*Story takes place in the same universe as "Loving The Devil" & "A Family With A Great Story" by LadyPalma. Characters of Anita & Fitz used w/permission. *
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Isaac was out running errands and Cruella was left alone with the children. Bored, Fitz asked if they could watch TV and Cruella agreed. She turned on the Family Channel and left 5 year old Fitz and 3 year old Anita alone in the family room to watch TV while she went in the other room to work on a dress commission.
All was quiet and calm until about 45 minutes later when Cruella heard her young daughter suddenly start crying hysterically and screaming out "MUMMY! MUMMY!" Cruella dropped the dress she was working on and quickly ran into the family room to find out what had upset her daughter. "Anita, my darling, what's wrong? What has happened?" Cruella asked, while rushing to her daughter's side. As soon as she saw her mother, Anita wrapped her arms around her and cried into her mother's neck. Cruella looked over at Fitz with a question in her eyes. Fitz told her that they were watching TV and the cartoon movie 101 DALMATIONS came on and when the cartoon Cruella showed up, Anita became terrified and upset. "Mommy, I tried to tell her that wasn't you and it's just a dumb cartoon but she wouldn't believe me." Cruella understood and, with a heavy sigh, turned off the TV and sat down on the couch holding her daughter in her arms.
Rocking her back and forth, she did her best to calm Anita down and to reassure her that her Mummy was right here, that she was real and the scary cartoon lady was not. "Little diamond, you need to calm down. I know that was scary, but she is not real. Mummy is right here and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise." Anita held tight and said through her tears, "Mummy, I don't like that cartoon lady. Why did they make her so awful? You're not like that. I don't like that they made you mean and ugly." Cruella was visibly touched by this, and she pulled Anita away from her neck so she could look at her. Smoothing her hair back and wiping the tears from her little face, Cruella gently said "My little diamond, I don't know why they made that horrible cartoon. And from now on, you won't ever have to see it again. Mummy will make sure of that. Now, my darling, I want you to calm down. Can you do that?" Anita shook her head and did her best to stop her tears. Cruella pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her blonde head. "It's going to be alright, little diamond. I promise." Fitz then asked his Mom if he could play his video game. Cruella agreed, and let him turn it on. While watching her son play, she glanced down and noticed Anita was falling asleep. She leaned down and quietly said to her "my darling, are you ready to sleep for a bit?" Anita nodded her head, yawned, and proceeded to hug her mother tightly. Since Anita was not about to leave her Mummy and go into her bed, Cruella knew that she was going to be on the couch with her daughter for a while. "Great…." Cruella thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. "Just great. There goes the dress I wanted to finish today…." She let out a sigh and decided to make the best of it. "After all, that's what a mother is supposed to do, right?" she asked herself.
A couple of hours later, Isaac came home and found his wife and children sound asleep on the couch. Fitz was at one end, and his wife and daughter were curled up on the opposite end. Quietly, so as not to not wake them, he pulled out his phone and took a photo of his sleeping family. A few minutes later, Cruella awoke and gently got off the couch, leaving her children asleep. Stepping into the kitchen, Isaac asked her how things went. Cruella proceeded to tell him about what had happened with Anita and the Dalmations movie. "It was horrible, darling, seeing our little diamond so upset with that dreadful cartoon version of me. It was all I could do not to smash that blasted television into a million pieces right there!" Isaac was not happy at hearing about his daughter's terror but he was also happy that the TV was still intact. After pouring himself and his wife a glass of gin, they swore together that there would be no future incidents of that movie in their home ever again.