It was the morning after Numbah 1's nightmare, everyone in the house had finished their breakfast and were doing their own thing. Lenny and David were in the backyard, tossing a football around, Numbah 1, Bruce and Constance (The other girl Delightful with glasses and pigtails) were in the living room. Numbah 1 and Constance were watching cartoons while Bruce was laying on the floor drawing and Father was in his office probably doing evil adult work stuff.

The sound of footsteps entering the living room caught Numbah 1's attention, it was Father in his shadowy suit "Father Form" holding a cell phone, Father gave the cell phone to Numbah 1 and Numbah 1 put the phone up to his ear, not sure what to expect. But his dad's voice on the other end was a welcome surprise. "Hey Nigel old bean, how are you?" Monty's voice chirped out from the other end, "Wha-Dad!" "Oh my gosh!" "Is it really you?" Numbah 1 said excitedly. "You bet it's me!" "How have you been?" "Has your uncle and cousins been good to you?" Monty asked, "Yeah, Benedict and The Delightful's have been treating me very well." "How are you doing?" "Are you doing okay?" Numbah 1 said.

"Yes, yes." "I've been doing a lot better than the last time we spoke, I hope I didn't scare you." "I was just very tired and in a lot of pain." Monty lamented, "It's okay dad, I'm just happy you and mom are alive." "When do you think you'll be out of the hospital?" Numbah 1 said. "I'm not sure, Nigel old bean, but I think it's going to be a while, at least two weeks or more." "I have to go now Nigel, take care of yourself for me okay?" Monty explained. "Of course dad, love you." Numbah 1 said. The line then disconnected, and Numbah 1 handed the phone back to Father. "I thought i would pass the phone over to you once Monty and I were done talking, since I knew you missed your parents." Father explained, "Thanks Benedict, that just made my day." Numbah 1 said, the bald boy had the biggest, most happy smile that Father had seen on Numbah 1's face in a week and a half. Father was about to go back upstairs when the phone rang again, Father checked the number, it wasn't one he recognized so he showed the phone to Numbah 1 to see if it was something he recognized.

"Is it your dad calling again?" Constance chimed in curiously, "No...it's a K.N.D number." "I'm gonna answer it and see what's going on." Numbah 1 said, Numbah 1 answered the phone, Numbah 5's voice picked up on the other. "Hey Numbah 1, how are you doing?" Numbah 5 asked casually, "Doing good, what's going on?" Numbah 1 replied, "Well, me, Numbah 2, 3, 4 and Numbah 86 are having a K.N.D meeting in 40 minutes at the treehouse and it'd be great if you could show up, since the meeting is mostly about you." Numbah 5 explained. "The treehouse?" "I might be able to come, give me a second." Numbah 1 said before calling out to Father, who was now in the kitchen drinking some coffee. "Hey Benedict!" Numbah 1 called out, "What?" Father asked back, "Can you take me to a K.N.D meeting in 40 minutes?" Numbah 1 asked, "Yeah, I can do that." Father said causally "Okay, are you gonna drive me?" Numbah 1 asked, "Nah, I'm going to take you there the cool way." Father said, "Cool, thanks!" "Yeah Numbah 5, I can come to the meeting, see you in 40 minutes." Numbah 1 said. "Okay, see you in a bit Numbah 1." Numbah 5 declared. Numbah 5 then hung up the phone, and Numbah 1 gave the phone back to Father, who had now walked into the living room, coffee in tow.

39 Minutes Later*

Numbah 3 POV:

Numbah 3 was sitting on the couch in the K.N.D treehouse, playing with her oversized sleeves, Numbah 2 and Numbah 4 were chatting about comic books, Numbah 5 was laying on her back on the couch next to Numbah 3, staring off onto space, while Numbah 86 was pacing back and forth.

"Where is that dumb, sunglasses wearing boy?!" "The meeting is going to start in a minute!" Numbah 86 growled irritatedly "I'm sure Numbah 1 will come, Numbah 86, he would never be late on purpose!" Numbah 3 assured, trying to calm down her red-headed friend. "He better not be late on purpose, or I'll sock him!" Numbah 86 declared, "Guys?" "Look outside." Numbah 2 said, pointing towards the window of the treehouse, All the kid's went over to the window overlooking the entrance to the treehouse, what appeared to be a small fire, no bigger then an small campfire.

"Why is there a random fire?" "One of us should get a bucket and put it out." Numbah 4 said, "I don't think it's a normal fire." "What kind of fire just stays the same without spreading?" Numbah 3 theriozed, All of a sudden, the small campfire flared up and turned into a huge billowing, twisting, pillar of flames. All the kid's scrambled away from the window and hid under the couch, their was no way that any of them were going to fight a giant tower of fire.

Numbah 1 POV:

Out of the giant pillar of fire, stepped Father and Numbah 1, Father was holding Numbah 1 away from him with one arm via the back of Numbah 1's red turtleneck sweater. Numbah 1 was completely unharmed while Father was still in his shadowy "Father Form." "Aaaand we're here!~" Father declared proudly, "Did you...have to show up in a giant tower of fire and terror?" "I'm pretty sure you just terrified all my friends..." Numbah 1 said, "Oh please, I told you I'd take you the cool way, and I that was pretty cool." Anyways, have fun with your friends and call me when your done your meeting thingy." Father said before putting Numbah 1 down, giving his nephew a quick pat on the head as he walked away. "See you later." "Don't forget to pick me up at 2:30!" Numbah 1 called out, "I won't forget, see you later kid." Father said nonchalantly. Father was then swallowed up by a large burst of flames, and then he was gone. Numbah 1 entered the tree house, expecting to see his friends there waiting for him, instead everyone was hiding under the couch.

"Umm...hello?" "You guys okay?" Numbah 1 asked aloud, concerned for his friends. Numbah 2, 3, 4, 5 and Numbah 86 realized that it was just Numbah 1 and that they were in no danger, so they got out from under the couch. "Numbah 1, quick question: What was the giant pillar of fire all about?!" Numbah 2 asked bewildered. "Oh yeah, Benedict said he was going to drop me off here "the cool way", wish I knew what he meant..." Numbah 1 grumbled, "Ugh, I keep forgetting that Father is our greatest enemy but also your uncle..." Numbah 4 said, "Yeah, sometimes I wonder how the heck we're even related..." Numbah 1 replied. "Okay, everybody!" "Now that Numbah 1's here, we can finally start the meeting, so get into your places and let's go!" Numbah 86 declared. All the kid's assembled on the couch, sitting in order from the lowest number to the highest number, Numbah 5 started the conversation.

"Okay Numbah 1, so, you know how I said this meeting was going to be primarily about you?" Numbah 5 asked to Numbah 1, "Yeah, I remember." Numbah 1 said. Numbah 5: "Yeah, well, as long as your going to be staying with Father, we gotta figure out some kind of system to make sure that Father doesn't try and get into the K.N.D through you, Numbah 1." "Any suggestions on how we can do that?" "Anybody?" "Anyone at all?" Numbah 5 stated. A murmur of voices drowning each other out filled the room for a few minutes, every kid having a different idea on what to be done about the issue at hand, but none of them could get their point across without having to drown out somebody else.

Numbah 1 knew that they were never going to reach a concrete decision like this, so he broke the stalemate. "Okay, okay, everyone calm down." "I get it, your all worried, and I'm worried too." "Father is my uncle, let me talk to him, I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." Numbah 1 declared, "What kind of offer?" Numbah 2 asked, "Yeah, what kind of offer?" Numbah 3 chimed in. "I'll tell Father that for however much longer I'll be living with him, I'll leave whatever evil adult business he has going on alone, but only if he agrees to leave the K.N.D alone." Numbah 1 said, After some back and forth from the other kids, everyone agreed with Numbah 1's idea. Now it was up to Numbah 1 to get Father to accept the deal.

*Later that day, back at The Delightful Manor*

Benedict was in the living room reading a newspaper and sitting on the couch, Numbah 1 walked into the living room and sat down right next to Benedict, the older man didn't even bat an eye. "Hey Benedict?" "I got an offer for you, It's about the K.N.D." Numbah 1 said, "An offer?" Benedict replied flatly, not even looking up from his newspaper. Numbah 1 knew that he needed to pique his uncle's interest if he wanted to get anywhere. "Yeah, an offer." "Think of it like a deal, or a...business transaction even." Numbah 1 said, trying to appeal to Father's businessman side.

Benedict perked up upon hearing the mention of a business transaction. He folded up the newspaper and placed it on his lap, now his full attention was on Numbah 1, Numbah 1's little plan seemed to have worked. "A business transaction?" "Alright, fine, you got my attention." "What do you want?" Father asked. "Well, my offer goes like this: I'm willing to leave your evil adult villain stuff alone for however much longer I'll be living with you." "But, you have to leave the K.N.D alone, or the deals off." "No backhanded tricks, no trying to destroy or infiltrate the K.N.D, no foul play whatsoever." Numbah 1 explained, Benedict rubbed his chin for a moment, deep in thought before replying with: "Tch...you drive a hard bargain kid, but if you're willing to hold up your end of this little deal of ours, I suppose I can play fair for once."

Numbah 1 held out his pinky to Benedict. Yes, he was actually going to make Benedict "Father" Uno, pinky swear their deal. "Pinky swear it." "It's the only way to make it official." Numbah 1 said, Benedict sighed, he couldn't believe he was actually doing this, but a deal was a deal. Benedict defeatedly pinky swore with his nephew, accepting the terms of Numbah 1's little deal. "Fine, I pinky swear it." Father grumbled. Numbah 1 grinned with satisfaction, he'd gotten what he came for, and even more. Numbah 1 let out an unexpected yawn, he was more tired than he thought he was. Numbah 1 hopped off the couch and made his way up the stairs, tired but also mighty proud of himself, now all that was left to do was call Numbah 5 in the morning and tell her the good news.

"I can't believe I got him to pinky swear, i didn't even need him to!" "I just wanted him to do it for fun, and he did!" "This is the best night ever!" Numbah 1 thought as he headed over to his bedroom, a big grin on his face. While Numbah 1 was headed upstairs to bed, Benedict had gone back to his newspaper, relieved that it was only him and Numbah 1 that were downstairs at the time of their little transaction. "I can't believe I actually did the whole pinky swear thing, I haven't done that since I was, what?" "5 or 6?" "Thank god Monty wasn't around to see that, I'd never hear the end of it from him." Father thought as he resumed reading his newspaper.