Author's Note: I do apologize for not being around much as of late. Let's just say, school has been busy, as well as my personal life, plus, I've been sick with two colds this semester, which hasn't helped things. However, I'm on spring break this week, and while I do believe I'm going to limit my story releases to one-shots only until the tail end of the semester, when I'll finally be on summer break, or more technically, a permanent vacation since I'm scheduled to graduate in May, until I find me a job, at which point, I'll hopefully find more time, to release more multi-chapter stories again. Only way you'll see any multi-chapter stories updated between now and the end of the semester, is if I decide to update any multi-chapter stories I have currently posted, that are still in progress. Now that I've gotten that announcement out of the way, it's time to move on, to another East coast gendar bender Rugrats story, and you'll see that this story takes place way past the events of the original Rugrats episode that this story is the East coast version of.
Reggie's Worst Nightmare
Summary: When it looks like Reggie's parents might be having another child, he grows paranoid. With the help of Rosie, Tommy and Chuckie, can he be reassured that being an older brother, won't be all that bad? The East coast version of Angelica's Worst Nightmare. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I only own any OC's you don't recognize, like Reggie and his family, while Rosie and her family are owned by Nairobi-harper, Hazel is owned by HazelNutSwirl, Jesse is owned by JJJB, Peter is owned by TCKing12, and I also own Zack. I also don't own the characters from Fuller House or Hey Arnold, they're also the property of their original creaters, and I say this, based upon the fact that some of them are either mentioned, or show up briefly in this story.
It was a typical day in the Greenfield household, as Rhonda and David were serving their five-year-old son his breakfast.
"Here you go Reggie, only the best, for my only child." David said, placing a large bowl of Reptar cereal down in front of Reggie.
"Thanks daddy. Say daddy, can we go to the toy store later? There's this new red fire truck I've just got to have!" Reggie said.
"Sure!" David replied with a smile, as he took a seat at the breakfast table and took a sip of his coffee.
"And can I get a dog?" Reggie asked, as he took a bite of his cereal.
"Um, we'll think about it." David replied.
"Am I your favorite?" Reggie asked with a mouth full of cereal.
"Of course you are, but it would be better if you waited to ask me questions after you were done chewing. It's not a good idea to talk with your mouth full." David said.
Reggie finished chewing in silence, swallowing the bite of cereal he had in his mouth, before asking anymore questions.
"Daddy, am I your favorite?" Reggie asked with a smile.
"Of course you are. You're our only child, and nobody could be even more special than that." David said, reaching in and giving Reggie a kiss on the forehead.
Reggie laughed and smiled at his father's comment, as he looked up at his dad with wide eyes, before returning to his bowl of Reptar cereal, as the milk in the bowl had turned green at this point, and while it was cool to watch the milk turn green, after that, it only made the contents of the bowl look kind of gross, so Reggie figured he'd better hurry and finish his cereal, before the appearance of the bowl made him throw up.
After breakfast, Reggie and David went upstairs to get dressed for the day, but as soon as David entered his bedroom, his wife came out of the bathroom with a huge smile on her face.
"Good morning Rhonda dear, my, you sure are happy this morning." David complimented, walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"Well that's because I have some exciting news." Rhonda replied, holding up the box her pregnancy test came in to show her husband.
David put down his toothbrush and turned to stare at his wife with wide eyes.
"Do you mean…" David started to say.
"Yes! Yes, I do! We're gonna have another baby!" Rhonda said excitedly.
"Oh boy that's wonderful!" David replied, giving his wife a hug.
"I should make an official appointment with the doctor just to be sure this is happening, and will schedule it, for when you and I return from our business trip." Rhonda said, heading into the closet to get out her outfit for the day.
"Oh that's right. We need to drop Reggie off at the Halls later on today." David said to himself, before returning to brushing his teeth.
Later on, everybody was getting into the car to head out for the day. Once they were in the car with Reggie's overnight bag, and David and Rhonda's suitcases, they had just enough time to run by the toy store to get Reggie's fire truck, and drop him off at the Halls, before they headed to the airport, for David to take off on his next pilot trip, and for Rhonda to fly to San Fransisco, California, to host Tommy Fuller's first birthday party, as this was not going to be an easy day for the family, as nearly a year ago now, this little boy and his two older brothers had lost their father, who had died on the job, fighting fires. Normally, the Fullers would have had Kimmy host Tommy's party, but because she had a bachelor party to host up in Washington State, thus, being unable to do two parties at once, they hired Rhonda Greenfield to do this party, and she accepted. Once they were in the car and heading on their way to the toy store, they thought it was as good of time as any, to share the news with Reggie.
"Reggie while we're driving to the toy store, your mommy and I have something we'd like to tell you." David said.
"What is it daddy?" Reggie asked.
"Sweetheart? I'm gonna have a baby." Rhonda blerted out excitedly.
"No way!" Reggie replied with a laugh in disbelief.
"It's true son, your mommy's having a baby." David said, as he turned off of their street on to a main road.
"Come on, you're just playing with me, aren't you?" Reggie asked.
"No sweetie I'm serious, you're gonna get a little brother or sister." Rhonda said.
"Isn't that exciting?" David asked his son, who just gulped and looked out the window.
Maybe most little kids would find getting a younger brother or sister exciting, but he already had a hard time accepting babies like Rosie and Hazel. Having one at his house all of the time, would be unbarable, and in his mind, he forbid this idea, and hoped at that moment, something would happen so that the baby would never come. While Reggie was off in thought, Rhonda turned to her husband.
"That reminds me, we'll have to turn the guest room into a nursery." Rhonda commented.
"True, or we could do what Shannon and Terry had Mary and Rosie do, we could have Reggie share a room with his younger brother or sister." David suggested.
This only made a knot tighten in Reggie's stomach upon hearing this comment from his father.
"Yeah, we could. And oh yes, I'll need to make sure to not plan to host any parties that are outside of Boston come my ninth month. I would hate to go into labor halfway across the country, or the world for that matter." Rhonda said.
"True honey, very true." David replied, turning into the parking lot of the toy store.
Reggie started to relax a little bit, once he saw the familiar building of the toy store before them. He decided he would put this whole younger sibling thing out of his mind for now, and enjoy his trip to the store. However, when they got inside, they never even made it to the cars and trucks isle, as they approached the baby toy isle on the way, which got his parents really excited. Rhonda walked up to the shelf and picked up a pink raddle in one hand, and a blue raddle in the other, showing them to David.
"Oh David, aren't these raddles cute?" Rhonda asked.
"Yes!" David replied with a smile, as he went up to the shelf and picked up a teddy bear.
"And look at this teddy bear! Perfect for any little girl or boy we should get, huh?" David asked.
"Hey! Hey! What about me!" Reggie shouted, interrupting his parents.
David knelt down to his son's level.
"Reggie, if you shout like that, we'll have to leave the store." David scolded.
"Sorry daddy." David said with an innocent smile, before looking away and scowling.
He was unhappy at how mesmorized his parents were over all of the baby stuff they found. Even worse than that, a little while later, Rhonda looked down at her wrist watch, and saw that they needed to get Reggie to the Halls' apartment so they could head off on their trips.
"Oh my gosh! We need to go!" Rhonda cried in a panic.
"But what about my truck?" Reggie cried.
"Later sweetheart your daddy and I have places to go." Rhonda replied.
"But… But… But…" Reggie cried, before David gently put his hand over Reggie's mouth to hush him.
"Maybe another time son. We'll come back and get you the truck another time." David said, but this wasn't good enough for Reggie.
Tears came to the five-year-old's eyes, as they got back in the car empty handed, and drove away from the toy store, in the direction of Rosie's home.
"I bet mommy and daddy are going away to get the new baby or something." Reggie thought to himself as they turned into the parking lot.
Shannon answered the door, and Rhonda told her about having a baby, which excited Shannon. David carried Reggie's overnight bag inside the entry hallway, as well as led his son into the apartment.
"Bye sweetheart, we'll be back in a few days." David whispered to Reggie, as he kissed the top of his forehead.
Reggie silently waved, as his parents left the Halls, as he was speechless. As far as he knew, his parents weren't coming back. Rather, they were abandoning him, making him stay with Rosie's family for all eternity, while they went off to the baby store to get his little brother or sister, never to return. Once his parents car had driven out of sight, Shannon closed the door and turned towards Reggie, who was still in the hallway, lost in thought.
"Reggie, why don't you head into the living room. Rosie and Hazel are in there playing." Shannon suggested.
"I've love to do that!" Reggie lied, as he headed into the living room to find the two little girls rolling a ball back and force to one another, and Mary, over on the couch, working on some math homework.
Reggie just plopped himself down on the floor and started letting out loud, reluctant sighs. Overhearing this, Rosie looked up from her game of roll the ball to Hazel, to see Reggie before them.
"Oh, hi Reggie." Rosie said with a smile.
"Hi." Reggie grumbled between gritted teeth.
"Boy, you sure gotted up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Is something wrong?" Rosie asked worriedly.
"Nothing I'm gonna tell you about bubble gum head. Go play with butter ball over there." Reggie snapped, pointing at Hazel, who looked less than amused.
"Hey! Don't call us names. Though the mention of butter does make me hungry. Yes, hungry for mud and worms. I'm gonna go outside and find me some. Wanna come with me Rosie?" Hazel asked, standing up from her spot on the living room floor.
"Nah, maybe later." Rosie replied.
"Ok, see ya later." Hazel replied, as she toddled out of the living room.
Rosie turned her attention back to Reggie, who still looked miserable, as he continued to sit on the floor in a fetal position.
"Come on Reggie, I mean, you're always grumpy, but this is the worstest case of the grumpy rumps I've seen in you in a while. What's wrong?" Rosie asked again.
Reggie let out another reluctant sigh, before giving in.
"Ok, if you must know everything, my mommy and daddy are going to have another baby." Reggie replied.
"So you're gonna be a big brother?" Rosie asked.
"Yes Rosie, that's right." Reggie replied.
"That sounds great! You should be happy!" Rosie said.
"Why should I be happy? I mean look at this. Do you know why I'm here? Sure, mommy and daddy may have said they were going off on business trips, but no, know what they're really doing? They abandoned me to live with you guys, so they could go to the baby store and pick out my new baby brother or sister." Reggie explained.
"Awe come on Reggie, I'm sure that's not true, but to help you feel better with this baby brother sister business, I know of two people who can help. Let me just, get my sister's iPad." Rosie said, as she toddled off over to the couch, where her sister was busy working on some math homework.
Rosie started pulling on Mary's pant leg to get her attention. Startled, she looked up, to see her sister staring at her.
"What do you want?" Mary asked, rolling her eyes.
"Uh, can I borrow your iPad. I need to talk to Tommy." Rosie said.
Mary let out an irritated sigh, as she threw down her math homework on the couch, and ran off to their room to get her iPad, bringing it back downstairs to the living room, and placing it on the floor.
"Ok ok, you can use it, but be careful. And let me know when you're finished." Mary said.
"No worries, we will." Rosie said, as she tapped on the Facetime icon at the top of the screen, and clicked on Tommy's picture, which would initiate a Facetime call to Peter's iPhone.
Off in California, at the Pickles residence, Peter was over for the day, helping Stu tighten the wheels on the Reptar wagon, as they were starting to come loose, over ware and tear of using it, when he felt a vibration from the pocket of his gray Confederate uniform.
"Hold on Stu, let me get that, my phone is vibrating." Peter said, reaching into his pocket and answering his phone.
"Hello?" Peter said.
"Hi Peter, are Tommy and Chuckie there?" Rosie asked.
Peter then realized his phone was on speaker, and he took it away from his ear, noticing that Rosie's picture was on the screen.
"They're inside, but I'm sure they'd love to talk to you. Hold on." Peter said, as he took his iPhone inside to the play pen where coosidentally, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, and Dil were all sitting around, playing a game of roll the ball.
"Hey Tommy, someone wants to talk to you." Peter said, handing the iPhone to Tommy, who lit up when he saw Rosie on the screen.
"Wow I was just thinking about Rosie, thanks Peter." Tommy said, as he kicked his infamous star ball out of the way, and placed the iPhone on the floor of the playpen.
"I'll be in shortly to check on you guys, after I finish helping your dad tighten the wheels on your Reptar wagon." Peter said, as he headed back outside.
Once he was out of sight, Rosie spoke up.
"Tommy, I need your help." Rosie said.
"What's wrong?" Tommy asked.
Rosie turned her attention to Reggie.
"You wanna explain it to them?" Rosie asked.
"Like I'm gonna get Pickled Shrimp Casarole and Carrot Top Four Eyes to help me with my problem." Reggie snarled.
"Hey, they do have names, and they're big brothers. Tommy has a little brother named Dil, and Chuckie has a little sister named Kimi. They're true experts who can help you." Rosie said.
"Are you gonna be a big brother?" Chuckie asked.
"Yeah I am. Mommy and daddy toldid me today. Knowing you're such a big scardy cat, you probably couldn't stand it when your mommy said she was going to have another baby, could you four eyes." Reggie snapped.
"Hey! Don't call me that. And actually, I got my little sister and mommy all at the same time." Chuckie said.
"Huh?" Reggie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah it's true Reggie, Chuckie got his mommy and sister when we went to Paris." Tommy added.
"Ok." Reggie said, still a bit confused. He had his mom all of his life, so how Chuckie came to be without a mom was a bit strange to him, unless he was adopted or something, but he wasn't interested in learning his life story. He only cared about his own petty little problem.
"So?" Reggie asked again.
"Well, Kimi did take a bit of getting use to. At first, when she came here, it was like Tommy never went home." Chuckie said.
Then, he turned to Tommy and whispered something in his ear.
"Sorry Tommy." Chuckie whispered, worried he had offended his best friend by making that comment.
"It's ok Chuckie, I thought Kimi was a lot like me back then too, but that only made her even more funnerer." Tommy whispered back.
"I don't know though, Dil was quite a chore for us." Phil commented.
"Yeah, he cried a lot." Lil added.
"And made more poop than I'll ever make in my entire life." Phil added.
"And gave me a headache." Chuckie added.
"Yeah, we even tried to take him back to the baby store." Lil added.
"And gotted losted in the forrest." Phil added.
"Please, don't remind me." Chuckie muttered.
"Wow!" Rosie said with wide eye curiosity.
"So, Dil was the bane of your existence, huh? What did Pickled Shrimp Casarole do about it?" Reggie asked teasingly.
"Uh…" Tommy started to say, before Dil cut him off.
"He tried to give me away to the monkeys! He called me a bad naughty baby and nearly poured bananas all on me." Dil shouted, interrupting Tommy's train of thought.
Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Rosie all gasp.
"Tommy! Is this true? You almost ditched your brother in the forrest to a group of monkeys?" Rosie asked in surprise.
"And if you had a chance to ditch your baby brother, why did you not follow through with the plan? Huh? Are you a woose Pickled Shrimp Casarole? Huh? A woose? Is that why?" Reggie asked in that teasing voice again.
"Well, I…" Tommy said, just as the screen on Mary's iPad went blank.
Reggie then looked up at Rosie, just as Hazel returned to the living room, slerping a worm in her mouth.
"I bet Pickled Shrimp Casarole disconnected the call because he's too chicken to admit he's a woose." Reggie said.
"I doubt if that's it at all. And stop calling him a casarole, he's not a side dish, he's a human boy and a big brother who I bet ya loves his little brother very much, and would never wanna hurt him." Rosie said.
"Yeah, I bet Rosie's right. Maybe Peter's iPhone just, losted the connection or something. Let's try calling it back." Hazel suggested, after swallowing her worm.
"Ok." Rosie said, hitting the retry button, only to have the Facetime call fail to connect after several rings.
"See?" Reggie said.
"Maybe my sister can help us. Come on Hazel." Rosie said, taking Hazel by the hand, as the two girls, dragging Mary's iPad behind them, left the living room to go find Mary, who was no longer on the couch anymore, either because she had finished her homework, or, decided to leave and give her sister and Reggie some privacy.
Back at Tommy's house…
"What happened Tommy?" Chuckie asked, as he looked down to see the screen had gone entirely black on Peter's iPhone.
"I don't know Chuckie, we'd better get Peter to help us." Tommy said, pulling his screwdriver out of his shorts pocket, and the two-year-old led his friends and one-year-old brother out of the playpen and into the backyard, where Stu and Peter had just finished tightening the final wheel on the Reptar wagon.
"Hey Peter!" Tommy cried, as he ran through the grass towards Peter, carrying his iPhone and handing it to him.
"Good news kids, the Reptar wagon is ready for you guys to play in again." Peter said, just as his iPhone was handed to him by Tommy.
"Can you help us? The screen went black." Tommy said.
Peter tried to turn the phone back on, but it wouldn't budge.
"Hmmm, I think my phone might need to be charged. I'll be sure to plug it in when I get back to my castle later." Peter said.
The toddlers were slightly disappointed that they couldn't finish helping Reggie, though they weren't all that disappointed that they didn't have to hear his name calling no more, and they were pretty excited to get to play with the Reptar wagon again, so they decided to go on an adventure in that for now, and they'd resume their conversation with Rosie the next time they saw Peter, once his iPhone was working again.
Back at Rosie's place, while she and Hazel were looking for Mary, Reggie just happen to look up at the TV in the living room, and noticed a nice looking lady on the screen with raven colored hair, wearing a dark purple dress, talking with Oprah. The TV was muted, so Reggie found the remote on the coffee table, and unmuted it to see what was going on.
"Welcome to the Oprah Winsley Show, where I'm meeting with child psychologist, Doctor Blits, who comes to my studio, all the way from Hillwood!" Oprah said, as a croud cheered in the background.
"Thank you Oprah. Yes everyone, my name is Doctor Blits. Like Oprah said, I am a child's psychologist, here to help children all over the world, with their problems." Doctor Blits said.
"For the next hour, if any of you would like to call into the show, provided you have your parents permission, and talk with Doctor Blits about your problems, call us now at 800-664-2525." Oprah said, as the number appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Reggie ran into the kitchen, thankful it was deserted, where he spotted the cordless land line phone on the counter, and took it into the other room, to call into the show. He turned on the phone, thankful to get a dial tone, and dialed the number previously given.
"Well, we have a call, Ramona, you're on the air." Oprah said.
"Hello you've got to help me. My parents are divorced and I want them to get back together." Ramona said into the phone, before a click was heard.
"Reggie, you're on the air." Oprah said, as Reggie decided to mute the TV again, as it was a bit strange hearing the voices coming from two directions.
"Doctor Blits, my name's Reggie, and I have a problem." Reggie said.
"Well that's what I'm here for. Now Reggie, would you like to tell me what's bothering you?" Doctor Blits asked.
"Well, my mommy and daddy are going to have another baby, and I'm worried that when the new baby comes, they won't have time for me no more. What should I do?" Reggie asked.
"So, you're worried your parents won't have any time for you. Reggie, I've seen this happen before, but you need to realize that love, isn't like a pie. With a pie, the more pieces you slice, the less there is to eat, but with love…" Doctor Blits started to explain, before Reggie heard a beeping in his ear.
"Uh, could you hold on, I've gots another call." Reggie said into the phone, as he clicked over to take the other call.
"Hello?" Reggie said into the phone.
"Hi Reggie it's me!" Rhonda said.
"Mommy! Hi!" Reggie cried excitedly.
"Hi sweetie, how are you holding up at Rosie and Mary's? I was changing planes in Dallas on my way to San Fransisco, and thought I'd check in." Rhonda said.
"I'm fine, but could you please do me a favor?" Reggie pleaded.
"What is it dumpling?" Rhonda asked.
"Could you please not have a baby right now? I'd really appreciate it if we didn't have a baby right now." Reggie cried into the phone.
"I'm sorry Reggie, but that's not possible." Rhonda replied.
"Sure it is mommy, just, do that thing that some women do when they don't wanna have babies. I think it's called, an abortion." Reggie replied.
"Sweetheart mommy's not going to have an abortion. People only do that if there's something seriously wrong with them or the baby, and unless that's the case, I'm not having one, so don't expect me to have one." Rhonda said.
"If I'm really good at the Halls, and don't get sent to time out, will you consider having an abortion? Please? Pretty please?" Reggie begged.
"Sweetie, it doesn't work that way." Rhonda said, just as an announcement came over the P.A. system at the airport.
"Flight 101 for San Fransisco, now bording." Said a male voice over the P.A. system.
"Honey, I have to go, my flight is bording. Now be a good little man for the Halls, your father and I will be back in a few days." Rhonda said into the phone.
"But mommy…" Reggie cried, when he heard a click, followed by a dial tone.
Reggie let out a scowl, as he hung up the phone, and looked up to see that Oprah and Doctor Blits were long gone from the television, rather, some man in a business type suit was on the TV, giving the evening news at this point.
"So much for that shrink." Reggie thought to himself, as he heard his name being called in the distance.
"Reggie, time for dinner!" Terry called from the kitchen.
Reggie put the cordless phone down on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen, where he pulled up a place at the table to eat. To his unpleasant surprise, the Halls were serving roast beef, baked potatoes, and green beans. Reggie decided though to be a good boy and eat all of his dinner, as maybe if he was good, his mom would change her mind and get that abortion done just for him.
"So Mary sweetie, how is your math homework coming along?" Terry asked.
"Well dad, I'm learning a lot about triangles." Mary started to say, as she went on to explain about the geometrical shapes she was studying in school.
Reggie tuned out the conversation, as he ate every last bite on his plate, hoping Shannon and Terry would notice. Meanwhile, Rosie was also clearing her plate of food.
"Good job for eating all of your food! Would you like a cookie for dessert?" Shannon asked her youngest daughter.
The pink haired two-year-old looked up at her mother and smiled.
"Uh huh." Rosie replied.
"Hey, I finished my plate too." Reggie said, waving his plate around in the air.
"Oh, good." Shannon said, taking the plate from Reggie's hand and dumping it into the sink along with Rosie's.
She returned to the table and handed Rosie a sugar cookie covered in rainbow sprinkles, but Reggie was left sitting there, empty handed. Looking around, he started to feel hurt, not wishing to be at the table anymore.
"May I be excused? I'm kind of tired." Reggie said.
"Sure thing Reggie." Shannon said, as Reggie pulled his chair back, got up, and raced upstairs to the guest room where he'd be sleeping.
A little while later, after he was all ready for bed, he started pacing back and force around the room, clutching on to his stuffed alligator, Snorkfest.
"What am I gonna do Snorkfest? I'm gonna get a little brother or sister, and nobody's gonna care about little old me no more." Reggie griped to his stuffed toy, as he plopped himself down on the guest room bed.
A moment of silence passed, as he listened to his imaginary friend reply.
"Well, I don't care. If I have a chance to ditch my new baby brother or sister in the forrest to a pack of monkeys, I'll follow through with my plan, unlike some purple haired two-months-old woosies I know. I mean seriously, why would he wanna keep a baby brother around who does nothing but cry, poop, and maybe they really are bad naughty babies, if he'd go as far to call him that. I don't know what he did exactly, but if he threw Pickled Shrimp Casarole out into the cold upon his arrival, no wonder he tried to banish him to the forrest. Yeah, baby brothers and sisters are a real pain. I do vaguely recall Mary constantly complaining about Rosie when she first came into this world, and she did cry a lot after they gotted her home from the hopcickle. Am I gonna have to put up with that? Huh Snorkfest?" Reggie asked his alligator again, as he leaned back on the pillow.
Another moment of silence passed, before Reggie tossed the alligator aside.
"No way. When that new baby comes, I'm gonna show them who's boss. Nobody will take my mommy and daddy away from me, or make me think Rosie never goes home. Nobody." Reggie said in between yawns, as he drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke, he heard the sound of a baby's cry in the distance, and noticed he wasn't at the Halls' home anymore. Rather, he was in the guest room at his house, as he walked out into the hallway, to find the baby cries were coming from his room. He ran down the hall and peered into his room, which had been completely redecorated. His blue Reptar wallpaper had been taken down, and replaced by pink wallpaper covered in little white bunnies, and his bed was gone, with a crib in its place, and inside the crib was the source of the noise. A baby girl with two pigtails of raven colored hair, wearing a dark purple shirt and a diaper. Rhonda looked up and saw her son had entered the room.
"Reggie you're awake, good! I'd like you to meet someone very special. Reggie, this is your sister Jill. Jill, this is Reggie." Rhonda said with a playful tone in her voice, as Reggie inched his way closer to the crib, where Jill reached out one of her tiny hands, and pulled on Reggie's nose.
"Ow! That hurted!" Reggie cried.
"Now now Reggie, I'm sure she didn't mean it." Rhonda said, as Jill started crying, and Reggie started crying in pain.
Instead of comforting Reggie though, Rhonda picked up Jill, and gave her a hug.
"Awe Jill sweetie, it's ok." Rhonda said, giving her new baby a kiss on the forehead, and placing her back in the crib.
At that moment, David walked into the room.
"Everything ok in here?" David asked.
"Everything's fine. In fact, why don't we let Reggie and Jill get aquainted, while we go tell the newspapers of our newest member of the family." Rhonda suggested, as she and her husband left the room, leaving the two kids alone.
Reggie turned back to his little sister, who had grown in size right before his eyes, and took up the entire ccrib.
"Listen Reggie Greenfield or whatever your name is, I may be the newest edition to this family, but I'm the onliest edition, so if I were you, I'd make like an egg and scram!" Jill snapped at the top of her lungs, her mouth appearing to be huge and scary, as none of her teeth had come in yet.
Screaming in terror, Reggie ran out of his old room down the stairs to where his parents were talking on the phone.
"What's wrong?" Rhonda asked.
"The new baby, she just said horrible things to me!" Reggie cried.
"Oh that's so silly son, you must have been imagining things, as she's just barely a few hours old. She's not gonna talk for another couple of years." David commented.
"Oh yeah, and by the way, noticed how we redecorated your room?" Rhonda asked.
"Uh huh." Reggie replied in a tiny voice.
"Well we feel it's perfect for your new baby sister." David added.
"But mommy and daddy, where will I sleep?" Reggie asked worriedly.
"No worries, we have the perfect spot for you." Rhonda replied, as she took her son's hand, and led him to the door that led out into the garage.
"The garage? You expect me to live in the garage?" Reggie asked in disbelief.
"Well yes, there's lots of room in here, and you can get fresh air whenever you want, just press the button to make the door open." Rhonda explained, opening the garage door by pressing the button on the wall next to the door that led back into the house.
Outside, it was snowing, and a huge gust of cold wind entered the garage.
"And don't worry about food. As long as you enter into the garbage we throw out before trash day, you can have all of the scraps we don't want." David said, pointing to a garbage can that was filled over the brim of old moldy food.
The parents closed the door behind him, leaving Reggie to shiver in the garage, as he ran for the garbage can to eat what remained in an old box of macaroni and cheese, only the macaroni was dried, and stuck to the box. He tried with all of his might to pull it off, but with it being too cold, his fingers gave out, causing him to drop the box on the garage floor. Before he could try again, another huge gust of wind blew through the open garage door, picking up the nearly empty box and blowing it away. Reggie looked around for a blanket or something to keep him warm, when he saw something white and fluffy sticking out of a cardboard box on the opposite side of the garage. He made his way over to the item and pulled it out, disappointed to find that the blanket was full of wholes. However, it was better than nothing, so he wrapped himself in the blanket, just as he heard the door to the house open. He turned to see Jill standing before him. She was now taller than either one of his parents, but still took the form of a newborn baby.
"Hey! What part of, make like an egg and scram do you not understand?" Jill asked.
"Uh… Um…" Reggie stammered.
"And give me that blankie, that's mine!" Jill snapped, as she snatched the ripped white blanket out of Reggie's hands, and started tearing it to shreds.
"Oooh! This is a fun toy!" Jill said playfully, tossing the pieces of ripped blanket into the air and catching them, like she was juggling in a circus.
"Hey! You leave me alone!" Reggie snapped.
"Oh no. I don't think so." Jill said.
"Well then, I guess there's only one thing for me to do. Sorry Jill, but it looks like it's time for you to go live in the forrest." Reggie said, pulling out an old wooden sled, that looked way too small for Jill, but was the perfect size for him.
"Have you not learned about sizes in preschool kid. That sled is way too small for me, but you might fit though." Jill said, pushing Reggie on to the sled.
"No! Wait!" Reggie cried, but it was too late.
Jill pushed Reggie on the sled out the open garage door down the icy drive way down a long street, as ongoing traffic came towards him. Luckily, the cars swerved over to the side to allow the sled with Reggie on it, and the giant baby Jill who was running through the streets, chasing him, to pass without getting harmed. Soon, their chase was stopped when they landed in a snow bank near a tree. Reggie stood up and brushed the snow off of him, looking around to see they were in a forrest. Then, he looked up to see he was beneath a tree, but not just any tree. Just as he suspected, he had found the sacred tree where he'd hope the family of monkeys that were inhabiting the tree would adopt his giant baby sister, allowing him to go home, and not have to live in the garage anymore.
"Well well well, look where we are, it's your new home Jill. Guess being the baby of the family isn't all that it's cut out to be, is it?" Reggie scoffed.
Jill approached her older brother, now twice the size of the trees, as she finished off a giant bottle of milk and tossed it aside, then picked up Reggie in one of her giant hands.
"Oh no no no Reggie, you see, Pickled Shrimp Casarole got it all wrong. He wasn't spose to give Dil away to the monkeys, Dil was spose to leave him with the monkeys, but Dil's the dummest baby on the planet. He wouldn't know a square from a triangle if his life depended on it." Jill explained.
"And how do you know that? You don't even know those woosy babies out in California." Reggie shouted.
"Yeah well, shows how much you know. I know everything, and I know it's time, for you, to become the next Tarzan." Jill said.
"Oh? And who's Tarzan?" Reggie asked.
"You don't know who Tarzan is? The boy who was raised by monkeys cuz his mommy and daddy were too busy with his new baby brother to care about him? Oh, I suppose you don't. Well get ready, because Tarzan is about to become your new best friend, provided this monkey family knows his monkey family." Jill said.
"No! I'm your big brother! Don't do this!" Reggie cried.
"Nah, you're just a sack of rotton peaches, and soon, you'll smell just like them." Jill said, as she cackled evilly, pulling a giant jar of baby food peaches out of her diaper, opening it, and dumping the contents of the jar on top of Reggie.
All of the sudden, Reggie found himself, drowning in the peaches, as he screamed and begged for mercy, waking up in total darkness, as he was kicking and throwing himself all over the Halls guest room bed, continuing to scream in terror.
"Reggie stop! You'll hurt yourself." Shannon cried, as she put her hands on Reggie's back, doing her best to restrain the terrified five-year-old.
As soon as he noticed Shannon's hands on his back, Reggie stopped screaming, as he took a few deep breaths and calmed down, realizing it was only a dream.
"Where is she?" Reggie cried into his pillow.
"What was that?" Shannon asked, misunderstanding him.
Reggie turned over to look up at Shannon, her face looking worried.
"Where's my new baby sister?" Reggie asked.
"She's not here yet Reggie. Did you have a bad dream about your future baby sister?" Shannon asked.
"Yes, yes I did. Oh Shannon, it was awful! I gotted this baby sister named Jill, and my mommy and daddy gave her my room, she grew to be the size of a house, and I was banished to a forrest, where I was drowned in a huge jar of baby food peaches. Oh Shannon, please convince my mommy and daddy to not have this baby. I don't wanna have to eat garbage and live in the garage." Reggie cried, as he started to sob uncontrollably.
Shannon leaned in and hugged Reggie close, rubbing his back to get him to calm down.
"Oh sweetie, is that's what's been bothering you?" Shannon asked.
"Uh huh. And mommy and daddy even left me with you guys, so they could go have this new baby without me." Reggie said in between his sobds.
"Oh Reggie that's not true at all. Your mommy and daddy just went off on a business trip. It had nothing to do with your future brother or sister. But do you want to know a little secret? My oldest daughter Mary, had a similar nightmare to yours before Rosie was born. She, too, was worried that Terry and I wouldn't have time for her anymore, but you know what we told her?" Shannon asked.
"No, what?" Reggie asked.
"The same thing I'm going to tell you. Even if your new sibling requires some attention, your parents won't forget about you. They love you very much, and love, isn't like a pie, where the more slices you cut, the less pie there is to eat. Rather, love works in the opposite direction. The more love you give, the more love you're gonna get. And so, I can garintee that even when your new baby sibling comes, chances are you'll make a new friend, and your mommy and daddy will only have more love to give. Do you understand Reggie?" Shannon said.
"I guess so." Reggie replied, as he loosened his grip on Shannon's shoulders, and lay back down in the bed.
"I do have one more question though. How come after dinner, you gave Rosie a cookie, but not me?" Reggie asked.
"You never asked for one. Rosie's just two, and hasn't started really talking yet, or in enough of a coherent manner to ask for her dessert, but you're a big boy now. If you want something, you need to ask for it, ok?" Shannon said.
"Ok." Reggie replied.
"Now, it's late, do you think you can go back to sleep now?" Shannon asked.
"I think so." Reggie replied with a smile, as Shannon gently kissed his cheek, and left the room.
Reggie closed his eyes and went back to sleep, though he was starting to wonder if that's how it was for Tommy and Chuckie. After a while, they discovered that having younger siblings wasn't so bad. If it was true, then maybe just maybe, he could learn to accept being an older brother, and take what he had coming for him.
A couple of days later, Rosie was talking with Tommy and Chuckie on her sister's iPad again, when Reggie entered her and her sister's bedroom.
"Oh Reggie, you're just in time! Guess who I'm talking to?" Rosie asked, pointing to the screen of her sister's iPad, where Tommy and Chuckie's faces were present.
"Oh." Reggie said, plopping down on the floor next to Rosie.
"Come on Tommy and Chuckie, mind finishing the story you started telling us the other day? You know, about that whole forrest thing. Dil was telling us that you almost poured bananas on him and left him to live with the monkeys." Rosie said.
"Well yeah! First, he ripped my favorite blankie in half, then, he drank our last bottle of milk, leaving me with nothing, and then, I couldn't take it no more! And not long before that, Chuckie Phil and Lil all decided to ditch us to go look for the magic lizard to get us home, and admitted that I cared more about Dil than I did them." Tommy explained.
"Well, did you?" Rosie asked.
"Well yeah, I did, but, Dil's my brother. It's my sponsitivity to take care of him." Tommy replied.
"So when you almost poured bananas on him…" Rosie started to say, before Tommy continued.
"I saw Dilly looked really ascared, and it hit me, this was no way to treat my little brother, even if he had done some things to upset me, he was really little, and didn't understand how to treat things or share with others. He had to learn how to act and behave, and it was my job, to be a big brother and teach him these things. If I gave him away to the monkeys, I'd be in big trouble, and so would Dil." Tommy said.
"So, you realized that being a big brother was an honor, not a punishment, and decided to keep him." Rosie said.
"Yep, and sure there are times when he drools a lot, or would cry and keep me up at night, and one time, we thought my mommy was gonna plant more of him in the ground, but he's also lots of fun too. I've always gots someone to play with, and now that we're a little bit olderer, and he ccan walk and talk betterer now, he's even more fun." Tommy said, as Dil toddled over to him, and gave his brother a hug.
"Thanks Tommy that means a lot." Dil said.
"You're welcome Dilly." Tommy replied.
"And after a while, I got that way with Kimi. Sure maybe she's a lot like Tommy, and at first, I felt we were too different, but after getting use to her, I find I like having a little sister around to play with. She's always here for me when Tommy, Dil, Phil, Lil, Jesse and Zack can't play, and she's always helping me when I need it. She pushes really good on the teeter-totter at the park, and when we play Make Believe, she comes up with really good stories." Chuckie said.
"Wow! Thanks Chuckie!" Kimi said excitedly, as she rushed over and gave her big brother a hug.
"You're welcome Kimi." Chuckie replied back, with a giggle and a smile.
As Reggie listened to Tommy and Chuckie talk about the good qualities of their siblings, something changed inside of him that day.
"Sorry I called you guys names. So, you're not a woose after all. You didn't go through with the plan because you care about your little brother." Reggie said.
Tommy and Chuckie nodded and smiled.
"Well, in that case, if you two can enjoy being big brothers, than so can I. Thanks." Reggie said.
"You're welcome." Tommy and Chuckie said in unison, just as the screen on Mary's iPad went completely dark.
"Uh oh, I think my sister will need to charge her iPad." Rosie said.
Before Reggie could say another word, the doorbell rang. Curious as to who it could be, he and Rosie ran downstairs, to be pleasantly greeted by Reggie's parents, who had returned from their business trip.
"Guess what mommy guess what? I'm really excited about becoming a big brother! Where's the new baby? Can I meet her now?" Reggie asked excitedly, bouncing up and down.
However, his parents weren't smiling. Instead, they were frowning. Noticing this, Reggie stopped bouncing around and looked up to see the puzzled looks in their eyes.
"What's wrong?" Reggie asked, about ready to cry.
"We're sorry to burst your bubble, but…" Rhonda started to say, before she burst into tears.
"Reggie, your mommy's not having a baby after all." David added.
"What?" Reggie asked in surprise.
"So you're not having the baby huh?" Shannon asked, returning to the living room with Reggie's packed overnight bag.
"Afraid not. Turns out that pregnancy test I took was fake according to the doctor." Shannon said in between her sobs.
"Well don't you worry, you and David can keep trying, and hopefully, you eventually, be able to have a baby." Shannon said.
"I hope so." Rhonda said, as the two moms gave one another a hug.
"Are you ready to go son?" David asked.
"Yes daddy." David replied, as he took his son's hand and led him out to the car.
Once everyone was in the car heading home, Reggie felt relieved that for now, he'd remain an only child, but should the time come for him to be a big brother, thanks to a little bit of advice from two babies he thought he'd never expect to help him out in his entire life, he'd get use to being an older brother, and it wouldn't be as bad as he thought. If that wasn't enough to cheer him up, when they got home, his parents gave him a present. Reggie unwrapped it to find it was the fire truck he wanted at the toy store.
"We felt bad about not getting this for you the other day, and when your mom found out she wasn't going to have a baby, she thought you might need some cheering up as well. So, here you go." David said, as Reggie stared down at the new shiny red fire truck he held in his hand.
"Oh thank you mommy, thank you daddy, you're the bestest!" Reggie squealed excitedly, as he dropped the truck on the floor, raced over to his parents, and gave them a hug.
His parents hugged him back and smiled, as maybe they weren't having a second child right now, but they did have one child, and one very special little boy, that for the moment, couldn't make them any happier than they were right then.
The End
Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that story. I thought it would be interesting to have Reggie's incident take place after Tommy and Chuckie became brothers to Dil and Kimi, to do something a little bit differently, though I'll admit, where Angelica is concerned, because she knows Tommy and Chuckie better than Reggie does, I'm glad for her sake, the nightmare for her took place before Dil was born and Kimi was adopted, as I don't think that episode would have worked at all had it taken place later on in the series. But because of Reggie's relationship to Tommy and Chuckie, it was possible to still make it work. Anyway, that's all for now. As usual, thanks for reading, and more stories, coming soon!