Narrator's POV
Gnomeo and Juliet entered the decaying and abandoned garden shed, having a long time searching for their daughter who had gone missing a short while ago.
"There you are, young lady!" Juliet scolded, her hands on her hips. "Why did you wander off like that? You had me and your father worried sick!"
"Mommy, I was just exploring," Violette explained. "But I found Elizabeth hiding in here and I was just trying to help her."
Juliet and Gnomeo exchanged confused expressions until they finally noticed a dirty doll in ragged clothes. They gasped softly at her appearance, causing her to retreat deeper into the shadows to hide in trepidation.
"It's alright," Gnomeo tried to reassure her. "We're not going to hurt you. My name is Gnomeo, and this is my wife Juliet. We're Violette's parents. We were just worried about her wandering off."
The scared doll came a little bit closer out of the shadows to introduce herself quietly, "My name is Elizabeth."
"You poor thing," Juliet said with deep pity as she studied the doll's face and attire up and down. "Why are you in here?"
Elizabeth seemed apprehensive as the sudden questions and she looked away for a long moment. The three garden gnomes were patient as they waited for her answer.
It seemed like minute until Elizabeth answered as best as she could, "There was a fire here, about a month ago. My family and my owner...they never survived. I don't know how it started, but that's all I can remember."
"Well, you're safe now," Juliet said reassuringly. "You don't have to stay hidden anymore. You can stay with us if you want to. We can help you."
Elizabeth glanced at the gnomes unsure for a long moment, but the gentle smiles on the three gnomes' faces reassured her fears and she smiled timidly while she took Violette's open hand. The foursome left the garden shed, carefully helping her out of that dismal shed and outside into the sunshine, which she had to shield her eyes from the intense light as it hurt her eyes and may not have seen in a long time.
As the group led her to the garden, all of the other garden gnomes and ornaments stopped in their tracks over what they had been doing to stare upon the newcomer, making Elizabeth suddenly feel very self-conscious and apprehensive again and she would have turned back to hide had Violette not kept a tight grip on her hand.
Lady Bluebury and Lord Redbrick came running up to them, showing the same concern they had about Violette when she wandered off and then toward Elizabeth, inquiring who she was.
"This is Elizabeth," Juliet told them. "We found her in the garden shed. This place was her home but it was burned down in a fire. She's all alone, so we offered her to stay with us."
"Oh, you poor dear," Lady Bluebury said sympathetically. "You're perfectly welcome to stay with us."
"You know..." Lord Redbrick had been in deep thought over the matter and considered a proposition for Elizabeth. "Since Juliet and Gnomeo are going to be busy tending to the garden before winter, Violette is going to need someone to look after her...a nanny, perhaps."
"That's not a bad idea, Dad," Juliet agreed, having consider the idea of a nanny for her child while she fixed and tidied up the entire garden.
"Splendid idea, Redbrick!" added Lady Bluebury.
"But first, we need to get you get cleaned up and get you a new dress," Gnomeo said, gesturing to the doll's attire.
"Thank you, all of you," Elizabeth said gratefully.
The door had been locked since Ms. Montague and Mr. Capulet had left to buy coffee, so the gnomes had to stack themselves up on each other to reach the door's height. Benny, the smallest, used a paperclip to unlock the door. When the door swung open, Benny lost his balance and he, along with the gnomes, tumbled over and landed on a pile on top of each other, though thankfully none of them were cracked.
Elizabeth followed Violette, Nanette and Lady Bluebury into the house, though Violette wanted to explore the house she had to help first. The first thing the women needed to do was to get rid of Elizabeth's ragged dress before her bath. While the three gnomes averted their gazes so to spare Elizabeth privacy, Elizabeth removed her article of clothing and threw it into the garbage bin. Nanette turned the faucet on to allow warm water to fill up the sink halfway. Elizabeth, who had calmly lowered herself into the sink, the water felt really good on her body and she felt herself relax. Using the hand soap, Elizabeth covered her hair in white suds to let the shower rinse the remaining dirt out of her hair. Nanette tossed a bar of soap in so Elizabeth could scrub off the any shed of dirt or dust that stuck to her body. It took fifteen minutes for Elizabeth to remain in the shower, so it was a few minutes before 11:00 when mission accomplished. Elizabeth was pleased to feel fresh and clean again, only to realize she needed something to wear so nobody outside in the garden could see her naked.
Luckily for her, Violette and Lady Bluebury had measured her body height before her shower so they could work on sewing a new dress for her to wear to replace her old one, using two old fabric rolls of white and lilac that Ms. Montague intended to donate to charity before settling in. During those fifteen minutes, Lady Bluebury and Violette had been sewing and designing on Elizabeth's new attire, deciding on the kind of attire she should wear since she was going to be Violette's new nanny A medium-length lilac sleeveless dress with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath and dark ballet flat shoes made out of plastic. Before she could put them on, Elizabeth had her hair brushed by Nanette, who was then asked to cut her hair short. Taking out a pair of scissors from the drawer, Nanette carefully trimmed Elizabeth's hair up to a medium length of her shoulders. Finished, Nanette tied Elizabeth's hair into a low ponytail in a lilac ribbon to a bow until her dress was ready.
The three females had to avert their eyes while Elizabeth had to change into her new dress. When Elizabeth announced they could look now, the three women gasped in astonishment. The dress and the shirt fit Elizabeth as if they knew it would. She looked stunningly beautiful. Elizabeth was so grateful, she didn't really know how to truly thank them, other than saying thank you multiple times.
Outside in the garden, the gnomes and ornaments were given assigned jobs to mend their new untidy garden. Juliet directed the red gnomes to weed a patch of ground next to the house. Then she showed the blue gnomes how to turn over dirt, preparing for planting. While they were digging, she and Gnomeo planted a whole bed of flower seeds in another patch of garden that had miraculously been rescued from the weeds they pulled away. After the dirt had been tilled, Gnomeo took up a small shovel and started to lay down the fertilizer. Juliet found a hose nearby with a spray attached to it. She attached the hose to a water spigot at the back of the house, turned it on, and started to water the scraggly bushes that formed a hedge on one side of the garden.
The minute Elizabeth returned, all eyes were on her. Multiple wolf whistles and cat calls came from everywhere. Some of the male gnomes or ornaments said inappropriate or strange things toward her as if she was wearing a revealing bathing suit on a beach. This didn't please Elizabeth since she didn't like the kind of attention she was receiving, nor did it please Gnomeo and Juliet and their parents. Violette had her ears covered by her grandmother, hoping the child never heard any foul language.
Benny kept his gaze fixed on Nanette so not to feel attracted to another gorgeous doll. Mankini did a ridiculous pose in attempt to show off his half naked body toward her, but Elizabeth recoiled and shielded her eyes so not to stare at a half naked gnome in a bikini. Paris, in a flash, transformed and trimmed a dead bush into a leaf statue of himself but with flexing muscles. Elizabeth gawked at the bush, and politely complimented Paris on his work so not to hurt his feelings.
"Hello, sweet thing! How's it going?" Tybalt called out, winking at her and leaning against a flower pot trying to look cool. "Why don't you come on over here and help me with a job." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, making Elizabeth to slink away from him as he fixed his gaze at her like she was a piece of meat.
"Back to work, Tybalt!" Lord Redbrick interrupted, smacking Tybalt on the butt with his stick and glaring harshly at him. Scoffing, Tybalt rolled his eyes and went back to work. "And that goes for all of you!" Lord Redbrick ordered the other gnomes and ornaments, and everyone immediately resumed their assigned jobs.
Elizabeth was glad the unwanted attention was over. "Thank you, Mr. Redbrick. When do I start my job?"
"You can start now," replied Lord Redbrick.
Nodding, Elizabeth found the little gnome girl craving for her parents to come play with her.
"Mommy, Daddy?" Violette begged. "Can we play ball or hide and seek?"
"Later, honey." Juliet shook her head dismissively. "We have to get our new garden ready for winter first, so I need your help us by pulling out the weeds. Then we can play whatever game you like."
Sighing, Violette started reluctantly tugging at the stubborn weeds to free them from the ground.
Seeing this, Elizabeth decided to get to work and attend to young Violette with her chore. "I'll help you remove the weeds, Violette," she offered. "And then I'll play a game with you if we do a brilliant job."
Violette's face lit up. "Promise?"
"I promise," Elizabeth said as they did a pinky swear together.
It took about ten minutes to do their job and the work was exhausting. The two of them often took a break once in a while to relax their muscles. Elizabeth attempted to make Violette play a game to make the chore fun, a contest over how many weeds they could pull out and the one with the most weeds wins. This revved up Violette's engine and she never stopped pulling those weeds until her pile was bigger than Elizabeth's.
"I won!" Violette cheered.
"Congratulations," said Elizabeth. "Ready to play now?"
"I'm gonna go see if my parents will want to play with us!" Violette rushed over toward her parents, where her mother had caught her grandfather moving one pile of leaves to the side.
"Dad, I just rearranged those leaves!" Juliet told him off.
"They were too close together," huffed Lord Redbrick. "Look, I agree with Lady Bluebury to pass down control of the garden over to you and Gnomeo, I'm still not quite ready to give up the reins. Juliet, are you sure you're up to this?"
Juliet was about to answer when Lady Bluebury interrupted.
"You're supposed to be retired," she told him sternly. Unlike Lord Redbrick, she trusted her son and her daughter-in-law to know what they were doing.
"Maybe I should put off my retirement," said Lord Redbrick. "Just until the new garden us up and running."
"Dad, I can do this," Juliet assured him.
"Daddy, Mommy!" Violette called. "I finished pulling out the weeds. Do you want to play now?"
Grinning, Juliet was about to join her daughter when Lord Redbrick stopped her.
"Remember Juliet, a good leader always puts the garden first," he told his daughter. "You will be a capable leader someday, but I'm worried that your focus on your daughter or your husband will lead to neglect your responsibilities to the garden."
"Always put the garden first," Juliet repeated. "I got it, Dad." She also thought about what her father had told her. As the leader of the gnomes, she felt the huge responsibility of making sure the garden came first - even if it meant less time with her daughter, or relaxing with her husband. Instead of going to her daughter, Juliet returned to her duties.
Watching her mother leave, a bemoaning Violette was left confused and alone. "Mommy?"
Having seen what happened, Elizabeth came up to the little gnome girl with a smile. "Try to understand, Violette. Your parents are very busy with this garden and might never have the time for you."
"Are you saying Mommy and Daddy care about the garden more than me?" Violette asked hurtfully.
"That's not what I'm saying!" Elizabeth corrected. "They only hired me to take care of you. If someone needs help with a chore, we can make a game out of it. Now, what do you want to do?"
Violette thought this over and beamed. "Do you know karaoke?"
Elizabeth giggled. "I love karaoke!"
Taking her nanny by the hand, Violette lead Elizabeth back inside the house where a karaoke music box had been laid on a table in the living room (a surprise gift for Ms. Montague and Mr. Capulet's grandchildren) and Violette, having been taught how to use technology or machines by Benny and Gnomeo, brought up the first song that came to them and two girls began singing their hearts out.
You could never know what it's like
Your blood like winter freezes just like ice
And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you
You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use
And did you think this fool could never win
Well, look at me, I'm a-coming back again
I got a taste of love in a simple way
And if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away
Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
And I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
Once I never could hope to win
You're starting down the road leaving me again
The threats you made were meant to cut me down
And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now
You know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
Don't you know that I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
And I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah
"You have a pretty voice, Elizabeth," Violette complimented when the song had ended.
"Aw, thank you," Elizabeth replied, touched by the young gnome's compliment. "And your singing is just as good as mine."
Violette smiled at her nanny, before she decided their next game was catch. Elizabeth found some tinfoil in the kitchen to fold and wrap it into a ball, small enough for them to use.
"Catch!" Elizabeth laughed, throwing the ball toward the young gnome.
Violette caught the ball and threw it back at her, turning this game of catch into a game of volleyball. They chased each other through the garden, past gnomes planting seeds and clipping vines off bushes. Violette was quick, but Elizabeth caught her at the foot of the ladder and she tossed it too far. Violette missed it and stumbled backwards and hit one of the red goons, accidently making him fall over and break his tall hat.
"What the fertilizer!" shouted the goon.
"Oops!" Violette cringed nervously. "Sorry!"
"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, rushing over to them.
"Don't worry. I'm in one piece, nothing broken," Violette assured her.
"Except for the poor gnome you literally just broke," Elizabeth said, gesturing at the goon's broken hat.
"Broken? Who's broken?" The goon found his broken pointy hat, felt the top of his head, and suddenly screamed in panic, "OH MY GOD!"
Quick as wink, Violette and Elizabeth helped the goon fix his tall pointed hat by using some glue Elizabeth found in the storage shed. But they had been firmly warned off by Violette's parents and grandparents to never play catch again so not to cause anymore damage.
"Why don't we play hide-and-seek instead." Elizabeth suggested, after she was done being lectured over the ball toss incident.
"Okay, you're it!" Violette excitedly poked her as she ran off.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes in amusement as she started to count, eventually coming to, "...8...9...10...Ready or not, here I come!"
She looked around the planter; in some bushes; and finally she glanced over at the garden shed Violette tried to hide her form, but her childlike giggling gave her away.
"Found you!" Elizabeth cheered with a smile as Violette crawled out.
Hide and seek continued for a little while longer when Violette had her turn to find Elizabeth and discovered her hiding in the hedge. This continued onward until when the sun had began to set that hide and seek was over.
Elizabeth assisted Violette in climbing up the ladder's panels to reach the top where Gnomeo and Juliet had been earlier. Violette had always been curious to what was it her parents liked about being on top and what it was that...holy cow! They caught their breath as their eyes met a magnificent sight.
The overgrown mess of garden may have been beneath them, but the view from the top of the ladder and over the wall was incredibly stunning. From there, the girls could see all of London - Big Ben and its musical chimes, the London Eye gentle turning like a wheel, the stately Tower Bridge rising above the Thames. The sky was brilliant mixture of pink, blue, orange and yellow, creating a calm atmosphere in the city. Lights started up in every window of building or in every street lamp in the city, including Big Ben and the London Eye and the Tower Bridge, giving the view an even more beautiful and magnificent sight before Violette and Elizabeth.
"It's the most incredible sight I've ever seen," Violette gasped.
"It's been so long I've forgotten how beautiful this can be," Elizabeth added quietly, and she was surprised by Violette giving her a hug, which she returned in equal affection.
"Hey girls!" Benny called out, and the two girls glanced down below the ladder to see the little blue gnome waving at them. "We're going to watch a movie in the house! Want to come?"
"Yes, of course!" Elizabeth responded. "We'll be right down!"
Working together, Elizabeth and Violette carefully climbed down the ladder until they made it safely to the ground. Since the owners of the house were still out, probably out to work, the gnome colony sat in the living room and watched a movie on TV together (Kung Fu Panda) but during the commercial break there came a breaking news of garden gnomes mysteriously disappearing from their backyard homes across the neighborhood and the police were not concerned, yet the reporter made a joke to call someone named Sherlock Gnomes to help find the gnomes.
This piece of news made Lord Redbrick warn everyone to be careful and more vigilant.
During the movie, Violette aimed a worried expression at her parents and the rest of the gnome colony. If gnomes are disappearing from their gardens, it could mean the same thing was about to happen to her family.
"Don't worry, sweetheart." Elizabeth reassured her by gently sliding an arm around the child. "It's happening in another part of town, and your family is safe. I know it won't happen to this family."
"I hope you're right," Violette whispered hopefully, hugging her nanny.
After the movie was over, the gnomes and ornaments returned to the garden to retire for the night. Ms. Montague and Mr. Capulet had retired to their private suites when they returned home. Violette took her place upon the top of the pedestal with her parents, clicking to freeze in place. They had fallen asleep.
As for Elizabeth, she had to stay inside the house since she was a doll. She took up the shelf by using an scarf for a blanket as a bed. After what she had suffered through, Elizabeth had found peace at last with her new gnome family, but on the inside she hoped neither of them would find out her past.