Chapter 2A - Madame Claude and a Secret Revealed

Back in the reality where Jenny was getting married, Nat walked on over to the Tubbs-Brown family, where Ollie of the first litter got adopted. Nat knocked on the door, and Ollie answered. He was surprised to see his little sister.

"Nat?" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, big bro," Nat greeted. "I just wanted to talk to Mr. Brown. Peter said that he has a relative who can help me with my problem."

"Your problem?" Ollie repeated. "What problem do you have?"

"Well, I told Peter that I need to make a talisman to ward evil spirits away. But, to tell you the truth..." With that, she allowed Ollie to lean closer so she could whisper into his ear. "I have this friend who died a long time ago. He's a ghost now, and he's sort of attached to me."

"This friend of yours," Ollie began, "would happen to be New Brian, would it?"

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," Ollie shrugged.

"Who's that at the door, Ollie?" Cleveland asked, coming into the living room.

"It's just Nat, Cleveland," Ollie answered. "She says that she has a ghost friend who's attached to her."

"Oh," Cleveland responded. "Well, Nat, if you have a ghost problem, you can visit my cousin, Madame Claude. She works at a psychic parlor not too far from here. If you'd like, I can take you to her."

"Thanks, Mr. Brown," Nat replied.

As promised, Cleveland took Nat (and New Brian) over to Madame Claude's Psychic Parlor downtown.

"Hello, cousin," Madame Claude greeted when Cleveland walked into the parlor with Nat. "And I see you've brought a friend with you."

"This is Nat Griffin," Cleveland introduced. "She's my dog, Ollie's little sister. She says that she has a problem with a ghost."

"Actually, I would like to revive this ghost, Madame Claude," Nat admitted. "You see, my big sister, Jenny, is getting married soon, and I would like to have him be the best man at the wedding."

"I would be more than happy to help you, child, if you're this ghost's reincarnation," Madame Claude said.

"I am this ghost's reincarnation."

"Well, then I have just the thing for you," Madame Claude replied. "Come into my parlor and I'll fetch it for you."

With that, both Cleveland and Nat followed Madame Claude into the parlor, where she gave her a fuchsia-colored bottle.

"Take this, young one," Madame Claude. "One sip of this potion, and your past life will be on his feet in the world of the living again in no time."

"Thank you," Nat replied as Cleveland paid his cousin.

Nat took one sip of the potion from the bottle, and suddenly felt a little faint. However, New Brian suddenly appeared with his eyes shut tight, descending to the surface as his back paws touched the surface of the wooden floor. He had just been resurrected. New Brian slowly opened his eyes.

"I...I don't believe it," he said, stammering in awe. "I'm alive. I'm alive!" He turned to Nat and gave her a hug. "Oh, thank you, Nat! This is the greatest thing you've ever done for me!"

"You're welcome, New Brian," Nat replied. "I was happy to..." Before she could finish, she passed out in his arms.

"Nat?" New Brian asked, noticing. "Are you okay? Wake up, Nat."

"Oh, I forgot to tell her about the side effects," Madame Claude informed. "She should be comatose for a few days."

"A few days?" New Brian repeated. "But the wedding is next week. How can Nat's sister, Jenny, get married while she's in a coma?"

"I'm sure it won't take that long, doggie," Madame Claude assured, patting New Brian on the head.

Later that day, after Cleveland dropped both Nat and New Brian off at the Griffin house, the neck-scarfed dog carried the comatose puppy and knocked on the door. Lois opened the door and gasped in surprise when she saw New Brian.

"New Brian?" she began. "You're alive? But that's impossible!"

"I know," New Brian replied. "But Nat took a sip of a special potion that revived me and wound up comatose afterwards.

"Revived?" Lois replied. "You knew about your suicide?"

"Suicide?" New Brian repeated. "Who said that I committed..."

He stopped short when he saw Stewie in the living room, giving a hand signal and shaking his head.

"Oh," New Brian realized. "Uh, yeah, suicide! Silly me. It would have been bad if I killed myself without saying goodbye."

"But you left a suicide note behind." With that, she handed him a piece of paper. "We found it taped to the garbage can one day."

New Brian started reading uneasily.

"Dear Peter and Lois. If you're reading this, it means that I'm dead." His expression began to change to that of worry. "The reason why I'm writing this final note to you guys is because I'm too good for you. The demons inside me are slowly tearing me apart from the inside. And that is why I killed myself, chopped myself up, and..." He gulped. "...put myself in the garbage." He put down the note.

"I'm going to let Peter and the rest know that you're back," Lois said, shedding tears of joy before turning to the living room. "Peter, kids, Brian! Guess who's back!"

Peter, Meg, Chris, Brian, Barbara and the rest of the third litter walked to the door, and, suddenly, so did Vinny and the second litter. The former three gasped, smiling, but Brian stood stone-faced and Barbara, Vinny and the puppies looked at him in a peculiar way. They didn't know who he was.

"Vinny?" New Brian asked, about to chuckle. "I didn't expect you to be here."

"How do you know my name?" Vinny asked back, shrugging, before turning to Brian and Barbara. "Brian, Barbara, who is this dog? And why is he carrying Nat?"

"Vinny," Brian began, "this is New Brian. He's my intended replacement, and he's supposed to be dead."

"He looks pretty alive to me," Vinny replied.

"And now that I've been revived, I have something that I need to reveal to you two."

"What is it?" Brian asked.

"Yeah," Vinny added. "What is it?"

"Brian," New Brian began, "Vinny...is your little brother."

Both dogs stood wide-eyed on this.

"What?!" they replied, shocked.