Hospital Lariboisiere
Dave laid on a hospital bed, his body covered in casts and bandages. The doctor was currently giving him a small needle.
"And this should help with the pain."
Dave looked up at him.
"I wanna talk to my girls."
The doctor looked at him and chuckled.
"I just gave you a sedative that will take effect in about one minute. So, uh," he smiled, "We'll let them in quickly."
The doctor walked to the other side of the room. A female nurse opened the door and let the Chipettes in. They smiled when they saw Dave was still alive.
"Dave!," Eleanor smiled.
"Dave!," Brittany smiled.
"Dave! You're alive!," Jeanette smiled.
They all ran up to the bed and jumped onto it. They were by Dave's side in seconds.
"Hey girls," Dave smiled tiredly.
"It was an accident! I swear!," Brittany quickly said.
"Are you ok?," Eleanor asked.
"I'm SO sorry, Dave. I never meant for this to happen. Please don't hate me," Brittany said, struggling to hide her tears.
"I don't hate you, Brittany. I'm gonna be fine. I'll just be stuck here for a while."
The nurse motioned him to hurry up.
"Listen, until I get out, I asked my Aunt Jackie to come stay with you."
"Who's Aunt Jackie?," Brittany asked.
"The one who sends us those big metal buckets of popcorn for Christmas!," Eleanor smiled.
Brittany smiled, "Oh, that Aunt Jackie."
"You're running out of time, Mr. Seville," the nurse said, pointing to her watch.
"Uh, now listen. I want you guys to go home and, live a normal childhood," Dave struggled to stay conscious for a few more seconds, "Before we left I-I made arrangements for you to go to school."
"School?!," the girls asked in unison.
"Yes, school."
Dave looked at Jeanette.
"Jeanette, I'm putting you in charge of your sisters."
Jeanette's eyes widened, "Me?"
"I'm...counting on...you..." Dave started to lose consciousness.
"Whoa! Dave! Reality check! Why is she in charge?," Brittany asked, pointing to Jeanette, "I'm older than both of them!"
Jeanette ignored her sister and thought about what Dave said.
"He's counting on me," she smiled proudly.
Eleanor touched Dave's bruised face, "Dave, please don't die."
"He's just sleeping, he's had a sedative," the nurse told her.
Eleanor smiled, "Oh, thank goodness."
Suddenly, a woman with black hair and a blue uniform came into the room.
"Excuse me, I'm here to escort the Chipettes home."
Eleanor frowned. She couldn't leave when Dave was injured.
"But we can't leave Dave! He needs us!"
Brittany put her paw on her little sister's shoulder.
"Ellie, Dave wants us to go home. He'll be better in no time, I promise."
Eleanor looked at Dave, and then back at her sister.
"Ok," she said reluctantly.
"Let's get going, the woman picked up the Chipettes and took them outside.
One 10-Hour Flight Later
Before arriving at the airport back home, the girls had changed back into their regular outfits.
Brittany had a pink shirt with a white 'B' on the front in cursive and a pink skirt. Jeanette had a purple shirt, a blue jean jacket and a purple skirt. And Eleanor had a light green shirt and a dark green skirt.
The girls were currently on an escalator with their suitcases. Brittany's was pink with a 'B' on it, Jeanette's was purple with a 'J' on it, and Eleanor's was light green with an 'E' on it.
Jeanette looked around the airport as they rode the escalator down.
"Any ideas on how to find Aunt Jackie?"
Eleanor sniffed the air around them until she picked up the scent of popcorn.
"Got it!," she grabbed her suitcase and ran down the escalator, "Follow me, girls!"
Brittany and Jeanette grabbed their suitcases as well and followed their little sister down the escalator.
"Excuse me," Eleanor said as they dodged several people and luggage, "Pardon me. Coming through. Look! Aunt Jackie!"
The girls looked ahead and saw Aunt Jackie sitting in a wheelchair in front of a staircase with a bucket of popcorn in her lap. Standing next to her was a man in his twenties playing a video game.
The girls smiled and ran up to them.
"Aunt Jackie!," Jeanette smiled.
"Aunt Jackie!," Brittany smiled as she and her sisters jumped onto her lap.
"Oh, hello, girls!," Aunt Jackie smiled.
"Popcorn!," Eleanor smiled as she sat on top of the metal bucket, "Where's the rest of it?," she smiled jokingly, causing Brittany to roll her eyes.
"Oh, there's plenty for everyone. But let's have a hug first," Aunt Jackie smiled as Eleanor jumped onto her shoulder and hugged her.
"Thanks, Aunt Jackie," Jeanette said as she and Brittany hugged her.
Afterwards, Aunt Jackie's eyes widened as she remembered something.
"Oh! Girls, I want you to meet my grandson, Toby," she gestured to the man next to her, his eyes still glued to his game.
"Hi! I'm Eleanor!," Eleanor waved.
Toby didn't even realize they were there.
"Toby," Aunt Jackie pulled out Toby's earbuds.
"Huh? Wha-What? What happened?," Toby asked, slightly startled.
"The girls."
"Oh hey."
"Hi!," Eleanor waved again.
"Hey, how are you? I'm Toby, nice to meet you," he said, unenthusiastically.
"Toby's living with me until he figures out what he wants to do with his life. So far, that means going 'pyu-pyu-pyu-pyu-pyu' with his thumbs all day," Aunt Jackie explained, making video game noises.
"Well, for the record, going 'pyu-pyu-pyu-pyu-pyu' with my thumbs right now is keeping me in first place, so that's important," Toby smiled.
"Just get the bags, Toby."
"What bags?"
"The luggage, get the luggage."
The lug- -Oh! Right! The luggage," Toby went to get the luggage.
But when he did, he accidentally bumped Aunt Jackie's wheelchair, causing it to start rolling backwards towards towards the staircase behind them.
"Uh, Toby?," Aunt Jackie asked.
"Hit the brakes, hit the brakes!," Jeanette yelled as they began to roll down the stairs.
"Abandon wheelchair!," Brittany yelled as she and her sisters quickly jumped off the wheelchair. They ran back to to Toby who was holding the girls' bags.
Toby looked back and saw Aunt Jackie rolling down the stairs.
"Toby-y-y-y-y!," Aunt Jackie yelled as she rolled down each stair, "Toby!"
When Toby reached the stairs, Aunt Jackie had stopped rolling.
"I'm fine, don't worry."
The girls sighed in relief.
But that relief was short-lived when Aunt Jackie continued to roll down the stairs. When she reached the floor below them, she rolled in front of a man on a mobility scooter, and there was a loud crash.
CRASH!
Yeah, kinda like that.
The girls ran to the top of the stairs and winced when they saw the accident.
"Ooh!," Brittany winced.
"Uh-oh," Eleanor frowned.
"I'll call the ambulance," Jeanette ran to get a phone.
"I'm so sorry, Aunt Jackie! I'm so sorry!," Toby apologized as Aunt Jackie was lifted into the ambulance, "Is she gonna be ok?"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be home in no time," Aunt Jackie said, still in pain.
As the ambulance doors closed, one of the doctors frowned and turned to Toby.
"I wouldn't be so sure."
He walked off and the ambulance drove away.
"I-It was an accident! I swear!," Toby said, still in shock.
Brittany hopped onto the bench next him.
"Trust me, Toby. I know exactly what you mean."
The girls followed Toby as he carried Aunt Jackie's broken wheelchair to his car.
"So I guess this means you're gonna take care of us now?," Eleanor asked.
"I think I'll take our chances back in Paris," Brittany said.
Toby struggled to put the wheelchair on the back of his car while holding the girls' bags in his other hand.
"No problem, I can totally do this," he said with the car keys in his mouth.
When he finally got the chair on the car, he took the keys out of his mouth and opened the door for he girls.
"I took care of my cat. Until he ran away."
When the girls got in their seat, Toby got in the driver's seat and closed the door.
"Well, 'ran away' is kind of strong wording. I think he just wanted his space. I still see him in the neighborhood all the time. He like, hisses and claws at me, but I think that's just his way of saying we're still tight, you know?"
He carelessly threw the bags into the backseat and put his seatbelt on.
"But you girls have nothing to worry about. Seriously. I'm not gonna be like Dave, you know 'cause Dave's gone."
"Gone?!," Eleanor gasped.
Toby's eyes widened, "Not gone! Not like gone-gone. He's not dead or anything, he's still very much alive."
Jeanette hugged Eleanor and smiled reassuringly, causing her to smile too before looking back up at Toby.
"Yeah, he's totally coming back. I'm just gonna be in his room, keeping his bed warm. I'm gonna be doing my thing and you'll be doing yours, you won't even know I'm here."
Brittany face-pawed.
"Um, we're supposed to know you're here. That's-That's kind of the whole point of being our guardian," Jeanette reminded him.
"Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah! Absolutely, you're gonna know I'm there," Toby said as he put on the girls' seatbelt, "I'm just saying I'm not gonna be like, 'I know everything and, you do this, you do that.' Like my dad."
The girls gave him strange looks.
"Alright, let's do this!"
Toby picked up Aunt Jackie's crushed popcorn bucket and threw it onto the girls' seat before putting the key in ignition.
The girls yelped when they were almost hit by the flat piece of metal.
"Oh boy," Brittany frowned as she and her sisters gave each other worried looks.
Toby drove out of the parking lot, not noticing Aunt Jackie's wheelchair falling off the back of the car..