Tiffany fumed as she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Jake didn't want her to go to dinner. Why not? Because he said so was enough, apparently. It wasn't even a big to-do, just a quiet family dinner. As quiet as family dinner could be, she reflected, with 100 people at the table.

When it became apparent that Jake wasn't following her, Tiffany slowed from her fast trot to a walk, and breathed deeply, trying to calm down. She dug a scrap of paper from her pocket, and studied the instructions written in Jojo's slanted hand. It would be a good half hour before she reached his house. She glanced at the sky, light already fading, and hoped she would be there before dark. She didn't want to think about walking home.

The McDodd residence was a madhouse. Little sisters were bouncing off the walls, and Jojo's mother roaring from the kitchen where she ruled over the older girls helping make dinner, while the mayor himself barricaded himself in his office to escape from the noise. The McDodd family didn't have visitors often, and this was the reason.

Jojo wished he could hide away too, but he had been put in charge with setting to table, a task no-one should undertake alone, so he had a sister to help him. Unfortunately that sister was Cinci, five years old, and about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Especially when she was clinging to your feet. As if she wasn't enough, nearby sisters who had escaped kitchen duty had joined the fun, and so Jojo was literally knee high in giggling girls, and struggling to keep his temper. No amount of begging or poking with forks would discourage them, and so he had to plod on as best he could. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was a normal evening.

The sky had turned a murky indigo, and the house was full of the smell of roast chicken when the shout went up.

"She's here!"

""She's here?"

"Everybody! She's here!"

Sisters were crowded round every window when Jojo made it to the door, his shackles of sisters peeling off to go peer through the window. They crowded behind him as he opened the door, and there was a collective gasp of delight as they saw Tiffany. Tiffany, for her part, blushed prettily as she became the subject of 94 stares, and smiled shyly at Jojo

"H-hello everyone" she stammered, awestruck at the crowd of people. For a moment Jojo forgot about everyone behind him, as they shared a moment. But it is hard to forget about literally hundreds of eyes staring at you, and he turned on them to see his mother pushing through the crowd.

"Hello there Tiffany, dear," she said warmly, pushing a dozen or so daughters and Jojo inside and guiding Tiffany gently into the echoing entrance hall.

Tiffany let herself be led, trying not to look completely gobsmacked at the splendour of the interior of the house. The entrance hall alone was big as the one in the town hall, and a huge, cavernous gallery-like hallway loomed to the left. The place was filled with the crashing waves of conversation, echoing off the far-off rafters. It was quite a relief when the ceiling assumed a more normal height in the dining room, though it was still far enough away for three whos to stand on each other's heads, as demonstrated by a few of Jojo's sisters. The richer you are, the higher the ceilings? Tiffany wondered. Is that where the saying came from? The sky's the limit?

She must have seemed pretty dazed, because when a hand, heavier than the many leading her, and with a grip far more familiar rested on her shoulder, Tiffany was greeted with the face of Jojo; concern lacing his features. With a quirk of an eyebrow he asked the question, and she reassured him a smile. The encounter took place in a matter of moments, but it was enough for Jojo to relax and for Tiffany to feel a little more down to earth.

Jojo sat next to Tiffany, on the portion of table that didn't move, and watched in amusement as she attempted to talk to all of his sisters as they passed by, between bites. His own plate lay untouched as he helped her navigate the energetic, constant stream of conversation that his sisters were capable of. More often than not he would end up biting back a chuckle and covering his eyes with his hands as she got lost in the relentless steam of words. He watched her try to make conversation about hairbrushes and dancing and draw the quickest sketch in the history of the world for one, and join in with the quadruplet's chorus in the latest pop hit. By the time they had gotten to dessert, Tiffany was thoroughly bewildered and thankfully only spoken a few words to his parents. She turned to Jojo, blowing a couple loose strands of hair out of her face. She looked exhausted.

"You talk to all of them like this every day?" she gasped, a grin spreading across her face. Raising his eyebrows, Jojo shook his head. No, he didn't. Tiffany rolled her eyes.

"Of course not, that would exceed your daily quota, wouldn't it?" she teased.

"Shut up," said Jojo, without heat, a smile creeping across his face. Tiffany made a face at him and turned to his parents, who had been engrossed in their meals and totally not been eavesdropping. Not at all.

"Mr and Mrs Mayor, you have a beautiful family," she said, but Jojo could see her hands gripping the sides of the seat tightly. She was incredibly nervous. His parents smiled at her, well his mother did. His father was being distracted by one of his sisters. He preferred it this way, his mother was less nicely to freak Tiffany out.

"Why thank you Tiffany, do you have many siblings yourself?" Jojo saw the fingers tighten around the side of the chair harder.

"Em, just me and my brother," she said, "It's just the two of us," she added. This caused quite a stir at the table.

"Two? Just two?"

"HOW"

"Isn't it awfully quiet?"

"What fills up the rest of the house?"

"HOW"

"You have no sisters? NONE?"

Sally silenced them with a look that would stop a herd of elephants, and turned to Tiffany with a smile.

"That's nice, you must be very close then?" sally said, as if the outbursts from her many daughters never happened. Tiffany's grip on the chair loosened, and Jojo relaxed a little. Thank Who his mother wasn't an idiot, at least.

"Well, yeah, I suppose," said Tiffany, "It's been us against the world most of the time," she said with a smile, Sally smiled back at her knowingly.

As the chattered on, Jojo relaxed, confident that his mother was wise enough to not embarrass him or mention anything about-

"So, Tiffany! Jojo tells us that you moved to whoville recently!"

Jojo's confidence deflated. Why was there any need to speak when his father could never actually shut his big mouth long enough to actually think about what he was saying. He sunk low in his seat, feeling sorry for Tiffany, facing the slew of questions that his father was about to unleash. Sure enough, as soon as Tiffany answered the first, it was followed with.

"Oh really? So where were you before that?"

"A-a few places, WhoCity, WhoTown, places like that," came the mumbled reply, and the fingers that gripped the sides of her chair were so tense it seemed as if they would break. And still the questions continued.

"Ah, fine places, no doubt. I've been to Whocity myself… so you moved a lot then? Why?" Jojo winched, he had never gone so far with his inquires in a month then his father was in two minutes. The worst part was that Nedd didn't even think that he was being nosy; it was only Jojo that knew that Tiffany didn't talk about her past. Now he could see that Tiffany had brought her plait over her shoulder, holding it in both hands, a sure sign to anyone that she didn't want to talk.

"Well… it was mostly to do with work. Jake- my bother started working quite young, and usually once they found out his real age, we would have to get going" she tried a weak chuckle, "Just something small going wrong." that got a smile around the table and Jojo closed his eyes. He knew what was coming next.

"Well maybe you should've come to Whoville sooner, because-" Jojo covered his ears as the chorus rang though the house, "NOTHING IN WHOVILLE EVER GOES WRONG!" Tiffany looked shook from the sheer velocity of the roar, but managed a smile.

"Well we're here now, hopefully for a while," she said, to much cheering. Jojo threw a pleading look at his mother, who wrestled the conversation from Nedd to save Tiffany further discomfort. Just as the dinner finished and the mammoth task of cleaning up was next on the agenda, the toll of the doorbell rang through the house. Following a look from his mother, Jojo reluctantly got up to answer it, resting a hand on Tiffany's shoulder as he did so. Heat rose to his cheeks as he caught his mother's knowing eyes, but it didn't matter because, for just a moment, Tiffany had rested her fingers on top of his before he pulled away.

The didn't seem like a complete failure after all, he thought as he crossed the echoing foyer to the door. It seemed he thought too soon, as the door opened to a who in shades of blue with a face of thunder.

Hey everybody! School is over, let the writing begin! To be totally honest, I'm not really sure where I'm actually going with this fic. It's one of my many failings, I start I fic but never really know where its going. I have the next few chapters planned, but you are warned :P Thank you everyone who stays with me and reviews and favourites. Even if you read and enjoy it quietly, thank you for reading! I will try not to let the summer pass by before posting again!

~CC