It was very quiet in the Forte home, they never received visitors because they took shelter in the middle of nowhere and it was just how they liked it. Felicity was reading a mature book she was given to study as a home educating assignment. She didn't mind any graphic detail in it as she was a lot wiser than her age led her to be. Forte was playing his music in the other room that was isolated from his own wife as they had separate bedrooms despite being married. Cherry was soaking in the tub herself. Then came a knocking at the front door.

"What is that?" Felicity blinked. She then hopped from the couch, placing the book in place and her boots squashed across the graveled floor of her home as she came to the front door and was surprised they were having visitors. She then opened the door. "Bonjour, how may I be helping you?"

"Hey, cuz!" Estelle and Akito beamed.

"Oh, hello!" Felicity smiled at them. "We do not often get visitors..."

"Flick, what was that?" Cherry came down instantly in one of her long and flowing robes which covered her feet with her hair down, dripping slightly.

"Hey, Cherry." Atticus and Mo said with a smile.

"Hello..." Cherry blinked at them, then bent down to her daughter's height. "What are they doing here?"

Felicity only shrugged with one of those not eye contact glances many children her age did and she did it as well in order to fit in like a normal child.

"We're here because we wanted to know if you, Aunt Cherry, and Uncle Forte would like to come with us to New York City and meet my pen pal, her name is Jenny." Estelle said.

Felicity looked excited, but then looked up to her mother for approval.

"Hmm..." Cherry hummed in thought.

Estelle then began to use her puppy dog eyes trick.

Cherry chuckled, amused with that. "Nice try, dear..."

Forte then came to see what the ruckus was all about. "What's all this then?"

"Estelle and Akito want us to come to Nouveau York Ville with them!" Felicity piped up.

"What's stopping you?" Forte looked down at the twins who he was now familiar with.

"Yeah, Cherry?" Atticus asked.

"Excuse us..." Forte took Cherry out of the room into the kitchen.

Felicity climbed back on the couch with Akito and Estelle. "So, who is Jennivere?" she asked about the pen pal Estelle had.

"She lives in New York, with her, a man named Winston and her last name is Foxworth." Estelle said.

"Does she have any of the animal companions?" Felicity asked, referring if the girl Jenny had pets.

"No, she doesn't." Estelle said.

"Yes, she does," Akito reminded her. "Remember? Jenny said she had a fish and a poodle named Georgette."

Felicity still listened to the twins while her parents discussed about her being able to go with them.

"Oh, yeah, but then her fish died and now she only has a poodle." Estelle said.

"I'm afraid we can't go, it's a very private manner," Cherry came in, to tell the family. "I rather not discuss it."

"But Maman..." Felicity really wanted to go.

"I'm sorry, Fliss, but your father and I can't afford for us all to go." Cherry explained sharply.

"We're very sorry, thank you for the invitation though." Forte added.

"I'll pay for everything." Atticus said.

"Thank you very much, but it's more serious than that," Forte told him gravely. "Why don't you just take Flick with you? She won't have to worry about this."

"We're too swamped." Cherry added.

Mo's cell phone rang and she answered it, receiving a phone call that their money wasn't working out too well and they couldn't afford to go themselves. She sighed, then told Atticus about this. What was the sudden problem with money?

"What?!" Atticus exclaimed

Mo sighed. "I'm sorry, Estelle..."

"Isn't Darla in New York City for a newspaper interview?" Cherry had an idea.

"Yes, she is." Atticus said with a smile.

"Aunt Darla?" Akito and Estelle's eyes lit up.

"Maybe she wouldn't mind looking after her 'favorite' niece and nephew while they meet Jenny Foxworth." Mo added with a smile.

"Yeah." Atticus said.

Mo then decided to call up the woman now.

"This Tante Darla of yours, I have never met her... Is she nice?" Felicity asked the twins.

"She sure is." The twins said in unison.

"I do not know about leaving without Maman or Papa..." Felicity sounded overwhelmed.

Cherry turned her head, then left the room, then came back with a towel over her chest with Simon underneath and to feed him his hourly milk.

"Fliss, it's not all bad..." Forte tried to soothe his only daughter.

Felicity was a little nervous.

"Flick, you're going, besides, it's time you rely on others besides your father and I," Cherry said sharply as she fed Simon. "Think about it as when I go on my adventures away from you and your father. Besides, Akito and Estelle will be there with you, and I'm sure Darla will be as considerate to you."

"Do we not have enough money?" Felicity still refused to be without her parents. "I will get a job if it will help."

Forte kissed her cheek, looking into her eyes. "You'll be fine..."

"Your father and mother are right." Atticus said.

"Listen kid, things are going to be tough in this life, and if you're gonna let a little thing like dependency on your parents stand in the way, then you might as well stay right here, because you're gonna be stuck with them for the rest of your life." Mo advised, trying to get Felicity to accept.

Felicity still sighed. "But I do not know this Darla woman..."

"Akito and Estelle know her, so does Atticus, I even knew her when she was a little bit younger than you, Flick, it'll be good for you, give her a chance." Cherry nearly sounded caring for her daughter for a change.

"Okay." Felicity said.

"Here, I'll help you pack up." Forte took his daughter's hand, then went to her bedroom with her.

"She needs to grow up sometime..." Cherry sighed. "Wonder what happened to all our money."

What none of them knew was that a boy a year older than the twins had taken the money and gave it to man named Sykes and then ran off.

Soon enough, Felicity was packed up and ready to go. Felicity hugged her parents one last time before going to join Atticus, Mo, Akito, and Estelle into their car and take the kids to the airport. Luckily for them, kids tickets are a lot cheaper and they would be unaccompanied minors.

"Now, kids, Aunt Darla will meet you after your plane lands," Mo said before letting the kids get boarded with anyone else going to New York City. "Aunt Darla may love you guys lots, but don't beg for toys or treats from her. Also, help Felicity get to know her better, she still looks shaken up about not being able to be with her parents, especially since she's never ridden a plane before. Did you get all of that, you two?"

"Yes, Mom." The twins said.

"Have a good time, call us whenever you can, Aunt Darla has our number," Mo hugged them both tight. "Be good, you two." She smiled, then playfully tugged at Akito's bandanna as a friendly teasing gesture from her maternal instincts.

Felicity was shaking a little as she saw the airplane, was this metal supposed to take them into the sky and there safely? What if something terrible happens to them? What if the plane crashes into a building? What if they land into the ocean? What if they go on the wrong plane and end up in a terrible country filled with thieves or crooks?

"Ready?" Akito asked.

"Ready." Estelle agreed.

Felicity started to quake in terror. "MAMAN!"

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine." Akito said.

Felicity took a deep breath, then took a quick drink from the water fountain. "Okay..." She then put on the amulet she was given to be able to talk with any animal friends they may make along the way.

'Flights to New York City are now boarding.' the intercom signaled for them to come.

"Alright, that's us, come on." Estelle said, leading them with her to get on the plane and prepare to meet Jenny in person with them.

This was going to an adventure like they never had before.

The kids got on the plane and Felicity panicked when the plane went down the runway and went in the air, but after it was in the air, she slowly calmed down. Estelle looked out the window with headphones in. Akito was playing with his Nintendo to pass a bit of time. Felicity was trying to sleep the trip away calmly. Then Akito turned off the Nintendo and both he and Estelle joined Felicity. Felicity seemed to be okay, then they were landing and coming back down the runway.

"We're almost there, Fliss." Estelle smiled at the girl, gently taking her hand.

Felicity then woke up. After the announcements from the pilots, the kids along with a bunch of others were leaving the plane with their bags. There was a slightly chubby woman in a long rose colored dress with curly blonde hair as she held her purse and was sitting and waiting for someone to see her and meet her. The kids then left the plane.

"Aww, there's my little ones!" the woman waddled over, hugging the twins tightly. "Oh, I missed you two so much, I haven't seen you all since you were the cutest little babies!"

"It's great to see you, Aunt Darla." Akito and Estelle said in unison.

"Oh, it's great to see you too," Darla was very happy to be an aunt. She could spoil the kids as much as she wanted and they weren't even her own, plus she was very rich and could get them whatever their little hearts desired. "Oh, who's this?" She had spotted Felicity, who stood at least five feet away from the family reunion.

"Oh, this is our cousin, Felicity." Estelle said.

"Cousin?" Darla looked confused. "Who's your mama?"

"My maman's name is Cherry." Felicity replied, shuffling her boots.

"Ah, I get it, come 'ere, sweetie," Darla hugged Felicity as well. "It's nice to meet you... I'm sure your mama's told ya all about me."

"Not really, Mademoiselle Darlene." Felicity remarked.

Darla nearly twitched in her smile, but didn't have one of her fits like when she was child. "Funny... Oh, well, the more the merrier~"

They all then left the airport with their luggage.

Felicity, Akito, and Estelle sat comfortably in the cab.

"The lavish hotel, please." Darla said as she got in the front passenger seat.

"Yes, Miss Fudo." the driver nodded, then drove them to the hotel where Darla would be staying.

"I have a feeling that we'll have an adventure while we're in New York." Akito said.

"Aunt Darla... You know the school you work at with Miss Amber?" Estelle spoke up. "Could I maybe get registered to it?"

Darla looked back to her. "Oh, sweetie, I'd love to have you become a student, but it's so full now... I'm not sure if there'll be any openings, but I promise to let you know as soon as I find out."

"Thank you." Estelle said.

"It means so much to me that you wanna be a little 'ol ballerina," Darla smiled. "I remember when I wanted to be one too when I was a little one..." She batted her eyelashes at her childhood memories. "Do ya know what you'd like to do if you get to preform live like those older ballerina, sweetie?"

"I always wanted to dance in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker." Estelle said.

"Oh, we'll be doing a production sometime for winter, maybe you'd like to visit the school with your little friend, Janet?" Darla offered.

"Her name's Jenny Foxworth." Estelle said.

"Oh," Darla giggled. "I was never really good with names."

The cab stopped and took them to Darla's hotel where they would stay for the visit and to meet Jenny from time to time.

"Welcome to my temporary place, it's not the best place ever, but it'll do until you all come see me in my REAL home." Darla said as she went to take the kids in with her and would unpack.

Felicity looked around, still wishing her parents were with her. She then saw a young boy running.

"Come along, children~" Darla rang her voice to get them inside her room.

"Who is that?" Felicity looked over her shoulder with Akito and Estelle.

"What's wrong, Felicity?" Akito and estelle asked.

The young boy Felicity saw was no longer there.

"There was a garcon there..." Felicity gestured to where the boy was. "A boy, I really saw him..."

"Aw, sweetie, you must have jet lag, it'll be better as soon as you come inside." Darla took her hand.

The boy had cone out from the corner and continued his way. Felicity blinked, then continued to walk in with the others.

Darla collected her room key and opened her room door and allowed the kids inside with two large beds, a nice wooden chest with some snacks inside of it, a big television, and a phone on the desk where a window was. "Well, home sweet home for now, I'm sure you all would rather go out with that friend of yours than to come with me for boring grown-up meetings." she said, mostly to her adoptive niece and nephew.

"Well, we are kids." Estelle said.

"Let's get you all settled before you go meet this friend of yours," Darla said, helping with the unpacking.

Felicity merely shuffled her foot against the floor, then unpacked her clothes herself. The twins began to unpack.

Felicity took out a rather mangy old rag doll and hugged it as she was unpacked and waited for Akito and Estelle.

"Estelle, why don't you call Jenny to let her know you're in town?" Darla suggested.

"Okay." Estelle said.

Darla put Estelle's suitcase under the bed, then helped Akito. Felicity looked out the window to see a real view of what New York City was like and wasn't mostly as she imagined. She often thought there to be big places everywhere, every single way to get around would be a bright yellow vehicle known as a taxi cab and all the people could buy as much as they wanted in Time Square with no regrets, not to mention celebrating the cheerful holiday known as Christmas at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Estelle then went to the telephone to call her pen pal.

After a few short rings, a sophisticated, nearly pompous, but not very voice answered. "Hello? Foxworth residence?"

"I'm calling for Jenny, this is her pen pal, Estelle." Estelle said.

"I'm afraid Miss Foxworth isn't in right now, I just have to pick her up from school," the voice told her. "May I take a message?" He offered.

"Yes, tell her that her pen pal Estelle Fudo has arrived in New York." Estelle said.

"Alright, dear, I'll tell her when I pick her up and we're so excited to meet you." the man sounded pleased now.

"Thank you, sir and let me guess, the one that I'm talking to right now is Winston, right?" Estelle asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the man replied. "I am a good friend of the Foxworth family and I usually look after Jenny when her parents are away, they have an important conference and have not yet returned, but hopefully they will very soon within the week."

"I hope so too." Estelle said.

"Why don't you try stopping by around 4:00?" Winston suggested. "I'm not positive when we'll be home, but it should be around that time, it almost always is, my dear."

"Great," Estelle said. "Do you mind if I bring my twin brother and cousin and aunt with me?"

"It's no trouble, I believe Jenny's mentioned you having a brother in some of your letters to her." Winston sounded delighted.

"Great." Estelle said.

"See you then, we also hope you stay for until Saturday," Winston reminded her. "It's Jenny's birthday and we're hoping Mr. and Mrs. Foxworth will be back by then."

"Me, my twin brother, and my cousin will be here for Jenny's birthday." Estelle said.

"That should cheer her up," Winston liked the sound of that. "Poor Jenny's been a little lonely since her parents left and no one really comes over from her school."

"That's horrible!" Estelle said.

"I don't know why it would be though, Jenny's a lovely girl, she's not even greedy or spoiled like many other rich children." Winston replied.

"I know, I can tell by her letters." Estelle said.

Winston paused a moment. "Excuse me, my dear, but I'm going to have to hang up now, I have to cater to some other duties, but I will see you very soon with your brother and cousin to meet Jenny. Chat with you later now."

"Okay, bye, Winston, talk to you later." Estelle said as they both hung up.

"Winston?" Felicity sounded confused. "I thought your pen pal had the name Jennivere."

"Her name is Jennifer, I was speaking to an old family friend of her's who's watching over her." Estelle said.

"Can we not see her then?" Felicity asked.

"She's probably busy." Akito shrugged.

Darla walked over and gently patted Estelle's head. "Don't ya worry, dear, you'll see her soon enough. Someday you'll also get to meet my old school friend, Amber if ya want to."

"Yes, please and Jenny is in school, Winston is about to pick her up." Estelle said.

"Well, what shall we do until then, hmm?" Darla asked, still smiling, she seemed to have a permanent smile after all her smiling as a child.

"Who is Amber?" Felicity wondered.

"Ooh, story time!" Estelle beamed.

Darla giggled. "Well, I guess I could tell ya." She took a seat by the desk table, allowing the kids to sit on the bed.

Felicity sat in between Estelle and Akito as they were going to be told.

"Now, I'm sure you two know the story of when your father and Aunt Cherry went to my old home in Hollywood, right?" Darla asked the twins, knowing how much Atticus loved to tell them bedtime stories about his adventures.

"Yeah." The twins said.

"Well, about a year after that, I got to go to school for the first time in my life," Darla explained. "You see, I was an orphan as a child, my parents died in a car accident when I was very young, so I had to go to an orphanage, but by then, I got discovered and became America's Sweetheart Lover of Children and Animals like how everyone knew me as. After a tragic occurrence, nobody wanted anything to do with me, so Atticus took me into his family, and we all thought it'd be good if I try to go to public school... But, I was nervous at first..."

*Flashback*

Darla was seven-years-old, wearing new clothes, a short-sleeved white top with pink fringe, a pink heart in the center, pink shorts, the red bow she wore to her Li'l Ark Angel movie premiere with the same white socks and red shoes she wore there as her other clothes were donated after she left her old home in Hollywood.

"Atticus, what if no one wants to be my friend because of what I did to you, Cherry, and all your animal friends?" Darla asked her new older brother as she was petting the cat doll she was given, now growing to love animals.

"Don't let the past get you down, the past is the past." Atticus said.

"I don't know if I can do this..." Darla sighed as she stroked her cat doll's fur.

"Just stay calm and be nice." Atticus said.

Darla sighed as she lugged the hand-me-down backpack from Jessica and put it on her back. She then went out as the school bus pulled by the Fudo house and the girl got onto it and she looked around nervously. Some kids whispered about her and knew about her and they didn't seem very nice. Darla then walked over to a girl with strawberry blonde hair tied into a high ponytail, a short-sleeved blue shirt with a flower on it, a purple skirt, blue socks, and purple slip on shoes.

"Can I sit here?" Darla asked in the nicest voice she could muster.

The girl looked back to her, flashing her aqua blue eyes. "Uh-huh." she replied with a smile.

This girl seemed nice. Darla then decided to sit with the girl and the bus rode off.

After several hours of school, Darla came off the bus with a more confident smile then ever before. "See you tomorrow, Amber!" she called to the girl she sat next to on the way to school and waved to her cheerfully.

"See you tomorrow, Darla!" Amber called back and waves back cheerfully.

Darla ran over to Atticus and hugged him. "Oh, school was so much fun! Amber and I had a great time together!"

"I'm guessing she's a new friend?" Atticus guessed.

"Oh, yes," Darla was bursting with energy as she still smiled. "Her aunt's a fashion designer and she said if it's okay with her Aunt Anita and Uncle Roger, that I can go with her to London to visit them and their Dalmatians! I've always wanted a puppy, I wonder if they'll let me keep one!"

"Yeah." Atticus said.

Darla smiled as she looked back as the school bus continued to go and drop off more kids. "I hope Amber and I can be best friends forever..." she whispered happily.

*End of Flashback*

"That was such a happy day in my life..." Darla held her arms together as her eyes shined like stars. "Even more than becoming a movie star, even more than being given trophies for my fame and fortune... Friendship was more important to me than all those treasures I earned as a child star..."

Felicity smiled for the woman, even if she didn't know her very well.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've hogged conversation." Darla smiled, looking down to Akito and Estelle.

"No, it's alright." Akito and Estelle said.

"Didn't you like being famous though, Aunt Darla?" Akito asked.

"Well, yes, I did when I was younger," Darla looked down to the twins gently. "But after your father, Aunt Jessica, and grandparents let me stay with them, I realized that I was actually pretty lonely... You see, in my old home, it was just me and that manservant, Max... LB Mammoth legally adopted me as his daughter, but he never really stayed with me or acted like the father I had always longed for... I think all the money and luxuries I had was just because I was filling an empty void in myself, I had no friends, no family, only my name in lights and to be in movies for all the people who admired me, but I was just a lonely soul..."

"So, I guess being famous isn't all what it's cracked up to be." Estelle said.

"Oh, honey, I didn't say that," Darla cooed. "It can be tough, I was just a spoiled brat and I deserved my punishment when I tried to drown your father and his friends back then. If anything, losing my fame and fortune was worth it, because then I was rewarded with something even better than being showered with glamorous attention: I had earned a loving family... And I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Aw!" Estelle said.

A little later, it was close to 4:00.

"Come on, kids, we better get going." Darla buttoned up her jacket to take the kids out to meet Jenny.

"I hope she is nice as you say she is." Felicity smiled to Estelle.

"Oh, she is." Estelle said with confidence.