*Chapter 2: A Concerned P-sychiatrist*

After leaving the Studio, Rem promptly went to the Bus Station to purchase another ticket. Unfortunately, the only bus seats available were once on a tour bus that would be making various stops all over Southern California. It would be quite a while before she could actually reach her home town. But by then Rem didn't care. As long as it made a stop to Palm Springs, she was satisfied. Rem wouldn't feel totally at ease until the bus actually took off from the stop and onto the freeway.

Meanwhile, back the Warner Bros. studio lot, no one but the trio of cartoon kids seemed to notice that Rem had left. She was only gone for a few minutes and already Wakko was feeling lonely without her. Yakko and Dot seemed to be totally unfazed by her absence.

At first.

XXXXXXX

Monday.

Tuesday.

Wednesday.

Thursday.

Friday.

XXXXXXX

Only a week had passed and already the Warners were starting feel an emptiness of Rem not being amongst them and under their roof. Yakko and Dot were trying to ignore the feeling, while Wakko was feeling really lonesome now.

"I MISS REM!" the red capped Warner bellowed.

Yakko and Dot were sitting at the table leaning their chins on their hands and looking as if they hadn't slept in days.

"Yeah, we know..." Dot droned.

Rem's absence was really starting to take its toll on Yakko. As the common phrase goes, it was hard being the oldest. He couldn't help but feel a sort of responsibility towards his former charge. As the leader-and paternal guardian-of his siblings, an awful sense of failure was slowly welling up in his gut and as much as he tried to, it was getting increasingly difficult to ignore.

"Don't we have an appointment with Scratchy or something?" he muttered, in an effort to distract himself from the tiny angel and devil appearing on his shoulders.

"Nope. We don't." Dot answered dryly.

"Wanna go bug him anyway?"

"Let's. Come on, Wakko."

The trio then set off in search of the studio shrink.

XXXXXXX

Dr. Scratchansniff was on his way to Plotz's office. He finally resolved to inform the studio boss of his concerns regarding Rem. The doctor came to the little man's door and politely knocked.

"Mr. Plotz?" he called out. "May I have a vord vith you?"

"Yes, come in." Plotz replied in a bored sounding voice.

Scratchansniff walked into the boss' office with an anxious look on his face.

"Well, what is it?" Plotz asked. "This better not be about the Warners."

"Eh, no." the P-sychiatrist said. "Eet's about Rem, sir."

The CEO then put on a cheerful grin.

"Oh yes!" he said gleefully. "She is such a big help. I rather like having her around. You know, I may have had my doubts at first, but she's such a wonderful and cultured girl."

Plotz let out a heartfelt chuckle. He stopped when he noticed that Scratchansniff wasn't as giddy as he was.

"I'm vorried." Scratchansniff said gravely. "I'm very vorried about her behavior."

"Why?" Plotz asked. He was a little shocked to say the least.

"Vell, I vill admit zat Rem eez polite and cultured. Zomething zat the Varner Brothers zeverly lack. But I'm very concerned about her zychological make-up."

"How do you mean?"

Just then, Slappy walked right into the chairman of the board's office.

"Plotz? We gotta talk." the old squirrel declared in a surprisingly serious tone.

"One moment, Ms. Squirrel." Plotz replied. "Dr. Scratchansniff and I are in the middle of discussing our newest arrival."

"You mean Rem?"

"Uh...why yes."

"Good, then we're on the same page. Look Plotz, I don't know about you, but there's really somethin' wrong with that kid."

"Exactly vhat I vas zaying." Dr. Scratchansniff agreed.

Meanwhile, the Warner trio had followed the p-sychiatrist to Plotz's office. Behind the ajar door, they listened in on the conversation between Mr. Plotz, Slappy, and Dr. Scractchansniff with some interest.

"I've been reading zome cases zat zeem to match vith Rem's behavior." the therapist continued. "I believe zat Rem had zevere depression, extreme anti-zocialness, and perhaps a leetle bit of post turmatic ztress deesorder."

Plotz blinked.

"Post traumatic stress disorder?" he inquired confusingly.

"Yes. After a few zessions vith Rem, I have a feeling zat zhe may have zuffered zome form of abuse. I could be vrong, but vith her refusal to communicate, I can't know for zure." Scratchansniff replied.

"Oh my."

"Now I fear zat vhat might have happened in Rem's past eez zeverely affecting her behavior and judgement. I find zome zymptoms that make for very great mental unhealthyness."

"I agree." Slappy added with a nod. "Girl carries around a blade for pete sakes."

Plotz was rather taken aback by this information. He always thought that Rem was a nice girl. The Warner siblings, whom were still listening behind the door, started to feel guilt absorb them like a sponge to water.

"See? I toldja!" Wakko whispered to his older brother and younger sister.

"I fear zat if ve don't do zomething to reverse thees, Rem might become a danger to herself and others." Scratchansniff concluded.

Now the studio boss was starting to feel rather anxious.

"Well, um...what should we do, Scratchansniff?" he stammered.

"We're not sayin' she has to be thrown into a looney bin, T.P." Slappy said. "And it's not like she's a raving lunatic. She just needs some help. But the doctor over here, is right about one thing. The girl will be a ticking time bomb if we ignore this."

Plotz gave a little sigh of relief. For a moment he thought he had a truly devastating problem on his hands. But it seemed that Dr. Scratchansniff knew how to deal with the issue.

"Well, alright." the CEO said. "Lemme call the Warners in then."

"Don't bother, T.P. We're already here."

Slowly, the siblings entered the office with sullen and ashamed expressions on their faces.

"What's with you?" Slappy asked. "And where's Rem?"

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot shared glances like they were in trouble.

"We...kinda made her leave." Yakko admitted in a low voice.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Slappy exclaimed.

"YOU THREE HAD NO AUTHORITY TO DO THAT!" Plotz bellowed.

"We know." the siblings muttered in unison.

"But vhy did you do zat?" Dr. Scratchansniff asked with a frustrated sigh.

"Well...we kinda thought she was being a jerk." Dot explained, with her head hanging, her hands behind her back, and her foot digging into the floor.

"I had a feeling somethin' was bugging her." Yakko added. "But I didn't think it was ithat/i bad."

Slappy pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Great, now what do we do?" she ranted.

"I know what we'll do!" Wakko declared, pointing towards the ceiling. "We'll bring Rem back."

"How? She's probably miles away from here by now."

"True." Yakko said smoothly, approaching the elder squirrel. "But knowing Rem so far, I think we'll have an easy process of elimination."

xxxxxxx

A few minutes later, the Warner trio, Slappy-along with Skippy-and Dr. Scratchansniff were at the bus station. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot went up to a free teller clerk as soon as they arrive.

"Hey miss, have you seen a girl, about yea tall, wears a blue flower, a frown, and spiky hair?" Yakko asked.

It took the clerk a moment to recall seeing Rem.

"Oh yes." she said. "I sold her a seat on a tour bus."

"Is there any way to find out where it's headed to?" Dot asked in earnest.

"Well, tomorrow, it will be arriving in Santa Monica."

"Santa Monica?" Slappy said. "Hey, that ain't too far from here."

"Thanks a bunch, you're a doll." Yakko told the clerk.

The clerk let out a giggle as he hopped off the ticket booth.

XXXXXXX

Rem gazed out the window from her sat all the way in the back of the bus. Since the tour bus was getting closer to the beach cities, the outside temperatures became cooler. A bit too cool for Rem, being temperature sensitive. So on their previous stop, she acquired a black hoodie jacket. It was a little big on her, but she didn't care. Rem curled up in her seat and partially buried herself into her jacket as the chilly and brisky air touched her.

Since leaving the Warner Bros. studio, it was like a huge load off Rem's mind. She felt relief just pour over her. Now she could really look forward to getting back to Palm Springs and put this whole...misadventure, behind her for good. Well...almost, as Rem still had the body of a Warner kid. It was the only thing from this whole episode that she was willing to live with.

At least I have black hair now, which is kinda cool.

Rem slowly closed her eyes in an attempt to take a nap while on the road. Before she knew it, the intercom on the bus went off.

"Attention, we're about to make our stop at Santa Monica. Remember to keep your valuables with you before you leave the bus. Thank you."

Rem let out a sigh and contemplated on whether or not to stay on the bus while the tourists went around Santa Monica.

Meh. What the hell, I can check out a bookstore while I'm here.

Rem swung her backpack and her katanna-inside the hockey stick carrier-over her shoulders and boarded off the bus with the rest of the tourists. As the crowd of camera-snapping people dispersed, Rem went a different direction.

xxxxxxx

Yakko, Wakko, Dot and Dr. Scratchansniff in one car, and Slappy and Skippy in another, pulled into the city of Santa Monica 15 minutes later. After turning a few corners and through a couple of intersections, they spotted the tour bus.

"There's our bus." Yakko said. "Now we just gotta find her."

"Thank goodness we made flyers." Dot added as she and Wakko held up a huge stack of missing person notices.

AN: Hang to your hats folks, da next one gonna be wild!