EPILOGUE
"It's even worse when she throws her sandals at you. That's when you know you've really crossed the line. More tea?"
"Yes, thanks."
"HONEY! COULDJA MAKE ANOTHER POT OF TEA?"
"You're such a loving husband," Vay said with mock sweetness. "Why don't you get up and do it?"
"She wants to do everything herself," Wendy replied. "And I mean everything. Last week she went out experiment hunting with Lilo and Stitch and caught three experiments all by herself. She was covered in scratches, mud, feathers and God knows what else by the time she came home. And she wasn't the least bit exhausted."
"That's pretty impressive for someone in her condition, but I think you should be more insistent on handling all the physical work around the house. She really ought to take it easy."
Wendy looked at his mother incredulously. "Are you kidding? If I so much as try to lend a hand, she bites my head off. The last time I did her laundry, she chucked a sandal at me! Talk about touchy! Must be all the hormones."
Vay nodded sagely, an odd smirk on her face as she appeared to be looking past Wendy at something behind him. Following her gaze, Wendy turned and found himself face to face with Leera, who had just entered the living room carrying a large, steaming teapot. Wendy smiled weakly at her and held his hands out.
"Oh, thanks, hun. I'll take that."
Returning his smile, Leera leaned forward and handed him the pot. With clearly exaggerated clumsiness, she leaned too far and began to stumble, then righted herself just in time. A drop or two of hot water leaped from the spout and landed in Wendy's lap. Wendy screamed in agony while Leera set the teapot on the table.
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry!" she whined, throwing her arms around him. Wendy sensed the insincerity in her words and said "Th-that's okay, love. After all, it was just an accident. Right?" He said this last word with an emphasis that made Leera blush, then grin fiercely at her husband.
"When in doubt, just blame the hormones!" she told him, giving him a look that both teased and threatened at the same time. She sat down next to him on the sofa and leaned against him expectantly. Wendy hesitated a moment before wrapping an arm around her and pecking her on the cheek. Crestfallen by this lackluster show of affection, Leera turned with lightning-quick reflexes, threw her arms around him and pulled him close, kissing him full on the mouth.
Wendy squirmed out of her hold and gasped for air. "Leera! Not in front of Mom!"
Vay laughed heartily. "Oh, don't mind me! Just pretend I'm not here!"
"Moooommmm," Wendy grumbled. "Don't encourage her!"
But Leera was already moving in for another kiss. At that moment, and to Wendy's huge relief, Lilo and Stitch came bursting in through the front door. Just home from school, Lilo flung her backpack aside and wasted no time lunging on Leera. She hugged her tightly around the middle, and Leera returned the hug.
"Careful, now, Lilo!" Wendy scolded, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're gonna squish the baby if you keep squeezing her like that!"
Lilo loosened her hold and then finally let go.
"But there's nothing in there to squish yet!" she exclaimed, looking at the obvious bulge in Leera's abdomen.
"Oh, yes there is!" Wendy argued. "It may not be very big yet, but it's in there alright!"
Lilo looked at Leera curiously. "Are you sure you haven't just put on a few pounds?"
"I'm positive," Leera replied, smiling. "In fact, I can feel the baby kicking as we speak."
Lilo's eyes grew wide with astonishment. "You can?"
Leera patted her belly fondly. "Yep. Feel for yourself." Taking the little girl's hand, she guided it to the precise spot and held it firmly in place. When Lilo felt it kick, she gasped, then giggled.
"I bet he's gonna be a real good soccer player. Or a donkey. Come feel this, Stitch! It's weird! And by that I mean cool," she added, grinning up at Leera.
Stitch rolled over to them and stood up, staring at Leera's middle with wide puppy dog eyes.
"C'mon, feel!" Lilo urged. When he was close enough, she grabbed his paw and put it in the same spot her own hand had been a moment before. Stitch waited for nearly a minute, but felt nothing. He quickly grew bored with waiting and started to poke Leera's belly, hoping for a reaction from within.
"Hey!" Wendy yelled, swatting Stitch's paw. "No poking the wife!"
Far from annoyed, Leera giggled a little at each poke, being rather ticklish in that particular spot. When the baby finally kicked again, she gasped.
"Feels like someone wants to come out early and return your pokes!" she told Stitch, directing his paw to the right place so he could feel. Sensing the chaotic movements of the baby within, Stitch's ears shot up and his eyes widened with keen interest.
"Ooooooooooohhhhhhh!" he said, fascinated by what he felt.
"How much longer till the baby's born?" Lilo asked.
"Hmmm. 'Bout another Earth month, I'd say," Leera replied.
"What's it gonna be? A boy or a girl?"
"We won't know that till it's born."
"But you could always find out…" Lilo suggested. Leera smiled.
"True, but we'd like it to be a surprise. Right, Wendy?"
At this, Wendy put an arm around his wife and drew her close, then put his other hand on her belly and rubbed it affectionately.
"That's right!"
"Buuut, aren't you worried it's gonna turn out to be some kinda mutant? Or twins? Or both? Or what if it's not a boy or a girl? What if it's an it? Or what if it's both a boy and a girl? You know, like a hermaphro-daffy-whatchamacallit?"
Wendy looked at the little girl in shock. "You mean a hermaphrodite?"
Lilo nodded.
"Now where'd you learn that word?"
"I heard Jumba call you that. He said it meant you were gender-confused, or something."
Wendy blushed a little, then waved his hand dismissively and laughed. "Oh, I get it! You mean a transvestite! Yeah, Jumba just likes to poke fun at me for wearing women's clothing. Personally, I think he's just jealous 'cuz I'm much prettier than he is in a dress." He glanced sideways at Leera, who was giving him a suspicious look, and added, "But not nearly as pretty as you, of course!"
Lilo smirked. "No, I'm pretty sure he said 'hermaphrodite.' That means you're both a boy and a girl, doesn't it?"
"Well, yes, but I'm pretty sure there's no feminine side to me, besides the whole dress-wearing thing. And watching soap operas. And taking long, luxurious bubble baths by candlelight."
"Not to mention crying every time you find a tangle in one of your wigs!" Leera teased.
"So you're not worried your kids are gonna turn out like that?" Lilo asked, looking back and forth at the two Plorginarians.
Leera smiled and leaned her head on her husband's shoulder. "Well, with Wendy as the father, you never know." She patted her stomach again. "Whatever it is, it ought to be a pleasant surprise."
"I thought you said you hated surprises," Lilo said, looking at Wendy suspiciously. "Especially after all the stuff you went through with those Kaizaxx dummies."
Wendy simply shrugged, his arms still wrapped around his wife. "Life's full of surprises," he said. "You can't avoid them. Believe me, I've tried. They may not always be good surprises, but that's life. All you can do is roll out the welcome mat and be ready for the next one. Of course, you don't always have to welcome new surprises, but you definitely need to know how to deal with them when they arrive. Like a certain little monster we all know!"
His last words caught the attention of Stitch, who quickly pulled his head out from under Wendy's dress and stood up. Wendy frowned down at him, though it looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh.
Stitch gave a big toothy grin and said, "Ih! Chakuuta na gala neega! Zizi blat!"
Lilo rolled her eyes and sighed. "If you say so."
THE REAL END
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Well, it's been one helluva journey, and now that the end is here, I'm speechless. I know how you all feel now when you said you didn't want to see it end so soon, although this is probably the longest L&S fic on FFN. Last time I checked, it was, but that was several months ago. I must admit, I never thought I'd be able to entertain anyone with my story. It was just something I wanted to write, to entertain myself.
I was quite surprised by the size of my audience in the end, although I know there are probably a lot more than have been giving reviews. I myself rarely give reviews, if at all. Ashamed of that fact, and knowing for myself how good it feels to get a review, I hereby vow to review every fic I read from now on.
Thank you all for reading, and I hope you've all enjoyed "Pleakley's Story" as much as I've enjoyed writing it. And to those who have been faithful in giving me their constant reviews, XOXOXOXOXO and mahalo plenty.
To be honest, I had no idea where I was going with this for most of the time I was writing it. That probably explains all the glaring mistakes sprinkled throughout the story and my hideous formatting style in the first several chapters. Hopefully I will find the time and energy to go back and fix them someday.
As for future fics, I do plan and sincerely hope to write more, especially about my favorite character, Pleakley. Of course, I also intend to finish some of my other fics, such as "The Viewmaster." As for "Jumba's Story," I don't know. For now I am putting it on hold.
I have a few ideas for some L&S stories (most of which will be much shorter than "Pleakley's Story"), though none of them really involve Vay or Leera. I know a lot of you like my fan characters, and I would be more than happy to continue writing about them, so if you'd like to see them again, and if you have any ideas for a fic involving them, please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
I would also like to remind my readers that fan art for "Pleakley's Story" and "The Viewmaster" is still available upon request. Please email me at if you would like to see them. I have pics of Vay, Leera, Le'Kruune, Taisiya (grand councilwoman's daughter) and more pics of Vay with Wendy as a baby. Super cute!
And now, a note of interest to all my faithful readers and fans… I apologize for some of my shoddy work as of late, and for all the delays in updating my stories. There's a reason for that. Don't expect to hear much from me for the next month or two, because I am putting my fanfic career on hold in order to pursue my true writing career as a published author. Having just had my second book accepted for publication, I am now stretched to my limits trying to meet a submission deadline of September 1st. Though my book is technically finished, I am currently in the middle of final-drafting and editing, as well as adding some brand new stuff to the storyline. Though I usually work well under stress, I may very well be at my wit's end by the time my manuscript is shipped off to the publisher.
That's also why "Pleakley's Story" ended so abruptly, and with all those glaring mistakes and loopholes. Still, I wanted to wrap it up thoroughly before continuing with the fantasy novel I'm publishing. You know what they say: "Finish what you start," and "Never start one thing until you finish another." The latter doesn't necessarily hold true for writers. In fact, that rule is broken a lot more than it is adhered to, and with good reason. I myself am in the middle of several different writing projects, all of which I started at different times. When I get stumped on one of them, I can simply move on to the next.
Since I forced myself to finish "Pleakley's Story" before undertaking the task of finalizing my manuscript for my publisher, I feel a sense of satisfaction and completion. No matter what they say, it really does feel a lot better to finish one thing before starting on another.
As for my L&S writing, I definitely plan to be back at it this fall, if not sooner. And to all of you who are wondering… yes, there WILL be a sequel to "Pleakley's Story." I think you can all guess from the epilogue where I'll be going with it. However, there will be plenty of surprises as well. I don't plan to make it nearly as long as "Pleakley's Story," but then, I didn't plan to make "Pleakley's Story" as long as it turned out to be. I can't say when I will start on it, since I am now very busy with my second book deal, but I hope to have it up and running by early September.
AND NOW TO ANSWER THE REVIEWS.
Bluefox: Thank you so much for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for that sssssexy Captain Gantu, aka Mr. Universe… haven't seen 'im around lately, but next time I do I'll be sure to include him one of my stories, and I promise I'll give him a more dignified role than he had in "Mustard!"
Tortured Artist: Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for your questions… I realize I left more than a few little inconsistencies throughout the story, and what happened to Leera and Vay was one of them. I was going to explain how they escaped Le'Kruune's ship, but stupidly enough, I kept either forgetting or putting it off. I plan to go back and do some editing throughout the entire story, but for now, please accept the crappy explanation that they were able to get into an escape pod at the last second and blast off, crash-landing on some desert planet where it took them a few weeks to find the help and resources needed to come to Earth to see Wendy. In answer to your second question, yes, I will finish "The Viewmaster." I've been wanting to very badly, but between a terminal case of writer's block and various other things, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. And in answer to your third question, yes, I think there will be more stories with Vay and Pleakley in them. And not just the sequel. Pleakley is still my favorite L&S character, and I have enjoyed writing about him and my fan character version of his mother, Vay. Judging from past reviews of "Pleakley's Story" and "The Viewmaster," I take it she is rather highly-rated among L&S fan characters.
Peacepop: Glad you liked "Pleakley's Story" and thanx for R&Ring. In answer to your questions, and to reiterate - yes, there shall be more in the future about Wendy, Vay and Leera and the others. I'm not exactly sure just yet, beyond the sequel, but I definitely want to write more about them. As for other L&S related things I'm working on… I'd prefer not to tell right here and now. Not because I want it to be a surprise, but… well, maybe partly because of that, but mostly because a brief paragraph describing my next fic idea would never do it justice, and will probably sound stupider than the story really is. If you would still like to know what I've got in mind, email me and I'll let you know.
Sunrise19: Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I'm glad you found it entertaining. I don't know about Nani and David getting married. It certainly would not be something I would really focus my writing on, but it could happen. I'm really not much of a Nani fan. In fact, I hate the way the series portrays her as a nagging, unloving b---- who doesn't seem to give a damn whether the aliens live or die. If I write any more about her, there's going to be some big changes in her attitude. If I were her, I would be so happy and grateful to have such a unique family. But that's just me, and I'm a lot more like Lilo than Nani, anyway. I can relate to her SO much better. In fact, I myself spent five years in foster care, but Lilo was very lucky that she didn't have to. But I digress. As for Pleakley becoming a dad… I think we all know the answer to that one now!