Until We Meet Again
based on Villains' Bad Girl's universe
by LDEJRuff
Chapter 3 - Convincing Carter
The following morning, Vinny, still wearing his classy outfit, was getting ready to see Carter. Luckily, he wasn't alone. Barbara and the puppies followed him. Stewie, ready to cut some more havoc, quickly noticed them.
"Where you guys going?" he asked.
Vinny answered, "We're going to visit your Gramps. We're going to convince him to bring the Carnival back."
"Why bother?"
"Why are you so rebellious, Stewie?" Marcus asked.
"Oh, he's just a little upset that the Carnival's been canceled," Vinny answered. He continued to Stewie, "If successful, can you please knock it off with all of this revenge crap?"
"Maybe," Stewie answered, arms crossed.
In his office, Carter was busy writing a few bills. He then turned around and flipped off the window washer.
"Mr. Pewterschmidt," his secretary began through the intercom, "there are six anthropomorphic dogs here to see you."
"Anthropomorphic dogs?" Carter repeated, surprised.
"That's what I said," the secretary replied.
Carter then sighed. "Send them in," he said.
Said dogs came into the office.
"Who are you?" Carter asked, noticing Vinny. "You don't look so familiar."
"My name is Vinny Griffin," Vinny answered. "I'm your son-in-law, Peter's new dog. I'm also his late previous dog, Brian's younger brother, thus making me Barbara's brother-in-law."
"You sound like you're from New Jersey," Carter said. "Are you sure you're Brian's brother?"
"Yeah," Vinny chuckled. "The accent comes from my mother's genes."
"Why are you all here?" Carter asked.
"We're here to ask you to uncancel the Carnival, Mr. Pewterschmidt," Marcus requested.
"No way," Carter declined. "I hate Christmas. You know what it's like to be rich? Everyone expects an expensive present, and I get nothing."
"You know what, Mr. Pewterschmidt?" Vinny began. "Barbara, the pups and I are gonna help you find the Christmas spirit so you can bring the Carnival back."
"You're a weird pack, you know that?" Carter said.
Inside a hotel room, Barbara held a carton of eggnog next to Carter.
"Okay, Carter," Barbara began. "Everyone knows that people can drink frothy eggnog to get into the Christmas spirit."
Carter crossed his arms. "I don't like eggnog."
"Please, Carter," Barbara begged as she poured the nog into a glass. "You need to. You don't want to upset my puppies more than they already are, do you?"
"Dogs don't even know what it's like about Christmas," Carter replied. "Besides, I can't drink it."
"Please?" Barbara begged, handing him the glass.
Carter sighed. "All right." With that, he took a sip.
"Not just a sip, Carter," Barbara said. "You can take half a glass if you want to."
"You can't be serious," Carter replied.
Barbara then gave the puppy dog pout.
Carter sighed again and took a drink. "You know, this is kind of ridiculous, right?"
Back in the Griffin house, Carter and Vinny met in the hallway.
"You know, even though I did enjoy what we did so far, I still don't like Christmas," Carter remarked.
Vinny replied, "One of the nicest things to do at Christmas time is to write a letter from your younger relatives, even your grandkids." Vinny got out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. "Here," he said, handing Carter the paper. "This is a letter Peter wrote."
"'Peter had a great year,'" Carter read aloud, "'and is now starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.' What?"
"Keep reading," Vinny ordered.
"'Chris refurbished a vintage motorcycle, and Stewie can slam-dunk a basketball from a standing start,'" Carter continued, still reading. "This is silly, Benny."
"Vinny," Vinny corrected. "Now read what it says about you."
Carter continued, still reading, "'Lois's father, Carter Pewterschmidt, bought a small stool for his balls.' Dammit, I'm not proud of that!"
"Well, at least you can put in some real facts," Vinny shrugged.
"This isn't working," Carter replied. "I'm not getting the holiday spirit, so you can stop trying."
"But Carter, think about your grandson, Stewie," Vinny said. "He's upset that the Carnival's been cancelled."
"I think we're gonna leave it at that, Vinny," Carter said. "No Christmas Carnival."
"You ain't a Jew, are you?" Vinny asked.
"What do you mean?" Carter replied.
"Well," Vinny began, "your daughter, Lois said that you're married to a Jewish woman, so I guess that makes you a Jew, too."
"Is that how this is coming off?"
"Yeah, I guess that's what people are saying, kinda."
"People think I'm Jewish?"
With that, Carter then changed his mind and decided to bring the Carnival back after all. Inside the Mall, the Griffins were in line for Stewie to see Santa, while the dogs celebrated their victory at the Starbucks with cups of coffee. Vinny was back to wearing just his black collar.
"Well, we did it," Barbara said. "We convinced Carter to bring the Christmas Carnival back."
"And we couldn't have done it without you, Uncle Vinny," Marcus added.
Vinny chuckled. "Thanks, guys." Just then, he noticed that something wasn't right. "Hey, what's wrong with Stews? He's about to meet the big guy himself, and he looks like a piece of spaghetti on the street."
Barbara looked behind herself and saw that Stewie was in deep depression.
"Yeah," Barbara agreed. "I think you're right. He's got everything he's ever wanted, and he's still unhappy. Could it be that...?"
"Oh, Stewie, you're next," Lois said, bringing her infant son to the Mall Santa's lap. It was now time.
"Ho, ho, ho," the Mall Santa began. "Mall Santa is brought to you in part this season by Chipotle. Between good and garbage, it's Chipotle. So, what do you want for Christmas?"
"Oh, what do I want for Christmas?" Stewie asked himself. "What do I want for Christmas?"
Stewie looked around him, seeing the remote flyer planes on display, some toys being rung up at the toy store cashier, his father being pushed by a couple teenagers, who then tossed his hat back and forth, then at the game store, and the gift-wrapping department. All of this seemed to be a bit too much for Stewie until he finally looked at his family, and an empty spot. Finally, he turned to the Mall Santa.
"You know what I want for Christmas?" he asked. "I want my friend back."
"Your friend?" the Mall Santa repeated.
"Yes," Stewie replied. "My best friend. My dog, Brian. He's dead. It's our first Christmas without him and no one's even mentioned his name."
The dogs looked at each other sadly after what Stewie just said.
"I don't care about this stupid Carnival or Christmas," Stewie continued. "I don't care about anything except Brian. I want Brian." With that, he shed tears of grief.
"You want me to put a dead dog under your tree?" the Mall Santa asked, confused.
"Yes," Stewie answered, still sniffling. "And, uh, I-I'd like a bike, too."
On that, Stewie saw that two parents had bought their son a bike. The rest of the human family members were sad about what their youngest member said.
"You know, now that he mentions it," Barbara began, getting the other dogs' attention, "I kinda want him back, too."
"I thought you got over his loss," Vinny replied.
"Yeah," the puppies agreed.
"I know," Barbara replied, "but I still miss him."
