"We're almost back with the others," said LJ. "I'll be pretty happy to let them know I'm alright now."
"Oui," Madeline replied. "Zat vould be very good. Maybe you could get some lunch too."
"That does sound like a good idea," said LJ. "All that running and battling helped me to work up an appetite!"
Madeline smiled at him.
"Oh, Baby." Cherry said.
"Mom." LJ said before going to her.
"Someone looks wore out," Cherry remarked. "Guess you must've run into some bad guys."
"Yeah, but I managed to get rid of them," LJ replied. "I also... Had some time for thinking, while I was at it."
"That's dangerous," Cherry joked a bit. "Um, what were you thinking about?"
"I took a walk in my subconscious to deal with my inner darkness once and for all," said LJ. "And I can safely say it won't be bothering me anymore."
"Let's hope not," Cherry replied. "I'm proud of you though. I guess you're managing to control the other side of your subconscious like I had to learn with Princess Luna."
"Well, I managed to defeat it and banish it from my mind," LJ replied. "I also had a particularly nasty run-in with Mandy, but I fixed her wagon but good!"
"Good work," Cherry approved. "We were hoping to meet up with you here. We thought we'd meet somewhere familiar before going to the new restaurant."
"'E is a bit 'ungry." Madeline spoke up.
"Madeline Fogg?" Cherry asked, looking to the young woman. "Oh! Oh, is that you?"
"Oui, eet ees," Madeline smiled. "Eet 'as been a vhile, Cerise. So good to see you and your new family."
"Mom, you know this lady?" asked LJ. "Although considering what she does most of the time, I guess it's not that surprising..."
"Ah, yes," Cherry replied. "This is Madeline, she went to Miss Clavel's school. I have a fond memory of when Dimples came with me and Atticus to visit Paris and we found out that Darla and Madeline were long-lost cousins. Also, we had to help save them from an impersonator who claimed to be their uncle from Vienna."
"Ohhhh... Maybe we can continue this conversation over lunch?" asked Tommy. "All this walking made me crazy hungry."
"Sounds good," Cherry replied. "The restaurant shouldn't be too far from here."
"I know I'm looking forward to try some escargot," Phil smirked. "That's French for snails."
"Uh, you can have them." Lil rolled her eyes a bit.
"Less talking, more finding!" Lionel suggested as they headed to find a restaurant.
They wandered around for a bit which took a bit more time than expected, but luckily...
"Yoo-hoo~" A familiar voice called out.
Everyone then turned before finding Felicity as she giggled and waved from where she stood in front of a recently new restaurant with a baby's pram in front of her.
"Felicity!" LJ gushed as he ran over to his oldest sister and hugged her.
Zofia then ran to Felicity to get a hug in too.
"Hello, there," Felicity smiled down to them. "I've missed you very much."
"We missed you too!" LJ and Zofia exclaimed as David joined them in the hug.
"We were about to have lunch," said David. "Maybe you could come with us?"
"Ah, yes, lunch sounds good," Felicity smiled. "I hear lots of great things of this place."
"So... This is the Ratatouille place..." David said as he looked up.
"There's other foods, but yes," Felicity replied. "It has a special reasoning for being 'La Ratatouille'."
"Hm... Should be interesting." shrugged Dib as they went into the restaurant.
Felicity smiled, pushing the baby pram inside as she came in with them.
"Aww... A baby~..." Kimberly cooed. "I love babies."
"Maybe you'd like to babysit." Felicity giggled from that.
"That could be fun..." LJ blushed as they sat down. "I guess Honey would want to see her uncle and future aunt in action."
"Perhaps, can I see that too?" Chip chuckled.
"Chip!" LJ, Zofia, and David beamed.
"Hey, gang," Chip smiled as he helped Felicity into her chair. "Good to see everybody again."
"Oh, same!" David replied with a nod as he pulled out Lil's chair for her.
"Aww, what a little gentleman." Lil giggled to that before sitting herself down.
"Gosh, I miss Malina." Raul pouted from that.
"Oh, cut it out," Martin groaned. "I miss Sara, but I'm not crying."
"I think I'm allowed a little complaining..." Raul groaned as the waiter came to their table.
Martin and Jenny merely sighed to their cousin.
"I'll handle this." Dil spoke up.
"Oh, boy." Giffany muttered.
"Uh! Bonsoir, Garcon!" Dil greeted the waiter. "This is a very magnifique place, and we would like your meilleurs menus for the best, very French cuisine."
Felicity smiled as that sounded pretty good so far and went to give Honey her bottle as the baby girl whimpered a bit. The waiter glanced at them as though they were insects.
"Um, sil vous plait." Dil then said.
"Oui." The waiter said before giving them some menus, especially with the chef's specialty of the namesake dish from the restaurant.
"Order anything you like," Felicity smiled. "It's on me."
"Oh, Felicity, we couldn't make you pay for all that." Chrissy replied.
"I insist." Felicity smiled as Honey took her bottle and began to suckle on it.
"...I guess we'll all have ratatouille," suggested LJ. "Mostly cuz I think I'd feel awkward about ordering an American dish here."
"Non pas que vous connaissiez la différence, petite morve." The waiter smirked slightly as he wrote down something in his notepad.
Felicity narrowed her eyes a bit from that.
"I think I want a big puffy soufflé for my dessert, the one here looks great." Cherry said from looking at her menu.
"Je voudrais envelopper mes mains autour de votre grand rack bouffant." The waiter chuckled to her.
"Yeah, sounds good." Cherry replied with a shrug.
Lionel cleared his throat. "Well... Parlez à nouveau à votre femme et à mes enfants, et je constaterai personnellement que vous mangez vos repas avec un tube. Comprendre?" he replied, flashing a sinister smirk at the waiter.
Felicity gave her own little smirk.
"...Oui, Monsieur." The waiter then said as his face turned pale a bit.
Lionel smirked. "Très bien... Maintenant, achète-nous des cheeseburgers et des sodas, et si tu as raté la commande, je vais te déchirer les intestins et les suspendre comme des banderoles," he continued. "Et apportez le soufflé aussi."
The waiter then made note of that as he kept quiet this time. Felicity beamed at him from that as she was happy again.
"...By the way, you do realize he was saying that he wanted to, and I quote, wrap his hands around your big baggy rack, right?" Lionel told Cherry.
"Oh, really?" Cherry crossed her arms with narrowed eyes.
The waiter grinned sheepishly.
"I'ma meet you outside after we eat, pally!" Cherry glared.
"Yeah, save some for me, hon," Lionel replied. "Nobody hits on my wife AND insults my kids at the same time and gets away with it! I'll hold his arms and legs and you can pummel him!"
The waiter soon walked off to carry out their orders. Three giant menus were shown at one table before Coco, Elvira, and Mandy were looking over to see the group at the table far away from them.
"So, now what?" Elvira asked Mandy.
"Take care of their food orders." Mandy replied.
Coco nodded and went to the kitchen to distract the chefs as she covered the food in spicy peppers. One of the waiters took it to a different table, while another waiter brought the proper order to the group's table. The group soon talked among each other until they would get their food.
"It's good to see you all," Felicity smiled as she sat with Chip. "I feel like we need to catch up more since Chip and I are seeing the world."
"I know," replied LJ. "Just recently we heard Akito and Emi are planning to get married. Feels like they've all gone on to bigger stuff, leaving us in the dust."
Felicity reached out and patted his hands in comfort. "It'll get better," she then smiled. "I'm sure it will."
LJ sighed. "...Thanks, Felicity. It's like you always know what to say to make me feel better." he replied with a smile.
"I really try my best," Felicity replied. "Life experience is also the best education."
"It can be, yes." Cherry nodded to that.
"How's Europe treating everyone?" Felicity then smiled.
"I miss Malina." Raul complained.
"Well, we're having a great time," said Martin. "Even if Raul won't shut up about how he misses Malina..."
"We ran into a bit of trouble in England, but we got it cleared up," replied Kimberly. "Although I'm worried it may come back to bite us."
"Hmm..." Felicity replied. "Well, if anything happens, Chip and I shall protect you."
"We'll try to at least," Chip blushed a little. "If I'm not too busy working on my song for Flick here."
"A song?" asked LJ. "Well... I bet it'll be really great. And we'll try not to need you too much so you can finish it."
"Thanks," Chip blushed. "I really hope she likes it."
"Oh, you." Felicity cooed and kissed him.
The girls were awed by that, though Gaz seemed to roll her eyes, but had a small smirk for the couple. Eventually, the food finally came over.
"Oh, finally!" Angelica said.
"I hope my allergies don't act up." Chuckie remarked.
"Hey, now we can eat!" Phil exclaimed as he dug into his burger.
From the kitchen window, Mandy watched with sadistic glee. "That's right, you fools... Eat to your heart's content..." she hissed. "And once you're gripped with the spiciness, you'll be helpless to resist my orders..."
But nothing seemed to be happening.
"What the... What happened?" asked Mandy. "Those burgers were supposed to be hot as magma!"
"I watched it happen!" Coco complained a bit. "I saw what happened in the kitchen!"
"You failed then!" Mandy complained back. "What the heck could've happened?!"
"I guess it didn't work." Billy laughed randomly as he appeared beside Mandy.
At a table a few feet away, the man who got the tainted burgers suddenly screamed in pain as flames erupted from his mouth and he raced to the bathroom.
"There they are..." Mandy narrowed her eyes.
"That dude needs to chill." Phil said about the screaming man.
Everyone murmured in agreement to that as they continued to eat their food.
Honey looked up and all around in wide wonder as she sat in her crib with her bottle and toys.
"You sure are cute," Kimi smiled a bit to Honey. "I have a new little sister around her age."
"Yeah?" Chip replied.
"Uh-huh," Kimi smiled. "Her name's Kiki, and she lives with my dad and his new wife."
"Huh... That's pretty cool." replied Dib.
"You probably visit whenever you can." added Nergal Jr.
Kimi nodded to that.
"I've always wanted my own sister." Gaz said.
"I can be your sister if you want, Gaz." Giffany smiled at her boyfriend's younger sister.
"Hmm... I guess that would be okay." Gaz replied.
Giffany smiled brightly at that. Raul sighed as he still thought about Malina back home while Martin and Jenny rolled their eyes. Angelica went to squirt some ketchup, but yelped and growled in frustration.
"What's wrong now?" Cherry asked her.
"I got ketchup on my new top!" Angelica complained. "It's ruined!"
"Actually, I think in France, it's called 'catsup'." Dil commented.
"YOU ARE NOT HELPING!" Angelica snapped.
David shrugged and simply pointed at the stain, and it vanished in a blip. "There. No more stain." he replied.
"What the-? How did you do that?" Angelica asked.
"Eh, inherited it from my dad," David replied, casually patting her on the cheeks. "...I believe the phrase is... 'Thanks'."
"Uh... Yeah... Thanks." Angelica shrugged.
Eventually, they finished eating.
"Jean-Claude, table." A man's voice said.
A boy around Angelica's age with brown hair in a red beret soon walked over and began to clean up their dishes before looking to Angelica with a small smile. "Bonjour," said the boy. "Je m'appelle Jean-Claude Felix. It is a pleasure to meet someone as divine as yourself."
"Oh... Um... Bonjour..." Angelica replied, bashful and hopeful.
Jean-Claude smiled. "I should get back to work... But my shift ends in five," he explained sheepishly. "You probably get this a lot... But would you like to go out with me?"
"Oh... Uh... Yes, I would like that very much." Angelica smiled back as she looked like she was in love.
Jean-Claude beamed at that. "Merci beaucoup! I will see you shortly... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, Angelica," The blonde girl replied. "Angelica Pickles."
Jean-Claude sighed in a lovestruck way. "Angelica Pickles... That name is so heavenly, the angels themselves sing it!" he remarked. "Until my shift ends... Good luck, fair Angelica!" And he trotted back to work, a spring in his step.
Angelica blushed and beamed a bit.
"Well, there ya go, cous, some French love," Dil said to her. "He could say anything and make it sound romantic and melt you like butter on a fresh earwax sculpture."
"Ewwugh!" Chrissy, Kimberly, Zofia, Kimi, and Lil complained from that description.
"Too much?" Dil asked.
"Probably as much as Mom telling us how Old Queeks used bat guano for everything, including toothpaste." Jenny stuck her tongue out.
Martin winced at that. "Ignoring that... Nauseating comparison, Angelica finally got her foreign date," he replied. "Congratulations."
The others then congratulated Angelica as she praised herself.
"Yes, it was destiny that this happened to me~" Angelica sucked up the attention. "Wait 'til Savannah Shane hears about this."
"Aaaand she's back, ladies and germs." Tommy remarked sarcastically.
Angelica growled a bit to her cousin who smiled sheepishly.
"Well, congratulations, Angelica," Chip said as he went to pay for their meal. "I hope you kids have fun."
"Oh, I'm sure~" Angelica sighed happily. "This is the best vacation ever."
"This is the worst vacation ever for me," Raul sulked. "I really miss-"
Jenny soon cut him off by putting a beget in his mouth to make him shut up about Malina.
Martin sighed. "Thanks. I can finally hear myself think again!"
Everyone murmured in agreement as they laughed. Raul grumbled in defeat. Chip and Felicity paid for the meal like they promised as they let their food digest a bit before leaving. Felicity then took out Honey in her arms to let her look out to see her family. LJ, Zofia, and David each took the time to interact with their tiny niece in some way. Zofia mostly cooed and babbled to her niece who giggled a little from that. Honey reached out to touch them, babbling back a bit. LJ and David took turns tickling Honey, who giggled at that.
"Cheerful child." Cherry commented.
"Guess she takes after my side of the family." Chip teased.
"Very funny." Cherry rolled her eyes from that.