Karen and Stitch

By Sapadu

Notes: Lord, please help me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. I just own the actual Karen and Stitch dolls. I don't even own this plot- my subconscious does, because it's based completely on a dream I had.

Mac was used to abandoned imaginary friends coming to the Foster's. Mac was used to the occasional family coming to adopt an imaginary friend. Mac had even gotten used to the even rarer salesman, selling something for the imaginary friends. The only thing so rare that Mac had never had the CHANCE to get used to them were the grown-ups, or older high school kids coming to the gate of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, with their imaginary friend right behind them.

What was even stranger was that the girl he saw before him had to be older than... Terrance! Yet, she was on her knees, at the gate, with two imaginary friends in her arms. She was panting, just barely supporting her weight by leaning on the gate, her hair was coming loose from it's ponytail holder, and her clothes were muddy, scratched, torn, and grass-stained. She also didn't seem to care that she was sitting in the middle of a rainstorm, but she was certainly devoted to keeping her two imaginary friends from getting wet.

"Um... hey... do you want to come inside? It's raining out here and you're getting... REALLY wet." Mac offered, lamely. The girl blinked up at him, before getting to her feet and following him. Mac trotted along, holding his raincoat tighter to him while the girl took staggering, hunched over strides right behind him.

She was DEFINITELY keeping her imaginary friends dry.

Finally, they got up onto the porch and Mac knocked the big wooden doors, while the girl straightened up and shifted her rather stiff imaginary friends into one arm so she could use her other hand to wring out her hair.

Mac took a good look at the imaginary friends while he waited for someone to come unlock the door. There was a baby girl, severely deformed, bald with little purple marks on the back of her head, that looked like someone had drawn on her head with a purple marker, and brown eyes. She was wearing a cute pink dress with a white lace collar.

The other was something like a stuffed animal with blue fur- Mac had seen him in a movie called 'Lilo and Stitch' once. For a moment, Mac thought that maybe those weren't imaginary friends at all, but just a doll and a stuffed Stitch toy, but the doll's head moved and one of her plush hands touched the girl's face before she spoke, in a little girl voice.

"Momma, are you okay?" The baby doll asked. Mac almost jumped backwards because of how small, yet shockingly crystal clear the doll's voice was.

"'M fine..." The girl muttered, and then, she looked at Mac, who was REALLY wishing Mr. Harriman or Frankie or SOMEONE would answer the door.

"Sorry. My name's Jaky. Karen, Stitch, what to we say to the nice man who invited us in?" The girl extended the two dolls towards Mac. Both toys suddenly became quite animated.

"Hello. Thank you for inviting us in, Mr. Nice Man." Karen said, sweetly. Mac blinked and looked at the Stitch stuffed animal, who was either coming down with a cold, or clearing his throat.

"H- h- HIIII!" Stitch finally said, baring his teeth and wiggling his claws in what Mac supposed was a wave. Mac tripped over his feet and scooted backward.

Frankie opened the door, shouting over her shoulder at someone to 'get off the curtains, or else'.

"Hi Mac! Sorry about the delay- All the imaginary friends get crazy on rainy days from being cooped up in the house all day." Frankie said, smiling very tiredly. Frankie then saw the muddy Jaky and her two imaginary doll friends.

"Um..." Mac said, his eyes shifting slowly from Frankie to Jaky, "Frankie... this is... Jaky... and... Karen and Stitch..." Frankie stared, surveying Jaky from top to bottom. Jaky, for her part, was clutching Karen and Stitch to her chest as though she thought Frankie or Mac would steal them if given the opportunity.

"Um... Jaky... why are you completely soaked, muddy, and bruised?" Frankie finally asked, obviously not about to let her in with Mr. Harriman on guard of the good carpet and her shoes so muddy.

"Oh, yeah... I was in a rush to get here to beat the rain, so I took a shortcut that I shouldn't have through a hedge, then I tripped over someone's hose and fell into the mud, and I'm just clumsy and wasn't watching what I was doing, so I fell on the sidewalk three different times and that's why I'm such a mess. Sorry about that." Jaky explained, scratching her head, then realizing that her hands were muddy and stopping.

"Okay, well... I'm just warning you, Mr. Harriman is REALLY picky about the good carpets, so if you get mud on them, YOU'RE getting it out." Frankie warned her. Jaky set Karen and Stitch down on the porch where Karen walked, completely on her own, into the house. Stitch crawled after her on all fours, sniffing at everything. Jaky took off her shoes and carefully tiptoed into the house in her sock feet. Mac followed her and closed the door.

Promptly, Mac was tackled by Bloo, whom was overjoyed to see his pal on a rainy day. Before the two of them could go outside and splash in the mud puddles, however, Frankie took their raincoats and boots away, saying that the last time they'd done that, everyone had had a scary night and she had no desire to repeat the experience of getting locked out of the Foster house because three scared imaginary friends barred the doors and windows.

Wilt, cheerful as ever, made everyone hot chocolate with some marshmallows that hatched from one of CoCo's eggs. When everyone was dry and warm and snug in front of the fireplace with their hot chocolate, Karen pulled out a little plastic tea set and poured a cup of "tea" for herself before adding "sugar". Stitch sat down with her.

"Karen. Umsatch, nase kuku." Stitch said, picking up one of the teacups and saucers. Karen must have understood what he said. (What Stitch had said was 'Karen. Tea, please.')

"One lump or two?" Karen asked, after filling Stitch's cup and offering the sugar bowl.

"Nush." Stitch replied and Karen plopped two sugar lumps into his cup. Everyone except Jaky and Madam Foster stared at this. Wilt's jaw was dropped, Bloo's eyes were wide, Eduardo, Mac, and Frankie blinked.

"They do this all the time. Ever since I got Stitch from a friend who was moving away, he and Karen have gotten along so well, I almost think that they're going to get married someday." Jaky said, watching the two dolls have their little tea party.

"Ooooh! Looks like fun! Can I join¿por favor?" Eduardo asked, scooting over and extending a hoof. Karen put a cup on his hoof and poured him tea.

"Sí, claro, Señor." Karen replied. Stitch made some grumbling noises but didn't do anything. (For those who don't speak Spanish, Eduardo asked 'Please' and Karen said 'Yes, of course, Mister')

"Muchas gracias, Senorita Karen." Eduardo said, sounding absolutely delighted that someone understood when he spoke Spanish. Meanwhile, Jaky was telling her story of what in the world she was doing at Foster's.

"You see, Karen is as old as I am- when I was first born, I got her as a gift from my grandmother, as a doll and over time, Karen also became a kind of imaginary friend for me- to me, Karen was, and still is, alive and not just a toy. Then, I got Stitch from pretty much my only human friend when she moved, five years ago, and the same thing happened. I'm eighteen right now, and I just graduated high school so I'm going to college next, but my mom wants me to get rid of Karen and Stitch because 'It's not proper for a mature college student to be so attached to such old, childish toys'." Jaky explained, and while everyone looked appropriately sympathetic, she chased the stray pieces of marshmallow floating in her hot chocolate.

"That sounds a lot like why my mom told me to get rid of Bloo." Said Mac, thoughtfully. Bloo drooped an arm around Mac's shoulder.

"Yeah, well... What're ya gonna do? Old Mac here just knew how cool and great of a friend I was- and you don't get those every day, ya know- and he just didn't have the heart to part with me." Bloo said, in his usual... well... Bloo-ish manner. Mac looked exasperated.

"Well, I know Foster's looks like a very attractive choice to put your imaginary friends in, but there is ONE little catch..." Wilt offered, propped up against the wall with his stubbed arm and gesturing with his hand arm. Frankie chugged the last of her hot chocolate and took over Wilt's explanation.

"What Wilt is saying is that Foster's isn't like a nursing home for imaginary friends- Foster's is a foster home and pretty much all of the imaginary friends here want to be adopted sooner or later. If you leave Karen and Stitch here, they'll get adopted, eventually." Frankie said, waving a hand. At hearing this, Karen dropped her tea and saucer and ran for Jaky, clinging onto her arm.

"But... Karen wants MOMMA, not someone ELSE!" Karen protested, quite loudly. Stitch also dropped his tea, but turned to face Frankie, his ears pressed flat against his head, growling, his teeth bared, and his claws out. Eduardo started to cry and ran away from Stitch. CoCo started clucking 'Coco coco coco!' and laying eggs. Bloo and Mac screamed and clung to each other. Frankie jumped onto the back of Madam Foster's chair and tried to put as much distance between her and Stitch as possible.

Jaky grabbed Stitch's tail and pulled him back.

"Stitch! What have I told you about growling at people who we've just met?" She reprimanded, sternly. Stitch snarled and pointed at Frankie.

"She make Karen cry. NOBODY make Karen cry." Stitch growled through a thick voice. Jaky extended her hand and patted Stitch on the head. He stopped snarling and his ears loosened, a purring kind of noise coming from his throat.

"Sorry about that. He's really protective of Karen. But then, I'm kind of protective of the both of them." Jaky apologized, bowing so her hair touched the floor. Wilt had disappeared with CoCo to drag Eduardo back into the room. Finally, they returned with a calmed down Eduardo and more hot chocolate for everyone. Bloo and Mac finally let go of each other and all of CoCo's eggs hatched to reveal more marshmallows. Everyone put them in their hot chocolate and they were done with in a short order.

"Well, Jaky, I know that you really don't want to let them go, and that's all well and good, but we can't have Stitch around here if he's going to do that every time someone wants to adopt either him or Karen. And if you leave them here, they're up for adoption, straight out." Frankie said, making a hopeless gesture. Jaky looked rather disappointed, and went back to watching her two dolls having their tea party, which had now included Coco and Wilt.

"HEY! I'VE GOT IT!" Bloo shouted, raising his arm triumphantly. Mac smacked his head with his palm. Every time Bloo said THAT, disaster ensued.

"Okay, do you guys remember my first days at Foster's, before Madam Foster had offered Mac that deal where I don't go up for adoption as long as Mac visited me every day?" Bloo asked, creeping over to the others. Wilt turned away from his tea- which was really more like juice- and smiled.

"Oh, sure. I remember- that first day, a little girl wanted to adopt you and call you Tiffany, so she chased you all through the mansion and all of us tried to help you, but kept loosing you to one of the other two, thinking the others weren't trying to help and she kept chasing you and calling you Tiffany and..." Wilt said, putting down his tea and lifting his fingers one at a time to keep track of events. Bloo put his 'hand' over Wilt's mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for reminding me of that TOTALLY humiliating experience, Wilt." Bloo interrupted, sarcastically, with half lidded eyes.

"You're welcome." Wilt continued to smile. Bloo walked past Wilt and pointed at Karen and Stitch.

"Well, anyway, I was thinking- all we need to do is keep Karen and Stitch hidden each time someone comes to adopt and then we just need to coast until Jaky shows up again." Bloo said, putting his 'hands' triumphantly on his 'hips', "IT'S FOOL-PROOF!"

"Brilliant, Bloo. What if Jaky doesn't come back." Frankie asked, rather dully. Bloo's eyes went wide and he turned to look at Jaky, pleadingly.

"It's okay! I'll come every single day, I promise! I know! When I was at the door, Frankie, I heard you having some trouble because there were so many imaginary friends around here and they were getting restless from being inside all day, right?" Jaky asked, her eyes brightening. Frankie's eyes shifted as she thought.

"Ye-e-ea-a-a-ah..." She said, slowly. Jaky smiled, quite widely.

"Well, would it be alright if I stopped by every day to help out?" Jaky asked. Frankie and Mr. Harriman looked quite scandalized.

"What, you mean... WORK HERE?" Frankie asked, her eyes going wide.

"Preposterous! I've never heard, in all my years of Foster's home, someone from outside the family coming in for work." Interjected Mr. Harriman. He was also about to go on to say more, but everyone heard Madam Foster giggle.

"Oh, don't be silly you two." She said, smiling gleefully. Jaky blinked at Madam Foster and tilted her head to one side.

"If you'd like to come and help out here, dear, then I'm not gonna stop you. We could always use an extra hand around here. That would be quite lovely." She continued in her croaky, old voice. Everyone blinked at her, before Frankie stood up and did a war-whoop.

"Woo-HOO! Good call, Grandma!" Bloo folded his arms and grinned, as though HE'D been the one to make Madam Foster's proclamation.

"Well, I'm going to be going to college when the summer's over, so I can come by and pick Karen and Stitch up and smuggle them into college SOME how with out my parents finding out, so it'll only be for a little while... but I'd be glad to help out- I'll just tell my parent's I'm volunteering at an animal shelter and it'll be perfect." Jaky said, looking simply delighted.

"That's nice, dear. Just remember- every day, or they'll be up for adoption." Madam Foster reminded her, sipping her now warm chocolate. Stitch stood up and sprouted an extra pair of arms as antenne rose from his head and spines sprouted from his back.

"Not if Stitch have something to say about it." He snarled. Everyone laughed, even Eduardo, whom also looked like he was about to start crying.

Two months later, Jaky had been washing, scrubbing, cooking, and cleaning for hours on end at the Foster home. Karen and Stitch took care of themselves, with a little help from Wilt, Eduardo, CoCo, and Bloo when kids came to adopt, but the Foster home was much more peaceful with an extra helper around. Not only did Jaky help with chores, but, being the eldest of five, she was also quite the babysitter- when any of the younger imaginary friends wanted someone to play with, she always had a game ready.

The summer was over quite soon and one day in August, a car pulled up in front of the Foster home. It was piled high with boxes and Jaky was behind the wheel. She got out and went inside to get Karen and Stitch, as well as say her final goodbyes. Mac, Bloo, Frankie, and Madam Foster were sad to see her go, but Karen and Stitch waved goodbye, promising that when Jaky came home for the summer, they'd HAVE to come back and then, of course, Jaky would visit again.

Mac and Bloo watched the car drive away until it had disappeared.

"Wow. I'd never thought that maybe there was some other kid out there who wouldn't forget their imaginary friend like you, Mac." Bloo said, in wonderment.

"I know. And I always thought I'd be the only one to actually come back." Mac agreed, standing on tiptoe to keep looking out the window. They both watched for a moment before Bloo walked away.

"Hey, Bloo- where are you going?" Mac asked, following Bloo.

"I've got to make up for lost time. With Jaky here I couldn't do anything REALLY crazy." Bloo replied, grinning. Mac smacked his head, again.

Finis

Yes, I realize some of the characters do not speak with proper grammar. That's because it's their character.