin under his dexterous fingers. The slow careful strokes of wiping continued still.

"Mmmph… thanks!" She opened her eyes and took his soiled hanky. "Lemme wash this for you."

Jesse straightened up. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to come early. There had been a meeting back at the studios and-" he turned his head around. "Jack, Rose. Hello there."

She swiveled her head to see their twins, finally cake-free and rooted at the spot as though they had been standing there for quite a time.

"Hello... Papa," Rose finally spoke up. Jack tugged his collar, glancing away for a second. "We just, uh, checking in on Maman."

Rhoda's ear quirked at their actions. Jesse nodded and continued to speak.

"One of the things we've discussed was your past contract with Maroon Cartoon studios. The one you broke before."

XOXOXO

The contents of the table jump in time with every knock of her forehead.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

"Rhoda, as much as I enjoy the view, that isn't going to make this going away," Mina drawled in her office chair. She eyed the phone. It's a shame the cleaning service only deals with messes like her great hall post-drawnday.

They were all in the Study of Mina's manor. Mina was sitting behind the desk. The twins were on the other chairs beside Rhoda and Jesse was leaning by the window.

"From my past contract with Maroon, I know the board can't sue you since your contract recognizes Maroon as the CEO," Jesse skimming a copy of the contract. "Apparently, the lawyers say they still can."

Rhoda shook off the goose egg on her skull, looking up. "What will they get from suing me? Why just now?"

Mina rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. You've broken the news with your return. And with Jack's scandal-"

The contents of the table jumped again. This time, from the impact of Jack's forehead.

"-you've got a definite buzz and they want in."

Rhoda shook her head. "I don't understand. That buzz isn't even good at all. Why would they want to jump in the bandwagon?"

"They want you back," Jesse frankly said. The copy of the contract shuffled in his hands. "According to your past contract. One way to remedy a breach is by contract reformation."

Her mouth hung open. "They want me to work for them again?"

"They decided the buzz is worth the risk," he explained, his eyes in a frown as though looking through the gaze of the board directors.

Rose and Jack glanced at each other.

"They're also confident you can't indeminfy-"

"Indemnify?" Jack interrupted.

Jesse walked to the table and laid down the copy of Rhoda's contract. Jack took it, glanced at it, before getting turned off by its fine print.

"Payment," Jesse explained. "It covers for all the damages the employee might cause if they break the contract."

"How could Maman damaged anything by leaving?" Rose asked, sliding the contract towards her. Unlike her brother, her eyes have more tolerance to excessive details.

Mina toyed with her bottle of gin. "When yer Ma left with no notice whatsoever-"

Rhoda's head thunked the table.

"The whole show was put in halt while the writers figure out her absence into the show. That's one." Mina ticked off her fingers. "The cartoon shorts have to be put on hold while they look for replacements. That's two. Don't forget paperwork."

Her rabbit ears curled around her head in shame.

"Then there's the whoooole line of toons who auditioned for the nanny role. That's three." She gave a sound of disgust, remembering how she had to interact with them starlets to see which would fit the role.

"I hate the lot of them. Can't stand those buck-toothed bimbos. Finally, they decided to have a new nanny every week. With the running gag that I'm too much to handle," she smirked with self-flattery. Mina glanced at Rhoda who was still flopped over the table's surface. "No hard feelings, though."

Rhoda sighed. "How many years would they want me to work for them?"

"Years?!" Jack yelped.

"I'm not sure how long," Jesse said, "The board hasn't taken action yet. They're still trying to determine the specifics." Or rather how much can they get away with. He closed his eyes. What he don't understand yet is why. Rhoda is a classic. But statistics have shown that new cartoon shorts are better investments.

"Are you going to work with Aunt Mina again, Maman?" Rose asked.

Mina rubbed her chin. "That would probably be good news to me. No more new faces to endure."

"I- I can't work for them!" Rhoda stammered. Her hands subconsciously reach for her ears. "We- Jack, Rose and I, we got a life in France! We can't just-"

She clutched the table.

It's happening again.

The pounding of heart. The screaming rush of thoughts.

Jesse watched as she inhaled then exhaled, her stiff ears slowly relaxing.

Rhoda opened her eyes. She could still feel her chest pounding. But not as hard as before. She could feel her son and daughter's presence on each side of her.

They can't see me like this.

Inside her head, she determinedly groped through her spaghetti of thoughts for the meatball of priority. She took the copy of her past contract. "We can't just let that cow us," she said with a firm finality, a tone shaped the day she started raising the twins. "Hey Mina, any lawyer you can recommend?" she asked, her back straight and her voice chipper.

XOXOXO

Since she couldn't bring the table with her, Rhoda resumed banging her head on her two closed fists held in front of her.

"No need to beat yourself up, Rhoda," Jesse said as she muttered "should've seen it coming should've seen it coming". He put a hand on top of her head. The only part he could reach without crouching. Height differences. "And there's no need to walk me to the gate."

She finally looked up. "It's nothing. Besides, walking helps me think." Rhoda waved a hand. "You know, just around the neighborhood."

He raised a brow. All the time they'd been together, she never mentioned a habit about taking walks.

"Mina practically banned me from cleaning the great hall. She said I might flood the manor with soap suds again. Allez! I mean, it wasn't entirely my fault, t'sais? The whole place smelled lemony after which wasn't so bad. But then again, it's some time since I visited the ol' neigh-"

Jesse wondered if she noticed the strange phrases she had tossed in. Probably not.

"-Whenever I get to Mrs. Pesto's place, I have to walk backwards to trick her dog into thinking I'm going, not coming," she said, now hopping backwards, ahead of him. "See? I'm getting the hang of it. No more falling over rosebushes!" She winced at the memory. Then she frowned.

"But then, just when I was getting the gold star for reverse ambling, I landed on poo! Dog poo! Can you believe it? And I don't wear shoes! I swear Mrs. Pesto's dog never looked so smug that day." She gave a beady look at the horizon. "You've won that time, Fido."

Jesse only smiled as she still bounced backwards ahead of him, wittering on about passive-aggressive pooches. He still couldn't believe she's back.

"-territorial, I'll say. Do I even look like-"

His hand was suddenly on her shoulder.

Whatever train of speech was on her mouth, it was completely halted. Along with her step.

"Jesse?" she asked, very aware of his hand's weight on her shoulder.

"The gates," he simply said.

"The –oh!" she startled, turning around to see the gates behind her. "Right, the gates!" she gave a nervous chuckle. "Thanks," she said, opening it. She could see his car nearby.

A lull of silence.

She looked at him. "Jesse…"

He turned to her, waiting what she has to say.

After they've cleared things up, their talk hadn't been exactly fruitful. And that had been last week.

"I…"

The right thing would be to get back together, wouldn't it? She had looked into his eyes and she could tell, he wanted that too.

She tugged her collar. "W-well, I…"

But there was just too many things in between. France is Jack and Rose's home. Their friends, her career was there. Jesse, well, Jesse has his own life here. With this new turn of events, how will this affect them?

He crouched, his hand on her shoulder again. "If it's about what we talked, we agreed to take it slow, didn't we?"

She nodded. Planning Mina's drawnday had been a welcome distraction. But...

He patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Something gnawed her from the inside. If she was so ready to mend their relationship, why can't she make herself even hug him goodbye? Or hold his hand? Or even-

No, baby steps, optimism reminded her. You'll get there eventually, it chirped.

"O-okay," she nodded again. Then she cleared her throat. "Okay," she stated. There. More conviction.

XOXOXO

"Are we going to live here in America?"

Jack was lying on his bed, hands behind his back. They had watched Maman accompany their father out. When Pa went to his car and Maman left in the opposite direction, Rose sat back on his bed.

"We don't need to live here," Rose finally said. "If it comes to that, it might be that only Maman needs to stay here. We've always held down the fort when she was away."

You know when a puppy gave you that look if it was pushed outside the house before bedtime? Jack was doing it right now. Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Calling Jack a mama's boy is an understatement. But then he quickly hid the look with a defiant scowl.

"Well, it's always us three versus the world," he said. His fingers distractedly scratched the tip of his rabbit ear. "Ouais, enfin… would you want to live here? Ça te dit?"

Rose paused. Living here means being with Pa. The four of them. Isn't that what families are supposed to be?

It would be great, she decided. Their relationship is getting better. Jack is getting better with Pa. They could always live in a flat if Maman doesn't like overstaying their visit with Aunt Mina's-

"I just hope we're not catching them like that again!" Jack exclaimed, making a face. "Talk about arrivé comme un poil sur la soupe."

He shuddered. There was nothing wrong with their father wiping Maman's face of frosting. But the way he was looking at her, the way she leaned on his hand with her fluffy bunny tail swishing happily, his gentle ministrations-

"Urgh! They might as well make out!" Revulsion jettisoned him to a sitting position. He stopped. "Actually, no. No." He waved his arms in front of him as though the images were right in front of him. "I'd rather not see them do that."

Rose looked down, feeling her face heat up. No, it wasn't disgust she had felt. When she saw that tiny act of thoughtfulness, that's what love supposed to be. Right there.

"Don't you feel happy for them?" she asked.

"I do!" he exclaimed, he stuck out his tongue with a last reactive retch. He scratched the back of his neck, looking away. His pointy rabbit ears twiddled with each other, embarrassed and awkward. "It's just that… maybe we should be calling out before entering any room they'd be in together."

"Don't be overdramatic." But she could already imagine him making a megaphone with his hands and hollering, "We're now going into the room! Please stop whatever you're doing!" before edging inside like a SWAT police.

She'd rather not be the one to explain that to their parents.

Rose rested her head on the pile of pillows that was Jack. They both stared at the ceiling.

They've seen their parents laughing together. Rose had felt a surge of hope at that. But that was incomparable witnessing the intimate moment Rose hadn't expected to appear so early.

She doesn't know what would happen to the three -no, four of them. But...

"I can tell you're happy, sis," Jack's voice said sleepily.

… there's hope. Lots of it.


Author's Note:

1. Arrivé comme un poil sur la soupe means arriving like a hair in a soup. An idiom for entering an awkward situation.

2. I decided to turn this into another story instead of a chapter. Too many chapters can be a bit discouraging to a new reader.