With All Brightness

by Senri

Lilo grows up. So does the rest of the family. This story ignores the TV show because I haven't seen it. Written for Yuletide 2013.

+ 2:00 terran hours

Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. It was impossible to forget anyone in this family, though. It was very much on Nani's mind, actually, how many people were in this family plus how many new people had suddenly attached to it. "It's great that Stitch gets to stay and all," Nani said lowly, "I guess. But suddenly we have all these… aliens with us here and I don't even have a house any more! Where is Lilo going to sleep tonight? I don't even have a bed for my sister!"

She was conferring with Cobra Bubbles, David inveigled at the fringes of the group – the lot of them in the local police station, with its old plastic chairs and buzzing fluorescent lights. It was nice to be someplace normal! It was impossible for the place to be normal, with a bunch of aliens and her little sister in the other corner of the room, rustling quietly together and glancing their way every couple of minutes. Nani rubbed her temples.

Cobra held up one meaty hand in a quelling gesture. He was as impassive as ever, but it felt more reassuring than intimidating, at this point. "That won't be a problem. Top brass won't let these emissaries end up sleeping in the woods."

"Aue! I don't know if I want to bring government into this…"

"Don't think they aren't already in it." Beneath his dark glasses, Nani saw Cobra tip his gaze up – not rolling his eyes so much, but… acknowledging. "We try to look good for up there, the better part of the time."

"If it doesn't work out, you're all welcome to stay at my place," David said. Nani looked at him. He smiled, earnest. They really could all stay there, she thought. He meant it. And it would be complete chaos.

"David, you're too sweet, but my old house already got blown to tiny little pieces."

"Well, I think everything calmed down since that happened, you know?"

"That won't be necessary," Cobra said. "We'll put you all up in a hotel until things are worked out with your living situation."

"My door is always open," David said, grinning. "Nani, it would be just like a sleepover! I'll make you and Lilo breakfast every morning. Of course, we can find a place for your dog too. Your alien."

"Excuse me," said the big alien. Nani hadn't got his name, or maybe she had? But it hadn't registered. Too much going on. Aue, help, she thought – she couldn't see it all calming down any, after this. Not for a good while. It was tough enough trying to raise her little sister. Big one was still talking. "This one could not help but overhear you! There is no need to worry about the alien domicile. Dr. Jumba Jookiba will assist with reconstruction. I can just make something up to rebuild, you know." His grin was at least a foot long, and alarming.

Cobra did not look convinced, which made two of them. "I'm not sure we can approve unregulated alien constructions on that property."

Now the skinny one was coming over. "What, what, what are you saying? You can't be building anything! You're exiled! Just – just don't do anything?"

"Hey, woah, little guy," David said. "Calm down. This big guy is just trying to help." Of course David would be the one to take it all in stride. He reached over and patted the roly-poly gorilla of an alien on the back.

Jumba, apparently, grinned. "Yes, that is exact. I wish everything to be comfortable and pleasant with my new alien living-mates. There is no reason we should not have a new house at the next daybreak, eh?"

"I want to stay with David!" Now Lilo was coming over. Stitch followed her. Nani reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, a universe of new complications suddenly unfolding before her eyes. Next to her, Cobra raised his hand and did the same thing.

"Lilo, honey, let's listen to Uncle Sam this time, okay?"

"Who's Uncle Sam?"

"Let's keep it simple," Cobra said. "We can confer on plans for a new house for you, and if you're in a hotel, we can make sure everything is settled before you move in." He was looking at Jumba as he talked. The big alien spread out his hands, spread out fingers as big and fat as twinkies.

"No problem. But my offer should always be remembered, yes? Okay?"

"Naturally, we won't discount any options at this point." Cobra nodded. Nani reached out with a foot and stepped on his foot, under the table. When he looked at her she shook her head fractionally. No, no, no, no.

He just barely nodded. It made her feel a little better.

(In the end, they did stay in a hotel. Pleakley tanned by the poolside every day, and everyone went to David's house for breakfast every other morning. He took it like a champ, and the house got built again, after all; new and better than before).

+ 2.57 terran months

Now it was the beginning of the school year. But now, it was the beginning of the school year, and it was Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! Lilo woke up at her normal time, just before Nani would usually be coming to shake her awake, get her dressed and walk her to school. Then she remembered! It was Saturday. Lilo sat up and grinned at her room. "Yessssss."

Stitch was snuggled at the foot of her bed with a blanket wrapped around him. When she sat up, his long blue ears flipped up first – like a rabbit. Then his round face poked out of his nest, then he sat up too. "Eh?"

"Hey." Lilo leaned towards him. "It's Saturday morning. Let's go watch cartoons."

They slipped out of her room wrapped in blankets, sneaky cloaks, Stitch's blue ears flipping forth-and-back. Shh, so quiet! The rest of the house must not know. "Nani is sleeping," Lilo said to Stitch midway down the stairs. "I think her week has been strenuous. Let's make her breakfast. I want pancakes."

"Pancakes, ih," Stitch agreed. "Delicious."

Neither one of them was tall enough to reach the kitchen counter from the floor. They pushed chairs over instead. "Okay," Lilo said, "We have to use the stove. I think you should do that. I guess you're an adult. I'll get the recipe."

Stitch hopped off his chair and pushed it over in front of the stove. Lilo reached over the counter to where the cookbooks were kept. The book fell open to the pancakes recipe. They used it a lot! Pancakes, yummm. "There's nothing better for you than starting the day out with a great breakfast!" she said cheerfully.

"First, let's get all the ingredients! We need: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, an egg, milk, and vegetable oil! Bring it, Stitch!"

He crowded up on the chair with her instead. Lilo wobbled and he absently stopped her from tipping off with a middle leg. "So many things! Hrr… and so little. You need it really?"

"It won't taste right if we leave something out. I'm the cook." Lilo thumped herself on the chest like a gorilla. "I know."

"Okay, okay…" Stitch sighed, rolling his head back – and then turned it into tipping backwards off the chair, rolling up in midair and landing on the floor curled up in a ball. He was like a bowling ball! And he rolled across the floor to the pantry, thumping into the door and leaving a dent. "Careful!" Lilo said, and then went back to the cookbook. "Okaaay, we have to mix. Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt!" She hopped off her chair and went to get measuring cups.

Stitch came back with the bag of flour, the big mason jar they kept sugar in, the box of baking powder, and the big container full of salt. He had so many arms, he could carry one thing in each. Wow, so strong! Lilo, on her way back with the measuring cups, stopped him from just tossing the sugar on the counter. "That will break." So she got back on her own chair and he passed all the things up to her, and she set them carefully on the counter. Except for the baking powder. He paused with that, ears drooping back, and grinned really big.

Lilo stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. She took a big breath and looked at him. "Okay. You can throw that one."

"Yeah!" He tossed the box up on the counter. Perfect throw! And then, poof, a big cloud of baking powder blew everywhere. The box had been kind of sad, with bent-in corners. Now it looked sadder.

"Oooh…"

Lilo sneezed and shook her head! She scrubbed her eyes until she could see without baking powder making it weird. "That's okay. We still have a lot." She brushed all the baking powder into the sink. "That will go away. You know, we haven't lived here for very long. How did the box get so sad already?" Then she measured out what she needed, all the dry things, and sifted them all together, just like Nani had showed her.

Next: "Okay, we gotta beat the egg first."

"Ooh!"

"You wanna try?" Lilo grinned. "Go get a bowl!"

She cracked the egg in with Stitch watching. A little shell got into it, but nobody would notice when it was all a pancake! She bet it had fiber and was healthy, that's why no one ate that part. "Okay," Lilo said, "you take your fork like this, see? And you stir! Stir fast! Make it so it's all mixed up nice." She gave the bowl and fork to Stitch, and measured out the milk and vegetable oil.

"Wrrrrrrr," said Stitch, next to her. "Wrrrrr." Lilo glanced over and reached for the bowl right away.

"Wooooow! You stirred so fast, you cooked it a little!" It probably came from friction. David told her what friction was. Indeed, there were some bits floating around in the egg that were like the start of scrambled bits. Lilo considered. "That's okay! When we make the pancakes, no one will notice. Now we make a volcano, see?"

Stitch nodded to show that he did, in fact, see, as Lilo made an opening in their dry ingredients and poured in, one by one: the milk, the oil, the egg. "Now we mix it up!"

She handed Stitch a bowl and spoon. His long blue ears flipped forward and up; he touched his nose, and then took the spoon and stirred. He stirred like a tornado, and perfectly, not getting to excited, not a drop spilling. Lilo clapped her hands. "Great job! Okay, now we have to use the stove. But we gotta be very, very careful." A pause. She considered. "You do count as a grown-up, right?"

Stitch was littler than she was really, but she was pretty sure he was a grown-up anyhow. Anyway, he giggled like an imp from the movies she could only watch with Nani or David there, and nodded. Lilo hopped off her chair to get a pan out from the counter under the kitchen table, and then hopped back up and turned the burner on. Oh, so careful! She should get an award. "Ooooh," Stitch said.

"That's fire!" She pointed at it, holding her finger a careful distance away from the burner, and nodded seriously. "So we gotta be careful."

"Yeah, careful, of course." Stitch held out the bowl towards her. "Is that good?"

"Yeah, perfect job!" It did look nice, all batter-ey and perfect. Lilo decided one more thing: "Let's put blueberries in. That's healthy!"

"Okay," said Stitch, and Lilo ran and got them out of the fridge. The fresh blueberries tumbled in! "Mm, so fresh," Lilo said. "Nani says it's healthy to eat a rainbow, did you know that? Now, we're eating blue."

"You can't eat a rainbow."

"Well, not a real rainbow. You can eat rainbow-colored foods. I'm gonna go wake Nani up and tell her what we did! You make the pancakes, okay? Do you know how?"

He did not know how. Lilo showed him with a spatula, turning one sample pancake over and over carefully until it was nice and brownish on both sides. Then she flipped it into Stitch's mouth. He swallowed it, licked from one corner of his wide mouth to the other, and gave her a quadruple-thumbs-up. A model citizen, ready to go!

Nani was still asleep when Lilo pushed her door open. She groaned when Lilo hopped up and sat down on her back. "Rise and shine!" Lilo sang to her. "Good morning, sunshine!"

"Lilo it's a Saturday… what are you doing aargh…"

"Stitch and I made pancakes! It's breakfast for everybody. Come on!"

"You what?" Nani tried to roll over. "Lilo, baby, move…"

"Stitch and I made pancakes for everybody!" She bounced once or twice, and then stood up and bounced on Nani's bed. Nani had a great bouncing bed, but they were all extra-good now, since Jumba had worked on them.

"Oh my God." Now Nani sat up fast. She was really ready for pancakes! Lilo watched her grin and rake her hair out of her face. "Um, wooow, Lilo? Pancakes, you and Stitch, all by yourself?" Finally, she was getting up. "How did that go!"

"Great, I think!" Lilo leaped off the bed and landed on the floor. She crouched while she did it. Like Spiderman landing! "I'm letting him try. By himself."

"Oooh, is that so?" Nani didn't even put her house slippers on. She walked to the door kind of fast and went thump-thump down the stairs, Lilo following. Nani stopped in the door to the kitchen and Lilo stuck her head around to see.

Stitch had a nice pile of pancakes going already. One ear flipped backwards towards them, then he looked over his shoulder and waved with a middle arm. "Hellooo!"

"Oh, my goodness," Nani said. "Wow. It looks great in here." She went over to the counter. She was probably looking at the baking powder they'd spilled, but she didn't even say anything! "Wow. You two… did great. Next time, wake me up so I can see how you do it, okay?" She dusted the powder into the sink.

"Ih," nodded Stitch. "Okay!" Lilo said. "I think we have brownies, by the way."

"You made brownies too?"

"Noo! I mean, like, the little elves." Lilo waved her hands. "Look at the baking powder! See how it's all beat up? They're probably hungry. We should put out milk for them!"

"Lilo…" Nani dropped down on one knee and looked at her. "Where did you hear about brownies?"

"In a book, from the library. They're from Ireland! I think. We should put out milk for them, and then they'll be happy!"

"What are brownies from Ireland doing in our house, Lilo?"

"I dunno." She shrugged. "Maybe they came in with the tourists."

Nani raised a hand to her forehead, closed her eyes, and looked up for a second. "Okay. I'll try and talk to the brownies. And you…" She touched Lilo's nose with a finger. "Get me the next time you decide to cook, okay? I want to help."

"The pancakes are ready," Stitch said happily, flipping another one onto a plate. "Triple-pancake barrel role! Ehehehe."

"Lilo, why don't you go get Jumba and Pleakley?" Nani stood up and stretched. "I'll stay in here and… help get ready."

"Okaaaay," Lilo said. "Is it because you don't trust me to not blow up the kitchen if it's just me and Stitch?"

"Um." Nani smiled. "Lilo, honey, you did a great job making the pancakes, but I feel a little better if it's not just you two all by yourselves, okay?"

"You should tell Jumba to make it safer if you're worried. Stitch and I can do it by ourselves."

"Yeah… I'll see about that. Yeah. You go get him now, okay?" Nani shuffled over, actually took Lilo's shoulders, and gave her a turn around and a nudge towards the door.

"Okaaaay," said Lilo, and padded off thoughtfully. Hmmm. She rounded up to ten years old now, and that was practically being a teenager, which was old enough to do pretty much anything. She was going to have to work on Nani getting that idea if Stitch and her were going to get the most out of her minimal-responsibility childhood years. After all, she wouldn't just be persecuted as a minor forever. Hmmm, what to do.

Nani did, in fact, have the conversation about securing the house with Jumba. "Can't you make everything around here, you know, child proof or something?" She ran her fingers through her hair.

"Ehh…" Jumba speared a section of pancake on his fork and fit the whole thing in his mouth. When he'd finished chewing thoughtfully, he went on: "Problem is not so much making your house Lilo-proof. The problem will be making it all Stitch-proof."

"That's what I was afraid of," Nani groaned.

+2.13 terran years

Pleakley loved his found family. He really did. Not that he didn't miss his four parents, and his aunts, and his uncles, and his gender-neutral parent-sibs, but that was what Jumba's souped-up interstellar version of Skype was for! So he could keep on having his family even when he couldn't be with his family. Plus, he knew the Grand Councilwoman didn't want him off planetside, and, hm. The thought of crossing her. Well, hm.

He was sure she'd get over her ire and take him and Jumba off the blacklist eventually. Well, maybe. In the meantime, earth was great! Especially when he had the house to himself. Oooh, privacy was so nice. Just him, his soaps, whatever chores he felt like doing and if the day was just right, he could sit on the porch enjoying the balmy Hawaiian air.

So it was that he was the only one there when Lilo arrived home from school. The announcement he got was the sound of the slamming front door, the thump thump thump thump of feet beating their way up the stairs, then crash of a bedroom door, and then suspicious silence.

Pleakley's antennae pricked. He'd been knitting and watching TV with the volume down low and now his needles stilled. He could see it now: Lilo on the bed with a pillow against her face. Screaming.

Three legs carried him swiftly up the stairs. One hand on the door knob cracked open Lilo's room. Pleakley didn't step in; he slid his eye across the opening he'd created. Ah-yup. As expected, Lilo facedown on the bed, arms around her pillow. "Uhh," he said. "Lilo?"

"I hate them," she shrieked. It was somewhat muffled by the pillow. "I hate them so much I want to eat their guts raw!"

"Oooh," he winced in sympathy. There was only one person who made Lilo that mad! Well, one person and her girl squad. "Mertle again?"

"Yee-heh-heees," Lilo bawled. Pleakley came into the room, nudging the door shut behind him. Lilo tilted her head and peeked up with a bloodshot eye. "Where's Stitch?"

"Oh, he's out with Jumba, you know…" Pleakley waved a hand. "Some mad scientist-hideous creation bonding thing, you know how it is." He hopped up and sat on the bed next to her. "But, say, I have some… cookies… all made up! You want to eat some and watch a movie?"

It seemed like success because Lilo sat up, sniffled, wiped her face, and then smiled a little. "Can we watch a horror movie?"

"Um…" Pleakley hedged.

"Can we watch a horror movie where a lot of people get eaten?"

"Nani said it wasn't allowed," Pleakley said, ceding to higher authority.

"Aww." She frowned at her toes and then perked up immediately. "Can we watch Little Shop of Horrors? Too many people don't die in that one. And it will make me feel so much better!" She glanced up at him hopefully through her bangs.

He wanted to make Lilo feel better… but he didn't want Nani to skin him, or, much worse, make her sit down for a serious talk with him. Pleakley's toes fidgeted over each other as he thought it over. They did watch that movie…

"Okay," he said at last. "But I'm going to fast-forward us past any questionable content!"

"Yeahhhh, Little Shop of Horrors!" She leaped off the bed and dashed right out of the room. Pleakley skittered after her, swallowing hard. He was an adult! He could supervise a movie viewing!

"Audrey II has cultural value," he could say. There certainly were plants very much like that creature, some of which he'd met at work. And they were peaceful, aha-ha-ha! Totally peaceful!

"I think our dentist might be just like that," Lilo whispered, deep in thought after they'd finished watching the movie. Lilo deep in thought always made Pleakley a little nervous. "Do you think Jumba could make a plant like an experiment like that?"

All in all, those were not the worst ideas she could have taken from the movie!

+5.35 terran years

Lilo made it to middle school, and Cobra Bubbles became a fixture at the house. "I just don't know what we're going to do," Nani told him, countless times over Saturday coffee made with love. "I don't know if we're going to survive this! Those other kids are going to kill Lilo, or she's going to team up with Stitch and kill all of them. And then you know where all of us will be!"

"Up shit creek without a paddle?" David interjected helpfully. "More coffee, Mr. Bubbles?"

"Don't swear with Lilo in the house!" It came out of Nani in a virulent hiss.

"Oh, sorry," David said.

Cobra had learned a lot since he started monitoring the Pelekai family even more closely. For one, David (all right, he wasn't Pelekai by name, but family got a little blurry with this family anyway) made excellent coffee. For two, Nani was a strong young woman with a heaping helping of personality. It was a point of strange pride to Cobra that she would include him in conversations like this now. That never would have happened when they first met.

"No thank you," he said. "Nani, it's a difficult age. Think of it this way: Lilo has a strong support group. Actually, she has more people there for her than many of her peers can probably count on. She knows she has a network that's there for her."

Nani collapsed in the opposite seat with a loud sigh. Whew! She did look tired. Cobra studied her. He knew social workers that more than once had slipped a quick check for fifty bucks to a young single mom or overworked older sibling standing in for an adult caretaker. He'd never done that for Nani; he'd never had to.

Still. Lilo was a hard case. She'd be a handful for any grown-up.

"I almost died of worry when she went through elementary school," Nani said. She leaned forward until her forehead hit the table with a thump, and went on muffled: "And we have two more years of this. If Lilo doesn't choke somebody, I might just go after a mom, you know! What are they telling their kids?"

"People often have a hard time accepting what's different." Oh, how Cobra knew that one. "The parents wouldn't even have to say anything at all; their children could intuit their antipathy towards your family. What's most important is that Lilo has people at home who will help her and understand her."

"Oi," a sleepy voice announced a new conversationalist entering the action. Jumba slouched into the kitchen, wearing boxer shorts patterned with tiny UFOs and scratching at his stomach. "It is early on Saturday morning! Why are we having this secretive powwow, ehh?" An enormous grin split his face. "Perhaps science can help whatever the problem is?"

"No!" Pleakley's cry rose behind him. "No science! Absolutely not!"

"I think science already solved the problem," said David. "I guess I better put more coffee on."

"What do you mean?" Jumba's eyes gleamed suspiciously. Cobra coughed into his mug.

"Weeeeell…" David looked around at everyone all of a sudden, and suddenly found he'd lent the cat his tongue. He'd been meaning Stitch, but it was pretty clear that going on like that wouldn't be appreciated by most of the other table-sitters. "I better put more coffee on."

"Ah, excellent," Jumba said. On Saturday morning, he'd be bought off with David's coffee. The big alien seated himself at once of the chairs, which creaked alarmingly but held as usual. Pleakley scampered in after him, wearing a nightcap and long nightgown patterned with roses.

Nani sat up and waved to both of them. "More coffee for me too, when you get done running, David," she said. "I'm worried because I don't think Lilo has many friends at her school."

"The school? Hah! Who cares?" Jumba flipped his hand around. "She has friends. She has Stitch! And we are here. You should not pay any mind to the chittering of peons."

"That's right!" Pleakley said. "We've got Lilo this far, right? You can count on us to stick around."

"If I had listened to the peons, why, I would never have invented all of my beautiful experiments! I would never have invented Six Two Six. And all of those bio-weapons."

Pleakley squinted sideways at Jumba. "You know, don't you think some of those things might have been better not invented?"

"Nonsense."

"We all agree we're here for her," Cobra said. "Even so, Lilo is at school for hours every day. It's probably difficult to be isolated from those she knows care about her. Do you know any of the teachers well, Nani?"

"I talked to all of them, I think most of her teachers like her even if they want to work on her, you know, her temper…"

"Does she have anyone she mentions consistently?" Cobra said. "A favorite teacher?" He slid his coffee cup over to let David top it off, then took the pot of cream from the center of the table and lightened his brew.

"I think she likes art," Nani said. "I think her art teacher might be a little scared of her. You know how Lilo can be."

"If I was Lilo's art teacher I'd be sure to butter her up," David said helpfully as he circulated, pouring coffee as needed. "She's gonna be Hawaii's next premier artist or something. Bet you anything."

"Art is all very nice and whatnot, but Lilo can go into mad science," said Jumba. All four of his brilliant eyes slitted with thought. "Perhaps a mind control ray directed towards her school would help her feel more welcome."

Cobra raised his finger. "Before you draw any blueprints, I'm vetoing any mind control rays right here and now."

"Ahh, even a little one?"

"No mind control rays! Too dangerous!" Pleakley interjected. "What if it got out of control? It would be a… a total disaster if everyone on the island ended up Lilo's friend-zombie!"

"Well, why?" Jumba said, sounding vaguely affronted.

"Any inventions should remain within legal limits," Cobra said. "No mind control rays. Even little ones."

"I can't believe I'm listening to this and didn't think about how weird it was until now," Nani said. "What has happened to my life?"

"Ahh, family is always a little crazy," David said, pausing behind her chair to place a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"Speaking of Lilo, where is she now?" Pleakley sipped his coffee. It was significantly diluted with milk; everyone agreed he didn't need to get more high-strung.

"In bed, of course," Jumba purred, "with a certain experiment. Don't say his name. He'll hear you, you might wake him up. Anyway I checked. She is sleeping as snug as a bug in a, what you call them, one of those floor coverings. In a rug."

"I think somebody said his name earlier," David said.

"Then he is awake." Jumba turned his head and narrowed his eyes at the doorway. "Come out, little experiment."

After a moment, two long blue ears protruded past the door frame. Then, slowly following, the familiar, cheeky face and dark eyes. "Ih. You are discussing me and Lilo?"

"Not you, you little blue narcissist." Jumba heaved himself up and trundled over to pick Stitch up by the scruff. "Only Lilo. Well, you might as well join us in here…"

Stitch seated on Jumba's knee at the kitchen table, the conversation continued, sans mention of mind control rays. "I want to go with," Stitch said eventually, with conviction. "I want to go with Lilo. I should be… with her."

"No, no, absolutely not!" Pleakley waved his arms. "We all have to remain undiscovered, the world is not ready for aliens going to school with the kiddies!"

"I disguised myself as a dog before! No one noticed. No one here notices anything like that."

"Things on this island have gotten a little weirder since you got here, buddy, I think people are starting to notice," David said. He'd finally taken a seat, pretty much by getting Nani to share, so they sat half their butts each on the same chair, thigh to thigh.

"So what?"

"I agree with Pleakley," Cobra said. "The world isn't ready for aliens quite yet. Besides, I don't think you'd like school too much."
"But Lilo has to…" Stitch's ears drooped.

"Unfortunately, I don't think the administrators will be willing to make a special dispensation to allow anyone's dog at school. A service animal would be the only possibility, but," Cobra held up a finger, forestalling anyone jumping in and running away with the suggestion, "they'd have to evaluate Lilo to see if she qualified as special-needs for that kind of attention, and at her current level, I can tell you they won't spring for it. We have to do this more subtly. Making allies out of her teachers is a good first step."

"I want to be with her…" Stitch's dispirited complaint trailed off as Jumba fed him a sugar cube. The little alien scratched his nose with a middle arm and licked around his mouth.

"If I could put Lilo in armor and that would help her, I would," Nani said. "At home we can do things our way, but at school, we have to do things at least a little bit their way."

"Well," Jumba shrugged. "I could teach her."

"No," said Nani.

"Teach her what?" said Pleakley.

"Everything!" Jumba grinned and shrugged. "O-kay, you have to admit, she would be an excellent mad scientist's apprentice."

Stitch bit him on the thumb. Jumba snarled and banged his creation on the table. "Little wretch!"

Cobra waited until the brief ruckus was over before he chipped in again. "Now that you mention it, homeschool could be an option."

"But who'd be her teacher?" Nani said. "I mean, at least partial would be great, but I have to be at work, and so do you, aaand…"

Jumba grinned and waved his hand.

"Aaaaand Jumba could do it, but maybe she needs to be… a little more well-rounded?" Nani hazarded.

"You know I am very round," the scientist said, with what passed for a winning smile from his species.

"A partial arrangement might be doable," Cobra said. "She could attend some classes at the middle school and be homeschooled as well. The downside is she could be further isolated from her peers at school. On the other hand, she'd be spending more time in a supportive environment with freedom to be herself."

"You're talking about me, aren't you," Lilo said from the kitchen door.

Every head turned. Cobra supposed it had only been a matter of time.

"Non-maliciously," he said.

"Baby!" Nani beamed. It only looked the tiniest bit pained. "How long have you been awake?"

"Just a little while," Lilo said. She wandered into the kitchen and hopped up on Jumba's lap, next to Stitch. "I want cereal."

"Sure, Lilo," David said helpfully. He went for the cupboards. Nani caught Cobra's eye and really looked at him.

Later, he nodded.

She nodded in turn. Later.

+8.38 terran years

Something was poking him in the stomach. Gently, poke poke – Stitch crinkled up his face and whuffed through his nose. Then he opened his eyes. It was Lilo, her face close to his. She was scratching at his stomach with her fingers. There were no lights on in the room, but even morning light poured in through the windows and made everything shine.

"Eeergh," he said. He stretched all six legs. Covers were twisted around him and Lilo pulled them away and let him out. "What time?"

"Early," Lilo said. "Finally you're awake. It's Saturday! Let's go."

Stitch went to the kitchen and peeled one hard-boiled egg for each of them. He dropped the shelves in the empty coffee can they used for compost, to be added to the interestingly stinky pile later. Lilo, he knew, was putting on her bathing suit and then wrapping up a muumuu over that, in her room.

She came downstairs a minute later, beach bag over her shoulder. They ate their eggs, Lilo leaning over the sink. She drank water straight from the tap, cupping her hand so it was easier, and then lifted him so he could drink too. They left almost without a sound, the door closed with the quietest of taps beside them. Lilo's surfboard was under the eaves next to the front door and she picked it up. They walked down the street to the beach together.

It was early enough the waterfront was empty. The tide was out, the beach slung long and low; it would be easy to do a landing there, a beach assault, Stitch's combat programming informed him. He filed the thought away just in case and looked at the water. Lilo read him lots of stories, sometimes poetry, he didn't care about that, but this was pretty. He liked it.

Lilo looked out over the water and clucked her tongue. "Quiet!" Her voice barely broke the morning stillness, the water shushing and patting the beach shore. It was blue with a shine of gold and a shine of green to it, like a rare metal. There was a metal like that, his programming informed him; it conducted electricity, it was ductile, not found on earth. He scratched his nose. "Shells?"

"Let's look for sea glass," Lilo nodded. She planted her surfboard down next to the lifeguard stand, which was still empty. It was that early. He would be tired, but Stitch was made to run on little sleep and Lilo was never tired. She dropped her beach bag next to the board and together they walked up the beach, looking down, throwing sideways glances at the sunrise where the sky lit up with a yellow patina painted over the blue and slowly made itself known to the Hawaiian morning.

They found four pieces of sea glass and a nice pile of shells. Stitch liked sea glass, he liked to roll the worn pieces in his paws and feel where all the edges had been rounded off by a long time in the water. He balanced a pile of shells on his head and made Lilo grin. Together, they mounded up a big sand castle, with turrets and a moat, and several courtyards. They kept some of the shells and put some on the wall. "Here we are!" Lilo said importantly, when it was finished. "This is the family that rules the beach. They are kind and benevolent rules of all of beach country. They don't even get mad at the seagulls. Alas, tragedy strikes whenever the tide comes in."

"I'm going for a swim," she said, after they'd sorted through the shells left over. "Want to read for a while?"

"Ih," and he got her book out. They were reading Twilight together, and talking about Edward as they went. Lilo was of the studied opinion that a vampire boyfriend should be way cooler than Edward was. Stitch thought the book would be better with aliens and an alien war. He sat and watched her swim out towards the horizon, brown arms dashing up through the water and driving back down, then he settled down to read about the sad sad life of Bella for a while.

Lilo dripped salt water on the pages when she came back in and stood over him. Stitch folded a page over and looked up; she flipped her black hair over her shoulder and grinned. "Want to come this time?"

The life jacket had been for a dog at first. Then Jumba had got hold of it, and it had become a life jacket for Stitch. Together they got all of his legs buckled in. Then he followed Lilo into the water.

Danger, danger! His conditioning told him that, and his paws flexed without his thinking. But Lilo was close! There next to him. They swam, watching sunlight swoop on the sandy sea bottom. This close in, even, fish flickered left and right in all directions; little silvers, angel fish striped like tigers, parrotfish like rainbows condensed into fish. They went along the beach and then away from where town-front was, to more private waters. Stitch paddled all of his six legs, held tentatively above the clutching waters by the life jacket. Lilo took his paw now and again, paddled up and down through lifting swells. Her hair rippled behind her.

They beached out in about half an hour, in a big pile of rocks on the shore. Crabs scuttled away from them, clicking scoldingly. Edible crustaceans, his programming told him; watch out for pinches. He caught two and ate them, let the rest go.

Lilo unbuckled his life jacket and sat her leg on it so it couldn't be carried away by a stray wave. Then Stitch stretched out over her lap with a sigh. The sun warmed up his short fur fast, and it dried quickly, helped by Lilo's ruffling. She rubbed behind his ears and around his antennae, and then scratched at his shoulders. Itch, itch. "Careful," he said when she pressed her fingers the right spot.

"I know." Gently, the poisonous barbs at the top of his spine slipped out of their subcutaneous casing. They tasted the air a bit too; a strange sense, different from the rest of his. He could smell/taste Lilo in a different kind of way. Closer. She knew not to touch, but she scratched around the quills. It felt good to let them out, like it felt good letting out all six of his legs; it was weird and cramped to have everything all in, it felt like a nice stretch.

After a while she stopped and just petted him down his back, rubbing circles on his dry fur. Stitch felt full in a way that was strange but that he also was accustomed to, like he was filled up with lightness. His programming suggested he was ill and should seek out Jumba to fix what was wrong with him. He ignored it; he knew that it was the fullness and lightness of the feeling of ohana.

"Let's head back," Lilo suggested. "We can see if Nani's awake! If she's not, we can wake her up."

"Ih," he said, lifting his head and grinning back at her.

She helped him put the life jacket back on. Soon enough they were both in the water again, headed back towards the beach bag and the surf board (later; there was a whole beautiful Saturday all in a piece in front of them) and their haul and their home.

+9.12 terran years

It was a ritual by now. Chinese take-away, lo mein piled up in greasy heaps of noodles and fried rice, dumplings, General Tso's Chicken mixed with slices of some violently spicy pepper, Mongolian beef, fortune cookies, maybe a bottle of beer apiece or soda, and whatever else they wanted besides. Lucky Nani's family came built-in with babysitters who could be guaranteed to keep Lilo alive if not entirely out of trouble. With that, David and Nani had the freedom to walk away from the house and town to a place near enough to see the ocean, and enjoy a date night now and again.

They set up the small fire and fed bites of lo mein to each other. Night birds whooped in the distance, water rushed, wood snapped. "We don't need a radio tonight!" David said. Sometimes they brought it, sometimes they didn't.

"It's nice to be somewhere quiet for once," Nani said. "Jumba's working on some something-or-other and I tell you, it's just a good thing Lilo hasn't picked up any alien swears."

"She's probably smart enough not to let you hear if she has."

"Yeah, really. I bet she's learned some things from Stitch that no human should know." Nani rolled her eyes and grabbed a beer to drink while it was still cold. "You want one?"

"Yeah." David grabbed the bottle opener and snapped off both caps. The beer hissed, a quick exhale, then they clinged the tall bottles together. "Cheers." And they both drank.

"How's school going?" David said, after a respectful period of enjoyable silence. It wasn't that he didn't generally know, but he liked to check up.

"Oh good, you know… high school is going a lot better. You know, we put her back in the public school more. I think Jumba misses seeing her so much, but the kids have really calmed down and Lilo's holding her own."

"I can't believe she's in high school," David said, shaking his head. "I remember going surfing with her. And she couldn't have her own surfboard. When you got Stitch, you know?"

"Oh yeah, that day." It still counted as one of the worst scares of her life seeing Lilo go under the water. Nani shook her head back, taking a slow sip of beer. "Yeah, she's really grown up. I'm so proud, you know?"

"You know what she's gonna do next?"

"I have to talk to her about college… you know, I didn't go. And mom and dad didn't bother with college either. And they were fine, and I've been fine, but Lilo, I think she could use it."

"It'd probably be fun for her," David said. "See more of the world, you know…"

"I'm just worried, she's been so close her whole life… it might be hard on her to be apart."

"Well, she can always come back. And there's skype nowadays. I bet Jumba could hook you something up."

"I bet Jumba could give her a degree."

"Yeah! But you gotta be, I dunno, certified and things." David grinned. "And I dunno about you, the idea of Jumba certified to actually teach everybody he wanted is a little scary to me."

"True," Nani laughed, and they drank again.

It was silent for a little more, dark-eyed David sneaking looks at her. The fire lit up his smile and cast wavering orange highlights on his skin. Plus nine years, his butt was still great and his hair was still fancy.

"Sooo." David tapped his palms together. "If Lilo goes, your house is gonna be kind of empty, huh?"

It was a little too soon to think about that. "I think Jumba and Pleakley will stick around," Nani said. "And if Stitch can't go…"

"Yeah… well, you know, if you wanted, I could move in."

There was a little moment. Nani looked at him. They'd been doing this for kind of a long time: the slow and careful thing. Although she probably had to call all these romantic campfire dinners dating at this point.

She thought about being married to David for a second. Would it make it weird? Probably not; it hadn't been weird for this long. He'd probably just be around more and they'd have a piece of paper. She thought about having a kid with David. With how he'd been for Lilo – and she'd probably be thrilled being an Auntie – she knew he'd make a great dad. He didn't have a temper at all really, and he loved to see kids having fun. He was a great hugger.

It might be okay to have a house without a kid for a while, too. She'd raised Lilo up and it had been good but it had been hard. And she knew, she trusted David not to pressure her.

"I'll think about it," she said. "You know. If Lilo went, there'd probably be time for something like that and it's not like you'd be competing with her for hot water."

"You guys never run out of hot water," David said. It was true; Jumba had done some sneaky modifications of the water heater.

"Yeah, well," Nani said. "You know, if she goes out, it would probably be fine."

"Great!" said David. He grinned. There was a little liquid and a little foam left at the bottom of their beers. They clinked glasses again and drank, the fire singing the nearest sides of them, the night behind, and then they stretched out carefully on the ground together to kiss.

+11.44 terran years

The college talk had been pussyfooted around for a long time. "I don't know what I wanna do," Lilo said repeatedly. "I don't want to pick my whole career now and be miserable in forty years! I want to run an aquarium shop to rehome displaced clownfish. I want to be a social worker. I want to write stories. I want –" And it went on and on. She'd be the Pelekai family's first college grad. It was a scary idea that shot straight in the nerves of Nani and Lilo both.

Together they worked on the dishes. Nani scrubbed first, Lilo dried and put away, then they switched. Lilo getting older was scary, Nani thought, but at the same time it was really good. They could talk more honestly with each other now. Lilo was almost old enough to be taking care of herself and on her own, so they were more like equals.

"I don't know if I want to leave," Lilo said, wiping a plate with her dishcloth. It was patterned with tiny frogs. "You never did, and all my family's here. What about Stitch?"

"Whatever you decide to do, you can always come back, you know."

"Mom didn't need college. Why do I?"

"You're different from Mama, Lilo…" Nani scrubbed at a particular crusted-on spot of sauce on a pan, instead of looking at Lilo. "You're so much like her, but you're your own person, too. You can go find that, you can do whatever you want."

"College is expensive."

"We have the money because of Jumba. You know he told me he has a ton of money all locked up in some kind of alien bank account up there…?"

"But it's his."

"He said you can use as much of it as you want. Actually," Nani paused, "he said there's pretty much no way you could use all of it."

"It's alien money!"

"He said there's ways around that. He can talk to the councilwoman, and things."

"She doesn't like him."

"Yeah, well, she likes you though. I'm pretty sure she'd take care of that for you."

"I don't want you to be alone."

"David offered to move in with me, you know? And Jumba and Pleakley will be around, and Stitch if he doesn't go with you, and do you think he won't…?"

"What if I get homesick?"

"We skype. Or you come back."

"Do you want me to go?" Plates clinked as Lilo stacked them up, her back to Nani.

"Of course not, Lilo," Nani said softly. "But I want you to see as much as you want before you decide to just stay right here. We'll always be here, you know."
Lilo turned around. Nani could see her big eyes were wet - oh, Lilo looked so much like their mom it almost hurt to see sometimes. She'd grown up somehow, when Nani wasn't quite looking. "I don't know if I want to leave. College takes a long time. Years."

"There's summer vacation too, you know. And breaks. And I'll miss you. It won't be the same here without you." Nani paused. "I want you to make your own decision."

Lilo went to hang her dishrag, lowering her head in silence.

"It doesn't have to be right now. You have a long time to decide, you know," Nani said. "You might not even have to go far. There's colleges in Hawaii too. You'd just be a tiny little flight away, we could swing that."

"You won't forget me, right?" Tiny voice. Nani dropped the dish she was washing back in the sudsy water and went to put her arms around her sister. They stood together silently in the kitchen, Nani rocking both of them back and forth.

"Of course not," Nani said, after a long minute had passed. Her own voice was soft. "Ohana, right? Nobody gets forgotten."

"Or left behind. But what if I'm leaving you?"

"You're not leaving us," Nani said. "Maybe… you know, maybe your path takes you a little away from us for a while. So, instead of walking with everybody all the time, you walk alongside them, not so close. But you can look over and see them and talk to them. You know we're there. And eventually, you know, the paths come together again."

Lilo sniffed. Pause. Pause. "I have to think about it."

"It's a big choice," Nani nodded. "But it's not that big. You can change your mind. You won't get stuck."

"I'll think about it."

"Okay," Nani said. She let Lilo go a little. "Okay. You ready to finish dishes with me? I bet that water's getting cold."

"Okay," Lilo said. Pause again. "Did you just wipe soapy hands on my shirt?"

"Well, it was closest," Nani said, and grinned.

"Ewwww!"

It was really good. Yeah, really good to still be sisters.

+11.7 terran years

The grand councilwoman, Nani thought, was kind of scary. She had a presentation like a school principal, except it was for the whole galaxy or something. Everywhere in space Nani cared about, for sure.

She was great, of course. More power to you, grand councilwoman! Yeah, women get things done. It's just, she wasn't so used to having the president of the whole universe sitting at her kitchen table, sipping tea. Maybe on a viewscreen now and again, sure. She checked in. But Nani wasn't sure she was all the way comfortable with being on the president of the universe's personal radar. Even with Cobra there.

"Let me see if I understand what you are suggesting," the councilwoman said. One hoofed foot tapped the air. "Your sister, for her specializing adult education –"

"College," Cobra chipped in helpfully.

"For her college, for reasons of cultural exchange and diversification of earth, has expressed interest –"

"It was just an idea, she's not sure yet," Nani said.

The councilwoman narrowed her golden eyes at both of them. She reminded Nani of an extremely intelligent dinosaur. Probably a whaddyacallem, an apex predator. Nani closed her mouth politely. So did Cobra.

After a moment, the councilwoman went on. "Has expressed interest in studying abroad… and by abroad you mean off planet… and by off planet you mean, on one of our schooling-ships. Well, I must say this is somewhat irregular."

"I'm sure irregular has become commonplace by now," Cobra said.

The grand councilwoman narrowed her eyes at him. "You know, it's been years since I've seen you in person, but you don't seem to have aged a day since you lost your hair."

"Thank you."

Nani wasn't sure that was a compliment or not, but either way, the conversation rolled along.

"I realize we might have to pay for this…?" she said. The grand councilwoman turned her head slightly.

"We subsidize all education. For an interested party such as your sister, those regulations would still apply. There might be some fees necessary."

"Um. Jumba suggested we use his money."

The grand councilwoman's eyes narrowed again. "Ah." A world of feeling compassed within the one terse syllable. Nani fought the urge to fidget, with the feeling that the grand councilwoman might slap her over the knuckles for it.

"I suppose we could work that out," the alien said, after a moment's rumination over her tea. "We have frozen his funds but not seized them, that's been wrapped up in litigation for years, you can imagine…"

"You could swing this as a good cause," Cobra said. "What's better than charity for a race that isn't a member of the galactic federation yet?"

"Charity to line the pockets of some less scrupulous council members, to hear them tell it." The grand councilwoman sipped her tea. A second eyelid flashed over her molten-colored eye. "This is delicious, by the way."

"Will there be any problems because there aren't any other humans on board?" Nani asked.

"There should not be. There is quite a diversity of races included upon our ships, you know. Some are more frequently seen than others, but some are the sole representatives of their species, for various reasons."

"What about Stitch?"

"He was formally exiled to earth when I first met your family," the councilwoman said. "Has he been rehabilitated entirely?"

Nani and Cobra exchanged meaningful glances.

"I would say yes," Cobra said after a moment. "I'm sure he could be induced to behave if it meant he got to stay along with Lilo."

"There remains the matter of the related paperwork," the alien said with a tiny sigh. "Not that this would be entirely insurmountable, but it would pose a headache."

"It's probably at least a year before Lilo would be thinking seriously of leaving the planet," Cobra said. "So you would have that long to start working on it."

"I'll keep it in mind. However, Jumba and Pleakley will not be leaving Earth."

Those two had prudently made themselves scarce when word had come down that the councilwoman would make an appearance in person.

"I think they're doing okay here," said Nani carefully. "Stitch getting dispensation to go would be, you know, good."

"Well. Otherwise, I don't see that there should be any problem with Lilo entering our education system if it is what she wishes."

"Even though all of earth isn't part of your… thing, you know?" Nani asked.

"That shouldn't be a problem. Actually, Lilo's presence might speed your species making first contact… only in theory." The latter appended after the councilwoman caught Nani's aghast face. "We have done this before, you know. We make first contact very carefully. In fact, alien agencies have already made first contact with certain government agencies globally."

"I'm sure there'll be mass panic if contact isn't handled carefully," Cobra said. "But people will probably be relieved that there are aliens around that aren't the Borg."

She'd known that the government knew about aliens, hadn't she? "Oh," Nani said rather faintly. "Would Lilo get involved in any kind of publicity stunt like that?"
"It would depend on her career path and choices," the councilwoman said.

Oh. Still a scary idea.

While Nani mulled it over, the councilwoman finished her tea. "Will that be all?" she said after a moment.

"I believe it is," Cobra said.

"Then I must pay a visit to my favorite young human. I am overdue, I think." The councilwoman rose to her feet. She was very tall, on par with Cobra and a head over Nani, and rangy. Built to run, it looked like. She stalked outside the house without a jot of care that she was an undisguised alien wandering the Hawaiian landscape, and Nani heard the call from outside: "Lilo?"

Nani sat and felt relieved to not be under that exacting gaze. She liked the councilwoman, actually. She liked her a lot. But whew!

"She's really something, isn't she?" said Cobra.

"And how."

"We're having coffee later," Cobra said, staring at his own cup of tea, which was still over half-full. "Wish me luck."

"Luck," Nani said, and grinned. She would pay to be a fly on the wall at that coffee break.

+12.7 terran years

Nani came downstairs near midnight, by instinct and half-awake fitful insistent nerves, in her pajamas. No slippers. The floor felt good on her bare feet. Smooth.

Lilo wasn't home. Nani felt a surge of worry, then made herself calm down. Of course Lilo would be out late tonight, and she had her cell phone. She'd call if there was any problem. There was nothing wrong.

Stitch was sitting on the loveseat under the window. Curled up, but she could see the shimmering flash of his eyes when she turned on the kitchen light just to have something in the house lit up. Nani went over and sat down next to him. After a moment she patted her thighs. Stitch looked at her, then he crawled into her lap with a tiny grunt.

"You're waiting up, huh?"

"Ih." She scratched around his shoulders. He was like a teddy bear, sort of, but dense with muscle. Nani knew to be careful of that spot but she felt him relax a little. "It's so late," he said after a second.

"I know." Nani smoothed her hand down his back. He had a cartoon character voice, not like a human's. "It's okay. She's with Victoria, remember? She's probably dancing the night away."

"Is it always so late?"

"Yeah, usually," Nani said. "Don't worry. There's grown-ups around there for sure. You don't let a bunch of teenagers have a dance party with no grown-ups around to stop them having too much fun."

Stitch was quiet, sprawled over her legs, heavy and hot. After a moment, there was the sound of a car outside, even the flash of two headlights sliding across the far wall. He sat up, ears pivoting; the car went on, whooshing away in the distance and then silence fell again. Not Lilo. Nani petted down hi s back more.

"It's kinda empty without her, isn't it?"

It was the late night talking.

"It's quiet," Stitch said. "She looked so pretty."

"I know." The dress had been so bright. Lilo never wore those things, pretty much, but one night was fun to dress up and Nani had agreed. Lilo found a dress design she liked, and Pleakley sewed it.

Stitch rolled over so he was belly-up and Nani rubbed there too. He made a deep purring noise. For a long time, until he'd been in the house a while, she hadn't known he could do that.

"Will it always be like this?" he asked after a moment. "I don't want her to go."

She had to remember, Lilo had been his first friend.

"You know they're working on getting you to go too," Nani said. "It'll just take a little while. You shouldn't worry. I know Lilo will always come back to us."

"Ohana," he said.

"Mmhmm."

Their small and broken family, pieced together from people who'd been found, seamed where lines had been glued together. It was good, Nani thought; it was really good.

"She'll have special things with other people too," Nani said. "But she'll always have something special with us, something that you can't replace. No one can copy that. No one can change it, no matter what happens."

"When will she get back?"

"Later than this, I bet you," Nani said. "She better be having the best time. You want to eat some crackers with me? We'll both wait up for her."

Stitch thought it over. "Ih," he said, then he rolled off her lap. The air felt the tiniest bit nippy where he'd been blanketing her legs.

Her beautiful sister, off on prom and all kinds of adventures, and now them in here, waiting. It was all right. That was how life was, Nani thought. Sometimes, people went on without you, they went on ahead, like mom and dad, too soon, or they went somewhere else. But still everyone is waited for and everyone is remembered. That's what Ohana means.

Together, they went in the kitchen. Nani poured them both glasses of milk and cut slices of watermelon and got the crackers out. Together, they waited calmly, in strange and loving family silence.

It was going to be practice, Nani thought, for a lot of nights without Lilo, the strange sense of quiet and emptiness even though the house only had one person less in it. But that was the song, wasn't it: Aloha 'oe, until we meet again. They'd parted and met again before, and met new people on the way, and that was their family: they always would, given time.

+12.89 terran years, all years, all times after that; a long time

The pictures around the house multiplied. Every time Nani turned around, she thought, there had to be a new frame: Lilo with Stitch. Lilo with Victoria, Nani with David, Jumba and Pleakley, Nani and Stitch, Stitch and Jumba, the whole family, all permutations. Of course, the cherished photograph of mom and dad, looked at and thought of often. I will never forget! Nani and Lilo had thought it and said it, to each other, and themselves, and they'd never forgotten. Stitch and the others thought of those two humans often too, in spite of never knowing them. Two important grown-up humans long gone! It was funny how echoes spread like that.

There is so much of the universe to be seen, Lilo said. Her face smiled from a skype screen. Paperwork went through and Stitch followed her. David moved in. Jumba made more inventions that were useful and alternately a little scary, and talked about getting degreed human-style, and teaching. David and Nani looked at each other and wondered what on earth was gonna happen to the world. Well, probably nothing that bad, Jumba wasn't that bad, and it was kind of his world now too.

Pleakley sewed more. He watched TV. He went to the beach. He dressed in anything and wore everything. It's too much fun! he said. He couldn't believe what humans did with fashion. They all watched America's Next Top Model together. He critiqued the shows and bought all the box sets.
Lilo visited during all of her breaks. The grand councilwoman came around too, intimidating everyone. She couldn't turn it off. Nani figured out she had a sense of humor and felt thrilled to sort of be her friend. Pleakley never figured out she had a sense of humor and remained massively intimidated. Jumba made himself courteously scarce and minded his ps and qs whenever she spoke to him. She and Cobra made getting coffee a thing.

I love my family, was thought often. More pictures on the walls. Lilo rolling around on the beach, shrieking vaguely about finals. Swimming. Taking surfboards and boats out. Lilo, Jumba and Stitch went birdwatching. Jumba made it a personal project to restore some endangered native bird populations.

Surprisingly altruistic for him, Cobra said. Well, I think he took it as a personal challenge, Nani said. What could you do? It was all for a good cause anyway, David said, laughing. David and Nani talked about having a kid, maybe. No rush. Lilo shrieked about the idea of being an auntie. I want to raise that kid to be so weird, she said. I want Stitch to play with them! He can have another best friend!

Life only got weirder and weirder, but the thing was, Nani said, I don't mind it. It's us! It couldn't be different. It made her laugh more now. It got easier to take all the weird things in stride. Easier and easier.

Everyone went on and on. Everyone went on growing. Ohana changes sometimes, Lilo said to Stitch, but it should never change that it loves you! She was a lot bigger than him now. She held him in her lap and squeezed him tight. Mom and Dad, wherever you are, I hope you are proud. I miss you. You would love this. You would love it! I will live it for you, because you couldn't.

Life went on with all brightness, all the brightness of the stars in their eyes.