I do not own Lilo and Stitch.

The Car Wash Mishap

The balmy, morning breeze wafted in through the open kitchen window, gently ruffling the curtains. Lilo shoved her last spoonful of now-soggy cereal into her mouth and gulped it down. "So, Stitch, what do you want to do today?" she asked.

Stitch glanced up from his own breakfast of coconut-flavoured yogurt. The dairy product dripped down his chin as he garbled, "I dunno. What Lilo want to do?"

The eight-year-old hummed in thought, tapping her chin with her spoon. "We could go mummy hunting, or experiment hunting, or—"

"You could wash the car," Nani interjected as she entered the kitchen. She gave her pajama-clad sister a pointed glance. "Like you agreed to do when I let you stay up an hour past your bedtime to watch one of your vampire movies."

"Those movies are very educational," Lilo defended. "Why do I have to wash the car today?"

"If I don't make you do it today, I'll never get you to do it," Nani responded. She slung her purse over her shoulder and exited the kitchen. She returned a moment later with plastic buckets, ratted rags and a yellow bottle of soap. "The car will be washed by the time I get back from work," she said firmly. "Or else it means no experiment hunting for one whole week."

"Fine," Lilo grumbled. "I'll wash the stupid car."

"Good. You can go and play after you finish—but nothing life-threatening." She kissed her sister on the head and rubbed Stitch behind the ears. "I'm off to work."

Lilo glanced at the clock hanging above the entryway. "But it's still early."

Nani arched an eyebrow. "I have to walk, remember?"

"You can take the buggy."

"I think I'd prefer to walk," said Nani, almost recoiling at the idea of using Jumba's tricked-out contraption. "See you later, baby."

"Bye, Nani."

Once her older sister was gone, Lilo reluctantly stood up. "Come on, Stitch. Let's get this over with. I'm gonna go get dressed. I'll meet you outside."

Stitch saluted Lilo and grabbed the cleaning supplies Nani had brought them. He scampered out the front door and sat down in the dirt driveway by Nani's Jeep, waiting for Lilo to join him. He peered at the yellow bottle for a moment before picking it up and letting several drops fall on his tongue.

"Save some for the car," Lilo said, witnessing the act as she came outside. She grabbed the hose and filled the plastic buckets with warm water while Stitch squeezed in the soap. When there was a good lather of soap, they dunked in their rags and got to work

After two minutes of scrubbing off dirt and dust, Stitch complained, "Boring!"

"You're telling me," Lilo agreed. "I wish Nani had left her car keys. We could have used the car radio to rock out to some music."

"Kanjijibe, ziz-ziz?" asked Stitch hopefully.

Lilo shook her head. "She hates it when we do that. I do not want to do any more chores."

Remembering Nani's bad habit of misplacing her keys, Stitch curiously peered into the Jeep. By some stroke of luck, the older girl had forgotten her keys in the ignition. "Keys still in car!" Stitch proclaimed.

"Nice!" said Lilo happily. "Nani must have been super tired yesterday to miss that."

He climbed overtop the door and twisted the keys. The car roared to life and music blared from the speakers. Humming along to the tune, Stitch crawled back out, unaware of his foot kicking the gear shift on the way.

As Lilo went to grasp the hose and Stitch seized his rag, they were rightly stunned to see the Jeep not in front of them when they turned back around. Lilo whipped her head, a frantic cry escaping her as she discovered Nani's car rolling down the sloped driveway. "Stitch! What did you do?!"

Thanks to the decline of their driveway, the car was rapidly gathering speed. It disappeared from their sight and Stitch sprinted after it. "I got it! I got it!"

"Nani is going to kill me!" Lilo moaned. "Jumba! Jumba!"

Her shrieks resulted in the large purple alien bursting out the house a second later, wielding a plasma blaster. "What is being the matter?" he demanded, looking about wildly in search for the danger.

"Nani's car is getting away and I need your car to help me catch it!" Lilo explained hurriedly.

"What?" asked Jumba blankly.

"I'll tell you in the car! Come on, we gotta go!"

Though still confused, Jumba snagged his keys and Lilo scrambled into the red buggy. They pulled out of the driveway and onto the road leading into town. When they breached the first intersection, they could clearly see Nani's Jeep speeding down the asphalt. Stitch was in pursuit, but his chase was hindered by pedestrians and vehicles getting in his path.

"Oh, good," breathed Lilo. "It hasn't hurt anyone."

"Do I want to be knowing of what is going on?" Jumba asked.

"It was all Stitch's fault," Lilo said firmly. "We were going to wash Nani's car, and we wanted to listen to some music, and Nani left her keys in the ignition. Stitch turned the car on and he must have hit the gear shift thingy."

"I think Little Girl should be preparing to be grounded," said Jumba casually, pointing straight ahead.

Lilo's brown eyes tripled in size when she realized Nani's car was heading for the beach, and more specifically, the expanse of sparkling blue ocean.

Stitch gave a last-ditch effort and launched into the air. He was inches from landing on the vehicle and ended up crashing into the warm asphalt. The fluffy blue experiment watched in horror as Nani's car careened onto the beach, spraying up clouds of sand and sending tourists jumping for safety with cries of shock. The Jeep finally came to a halt after getting bogged in the wet sand, the water lapping against its tires and splashing against the hood.

Jumba brought the buggy to a halt, next to where Stitch was still laid out in the road. "We're dead!" wailed Lilo.

Her alien uncle grinned. "At least Bigger Girl's car is washed, eh?"

He burst into wicked laughter and Lilo glared at him. "It's not funny!" she shrieked. "Nani is going to kill me! She's going to lock me in my room for the rest of my life! I'm doomed! Doooomed!"

Stitch really only had one thing to say about the whole matter.

"Nala kweesta."