Author's Note: I'm suppose to be working on homework that's due at school tomorrow, but my mind keeps wandering off to this story, and I just can't stop thinking about it. So thought I'd write up the first chapter and get it posted, for all of you to enjoy. Hope you enjoy, and, without further a due, let's get started!

The Love Bug

Summary: Partially parodies my unpleasant experience of being sick in February of 2015, only now it's a 2-year-old toddler named Tommy Pickles sick with this terrible Flu bug, but while recovering, he develops his first childhood crush, with a pink haired toddler named Rosie, short for Rosalind. However, this crush isn't all it's cracked up to be. Rosalind is owned by Nairobi-Harper.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, along with any OC's you don't recognize, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse is owned by JJB Jesse Barrow, Rosie, her sister Mary, and her parents are owned by Nairobi-Harper, Hazel and her aunt are owned by AsToldByHazelNut, Courtney is owned by Tropical and Sean, and Natalie is owned by Emma Pickles.

Chapter 1, Love at First Sight

Location: Yucaipa, California, February 4, 2014

Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Zack, Jesse and Dil were all out in the backyard at Tommy and Dil's house, chasing Spike and Spikfi around the tree in the yard. They were all having fun until they noticed something rather odd. While all of the young toddlers seemed to have a lot of energy, chasing after the two puppy dogs, they noticed that both, Tommy and Chuckie ran out of breath the earliest. Now this was not unusual for Chuckie, as he had allergies that caused his nose to get stopped up most of the time, causing him to run out of breath sooner when playing tagging games like that, Tommy, Phil and Lil all knew of this fact for quite sometime now. Chuckie's daddy even took him to see a doctor who tried to clear up his nose with a special device, but sadly, even that was short lived. Feeling bad about what went down, the doctor gave Chuckie her rat Chetter as a present, but as a result of that little white rat making Chaz's allergies worse, to the point where he had to give himself Athma treatments once every hour, he had to be given back to Doctor Brander, and that was the last that doctor saw of the Finsters. But here they were, both, Tommy and Chuckie tired and out of breath.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"I don't know what happened Chuckie." Tommy replied.

"Are you sick?" Lil asked.

"Did you get plenty of sleep last night?" Phil asked.

"I don't think I'm sick, and I gotted plenty of sleep last night. Maybe I should just, rest for a lil while and I'll try again in a bit." Said Tommy, as he sat down in the grass next to Chuckie, and the two of them, watched their other friends go another time around the tree, chasing after Spike and Spikfi.

After resting for a little while, Tommy and Chuckie decided to get up and try again, only once again, Tommy and Chuckie were the first two to tire out. And this time, when Tommy collapsed on the ground, he landed right where the loose board in the fence was, peering into the backyard of the house that neighbored behind hids.

"You ok Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Oh I'm sure he's fine Chuckie, now come on!" Said Kimi, as she grabbed her older brother's hand, and drug him over to the sandbox, where Zack, Dil, and Jesse were making sandcastles and digging wholes.

Tommy didn't notice any of this going on because no sooner was he peering through the whole created by the broken fence board, when his eyes were fixed on the most beautiful toddler he had ever seen. She looked to be about two-years-old, and she had hot pink hair, and was wearing a dark purple dress. He knew of a large, gray monster dog that lived in that yard, and he was still there, only at that time, he was chained up, so as to not hurt anybody, as Tommy had encountered this dog twice in his short little life, once to get his ball back at a barbecue, and another time, when Chuckie tried to prove he was dreaming, by going up against that terrible monster dog, but never had Tommy seen such a beautiful little girl in his life, and as tired out as he was from the tag game, he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

What Tommy didn't know was this little girl he was staring at, couldn't take her eyes off of him either. Rosie Hall, a pink haired toddler, who had recently turned two-years-old was visiting her dying grandmother with her mommy, daddy, and seven-year-old sister Mary. Rosie didn't really know what death was all about, but seeing her grandmother on her mommy's side of the family was a rare thing for her. In fact, the Halls didn't live in Yucaipa, California. They lived a lot further away, in a place called Boston, Massachusetts. In Beantown, Rosie lived quite the life, playing with her three girlfriends, Hazel, Natalie, and Courtney. Hazel had blond hair, loved going on adventures, and to Rosie's disgust, she loved to play in the mud and eat worms. Rosie hoped for her sake, that one day, Hazel would grow out of such disgusting things, or if she didn't, the man she married would be fascinated by such creepy crawly things. Hazel lived with her parents, who traveled a lot in their work, and ocasionally, her aunt would pay her visits, and Rosie would get to see Hazel's aunt, as since Hazel's parents traveled a lot, she spent a lot of time at Rosie's, in the care of Rosie's parents, and, despite some of Hazel's disgusting interests as a one and a half-year-old toddler, they grew to be the best of friends. Then there was Natalie, the quiet one. A dark haired girl who had her parents worried she might either be deaf or autistic, and it was thanks to being friends with Natalie that Hazel and Rosie were learning sign language, so the three of them could communicate. Natalie was the oldest of the group, and would soon be two and a half. And finally, there was the new girl in town, Courtney. She had recently moved to the United States from Russia, and back around Christmas time, on a sunny, but snowy day at the park, Hazel, Rosie, and Natalie all met Courtney. She had blond hair, and like these other three girls, she fancied adventure and excitement, but Courtney could take them to a place where no baby had ever been before. Thanks to a magic snowflake pendent she wore around her neck, she could take her friends to the magical land of Winter Wonderland. Here, they had lots of adventures, and Rosie couldn't wait to learn how to write like her big sister, so she could write stories about all of the fun adventures they took to this magical land. But one day sometime after ringing in the new year, Rosie's mommy got a very disturbing phone call. It was from the personal care assistant that cared for Rosie's grandmother, who Rosie would learn later on was actually Hazel's aunt. She called up Rosie's mommy to give her the bad news that Rosie's grandmother wasn't doing well, and to come see her right away. Because this would most likely be the last time any of the family would see grandma alive, Mrs. Hall had everybody take off of school and work, bought four plane tickets, and roughly a day ago, Rosie took her second airplane ride to visit her grandmother.

Of course, being only two-years-old, Rosie didn't really understand what was going on. On the flight to California, she talked to her older sister Mary, and asked her why they were going to see grandma if it wasn't Christmas or somebody's birthday or something, and Mary tried to explain to her little sister about death, but Rosie just couldn't get it. While the seven-year-old understood about death, in fact, she learned about death when she was age four, and her pet goldfish died, Rosie had yet to learn about this concept, but it would only be a matter of time, before she found out about it.

They arrived early that morning, and Rosie was so full of energy, that her mommy made sure grandma's pet dog was tied up in the backyard, and sent Rosie out to play. Her grandmother had gotten a gray dog who she found as a stray a while back. Sadly, it was obvious he had been mistreated, as he was mean to any intruder who came into his yard, but the dog was good at scaring any intruders away, and Rosie's grandmother found him to be a very good watchdog, despite his demeanor. In fact, she recalled two times, when some small toddlers entered her yard. A couple of years ago on the Fourth of July, a green ball with an orange star on it had landed in her yard, and the next morning, she was planning to go out and return it to them, as it was obvious a barbecue was going on in the yard behind her's, and she didn't want to bother her neighbors, but at some point in the late afternoon, early evening, four young toddlers had ventured into her yard to get their ball back. She was about to call the Police to report these toddlers, when the two that looked like twins, along with a slightly older one with red hair had run back into the yard where they had come from, and not ten minutes later, a brown dog from the other yard, had jumped into her's, and rescued the bald headed baby boy wearing a diaper, who was trying to get the ball.

Then, a few months later one morning, she peered out her window again, to see the red haired two-year-old boy in her yard again, only her dog was chasing him away, and he made it back into the other yard, once the bald headed toddler had thrown a branch at the dog to distract him. Noticing the loose fence board, Rosie's grandmother always meant to get that fixed, but then, she fell ill with Alhimer's Disease, and it got to where what happened the day before was long forgotten come the next morning. Besides, the toddlers never ventured into Rosie's grandmother's yard again, so it was never an issue.

At one time, her grandmother considered moving into a retirement home, but on the day she went to check it out, in early to mid autumn, just a few days shy of the annual fall parade, her grandmother went to check this place out, when she saw an old man with a gray muchstash and a bald spot on his head, being placed on to a stretcher and placed into an ambulance.

"Con flabbid, that was my good leg!" She heard the old man exclaim as the ambulance doors closed and he was rushed off to the hospital.

Upon seeing this go down, she wasn't convinced that moving into this place was a good idea, so she returned to the home she had forever ever since her daughter grew up, went off to school, and she and her husband, who died before her granddaughter Mary was born, moved to California to retire, and spend their twilight years, as they were tired of the awful winters in Massachusetts, and wanted to live in some place that was a little bit warmer. They would get the occasional blizzard, but nothing like what they had in Massachusetts, and when Rosie's grandmother got to where she had more trouble taking care of herself, she hired a personal care assistant to come in and help take care of her.

The lady who was hired to care for her was in her late twenties, and fresh out of medical school. What was even more fascinating was that this lady also had family up in Massachusetts, a sister, brother-in-law, and just recently, her niece was born, a beautiful little girl named Hazel.

On the morning of the Hall's arrival to California, they went immediately to Rosie's grandmother's house. Mary rang the doorbell, and a lady answered the door. She was tall, with gray hair wearing a blue bath robe.

"Grandma?" Mary cried, as she threw her arms around her grandmother, who could barely keep her balance on her feet.

"My dear, dear child, come in." Said grandma, in a very weak voice.

"Here mom, let me help you." Said Mrs. Hall, who handed Rosie over to her father, and helped guide grandma over to a chair, and had her sit down.

"Now now Shirly sweetheart, I don't need help, I'm, fine." Said grandma in that weak voice again, as she sat down in a comfortable white easy chair.

"No you're not mom, and in case you forgot, my name is Shannon, not Shirly." Said Shannon, as she took a seat over on a couch that was next to her mother.

"Now you be nice or I won't let you watch I Love Lucy." Said grandma.

"Mother, I Love Lucy isn't on TV anymore. The only way anybody can watch that show is via Amazon Prime or buying the complete series on DVD." Explained Shannon.

"What's a DVD?" Grandma asked.

"DVD's are those CD things that play videos grandma, like what you got me for Christmas last year. Remember? You sent me the first season of Miss Stephanie's Happy House." Explained Mary, as she took a seat next to her mom, and stared at her grandmother.

At this point, Rosie was starting to kick her father and get ancy, so Mr. Hall went and put her out into the backyard to play, once he saw that the dog was tied up, so he couldn't harm his daughter, and then, he went back inside to tend to his wife, oldest daughter, and mother-in-law.

"Now you be a good girl Rosie, and stay away from the doggy." Said Mr. Hall, before heading inside.

Rosie gave her daddy a smile and a giggle, which told him she understood where she could play and not play.

Once her daddy had disappeared back into the house, Rosie explored the yard, and imagined herself in the jungle, and that she had to avoid any wild animals that could come her way.

While playing though, she stopped and turned towards the fence that lined the far end of the backyard, where she spotted the cutest little boy she ever saw. He looked to be about two-years-old, had dark purple hair, looked quite tired, but at the same time, he seemed to be staring at her, and he was wearing an orange and blue striped t-shirt, and a pair of blue jean overall shorts. He was also barefooted, and Rosie was about to crawl over to the fence to introduce herself, when she heard a lady's voice call from the yard where the boy must have come from.

"Come on kids, time for lunch." She heard the lady call from the other yard.

At that instant, the little boy turned around, and ran the opposite direction, causing the loose board to flap back down, covering the whole he had made, and for Rosie to be left to stare at a brown fenced, that was separating her from her possible future boyfriend, as she had run into many little boys at the park back home, but none as cute as this young fellow, and she hoped that one day, she could finally meet him. Then, she got a brilliant idea! Her daddy never told her to stay in the yard, so, she would just sneak into the yard of this little boy's house, and introduce herself, but before she could attempt this plan, the backdoor to her grandmother's house opened and closed behind her. She turned around to see her sister Mary, standing over her, with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Rosie asked.

"Gr'gr'gr'gr'grandmother… D'd'd'd'died." Cried Mary, as she went into uncontrollable sobs, and wrapped her arms tight around her little sister.

"Don't worry Sis, I'm sure she's fine." Said Rosie, trying to cheer her sister up.

"No Rosie, she's not ok, come on, I'll show you." Said Mary, as she led her little sister back into the house, and the two of them, went to her grandmother's bedroom, where they found her, lying on the bed.

To Rosie, she simply looked to be asleep.

"She's just asleep Mary, see?" Said Rosie, pointing to her grandmother's body, unaware of what really happened.

"No, she's not going to wake up, trust me." Said Mary, as tears continued to trickle silently down her cheeks.

"Oh sure she will, watch." Said Rosie, as she climbed up on to her grandmother's bed, and tried to shake her awake, but nothing happened.

"Oh, I see what you mean. Well, maybe she's just really tired. You'll see, I'm sure she'll be awake for dinner and you'll forget about this dying thing." Said Rosie, as she hopped down from the bed.

"No sis, read my lips, grandma's dead." Said Mary in a stirn voice, hoping to get through to the two-year-old, but seems as if nothing was getting through to her.

Just then, they overheard Miss Stephanie's House starting on the TV downstairs, so went down to watch it. While watching the show, it caused Rosie to recall the last time she came to visit her grandmother. It was a long time ago, when she could barely crawl, and her hair was still blond. Well over a year ago, as she didn't even know Hazel or Natalie at this point in her life, as she met them sometime after her first birthday, and her hair started to turn pink. She and her six-year-old sister were curled up on the couch with their grandmother, watching what was Miss Carol's Happy House back then, and it was the start of a new month, because it was when Miss Carol was picking out her new happy helper. Poor Mary always wanted to audition to be Miss Carol's Happy Helper, but the rules stated that you had to be between the ages of three and six-years-old, and that you had to be a resident of Yucaipa, California, which sadly, she wasn't, she was only there visiting. Nonetheless, she still enjoyed watching the show, but while on this particular visit to her grandmother's, she, Rosie, and grandma saw something rather different take place that day on the show. There were three kids there, sighned up to try out for the part. A dark haired boy, a black girl wearing a pink dress, and a blond with pigtails. The first two kids failed their auditions, as they had to say the fun phrase, so it was time for the blond to take her turn, only the blond said a phrase with a bad word in it.

"She thinks we're all little bleeeeeeep!" Exclaimed the blond on the TV.

"Rosie, I hope you didn't hear that." Said Mary in her sister's ear.

Rosie didn't like what she heard out of that little girl's mouth, and only hoped she'd never meet her.

"I swear Rosie, if I ever meet that little girl, I'm gonna teach her to talk nice." Said Mary at the TV, disgusted with what she heard.

"I don't think you kids should be watching this show." Said grandma, as she fumbled around, looking for the remote, which had fallen beneath some couch pillows. Of course, with having Alhimer's Disease, it took her the rest of the show to find the remote, causing Mary and Rosie to see everything.

"That's it, get her out, get her out of here." Hissed Miss Carol on the TV.

"But that's what you said, and you said it Miss Carol." Yelled the blond with the pigtails.

"You're right, you're right, you know what you're right. I've said it before and I will say it again. You are all, little…" Said Miss Carol, before the TV switched to a test pattern, interrupting her bad word.

Of course, what Mary and Rosie didn't realize until the next day was that by saying this, Miss Carol was fired from the TV company, never to work there again, causing her assistant Stephanie, to end up taking over the show. Once Stephanie took over, the show grew in popularity, and the rules were changed, to where any kid, as long as they were in the United States and between the ages of three and six could audition to be the Happy Helper. When Mary heard about this, she would send in a postcard every month, but sadly, her name was never drawn. Now, at the current moment, she was too old to audition, as she turned seven back in November of 2013, but she still liked to watch the show when she could, as it came on while she was at school, so she could only watch it on weekends or when she had off from school for vacation.

Meanwhile, back at Tommy's house, he was staring at the pink haired toddler in the next yard, when his mommy called him, his brother, and his friends all inside for lunch. Once seated around the kitchen table, everybody started to eat their lunch, except for Tommy. Not only did he have this little girl on his mind, but his tiredness started to get worse, and he had no appetite.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked, looking up from his lunch to notice that Tommy had hardly touched his.

"Oh nothing, I guess I'm just, more tired than I thought." Said Tommy, as he pushed his lunch away, and hopped down from his seat at the table, and headed into the living room where he sat down in the playpen, looking out the glass doors that lined the back of the playpen, and looked out into the backyard.

He looked in hopes to see if he could still catch a glimpse of that little girl in the next yard, but by this time, the broken flap had obviously fallen down because he wasn't there with his head through the whole anymore. He then let out a huge yawn, and turned away to see his mommy setting out pillows and blankets on the floor of the playpen for everybody to take their nap. A few minutes later, Jesse, Zack, Dil, Phil, Lil, Kimi and Chuckie had all finished their lunch and were all congregating around Tommy in the playpen, and Didi brought them all bottles of warm milk to drink.

"Here you go kids." Said Didi, handing everybody their bottles, as the toddlers took their bottles, and curled up on a pillo, getting comfortable beneath a blanket. Tommy and Chuckie, lay down next to one another. Chuckie looked over at his best friend, concerned.

"Are you sure you're ok Tommy? You don't seem like yourself today." Said Chuckie.

"I'm fine Chuckie, I just, need to take my nappy, and you'll see, I'll be all better." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

"Maybe you're right Tommy, well, have a nice nap guys." Said Chuckie, as he removed his glasses and placed them on the floor above his pillow, before drifting off to sleep himself.

The toddlers all took their nap for the next two hours. When they awoke, everybody felt refreshed and energized, except for Tommy. When he awoke, he noticed a sharp pain in his throat, and didn't feel well.

"Nap time's over, let's go play!" Said Kimi excitedly, as she burst up from her sleeping place, and ran for the exit of the playpen.

"We're right behind ya." Said Lil, as she grabbed Phil's hand and they caught up with Kimi.

"Me too." Said Dil, as he ran up behind Phil and Lil.

"Don't forget me." Said Jesse, as he caught up to Dil, Zack toddling behind him.

Chuckie yawned and stretched, put on his glasses, and saw the small line forming at the exit of the playpen, then he turned to notice Tommy was still lying next to him. His eyes looked droopy, and he didn't look too happy.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Outch!" Tommy cried, before he started wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Oh dear, are you ok snookems?" Said Didi, as she came and picked up her crying child.

The other kids left the playpen to go play on the other side of the room, while Chuckie sat on the floor, seeing his best friend in distress, and Didi, trying to comfort him.

It was then that Didi got a good look at his throat.

"Oh dear sweetie, you don't look so good. Come on, let's have a closer look." Said Didi, as she carried the crying Tommy into the kitchen, and shined a flashlight into his throat.

"I think you're sick sweetie. We'll have to take you to the doctor to get you all checked out." Said Didi, as she came back into the living room, and made up a little bed on the couch for Tommy with a pillow and blanket, and lay him down.

At this point, Chuckie rushed out of the playpen to see about his friend.

"Now you just rest here sweetie, everything's gonna be ok." Said Didi, as she blew Tommy a kiss and went back into the kitchen.

By this time, Tommy had stopped crying, and was about to drift back off to sleep, when someone grabbed a hold of his right hand, which was dangling off the side of the couch. Through is nearly closed droopy eyes, he saw it was Chuckie.

"Oh gosh Tommy, that doesn't sound good." Said Chuckie, as he sat on the floor, and held Tommy's hand.

His throat, too hurt to talk, as while it hurt, it hurt worse when he was crying, Tommy squeezed Chuckie's hand, and tried to give him a smile, hoping this would get Chuckie to stop worrying, but it was no use. Chuckie knew his friend was sick, and it would take longer than a day for him to get all better.

A few hours later, it was dinner time, and everybody was staying for dinner, because their parents or in Zack's case, his aunt, all had things to do, that would cause them to pick the kids up late. Didi tried to get Tommy to eat a bowl of soup, but Tommy wasn't hungry, and proceeded to do something he doesn't do very often. He picked up his bowl of soup, and threw it on the floor.

"Wow! That sounds like fun!" Said Phil excitedly, as he picked up his plate of spaghetti, and threw it on the floor.

His sister Lil and the rest of the kids all followed suit and before they knew it, everyone had thrown their plates on the floor, and poor Stu and Didi had a huge mess to clean up.

After everyone had gone home, and Stu and Didi had cleaned up the mess, they ran bathtime for Tommy and Dil. Dil tried to get his brother to play with him in the bath, but Tommy clammed up in the corner of the tub, uninterested in anything. On top of not feeling well, his mind kept on wandering back to earlier, as he saw visions of that little pink headed girl in his head. Reluctantly, Dil played by himself in the tub, and before they knew it, everybody was tucked in, to go to sleep. Dil in his crib, and Tommy, over in his bed. No sooner had his head hit the pillow did Tommy fall asleep, while Dil was awake for a little while longer, wondering if perhaps aliens were the cause of this, before he finally drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, back at Rosie's grandmother's, Miss Stephanie's Happy House ended on the TV, and the rest of the day was more or less, uneventful, as the family was quiet, hardly talking to one another, saddened by the recent tragic events that had taken place that day. Rosie, still unaware of what had really happened, went on about her day, as she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, took her bath, and went to bed in one of the guest rooms that was fixed up for people to sleep in at her grandmother's, she lay next to her sister in the big white teaster bed that her mommy slept in as a girl, and while she lay there, trying to go to sleep, she saw visions of that little purple haired two-year-old boy in her head, and was determined to meet him, the next day.

And this, ends chapter 1. So, will Tommy get better? Will Rosie and Tommy ever finally meet? Well, you'll have to wait and find out in a later chapter.