Out of Character

by celrock

When Zack has his friends over to play while being watched by Taffy and Peter for the day, he notices that everybody, Susie and Angelica included, are not acting like themselves. What is going on? Can this mystery be unraveled by the time everybody has to go home?

Author's Note: I thought of this idea the other day, but with the intense heat conditions my weather forecast has been as of late, writing such a long, multi-POV story was simply just, out of the question. Plus, I was somewhat at a loss of how to format it. However, I have to thank user Nairobi-harper for giving me some ideas on how to format this story, plus, reading her story, Dil's College Years, and how she formatted that one, also gave me some ideas too. We'll just, see how I do. Anyway, I wanted to publically thank her for her contributions, and, to let you all know to go check out her stories, they're super awesome! She not only recently updated Dil's College Years with the eighteenth chapter after not touching it for over a year, but she also released a new Rugrats and Inside Out crossover story talking about each of the babies thoughts of what they thought about the 2015 Disney Pixar film, Inside Out. I surely hope she releases more chapters in that one very soon, as I'm dying to see what the other characters thought of the movie! With that out of the way, let's move on, to my newest story, and what will probably be, one of the longest one-shots I've released in a great while.

Out of Character

Summary: When Zack has his friends over to play while being watched by Taffy and Peter for the day, he notices that everybody, Susie and Angelica included, are not acting like themselves. What is going on? Can this mystery be unraveled by the time everybody has to go home?

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own any OC's you don't recognize, like Sherry Berry, Zack, and his Aunty Celeste, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, and Jesse is owned by JJJB.

Zack POV

It all happened one day when I was still just a one-year-old toddler. It was one of those rare times when my aunty had to go in for an early shift at her job, and I do mean early, like, before I usually waked up in the mornings. I knew something was off when yesterday night, she put me to bed before the sun went down, and she didn't attempt to give me a bath. She also toldid me when tucking me in, that Taffy would be taking care of me the next day, and Peter would be bringing all of my other friends over to play. I didn't think too much about it when going to sleep, until I waked up the nextest day to have Taffy staring down at me in my Reptar racecar bed, as I sat up, yawned and stretched.

"Good morning Zachary, ready to have some breakfast?" Taffy asked me, as I stood up, looked up at her, nodded and smiled.

I took her hand and we headed out of my room, down the small hall to the living room of our partment, and then, into the kitchen, where she gave me a bowl of Reptar cereal, some toast with grape jelly on top, a sippy cup of some hot milk, and some red juice.

"Now eat up your breakfast Zack, and then, I'll give you your bath." Taffy said, taking a seat across from me at the table, also eating some breakfast.

She had toast with apricot jelly on top, no Reptar cereal, a cup of coffee, and some orange juice. We ated our breakfast in silence, and afterwards, she cleaned up, and tooked me back to the bathroom, where I taked off my blue footsy pajamas, and was placed into the warm bath water. Usually, I ended my days with my baths, but starting my day with one wasn't a half bad way to begin it neither. I had fun playing in the tub with my rubber ducky, my frog that squirt water, and various other toys, like boats, and some blocks that would stick to the wall of the bathtub.

While I was playing, the doorbell rang, and Taffy lefted me alone to go answer it. She came back shortly, getting the body wash and shampoo ready to wash me off and get me out of the tub.

"Guess what Zachary, Peter and all of your little friends have come over to play!" Taffy said to me with a smile, as she got me all washed off and squeaky clean.

I smiled and giggled, eager to finish up my bath so I could go play. However, I had no idea that my day was going to turn into a day of several mysteries to solve. After Taffy washed me off, washed my hair, and had me all renced off, she took me out of the bathtub, dried me off, and dressed me in a clean dark blue t-shirt, and a fresh diapie. Once I was all dressed, I toddled off to the living room and kitchen, where yes, Peter and all of my friends, well, almost all of them, had arrived to play. There was Tommy, his brother Dil, Chuckie, his sister Kimi, my twin friends, Phil and Lil, my slightly older friend, Susie, much to my dismay, Angelica, but Jesse wasn't there that day. Chances are his parents tooked him to dayscare, which wasn't uncommon for him to do sometimes. No matter, all of my other friends were there to play, and Peter was in the kitchen, playing a game on his iPhone, but that was about the onliest thing that looked normen where my friends were concerned.

Over at the kitchen table, where me and Taffy had eated breakfast, sat Angelica and Susie, who were coloring with crayons in coloringbooks they had obviously brought with them from home, because I knew for a fact that I didn't have any Cynthia coloringbooks in my collection. However, Angelica looked way too happy, calm, and at peace with herself, and Susie, had a look of anger and disappointment on her face.

Then, I noticed that some of my friends were out in our small backyard. There was Phil and Lil, to my surprise, they weren't playing in a slimy mud puddle and eating wormies. Rather, they were sitting at my plastic toddler size picnic table, having a tea party with my Reptar tea set that I had gotted lastest Christmas. They were also sipping on their tea, raising their baby fingers, which I also founded odd. And then, there was Chuckie, running through the grass with my bubble mower, making bubbles and giggling. Not that Chuckie didn't usually have fun outside when he came over to play, but he usually preferred quieter activities, like playing in the sandbox, picking dandelions, or one of my favoritest ones to do with him, looking at the rocks on the ground, and admiring their beauty. I actually would have expected him to want to play tea party more so than Phil and Lil, and if that wasn't enough to make me question things, I then looked around my living room, where three more odd behaviors were going on. No, make that four.

Okay, firstest of all, the movie, Reptar Saves Christmas was playing on the TV, and it wasn't even Christmas time. Figured I'd go ask Peter what was up with that, but then, if that wasn't enough to confuse me, the three of my friends who decided to stay inside to watch the movie, also tooked me by surprise. First, Kimi was quietly sitting on the floor, watching the movie, but she looked really sad.

"What was up with Kimi? She usually enjoyed watching the Reptar movies." I thought to myself, as I glanced over at Dil, who too, was sitting on the floor watching the movie, but something looked slightly off about him as well.

He was sitting right next to the couch, and every so often, he'd glance away from the TV to check on his older brother Tommy, who had fallen asleep on the couch beneath the red throw blankie my aunt kept draped over the back of the couch, using a pillow with a bright blue pillowcase on it that my aunty usually let me use when I was sick, and wanted to curl up on the couch, rather than in my room in bed. But just the same, why was Tommy asleep at this time of day? He usually stayed awake to watch Reptar movies, not wanting to miss a minute of the action, and why was Dil being so clingy to his brother, and looking nervous?

Something wasn't right with any of my friends, and it was up to me, Detective Zachary, to crack the case. Firstest, I thought I'd go talk to Peter, and find out why he put on a Reptar Christmas movie, which, all of the DVD's were now locked away in a glass door shelf, because when I couldn't sleep at night, I'd sneak off to the living room and put one on to watch. My aunty got tired of me doing this, so gotted a shelf that locked with a key that she hided from me so I couldn't get DVD's out by myself. However, did my aunty leave Peter or Taffy with a copy of the key? And I ask this, cuz the shelf was still locked, and last I knew, the movie, Reptar Saves Christmas, hadn't come out on DVD yet, and like I said earlier, it wasn't the right time of year for it to be airing on TV.

I toddled off to the kitchen, and pulled on Peter's pants leg of his gray Confederate unicorn to get his tentions. He looked up from his phone and stared down at me.

"Well good morning Zack." Peter greeted.

"Good morning Peter." I replied with a smile.

"How are you doing today?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine, but I do have a question. Why is the Reptar Christmas movie on the TV in the other room?" I asked.

"Oh. Well, when Tommy arrived this morning, he wanted to watch some Reptar, but neither I nor Taffy knew where your aunt hid the key to open up the glass door to the shelves where the DVD's are kept. Luckily your TV supports Netflix and Hulu, which, while your aunt can't access those smart features because of her blindness, I could access them, so signed into them with my accounts, only to sadly learn that there was no trace of any Reptar what so ever on Netflix, and on Hulu, which use to house the TV series, no longer had any episodes available, or even the bulk of the movies, all, except for one, Reptar Saves Christmas, which isn't due out on DVD for another six months. So I put that on for Tommy to watch, and Dil and Kimi decided to stay behind and watch it too, while Chuckie, Phil and Lil went outside to play, and as you can probably see, Angelica and Susie are over at the kitchen table coloring." Peter explained to me.

While that made a lot of sense where the Reptar movie was concerned, why were my friends not acting like themselves? Why did Tommy fall asleep? Why was Dil so nervous? Why were Phil and Lil being so proper? What possessed Angelica to be so nice and quiet? What had Susie so upset? Why was Chuckie bouncing off the walls? And most importantly, maybe cuz she's my bestest friend, why was Kimi so sad? Just then, Peter's phone started to ring.

"Excuse me Zack, I'd better get that." Peter said, answering his phone and disappearing into a spare bedroom off of the kitchen that we didn't really use, to take the call.

I knew right then, I'd have to solve the other mysteries myself, and I only hoped I could figure out what was wrong with everybody by the end of the day, in hopes they'd go home, if not back to their normen selves, I'd at least know what was up with everybody. I decided, that I'd see if I could cheer Kimi up first, since she was after all, my bestest best friend. Maybe once I got her to turn her frown upside down, together, we could help solve the rest of the mysteries.

End of Zack POV

Kimi POV

I'm usually a very happy two-year-old, especially when I get to go have a playdate at Zachary's partment, but sadly, not today. I guess it all started, right before we left for Peter's castle, when I was all dressed and ready to go, waiting for Chuckie, who's been acting really funny since sometime yesterday, after getting home from his doctor's appointment, okay, so since his bath yesterday night, when he was really excited, and having loads of fun in the bathtub, but then, he was too wound up to sleep, so he ended up sleeping with mommy and daddy in their bed.

Me, I was perfectly content all snuggled up in my bed with Super Thing, eagerly looking forward to today, when we'd get to come play at Zachary's and save the world. Sadly, that all changed for us this morning. Not so much for me, but for Super Thing definitely. I was in the living room, making Super Thing fly across the room, where one of our Reptar dolls was trapped in a box.

"Come on Super Thing, go rescue Reptar." I said, tossing him in the air, sending him in the direction of the toy chest.

He landed on the floor right outside the toy chest, but I also heard another noise I wasn't expecting. I ran over, picked up Super Thing, and gasp at the sight I sawed. One of his button eyes had popped off, and stuffing was coming out.

"Oh no! Your eye is missing!" I cried, looking everywhere for where the button could have popped off.

Then, I saw it. The button was on the floor. No sooner had I picked it up in my free hand that wasn't holding Super Thing, when mommy came into the living room, carrying my diapie bag.

"Come on Kimi, time to go." Mommy said, coming over to me.

I looked up at her, about ready to cry. Right then, she instantly knew what was wrong.

"Oh dear. Looks like I'm going to have to fix your toy. Sorry sweetie, but I don't think you can take Super Thing to play with at Zack's place today till mommy fixes it. Would you like to take a different toy instead?" Mommy asked me, taking Super Thing and the button out of my hand and putting them up on a high shelf out of my reach.

I stared at the floor, about ready to cry, shaking my head no. I didn't want to take another toy, I wanted Super Thing, and I was really sad it was broked.

"Okay sweetie, we need to get going." Mommy said, taking my hand and leading me out the front door to the car, where daddy and Chuckie were waiting.

"Morning Kimi isn't it such a beautiful day?" Chuckie said excitedly to me.

"What's so good about it?" I snapped, crossing my arms and looking away from him, staring longingly out the window, really wishing mommy could fix Super Thing right then.

Sadly, it would have to wait, cuz she was going to help daddy at his coffee shop today, cuz I guess Phil and Lil's mommy was busy with something else today.

"We're gonna be late Kira, we'd better get the kids to Peter's castle and get to the Java Lava." My daddy said, starting up the car as mommy got into the seat nextest to him, buckled her seatbelt, and we were off.

I didn't talk to Chuckie or no one all the way to Peter's. I just wanted to be left alone. When we gotted there, everybody else was outside waiting for us. We were the lastest ones to arrive.

"Thanks for watching Chuckie and Kimi for us today Peter." My daddy said, handing me and Chuckie over to Peter after getting us out of the car, and giving him our diapie bags.

"No problem Chas, I always look forward to helping Taffy babysit, and hanging out at Zack's place, which is where we'll be this evening when you pick them up." Peter said.

Then, my daddy got a bottle of medicine out of his pocket and handed it over to Peter.

"This is the new allergy medicine prescribed by Chuckie's doctor yesterday. He's already had his morning dose, and he's suppose to take it three times a day with food." My daddy said.

"I'll be sure Chuckie takes his medicine." Peter toldid my daddy, stashing the medicine away in a pocket of his gray confederate uniform.

"You be good today kids." Mommy said, kissing the tops of our foreheads, as she and daddy walked off and got back into the car, driving away.

Once they were gone, Peter rounded us up, and we had a nice walk outside, through his Confederacy kingdom, all the way to Zack's partment, where we went up to the door, and Peter rang the doorbell. Normally, I would have struck up conversation on the walk, but I was feeling so sad about Super Thing, that again, I kept quiet, even when Chuckie tooked my hand, cuz Tommy and Dil were riding in a stroller, so he didn't walk with them, I still didn't talk to anybody, but Chuckie, who would usually ask me what was wrong, was too busy, sniffing all of the flowers we passed and smiling, like it was the bestest day ever. I honestly didn't knows what was up with my brother, why he was so overly happy all of the sudden, but right then, I didn't care. I wanted Super Thing, and nothing would cheer me up until it was fixed.

Footsteps were heard after Peter rang the doorbell. The door then opened, to reveal Taffy before us.

"Good morning Peter, good morning minis, come on in. Zack is finishing up his bath, but he should be out shortly." Taffy said, leading us into Zack's living room.

We all sat on the floor of the living room in a circle while Taffy went off to finish up giving Zack his bath, and we all looked up at Peter.

"Okay kids, we're here. What do you all wanna do first?" Peter asked us.

"I wanna go play outside!" Chuckie said excitedly, running for the backdoor.

"Me and Phillip wanna have a tea party." Lil said.

"With Zack's Reptar tea set." Phil said.

"Do you two want to go outside with Chuckie?" Peter asked Phil and Lil.

They nodded their heads yes, while Peter went off briefly to get them situated outside. I turned to see Angelica and Susie quietly get off of the floor, pulling crayons and coloringbooks out of their backpacks they had brought with them, and head off to the kitchen table to color for a while. I then turned to Tommy and Dil, who to my surprise, didn't look all that happy neither. Before I could ask them what was up, Peter had gotted my brother, Phil and Lil settled outside with some toys to play with, returning to the living room.

"Tommy, would you still like to watch some Reptar while you rest on the couch?" Peter asked.

Tommy nodded, and curled up on the couch, where Peter placed a pillow behind his head, and tucked him into the blankie that normally lay across the back of the couch. He then went over to the TV, turndid it on, and started trying to find him some Reptar to watch. At this point, I just sat on the floor quietly, while Dil crawled over to the couch, taking a seat on the floor next to where his brother was lying down. Seems Peter looked in a couple of places, and each time, he came back with the same response.

"Well kids, it looks like all Hulu has at this time is the made for TV Christmas special, Reptar Saves Christmas. Will that do?" Peter asked us.

I didn't care, so simply shook my head, not taking my eyes off the screen. Tommy and Dil nodded too, so Peter started the Reptar Christmas movie for us, while I continued to sit on the floor, quietly watching the movie, hoping it would cheer me up. Truthfully though, I wasn't all that much in the mood for a Christmas movie, but I wasn't going to spoil my friends fun, so I sat there, hoping Zack would come and try to cheer me up.

At some point during the movie, I heardid him talking with Peter in the kitdchen, so I knew he was finished with his bath. Shortly after that though, he came into the living room, and I was startled when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turndid around to see Zack staring at me.

"Hey Kimi, why the long face?" Zack asked me.

I let out a reluctant sigh and answered him.

"Well, I was playing with Super Thing before I came over today, and, it gotted broked. Mommy says she needs to fix it, but she couldn't do it right then cuz we had to leave." I replied.

"Awe, that's too bad." Zack said.

"Yeah, I was really looking forward to playing with it and saving the universe with you." I said.

Zack continued to smile.

"Come on Kimi, maybe we can't save the world with Super Thing, but would you like to be a detective instead? You could be, detective Kimi, and together, we can solve the many mysteries that surround us, like why your brother is so suddenly wound up and happy." Zack said.

I stood up, no longer interested in watching the Reptar Christmas movie no more, and smiled at my bestest friend, eager to help him.

"You know, I've been wondering that too, I guess, I was just, so upset about Super Thing, that I had nearly forgotted about it. Come on Zachary, let's go find Chuckie." I said, taking Zack's hand and leaving the living room, where he led me to the backdoor, and we headed outside, where Chuckie, Phil and Lil were playing.

"Oh, and Kimi." Zack said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Don't worry about Super Thing, your mommy will fix it, and soon, you can play with it again, though I have to ask, what broked?" Zack asked.

"One of his eyes popped off, and the stuffing inside started coming out." I said.

"Awe, that's nothing. All your mommy's gots to do, is sew it back on, and Super Thing will be good as new. Now, let's go play with our friends." Zack said to me, as I reached up and opened the back door, as I was slightly taller than him, being able to reach the doorknob a bit easier than he could at this time, and we headed outside into the fresh air, where my brother was running through the yard, chasing butterflies, and Phil and Lil were at Zack's picnic table, having a tea party.

End of Kimi POV

Chuckie POV

Yeah that's me, that three-year-old redhead that I guess you could call boring old Chuckie, who's ascared of everything and only wants to do anything exciting when my bestest friend Tommy, or little sister Kimi gets me to join in on the fun. However, ever since yesterday night, a feeling has come over me that I don't think I've ever felt before. Well, unless somebody's tickling me. Okay, so maybe I need to go back a ways. Well, in case you didn't know it, I sadly, suffer from allergies like my daddy. They give me the sneezies, and one time, Angelica made me think I was allergic to Kimi, when it was only a dandelion in her pocket.

I've always loved dandelions, and love picking them in the yard, but once they started making me sneeze, my daddy had to start giving me medicine more regularly. It didn't taste very good, but at least it stopped me from sneezing so much, so it was worth it. Well, after I turndid three, along with meeting my new friend Zack, amongst other things, my allergies started getting worser. On top of sneezing, my eyes would get all watery and itchy, and it made it hard for me to see through my glasses. Yesterday, I was playing at Tommy's, when we were out in his backyard, trying to find Moose Country again, only this time, even though I wasn't totally convinced, I went along with it anyway, cuz that's what bestest friends do, Tommy claimed that if he was Nigel Strawberry, he'd find Moose Country for sure this time, cuz he'd go just the littlerest bit further that he didn't go the lastest time, and seeing both, Spike and Spiffi dressed as mooses toldid him he was almost there.

"Come on faitful viewers, Moose Country is this way." Tommy toldid me, crawling through some bushes.

"Uh, okay, if you say so." I said, reluctantly crawling behind him into the bush, just as my daddy called my name.

"Come on Chuckie, time to go to your doctor's appointment." Daddy called from Tommy's back doors to the kitchen.

"Sorry Tommy, I've gots to go." I said.

"But Chuckie." Tommy called after me, but I didn't turn back to answer him.

Besides, my eyes were starting to water again, and while I don't like going to the doctor's, if they could make this go away, then I'd go there. I ran to my daddy, grabbed his hand, and we lefted Tommy's house for the doctor's.

I'll spare you all of the details of all of the scary tests I had to go through at the doctor's office, when Doctor Lecter tooked blood and other things, to see what was wrong with me.

"Well Mister Finster, I'm prescribing your son a higher dose of the current allergy meds he's been on for the last year now, and your prescription should be ready to pick up at the pharmacy later on this afternoon. He should take it three times a day, and for the best results, I recommend to all of my patients to take it with food." The doctor said to my daddy.

"Thank you dock." My daddy said, grabbing my hand as we finally lefted the doctor's office, after what felt like a bazillion years.

I went home, took a nap until it was time for dinner, and at dinner time, mommy gave me my first dose of meds. The color was different, as my old allergy meds were a pink liquid, while this was a blue liquid, but they still tasted just as yucky. Afterwards, it was time for me and Kimi to take our baths and get ready for bed, cuz mommy and daddy toldid us at dinner that we'd be going to play at Zack's place the next day, while mommy helped daddy at work.

Soon, me and Kimi were in the bathtub, playing with our toys, when I started to notice it. I all of the sudden, felt really happy and giggly, and couldn't stop laughing.

"Hey Chuckie, what's so funny?" Kimi asked me.

But I was laughing so hard, I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, I laughed so hard, I accidentally, peed in the bathtub, and mommy and daddy had to clean it up. Once that was done and we were in our jammies, our teeth were brushed, and we were ready for bed, it was time for our bedtime story. Each night, me and Kimi alternate as to who gets to pick out a bedtime story. I got to pick out two books to read the night before, those being Captain Blasto's Search for the Missing Satelite, where he goes down into the ocean to receive an important satellite that fell from outside space, and the Captain Cavity book, the same book our daddies read to us that time we stayed at Tommy's house, and their daddies gotted locked in some playpen thingy, when we were trying to take care of them and be daddy's little helpers. So tonight, it was Kimi's turn to pick out two of her favoritest books to read.

She picked out one that Zack had introduced her to, the chicki chicki boo boo book, where the letters climb the tree, and the Caillou goes to School book. However, I thought everything was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing, and mommy had to stop reading to us because I wouldn't be quiet.

"Chuckie please! Can't you let mommy finish reading the story?" Mommy asked me.

"Sorry mommy." I said, seeing I could talk easier to growed ups now.

"Okay, now where were we?" Mommy asked, trying to find her place in the Caillou book, when I started laughing again.

At this point, I started a chain reaction, making Kimi and mommy laugh. We laughed until Kimi let out a huge yawn, about ready to fall asleep.

"Goodness Kimi, I guess we'll read the rest of your book some other time. Perhaps I can pack it for you to take tomorrow, maybe Taffy or Peter, who I hear Celeste said would be watching you both tomorrow while she's at work, maybe one of them can read the book to you." Mommy said, getting Kimi tucked into bed.

I then crawled into my bed and snuggled up with Wawa, but while I could usually fall asleep easily, on this night, I was too wound up to sleep. Not so much in a, I'm ascared, I'm having a nightscare kind of way, but rather, I'm excited and want to play kind of way. I decided that perhaps I'd try to get out some of my energy, by getting on the floor and playing with blocks, being quiet so Kimi could sleep, but that didn't work.

"Hey! I'm trying to sleep here." Kimi snapped at me.

"I'm sorry Kimi, I don't know what's come over me." I said.

Mommy and daddy must have heardid me, cuz they came into the room to check on us.

"Come on little guy, why don't you come sleep with mommy and daddy tonight." Daddy suggested.

I decided it was worth a try, and maybe, just maybe, I'd fall asleep. Well, that plan didn't exactly go as planned neither. We got into bed, me in between mommy and daddy, but I remained wound up, unable to stay still.

"Chuckie! Stay still already." Mommy said, but no matter what I did, I continued to get the jitters.

"I swear, Chuckie is rarely ever like this." My daddy said.

"I know, he's usually upset and crying if we have to bring him in here in the middle of the night." Mommy said.

"Now, can you calm down little guy and try to get some sleep? It's getting late." Daddy said to me again.

I wanted to go to sleep, but my body wouldn't let me. I was too wound up. Well, it continued on like that all night long, till the sun waked up. We went downstairs for breakfast, where mommy dished up our Dummi Bear Sugar Lumps cereal, and daddy looked especially tired.

"Kira dear, I'm glad you're coming to the Java Lava with me today, if nothing else, to keep me awake." Daddy said, about ready to fall asleep face first into his breakfast.

"I'm sure a shower will help you wake up too. I just hope whatever roudy routine that's gotten into Chuckie doesn't ware out Peter and Taffy today." Mommy said, getting out my morning dose of meds.

As soon as I finished my cereal, which I kept wanting to play with rather than eating, till mommy prompted me to eat a few times, I finished breakfast while Kimi was off getting dressed, and tooked my meds. I then gotted dressed, and daddy putted me into the car, where I was really excited to be going to play with Zack today, more so than usual.

Kimi got into the car a little while later, at which I asked her if she thought it was a beautiful day, and I got one of the oddest responses from her.

"What's so good about it?" Kimi snapped angrily, looking away from me.

However, I was too excited to pay much attention to it. Soon, we arrived at Peter's castle, and cuz Tommy and Dil were riding in a stroller, I decided to walk with Kimi on the walk to Zack's place, enjoying the bright sunny day, with flowers that smelled good all around me. I also noticed that I could breeze easily, and my eyes weren't watery or itchy no more.

"This was gonna be a wonderful day." I thought, as we arrived at Zack's house, where Taffy let us in.

Zack was taking his bath, so we sat down on the living room floor, trying to decide what to do. However, I knew I had too much energy bursting inside of me to play inside, so when Phil and Lil toldid Peter they wanted to have a tea party outside, I decided to go play outside too.

I ran through the grass, pushing Zack's bubble mower around, making bubbles and giggling as I saw the shiny bubbles float through the grass. Then later, I saw a beautiful blue butterfly on a leaf, take to the sky. It made me think back to the firstest time I really fell in love with butterflies, back when I saw one come out of its tycoon thingy for the firstest time, and gotted the idea to do something similar, to make myself really cute cuz none of the growed ups would pay attention to me, cuz they were fussing over Dil, who had recently entered our lives.

Being blown away by the butterfly, I started chasing it, as it flew all over the yard, just as Zack and my sister came out to play with me. Kimi, who was sad before, was not sad no more, so whatever had her unhappy on our way to Peter's, Zsack gotted her cheered up, so I decided I wouldn't say nothing about that, especially when they approached me, wondering what was up with me.

"Morning Chuckie, how are you doing?" Zack asked me.

"I'm doing great you guys! And look! There's lots of butterflies!" I said, pointing up to the sky where the blue butterfly I was previously chasing around the yard, had soared off to.

"I see that." Zack said.

"Yeah, Chuckie has always liked butterflies, but I've never seen him so happy before." Kimi said.

"Yeah Chuckie, what's gotted you so wound up?" Zack asked me, as we sat down in the grass.

"I don't know, ever since yesterday night when I tooked my bath, I've just felt, really giggly and happy. I've never felt like this before." I said.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to join me and Kimi at the picnic table with Phil and Lil for their little tea party?" Zack asked me.

"Sure!" I said excitedly, following Zack and Kimi over to the picnic table on the patio, where we took a seat by Phil and Lil, who were sitting across from one another.

I sat down next to Lil, with Kimi on her opposite side, and Zack sat next to Phil, across from my sister. Noticing us, Lil looked up from her make believe tea.

"Good morning Zachary, Charles and Kimiko, may I interest you all in some delicious tea?" Lil asked us.

If my odd urges of the giggles weren't strange enough for me, Lil's behavior was even stranger. Never, in my three years of life had Lil ever called me Charles before. Nor had she ever called Zack or Kimi by their full names neither.

"Lil…" I started to say, before she cut me off.

"That's Lillian to you Charles sir." Lil said, placing a pretend teacup in front of me and pouring make believe tea into it from the tea pot.

"Uh, I prefer to be called Chuckie, thanks." I said.

"Don't mind Lil, she's been acting like this ever since mommy toldid us this morning we'd be going to a family union and seeing our cousins, Hedley and Smelly again." Phil said.

It then hit me what was going on. Phil and Lil wanted to practice being proper for their cousins, who claimed back when we metted them, that they were perfect twins, getting Phil and Lil to act just like them, till Phil didn't want to do it no more, though if that was the case, then why was he sitting down and having tea with us? I pondered this thought, while we all sat there for a few minutes, sipping quietly on our make believe tea, and I managed to not laugh uncontrollably for more than a minute. I still wondered what was up with me, as I was never that happy. That was usually more of something I'd expect out of our friend Jesse, but not me.

End of Chuckie POV

Lil POV

While me and Phillip are usually the messy ones of the bunch, today, not so much. I guess I found that while I liked being messy like my brother, I liked sometimes being neat and clean too. And I really grew attached to this after our cousins Hedley and Smedley came to America to meet us, and I started hanging around with them, much to my brother's dismay. I then continued such rituals, deciding it was time to be healthier, becoming a vegetablelatarian when we metted the Strawberries, only to revert back to our old habbits upon getting back home, when Tommy fell ill with that Gray Plague, leaving us worried about him, and only finding comfort in eating bugs, wormies, and mud. However, when mommy dropped us off at Peter's castle, as he'd be the one to take us to Zack's place, she had this to say to us.

"Now you pups be good, and try to stay clean. Mommy doesn't have time to give you two a bath after your playdate today. We're leaving straight for the airport to go visit your cousins and attend the family reunion." Mommy said to me and Phil, upon putting us on the floor of Peter's living room, and giving each of us a kiss on our foreheads.

"Don't worry Betty, I'll make sure your kids are clean and ready for the flight when you come to the Wehrenbergs this evening to pick them up." Peter told our mommy.

"Thanks Peter, I appreciate it. Well, better head home and get packed. We're going for two weeks, and I already put in the vacation time at the Java Lava, and Kira has agreed to fill in for me while we're gone." Mommy said, leaving Peter's castle.

Seeing we were the firstest ones to arrive, while we were alone, I turned to my brother.

"Okay Phillip, you heardid mommy, we can't play in mud or nothing today." I scolded.

"Awe, why not?" Phil asked.

"Cuz we gotta look good for our cousins, Hedley and Smedley." I said.

My brother just let out a scowl, and we didn't talk again until we got to Zack's place, when we went out to his backyard to have a tea party.

"Now remember Phillip, baby fingers, up up up." I said, sitting at Zack's picnic table, sipping a cup of make believe tea in the same fashion I member my cousins doing it.

"Oh, why do we have to do it this way Lillian?" Phil asked angrily.

"Cuz that's how they do it where mommy's taking us." I said.

Phillip blew me a razberry, but to my surprise, he didn't leave the table. I turned away from him, and watched Chuckie playing in the grass. He did seem acceptionally happy that day, and if we weren't going to visit our perfect twinny cousins, I might have gone and joined him in the grass, as playing with the bubble mower and chasing butterflies, did sound like fun. But I didn't wanna make mommy mad, or more so, daddy mad, as he'd be the one to give us our baths if we lefted Zack's place all dirty.

End of Lil POV

Phil POV

Yeah, me and Lillian were going all the way to the ocean to visit our cousins, Hedley and Smelly for two weeks, and Lil wanted me to act proper. Normally, I would have argued with her over it, but then it hit me. When they came here to visit us, and Lil decided to not be my twin no more, I at least still had Tommy, Chuckie, and Kimi to play with, but from what I knew, they weren't going on this trip. I bet if they had been going on this trip, mommy would have toldid us about leaving for this trip when we were all together with our friends, and instead, she toldid us this morning at breakfast, before going to Peter's castle and then to Zack's place, while it was just me, my sister, and our mommy and daddy.

If I was counted out because I was too messy to fit in, I'd be all alone, and while I love mud and wormies as much as the nextest baby, it's not as much fun to play in all by yourself. So reluctantly, I decided to go along with Lil's lead, knowing we'd only be going for two weeks, even if it was forever, we wouldn't be going forever.

We were eventually at Zack's place, and me and Lil had gone outside to sip make believe tea, while Chuckie played out in the grass. Luckily, he was more for playing with bubbles, which I didn't really wanna play with right then, so I reluctantly took a seat at the picnic table with my sister, who reminded me of the proper way to sip tea.

"Now remember Phillip, baby fingers, up up up." Lil said, sitting at Zack's picnic table across from me, sipping a cup of make believe tea in the same fashion I member my cousins doing it.

"Oh, why do we have to do it this way Lillian?" I asked angrily, not all that eager to do this activity in the firstest place.

"Cuz that's how they do it where mommy's taking us." Lil replied.

I just blew my sister a razberry, hoping she'd get the hint that I just, wanted to be lefted alone, but apparently, she was too busy watching Chuckie chasing a butterfly to notice. So I stared glumly down at my teacup, hoping my day could get better. Thankfully, Zack and Kimi came out to play, and shortly afterwards, they, along with Chuckie, joined us at our tea party, where Lil decided to address us by our full growed up names, rather than the names we preferred to be called.

I toldid everybody to not mind Lil, that she was just preparing for our trip to see Hedley and Smelly, and Chuckie politely asked if she could please call him by his preferred name. Then, Zack asked me two very interesting questions.

"Well, firstest of all, what's a family union?" Zack asked me, taking a sip of his make believe tea in the same fashion as my sister.

"I don't know, but I think it has something to do with your family. But why do we gotta go visit our perfect twins is beyond me?" I snapped.

"Perfect twins? Don't you mean, proper twins?" Zack asked me.

Me and Lil gasp, raising our eyebrows.

"Maybe they gotted it all wrong when they were here Lil. Maybe they were trying to be proper twins, not perfect twins." I said.

"Well what exactly did they do?" Zack asked us.

"Well, they convinced us to not wear the same clothes, much to my dismay, making us get rid of our beloved duckies, and they never argued over nothing, and they finished each other's sentences, something I refuse to do!" I shouted.

"Now now Phil and Lil, don't you think you two are taking this whole proper twins thing a bit too far? I mean, it's great to see you two interested in playing with my Reptar teaset I gotted lastest Christmas, but they're your cousins, they're family. I think they'll love you for being who you really are, even in their home. I can't believe I'm saying this, seeing I've never been a fan of your grossness, but don't try to be something you're not. Just, be yourselves." Zack said.

I stared him straight in the eye and thought about it for a minute. Zack was right. Just cuz we were going to visit Hedley and Smelly, don't mean we should just try to act like them to impress them. We should be ourselves.

"Zack, you're right. We should be ourselves. Thanks." I said, shaking his hand.

"Glad I could help." Zack replied.

End of Phil POV

Lil POV

I listened intently to Zack and Phillip's conversation, and realized that I was going a bit overboard on this whole thing.

"Thanks Zack, you stopped me from making the most horribelest mistake. Besides, I sort of missed chasing butterflies." I said.

"You did?" Chuckie asked.

I turned to Chuckie, smiled and nodded.

"Well in that case, let's go!" Chuckie said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out to the grass, where we started chasing the butterflies that were flying around the yard.

Soon after, Phil and Kimi joined in with us, while Zack, was a bit hesitant.

End of Lil POV

Zack POV

As I saw my friends playing in the grass and chasing butterflies, I thought about how glad I was to have finally cheered up Kimi and to get Phil and Lil out of their funky slump of being proper. However, the mysteries still remained. Why was Chuckie so wound up? Why was Tommy so tired? What was up with Dil seeming so nervous? And why was Susie so upset? I figured since Susie and Angelica were getting along for a change, I wouldn't bother them just yet. Chances are Peter and Taffy would be calling us in for lunch come no shadows time, which judging from the position of the sun in the sky, it wouldn't be too much longer, so I struck up an idea.

"Come on Zachary, come and join us!" Kimi called out to me from the grass.

"I think I wanna go see if Tommy is up from his nap yet, and if Dil wants to join us too. He loves blowing bubbles." I called out.

"Hey I wanna come with ya." Chuckie said, racing up to the patio nearly tripping over his untied shoelaces, but I managed to grab his hand just in time, before he landed face first on to the concrete.

"Thanks Zack." Chuckie said.

"No problem Chuckie, now, come on, let's go see what's up with Tommy and Dil." I said, heading for the backdoor, Chuckie, running next to me, still holding my hand.

End of Zack POV

Chuckie POV

Zack is a great friend. When Tommy can't play, he's always there for me and Kimi, but Tommy will always be my bestest friend, and it was kind of odd that he hadn't come outside to play with us. He also seemed really quiet when we were on our way to Zack's place from Peter's, but I was too giggly to care right then. So when Zack brought up the idea to go see what was up with Tommy and Dil, I decided I had had enough of chasing butterflies and blowing bubbles for a bit, I'd leave Kimi and Phil and Lil to play together, and I'd go with Zack.

So we headed inside to find Angelica and Susie still coloring at the table, and Peter and Taffy were busy fixing our lunches. I then noticed I needed to go potty.

"Uh, Zack, I've gots to go potty, I'll be right back." I said, letting go of his hand.

I headed off to the bathroom, did my bbeeswax, and returned to the living room, where Zack was attempting to get Tommy awake without much success.

"Come on Zack, leave my brother alone, he doesn't feel well." Dil snapped, about ready to cry.

I then gasp. All this time I should have been more worried about Tommy, and because of my giggle phase and the jitters, I was too busy chasing butterflies, blowing bubbles, and sipping make believe tea with Lil to care. However, what happened nextest, was something I thought I'd never see him do to me in a bazillion years. I ran up to the couch where he was still napping, his eyes now half open, still looking pretty tired.

"Hey Tommy, wanna come out and play?" I asked.

At that moment, he did what I thought to be the most unspeakable. He balled up one of his hands into a fist, rased it from beneath the blankie he was curled up under on the couch, and punched me hard in the forehead.

"Ow!" I cried, sitting down on the floor, bursting into tears.

I was balling so loud, that Peter ran in to check on us.

"Is everything okay in here?" Peter asked us.

"No! Tommy hit me!" I cried.

"Kids, Tommy needs his rest. Why don't you all go outside." Peter said, scooping up Dil and leading me to the kitchen, where he had me sit down in a chair at the table.

"Taffy, could you get some ice for Chuckie's forehead, while I take Dil and Zack back outside?" Peter asked Taffy, who was working on lunch in the kitchen, as I started to calm down a little, but my head still hurt, and so did my heart.

What did I do to make Tommy hit me? Was he mad at me for leaving yesterday for my doctor's appointment, not being able to finish our aventure to Moose Country? But then it hit me, he knew my allergies had been bothering me for a while, I don't think that would have been it. I think he wanted me to go get checked out.

Peter did say he needed his rest, oh no, was he sick? But if so, why was he here, and not at home resting? And why was Dil so upset when he went outside.

"Here Chuckie, this ice will help your head feel better. Just hold it there for a few minutes." Taffy said to me, placing my right hand to a towel wrapped in ice on my forehead where my booboo was.

I sat there, no longer having my laughing fits, as I felt too hurt to laugh.

End of Chuckie POV

"Come on Dil, you too, time to go play outside for a while." Peter said, lifting up the one-year-old toddler from the living room floor, and carrying him to the backyard, with Zack following behind.

"No!" Dil cried, about ready to burst into tears, as Peter set him down on the patio.

"Dil, your brother needs to rest. I'll be getting him up shortly for lunch, but for right now, you and Zack should play outside. We'll all have lunch shortly at which time, we can all sit together and you can see your brother again, though I doubt if he'll feel much like playing today." Peter said, patting Dil on the head, before heading back inside, this time, locking the door behind him so nobody could come inside.

Dil POV

So you're probably wondering what's gots me so upset. Well, let's flashback to yesterday night, when I waked up in my crib in the middle of the night to my brother coughing. I gotted out of my crib using a stewdriver he gave me and toddled over to his bed to see what was the matter.

"
Are you okay Tommy?" I asked.

"I just have alittle cough Dil, I'll be fine." Tommy said.

But while I climbed back into my crib, at first, deciding to take his word for it, apparently, my mind had other ideas. I went back to sleep, only to have a horrible nightscare, where I waked up the nextest day to find my brother was nowhere to be found. Daddy said he was in the hopcickle, and that was it. He never came back. I waked up screaming, only to have Tommy next to the bars of my crib.

"What's wrong Dilly?" Tommy asked me, loud enough that I could hear him over my crying.

"Nightscare, I had a nightscare that you disappeared forever, all cuz of a little cough." I cried.

"Don't worry Dilly, I'm right here." Tommy said in between coughs, standing outside of my crib.

"For how long, you're still coughing." I said.

"Dil, I'll be fine! Now go back to sleep." Tommy said, returning to his bed.

I rolled over in my crib, snuggling up with my Goober toy, hoping to go back to sleep, which I did, but the nextest morning, today, things only gotted worser. Daddy is away, so mommy is the onliest one with us right now, and today, she had some place to go. She has to go to some place called school to teacher peoples. Tommy toldid me at one time that she teachers peoples to change diapies, so her job is very aportant. Anyways, because of this, me and Tommy would be spending the day with our friend Zack.

I didn't mind, I liked playing at Zack's place, cuz he had all types of toys, some of which, while he wasn't much olderer than me, he no longer cared to play with anymore, so I got to play with them. However, from the moment mommy gave us our breakfast, up until we arrived at Zack's place, I could tell Tommy was getting worser, not wanting to go. While I finished all of my oatmeal, he didn't eat very much of his cereal and green milk.

"Tommy? Are you okay sweetie?" Mommy asked.

He shook his head and climbed down from the chair at the table, and ran off to the living room, where he proceeded to curl up on the couch.

Mommy gotted me dressed firstest, letting him rest for a few minutes, but then, I was put into the playpen, and while I heardid a lot of commotion upstairs, of my brother being unusually difficult, while mommy was trying to get him dressed, I sat there, building a block tower to pass the time, thinking how this couldn't be good.

A bazillion hours later, Tommy was dressed, and mommy putted us into the car, though it took forever to get Tommy settled, as he obviously didn't want to go. If that wasn't enough, on the way to Peter's castle, Tommy took a plastic Reptar toy out of one of his shorts pockets, and started banging it on the window. Mommy was mad, scolding him, telling him that we don't hit the windows of the car with our toys, and took the toy away from him. This caused my brother to start crying, and at this point, I joined in too, when we arrived at Peter's place. When we gotted there, Phil and Lil, Susie, and Angelica had all already arrived.

"Tommy and Dil are finally here. Sorry we're late. Tommy seems to be coming down with a cold, and had I not agreed to substitute at the old high school where I use to work, and it wasn't on such short notice, I'd call and cancel." Our mommy said to Peter, while getting us strapped into our double stroller, and leaving him with our diapie bags.

"Not to worry Didi, I'll make sure Tommy takes it easy today." Peter said.

""Now you be good. I'll be by Zack's place to pick you two up this afternoon." Mommy said to us, blowing us a kiss, before getting back into the car and driving off.

My brother turned to Peter.

"Reptar." Tommy cried.

"You can watch some Reptar when we get to Zack's. As soon as Chuckie and Kimi get here, we'll be ready to go." Peter said.

I just sat quietly in our stroller, waiting for it to be time to go. Eventually, Chuckie and Kimi showed up, and we were on our way. After arriving at Zack's place, I had noticed Tommy rubbing his head much of the way there, nor did he say hi to anybody, not even Chuckie, who seemed acceptionally in a cheery mood this morning. Taffy let us in, and we all went to the living room, where my brother immediately curled up on the couch, ready to go back to sleep.

Peter asked us what we wanted to do, to which Angelica and Susie went off to do their own thing, coloring in the kitchen, and Chuckie, Phil and Lil went to play outside. Not sure what Kimi had in mind, or what was bothering her, as she looked unusually sad that morning, but I knew what I had to do. No matter what, I had to stay by my brother's side.

"Do you still wanna watch Reptar Tommy?" Peter asked him.

My brother slowly nodded, before slumping back on the pillow that Peter had given him on the couch, and Peter saw to getting some Reptar put on to the TV. All he could put on was the Christmas movie, but nobody seemed to care. Even I didn't care, as I was too worried about my brother to pay much attention to the movie. I'd glance away from it every so often to see if he was okay. After all, not long before my firstest berpday, and Tommy's second one, he fell ill with something called the Gray Plague, which landed him in the hopcickle for a while. And while he gotted through it, we were all worried about him, and, I thought I'd never see my brother ever again.

Worried this might be happening again, I sat there on the floor, really close to his side, watching him sleep, hoping he'd be okay. At sometime during the movie, Zack came in and got Kimi to go play with him outside, and after it was over, I started to grow bored, so I founded a gball with shapes inside, that I dumped out on to the floor and tried to put the shapes into the wholes, as I knew this was one toy that while I still enjoyed it, Zack didn't care for it much anymore.

I played with several of Zack's toys in the living room, quietly so my brother could sleep, until Zack and Chuckie came in to try to get him to wake up and play, but something toldid me he wasn't going to want to play, and my thinking was answered correctly, when he did something I can't ever recall him ever doing. He hit Chuckie in the head, making him cry. Peter came in to see if everything was okay, at which time he had Chuckie go sit in the kitchen with some ice on his head, and much to my dismay, me and Zack were banished to the backyard.

"Now I'll never know how my brother's doing." I thought to myself, as I sat on Zack's patio, starting to cry.

"Awe, what's wrong Dil?" Zack asked me, trying to put a comforting hand on my shoulder, which I only jerked away.

"My brother's sick, and I'm worried he might go off to the hopcickle again, and never come back, just like the nightscare I had yesterday night." I cried in between sobs.

"Now Dil, it was only a bad dream. I'm sorry to hear Tommy isn't feeling well, but I don't think he's going to the hopcickle. I think he's going to be okay. Though I do wonder why he hit Chuckie the way he did, still, you've gots nothing to worry about." Zack said to me.

I managed to calm down, taking his word for it.

"Now, wanna blow some bubbles with me?" Zack asked, picking up a blue Dummi Bears bubble wand out of his outdoor toy box, and showing it to me.

I nodded and smiled, eager to play with him.

"Now remember Dil, you blow the bubbles, not eat them." Zack said, dipping his wand into a large container of bubbles, and blowing them, making huge bubbles appear.

I thought it looked so funny, I started laughing. However, before I could get a turn with the bubbles, Peter called us inside for lunch.

End of Dil POV

Zack POV

Well, while I was sorry to see that Tommy wasn't feeling well, and that Dil was worried about him, that did explain a lot. Firstest, it explained why Tommy stayed on the couch all morning. Secondly, it explained why Dil looked so nervous throughout the Reptar movie they were watching earlier, and why he kept checking up on his brother every so often. However, a new mystery was upon us. Why did Tommy hit his bestest friend in the whole wild world? Was he mad at Chuckie for some particular reason? Or was this just, an impulse upon us bugging him, because he wanted to be lefted alone? In other words, had I been the one to get him waked up enough and been in the line of fire, would I be the one with a booboo on my forehead right now. I surely hope it was my second prediction, because last I knew, Chuckie hadn't done nothing to deserve that, he only wanted him to come out and play.

However, what was up with Susie and Angelica? And we still were clueless about Chuckie's overjoyed state from earlier, though that definitely vanished upon him being hit in the head, and I don't blame him at that rate. Looks like lunch time might be the perfect opportunity for me to get the rest of the mysteries solved, as not long after Dil spitting his guts to me, Peter called us all in for lunch, and it was growing to be the time of no shadows outside, thus, being time for us to come inside, wash up, and eat something delicious for lunch.

We all came inside, and Taffy helped all of us wash our hands and get seated at the table. I also saw that Angelica and Susie no longer had their coloringbooks and crayons in front of them, and to my surprise, while Susie still looked kind of down, Angelica didn't throw a tantrum over having to stop her coloring like I would have expected.

"Is she sick too?" I thought to myself, as I saw Peter placing Tommy down in a booster seat next to Dil, but across the table from Chuckie for obvious reasons.

Chuckie had calmed down by now, but judging by the look of disappointment on his face, as he stared across the table at Tommy, I could tell he was still pretty upset. I could also tell that Tommy's face looked pretty pale, and he didn't look too thrilled to be seated for lunch. Regardless, soon, we were all sitting at the table, Peter and Taffy included, and we were all served bowls of cheese ravioli, grapes, yogurt, and red juice to drink in our sippy cups, equaling glasses for Susie, Angelica, Taffy and Peter of course.

We sat there in silence, eating our lunch, seeing that most of us, except for Tommy, who it was obvious he had no appetite by the way he was sticking his fingers in his food and playing with it more than eating it, were all hungry from playing really hard outside, but I couldn't help but think back to Phil and Lil talking about how they'd be heading off to a family union.

I knew it had something to do with the family, but what exactly was it? That's when I decided to speak up and ask my burning question. It might also help me get another mystery solved. After taking my lastest bite of yogurt, and drinking a swig of red juice to wash it down, I asked my burning question.

"Hey, anybody here knows what a family union is, like what Phil and Lil are off to in the ocean?" I asked.

Peter laughed, while Angelica surprisingly, looked up from her plate. She glanced over at Peter, then over at me.

"Firstest of all, it's called a family reunion." Angelica said.

"Okay, thanks for the correction Angelica, but what exactly is it?" I asked.

I waited, anticipating her to reply with something that I was pretty sure was not true, as she tends to forget just how smart I really am, but to my surprise, nothing. She got involved eating more of her ravioli, which, I thought she only liked to eat cookies and candy. What was going on with her? And what was, a family reunion?

End of Zack POV

Angelica POV

Okay, so all day, I've done no harm to the babies, rather, I sat at the table, quietly coloring with Susie, nor did I answer Zack's question just now about family reunions. Well, firstest of all, let me go back to the lastest time I came to play at Zack's place. I was there for dinner, and his aunty toldid me she had something called rainbow fudge cickles in her freezer, and if I finished everything on my plate and was good, I could have one for dessert. However, did she have to serve broccoli that night?

"Ug!" I thought to myself, tossing the pieces of broccoli on to the floor.

Unfortunately, she stepped on them, and while she couldn't see where she was going, she could feel, and she figured out fairly quickly, when the trail more or less, led to my chair, that I was the one who did it. I couldn't even lie and get the babies in trouble, because she figured it out without even having to ask. I didn't get any dessert, and I only hoped I'd never have to play here again. This morning, I was dropped off at Peter's on my mommy's way to work, and while I wasn't too happy that Susie, along with Phil and Lil were already there, I didn't like it when Peter announced that we'd be heading to Zack's place as soon as Tommy, Dil, Chuckie and Kimi showed up.

I wanted to growl, I wanted to put, but then, I remembered. I'd have another shot at those fudge cickles, if I was good. However, how would I convince the babies of this. The lastest time I tried to be good, back when everybody came over to play at my house one day before we went to Paris, and mommy and daddy promised me a Cynthia town house and car for her if I was good, well those babies wrecked it, by thinking I was sick, sad, or wanting to play with my toys, only making me mad in the end.

I lost it, screaming at the top of my lungs, and ultimately, I didn't get either the car or the town house, cuz according to mommy and daddy, I made too much noise. No way was I not gonna get these fudge cickles, but how to keep the babies off of my back?

As soon as we got to Zack's place, and everybody was heading off to do different things, watching a Reptar movie, not something I really wanted to see of all things, I quietly snuck off to the kitchen with my Cynthia coloringbook and crayons I brought with me from home, and decided to color until lunch time, and to my surprise, not only did Carmichael join me, but the babies left me alone. Well, until I heard the oldest Finster child crying, only to look up and see him sitting there with ice on his head. I was trying though to color the most difficult picture in my book, and I was determined, to get those rainbow chocolate fudge cickles for dessert after lunch, and nothing, was going to stand in my way.

Well, I nhearly blew it when we all sat down for lunch, and Zack asked one of the most ridiculous questions a baby could ask, what was a family union. Now, I went through the trouble of correcting his pronounciation of the word, but then, I thought back to when I explained the whole ordeal to Tommy, when we went to that family reunion on a farm, and I ended up with those two awful peoples who wanted to change my hair, make me do chores, and then, gotted nearly attacked by that goat. Turns out I was only making it all up as usual, but Mellon Head, being a young, dumb baldy baby back then, was gullable enough to believe everything I said. Sadly, while I'll never admit it out loud, I can't say the same for Zack.

Yes, believe it or not, Zack isn't technically as dumb as the rest of them. In fact, he hasn't believed a word I've said ever since he met me when Chuckie turned three. So while I thought of scaring him, telling him that Phil and Lil were going to visit their cousins, and the only reason why they went outside and had a tea party, and don't think I didn't notice, I did notice them go outside when I came into the kitchen to color, well, I was going to tell Zack that they were going off to the ocean to make everybody think they were like their perfect twin cousins, so that their cousins would come back here instead, and while nobody would ever see Phil and Lil ever again, I'd have Hedley and Smedley back, who claimed I was the queen of America, and who actually followed my orders without question.

Ha! I'd do anything to get them to come back, but if I did that, I'd only get in trouble, and wouldn't get my fudge cickle, which I was really longing for. Luckily, when I went back to eating my ravioli, and didn't finish answering the toe head's question, Peter toldid him the truth about family reunions.

End of Angelica POV

"Zack, Phil and Lil aren't going to the ocean, they're going across the ocean to England, where they're getting together with their cousins, and other family members for a family reunion. It's like a big, gathering with people from your family who live all over the world. They gather together in one place, and catch up, sometimes explore the home of that family, especially if it's a farm or special plantation they own or something, and remember good times, meet any new family members that have come along, stuff like that. It's a big party for the family, and I know Phil and Lil and their parents are really looking forward to this trip. They'll be gone for two weeks, and we'll miss them dearly, but I'm sure they'll have lots to tell us when they get back." Peter explained, noticing Angelica had eaten everything in front of her.

"Wow! That sounds great! Thanks for explaining it to me." Zack said.

"Yeah! And I know Phil and Lil are looking forward to going. They were even trying to act like proper twins, right Zachary?" Kimi asked.

"You got that right Kimi, but I reminded them to act like themselves." Zack said, eating the last of his grapes.

Soon, everybody except for Tommy and Susie had finished everything on their plates.

"Wow! Looks like several of you are ready for some dessert." Peter said, clearing the dishes away from the table.

"Yes, please?" Angelica begged.

"Now now Angelica, you've got to wait your turn. I spoke with Zack's aunt the other day when making the babysitting arrangements, and she told me she had some rainbow chocolate fudge cickles in the freezer with your name on them, I'll get you one in just a minute." Peter said, putting the cleared dishes into the sink, while Taffy went into the freezer and got out fudge cickles for everybody who had finished their lunch.

However, Zack couldn't help but notice, that while Tommy looked sick, and thus, was probably not very hungry, Susie on the other hand, looked perfectly healthy, just, upset, as she sat there, picking at what remained of her cheese ravioli in her bowl, sighing every so often.

"Is something bugging you Susie?" Zack asked.

Susie POV

Overhearing Zack's question to me just now, made me realize, just how quiet I had been all day. Truthfully, I wasn't in a very good mood, and didn't feel like coming to play today. This is not normally the case for me, but it was on this particular day. Okay, so let me go back to the beginning. A few weeks back, I had gotted a new jump roap for my birthday, and I was over at Zack's place playing, when he was really interested in it.

"What's that Susie?" Zack asked me.

"It's called a jump roap." I explained, jumping with it and showing him how it worked.

"Wow that's neat! Can I try it?" Zack asked.

I knew he was too little to jump rope, but he really seemed interested in trying it, and I didn't want to disappoint him, so I tried to say this in the nicest way possible.

"Sure, but don't be too disappointed if you don't get it right away. I could barely walk when I was your age, let alone use a jump roap." I said.

But he wouldn't stop, so I handed him the jump rope and showed him what to do.

"Okay, first, you hold a handle in each hand." I explained, as Zack did as I instructed.

"Now, put the rope behind your feet." I continued, as he stepped over the rope, placing it behind him.

"Now, swing it over your head, and when it lands in front of your feet, you jump!" I said.

However, at that moment, my mommy was calling for me to leave.

"Susie, it's time to go." Mommy called from Zack's back door.

"Awe." Zack let out a sad sigh, handing me back my jump rope.

"No worries Zack, I'll bring it the nextest time I come to play, and you can try again." I said, taking my jump rope and leaving Zack's place with my mommy.

Well, today was the next time I was getting to play at Zack's, only my brother Buster managed to spoil it. Normally, I go to daycare during the week, except during the summer months, when my big sister Alisa is out of school, able to watch me and my brothers, Buster and Edwin. However, this week, being the lastest week of school for the big kids, where my brothers go to school they're doing something called, daycamp week, where they get to do fun activities outside. I guess Buster needed something fun to take with him to school, and I say it was him, because I don't imagine Edwin ever borrowing my things without asking, because I looked high and low for my jump rope this morning before we had to leave, and couldn't find it anywhere.

"What's wrong Susie?" Buster asked me as he ran out the door for the bus.

"My jump rope, I can't find it anywhere. Have you seen it?" I asked.

"No, but why would you want to take that to play with when you know your playmates are half your size?" Buster asked, cackling as he left for the school bus.

That really hurt my feelings. Sure, maybe they were half my size, but they wanted to play with it too, what did it matter.

I felt so upset about losing my jump rope, but more so, about how my brother treated me, that I didn't feel like talking to no one. I arrived at Peter's castle when my mommy dropped me there on her way to work, and decided, I wouldn't talk to no one. I also wasn't in the mood for Angelica's tricks and competition either, so I figured, if I kept quiet, and minded my own beeswax, maybe it would cheer me up. But as the morning went by, walking from Peter's castle to Zack's place, and then, coloring for a while in the Cynthia coloringbook I had brought with me from home, which thankfully, was identical to Angelica's, somehow I wasn't feeling happy. I figured that since Zack had finally asked me what was wrong, I'd explain it to him.

"What's wrong Susie?" Zack asked.

"Remember when I played here the lastest time, and I brought over my jump roap, and you wanted to try it, but I had to go home before you had a chance?" I asked.

Zack nodded.

"Well, my brother Buster took my jump rope this morning to school with him without even asking me, and he teased me and hurt my feelings too." I said.

Zack just looked at me.

"Awe, it's okay Susie, I've found other stuff to play today. We can always play with your jump roap some other time, and as for your brother, that wasn't nice of him to do that, but don't let it ruin your day. Didn't you have fun coloring in your coloringbook?" Zack asked me.

It then hit me. I did have fun. I shouldn't let Buster's attitude ruin my day.

"You know what Zack, you're right. I'm gonna have fun, and when I see my brother this afternoon, I'm gonna tell him to please ask me if he can borrow my things." I said, feeling much better after having a talk with one of my friends.

So for the rest of the day, I enjoyed the rest of my time at Zack's place, until my big sister came to pick me up after school.

End of Susie POV

Zack POV

Well, I'm glad I could cheer Susie up, and that most of my friends were back to normen, but what was the story with Tommy, Chuckie, and Angelica? Well, my questions over Angelica and Chuckie were shortly answered, as soon as dessert came around.

"Here you go Angelica, you earned it." Taffy said, handing her a rainbow chocolate fudge cickle.

It looks like a fudge cickle, but it has swirls of different types of chocolate on it, that being milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and two other flavors of chocolate. No sooner had she almost finished her fudge cickle, when she had this to say.

"Ha ha ha! It looks like I got dessert, and Carmichael and grape head didn't." Angelica cackled.

"Hey! You leave them alone!" I scolded, rolling my eyes at the blond in pigtails.

"I don't have to listen to you dumb babies, now that I gotted my dessert, there's nothing you can do about it." Angelica said, shoving the last of her popcickle into her mouth, and disappearing to the living room, before either Taffy or Peter could scold her.

So that was it. She only behaved long enough to get dessert, and then, went back to being her usual nasty self. Darn, I was really hoping she was interested in turning over a new leaf.

"Darn, I was really hoping she was really interested in turning over a new leaf." I said with a frown.

"What are you talking about Zack, there are no leaves here." Kimi commented.

I laughed at her comment.

"No Kimi, it means, wanting to make a change. I thought Angelica wanted to try to be nicer, but she only behaved nicely to get dessert, and now that she's satisfied, she's back to her unpleasant ways again. Oh well." I said with a sigh, noticing Peter was coming to the table with a bottle in his hand.

"What do you got there Peter?" I asked, as he went up to where Chuckie was sitting.

"Oh, this is Chuckie's allergy medicine, though I'm looking at the side effects here, and I think I might know why he's been acting so jittery and giggly today." Peter said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, one of the side effects on these meds is loopiness. I'm also looking here and I see that many kids who take it suffer from spirts of hyper activity when taking it. According to the label, it's very present in children between the ages of three and ten who take these meds. I also noticed that it's a different color from the meds Chuckie use to be on. It's blue, not pink. I think before I give you your meds Chuckie, I'd better have a talk with your dad." Peter said, taking the medicine away from Chuckie, and stashing it away in one of his pockets of his unicorn.

"Wow! So that would explain why I was so wound up for so long, and why I couldn't get no sleep yesterday night." Chuckie said in between huge yawns.

"I bet you're ready for a nap, aren't you Chuckie." I said.

"Uh huh." He replied, Tommy nodding his head in agreement.

Noticing this, I decided to approach the one kid who's mystery we hadn't solved.

"Okay Tommy, I understand you've come down with a really bad cold, and I'm sorry you don't feel well, but why did you hit Chuckie earlier? He didn't do anything to you." I asked.

End of Zack POV

Tommy POV

Okay so here's what happened. So yesterday, me and Chuckie were having fun in the backyard, me pretending to be Nigel Strawberry, trying to find Moose Country, when his daddy came to pick him up for his doctor's appointment. I was sad to see him go, but I knew this appointment was aportant to him, so didn't think too much else about it. In fact, I felt fine the rest of the day, even when I went to bed yesterday night, but sometime after I falled asleep was when the trouble started.

So sometime during the night, I waked up coughing. It waked up Dilly too, to which he came over to my bed, wondering if I was okay. I figured it was just a little cough, so even I figured I'd be okay. I let him know this and we went back to sleep, only for him to wake up later from a nightscare. He dreamed I had gotted really sick and disappeared forever, but I reminded him that I was right here, which gotted him to calm down and go back to sleep, even though my cough was getting worser. It tooked me a little bit to get back to sleep, but I finally, gotted back to sleep. Unfortunately, come this morning, I felt much worser. I had a really bad headache and my throat hurted really bad. I wasn't even hungry for my Reptar cereal for breakfast, which I really look forward to.

"Come on Tommy, don't you want your breakfast?" Mommy asked me, after I hardly touched any of my cereal for several minutes.

I shook my head no, as I stared at the cereal flakes floating around in the milk that had turndid green, not sure what to do. Dil had finished his oatmeal, and mommy had taked him upstairs to get him dressed, as we would be spending the day with Zack, being dropped off at Peter's place, cuz daddy was away and mommy had to go back to that school place where I went one time. She had toldid us the night before at dinner, and I was wondering if that guy in the black clothes who dubbed me a little dude would member me, but sadly, I wouldn't be going there, only mommy, and me and Dilly would be spending the day with our friends and Zack.

Normally, I looked forward to playdates with my friends, but today, I felt so miserable, that I just, wanted to go back to bed. So after not eating much of my breakfast, I headed to the living room, where I curled up on the couch, hoping to go back to sleep, nearly forgetting about mommy taking us to spend the day with Peter, till Dilly came downstairs, all dressed and ready to go, along with mommy.

"Come on sweetie, let's go get ready, mommy can't be late." Mommy said to me, as I slowly gotted off of the couch and went upstairs.

But I didn't wanna get dressed and go. I wanted to stay home. I did everything possible to avoid getting dressed, from taking off my jammies and squirming around on the floor all nakie, to hiding in the closet, till mommy had to come in there after me.

"Tommy sweetie, mommy doesn't have time for this." Mommy toldid me.

I screamed, throwing myself down on the ground, hoping mommy would get the hint I didn't want to go, but in the end, after having to pin me down to the floor, she gotted my clothes on, and before leaving my room, I picked up my plastic Reptar figure toy, and putted it into one of my pockets of my shorts.

Now, came time for getting into the car. Hoping I could stop us from going, cuz my head was really hurting, and I just, wanted to go back to sleep, I refused to sit back in my car seat so mommy could buckle me in safely.

"Tommy, sit back, it's not safe to ride without a seat belt on." Mommy said, but I didn't care.

I didn't want to go, and I'd do anything to keep us from going. I let out a little cough and sneeze, but while mommy figured I was coming down with a cold, she felt my forehead, and I didn't feel warm to her.

"You may be coming down with a cold sweetie, but you don't seem to have any fever, and mommy can't miss work today. I promised to go substitute teach." Mommy said, pushing me back in my car seat and buckeling me into my car seat, much to my dismay.

So we were off, yes, so far, none of my tactics to get to stay home and rest worked. Then, an idea came to me. Not a good idea, but if I was successful, I'd be happy, or as happy as a sick baby can be. If the car gotted broked, then mommy would have to go back home, and I could go back to bed. However, the question remained, how was I gonna break the car? Then, I got it! I tooked my Reptar toy out of my pocket, and started hitting the window. If I broked the window, then we'd have to go home. Unfortunately, mommy stopped me.

"Tommy, do not hit the window." Mommy scolded very loudly.

But I wasn't giving up. I kept banging on that window, till the nextest time, when mommy reached back and tooked my Reptar toy away from me. This made me cry, and Dil joined in with me.

"I'm sorry Tommy but if you're going to hit on the window with it, Reptar gets taken away." Mommy said.

I didn't care. By this time, we were practically at Peter's castle. It was no use. I didn't feel well, and nothing I did gotted me to go home. We got there, mommy put me and Dil into our stroller, and we were handed over to Peter.

Mommy blew us a kiss goodbye, and I turndid to Peter, asking for Reptar.

"Reptar!"I cried.

"I'll see about putting on some Reptar for you when we get to Zack's place. We just gotta wait for Chuckie and Kimi, and as soon as they're here, we'll be ready to go." Peter said.

I just sat back in my double stroller, my head and throat still hurting, feeling miserable and exhausted. I didn't talk to no one, as it hurt to say much, and before I knew it, everybody was there, and we were heading to Zack's place.

When we gotted there, Taffy was there too, and she let us in. We went to the living room, where I wasted no time. I curled up on the couch, hoping to go back to sleep, but before sleep came, Peter did find some Reptar for me to watch, even if it was the Christmas movie, I didn't care, as I don't recall seeing much of it before passing out. I must have slept a really long time, cuz when I waked up, I had Chuckie, yelling really excited in my ear.

"Come on Tommy, come out and play with me." Chuckie said.

I opened my eyes slightly, and much to my shock, I hit Chuckie on the head. My throat was hurting worser, and, I couldn't think of anything to say. However, after I made Chuckie cry, it then hit me what I had done, but before I could do anything, Peter came in and tooked him to another room. Sometime later, Peter came in with nobody else, cuz they were all outside, to have a talk with me.

"Tommy, I understand you're not feeling well, but what were you thinking?" Peter asked me.

I sat up on the couch and stared at him.

"Uh… I don't know." I whispered, as it hurt too much to talk much louder.

"Well, I'm sorry if Chuckie came in here and woke you up, but you should never hit people, and of all people too! Your best friend! You o him an apology, big time." Peter said.

And Peter was right, only, I felt too awful to move. I did have to go potty though, so made myself do that, and by the time I came back, lunch was being set out on the table. Even though I wasn't hungry, I was placed at the table with food in front of me, which again, I've barely touched, just like with breakfast this morning, playing with it more than eating, while everybody around me talked to one another. Even Angelica finished her food and gotted dessert before I ate even one bite, but what really got to me, was staring at Chuckie who sat across from me. I could tell by the look on his face, he was upset with me, and I didn't blame him.

Finally, I had my chance, when Zack asked me that all aportant question.

"Okay Tommy, I understand you've come down with a really bad cold, and I'm sorry you don't feel well, but why did you hit Chuckie earlier? He didn't do anything to you." Zack asked me.

"I didn't mean to hit Chuckie, I was just, mad. I was finally getting some sleep, and I didn't want to be bothered. My throat hurted too much to talk, so, I did the nextest best thing." I croaked, coughing in between my words.

"So let me get this straight, you weren't mad at Chuckie specifically, you were mad at being waked up?" Zack asked me.

I shook my head yes.

"I'm sorry Chuckie, I didn't mean to hit you." I said.

I saw his facial expression soften, as he let out a small smile.

"It's okay Tommy, I'm sorry too. I had no idea you were sick, I thought you just, had a rough night and needed some sleep." Chuckie said.

"Well I'm sorry too." I said.

"Friends?" Chuckie asked.

"Friends." I said, just as Peter returned to the table, this time, empty handed.

End of Tommy POV

Zack POV

"What is it Peter?" I asked.

"Well actually, I'm here to talk to Chuckie. I just got off the phone with your dad, and apparently, the farmacy made a mistake. The wrong allergy medicine got filled. While it's helping with your allergies, because of this side effect, your dad's gonna give the doctor's office a call, and get the right meds, which was actually, a higher dose of the pink liquid you were previously on, to see if it doesn't help clear up your newest symptoms. For now, once Taffy can find it, since chances are your morning dose of what you took will be waring off sometime soon, your dad said to give you some Bennydryl to help you sleep before taking your nap, and your normal meds should be back in order come tonight when your folks pick you up." Peter said to Chuckie.

I saw Chuckie breeze a sigh of relief, as I think while he enjoyed that spout of the jitters and giggles, I don't think he wanted it to last forever. If anything, it tooked all of us by surprise, but at least all of the mysteries were solved, and I must say, I'm glad I solved them all, but figuring out what's going on with all of your friends is quite exhausting for a baby like me. I was glad that we'd be going down for our nap soon, once Taffy returned to the kitchen, carrying a key in one hand, and I guess the medicine for Chuckie in the other.

"Well Peter, I found the Bennydryl, and in the same place, was the key to open up the DVD cabinet, so if the minis would like to watch something other than Reptar Saves Christmas, it is now possible." Taffy said, handing Peter the bottle of Bennydryl, to which he gave some of it to Chuckie in a spoon, and Taffy headed into the living room, where she opened up the DVD cabinet, and left it open, giving us a chance to pick something out before curling up for the afternoon with our hot milk and comfy pillows and blankies to take our nap.

Shortly afterwards, we headed into the living room, where we sat in a circle on the floor, trying to decide what to do.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now?" I asked.

All of my friends let out yawns, except for Angelica and Susie, who got up and appeared to head off in the direction of my room, which told me what it looked like everybody wanted to do.

"Okay, a nappy it is then, but do you guys wanna watch something while we have our hot milk?" I asked.

"I don't know, what do you wanna watch?" Lil asked me.

"I know, let's watch Reptar versus the Aliums." Phil suggested.

"You guys, since Tommy don't feel good, he should get to pick the movie." Chuckie said, curling up on the couch.

Tommy didn't waste any time. He went over to the open DVD cabinet, where he pulled out our favoritest Sherry Berry DVD, Sing a Song of Spring, and showed it to me.

"You wanna watch Sherry Berry Tommy?" I asked.

He nodded yes, before sitting back down on the floor, so I went over to the TV, and put the DVD into the player, thankful it was still on the shelf beneath the TV, right where I could reach it.

A few minutes later, Peter came in with our bottles and sippy cups of hot milk, pillows and blankies for all of us, and nextest thing I knew, Sherry Berry and a warm bottle of milk, had me sound asleep. By the time I waked up, it was time for my friends to leave, as their mommies and daddies came to get them. I never sawed Angelica leave, but that was fine by me, I didn't much care to tell her goodbye.

Susie was the nextest one to leave, when her sister and brothers showed up, and I overheard this particular conversation when Buster came into the living room to collect Susie, who was sitting in a chair across the room, waiting for her family to arrive.

"Hello Susie." Buster said.

"Hi Buster." Susie said, not looking very happy to see him.

Buster stopped in his tracks and stared at her.

"Look, Susie, I'm sorry about this morning. I should have never taken your jump rope without asking. Sadly, I got in trouble with it at school. I have two days of school next week, at which time, my teacher should take it out of her desk and let me have it back." Buster said.

"And…" Susie said.

"I'm sorry for teasing you. I promise, from now on, to ask you if I can borrow stuff from you." Buster said.

"That's all I ask, and, I accept your apology." Susie said, taking her brother's hand and leaving.

I waved goodbye and smiled, thankful they made up with one another, and that Susie left my place, truly happy again.

Soon after, Phil and Lil's parents arrived to get them, at which time, all of us were awake by now, so all of us except for Tommy, probably cuz he didn't want to get them sick, gave them hugs and wished them well on their trip.

"Have fun at your family reunion." I said.

"Thanks." Phil and Lil said in unison, running to catch up with their parents, who were standing by the front door, talking with Peter.

"I hope you have a nice time on your trip." Peter said.

"Me too." Betty said.

"Well, one thing's for certain, we should have a real family reunion this time, as I won't be in charge of getting the invitations from the dollar place." Howard said.

"Yeah, didn't they claim the year of your party to be 2050 or something?" Peter asked.

"Yeah." Howard said.

I then tuned out their conversation, as I turned to my friends that still remained. By this time, Chuckie's allergies were in full force again, and Tommy was getting the sniffles on top of his other symptoms. They were both sneezing, and together, they looked like the perfect sneezing dynamic duo, even though I felt bad for them, I only hoped they'd feel better soon. Shortly after, Chuckie and Kimi's parents arrived, as did Tommy and Dil's mommy, and, my aunty came home too.

"Hello Zachary." Aunty Celeste told me, coming up to me in the living room and giving me a hug.

I laughed and smiled, as everybody else's parents came in to collect my other friends.

"So how did substitute teaching go?" Peter asked Tommy and Dil's mommy.

"Well, if you like having pencils thrown at you, disruptive kids, along with kids who think everything you're lecturing about be funny, then yes, it was a good day. However, after dealing with it for seven periods, one day was enough." Didi said, scooping up Dil and grabbing Tommy by the hand.

"I can imagine." Peter said, walking Didi to the door.

"So how did things go here?" Didi asked.

"Okay, but you should definitely get Tommy home, he's definitely come down with something." Peter said, leading them outside, and I guess, he left too, as he didn't return after that.

"Hey little guy, did you have fun?" Chas asked, stooping down to Chuckie's level.

He then let out a huge sneeze.

"No worries little guy, daddy's got some of your regular meds, a stronger dose as originally prescribed, so we shouldn't have anymore of that." Chas said, leading Chuckie and Kimi out of my place.

I smiled and waved goodbye to my friends, but not before Kira pulled out something from her purse. It was Kimi's Super Thing doll, all fixed, no longer missing one of its button eyes.

"Look what mommy has for you. Thanks to business being slow today, I ran home at lunch, grabbed everything I'd need to fix him, and look who's ready to play!" Kira said, giving Super Thing to Kimi.

She giggled and smiled, probably the happiest I saw her all day.

Seeing her leave with Super Thing in her arms, all bubbly and happy again just about made my day.

I was glad that in the end, all of my friends were going to be okay. Even Tommy and Chuckie, after another week or so, Tommy gotted over his cold, and Dil was happy cuz Tommy got all better, and never had to disappear to the hopcickle, and Chuckie was back to being his regular self, and, the higher dose of meds was working, no more sneezing or watery itchy eyes. And as for Phil and Lil, they must have really missed mud and wormies while they were gone, cuz the nextest time they came to play after they came back from their family reunion, which was a great while, they didn't waste any time what so ever. They headed outside and jumped in a huge mud puddle, much to my dismay, but when I think about it, I wouldn't have my friends be any other way.

End of Zack POV

The End

Author's Note: Sorry if I rushed the ending a bit, but I figured, I started out with Zack telling the story, I'd end with him telling the story too. And while this story took me nearly the entire day to write, granted, I did take a few breaks, one of which, was to have some dinner, I just thought, this might be an interesting idea to try to put together, so hopefully, I did okay doing this, as this has got to be, the most POVS I've done in a single story. And last but not least, while I thanked user Nairobi-harper at the start of the story, I should thank my nephew once again, for being a great deal of inspiration, as he's two-years-old now, and he displays a lot of typical two-year-old behavior much of the time, like not wanting to go out, not wanting to get dressed, not wanting to get into the car, hitting toys against the car window, etc. While normally, Tommy wouldn't act like that when going to a playdate at one of his friends houses, I would figure he might try to act like that if he didn't feel well, and seeing he was two-years-old as of the events of this story, how appropriate. Though just for the record, Zack is just as healthy as can be, and acts like that normally, the Zack in real life, not my OC. Anyway, if you read this far, I congratulate you for making it this far, and, after I take some time to recover, provided the weather doesn't get too hot for me to function properly, be looking for more stories from me, coming soon!