Little Orphan Warner

by Wendy Raimi

Yakko, Wakko and Dot entangle themselves into a murder mystery that has gone unsolved for nearly 75 years. Welcome to the new Burbank.

2. The Search

Part II: The Search

Yakko slipped into his own bed, and lay there on his back, staring out the skylight he had in his ceiling. An LAPD chopper flew by and Yakko sighed. Nothing ran through his mind. He just listened to the silence.

~It's getting harder.~ was his first thought. ~A new member means more food, especially if she eats like Wakko, which means money, which means Plotz, which means...~ Yakko sighed and sat up, looking at his pillow. He gave it a good solid punch.

He sighed and laid against the wall near his bed, pulling his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his head into the darkness.

~Where did we just start losing it all?~.

That night, Yakko didn't sleep.

Wakko had slept. For a while. But his mind was racing with thoughts and wonders. It was ablaze with questions, and so now, the small boy, with his red cap on backwards, sat at the edge of his bed, staring at the wall a few feet in front of him. His face set in a hard thought process as he examined and re-examined his thoughts. He had no clue how long he had been up, but he felt the spot next to him stir and without looking, he knew that his counterpart was propping herself up and proceeding to rub her eyes.

"Wakko?" Swirls whispered, barely audible. Wakko didn't even turn, but it was easy to feel her gently move across the bed and sit next to him.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling the strong vibe of mixed emotions from him.

Wakko blinked and gave a tiny sigh. Swirls gently placed a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Tell me. What is it?"

"Before this week, all I knew was Yakko and Dot. I knew what was what," he turned to look at the female version of himself, "This week I have had very strong feelings. You and I Swirls, we love each other so much. We're so tied to each other we can read each other's thoughts. If people knew this about us, why did they tear us apart? Why would they do this to us if they knew it would make us so sad?" Wakko seem to plead to his sister. Swirls sniffed a little as a tear rolled down her cheek. She hugged her brother, who of course, hugged her back.

"I don't know. I just don't know. It doesn't make any sense to me either. I always knew there was a part missing."

"I always knew too."

Swirls and Wakko both sighed. Swirls looked at her brother's hat, it would become their signal that one didn't want the other to read the current thoughts.

Wakko looked to his twin and thought. He finally asked,

"You want to go watch TV? Clear our minds?" Swirls giggled as she nodded and the two made their way to the living room.

Even though they had begged for satellite for months, it was eventually Yakko who had to put his foot down and make his siblings realize they didn't have enough money for that. So they were stuck with regular network channels. In the middle of the night, this seemed to work just fine as CBS took to replaying old movies at night with commercials of course.

The twins were currently watching one of the first sound comedies from 1929. A little old picture many had forgotten entitled "The Cocanuts". It happened to star a woman named Margaret Dumont as an old dowager and some oddballs named the Marx Brothers. Even though the picture seemed bad, and the quality of the music worse, it was all in all a sweet movie, if it weren't for the commercials about phone-sex or psychic friends hotline.

Wakko had by now taken off his cap and was snuggling his sister affectionately. He could tells Swirls was tired anyway as she lay her head on his shoulder. Wakko on the other hand had spent months at a time being up all night and was used to most of this.

They had been bored with most of the commercials, but as the movie neared the middle, the commercials began to change. Mainly a commercial suddenly appeared saying, "Lost a loved-one, friend, or relative? Call 1-800-Search-USA and find anyone now!" which made the twins eye the TV oddly.

The movie came back on, with more cute scenes and then another slew of commercials, mainly a Public Service Announcement they repeated about the virtues of family values, showing moms and dads playing with their kids and doing things together and...being a family. The emptiness was getting harder to ignore. Wakko looked at Swirls and thought,

~Are they trying to torture us?~

Swirls looked up, without actually saying a word.

~Wakko, what are we going to do? I feel so sad now. Will we ever find out what went wrong?~

~ Yes. ~ Wakko said to try and reassure his sister, but the strong feeling of doubt only reassured Swirls that they might never truly know.

They cuddled together, a little more tightly than before, and started to cry, eventually falling asleep in each other's arms.

It was still dark as Yakko looked at the red LED lights that sat on his desk. It was 4:20am, but he felt as if it were 9:26am. He sighed and headed out of his room, making his way through the tower, heading for the kitchen, when he saw the glow of the television on. Raising a brow, he headed over towards the TV, planning to turn it off.

He looked towards the couch and noticed Wakko lying face down, his arms underneath him.

"Wakko?" Yakko whispered softly.

Wakko stirred, only to show that Swirls was next to him, shivering and huddled close to both her twin and the side of the couch. Yakko blinked, grabbed the heavy quilt and laid it over the two. He turned of the TV and watched the cloth for a moment. Nothing stirred.

Yakko went into the kitchen, pouring himself a small glass of soymilk. He sighed, wondering if stress caused him to be lactose intolerant or if it was just some other crazy fact. He sipped at the milk as he walked back to where the covered twins were.

~I hope they aren't dead.~ he morbidly wondered.

He rolled his eyes and grinned softly to himself.

Yakko walked up to the bundle and gently poked it. Listening carefully, he heard nothing, but watched as it stirred. He smiled a bit, and poked it again. It stirred some more. Yakko proceeded to poke the bundle, and the bundle proceeded to stir.

Finally, the top half of the blanket flipped over and two heads popped up, one angry, the other curious and Yakko had given up on telling them apart.

"What was that for?" they asked in unison.

"Go to bed." he commanded gently.

"You're up." Wakko asked.

Thank god their voices were different.

"I was getting a drink. You two were watching TV and violating curfew for all I know." Both of them shook their head,

"We were sleeping." Swirls replied.

Yakko grinned,

"Well, now you can go back to it."

"Why? We'll be up in another couple of minutes." Wakko replied.

Yakko thought for a moment and said,

"I'm letting everyone sleep in today. I didn't get any sleep myself."

The twins looked curious, hoping to receive a better explanation, but as silence passed, they both shrugged, stood and headed for their room. Yakko watched and then hopped onto the couch. He sat his glass on the coffee table, pulled up the quilt and slipped into slumber land.

"Maybe he died from over Soy intake. Ooh! Or maybe he died watching all those phone sex commercials...or better yet--"

"Maybe I didn't die at all." Yakko said drowsily as he sat up and peered directly into the eyes of his youngest sibling. Dot smiled. Yakko raised a brow and wondered what really went through his sister's head. Dot, mean while, hopped onto the sofa next to her brother and cuddled up to him a bit. It was rather cold in the tower and currently the only warm thing in the room was that giant quilt that was around Yakko. Knowing the drastic chill of the morning, Yakko wrapped his arms around his sister and looked at the blank TV screen.

"What time is it?" he asked. Dot blinked and looked at the kitty cat clock on the wall.

"9:34." she responded. Yakko blinked.

"9:34?!" he chuckled after his quick moment of surprise. "People must think we're dead. We've usually destroyed a small country by now."

"Can't we take a day off for once? Just once? Do things for ourselves and not our reputation." Dot asked as she tried to secretly take the quilt from her brother one piece at a time. Yakko blinked and pulled away from his sister, looking at her in horror.

"Reputation is everything my dearest sibling! If it wasn't for reputation would Groucho Marx be known as the master of words? Would Harpo be known as a woman chaser?" and then raising a brow and giving a grin, "Would your brother be known as a lady killer?" Dot rolled her eyes.

"You put too much faith in yourself." Dot muttered.

"On the contrary, I just have a rather large ego. Faith has nothing to do with it. And don't start with confidence!" Yakko said, still feeling rather proud of himself. Dot shrugged and noticed that for a few minutes all was silent. She looked down the hall to where the bedrooms lay and found complete darkness.

"I wonder if the twins are up." Dot whispered softly, her face turning into a look of curiosity that matched her age. Yakko looked down the hall as well.

"Go wake them up if you want them up." he whispered back. Dot shuddered.

"They're weird. They're always trying to be like...physically attached to each other as if it would kill them if they were apart."

"Look at it their way Dot. They've been separated for our nearly 70 years of living. They didn't know about each other at all and then suddenly out of the wild blue their whole lives change. Twins are horribly close to each other. Most of the time they just develop their own language." Yakko tried explaining.

"But isn't that only for...well..." Dot trailed off as Yakko shook his head.

"It can be for any set of twins Dot."

"So then why don't they have their own language?"

"They have telepathy. Their separation must have caused them to mentally need each other as well." Dot shrugged and cuddled up into the quilt she had easily stolen from her brother. Yakko sighed, having forgotten the blanket. He couldn't worry about the twins at a constant rate. They would be fine. Swirls wouldn't cause any problems and Wakko would show her the ropes. Either that or she'd find out quickly. Yakko sighed, stood, and took a glance at the clock. 9:43. It was time all of them were up. As he walked by the couch though, he saw Dot curled under the green quilt, sleeping.

~Maybe we do need a day off. ~ he thought as he walked down the hall.

"And what are we doing today oh great wonderful brother of ours?" Dot asked as she sat at the kitchen table.

"Throw out ideas." he said.

"We want to find out why we were separated." Swirls said, unsure if this idea would be accepted, but still keeping up a show of bravery. Yakko raised a brow, but said nothing.

"We think we were separated for a reason." Wakko added. Yakko couldn't help but grin at the two. The two looked so eager, desperately hoping they would be approved to go off and look. Yakko shrugged.

"Why not. I'd actually like to know myself. Did you guys have an idea of where you want to look first?" The twins looked between each other, unsure of how to answer. To be honest, they hadn't thought ahead that far. Dot rolled her eyes.

"This only proves I was born first." she mumbled. Yakko shot Dot a "look" and then looked at the twins who stood there looking as if some God might smite them at any moment. Yakko smiled warmly. "Who do you think might know about this?" he asked gently. The twins looked to each other and thought for a moment.

"Perhaps we could ask Father Jerome." Swirls suggested. "He survived the fire that the nuns died in."

"And where would he be?" Dot asked.

Swirls looked embarrassed for a moment and looked at the ground. "I-I don't know." she said softly, hoping she could avoid being looked at somehow.

"Well, this is going nowhere fast." Dot mumbled.

Swirls shot Dot a look this time. ~Why is she always so critical of everything?~ she thought. Only this time Wakko couldn't answer since their hats were on.

Yakko tried to ignore the looks between Swirls and Dot. "Well, do you know his last name? Perhaps where he moved after the fire?"

Swirls thought and then grinned. "Miss Lewis would keep it in her office, in the file cabinet. She was close to the people at Church."

Yakko thought himself this time. "You and Wakko go find out about this Jerry guy. Dot and I will go to the news reels here at the studio and see if we can find anything. We'll meet back here at 2:30."

The four agreed and split up.

Yakko and Dot stood before the large building that proclaimed "Archive" in gold paint across the beige building.

"We are entering a dimension of sight and sound." Yakko said in his Twilight Zone impression.

"Uh, Yakko, these are news reels from the 30's. The only sound is narration."

"Oh, pardon me Miss Politically Correct." Yakko sneered as they entered the building.

The building was practically empty in the first half. A large, white, air-conditioned room with a marble floor and a woman sitting behind a desk. This woman was Penelope Eclaire, or so her desk tag read. Her desk was a large rosewood that was filled with papers, manila envelopes and pencils. The woman herself was of short stature, probably only 5'5" in height with light brown hair that was piled into a high bun. She wore gold-rimmed glasses and one of those pink skirt suits. Her blue eyes were currently concentrating on a piece of badly scrawled binder paper, but as she looked up and spotted Yakko Warner, she gasped. Not out of fear, but of delight and tried so hard not to swoon. The woman had had a crush on the Warner ever since she had first seen him at the studio, five years ago when she had just been employed to keep the archives. He had come to terrorize her, but instead she fell passionately in love with the boy. She didn't know if the boy shared her love, but he flirted with her whenever they had a moment to speak and now, now he had come!

Penelope smoothed out her desk, trying to arrange papers into order. She smoothed out her clothes, hoping to ease out the wrinkles, and then waited like a polite schoolgirl for this teacher to enthrall her with his studies. Yakko, knowing quite well of Penelope's crush, played it to a tee. He sauntered up to the desk with his little sister in tow and then leaned on the edge and peered into her baby blue's. He gave her a seductive smile and she melted at it all.

"Hello Yakko." she said softly, praying that he would just breathe on her.

"Why Miss Eclaire, I do declare, Penelope is quite so fair." he said in a low purring type voice, knowing that a simple line like this could make Penelope melt into a glass of water. She let out a deep breath.

"What can I do for you Yakko?" she asked, trying so hard to compose herself.

"What can't you do?" he asked softly so his sister couldn't hear as he waggled his eyebrows. The look on Penelope's face, the one that said touch me and I'll faint into orgasmic splendor, reminded Yakko not to overdo it. Penelope let out another deep breath and said slowly,

"Anything. Any time. Any day. Anywhere. But I am sure that is not why you have come." Yakko raised a brow,

"Oh? And what makes you think that?" he asked.

"Well, you did bring your sister." Penelope replied as she looked over Yakko's shoulder.

Yakko blinked and looked over his own shoulder to see Dot, arms crossed in front of her chest, right foot tapping, and anger on her face. Yakko turned back to Penelope and resumed seductive stance.

"Well, you are quite good at deducing Miss Eclaire. I have come for another reason. Perhaps you can let me have a little peak at the news reels for 1929 and 1930?" he asked.

Penelope sighed.

"I can't Yakko. Those are serious reels and can only be viewed if you're planning to restore them."

Yakko frowned for a moment as his brain quickly worked to figure out how to get past this small problem. He then resumed his seductive smile and gently placed that velvet gloved hand on her cheek and traced her jaw, looking deep into Penelope's eyes. Their noses almost touching.

"Penelope," Yakko purred low, daring, "I need to see those films. Please, let me see them." he tried not to sound like he was begging, and it worked.

Penelope looked into his dark round eyes and her own eyes widened. It was like looking into the Elysian Fields. She closed her eyes as his hand traced her jaw and shuddered hard, letting out a soft gasp, a low moan. When her eyes opened, she found them once again staring into those dark eyes of Yakko. She nodded gently, completely wrapped around his finger. If he had asked her to jump off the Empire State Building, she would have done it.

Yakko smiled, pleased with his results and kissed the corner of Penelope's mouth.

"Thanks Nelly." he said as he all of a sudden disappeared from her line of view.

She realized that he was all ready walking behind her, giving a quick wave as he and his sister entered the archive. But this thought was only for a moment before she realized he had kissed her. Her eyes then rolled up and into the back of her head as her body fell limp against the chair.

As Wakko and Swirls approached Francine's house, Swirls stopped and quickly grabbed her hat from off her head and tied her ears together with a green ribbon.

"What are you doing?" asked Wakko.

"Francine will wonder why we look alike. This'll distract her."

Wakko blinked, still a bit confused. "How?" he asked.

"She always sees me with my hat. She'll wonder where it has gone and won't be looking at us. She thinks if she looks at the air around us, she'll find it."

Wakko shrugged. Ever since they had met there was an unspoken agreement between the two of them. Never question the other's knowledge. They knew that with time, they would find out the reason for the other's explanation.

Swirls slowly opened the door and entered, her mirror following. The coast was clear and slowly, the two quickly walked to the office.

"Wakko, take off your hat." Swirls whispered as she headed to the file cabinet.

As Wakko did, Swirls added,

~Be my lookout.~

Wakko nodded and stood at the door peering down the hallway, watching for Miss Lewis. Swirls on the other hand went through the file cabinet, searching for anything on Cathedral, Church or Father Jerome. Her fingers didn't move fast, but her eyes did.

Wakko on the other hand began to hear steps, and then humming, and finally a blue dress.

~Swirls! Look--~

"Uh...Hello Little Boy." Francine asked as she stood before Wakko.

Wakko smiled and slowly slipped his hat back on. He gave a small wave and watched as Francine's eyesight looked over Wakko and at Swirls. Wakko twirled around to see Swirls standing there. The file cabinet closed and her hands before her.

"Yes Miss Lewis?" Swirls asked as if nothing was wrong.

"I didn't hear you come in. Why are you in my office?" Francine asked.

"I needed a pen." Swirls reached over to the desk and grabbed a black ink pen. "Got one." she said simply.

Francine shrugged and looked down to Wakko who only stared at Swirls. Francine shrugged and walked off.

When Francine had disappeared, Wakko ran up to Swirls,

"You didn't find anything?" he asked almost feeling downtrodden at the thought they had failed. Swirls smiled proudly and slowly brought her foot forward and up. Stuck between her toes was a file folder and she picked it up.

"I found all we needed."

NewsReel of the Stars! Dateline, Hollywood, 1929. Warner Brothers is still working frantically, trying to come up with a saving grace for their Buddy cartoons which are quickly going out of style. To help with their dilling peccadillo, the studio has called on Lon Borax who has promised the Warners that they will soon have new costars for their Buddy cartoons. Good luck Warners and good luck Mr. Borax!

Yakko and Dot sat in the dark viewing room as they watched screen images of Lon Borax sitting at an Animator's chair drawing various shapes that looked like nothing. Then they watched as the picture flipped off and the newsreel stopped. They had come to the end of the reel of '29 and still, there seemed to be no hope in site. Yakko sighed and changed reels. Going from '29 to '30. He flipped the machine on again and watched as numbers counted down to where the film would start.

NewsReel of the Stars! Dateline, Hollywood, March Second 1930. Lon Borax, Saviour of the Buddy Cartoons has been put into the Los Alamos Asylum. Warner Brothers disavow any knowledge of this, but other close sources claim the truth. The toon saviours of the Buddy cartoons are none other than Yakko, Wakko and Dot. Having been causing chaos since two fifty-eight this morning. Security for Warner Brothers and the Police of Burbank have had no luck so far in catching the Warner Brothers and their sister. If not caught soon, who knows what will happen!

The film dimmed out and Yakko stopped the reel as Dot turned to him,

"Yakko...I thought we were born on February 31st." she asked, confused.

"There is no February 31st Dot. Lon had no concept of time, either then or now. All records have officially recorded us as being 'born' on March second 1930." Yakko replied.

Dot ohed and seeing that his sister was satisfied with his explanation, he changed reels again. There was still plenty of film left, but he was tired of hearing stuff he could remember. He wanted to grab the one thing he hardly remembered at all.

Picking up another reel, he once again placed it into the projection machine and turned the machine on.

NewsReel of the Stars! Dateline Hollywood 1934. The Warners have been caught! Details on their arrest are still sketchy, but we can tell you that they have been locked into the Warner Brother studio tower, never to be released. As for the films the Warners made, they too have been locked up in the studio vaults. Those will never be released as well. In other news, St. Catherine's of the Holy Child was burned to the ground this morning. Investigators believe the fire was on---

Yakko paused the reel as the clips of St. Catherine's of the Holy Child appeared on the screen.

"What is it Yakko?" Dot asked curiously.

"That's the Church Swirls said she had lived at." Yakko said, studying the picture. He could see nothing except an ornate Roman Catholic Church.

Dot examined the picture too.

"All I see is a church." she said, confused.

Yakko slowly advanced the reel and the next shot was of police and detectives surrounding the burned area and ashes littering the ground. He slowly advanced the film, but that was all. It went on to talk about the Marx Brothers and the impending war in Germany.

Yakko's face was obviously set in deep thought. His brows were furrowed and his nose was crinkled.

"Something is rotten in Burbank sister sibling and I think that this time we have to find out."

"But why?" Dot asked.

"Because if we don't. We might all be in danger."

Swirls and Wakko had made their way through the house and were now sitting at the curb of the street, pouring over the information on Father Jerome.

Swirls read aloud,

"Father Jerome Benson, 92 in the year 2000. Currently residing at the Nazareth House in Los Angeles, California."

The paper then proceeded to give an address. Swirls and Wakko looked to each other. "We should go tell the others." they said in unison.

They rolled their eyes and Swirls replaced her own green cap on her head as they stood up and made their way home.

As Yakko and Dot came out of the screening room, they saw Penelope fanning herself with a Chinese paper fan. Her glasses were off and the top of her blouse, the first three buttons, were open, unprofessionally. Yakko raised a brow.

"Nelly?" he asked curiously.

Nelly smiled bashfully and replaced her glasses as she set the fan down and buttoned her blouse.

"It got hot in here." she explained, her face red.

"The air conditioner's on." Yakko said, brow still raised.

Nelly blinked,

"Is it?" she asked, not even realizing it.

"Of course it is! It's freezing in here! It was warmer in the screening room!" Dot complained.

Nelly shrugged off Dot, and her eyes turned to Yakko.

"Did you get the information you needed?" she asked him.

Yakko walked closer to Penelope, but was all business now.

"What can you find me on the fire of St. Catherine's in 1934?" he asked her.

Nelly blinked and shrugged. Obviously he had had enough of the flirting and she could deal with that...hopefully.

"Not much. Why? What's so important about it?" she asked as she returned to the paper work on her desk.

"I'm not sure, but as it stands now, a lot. I need all the info you can give me Nelly." Yakko said as he came around the desk to watch her write on a piece of binder paper. Dot followed, but kept her distance.

Nelly shrugged and continued with her paperwork. She just knew the moment she looked up her mind would fail her.

"I could get you info in two days from now." she replied.

Normally anything like this would be fine with Yakko, but this situation had become horribly serious the moment he had seen that newsreel.

"Nelly, I need the info by tonight."

"When I get around to it." she muttered softly.

Yakko balled his fists and let the anger rush through him. Why was it that anytime he wanted something important done he was always denied it. He sighed the anger out and composed himself.

He placed his velvet-gloved hand under Penelope's jaw and lifted her head up, only to see her eyes closed tightly. He grinned warmly at this. The woman knew he was up to his tricks, but she would not get away from him that easily.

"Nelly," he whispered, gently, softly, warmly, "Let me see those pretty eyes of yours." and not being able to resist his rich warm voice, Penelope's eyes slowly opened so it seemed as if Yakko was staring into the ocean and she was staring into an abyss.

"Nelly, sweetheart, I need that information as soon as possible. It is very important information and if I don't get it, something very bad might happen to me. You don't want something bad to happen to me, do you?" he asked softly.

Nelly shook her head gently, even though Yakko's hand still cupped the bottom of her face.

"Then Nelly, I need that information. Can you get that info for me, please?" he asked. Nelly nodded gently again. Yakko smiled warmly, as if talking to a child and then slowly kissed Penelope's soft lips.

Nelly's head swam and she felt her whole body melt as his lips pressed against hers. It was pure Elysian bliss as his lips seem to convey everything she could ever imagine in anything. She felt that the moment this kiss would break, she would die and prayed that it would last forever.

Yakko on the other hand couldn't believe he was kissing a girl without having to quickly pull away, being forced off, or slapped to death. He never knew Nelly was actually this crazy for him and just as they were about to have the kiss go a little deeper, a little more passionate, someone's throat was being cleared and the two pulled away to look over Yakko's shoulder and see Dot once again standing there with her arms folded across her chest, her right foot tapping and her face plastered with anger.

Penelope blushed and looked down at the desk. Yakko sighed and rolled his eyes heavenwards, making a mental note to himself not to bring Dot the next time.

Yakko sighed a bit. Dang, he had really liked that kiss, and boy, he meant really liked. He turned to the still blushing Penelope and gave her a boyish grin.

"Info tonight," and then his mind quickly switched back and forth. Meet her here, have her come to the tower? But knowing the only right choice he continued with,

"Bring it up to the tower as soon as possible."

Nelly nodded without looking at him and feeling his heart dying to stay with her Yakko turned around and left with Dot in a disapproving tow.

When Dot and Yakko got back to the tower, Swirls and Wakko were all ready at the kitchen table, still pouring over the information on Father Jerome.

"I see you guys came up with better than we did." Dot said, traces of anger in her voice as she headed to flop down on the couch.

Yakko, the normally quick thinker with a cool head, found his own mind swimming, hooked on Penelope Eclaire and not at the task at hand, but he tried to get a sentence out, "You found the stuff on Jerry?" ...yeah, that sounded like a sentence.

Swirls just nodded, trying to commit all the information on Jerome to memory while Wakko acted as twin delegate.

"Yeah, and Swirls made a quick save when we were spotted by Miss Lewis." he responded.

Yakko raised a brow, his head instantly cleared by the thought that they could have been caught,

"But everything went well?" he asked.

The twins nodded in unison, once again, both trying to commit information to memory.

Yakko plopped into his own chair, the La-Z-Boy and watched as Dot sat on the large couch, flipping through a Seventeen Magazine.

Yakko looked at Dot and knew her attitude. The flipping of her magazine was quick and fast. She was only looking through it to blow off steam. He would wait it out. Maybe the steam would evaporate, or maybe it would congeal and have her leave the room in a fit. He knew the last one would be the definite.

Swirls and Wakko were as content as could be with the folder they had and Yakko knew all he had to do was worry about Dot. And Dot gave him plenty to worry about.

"That's it! I'm going to my room!" Dot shouted as she slid off the couch and stomped to her room. Swirls and Wakko watched, amazed and stunned at the outburst. Yakko tried to keep from grinning. It was nice to be right all the time. When Dot couldn't be seen anymore, Yakko stood and followed his youngest sister as the twins resumed memorizing the info.

The pink door to Dot's room was closed, but there was no outward sign stating she didn't want to be bothered, which Yakko took as being a good thing and so he gently rapped at the door.

"Dot?" he asked softly.

There was no answer and he slowly opened the door. The room was dark except for a little night light near the corner that always shined. Truth be told, there were no windows at all in the tower save for the skylight in Yakko's room and the stained glass window of Weed Memlo in the living room. Still, with the night-light, he could make out Dot's body sitting on her canopy bed. Knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them.

A tear glistened in the soft light and as Yakko entered, he closed the door behind him.

Dot peered at Yakko from the corner of her eyes, anger and hate showing in those eyes. "Go away." she whispered harshly.

Yakko stopped in his tracks, but wasn't stung by the comment. He knew that this time, Dot's emotions were real.

Seeing that her brother had stopped advancing, she returned to staring straight ahead at the pink wallpaper of her room. Yakko took another step forward.

"You wanna talk?" he asked softly, gently, knowing this was thin ice.

Dot didn't answer and Yakko took a deep breath and in the most sincere sweetest voice he said,

"Dottie, talk to me."

Dot lifted her head, her eyes widened in horror and a flood of tears burst from her eyes and down her cheeks and she began to sob uncontrollably.

Yakko quickly engulfed Dot into a hug, sitting down on her bed and rocking her gently. "Shh," he began, "it's all right." he said as he smoothed out the fur on the back of her head. "What's wrong?" he whispered. "Talk to me. What's wrong?" but Dot continued to cry, snuggling closer to her brother all the time.

Yakko just wrapped her up in the tightest hug he could manage and tried to soothe her until the crying would subside.

After a moment she pulled away just enough so if she talked her voice wouldn't be muffled.

"What am I Yakko? What am I?" she asked as she returned to burying her head in his chest.

Yakko blinked and smiled a bit.

"You're cute." but this only seemed to have more tears be brought forth from the little one.

Yakko blinked. This took him aback. Something was definitely wrong now and this only proved it. Finally pulling away again Dot whispered,

"I'm the Zeppo. I'm the Zeppo and...I'm worthless and going to be kicked out of the family!" she cried out before returning her head once again to her brother's chest.

Yakko blinked.

"Where did you ever get an idea like that?" he asked, stunned and almost angered.

Dot finally sat up, away from her protector and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I hear it around the studio sometimes. I hear people saying that I'm the Zeppo and that someday they'll get rid of me and replace me. And now...now Swirls is here and she's going to replace me!" and not being able to take it, for a third time Dot sought protection in the hug of her older brother and received it.

Yakko now stared hard at the pink wallpaper as he protected his sister from the harsh reality of the world.

"You're none of that Dot. Don't listen to them. They don't know you. We could never get rid of you. Swirls or no Swirls. You are family. You were with us from day one. Never think you are Zeppo. Never. He was just as important to the group as you are to us." with his hand, Yakko lifted Dot's face up by her chin, gently. Her tear stained eyes looking into his,

"Always remember Dot, we love you. Even if the studio doesn't, family always will."

Dot forced a smile onto her lips and Yakko smiled back which only made Dot smile genuine this time as she hugged Yakko.

"Thank you." she whispered.

Yakko smiled.

"Think you can face the real world again? Or do you need time alone?"

Dot pulled back and nodded.

"I can face it." she responded confidently.

The two re-entered the family room only to see the twins smiling happily as Swirls closed the folder with the info on Jerome.

"Find anything interesting?" Yakko asked as he approached them.

"How soon can we get to L.A.?" Swirls asked.

"L.A. is right next door!" Dot replied. She wondered if Swirls was really smart but just hid the fact.

"The Nazareth House is in L.A. and that's where Father Jerome lives nowadays. I'm sure he can help us find out why we were split up." Swirls said excitedly.

Yakko nodded. "Sounds like a plan." he said absent-mindly as he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, beginning to write something. "What's that for?" Wakko asked as everyone peered over the eldest brother's shoulder.

"A note. To tape to the door. Penelope is bringing some info for us and I don't want us to miss it." he said as he dotted an i and finished the note. The twins just shrugged, never having heard of the woman before, but Dot rolled her eyes. "I bet you just don't want to miss Penelope." she muttered. Yakko took the advantage of ignoring that remark.

As they headed out the door, Yakko duct taped the note to the tower door and paused to look it over quickly. As he looked it over he wondered if he was getting too sentimental. She was just another woman in the great big world who knew him for his reputation. That of a teen-age boy, a rebel without a cause. He turned and found his siblings all ready half way down to the ground and caught up with them. After all this was over, he'd have plenty of time

The Nazareth House could easily be described as this: when a religious higher up, such as a priest from a church got too old to take care of themselves, a parish could send them to the Nazareth House which happily took care of the priests until their death.

Father Jerome was 92 and could feed himself, but it was hard to get around these days and harder still to do most things himself. So when he had broken his hip in 1995, St. Anne's of the Blessed Mother sent Father Jerome to the Nazareth House.

Now, some would see this as a death sentence, but to Father Jerome it was just another step in life. He still got to go out and see the beauty of the earth, he still got fed and he had his health. There was nothing wrong with any of it.

But the least he had ever expected was to see the baby girl from St. Catherine's of the Holy Child again. And when the nurse brought in the Warner Four, Father Jerome blinked and nearly had a heart attack.

Father Jerome quickly put his thick glasses on and peered at Swirls.

"Dymphna? Is that you?" he asked in a wheezy voice.

Swirls placed her hands over her mouth to silence the giggle that came from her as Yakko, Wakko and Dot looked at her in confusion.

"Yes, it's me Father. How are you?" Swirls asked as she approached the old man and hugged him.

"I'm doing quite well, but you! You've seem to just grow up! Why, I remember when you were just a bitty thing with no memory." he began.

Swirls smiled and motioned for her siblings to come closer, which they did.

"It has been nearly 70 years Father." Swirls noted for the old man, "But I have come for a reason. How good is your memory of 70 years ago?" she asked.

"Well, I haven't shot my bolt yet, and it's a little rusty, but in tact. Tell me, what do you need help remembering?" he asked as he settled back into his bed.

"The fire of 1934. Of St. Catherine's." Swirls said softly, but loud enough so the old priest could hear her.

Jerry blinked.

"You don't want help remembering that. Let's talk about when you frightened--"

"Please, Father this is important. It would mean a lot to me if you could help." Swirls pleaded.

Jerome sighed.

"You'll only get as much as I can remember."

"Anything. Anything at all." Swirls urged him on.

Jerome began to weave the semi-historical tale:

It was 1934. Summer of that year I think. A beautiful summer too. Of course, there was the Depression and the rumour that war was brewing in Europe, but the weather of that day was so immaculate you'd never imagine there was a thing wrong.

There was a slight breeze in the air, just enough to move the fluffy clouds across the light azure sky. The trees were green and the leaves blew in that wind. People rode their bikes up and down the street. The nuns were all in the Sacred Chapel saying their afternoon rosary. I was preparing for Vespers and the new Deacon, Thomas his name, was watching you play outside. Everything seemed to be so slow going and normal when suddenly Thomas ran into the church and whispered to me that you were missing. Fearing for your life I grabbed Sister Mary and the three of us went searching for you, thinking you had made your way back into the church. I don't remember much after that. Bits and pieces. The Mother screaming that a fire had started, panic ensuing. Everyone was running about and I was searching for you. I remember being so close to the fire. It was so hot. The Devil's fire was what a few of the nuns claimed it was before their death. I found you in a corner, crying and picking you up we somehow made it. Sister Mary was outside, crying and praying to the Lord for help. We watched it burn to the ground. All those lives, lost. I don't remember anything after that.

The tale was over as Father Jerome rubbed his glasses with a handkerchief. Swirls in the arms of her twin having barely remember the day. Dot and Yakko looked to the ground as if showing some sort of reverence for those whose lives were lost.

"The next day investigators said that they thought the fire had been started on purpose. But no one wanted to believe some one would want to burn down a church, so the case was closed and they marked it up to some sort of accident." Jerry concluded.

Yakko dared to speak.

"What do you believe Father Jerome?"

Jerome replaced the glasses on his face and smiled a bit.

"I believe if it was done on purpose, then God will judge those who committed the crime. And if it was an accident, then perhaps God had some divine mystery behind it. That's what large parts of religion are. Just mysticism. If everything was always answered for us, the world might not be what it is today." then after a moment Jerry chuckled and said, "We might all just be a planet full of animals and plants, going about our lives in a Utopia. I find that this life is much better than that idea. More interesting." he said, and on the last part, tapped the side of his head.

Swirls smiled and once again hugged Father Jerry.

"Thank you father, for your help. Is...is Sister Mary still alive?" she dared to ask. Father Jerome smiled.

"Still alive? My dear! That woman does triathlons for a living! She left the sister-hood in the 60's and married, but had a split with her husband in the 80's. She takes care of her mother nowadays and baby-sits her grand-daughter."

"Where could we find her?" Yakko asked, curious to meet a nun who had left the sisterhood.

"Oh, I've heard she lives in Culver City now, but I'm not too sure. If you ask the nurse at the desk she might know."

The group headed for the door, but before they left Father Jerome had one more thing to say.

"You know, Dymphna, you and that boy with the red hat look an awful lot alike. You two aren't twins, are ya?"

Swirls just smiled,

"We aren't sure yet Father Jerome, but we'll let you know." and as they left, the sound of Father Jerome's jolly chuckle reverberated down the walls of the hallway.

When they got to the front desk, the nurse happily gave Swirls the phone number of Mary's apartment and the use of the phone, but upon calling Mary they received an answering machine.

"Hi! You have reached 545-6391, unfortunately I am in Alaska for the month on a bike ride. Hope to hear from you then!" then there was the beep and Swirls hung up.

"Well?" asked Wakko hopefully.

"She's in Alaska for the month." she said downtroddenly, her twin taking on the same look.

Yakko gave them a smile.

"Have no fear mirror sibs, I'm sure the lovely Penelope of the Archives has surely found something for us." he tried to cheer them up. Wakko and Swirls did smile and the four left to return home and wait for Penelope.

Upon returning home, the bottom of Yakko's note had been added to in a script none of them had seen before. 'Yakko, call me. Important info. 555-6213' was the message. Lightly pulling the paper off from the door so it wouldn't rip, Yakko stuffed the note in his pocket as they opened the door and headed inside. While the rest of them turned on lights and argued about dinner, Yakko headed to his room.

He closed the door to his room and grabbed the portable phone from his desk, punching in the number as he flopped onto his bed.

The phone rang twice before it picked up.

"Hello?" asked a woman's voice. It was soft and had the hints of fear in it.

"Hi." Yakko replied, trying to sound friendly.

"Yakko, is that you?" the woman asked, and placing recognition, he realized he was talking to Penelope.

"Yeah, it's me. What did you find Nelly?" he asked gently.

She sounded scared and Yakko had watched plenty of movies where fear voiced phone conversations usually meant trouble. But this wasn't the case and as soon as Yakko verified it was him, Nelly's voice sounded relaxed.

"Mainly a lot of rumors, but some good hard facts on the fire. Do you want me to bring them to you or tell you over the phone?" she asked.

Why was this woman always asking him for his ideas? In Yakko's mind, both choices sounded equally yummy. Hear her confident voice over the phone and imagine her in a negligee telling him important facts, or have her come over here in that pink skirt suit and cuddle him in her arms while she whispered in his ears the info. Or perhaps it was just his hormonal fantastical mind running away with him.

"Which would you prefer?" he decided to ask as he realized his breathing was dangering near shallow.

"How about I come over there so your brother and sister can hear it as well." she asked. Drats! He lived with other people!

"Sounds great!" he said, his voice just a note higher than normal.

"I'll see you in a few moments then." and without a good-bye, Penelope hung up.

Yakko turned the phone off and sat there for a moment, realizing a woman was voluntarily coming up to the tower so she could talk to him. He closed his eyes and let the feeling of hopeful pleasure rush through his body and smiled. Then he realized once again he had siblings and chanted in his head, I will not get involved, I will not get involved. If only those darn teenage hormones would settle down. He replaced the phone on the desk,

opened the door and headed out to the living room.

"Wakko, sat an extra place at the table. Penelope is coming over."

When the door opened, Penelope found a smiling Yakko in his trademark khaki pants greeting her.

"Please Miss Eclaire, won't you come in? Have you eaten? We were just about to have dinner." he said as she walked in. Penelope placed her purse near the door and looked around. She had never been in the tower before. In fact, the idea of coming into the tower was something of a dream for her. It all just seemed so cozy and...warm. Almost, family oriented. She never dreamed it would look so nice. She realized though that her pumps clicked against the concrete floor and when she looked to Yakko she found he noticed too. He smiled when he found her gaze on him.

"You can take them off." he commented, and bashfully Nelly slipped them off and placed them near her purse.

She noted that the air was rather warm and almost stifling in a way. If one was claustrophobic, this place would surely cause them to panic, but for her it only seem to add an air of interest. She followed Yakko to the living room where a small dinette table sat. It was in perfect condition and looked exactly as if it were from the 60's.

She examined the table finding that since she was invited there were five chairs at the table instead of the three she was expecting to see. Milk had been poured for the five place settings and water sat at one with the milk. The plates were white and the silverware had dark blue plastic handles. It all seemed so...family-ish.

It was as if this place was just full of surprises. Everyone always thought that the Warners were just a bunch of kids, but from what she had seen so far, that was just their demeanor, their nature seemed to prove that they were highly family oriented. She couldn't help but just feeling...odd, as if evading on sacred ground.

"You sit there." said an outside voice, which interrupted her thoughts.

Nelly blinked and found Yakko pointing to the side of the table where one chair had been placed. She blushed and sat down at her assigned seat as she found Dot coming out of the kitchen with a green bowl full of rice.

"Wakko made the Gumbo spicy again just to warn you." Dot said, not even realizing Penelope was sitting at the table. Yakko sighed.

"Didn't you try to reason with him?"

"How could I? Swirls was agreeing with him!"

Yakko stifled a chuckle as he sat down at the head of the table. Dot placed the bowl of rice in the center of the table and sat at her spot, which was across from Yakko's. After only a few moments, the twins walked out and Penelope found herself letting a small gasp escape from her.

Three Warners she had always known about, but a fourth one? And no less a twin? Now it really didn't seem real and she found herself expecting their parents to come out of nowhere. But the gasp went unnoticed as the twins set the large bowl of Gumbo near the rice.

"After arguing with each other, we've decided that the Gumbo is only mild, and not super Cajun spicy like Wakko wanted. I hope that you all enjoy." Swirls announced as the two took their seats side by side across from Nelly.

Dot and Yakko looked relieved as the two began to eat. After reassuring herself all of this really was happening, Nelly began to eat as well.

Dinner was silent and Nelly noticed Yakko avoiding all eye contact with her. Part of her wondered if she had done something wrong. Occasionally the hatless twins giggled as they ate and Dot looked as if she would attempt conversation, but seeing Yakko's seriousness, decided against it. Nelly was a guest and probably privileged to be invited to such a dinner and so, she too kept quiet, but was curious as to why the twins were giggling.

Nelly hadn't felt any tension grow, but suddenly Yakko placed his spoon down and looked to the twins, his stare hard at them.

"Would you two like to share? Or will I be forced to staple those hats to your heads?" he asked.

Dot blinked and looked up, surprised at hearing such a disciplined tone come from her eldest brother. Swirls and Wakko blinked as they looked at Yakko and then to each other.

The twins looked back to Yakko. Finally Wakko spoke,

"We were jus' wonderin' if the gumbo was too spicy."

"I think it's delicious. Did the both of you make it?" Nelly piped up quickly, trying to soften the suddenly heated conversation. The twins nodded, smiling proudly, and Yakko couldn't help but give a small grin.

"We had parts of the recipe memorized, but neither of us knew the full recipe," Swirls began,

"But we found that if we took the parts each of us knew, then we had the recipe in whole." Wakko finished.

Nelly smiled,

"Together you two make very good cooks." The twins smiled once again and in unison replied,

"Thank you."

The rest of the dinner was silent.

When dinner was over, Swirls and Wakko washed the dishes while Dot helped clear the table. Obviously there would be no desert. Yakko led Nelly to the family room and sat next to her on the couch.

"I'd offer coffee but..." he trailed off and Nelly nodded with a grin.

"I understand."

Yakko kept a polite sitting distance from Nelly. The recommended six inches everyone always suggested.

"So, about the information..." Yakko tried to help begin a conversation and found Nelly scooting closer to him.

"1934 was an awful busy and complicated year. There was the Depression, the Dust Bowl, war rumors. Why does the burning of a church interest you?" Nelly asked.

Yakko looked down and found only two inches of green upholstery separating his thigh from hers. He realized she was making most of the moves and found himself closing the gap and finding the pink skirt of her suit pressed against his khaki pants. He felt her thigh against his under the material.

"Well, it's not really for me," he began, finding his breathing shallow. "It's for the twins. You see, the church that burnt, that was where Swirls was living." he tried to explain but found himself getting hot as his eyes continued to just stare at her skirt.

His stare was interrupted as her French manicured hand was placed on top of her thigh and he looked up into her ocean blue eyes covered by her glasses.

"How awful! She was the only survivor?" Nelly guessed as her own look went between her hand and his eyes.

"No." Yakko had to whisper now, his breathing completely shallow now.

Nelly leaned in.

"Tell me more." she whispered back and the distance was closed as Yakko once again found his lips covering hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his arms went around her waist. Gods! He was holding a girl! In his arms! And it was all voluntary!

This time there was no awkward fear of whether the other would disapprove and the kiss went deeper, the passion flaring from their lips. Suddenly, they realized they were laying on the couch, her on top of him and neither found a problem with this.

For the two of them it seemed like a glorious moment suspended in time. Her hands and arms cupping his head, holding him tight. His arms around her waist, wanting so badly to trace the skin on her thighs. He could just slip one little hand--

"I thought she was bringing information." someone called out and Yakko's eyes blinked opened as he broke the kiss to peer over Nelly's shoulder. This time it wasn't just Dot in her anger stance, but the twins as well.

Nelly slowly sat up and blushed as she adjusted her hair and pushed her fogged glasses back up her nose.

"I did. It's in my purse," and standing quickly she softly excused herself by saying, "I'll go get it."

As Penelope left the room, Yakko had found himself sitting up and acting as if nothing had happened.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, getting her involved?" Wakko asked as the three moved. Dot to sit next to Yakko and the twins to sit in the overly large La-Z-Boy.

"Of course it is! You have to be a history buff to work the Archives. I'm sure Nelly knows everything about history." Yakko explained.

The three didn't really believe this, but none of them wanted to argue with Yakko. Nelly returned, purse in one hand, a manila envelope in the other.

"This is all the information regarding the burning of St. Catherine's of 1934. Well, all that I could find in the WB news department. For some reason, many people believed they were the ones who set the fire." Nelly explained as she tried to sit next to Yakko, only to be blocked by Dot on one side and the arm of the couch on the other. She opted to sit next to Dot.

"Why would they think that?" Yakko asked, intrigued.

"Because of the note the police department received only moments after the fire had happened. The note told police to do a background search on a man called Thomas Henry." Nelly explained.

Swirls blinked, confused.

"Thomas was the Deacon at St. Catherine's."

Nelly shook her head.

"The police checked. Turned out he was part of the extension of a Mafia group based in Culver City at the time."

"But why would they want to burn a church?" Wakko asked.

"Yeah, I thought the Mafia were religious too." Dot added.

"Not this group. They were like...mercenaries. They'd do anything for money. Rumor had it that one of the real Warner Brothers paid Thomas to burn the church because he had heard a rumor that you three were hiding there when not wrecking havoc on the city."

Swirls became startled.

"Somebody must have seen me there and thought that the rest of you were there too!" Nelly nodded.

"They traced the note to some woman, but her name's been lost in the records. She kept complaining to the police that St. Catherine's church was being haunted by demons."

Nelly continued,

"After the church burned, they took in a man named Father Jerome and Sister Mary for questioning, but they knew nothing of the fire. The reports are sketchy but it said that Father Jerome wouldn't leave a little bundled blanket he held onto. Said it was sentimental."

"It turned out though that the nuns had a collective will and that in the event of their death, the bundled blanket would be turned over to Father Jerome, but Sister Mary was still living and took the bundle to a home with her. The police eventually found no real evidence against Thomas, and since he was dead, they closed the case."

Nelly finished. Yakko looked over the reports, all done in faded ink and pencil.

"But Swirls, you said you were left to Francine Lewis." he mentioned.

"I was. Francine took me in." she confirmed.

Yakko absent-mindly placed the reports on the coffee table, his face set deep in thought. "What's your home phone number Swirls?"

"545-6333"

"And the number the nurse gave you?"

"545-6319"

"You said you found the info on Father Jerome in Francine's office, right?" Swirls nodded.

"How many lines does Francine have in her office?" Yakko asked.

"One, her office line."

"Call the number again and listen closely to the voice." Swirls furrowed her brow and heading over to the telephone dialed the number. Once again she received the answering machine, but the moment it said 'I'm in' Swirls gasped and dropped the phone.

With tears in her eyes and confusion on her face Swirls uttered only two words,

"Sister Mary."

Wakko led Swirls back to the La-Z-Boy and held her as she cried. Dot, feeling sorry for the poor girl walked over and tried to help soothe the girl's tears. Yakko's mind was still in deep thought as the phone call only confirmed what his mind came up with.

"This still doesn't explain how or why the twins were split up. I think it's time to see Lon." Yakko said as he stood.

"At this hour?" Nelly asked.

"Why not?" Yakko said as he turned to Nelly.

Looking at her watch and then up to Yakko, Nelly replied,

"It's 8:56pm. Visiting hours are long over by now."

"Well when are visiting hours?" Yakko asked, peeved that his authority was being questioned.

"At Los Alamos? Two to Four Monday through Friday." she replied back.

Yakko sighed and sat at the other end of the couch and looked to his group of siblings.

"I suppose you two can wait a little longer, right?" Wakko nodded as he looked to Yakko. Swirls now crying on Dot's shoulder.

"Maybe I should go..." Nelly said softly as she stood.

"No Penelope. You can stay if you like. I understand it's not very late and that you probably only live next door--"

"Actually, I live in Yorba Linda." she replied. Yakko blinked, the tiredness and deep thought leaving him.

"Yorba Linda? That's an hour and a half drive from here! By all means, please stay. You could get carjacked or in an accident while you tried to make that trip!" Yakko tried to persuade.

"Do you have room for me?" Nelly asked unsuredly.

"No!" Dot protested, but her protest fell on deaf ears.

"If you don't mind, the couch pulls out. You could sleep here." Yakko offered.

Nelly nodded slowly. "If you're sure, then I'd be delighted."

As the twins and Dot prepared for bed, Yakko helped Nelly get the sheets onto the couch bed.

"I do have to thank you for letting me sleep over." Nelly said softly as she pulled on one corner while Yakko brought out a large and heavy quilt.

"It is a harsh world out there and villainy likes to parade under the mask of virtue." Yakko said as he unfolded the quilt to lay on top of the bed.

Nelly giggled a bit. "That sounds like it's from a movie."

"It is. Sleepy Hollow. Dot wanted to see a scary movie one night and so we rented it. Besides, she loves that Johnny Depp guy." he said as he went to go grab a pillow.

Nelly smiled. "You seem to be really close to Dot." she called out to him.

Yakko returned with two large pillows,

"I'm close to Dot and Wakko." he responded simply.

"And Swirls?" Nelly asked.

There was a long pause as Yakko placed the pillows on the couch.

"She...was unexpected." was all he said, his voice soft on the subject.

"Jealous she'll take your brother away?" Nelly asked as she followed him to the kitchen.

"No!" Yakko immeaditly said as he grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and began to fill one with water.

"Then you just have no comment on her?" Nelly continued to prod.

Yakko sighed. "It's the fact that Dot's afraid Swirls is her replacement and I can't show favoritism on any of them. If I did they'd all probably start to get ideas. I want to keep in them the fact that we are a family and love grows." he said as he placed the glass of water on the counter and went to the refrigerator, grabbing the box of soymilk and filling another glass with that.

Nelly leaned against the counter.

"If you did have to choose a favorite, who would it be?" she asked softly.

Yakko looked at his glass of milk and after a moment replied, "Dot."

"Why?" Nelly asked.

"Because she's fragile, even if she doesn't like to admit it. But at times she can stick up for herself. And she has an ego."

"So you find her like a miniature version of yourself?" Nelly asked.

Yakko shrugged as he placed the milk back and handed Nelly the glass of water. "I guess."

"Hmm." was all Nelly replied with.

As they headed back to the couch, Yakko raised a brow,

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"It means that from what you've told me, you have the beginning basis of a Groucho complex, only with a different base but perhaps the same apex."

Yakko blinked and looked at Nelly with one brow raised high. "Are you in some sort of cohorts with Scratchy?" he asked.

Nelly giggled as she sat down on the edge of the bed-couch. "No, but I study different actors of different periods of time. The Marx Brothers for the 20's and 30's and Anthony Perkins for the 50's and 60's." she explained.

Yakko frowned as he sipped his milk.

"Y-You aren't angry, are you?" Penelope asked, fearful she had insulted him.

"No, just annoyed that I'm getting extra psycho-therapy for what I don't understand." he replied as he sat next to her.

Nelly smiled. "I'll keep quiet if you prefer."

"Women should be seen and not heard." Yakko mumbled which only made Nelly laugh. "Exactly like Groucho! Oh I'm sure you've had to have met him sometime before you guys were put in the tower."

Yakko grinned a bit. "Wakko got a chance to meet Harpo once, but other than that we never did. They were at MGM at the time I believe. They never did Warner movies, and when they did well...the real brothers didn't like them." he explained.

Nelly nodded and finished her water but before she could say anything Dot had come from the depths of the great beyond.

"Yakko, tuck in time." she said sleepily as she pulled on her brother's arm. Her hair was in curlers and she wore a pink night gown and pink slippers. Nelly could understand why she was Yakko's favorite. Yakko smiled to his sister and turned to Nelly, "Excuse me." he said as he got up and followed Dot to her bedroom.

Minutes later Yakko returned and Nelly notice that in place of his khaki pants, he wore khaki colored flannel pajama bottoms. As he headed towards her he threw her a white bundle of cloth.

"Night clothes if you want, bathroom's down the hall and last door to the left." he said with a smile.

"Thanks." Nelly replied as she picked up her purse and headed for the bathroom.

As Penelope headed back to her bed while brushing out her long brown hair, she found Yakko watching the Channel 4 news.

"Waiting for Leno?" she asked and Yakko turned. 5'5" of peaches and creme skin, waist length brown wavy hair and just a simple long white shirt that proclaimed Anaheim Angels took in his gaze. This time there were no gold-rimmed glasses.

He gulped, "Um...just getting the weather report for tomorrow." he stated as he stared at the flying angel A across her chest. He quickly averted his gaze back to the television, which had its sound on low. He felt her sit next to him on the edge of the couch and all too soon her thigh was pressed against his. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized the temperature in the room was dropping. Colleen Williams on the TV spoke something about a traffic accident on the 101.

"Oh my gosh! That's the freeway I take home some nights." Nelly exclaimed as she looked at the two-car collision crash.

Yakko stared intently at the police officers. "Guess I saved you then." he mumbled softly. "You did." she responded softly as she laid her head on his shoulder.

Yakko stared hard at the TV. If he even looked at her now, that would be it.

Nelly kissed his jaw and Yakko closed his eyes gently as her arms wrapped around his waist.

"I have so much to thank you for," she began.

~Don't say it. Don't say it.~ his mind willed her, but it was too late.

"How can I ever repay you?" she finished the sentence and as Yakko turned to face her, she was looking up at him and faster than lightening his lips found hers and they sat there, kissing.

His arms wrapped around her neck and he held her close, running his gloved fingers through her hair. She kissed him, passionately, deeply. The others were asleep, perhaps this time...perhaps anything could happen this time. The Channel 4 news played it's theme song over the ending credits and the TV announced that tonight, Jay Leno's guests would be Christie Brinkley, Piper Peraboo and Tyra Banks.

Nelly felt one of Yakko hands leave her and begin to search the couch for something. After a moment he lifted his hand over her head and flipped the TV off. Penelope blinked. He gave up an interview with three babes to be with her? This was the most amazing thing to her of the day.

She wondered if he actually did want to give up those models and so she proceeded to lay down and he followed, this time, him on top of her.

~Penelope! He's a teenager running on hormones! He doesn't love you!~ and this thought made her break away.

"Yakko," she began and he looked to her with those black abyss eyes.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Do you really love me, or are these just hormones?"

Yakko gave a half grin. "Nelly, the moment I peered into those baby blues of yours I knew that not even Scratchy's Nurse was on my list anymore."

Nelly blinked. Oh yes, somehow she had scored on Yakko's number one list and so she resumed their heated kiss.

But seconds later another thought interrupted her mind,

~Penelope! He's probably only 16! You could get called in! For heaven sake's he was born in 1930! He's older than me! Good reasoning.~ and that was the end of her thought process for the night.

The two spent a night of passion, together, on the couch. The two professed their love for each other, and for once, all seemed right in the world.

Nelly woke up to clapping her hands against her ears. It sounded as if a home fire alarm was going off and as she opened her eyes to look at Yakko, she found he too had his hands clapped around his ears, but his face squinted up. Nelly finally realized it wasn't a fire, but screaming and watched as Yakko realized the same thing. The two turned their heads, intent on seeing the TV on, but instead found little Dot Warner standing in front of them, screaming as if a murder had just been committed.

Yakko, startled out of his wits, cursed under his breath and grabbed the quilt from the couch, quickly throwing it over the two of them. He had been caught. He looked around frantically and found the twins coming out of the hallway, rubbing their eyes, dressed exactly alike and asking in unison, "What's going on?"

Dot continued to scream and finally Yakko screamed out himself, "Dottie, Shut UP!"

Dot stopped and a deep red fiery anger showed on her face. "Call me Dottie--"

"OUT! NOW!" Yakko commanded as he pointed to the hallway. His own anger looking much more fearsome than Dot's. Even Nelly cowered away from him, pulling the blanket so it only covered his waist.

"All Warners out of here! Now!" and this sounded like a commandment from God himself. The anger on Yakko's face and in his voice enough to terrorize a small country. The twins, fully awake now with their eyes wide open, made a hasty retreat back to their room. Yakko turned to Dot who only glared back. "Out." he hissed harshly to his baby sister.

"And what about her." Dot hissed back, or so she tried as she pointed to Penelope.

"We will deal with my social and sex life at the breakfast table. Now, GET OUT!" this time, fearing for her life, Dot ran to her room and Yakko slumped back against the couch putting a hand to his head and closing his eyes.

Nelly quickly slid out from under the blanket and stood, grabbing articles of clothing, "Maybe I should--"

"No," Yakko said tiredly. "Stay. You have to now. If you go," he stopped, trying to search his mind on how he could explain this to her.

"If you go they'll see you as nothing more than a common harlot and I believe you're more than that. Please. Stay. If not for my sake, then your own." he explained as best he could. Nelly slipped the Angel shirt back over her head and nodded as she flung her hair out from underneath the shirt.

"Then stay I shall." she said as she handed him his flannel p.j.'s.

Yakko sighed as he stood and slipped them on. He rearranged the couch as best he could, but Penelope could see that just this quick episode had exhausted him.

They slid the couch back to its original sitting position and rested against it for a moment. "I'm sorry. I knew I should have left last night."

"Are you saying you regretted last night?" Yakko asked as he looked at her.

"No--" Nelly began but was quickly cut off.

"Then don't talk."

Nelly quickly closed her mouth and lay against the couch, fearing to make any move at all. Yakko sighed and rubbed his hand down his face. "I should be apologizing. I should have never taken advantage of the situation, or handed you the shirt."

"Are you saying you regretted last night?" Nelly retorted.

"No but I--"

"Then don't talk." Nelly said with a smile.

Yakko looked to her with a raised brow, but the smile eased away his look and he smiled too.

"So when's breakfast? I don't think your siblings will be able to wait all morning." Nelly said. Yakko looked at the VCR clock and found it to be mid-morning.

"I hate it when they leave me up to the cooking." he said as he stood and headed to the kitchen. Nelly continued to smile and followed.

Once in the kitchen, Yakko looked around, summing up his options. He began to grab the toaster from underneath the counter, along with a pan and food items from the refrigerator.

"Do you know how to cook bacon?" he asked Nelly while setting up.

"Yes." she responded.

"There's a pack in the freezer and a baking pan on the bottom of the cabinet next to the fridge. Go at it." he said as he began to crack eggs into the frying pan.

Nelly began to get the pan out but heard a muttered curse and looked up. Yakko sucked at his finger while trying to crack an egg into the pan.

"What some help?" she asked.

"No. I got it." he said a little angrily as he took his finger out of his mouth and continued to crack the eggs. Nelly shrugged but only got that far before she heard a rather large, "Ow!" come from Yakko. She giggled and went over to him taking an egg from his hand.

"Go lay out the bacon on the pan and I'll do this." she said smiling. Yakko sighed and headed over to the pan and began to lay out the bacon. Just as Nelly cracked the last egg though she heard a thud and another "Ow!" come from his side of the kitchen. Looking over she found the frozen block of bacon on the floor and Yakko rubbing his foot. Nelly laughed.

"Get out and I'll cook breakfast." she said.

"But it--"

"Go! Before you kill yourself!" she said, interrupting his protesting.

Yakko sighed and headed out of the kitchen to go flop down on the couch, but just before he flopped she heard him call out, "You could set the table." Yakko rolled his eyes with a smile and headed back.

By the time Dot and the twins found it safe to once again come out, they found Nelly setting a plate of egg sandwiches on the table while Yakko brought out glasses of milk. Dot frowned as she saw Penelope and the twins didn't seem to care. Both stared at the sandwiches hungrily.

Nelly smiled. "Good morning." she said cheerily, as if the previous episode had never happened.

"Are those for us?" the twins asked as they pointed at the food. Nelly nodded and the twins quickly sat down, grabbing their forks, prepared to eat when given permission.

"Did you make those?" Dot asked suspiciously.

Nelly nodded and Dot added, "I'm not hungry, thanks." as she tried to retreat from the dining room.

"Dot Warner. Sit." Yakko commanded and Dot sighed walking over to her seat at the table.

Nelly and Yakko took their seats and Yakko grinned, his evil 'i'm-plotting-something' grin. "Now, before anyone eats, we are going to talk about what happened this morning. If the food grows cold, gets moldy or decomposes while we're talking, well then, that'll be your faults as well. Any questions?"

The twins proceeded to moan and Dot's frown grew deeper.

"Now, who would like to start?" Yakko asked. Nelly kept quiet. He owned the place, she didn't. Nuff said.

"I would like to say that I do not care who you date or when you do. I would just like to eat my breakfast." Swirls stated first.

"Nice comment, but not helpful. Wakko, comments?" Yakko asked.

"Isn't this cruel and unusual punishment?" Wakko asked.

"For our family? No." and then turning to look at Dot. "Would you care to talk about this?" he asked her.

Dot frowned. "This woman is using you for your reputation, your stardom and our money." she stated.

Yakko sighed and then smiled.

"But what you are not aware of sister sibling, as most people aren't except for me, Scratchy, and our dear friend Plotz is the undeniable fact of this statement. As far as our finances are, we are flat out broke."

Swirls, Wakko and Dot all looked at Yakko in horror.

"We're what?!" they asked terrified.

"Broke, bankrupt. We have no more money at all anywhere." Yakko put it simply for his siblings.

"How do you live then?" Penelope asked softly, worried.

"By our havoc my dear. Chaos always has a reason, and ours is for money. To sound cliché, people pay us to go away."

Dot grinned evilly and looked to Nelly, "So, I guess that's the end of your relationship, huh?"

"No." Nelly said right after Dot finished her sentence. "I do love your brother and whether he's flat broke or Bill Gates doesn't matter to me. What does is the fact that he returns my love. We have a true relationship." Nelly softly explained to Dot.

Dot took a deep breath and let it out. Her face grew worried and she looked to Yakko.

Yakko tried to offer her a warm grin it didn't work.

"They're hungry." she whispered as she pointed to the twins. The twins in turn looked to Yakko whose heart went out to his sister. "Everyone, eat. Dot, come with me." he said as he walked over to his sister and picked her up out of her chair and carried her out of the room.

It was mid-morning and people were staring as Yakko carried his sister as they walked throughout the studio in their pajama's. Once, Dot had whispered against his neck, "Put me down please." as she hung on tightly to him, but he didn't and continued to walk until they came upon an area of the studio they used as an outside set. It was where they had filmed one of the many Robin Hood's back in the 40's, but now it was just empty, hardly used for any movie anymore.

There was a small pond in the middle of the small forest, which was mostly filled with real plants. Yakko sat down at the base of pond, still holding Dot. But even when he had sat down, she didn't release him.

"If you don't let me go, you might choke me." he whispered jokingly in her ear.

"I don't care." she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

"Come on. What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't like Nelly." Dot said into his shoulder.

"Why not?"

"Because when you marry her she'll want to be our mother and she'll change everything." Dot continued into his shoulder. Her voice still muffled.

Yakko blinked and tried to look into Dot's face, but couldn't pull her away still. ~Just like my tail around Nelly's ankle.~ he thought.

"Who said I was planning to marry her?" he asked.

"When people fall in love, they get married." Dot said.

"But you love Mel Gibson. Does that mean you're going to marry him?" Yakko asked. "I'm only ten. You're 17. You could marry Nelly if ya wanted." Dot said, pulling away just a tad from her brother.

Yakko chuckled. "And age matters?" he kissed the top of Dot's head. "My dear sister, I will not marry Penelope, or any other woman for that matter until I have your blessing, does that sound all right to you?" Dot nodded a bit.

"Now, about this envy you have with women touching me," he began.

"I don't envy them!" Dot said.

"Well you must not like something. You don't like Scratchy's Nurse, you don't like Swirls, you don't like Nelly or Michelle Pfeiffer or--"

"All right! I don't like the girls you like! What of it?"

"That's just it. I'm a guy and I like all girls, what I don't get is why you can't understand this." Yakko said. Dot looked at his flannel p.j's.

"Cause I love you." she said softly.

"Dot, I love you too, but you're my sister. Not a girl I can randomly ogle." Yakko responded softly.

"I don't want you to leave me." she said as tears slid down her cheek as she pressed her face against his cheek. He rubbed the back of her head as he placed his chin on top of her head and looked out at the weeping willow.

"And I will never leave you, but Nelly is a very special girl to me and I'd very much like to get on with my life." Yakko told his sister. Dot nodded a bit. "Someday when you're older you'll meet a guy who will knock your dear old brother to number 200 on the list of guys you like." Dot giggled.

"No I won't." she said as she pulled away and looked to Yakko.

Yakko smiled and poked her nose. "Just you wait sister sibling, all too soon Wakko and I will have to fight the men off. Dot Warner will be the next Princess Grace!" Dot giggled and hugged Yakko.

"I'll stop getting jealous." she whispered.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me." Yakko replied and together they walked hand in hand back home.

Back at the tower Dot went off to her room to get dressed and Yakko found the twins cleaning up the table. Nelly headed over to Yakko with his glass of milk and asked softly, "Is she going to be okkay?"

Yakko nodded. "Yeah. She was just worried. Thought we were getting married." Yakko replied as the two walked to the kitchen.

"Married? We're not getting married...are we?" Nelly asked, surprised.

"Not that I know of, and if you think I'm going to propose to you right here and now, you've got another thing comin' sister. I may be able to tell you I love you, but marriage is a long way off." he replied before they entered the kitchen.

Nelly smiled. "All right." and she kissed his cheek before they entered the next room.

"Wakko and I left you and Dot a sandwich. We thought you'd get hungry." Swirls said without looking up from the dishes.

"Hey!" Nelly exclaimed angrily.

Wakko sighed. "Nelly thought you two would get hungry." he said, giving credit to where it was due.

Yakko smiled and picking up two sandwiches, quickly retreated, making sure Nelly was in tow, once out he gave her one sound piece of advice.

"If the twins take credit for not eating food, let them have it. It helps teach them discipline." Nelly nodded.

Yakko began to head down the hallway when Nelly stopped him.

"Let me do it," Penelope said. "So I can have a chance to talk to her."

Yakko nodded and handed her the sandwich.

"Her room is the one with the pink door. You can't miss it." he said softly.

Nelly nodded and made her way into the great beyond.

Nelly gently knocked on the door. It was so dark in the hallway that she had hardly been able to see the pink door of the girl's room.

"Come in." Dot's voice called out.

As Nelly gently opened the door and peered in, she found Dot sitting at her dressing table in her bloomers taking the curlers out of her hair.

"I brought you breakfast." Nelly said softly.

Dot turned and looked at Penelope and a shiver of fear ran through the woman. Dot raised a brow, which Nelly noted as being almost like Yakko's look, but Dot shrugged and looked back at her mirror. "Lay it on the bed." she said nonchalantly.

"On that pretty pink comforter?" Nelly asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Dot asked as she pulled the last curler from her hair and began to brush out the curls.

"Well, the grease would soak through and stain it." Nelly stated matter of factly. Dot hrmed and looked around the room. She pulled a few Kleenex's from a box and set them atop her nightstand.

"That shouldn't stain, should it?" she asked.

Nelly smiled. "Nope." she said as she placed the sandwich atop the Kleenex.

Nelly began to retreat when she suddenly heard, "I'm sorry." from Dot.

Nelly turned, "Why's that?"

"For screaming you awake this morning." Dot replied softly.

Nelly smiled. "I understand. You're very protective of your brother. You must love him very much."

"I do." Dot said as she slipped into her skirt.

"He's lucky to have a sister to watch over him. I was an only child so I never had the privilege." Nelly commented.

"I...guess I can watch over the two of you." Dot said slowly. Nelly smiled.

"You really are sweet Dot. Thanks." Nelly said and then quickly left.

Eventually all were dressed and knowing of the busy day ahead, they prepared for it as Yakko escorted Nelly to the door.

"Thank you for everything." Penelope said softly as she straightened one last wrinkle out of her skirt.

"My pleasure. Once again, let me apologize for--"

"There's no reason to explain Dot."

"I meant your ankle. Next time I'll be more careful." Yakko said with a grin.

"You think there might be a next time?" Nelly asked, sounding serious enough that worry washed over Yakko's face.

"Well, I was hoping there would be but if--" he tried explaining before Nelly chuckled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. Yakko smiled, relieved.

"I'll call you tonight if we find anything. Thanks for your help." he said.

Nelly nodded and left.

When the Warner Four entered the Los Alamos Asylum for the Insane, many of the nurses blinked and stared in shock. Never had they seen the Warners before and they never expected them to come waltzing into here.

The four approached the main desk but before Yakko could say anything the nurse quickly said, "This is no place for kids, especially you. Go home."

Yakko sighed and remembered that politeness always counted,

"We're here for a reason. We need to talk to Lon Borax." he told the nurse.

"Are you crazy?! You're the ones who sent him here!"

"But we need him to tell us about her." Yakko said as he pointed to Swirls.

The nurse looked to Swirls and then back to Yakko.

"That 'girl' looks exactly like Wakko. Don't tell me you three have been to Scotland and found cloning?"

"We did not!" Wakko protested as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Yeah! We're twins!" Swirls backed him up as she too crossed her arms. Dot helped and furrowed her brows. Yakko gave the nurse a smile.

"You do know what happens when my sibs get angry, riiight?" he asked wiggling his brows eluding to the impending chaos that could happen if they didn't get their way.

The nurse's eyes widened in fear.

"You wouldn't." she said, her voice getting soft.

"We would." Yakko said.

The Nurse sighed and motioned for one of the men of the hospital to come forward. "Escort the Warners to room 306, Borax, Lon. They may see him for 10 minutes, but watch them. Closely." the nurse said. The man nodded and proceeded to escort them to 306.

As the group of Warners and the nurse walked down the long corridors, they heard screaming and inane chattering. They watched as the mentally ill clawed at walls, talked to people who weren't there and swatted at imaginary flies. The four shivered in horror and prayed Lon wouldn't be in any of these states.

306 was the last room on the left of the hallway and the big beefy man who looked like he could crush skulls like grapes unlocked the door to a silent room. As he opened it, the four stood side-by-side and got to look at Lon Borax sitting upon his bed staring into nothingness.

"Ten Minutes." the man-nurse grunted and then shut the door on them and relocked it. They all quickly noted the walls were padded.

The sound of the door slamming seemed to wake Lon from his meditative state. His eyes seemed glassy, fogged over an unfocused. Obviously his insanity had been in control for years. None of the Warners knew which one should speak first and for a good minute the silence continued.

Lon turned to see who had entered and stared as he looked at each Warner, his sight resting on Swirls last. He blinked, confused and gently asked,

"Wakko, why is there two of you? How much do you eat?"

"Ther-There's only one of me, and I don't eat much." Wakko said, giving a half-truth.

Lon chuckled and said, "But I see two Wakko's. No, wait. The coloring is different. One wears a purple dress and a green hat. But my Swirlsie died, in the fire." Lon said as he peered over their heads and his eyes went distance, as if experiencing a flash back.

"Um, Mr. Borax, sir," Yakko began, his voice low and harsh, needing water, "What do you mean Swirlsie died? What do you know?"

"Oh, I know plenty my dear Yakko. I am your father, no? From my heads you four came after I had spent hours of watching movies to come up with ideas. But the studio head, he did not like the idea of twins and told me to throw out one of them. How could I separate such beauty? Oh, it was a hard choice indeed."

"But why split us at all?" the twins asked in unison trying so hard not to cry.

"Rivals. Many rivals and in the end I was told there can be only three. Yakko could be the guardian, to watch over you. Wakko to supply gadgets, and Dot to distract." Lon explained.

Swirls looked at the ground and whispered, "I was the Zeppo." she said softly.

Lon blinked and suddenly the unfocused eyes became focused and it was as if the insanity left him.

"Swirlsie! There are no Zeppo's! You are the Chico. You are the gambler and the one who makes deals when Yakko can only go so far. Even Zeppo was a very important part of the group."

"But he left." Dot said.

"Of course Dottie, because they thought there was no love. A family is only as strong as they can keep their love. And I loved all of you equally. So much so that when the studio told me to tear up Swirlsie, I gave her to a nun who liked my drawings. The Mother Superior of St. Catherine's. Sister Alice Melina Miller."

"I had a theory that when twins are separated they will find each other out of love, and was I not right my children?" Lon asked with a smile. The four Warners smiled back and ran up to Lon, hugging him tightly.

"I have missed you." he whispered to them, but they continued to hold him tight, afraid that letting go would have him revert back to his insanity.

"If you let me go, I have candy for you." he whispered. Instantly they all let him go and he lifted the mattress on his cot pulling out candy that had foreign labels on it. Each Warner held out their hands waiting to be given this special allowance. He gave Dot, Wakko and Swirls their piece but landing on Yakko he eyed him for a moment.

"Can you drink milk yet?" he asked.

His lactose intolerance. Yakko couldn't drink milk, but maybe Lon wouldn't know and so Yakko nodded. Lon pulled a cup from his nightstand and handed it to Yakko.

"Drink." he said.

Yakko looked down in the cup and realized it was milk. The real stuff too. If he drank it, he could get the candy and be done with it, but just looking at the milk made Yakko's stomach churn and begin to hurt. Yakko cringed, closed his eyes and placed the cup back on the nightstand and sighed. He heard Lon cluck his tongue at him.

"No candy if you can not drink milk."

Yakko sighed and asked hopefully, "Is there something else I can have?"

"Greedy greedy child! You see me next time and perhaps I will have something for you, but not them." and then they all looked towards the door as they heard it being unlocked.

The beefy man-nurse opened the door and grunted, "Time's up." and waited for them to leave. The four solemnly walked out of the room and watched as the door was closed on Lon Borax, their creator.

Once they were back in the main office, there wasn't anything they could do and so they headed home. Wakko, Swirls and Dot happily ate their candy and walked ahead of a disheartened and depressed Yakko who trailed behind. His hands were in his pockets and he fingered the paddleball he always kept in there. Why had he, the oldest, been denied such a delicacy as Lon's favorite candy? So what if it was laden with pure milk and would've cost Yakko dearly in the end. Didn't Lon speak of love? Didn't Lon love all his children equally? Yakko sighed and kicked a rock as he walked along. He didn't care and so he made his mind think of whom else could have caused the twins such misery. There had to be more police records. There had to be something somewhere. But his mind seemed to be stuck in a jam, frozen, not knowing what to do, and tingling with depression over the fact that their creator, their father had to be stuck far away and hardly ever be seen.

Once home, Wakko, Swirls and Dot decided to play '13 Dead End Drive'. A weird board game where players tried to kill the others. Yakko on the other hand went unnoticed by the sibs and so he headed to his room to figure out what he should do. He closed the door and barricaded it was a chair. He wanted privacy. He wanted to be alone. He wanted a hug.