Kayla Tsukino: Thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate it! And yes; I am currently working on a story (prequel to this) about Arianna's mother, etc. I'm not sure though when the actual story will come out, but hopefully it will be soon! Thanks again!
Poe1911: Thanks for the review! They're very encouraging! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
snipsa: Thanks so much for the review! You made my day! I'm glad you're liking this story. That's always nice to hear!

You're all Wonderful!

As Arianna lay in bed that night, she couldn't sleep. She was too excited. She had hoped that she would see more of Stephanie and now she would. Oh, she couldn't believe it!

Gary, also awake, was having different thoughts. He wondered if he had done the right thing; accepting the Tanner's invitation to stay at their house. After all, their house was full already. He also thought of some other things; like the cabby from earlier that day. He knew that the man was suspicious and that he also knew where they were staying. Gary wasn't comfortable with that. And also, he didn't know how long the Paper wanted him in San Francisco, but as long as they were there, Arianna was missing school. If they stayed with the Tanners, then he could send her to school with Stephanie. Yes, maybe he had made the right decision.

The next morning, Gary was up bright and early around 6 o'clock. Standing up, he glanced over at the next bed and smiled. Arianna was sound asleep, but she lay sideways on the bed with her head hanging off the side. The blanket was twisted around her legs and half of it was lying on the floor.

Gently, Gary picked her up and moved her back into a normal position, with her head on a pillow at the headboard. He laid the blanket across her and smiled… but a bit sadly this time. She looked so young and innocent as she slept. Gary hated the fact that his daughter was growing up having to live with the Paper. One of the things he wanted most of all was for his daughter to live a normal life; or at least experience one for that matter. Silently, he shook his head. If only every wish could come true. With those thoughts in mind, he went to go take a shower before the Paper arrived.

It was later that day around 2:00 PM. Gary and Arianna were waiting on a taxi. They had already called for one, so decided that they probably wouldn't have a long wait. Arianna was still very excited about staying with the Tanners. She really liked Stephanie. Suddenly, she had a thought.

"Daddy," She said, "How are you going to keep all of those people from finding out about the Paper?"

Gary sighed, "I've been thinking about that Arianna and I've decided that if I just keep it with me at all times then we should be okay. You just be sure not to say anything to anyone about it, alright?"

Arianna nodded. She wouldn't say a thing. Just then, the cab pulled up. Quickly, Gary began to put their bags inside. "1882 Gerad Stre– Wait a minute." Suddenly he stopped. Then, he quickly began taking their bags out. "I'm sorry, pal, but I've suddenly realized that I can't be leaving right now. I, I have t-to take care of something. Thanks, anyway."

The cabby grumbled a reply that Gary hoped Arianna hadn't been able to make out, and then the man drove away. Knowing that his daughter was waiting for an explanation, Gary turned to her.

"That was the cab driver from yesterday, Ari," Gary said softly, "I didn't want to go with him. Come on, let's find another cab."

About an hour later, Gary and Arianna were standing outside the Tanner's door. It had taken them a while to get another cab. Gary knocked and just a moment later, Joey opened the door.

"Hey, guys," He greeted the two, taking Arianna's bag out of her hand, "Come on in! You know, we could hardly get Stephanie to go to bed last night; she's so excited."

Gary smiled, "Yeah? Well, that makes two of them then."

"Come on," Joey said, heading towards the stairs, "Let me show you your rooms."

He led them up the stairs and the first room he entered was a room right across the hall from Stephanie and Michelle's. "Gary," Joey said, "You can stay here."

"Thanks, Joey." Gary thanked the man.

"No problem," Joey replied, grinning. Then he began to head for the girls' room, "And Arianna, you can stay here in Michelle and Steph's room." He sat her bag on Michelle's bed, "This will be your bed."

"Thanks, Joey," Arianna said, hesitantly, "But, isn't this Michelle's bed?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Arianna," Joey said, "Michelle's going to sleep in Danny's room. She'll be fine."

Arianna nodded, then popped another question; "Where are the girls at?"

"Oh, they're at a neighbor's house, but they should be home soon. While you wait, why don't you get settled in?" Joey suggested.

"Alright; I will," Arianna smiled, "Thanks."

Just as Joey promised, about an hour later, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle showed up. When Stephanie saw Arianna sitting on the couch, she grinned, "Oh, good!" She exclaimed gleefully, "You're here! I didn't think you'd be here this early!"

"Steph," D.J. put her hand on her younger sister's shoulder, "It's 4:30 in the afternoon. Why wouldn't they be here?"

Ignoring D.J.'s comment, Stephanie took Arianna by the hand and pulled her off of the couch. "Come on," She said, "Let's go upstairs. I've got some really cool things I want to show you."

Arianna laughed and followed her newly-found friend up the stairs. Michelle watched the two girls leave, and then turned to D.J. "D.J.," She asked, "Is Arianna going to act like Stephanie?"

"I don't know, Michelle," D.J. shrugged, "She might. They're the same age, so she probably will."

Michelle rolled her eyes, "I'm outa here!" She began to head for the kitchen.

"Michelle," D.J. called, "Where are you going?"

"To find Uncle Jesse," Michelle replied, stopping at the kitchen door, "I don't want to be around when those two come back!"

Gary flipped through the pages of the Paper. He had checked it once already, but he wanted to make sure there was nothing that needed his attention. No, he finally decided, there was not. He had completed the saves for the day.

Gary glanced over at the clock hanging on "his" bedroom wall; 5:15 PM. They had been at the Tanner's for about two hours now. He sighed. He didn't want to impose on them, but then again, they seemed really eager for them to stay with them. And he knew Arianna was really enjoying it. She had never had any brothers or sisters, so this was all new to her; and also a treat.

Giving those thoughts a rest for the time being, Gary stuck the Paper in his back pocket, left the room, and headed downstairs.

"Wow, those are really cool sneakers."

"Thanks," Stephanie replied, grinning, "You can borrow them sometime."

Arianna and Stephanie were up in the girls' room, admiring each other's things and basically getting to know one another better. And the more Arianna got to know Stephanie Tanner, the more she liked her. Little did she know; Stephanie felt the same way about Arianna. The two girls had only known each other for about a day, but already they were inseparable.

Later that night, after dinner, everybody was sitting in the living room, talking. Since there wasn't enough room on the couches and the chairs for everyone, some of the kids sat on the floor; that included D.J., Stephanie, Arianna, and Kimmy Gibbler and Michelle sat on Joey's lap. Kimmy had joined them after dinner. Like usual, she hadn't bothered to knock; she just invited herself in with her usual, cheerful greeting; "Hi, Tanners!" The twins were already upstairs, asleep.

As Gary listened to everyone talk, he thought about how lucky Danny Tanner was; to have such a loving, big family. That's what Gary had always wanted, but it didn't appear that that was what was meant for him in life. Besides, he was happy with the way things were right now. He glanced down at his daughter, sitting at his feet, and smiled. Yes, he was happy. He couldn't really ask for much more; well, except for a life away from the Paper, or at least a break. But, oh well. He had dealt with it for the past 15 years; he could deal with it for a little longer, he supposed. Suddenly, Gary was aware of somebody speaking to him. He turned his attention away from his thoughts and to Jesse, who was asking him a question.

"I'm sorry," Gary apologized, "What'd you say?"

"Do you have any interests in music?" Jesse asked again, "Do you play anything, Gary?"

"Uh, no, actually, I, I don't," Gary replied, suddenly a bit self-conscious, "I, I don't."

Jesse nodded.

"I play an instrument." Kimmy spoke up.

Jesse turned and stared at the teenage girl. He didn't say a word; just stared. Then finally he spoke; "No!"

Kimmy nodded. "Yeah, my brother's trying to teach me how to play the trombone. He says I'm very abysmal." She smiled happily at the thought.

Stephanie gave Kimmy a sarcastic smile, "I'm sure you are, Kimmy."

Gary watched this scene and tried to understand Kimmy Gibbler. She was strange; that was for sure. He got the feeling that she didn't exactly know what the word abysmal meant. If she did, she wouldn't look so proud of being called that. He assumed that she thought it was a good thing.

A little while later, it was time for the girls to go upstairs and for Kimmy to go home. Gary was planning on going upstairs also, but he wanted to ask Danny something first.

"Hey, listen, Danny," Gary asked the man, "Do you think it would be alright if I sent Arianna to school with Stephanie tomorrow? Y-You see, we're in this position wh-where we can't exactly go home right now a-and she's been missing quite a bit o-of school."

"Well," Danny replied, "I don't think it would hurt."

Gary smiled, "Thanks."

"Your welcome." Danny replied, happily.

"No… I mean for everything." Gary concluded.

After talking a bit more, Gary went upstairs. He had to tell Arianna the news.

Once upstairs, Gary rapped on the girls' closed bedroom door. "Who is it?" Came the sing-song reply. Gary recognized the voice as Stephanie's.

"Uh, i-its Gary." He called, "Could you, uh, tell Arianna to come to my room?"

He didn't get a reply, but he figured he was heard. Shaking his head, he walked back to his room. This was going to be an interesting stay.

About five minutes later, Arianna came into the bedroom. She was dressed for bed, wearing her father's Cubs T-shirt, which was much too big for her, and a pair of nylon shorts.

"Did you want to see me, daddy?" She asked, stepping into the room.

"Yeah," He replied, "For one thing; I wanted to make sure I got a chance to say 'good night' to you and another thing…" He pulled the girl onto his knee, "I wanted to tell you that you are going to school tomorrow."

Arianna's eyes widened, "What? Why?"

"Because you're missing too much school already," Gary explained patiently, "I don't know yet when we're going back home, but when we do, you're going to be far behind the rest of the class… if your not studying, that is."

"But, I've never been to any other school," Arianna began to protest, "A-And I don't know anybody here. W-What if I–"

"Arianna," Gary hushed the girl, "You're going to school tomorrow and that's that. I've already made up my mind. So, you be ready to go with Stephanie tomorrow."

"But, daddy…"

"No, 'buts'," Gary reprimanded her, "And I don't want to hear another word about it, alright? Not another word, you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Arianna replied, standing up, "Good night, daddy." She gave her father a hug.

"Good night, Ari," He replied, returning the hug, "I love you. Now, you'd better go get some sleep. And I don't want to hear that you and Stephanie were up all night talking!"

Arianna grinned, "We won't, daddy. I promise." And with that, she left the room.

Gary sighed and sat back down on the bed. He hoped the Paper would go easy on him tomorrow. Fat chance.

As Arianna and Stephanie lay in their beds that night, they talked. Stephanie had been thrilled with the idea of Arianna going to school with her; that made Arianna feel a little bit better about going.

The girls hadn't said anything to each other in the past few minutes and Arianna was beginning to wonder if the other girl was asleep.

"Stephanie," Arianna asked a question that had been on her mind for some time, "Where's your mother?"

There was no reply and Arianna began to think that the girl was asleep. Then there was a reply;

"I don't have a mother," Came the soft reply, "She died when I was really little."

"I'm sorry." Arianna didn't know what else to say. She just said the same thing everyone always said to her.

"It's alright," Stephanie replied with a sigh, "It happened a long time ago. I was only about four at the time. Sometimes I can hardly remember her and other times; other times it's as if she never left. It's kinda strange."

Arianna nodded, though her face couldn't be seen in the dark. "I don't remember my mother at all," She said quietly, "She died when I was only two days old, and so I never really knew her."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Stephanie spoke, "Michelle doesn't remember mom at all. She was only, like, six-months old when she died. Does, does, your dad talk much about her?"

"He didn't used to," Arianna replied, remembering the many years of her father's, almost cold, silence over that topic, "Until about around a year and a half ago. It was around my tenth birthday when, I guess, I really started to wonder about her, you know?"

"Mmm-Hmm," Stephanie just replied while continuing to listen.

"Whenever anybody ever talked about her, daddy's face would always get this sad look and he would get real quiet," Arianna explained, "I could tell he didn't like to talk about her. It still made him too sad. But, to sum up the story; after a while, daddy was able to tell me about my mother. And he was able to, to accept her, her death, I guess," Arianna added, "Or at least a little better. He doesn't act so sad anymore."

The girls were silent after that for a moment. They were both thinking about the woman who had only so briefly been in their lives; the woman they wished they had gotten the chance to know a little better.

Finally, Stephanie broke the moment, "Well, I guess we should get some sleep. We do have school tomorrow, you know."

Arianna agreed and within minutes, both girls were fast asleep.

The next morning when Gary woke up, he immediately looked at the clock. It was 6:45 AM! Where was the Paper? As quickly as he could, Gary threw on some jeans and a red plaid shirt. As he hopped down the hall and down the stairs, he pulled on his pair of blue and white Nikes. When he reached the front door he slung it open to realize that the Paper wasn't there. There was no Paper, there was no cat. Where on earth could it be?

Silently, Gary shut the door and went to sit down on the couch. Now what would he do? It wasn't as if he could order another subscription.

About fifteen minutes later, Stephanie and Arianna walked down the stairs. They were both all ready for school and were carrying their backpacks.

"Good morning, daddy," Arianna greeted her father cheerfully.

"Morning, Arianna, morning, Steph," Gary replied. He was still busy thinking and worrying about the Paper.

"Good morning, Mr. Hobson." Stephanie replied, heading towards the kitchen, "Come on, Arianna. Let's go see if dad's in the kitchen."

"I'll be there in a minute," Arianna told the girl, "You go ahead. I'll catch up."

Stephanie nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. When she was gone, Arianna sat down on the couch beside her father. "Daddy, what's the matter?" She asked him.

"Arianna, the Paper didn't come today." Gary informed her quietly, without even looking up.

Arianna's eyes widened. "It didn't? Well, then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Gary said, standing up, "Maybe it'll come later."

"Yeah, maybe." She sighed, standing up also. Then she added softly, "I hope so."

A/N Well, that's it for Chapter 3. So, what'd ya think? Suggestions, comments, anything else? Just let me know!