AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is an AU flashback story. I got the idea for it while I was working on my "Nevada Nesmith" story (specifically the end of Chapter 23). All the Fraggles belong to Jim Henson, with the exceptions of Wini (pronounced "Winnie"), Darcy, Cerise, and Reena, who belong to me. The song featured in this story is from "Sesame Street," which is another place that inspired this idea (episode #3854, if you want specifics), though with modified lyrics so I could make it work. As far as the age gaps between the Fraggle Five, I have absolutely no idea (all I know is that Mokey is the oldest, and Wembley is the youngest of the Five). This is just my interpretation.

Three-year-old Gobo Fraggle, wearing a horned helmet and a towel around his shoulders, snuck up behind three-year-old Red Fraggle, who was standing by the Fraggle Pond, smacking her hand against the water, and talking to her rag Fraggle, whom she named Fraggledy Ann.

"Raaaaawwwwwrrrrrr!" Gobo shouted the minute he got directly behind Red, and then gave her braid a hard yank.

"Eeek!" Red shouted. Then she whirled around, and bopped Gobo in the head with Fraggledy Ann, repeatedly.

"Don't you ever do that again, Gobo Fwaggle!" she shouted.

"Stop hitting me with your stupid doll!" Gobo shouted. "Else I'm gonna fwow it into the pond!"

"If you do, I'm gonna tell your Uncle Matt on you!" Red shouted, giving Gobo a few more whacks with the doll.

"All right, you guys, stop it," six-year-old Mokey Fraggle said, stepping between Gobo and Red. "Can't you two ever play nice with each other?"

"No!" both Gobo and Red shouted at each other, and then blew each other raspberries. Mokey heaved a sigh, took Red's hand, and led her away before anything else could happen.

Gobo then walked over to two-year-old Boober Fraggle, who was playing with a bucket of water and a washcloth.

"Hey, Boober," he said. "Wanna play Cave Creature? I'll be the brave 'splorer, and you can be the Cave Creature, and I'll slay you, 'kay?"

"No," Boober said. "Cave Cweatow scawy! Me no wanna be swayed! Me finish wandwy."

"Aww, all you ever wanna do is play laundwy!" Gobo pouted.

"Waundwy safe," Boober said. "Wed pway Cave Cweatow wiff Gobo."

"Red's a girl!" Gobo shouted. "And she never wants to be the Cave Creature! She always wants me to be the Cave Creature so her stupid Fwaggledy Ann doll can be the 'splorer!"

With that, Gobo stomped off to his cave. His Uncle Matt was there, looking over some of his maps.

"Uncle Matt, I'm bored!" Gobo shouted.

"You're bored, eh?" Matt asked. "Why don't you go play with your little friends, then?"

"They're no fun! Red and Mokey are girls and always wanna do dumb girl stuff like play with dumb ol' dolls, and Boober just likes to play laundwy all the time!"

"I see. Hmmm . . . . ah ha! I have it! It's time you saw what your Uncle Matt does all day, nephew! We are going to go . . . . exploring!"

"I get to go 'sploring with you, Uncle Matt?Whoopee!"

Gobo jumped up and down excitedly, and then he began skipping around the cave, singing.

"I get to go 'sploring! I get to go 'sploring!" he sang. "I get to go 'sploring, and Red doesn't!"

Gobo sang a couple more choruses of "I get to go 'sploring," while Matt packed up the necessary supplies needed for a quick jaunt around the Rock, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in, it's open!" Matt called.

When the door opened, in came three female Fraggles. One Fraggle was hot pink with darker pink hair. This was Red's mother, Cerise Fraggle. Another was aqua-colored with dark purple hair. This was Mokey's mother, Darcy Fraggle. The third was pale yellow with neon green hair. Her name was Wini Fraggle, and she was pushing a baby carriage.

"Ahhh, good afternoon, ladies," Matt said, walking up to Wini's carriage. "And what do we have here?"

Gobo also walked over to the carriage, and stood up on his toes to get a better look at it's contents. Inside was a sleeping baby Fraggle, sucking his thumb. He was yellow-green in color, and had yellow hair. Also in the carriage was a pale blue rattle with a horizontal pale green stripe going around the top, a fuzzy green caterpillar that squeaked when it was squeezed, a squishy stuffed radish, and a soft, plush Fraggle doll. The caterpillar was being held in the arm of the baby Fraggle while he sucked his thumb, and his other hand occupied the arm of the Fraggle doll.

"This is Wembley," Wini said, answering Matt's question.

"Oh yes, Wini, your baby," Matt said. "And what a cute baby he is, too."

"Goody!" Gobo shouted. "Someone new to play Cave Creature with! Hey, you, wake up!"

Gobo immediately began poking the baby Fraggle with his finger as hard as he could, trying to get him to wake up. Before anyone could stop him, Wembley woke up, and immediately began screaming. Wini immediately took her son out of the carriage, and began rocking him.

"What's wong with him?" Gobo asked.

"You shouldn't have been poking at the baby that hard, Gobo," Matt said, calmly. He didn't necessarily want to yell at his nephew for this, since Gobo was only three, and he didn't know any better.

"Yes, you might have hurt him, Gobo," Wini said. "You have to be very gentle around little babies."

"Oh, Wembley's not that little, Wini," Cerise said, rolling her eyes.

After Wini got Wembley to stop crying, she put him back into the carriage, and gave him a pacifier from the bag she was carrying. Wembley immediately began sucking on it happily, the poking incident forgotten.

"Anyway, ladies, what brings you down to our neck of the rock?" Matt asked, and he began tickling Wembley under his chin. "Besides showing off your cute, little baby, Wini. Cootchie-cootchie-coo!"

"Well, Matthew," Darcy said, "I need to go out and get some radishes from the Gorgs' garden, and Wini and Cerise are coming with me to help. Now, you know it's far to dangerous to bring our children up to the Gorgs' garden, don't you?"

"Yes, of course it is," Matt said. "Far, far too dangerous for little Fraggles."

"Right," Darcy said. "Now, my daughter, Mokey, is keeping an eye on Cerise's daughter, Red. But, still, Mokey is far too young to watch both a toddler and a baby at the same time, so we were wondering if you'd watch Wini's little Wembley while we're up gathering radishes."

"Well . . . ." Matt said, thinking it over.

"Oh, we just knew you would, Matthew!" Darcy shouted. "Thanks so much! I really do need some extra hands for gathering the radishes this week."

"Uhh, wait a minute . . . ." Matt started, but the three Fraggles weren't listening.

"Everything you need is in this bag," Wini said, handing the bag to Matt. "Diapers, baby powder, diaper rash ointment, a changing pad, baby food, baby Fraggle formula, juice, a bib, an extra blanket, a teething ring, a couple of extra toys, a change of clothes, a list of instructions . . . . am I forgetting something? I'm sure I'm forgetting something!"

"Calm down, Wini," Darcy said. "After all, we're only going to be gone for a couple of hours! I swear, you're more neurotic than Reena was when her little Boober was born!"

"Where do you think she got it?" Cerise asked. "She hung around Reena so much while she was pregnant with Wembley, some of Reena's neuroses rubbed off on her!"

"I know, I know," Wini said. "But this is the first time I've left my baby for more than half an hour."

"I know, Wini," Darcy said, gently. "You're a relatively new mother. We all went through this separation anxiety the first time we had to leave our babies for an extended period of time."

"Except for Reena," Cerise said. "As far as I know, she hasn't been separated from her Boober since he was born."

"Well, we'd better get going," Darcy said.

"Yeah, if we wait any longer, the radishes are going to rot," Cerise said.

"Bye-bye, sweetie-kins," Wini said, giving her baby a big hug, and several kisses. "Mommy will be back just as soon as she can. You be a good little Fraggle for Uncle Matt, okay?"

Wembley just babbled. It was about all he could do. He hadn't learned to talk yet. The only word he knew was "squeet," which was what he said whenever someone squeezed any of his squeaky toys. And with that, Wini put Wembley back into the carriage, and went off with Darcy and Cerise.

"Well," Matt said, a little confused at what just happened. He cleared his throat, trying to figure out what to do next.

"I thought we were gonna go 'sploring," Gobo said, pouting.

"Err, yes, I know, nephew Gobo," Matt said. "But, erm, there's been a slight change of plans. We have to look after little Wembley until his mommy returns."

"Oh," Gobo said. "Well, can't he come 'sploring with us?"

"I'm afraid not, Gobo, you see, he's far too young to go out exploring. But you don't have to worry, we will go exploring once Wini gets back."

"Okay, I guess."

Gobo pouted a little more, but at least he was going to get to go exploring later.

Matt put the baby bag down, and looked for the instructions Wini left. Gobo in the meantime, just stared at Wembley, and Wembley stared right back at Gobo.

"You're not so much," Gobo said. "I don't know why Fwaggles make such a big deal over a baby. You guys don't even know how to do anything."

"Squeet, squeet!" Wembley shouted, squeezing his caterpillar. Then he giggled.

"Whatever," Gobo said.

"Let's see now," Matt said. "The first thing on the list is to feed little Wembley."

"Okay," Gobo said. "I'll go get him a Doozer stick! He'll like that!"

"No, Gobo, babies don't eat Doozer sticks," Matt said.

"Why not? Every Fwaggle eats Doozer sticks!"

"Baby Fraggles don't. They don't have any teeth. They like nice, soft, mushy food."

Matt began to dig through the baby bag, and pulled out a jar labeled "Mashed Mushrooms."

"Ah yes, here we are," he said. "Nice, yummy mashed mushrooms."

"Yuck!" Gobo shouted, making a face. "I hate mashed mushwooms!"

"Well, Gobo, you're not a baby," Matt said, tying the bib around Wembley's neck.

Gobo didn't respond. Matt opened the jar, stuck a spoon in, and began feeding Wembley, who was very compliant about being fed mashed mushrooms.

"Isn't that yummy?" Matt asked, giving Wembley another spoonful. "Mmmm! Yum, yum, yummy!"

"Yuck," Gobo mumbled under his breath. "Uncle Matt, I'm hungwy!"

"Just a minute, Gobo," Matt said. "I've got my hands full with the baby at the moment. I'll get you something to eat as soon as I'm finished."

"But I can't wait!" Gobo shouted, stomping his foot. "I'm hungwy now!"

"Gobo . . . . ."

"Now, now, now, now, now!"

Matt sighed. He could tell this wasn't going to be an easy afternoon. He stopped feeding Wembley, and went to make Gobo some lunch.

"I'll be right back, nephew," he said. "Keep an eye on the baby."

Gobo took the jar of mashed mushrooms and sniffed it.

"Yuck!" he shouted again. "How can you eat this? It's yucky!"

Wembley began whining, reaching for the mashed mushrooms. Gobo put the mashed mushrooms in the carriage, and handed Wembley the spoon.

"Knock yourself out, kid," he said. "You're more than welcome to mashed mushwooms! Blecchh!"

Wembley babbled, took the spoon, and made an attempt to feed himself, but he was still a bit young to do that. By the time Matt returned with a radish and parsnip sandwich for Gobo, he found Wembley practically covered in mashed mushrooms.

"Babies sure are messy eaters, huh, Uncle Matt?" Gobo asked. "Any of that get into your mouth, baby?"

"Oh, Gobo!" Matt groaned. "Wembley is too little to feed himself! Look at this mess!"

"I did," Gobo said. "And it's a mess, all wight!"

"Now I'll have to give him a bath. I hope Reena's not using the bathtub."

Matt took the mushroom covered baby Fraggle out of the carriage, and walked out of the cave. Gobo followed, munching on his sandwich. They found Reena Fraggle rinsing out some socks, with Boober "helping" her.

"What a good boy!" Reena praised. "Remember to wash everything thoroughly, little Boober. It gets all the dirt out."

"Dirt bad!" Boober shouted. "Cwean good!"

"That's right!" Reena shouted.

"Oh, good, Reena, you're here," Matt said, as he and Gobo arrived on the scene. "I need the bathtub."

"I'll say you do," Reena said, getting a good look at Wembley. "What in the world happened?"

"Wini left me in charge of her baby," Matt explained. "I left for five minutes to make my nephew, Gobo, a sandwich, and all heck broke loose."

"Never leave a baby alone during mealtime, Matthew," Reena said. "Actually, never leave a baby alone, period!"

"Dat bad!" Boober shouted.

"Yes it is, Boober," Reena said. Then she turned to Matt. "Keep an eye on Boober for a minute, would you? I need some supplies."

With that, Reena walked into her cave. Boober walked over to Gobo.

"Wot dat?" Boober asked, pointing to Wembley.

"Wini Fwaggle's baby Wembley," Gobo said.

"Messy!" Boober shouted. "Messy bad!"

Wembley gurgled and began squirming. Matt had to put him down before he wriggled himself right out of his grip. Immediately, Wembley crawled over to Gobo and Boober. He babbled, and patted Boober on the stomach. Boober gasped.

"Oh no!" he shouted. "Guhms! I covahed in guhms! MAMAAAAA!"

Boober burst into hysterical tears, and Reena immediately ran out of her cave. She dropped the washtub she was carrying right on Matt's foot, and scooped up her son.

"What's the matter, baby?" she asked. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"Bad, messy baby touch me," Boober said. "I got guhms now!"

"Oh no!" Reena shouted. "Did you hear that, Matthew?! Germs! Oh my poor darling! Don't worry, Boober! Mama will get you all cleaned up and make it all better!"

Matt heaved a sigh. It was obvious Reena wasn't going to let him borrow her washtub to give Wembley a bath, so he grabbed a washcloth, took him to the Fraggle Pond. Gobo followed to watch. Matt used the washcloth to clean up the worst of the mashed mushrooms, but he knew he still had to give Wembley a good bath. By the time they returned to Reena, she had finished giving Boober a bath, and Boober, now germ-free, was sitting on a blanket, playing with several fresh, clean socks.

"Washtub's all yours now, Matt," Reena said, putting on a pair of rubber gloves. "Just leave the baby's dirty clothes with me, and I'll wash them for Wini. Oh, and don't go near Boober, all right? Not until after the baby's had a bath, at least."

"Whatever you say, Reena," Matt said.

While Matt was giving Wembley a bath, Gobo walked over to Boober's blanket with his sandwich, but Boober stopped him.

"No cwumbs," he said. "Cwumbs dirty. Dirty bad."

"A little dirt never hurt nobody," Gobo said.

"Come along, Gobo!" Matt called. "It's time to go!"

"Yes, Uncle Matt!" Gobo shouted, and he ran off to catch up with his uncle.

Back at their cave, Matt continued to feed Wembley the rest of his lunch, considering there were more mashed mushrooms on the baby Fraggle than there were in him. Gobo watched, while munching on some Doozer sticks.

"Yes, little Wembley," Matt said. "Mashed mushrooms are very yummy! Do you want some more? Do you want some more yummy? Yes, you do!"

Wembley gurgled, and opened his mouth for more. Gobo just watched.

"How come you don't feed me like that?" he asked.

"Because you're a big Fraggle, Gobo," Matt explained. "You're old enough to feed yourself."

"Oh," Gobo said. He was starting to get bored with this process.

"When Wini gonna be back?" he asked.

"I don't know, Gobo," Matt said.

"I gonna go see what Red and Mokey are doing," he said. "That okay?"

"Yes, Gobo, that's fine," Matt said. "Just don't stray too far from the Great Hall, all right?"

"Okay," Gobo said, and he started to leave the cave, just as Matt was making funny noises at Wembley, and flying the spoon around.

"Boy," he muttered under his breath. "Uncle Matt sure likes that baby."

By the time Gobo returned to the cave, he found his uncle sitting in a chair with Wembley sleeping in his lap, sucking his thumb.

"Hi Uncle Matt!" he shouted, practically at the top of his lungs. "I got an idea! If we can't go 'sploring now, you can tell me a stowy 'bout you going 'sploring, 'kay?"

Before Matt could say anything, Wembley woke up, and began crying.

"Gobo, you woke up the baby!" Matt scolded.

"Well, he shouldn't be sleeping anyway!" Gobo shouted. "There's lots of fun out in the Rock, and you just miss it if you sleep!"

"I'm aware of that, Gobo," Matt said, "but according to Wini's list, it says little Wembley likes to take a nap after he eats."

"So dump him in the cawage and let him sleep! Then you can tell me a stowy!"

"I can't, Gobo, it says on the list that he likes to be rocked to sleep."

Gobo said nothing, while Matt began rocking Wembley to get him to go back to sleep.

"I'd like to rock him to sleep," the little orange Fraggle muttered under his breath. "With a real rock!"

"Did you say something, nephew?" Matt asked.

"No, Uncle Matt," Gobo said.

Shortly thereafter, Wembley fell asleep. Matt carefully put him back into his carriage, and Gobo immediately climbed into his uncle's lap.

"My turn!" he shouted. Thankfully, Wembley didn't wake up this time. "I wanna be rocked, too!"

"All right," Matt said. "I suppose you could use a little afternoon nap yourself, Gobo."

Matt began rocking his nephew, hoping he'd fall asleep and nap for awhile. But the minute Gobo began to doze off, the Fraggle Horn sounded, waking up Wembley, and he immediately began crying.

"Not again!" Matt moaned.

"What's going on out there?" Gobo asked.

"I'll go find out," Matt said. "Watch the baby, Gobo."

Matt left the cave, and Gobo looked into the carriage.

"You're little, but you gotta big scream," he said.

"What's going on?" Mokey asked, as she and Red came into the cave.

"I dunno," Gobo said shrugging. "One minute, Uncle Matt and I are watching Wini Fwaggle's dumb ol' baby, and the next, the Fwaggle horn goes off."

"Oooohhh, I haven't seen Wini Fwaggle's baby yet!" Red shouted, excitedly. Then she stood on her toes to get a closer look at Wembley in the carriage.

"I have," Mokey said, tickling under Wembley's chin, in an attempt to get him to stop crying. "His name is Wembley. Isn't he cute?"

"Awww! He sure is!" Red shouted, and she started tickling the baby Fraggle as well.

"He's not that cute," Gobo muttered under his breath. But he was glad about one thing. The girls did manage to get Wembley to stop crying.

"Look out, Wembley!" Red shouted. "I'm a Tickle Monster! Tickle, tickle, tickle!"

Wembley squealed in delight as Red tickled him. Mokey reached over, and began wiggling Wembley's toes.

"This little Doozer built a tower," she recited. "And this little Doozer stayed home . . . ."

While the girls were busy playing with the baby Fraggle, Matt returned to the cave, with Darcy, Cerise, and Reena right behind him. Reena was in a full scale panic.

"I told you it was dangerous!" she shouted. "I knew this was going to happen one day! I knew it, I just knew it! Why do you always have to go into that gosh-awful garden, anyway? Why can't we grow our own radishes?"

"We don't get enough light down here," Darcy explained.

"Well, it wouldn't have happened if Wini would get her head out of the clouds!" Cerise shouted. "If she had been paying attention, then she wouldn't have gotten thumped!"

"Not in front of the children, Cerise," Darcy scolded, calmly.

"What I don't understand is why I have to take care of the baby for the next couple of days," Matt said.

"You're the only one with experience, Matthew," Darcy explained. "You're the only one of us who has taken care of a baby boy Fraggle."

"What about Reena?" Matt asked. "After all, she's has a baby boy Fraggle!"

"I can't take care of a baby and a toddler at the same time!" Reena shouted. "My poor little Boober would be so jealous and he might develop some kind of complex that would traumatize him for the rest of his dear little life! I just couldn't do that to my baby! Your nephew Gobo is much stronger than my sweet little Boober! He'll be able to handle it. My darling Boober would just go absolutely out of his mind if I brought a new baby home!"

"Oh brother," Cerise groaned. "She's got her poor kid living in a bubble. He's going to grow up to be some kind of neurotic germaphobe obsessed with cleanliness, and worrying about death and destruction all the time. Kind of like her."

"Cerise, please!" Darcy shouted.

"What's going on, Mama?" Mokey asked.

"Oh, nothing to worry about, dear," Darcy said, patting her daughter's head. "Auntie Wini had a little accident, that's all."

"She got thumped by the Gorgs," Cerise said.

"What's thumped?" Red asked.

"Never mind," Cerise said, taking Red's hand. "Mommy will tell you when you're older, Red. Now come on, time to go home."

"'Kay," Red said. "Bye-bye, Wembley! Bye, Gobo, bye Mokey."

"Don't worry about a thing, Matthew," Darcy said. "I'm sure everything will be all right!"

"I hope so," Matt said, with a sigh.

"What's going on, Uncle Matt?" Gobo asked.

"Oh, Wini got hurt while gathering radishes with Darcy and Cerise," Matt explained. "She has to stay in bed for a few days until she gets well, and we have to take care of little Wembley until then."

"You mean he's gonna have to stay longer?"

"Yes, he is."

Matt walked over to the carriage, took Wembley out of it, sat the baby Fraggle on his lap, and began tickling his tummy.

"We'll just have to make the best of it, won't we, little Wembley?" he said, in a baby-talk tone. "Yes, we will! Cootchie-cootchie-coo! Cootchie-cootchie-coo!"

"Blech!" Gobo shouted, scrunching his face in disgust. Matt didn't pay any attention.