Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo & Stitch or any of the characters therein.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
FLASH FORWARD

Things were just starting to get good when Jumba stumbled onto the part about Pleakley's mother being - as HE put it - a woman of questionable virtues. It was only lucky that Nani had been listening in on his reading aloud to Lilo the whole time… he probably would have plowed right through to some of the darker passages without giving it a second thought.

"Okay, that's enough reading for one night!" she said quickly, jumping up from her seat across the room and snatching the book out of the alien's hands. She turned to her sister, smiling hysterically. "Off to bed now, Lilo. It's getting late, and you have school tomorrow."

"But tomorrow's Saturday!" Lilo objected. "And it's only eight-thirty!"

"I said go to bed, not give me a hundred excuses!"

"But I wanna hear what happens to Pleakley's m -"

"I said NOW!"

Frustrated, Lilo stuck her tongue out at Nani before stomping off toward her bedroom. Stitch scampered along after her. When they were safely out of earshot, Nani glared back at Jumba, who was still sitting on the couch. He looked back at her uncomfortably.

"Vhat?"

"You could have been a little more careful about what you were reading to her! A seven-year-old girl shouldn't be hearing about how someone's mother chose to make a living!"

Jumba looked affronted. "But is Pleakley's story, not mine, and you said ve could read it. You said nothing about censorship."

Nani growled. "There's a little thing called 'common sense' - try getting yourself some! You could have scanned ahead a little before sharing it with Lilo!"

"But is Pleakley ve're talking about! Who vould think that his past vould be filled vith such demons! I don't know about you, larger girl, but personally I am still reeling vith shock."

At this, Nani sighed, sitting down on the couch beside him. "I know what you mean," she whispered. "I can't believe it either." They sat together in silence for about a minute, both of them staring at the floor. When a soft sound caught Jumba's attention, he looked up. Next to him, Nani was sobbing. She shut her eyes tight and he watched as a tear squeezed out and streamed down her cheek. For a moment, he was alarmed. Nani was the last person he would have expected to break down like that. He had never seen her so distraught, save for the time the big dummy Gantu had abducted Lilo. He shifted uncomfortably, struggling with his own mixture of emotions. Part of him was still with Pleakley, filled with empathetic fury and pain, and part of him was with Nani, her own pain stronger and more tangible to him since she was right there beside him. Should he reach out to her… put an arm around her and comfort her? Or would that be overstepping his bounds? He was ohana now, but that still didn't change his feeling of being alien. He wanted to comfort her, but he was afraid… not of her feelings, but his own.

"Those bastards," Nani whispered, and Jumba looked at her in surprise. She looked back at him, her eyes shining with tears. "Why?" she demanded of him. "Why did they do those things?!! Pleakley would never even harm a mosquito, but those monsters!!! Those horrible monsters…" she sobbed loudly, unable to continue. She buried her face in her hands to stifle her tears. Jumba's heart wrenched painfully at the sight. Tears were actually starting to form in his own eyes, and he was surprised at himself. He couldn't even remember the last time he had cried. He was very close to it now, but he set his jaw and remained firm. He could be strong for himself, but could he also be strong for Nani? He felt it was his duty to try. Letting himself go, he lifted a thick arm and laid it lightly on her shoulder. Nani startled him by sobbing even louder, then turning to him and burying her face in his chest. He wrapped both arms around her then, and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Sshhh. Is alright, Earth girl. Nani. Uncle Jumba is here for you. He'll figure out a vay to help your little one-eyed one. Ve all vill. All for one, as your two musketeers vould say."

"Three," Nani corrected him, sitting up straight and wiping her eyes.

"Vhat, there are three now?" Jumba asked, looking puzzled.

* * * *

Okay, I know that was extremely short and it sucked. I'm working on it, though. I'm kinda in a hurry to get back to the main issues, but for the sake of some of my readers I felt obliged to revisit the present and clear up a few discrepancies. It's tough, but I'm working really hard to weave all this together to make it turn out right in the end. Don't worry, folks - I promise we'll go back to Nani's pretty soon, and back to California to check up on Pleakley! First I gotta find out where Cobra stashed him… I know he's SOMEWHERE in my home county… I'll be taking a little trip over there for Halloween… full report when I get back!!!