Conductor and Grooves left first, both saying goodbye to the small girl before they left for work. Cookie was next, wearing a white coat and chef's hat. She pat the little borrower on the head, and tried to give Snatcher a hug, but he wasn't having it.

Shrugging, she headed for the door, asking the young man to not eat all the food, or set the kitchen on fire while they were gone. He only grinned as a reply.

And the two were alone.

"You're not going to eat all the food, right?" Hat Kid tilted her head slightly. "...or set the kitchen on fire?"

"Naaah. I have work to do, although I will probably eat all the ice cream. Stay here while I get my PC, and I'll put on some TV. Kids like TV, right?"

Before she could reply to anything he said, he quickly walked over to the ladder upstairs, disappearing up into the attic. He returned shortly, holding a silver rectangle under his arm.

"Hey um, what's ice cream?" she asked, climbing onto his hand.

"Kid, you're breaking my heart! You've never had ice cream?" he sat on the couch, setting her down on a pillow. "When I get hungry, I'll let you have some too." He turned on the television for her, and started to work on his computer.

Now, Hat Kid was more interested in what he was doing on the strange, silver contraption. Thor would've killed to see something like that. Minding her hurt leg, she slowly crawled off the pillow.

Moving closer to the device, she started crawling on his leg to get closer, making him jump. "Jeez kid! You're way too quiet for someone your size. We should put a bell on you."

"What's this?" she pointed at the laptop screen. She could see letters, was it a advanced book?

"It's my laptop. I use it to talk to my clients." helping her up, she sat on his leg and looked at it.

He tried to explain how his job worked, using big technical terms she had no idea about. She quickly lost interest in his…'laptop', and moved on to her next interest.

Snuggling with him.

Hat Kid had a very tiring morning. Being chased by a cat, getting attacked, getting wrapped up, and eating at least half of the giant pancake. Currently, she was still in a lot of pain, but very full and very sleepy.

She yawned, leaning against him. He wasn't the softest pillow in the world, in all honesty he felt rather...bony. But she was tired, and the warmth he was radiating and the comfort of snuggling with him was more than enough to send her to sleep.

Snatcher paused his lengthy computer talk as soon as he heard quiet snores. Looking down, he had to press a hand to his mouth so he wouldn't make any loud noises. She was going to kill him with how cute she was.

For the first time since the Borrower wormed her way into his life, he felt...big. Really big, and powerful. She was so small, so frail. A flick of his wrist and she'd be...gone. He could do some serious damage to her, and it would be such a small thing.

Of course he would never, ever so anything of the sort. Only a sick freak would hurt a creature that small. And that's what worried him. He couldn't always be there to protect her, and there were some seriously disturbed people out there.

He knew that from googling 'What to do with tiny people.'

People were gross.

Glancing down at the tiny girl asleep on his hip, he shifted slightly. He could still work with her sleeping on him.

Turning off the TV, he returned to his work, occasionally glancing down at the sleeping girl. She needed the sleep.

But a couple hours later, he had finished his work. He really needed to pee, and he was starting to get hungry. Well, he was always hungry. Due to how she treated him, and the fact that he still had the metabolism of a teenager, Snatcher was always starving.

He put his computer up, and gently poked her shoulder. "Hey, kid. C'mon let's get ice cream."

Hat Kid whimpered, unhappy to be shaken from her nap. "Wha's ice cream?"

"Lunch. C'mon I'm hungry." he picked her up, cupping the tiny girl in his hands.

Snatcher set her down on a napkin as he retrieved the frozen dessert and some bowls, hers being very small. "Trust me kid, you'll love it." he handed her a small bowl with a tiny scoop of triple chocolate fudge.

Hat Kid sniffed the dessert, reaching a hand down to get a taste. Her eyes went wide. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted! It's so cold! But so sweet!" she squealed, continuing to nibble it.

"Told you you'd like it." he had decided just to eat out of the carton. "Um, do you want a spoon? Of some kind?"

Her mouth full of ice cream, she shook her head. She didn't notice how cold her fingers and mouth were getting, she was too distracted.

Then it hit her all at once, the cold and the sugar content. Shivering, she jogged in place. "T-That's rrrrreallly coooold." she chattered, rubbing her arms to try to get warm.

"Hey, hey kid. You OK?" Snatcher tilted his head. He'd never had kids, never really interacted with kids, never babysat kids; he really shouldn't have been placed in charge.

"Cold!" she squealed. "Cold, cold, cold!" she ran towards him (the best she could with her hurt leg), hugging the arm he was laying on the table. "Too cold! Cold!"

"I should've told you, ICE cream is COLD." he teased, draping a napkin over her. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't gotten a sugar rush."

"My head feels frozen." she whimpered, snuggling close. "My brain hurts."

Snatcher had polished off the entire container in a matter of minutes, and had moved on to her abandoned bowl. "Oh, that's brain freeze. Press your tongue up against the roof of your mouth." he instructed.

Hat Kid's face scrunched up as she did as he said, continuing to snuggle against him. "Can woo do mwe a favwor?" she said, tongue on the roof of her mouth.

"Wes I can do woo a favwor." he said, mimicking her tone. "What's up?"

"Can woo take mwe to the stweam? To find my boat?"

"Your boat?"

She shook her head. "Oh good, my head doesn't hurt." She explained, "So, my family was moving, and we used an old tea kettle for a boat, but I fell overboard and lost them. If I find the boat, then I find my family!"

"Well hot shit, Dave!" he exclaimed, standing up. "Why didn't you say so earlier? Let's go!"

Hat Kid clung tightly to the fibers of his vest as she sat on her shoulder. From her advantage point she scanned the stream. It was much smaller now.

"What color is this Tea Pot?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet so he didn't hurt her ears.

"Bronze. Very old." she replied.

Snatcher slowly walked down the stream, keeping an eye open. "And, tell me about your family."

She paused. How to describe them? "Well, they're not my birth family. I never knew my parents. My family is an amalgamation of people who I consider family. Tim found me as a baby, he's sort of the head of the family. He's older, and taught me how to borrow. He's very funny."

"He seems nice." Snatcher paused to poke at a frog with his leg. "Do frogs eat borrowers?"

"If they get the chance." she glared at the frog. "Thor is my uncle. He's very smart, but very serious. He invents things to help make borrowing easily." she frowned. "Honestly, I never felt too close to Tim or Thor. But they were my guardians. But there's Timmy, and Bow! They're my best friends, we're practically siblings."

"Aww. I never had any siblings. What are they like?"

"Well Timmy is serious too, but he's just protective. Secretly he's a big teddy bear. And Bow is super silly! We'd do everything together. I just hope they're OK."

"I'm sure they are, kid." he assured her. "After all, you're doing fine."

Suddenly, Snatcher froze.

"What's wrong-" Hat Kid's breath caught in her throat. The stream, the one Thor had told her so long ago was small, and would lead them to safety, was now a river with large rapids. Raging water pounded against rocks and anything unfortunate enough to get swept up in the river.

There was no way her family could have survived that.

She could only picture their boat tipping over, her family spilling into the water and being pulled under, crying out for help before being smothered by the liquid.

Hat Kid started bawling her eyes out, sobbing loudly on the bean's shoulder. Her friend shuddered, gently picking her up off his shoulder and holding her close to his chest in a 'hug'. "I-I'm so sorry, Kid. I'm so sorry."

He spun on his heel, quickly heading back to the house and away from the rapids. She sobbed into his chest, sobbing and sniffling, tears rolling down her cheeks. She'd never see them again. There was no way.

They were probably long gone.

Snatcher had taken her home, and by then she had passed out in his hands. The sheer emotional toll had tuckered her out badly. Although she'd probably be up that night.

He tucked her into the dollhouse bed, making sure she was as cozy as could be. Then he sat with his PC at the dining room table, and waited for the others to return home to relay the news.

"We're baaack!" Cookie sang, followed by Conductor and Grooves.

"Well, how was babysitting, darling? How'd it go?" Grooves looked around. "Where's the little darling?"

Snatcher frowned at them sadly, shaking his head.

"Oh...not good, eh? What happened laddie?" the three other adults sat at the table with him, worried.

Snatcher chuckled nervously. "Well, the good news is she likes ice cream!" his laughter died, and he looked away. "T-The bad news is...her family might be dead."

"What?!" they exclaimed.

"H-How!? What happened? Oh, the poor lassie…" the old director held his head in his hands.

"D-Did you see any...um...bodies?" Grooves asked quietly.

"No, no, no. I took her down to the stream. And the stream turns into rapids...no teapot would survive that. And I doubt four tiny people would, either." Snatcher anxiously wrung his hands. "She was...devastated to say the least."

"The poor...poor dear…" Cookie looked like she was on the brink of crying herself. She collected herself, a look of determination in her eyes. "Well, she can stay here, then! As long as I am here, I will take care of her."

"Of course! I'll be there to assist." Grooves nodded in agreement.

"Ay! The lass needs us!"

"Right. We'll have to be there in her stead. We're all she has now."