Author's note: It is three am in the morning as I am typing up this chapter on September sixth. I am about to go to bed, but want to write the last chapter here and possibly edit it later today, so that I can move onto other planned stories, such as 'No Girls Allowed,' 'Bad Haircut,' and 'Inside Out: Joy and Fear's version.'
Noticed that I've been losing both views and reviewers lately when I checked 'Manage Stories,' yesterday, so not sure what pulled any of you away from the story. Please tell me, even if it does end up a bit rude, since I always like to please fans, and find it a bit disheartening when people stop reading my stories. The amount of viewers for 'Bad Haircut' during chapter three especially disheartened me. I will indeed continue that story for those who actually liked it, but I got four views on that chapter. Maybe it's just that people don't like crossovers as much as they do regular stories, but still. I'd like to know what I need to improve with my writing, and no offense to anyone, but I don't think that ignoring my stories as a whole is helping much.
I apologize since I'm going on about this here, but as a writer, it really does hurt to see people lose interest in your work, and never explain why.
I'll try to keep up with updates whenever I can, and I think that now is a good example. Hope that you like this chapter, since this will be the last chapter to this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rugrats. The series belongs to Klasky Csupo. Zack belongs to celrock.
Kira's Birthday
Chapter Six: The End
In the morning, after all that had happened, Chuckie felt a bit more relaxed. This did not mean that he wasn't angry; he certainly was, and even kicked a stuffed animal not long after he had woken up, although he certainly didn't feel angry enough to break something, just as he had the day before.
His sister, Kimi, and his father, Chaz, weren't doing much better. Although Kimi, too, had calmed down, she still felt broken inside, not even attempting to hide this fact with smiles.
As for Chaz, he had stayed awake the full night making a present for Kira. In the end, he didn't feel as if it were his best work, and most likely would have broken it if Chuckie and Kimi hadn't of woken up.
"Good morning, kids," Chaz tried to say.
The two simply nodded. They weren't feeling up to speaking; Chuckie felt terrible about his broken necklace for Kira, while Kimi had not only apparently lost a friendship in the heat of the moment, though had also gotten her mother what she now saw as a lousy flower for her birthday.
Although they'd be pleased to see Kira again, they all felt that their presents weren't even worthy of her touch. Chaz had stayed awake making his wife a basket, only to decide that this wasn't good enough for Kira. Kimi felt that the flower she had picked for Kira was uncreative and, despite loathing it, carried it in her front pocket to give to one of her friends.
'If I even still have any after how I acted yesterday,' Kimi thought sadly.
As for Chuckie, he himself felt the worst. The three-year old had spent all that time carefully building a necklace for his mother, using colors that he thought she'd like, and, for once, actually believing in his work. After it was all stepped on, he felt as if his heart were broken, especially since he had nothing to give to Kira now.
Not even learning from his father that he would be going over to Tommy's house could cheer him up. The toddler harbored nothing against his friends, since he understood that this was not their fault, although he did not know how they could cheer them up, and he hated being miserable. Whenever Chuckie was miserable, it seemed that he always got those around him in a bad mood, and he would prefer for that not to happen.
Two hours after they had woken up, Chaz walked Chuckie and Kimi over to the Pickles' residence. Both of them knew this, although neither even attempted to smile.
Once they arrived, Chaz knocked on the door while Chuckie and Kimi simply stood there, staring at the door with no expression whatsoever.
Didi immediately opened the door, smiling sympathetically at them all. He could not speak well enough to tell her this, nor did he feel like it was nice, though he had always hated it whenever she did this; it only made him feel even smaller.
"Hello, Chaz," Didi said to Chaz, before looking down at Chuckie and Kimi. "Hello, Chuckie, Kimi."
Without smiling, the two toddlers once again nodded in unison. Didi frowned once she noticed that they were not speaking as much. However, she decided not to bring up the problem to Chaz until she placed both Chuckie and Kimi in the playpen.
Usually, she would've picked them up, although today, it seemed that they both wanted to be independent, instead walking over to the playpen themselves. Didi slightly smiled at this, even if she still was surprised.
Didi walked over and opened the playpen for the two. They looked up to see their friends staring at them with concern as Didi locked the playpen again once they were both inside.
She then walked out to discuss things with Chaz, and find out how he was feeling about things. The matron could certainly assume that Chaz might be depressed, based on his actions.
This left the babies to talk with Chuckie and Kimi themselves.
"So, Chuckie, are you feeling any better after yesterday?" Tommy asked.
The other babies looked on at Chuckie with the same curiosity, a few cringing as they remembered Chuckie's tantrum the day before.
Chuckie frowned, refusing to answer, even to his best friend.
"Maybe we should just leave Chuckie alone today," Zack whispered, feeling empathy for his friend.
Usually, Tommy would refuse to give up, although this time, he thought ahead, and realized what the consequences might be if he continued to probe on the subject. He sighed before sitting down.
"Should we continue playing ball?" Phil asked.
He didn't mean to be selfish, although he didn't feel that feeling sad for Chuckie all day would get them anywhere. That and he was used to a more interesting lifestyle than this.
"No, Phil, how would that make Chuckie feel better?" Zack asked.
It upset them all that Chuckie was feeling depressed, and they didn't know how to help him. They sympathized with him, although they were only babies, therefore having difficulties truly understanding emotions, which only made them feel worse. As Chuckie's friend, they always wanted to help him, and when they didn't know how, they felt as if they were rotting on the inside.
"Is he going to sit there all sad forever?" Lil asked.
Once again, it certainly wasn't that Lil felt no concern for Chuckie. It was simply that, because of who she was, she had ways of expressing this differently.
"He sure won't if we can cheer him up somehow," Tommy responded quietly.
Even Dil, who barely had any idea of what exactly was going on, felt somewhat sorry for Chuckie.
"Chubby," Dil mumbled, which was his way of saying Chuckie's name.
Coming to no conclusion, they continued to sit there, attempting to brainstorm ideas to make Chuckie happy.
"I just wish that no one ever broked his necklace," Kimi said. "Then none of this would've happened."
A few of them nodded in agreement, mumbling about how if they could turn back time, they would find whoever broke Chuckie's necklace and make sure they were punished. This, of course, led to a question from Zack of who exactly broke the necklace.
"Wait, who broke the necklace anyway?" Zack asked.
The others had been too busy sympathizing with Chuckie to think of this. The thought had crossed them before, of course, although it didn't stay in their heads for long.
"Hey, that's a good question," Tommy said, beginning to stand up. "Who did break Chuckie's necklace?"
They all looked at each other with confusion.
"Well, looks like none of us thought of this before, so this is our time to find out," Zack said.
Thinking about it, Lil glared at the ground.
"I bet that it was someone real mean," Lil said.
Having been friends with them for years, Tommy could see where this was going.
"But what if they stepped on it by accident?" Tommy suggested.
Phil shook his head.
"Nah, me and Lillian have broked a lot of stuff before, so we know the difference between breaking something on accident and breaking something on purpose," Phil explained.
Lil nodded, for once in agreement.
"And that was definitely on purpose," Lil said.
"All of us were in the room eating lunch when it happened," Zack pointed out. "It had to be someone who wasn't in the room with us. I don't remember it clearly, but no one took any bathroom breaks, right?"
The others nodded, as they had all stayed seated. That and the majority of them were in diapers, although they assumed that Zack was asking the few of them that were already potty trained.
They all helped him piece together the clues.
"And, from what I remember, Angelica was the only one who was out of the room," Tommy realized.
"So, Angelica is the one who broked Chuckie's necklace," Lil said.
Hearing this, Chuckie immediately turned around with confusion and a bit of anger.
"What?" Chuckie asked.
Zack explained their revelation to him.
"Chuckie, I'm sorry, but, we think that Angelica is the one who broke your necklace for your mommy," Zack explained.
Hearing this idea, Chuckie paled, beginning to frown even more.
"Uh oh, maybe we shouldn't have told him that," Lil whispered.
After this revelation, Chuckie slowly contemplated on things. Angelica was, well, Angelica, and she had been mean to them numerous times before. She yelled at them, broke their toys, and had even once broken Tommy's lamp. By now, they had all forgiven her for those actions, because even if she continued doing these things, it wasn't as if they were ruining their lives. However, never once in his life could Chuckie name a time when Angelica had done anything as mean as this.
Perhaps if it were someone else, Chuckie might think that it happened on accident, and even if he wouldn't fully forgive them, he'd be more willing to at least try. However, this was Angelica Pickles, the same girl who had once told Chuckie that things would be better if he never existed.
'Who's to say that she didn't do this on purpose?' Chuckie thought with horror. 'I mean, this is Angelica! Of course she did it on purpose!'
It pained the others to watch Chuckie's slow breakdown as he realized how everything matched, and that it was rather likely that Angelica would do something like this.
"Of course she did it on purpose," Chuckie whispered to himself.
"Uh, Chuckie, are you okay?" Tommy asked.
Even Tommy himself, known as a fearless baby, had to admit that the way Chuckie was acting was a bit creepy.
"No, Tommy!" Chuckie shouted. "Do I look okay?"
The babies had to admit that no, Chuckie didn't look okay. There were bags under his eyes from not getting enough sleep, and he was clearly having a breakdown about Kira's birthday.
"Well, uh, no, but," Tommy began.
Chuckie changed a bit when they all heard a knock on the door. It made him shrink a bit, and, once again, with the largest frown they'd ever seen, he curled himself into a ball.
"Chuckie, it's okay," Tommy and Zack tried to assure him.
However, Chuckie refused to get up, instead staying there. The three-year old nearly felt like crying, with everything that he felt was expected of him, and the very fact that he had nothing to give to his mother on her birthday. Nothing to show his gratefulness. That didn't feel good at all.
The Rugrats watched with empathy as he shrunk a bit more once Didi actually opened the door.
Kimi didn't feel as depressed as Chuckie, although even she was frowning, her brown eyes cast downwards with sadness. She, too, felt upset about failing to get a gift that she thought was good enough for her mother. Despite this, just to make herself feel better, she'd still give her mother the flower.
They all listened in on Didi, Chaz, and Kira's conversation.
Meanwhile, in the living room, they all spoke to each other. Kira had just arrived and gotten off her plane.
"Why, Kira, it's so great to see you back here!" Didi exclaimed. "How was Japan?"
Kira smiled back at Didi, glad to know that, even if she couldn't see her husband, who seemed to be off in another room, someone cared about her trip to Japan.
"Thank you for asking, Didi, and it was excellent," Kira told her. "I really felt at home there, even eating with chopsticks with my father. They were also glad that I could stay, though were a bit upset to know that Kimi-san couldn't come. How are she, Chuckie, and Chaz doing, by the way?"
It was at this moment when Chuckie, in the other room, attempted to hide himself. As for Kimi, she simply looked at the carpet in disappointment, while the others attempted to sympathize with the Finster children.
In the amount of time that he wanted to take, Chuckie had difficulties finding a hiding spot, which was why by the time that Kira walked in to hug her children, he was still visible.
However, Kira wasn't dumb, and didn't fail to notice this.
"Chuckie, sweetie, are you trying to hide?" Kira asked with a smile.
Chuckie groaned once he discovered that Kira was right behind him, and refused to face her.
This made Kira very worried, since Chuckie often seemed to love her company. Although she attempted to ignore this feeling, it also hurt a bit that Chuckie was doing this on Kira's birthday.
"Didi, do you happen to know what happened to Chuckie?"
Didi frowned and picked Chuckie up, whom began squirming in her arms.
"I'm afraid that I might," Didi told Kira. "I would recommend not telling you on your birthday, however."
Kira nodded with fear as she attempted to calm Chuckie down with her motherly instincts. Seeing her, however, made Chuckie feel guilty. Even if he hadn't stepped on his own necklace, in a way, he still felt like he could have avoided this if he had been more careful.
"Chuckie, what's the matter?" Kira asked.
Kira pulled Chuckie back, though still holding him. Chuckie looked into his mother's chocolate brown eyes, and seeing the worry in them, after his attempts to escape her presence, he finally broke down in front of her.
For once, the three-year old began crying in his mother's arms. It made him feel absolutely terrible because he was doing this on his mother's birthday, although he couldn't keep it all in anymore.
Kimi, seeing this, realized that it was alright to cry in front of their mother. Although such an experience had never happened before, Kimi was often afraid herself that if she showed any emotion other than joy, her parents might be angry with her. However, from watching Chuckie cry in Kira's arms, she realized that Kira was actually sympathizing with him, as opposed to yelling at him.
Wanting her mother to know that she, too, felt miserable, Kimi walked over to her mother's leg and began crying.
Although she was confused, surprised, and sad to see that this was what her children had come to without her around, Kira comforted them and openly sympathized with Chuckie and Kimi.
The other babies watched with both confusion and amazement as this went down.
"Love," Dil whispered.
"That's right, Dilly, love," Tommy said. "Chuckie and Kimi's mommy sure does love them."
In agreement, the others once again nodded at this observation.
Around thirty seconds later, Chaz walked in, only to see this session going on. Chuckie and Kimi were a bit more calmed down by now, with the tears on their faces beginning to dry.
As a father, Chaz felt terrible, and that he hadn't kept a good enough eye on Chuckie and Kimi.
"So you know," Chaz whispered.
Kira turned around, wanting to smile at her husband, although she still had a few questions in mind.
"Know what?" Kira asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That we all had a rough time without you," Chaz told her, hugging his wife.
Kira smiled at him.
"Happy birthday, Kira."
Chaz frowned at her after stating these words that made her insides jump.
"I wish that I could've gotten you something more special, but instead, I made you a basket."
A sad expression on his face, Chaz pulled out a basket that he had made. However, despite him constantly putting down the basket, Kira seemed to love it.
"Oh, dear, I love this basket. It expresses your love for me, and my love for it expresses my love for you."
She kissed him on the cheek after he gave her this gift.
Kimi took this as her turn to give Kira a gift. Although she still wasn't all that confident in the flower that she had plucked herself, Kimi gave Kira the beautiful flower. Kira smiled, smelled it, and placed it in her own hair.
"Kimi-san, this flower is wonderful and smells beautiful. I'll wear it in my hair until it grows old, and even then, I won't throw it out."
Kimi giggled at this, pleased to see that her mother loved the flower that she had given. She hugged Kira, whom, of course, returned the hug.
They all turned to Chuckie, who was standing there, unsure of what exactly he should do.
However, Didi caught onto this, and walked into the other room, excusing herself. She came back with Chuckie's necklace. She had collected it the day that someone had broken it.
Didi set it down in front of Kira with a smile.
"Chuckie made this for you," She began with a smile. "Unfortunately, it was broken yesterday, although I personally still think it's beautiful."
Although he was still feeling a bit shy about his necklace, Chuckie managed to smile as he realized that, even if it was broken, it didn't look horrid.
"Oh, Chuckie, this necklace is of extreme beauty. I don't see why anyone would doubt it. Even if it is cracked, no crack makes a necklace different. This necklace is wonderful. I will wear it every day."
Chuckie had been expecting a completely different answer, and now felt confident and happy enough to hug his mother.
A few minutes after this heartwarming moment, someone knocked on the door. When Didi went to answer it, this ended up being both Angelica and her father, Drew. Drew himself appeared to be very disappointed in Angelica for something.
"I'm sorry to drop this information on you, Deed, but apparently, Angelica is the one who stepped on Chuckie's necklace," Drew explained. "I am so sorry, Chaz, Kira. She wants to apologize for it."
For the first time in a while, it seemed that this was true. When Chuckie walked to the door, he, at first, along with the others, scowled when he saw Angelica. He didn't find it exactly easy to forgive her for something like that.
Despite this, Angelica actually seemed sorry, even frowning. None of them could place what made them one-hundred percent sure that she actually felt bad, although perhaps it was the way her eyes looked. Along with that, this time, she actually didn't rush her apology. It seemed that the four-year old would make it heartfelt.
"Aunt Didi, Mr. Finster, Kira, could I speak to Chuckie alone?" Angelica requested.
Because of what had happened, at first, even the adults looked a bit unsure of themselves, although Kira nodded, followed by the others.
Angelica had Chuckie follow her into another room so that she could apologize. They sat on the couch together.
"Chuckie, I know that I'm always really mean to you and the others," Angelica pointed out. "I tease you, lie to you, and sometimes even get stuff in your hair."
Chuckie felt like cringing at her reminders of the horrid things she'd done to him in the past, especially since, even with the tone that it was in, it felt more like a reminder of why everyone thought she was mean.
"But, at the end of the day, I always come to save you guys' butts. That's because I care. Remember that time I saved you from Josh?"
Of course, the bad times always overshadowed the good, so Chuckie didn't think of that incident as often as he would something like Angelica telling him that the world would be better off without him.
Despite this, Chuckie still nodded, and could remember the day. It was one of the few times when he felt very proud of Angelica.
"Since I care, and since I actually want this to be a real apology, that's why I won't lie to you this time. Got that?"
Although Chuckie wasn't too sure if he believed this, especially because of Angelica's nature, he still nodded, hoping that she was right, and the apology actually was heartfelt this time.
"I'll admit it, I broke your necklace."
Chuckie finally cringed, scowling at the thought. Usually, Angelica would quickly try to change the subject, although she decided to allow him to express his anger, instead of forcing him to sit there.
In the next sentence she said, her tone changed to a softer and sadder one.
"And after I did, I felt really guilty. I didn't even plan on breaking your necklace. I was so jealous of Susie that I wanted to break hers, but you babies were almost finished with lunch, and I was getting nervous, so I broke one that I thought looked like Susie's."
Chuckie couldn't believe that he was buying this, although her tone actually sounded truthful. He felt as if she really did mean it.
'Maybe I can give her another chance,' Chuckie thought.
"And… when it wasn't Susie's, I got so upset with myself that I almost felt like crying."
Of course, Chuckie couldn't believe this at first.
'Why would Angelica almost cry over doing something like that to me?' Chuckie thought.
"Don't give me that look, I really did. And when I got home, I didn't feel any better. I even felt so down in the dumps that my mommy asked me what was wrong, and she's usually more busy with her business than me."
Chuckie frowned at this revelation. He felt that it was oblivious that Angelica's mother, Charlotte, was on the phone more hours of the day than she was with Angelica, and even if Angelica was a brat, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"I didn't wanna tell them what was wrong. Eventually, I went to bed, and I had a nightmare about a lot of stuff. It didn't help that I heared your tantrum from earlier."
With embarrassment, Chuckie frowned. Looking back on it, he had to admit that he had thrown quite a fit.
"Before we went over here today, I finally told my daddy the truth. He was really mad with me at first and said that I wouldn't get any dessert for a week, and that punishment is still true, but even if I hate it I'm gonna try to deal with it, but then, he saw that I actually feel sorry for what I did. And that's the whole truth, Finster. I'm really disappointed in myself."
Leaning back on the couch, Angelica gave Chuckie time to decide whether or not he wanted to forgive her.
Truthfully, Chuckie did want to forgive her, but the difference was that right now, he didn't forgive her. At least, not fully. Every time he thought of her, all that he could think of was the bad times, and her breaking his necklace certainly didn't help his view of her.
"I'm not sure," Chuckie admitted.
Angelica frowned, giving him an 'I should've known' look.
However, in an attempt to cheer her up, Chuckie lightly smiled at her.
"I will forgive you some day. I promise."
The two shook hands before getting up and walking back into the other room with the babies. They were both pleased to see Zack and Kimi making up with each other.
"I'm sorry that I was so mean, Zack," Kimi told him. "I was just really stressed from my mommy's birthday, and I was also kinda feeling left out cuz of everything you did with Susie."
Zack smiled at her, glad that he was getting the truth from his friend.
"I'm sorry too, Kimi," Zack told her. "It was really unlike you, and I was worried, so I got mad when you tried to blame me. And, sorry for making you feel left out, I just felt that I shared a common interest with Susie."
Kimi nodded at this explanation.
"Now, c'mon, guys, let's go party!" Kimi exclaimed with joy.
They all continued to celebrate Kira's birthday with cake that Didi had baked, games, and general fun. At the end of the day, when it was nearly Chuckie and Kimi's bedtime, Chaz and Kira were taking the two home.
"That was a great party, Deed," Chaz told her.
"Yes, we all had a lot of fun," Kira added.
Didi smiled once she learned of this. By now, Stu had come home, and had a party hat on his head as he waved.
Spike began barking while Kira leaned Kimi down to pet him.
With a smile, they said their last goodbyes before Stu closed the door.
Chaz and Kira carried Chuckie and Kimi home with a smile.
Later that night, Chuckie and Kimi were finally being put to bed. Kimi had already fallen asleep as soon as they had gotten home, exhausted from the day. As for Chuckie, he wouldn't go to bed until Kira walked in.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight, Chuckie-san, and your present today for my birthday was wonderful," She whispered.
This helped Chuckie have good dreams that night.
Overall, the Finster family was happy. Things had gotten rough, although in the end, they had succeeded, just as true families do.
6:37 am here, I ought to be getting to bed now!