Mom came upstairs slowly, she was tired. She opened Andy's door and walked to the bed.

"Here you go, little lady. You will meet your new owner tomorrow…Andy comes already twelve o'clock. You just lie on this pillow and wait… Autch, what the heck…these monkeys!"

And she went to undress Molly and took her to sleep beside herself downstairs.

When the route was clear, everybody rushed towards the bed. However, Woody, Zurg and Warp had decided that Miss Dashwood would be the first one to meet her. Woody told loudly everybody to stand back and go to their own businesses; he said that Miss Dashwood would present the newcomer to each one separately a little later.

Zurg helped Miss Dashwood on the bed. Warp stood beside him and smiled:

"There they're now. Our ladyz."

"What…? Our ladies…?"

"Well, I kinda fell in luv with missy B already in tha cella."

"I know. You are going to catch her."

"Yea, as soon as I can…she wuz a babe…though one-legged. But looka me arm. She'z juz perfect for me!"

"I think she is no more one-legged."

"Betta for'er, then. I'm gonna take'er anyway! I ain't gonna be the only single in our group! Ittz torturin'!"

"You are not the only single, Warp. I am single, too."

"As if! That fiery Missy Dashwood"

"Me and Miss Dashwood…don't misunderstand us. We're just friends."

"Yea right! I see in yar eyez thatyar in luv with'er!"

Zurg got a little angry; he had not known that his feelings showed out so clearly.

"And what if I was? Marianne Dashwood would never think of me more than she would of you, Warp. She would never feel the same! She is so demanding. And I am too old for her."

Warp wrinkled his brows:

"Bah! Don't think of yourself so meanly. I'm gonna catch Miss B and yar gonna take Miss D, thatz how it happens. And thisiz the end of this subject."

Zurg didn't quite believe him.

On the bed, Miss Dashwood approached Miss Bennet with fearful and excited heart. However, all the feelings turned to pure and deep friend-love when she saw her. The feeling was both-sided. They rushed to hug each other and smiled happily.

"Well look at you, Marianne!"

Miss Bennet had tears of joy in her eyes. Miss Dashwood cried openly.

"Oh, Eliza!" she sobbed.

Then they hugged warmly again and sat down to the pillow together.

"I have missed you so much!"

"And I've missed you, too. It has been nearly… twenty-eight years."

They both looked each other in the eye. Miss Bennet said:

"You seem to have recovered well from your shock yesterday."

"Yes I have. But look at you! You are like a new toy!"

"True! And I finally got my leg back! It works like a dream! And I got tidied, too. I also got a new dress. This yellow one fits me quite well, don't you think?"

And they laughed together to their silly talking.

"Let me hug you once more, my dear Lizzy!"

Then they both settled down.

"Marianne, I want to know what has happened to you during these many, many years."

"And I want to hear your story, too. Tell me… why were we separated? You just suddenly lost somewhere!"

Miss Bennet gave Miss Dashwood a grave stir.

"Do you remember that it was an early spring of sixty-nine when we last sat down and talked like this? It was also the last time I saw you."

"I remember."

"And can you also recall that the circus had come in town? Victoria took me with her there."

"Indeed!"

"After the show, Victoria left me accidentally on the bench. And… before she noticed her mistake and came to fetch me –which I am certain that she did –another girl took me."

"Oh, she was very selfish! I bet she knew she shouldn't have taken you!"

"Yes. But she was eventually a nice girl. Her name was Emma. She was twelve then –where as our Victoria was only seven. Well, I was drawn into a whole new world with Emma. And I liked that world, it was exciting. But I couldn't forget you and Victoria. And so I was sad for many years."

"And afterwards?"

"I was relatively happy. I namely found a lot of things to do. And I had several admirers, too, which was real fun. But I never really fell in love."

"I am glad that you got a good life! Had I known it, I would've rejoiced with you."

"But it all ended when Emma turned seventeen. She namely didn't pay much attention to us toys anymore. She got interested in men."

"The same thing happened to one of my friends here, Jessie. Her owner abandoned her."

"That is terrible. But that's not what happened to me. I was still Emma's treasure and kept on a shelf. Emma just fell so much in love with this Frenchman Jean-Claude Ramosee. She got pregnant and had twins in the age of eighteen. Too young, thought I. But they had a happy marriage… They lived in this very house until Jean-Claude had to move back to France."

"This has been your home?"

"Yes. This room was Belle's. And Lumiére's room was that one on the other side of the corridor."

"Molly's room…"

"Anyway, when the twins grew up, Emma let them play also with me. And in my opinion, which, I dare say, no-one would disagree, Belle was indeed a charming little princess. She gave me as much love as Emma and Victoria together. I really must say that I've been lucky for almost all my life. That is why I never saw the change coming."
"Tell me."

"Well, Belle and Lumiére were not the only children. Somewhere in the middle of the eighties, Emma and Jean-Claude had a third child, Hades. He was the one who broke my perfect life. He was a real horror of the house. And so it happened that on Belle's fifteenth birthday year 1990, Hades came here, to her room, and, with the whole temper of a five-year-old child, started to mess up the room. Belle was not here then. And I watched him breaking several glass items, Belle's perfume bottles, her porcelain lamp…and finally me."

"You poor thing! But why didn't Belle get you fixed afterwards?"

"She didn't find me anywhere. Hades namely understood by himself that I was very dear to his sister and therefore hid me into that cellar."

"That wicked child!"

"No-one found me. I actually found it quite weird that no-one ever came down there. Oh…once a pipe repairer came to install a new watershed. But he didn't care much for me, just put the watershed to its place and kicked me even more behind it, nearer to the corner."

"Unforgivable!"

"And what's more, I never saw my leg anywhere. I thought that I was doomed to be legless forever! Now I see that Hades did bring it down there, but just threw it away from my reach. So I couldn't move. And I was stiff of horror when I saw the spiders that the new machine tempted there!"

"Don't remind me about them! I was scared to death yesterday! How could you ever keep your sanity there?"

"Well, I didn't want to let my life go. But when the years passed I got weaker and fell in deep depression. I lost my hope. I didn't care of the spiders anymore, I just let them be…let them set their disgusting webs on me. Nothing really mattered. After all, I could say that the spiders were my only friends there."

"Don't talk that way! No one could ever keep a spider as a friend! Oh, I can't even imagine how you felt there! The heavy humidity, the noisy machine, the spiders with their cobwebs and… Heavens!"

"But then I saw you! At first I paid no attention to you for I thought I hallucinated. But when I realized that you were real, that it really was you, I tried to get your attention. For the first time in many years I felt a little hope."

"Indeed you succeeded to get my attention; but with no wished results, I dare say. I was already so scared that I couldn't bare anything anymore –least of all a cobweb-covered girl!"

"Calm down, I was not mad at you. I understood you. I knew I was a horrible sight!"

"But then, why didn't Zurg, Matt, Katie or Buzz see you?"

"Remember that I was unable to speak. And besides, your friends were very concentrated on the spiders. And that tall man was extremely concentrated on you…"

"What are you smiling? Lizzy, me and Zurg have nothing going on."

"No, I didn't say so. Why do you think that I would assume something like that? Unless…you two really have something going on…!"

"Lizzy!"

"Alright! I won't tease you. Now it's your time to tell your story. Where's Victoria? This seems a boy's room to me."

"This is. Andy's room. Andy is my new owner. Actually he got me from Annabelle only a few hours ago."

"Annabelle? Is she a child of Victoria?"

"No. Listen dear…I have something really sad to tell you. Take my hands."

"What is it?"

"Victoria…is dead."

"What did you say?" Miss Bennet could only whisper.

"Victoria is dead, Eliza. Has been already for twenty-eight years. She…she died only a week after you disappeared."

Miss Bennet was silent. She was dizzy. But Miss Dashwood knew that she wanted to know more.

"She was playing in the sandpit. I was with her, sitting on the edge. Suddenly…I saw her trying to cough. But she couldn't. Something was wrong, I knew it. And then…she…she began to turn violet. She fell down…she…"

There Miss Dashwood had to stop for she found herself crying loud. Miss Bennet cried with her.

"She…she suffocated! To a little block of Lego, which I was later to know."

Five minutes passed crying. Then Miss Bennet rose her head and wiped off her tears.

"Marianne…we can not be miserable today. I have finally found you! And got back my life! There's still so many things to discuss!"

"You are right…"

"Now…dear…how did you get here? To this house?"

"Well…you see…Victoria was the only child. Dad couldn't bare his lost in any way. So he got rid of everything that reminded him from her. Also from me."

"So where did you go?"

"To a jumble sale. I was bought by Marge, Annabelle's mother. Oh…I must explain the relations better. Andy, who now owns us, got me today from Annabelle, who is his cousin. And Marge, as I already mentioned, is Annabelle's mother."

"I try to understand." Miss Bennet smiled.

"Marge was, of course, a child in the sixties. Not a particularly young child, but fourteen. She loved to dress me in different costumes and imagined one Ken-doll my husband. I hated Ken, he was so full of himself, but how could Marge have known it… Em…It happened that she got married, too, in the age of twenty-nine. She gave birth to Annabelle two years later. And this Annabelle has been my owner from there to this day. But I must mention that I cannot even compare her to your Belle or Emma; she always disliked me, never showed me love."

"That is really a shame! How could she not like you; you are just adorable!"

"Not quite…but hey, here we have talked almost an hour and you haven't even met my friends yet! Come on, they must be dying to see you!"