A/N:

SOOOOOO sorry for the long wait, but at least now all my essays are done and it's just classes I've got to go to now, I'll be updating more often now with any luck XD This'll be the last of the quieter chapters for a bit, next chapter is when things start going down, XD hope you like it!

And for those who guessed Buttons and Mindy, no duh! Lol, just kidding, great detective work! And as for Dani, I think only 3 people have cracked it, but don't worry if you haven't, I'll think you'll find out between chapters 5 and 7 depending on how things work out, lol, but if you really can't wait then I'll tell you in a PM XD.

*Poppy's POV*

"Okay I love you buh-bye!"

The dog gave my cheek a friendly lick on the cheek and I waved as they walked back through the woods, out of sight. That had been pretty fun, for once it was like I was the older kid looking after the little one. But then again that dog seemed more like a babysitter than anything. Poor thing, he looked so tired. But it still had been fun climbing trees with Mindy, she was fast for someone her size! But they had go home again. I wondered where they lived? I hadn't seen them around before, and no one was allowed in the toon lot. Unless they were toons. But that couldn't be right because the only toons were the ones that lived here. But then again, Buttons seemed a lot like Runt or Rita, just he couldn't talk… Weird…

"Poppy?"

That was Flynn calling me. Whoops, he wasn't going to be happy with me. Well when was he happy? Oh no the game! I'm still it! Um, okay if I hide now, then no one will have to know that I walked off without telling anyone. Wow Talia would be so mad if she found out! I know the toon lot was safe, but it's what she called a 'principle of a thing'. I quickly Ducked behind a tree, waiting for him to come into view. I bit my lip and tried not to cry out as I'd stepped into the side of a thorn-bush. That really hurt! But I didn't care right now, I had to hide from Flynn. He stepped into the open, the Warner's close by. I felt bad leaving them without telling, especially when they were hiding from me, but it's okay, I can make this work.

"You're it!" I cried, jumping out and slapping Flynn on the shoulder.

"Wow, talk about dedication." Dot nodded in approval, "That's a record!"

"Wait, Slugger's it?" Yakko asked, "Prepare the gloves and witnesses!"

Flynn gave him a look before turning to me, "Poppy, where did you go? We've been looking for you for ages!"

"I was… playing." I can't lie, so I just didn't say all the truth.

"So were we, remember?" Wakko asked giving my hair a tug jokingly.

"Well you all ran off, remember?" I returned, pulling his ear.

"That's kind of the aim of your part of the game." Dot smirked.

I thought I'd gotten away with it, until Yakko popped up behind me and prodded the back of my shirt, "So did this friend invite you for dinner because, uuuuuhhhh-I don't remember any of us taking a bite outta you."

His words made me jump and grab the part of the top where he prodded. Where Buttons had grabbed it in his teeth to stop me falling, he had ripped it a little. Oh, I guess I couldn't hide teeth marks. "Um, kind of."

Flynn really wasn't happy, "What happened?" He looked a little closer and picked a thorn out of my shirt, "Oh that's how you ripped it, Talia's gonna flip."

"That's not how I ripped it!" Putting on the best 'I'm sorry' smile ever, I looked up at him, "I was playing with a friend…"

*Talia's POV*

"I'll see you tomorrow, Dr. S." I declared, hitching my bag over my shoulder.

"Hmm? Oh, ja, see you in zer morning." He muttered, looking at a large stack of papers next to him.

"I can stay longer if you need a hand with those? It's no problem."

"Nein, nein, danke." He replied in German. He's stressed, sometimes he answers in German if he's got his mind on other things.

"Are you sure?"

Nein, danke. Ich werde ihnen morgen…"

From past experience I'd picked up enough to know he said that he'd see me tomorrow, "Okay, if you're sure… Frohes Schaffen."

To my quote of 'don't work too hard' he nodded absentmindedly, "Mmm-hmmm…"

That guy seriously worried too much, and that was coming from me! But like me, he wasn't going to give in until it was all finished. I didn't envy the job of a psychiatrist, it was hard enough sorting out the summary papers and files like I did so I couldn't imagine what it was like having to go through the full system. Well, from a patients perspective sure… but that was a past not worth dwelling on. And so I didn't. I was meant to be heading to Slappy's anyway. And if I didn't get there soon then Slappy would have to start making them food which would most likely be that dough stuff again. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and so did Flynn and Poppy; but it was one of those dishes that you ate once and didn't want to eat again for another fortnight or so. It was just had one of those textures.

Instead of taking my weekday route back out to the parking lot, I looped around the back of the buildings and out towards the toon lot. The warning barriers were still placed along the entrance, but passing through them had long since caused me unease. It didn't take long before the grass and woodlands started to appear. I remembered when I first stepped foot in this place. Running like a lunatic from security and getting knocked out by a low branch. Uh, good times? But at least now I'd come to learn this place like the back of my hand. Slappy's house wasn't too far now...

"Hi guys!" I called out, opening the front door and peering in.

"Hey kid," Slappy replied from her arm-chair before the TV, "just in time I was about to cook up some grub."

Flynn, Poppy and the Warner's gave me a look that was a mixture between pleading and disgust from the doorway behind her. I tried not to give them away, "Oh great, sorry I've already got food ready at the house. Maybe next time?"

She shrugged with a knowing smirk, "Ah who needs ya?" she snapped her head around to look accusingly at the group who darted in a panic out of sight, "Dang tearaways!"

I sniggered, "Were they okay today?"

"As good as Tom Cruise in Rock of Ages." Her tone was the usual passive, so I wasn't sure where she was going with that until she continued, "Average but nothing special."

"Oh, well that's good." I replied, still unsure, "Thanks for watching them today."

"Nah forget it, but I oughta tell ya that Dora the explorer in there took a little detour."

"Poppy? What happened?"

"Don't get your pantyhose in a bunch, she's fine. Took a wrong turn and blamed it on some friend that no one's heard of. Hooey if you ask me."

"Hooey?" I repeated, "You mean she was on her own?"

"Well Skippy's been through a few imaginary friends, had to beat them off with a shovel and a splash of holy water but… no wait, they might have been the bogeyman." She shook her head, "Point being: harmless."

An imaginary friend? Well that was a new one I'll admit. Flynn had never had one that I knew of and after meeting the Warner's and being forced into therapy I'd been pretty much alienated from the idea. And I'll be honest, after the craziness of the past few years I never thought anyone here would want to have anything imaginary again; it was all so out of this world that it very well could have come out of someone's imagination. Hmm, why do I get the feeling that the Warner's would be giving me that knowing look right now? Oh well, like Slappy said, it was harmless, and pretty normal all things considered for someone her age.

"So for future reference, you wouldn't happen to have anymore holy water would you?"

She clapped me on the shoulder with a look of amusement, "Between us, cooled boiled water works just as well."

"Good," I chuckled, "That sounds a lot cheaper."

"Sure until you get the water bill…"

Forget the water bill. At this rate I was going to be so dirt poor that I wasn't going to afford the house to pay bills. Every time I had the Warner's over to join us for food, the same mistakes were made. When I thought I had enough food for them, it turns out that it would only be enough for one sitting, and by that I meant one of Wakko's mouthfuls. And as it turns out, using toon-tactics to create food wasn't really reliable. It would only fill you up for a short amount of time before the animation wore off and it just fell back into what it was to start with, just an outline of some mental imagery. So it was down to constant preparation. You know what? Next time I'm just ordering take-out…

And what made me think that spaghetti and meatballs was a good idea, I've got no clue. It was just more hassle. But at least the cooking was over and done with, now it was time to eat. Poppy and Wakko were taking turns at a half-hearted sword fight with their forks, a very disgruntled Dot stuck in the middle of them. She flicked them both on the forehead and glared at them warningly. Flynn simply rolled his eyes and slurped up another strand of the pasta in hopes of ignoring them. I would tell them to stop but, in honesty I had a bet on with my brother that Wakko would give in first and admit defeat.

Vaguely I became aware of the spaghetti tugging at the corner of my mouth like something was pulling it. I looked down and found that the strand led away from my plate and up to the side. My shoulders slumped, oh come on seriously? It turned out that the other end of the strand was in Yakko's mouth. What was this, Lady and the Tramp? No, more like the Victim and the Pervert. His eyebrows wriggled suggestively and started to inhale the food to shorten the gap, just making me scowl in irritation. Okay, Talia, you know the technique, you know it's going to work… I smirked as I felt the smooth sheen of metal in my hand. Lifting up the newly toon-ised scissors in my hands and snipped the pasta neatly, sending his side of the slack slurping back to him at such speed that he started choking. As his siblings thumped him on the back, I just shrugged smugly at him and returned to my meal.

"You asked for that one." Flynn commented.

"Trouble right down to the T-able manners." Dot agreed, pulling out a mallet and smacking her brother in the back with it.

Yakko coughed once more and started breathing again, "Hey one guy's trouble is another's challenge." He winked, "Unless you're Little Red over there, in that case trouble is no challenge at all."

"Mindy gets into more trouble than me!" Poppy insisted, folding her arms in a huff.

"Mindy?" I asked,.

"Her friend." Flynn scoffed.

Oh, that friend. Poppy glared at him, "Don't say it like that! She's real!"

"Then how come none of us saw her?"

"She'd gone home by then, and she doesn't live around here."

"Where does she live then?"

"I don't know…"

This was getting very familiar to me, I'd had so many conversations like this, all ending in teasing and torment. It wasn't fair. I know Flynn wasn't intending to be so harsh, but I wanted this to stop before it got out of hand, "What's Mindy like, Poppy?" I asked.

"Little, younger than me with a big pet dog." She explained, "She doesn't really talk much, but she's really good at climbing trees but she falls out a lot. Like I did but it's okay because her dog caught me. He's a little like Runt but he doesn't talk and -"

"Poppy just admit it, you wondered off and got lost, got scratched up in a thorn-bush and blamed it on someone who doesn't exist."

That touched a few nerves on my part, "Okay, Flynn, you've made your point. It's done now so let's just let it go. Who wants seconds?" I offered, lifting the plate.

Thankfully everyone did so that moved things along pretty well. I really didn't blame Flynn for being so sceptical, after all we'd been through it was no wonder he found something as simple as an imaginary friend hard to believe. But there still wasn't any need to press so hard on it. Did I believe Poppy? I don't know. I guess it was just the idea that history was repeating itself again and I didn't want to seem hypocritical… No, you know what, Poppy can believe what she wants to believe. I'm not going to stop her. Heck, I ended up being proved right when I thought my 'imaginary' friends were real; and although the chances of the same happening to Poppy are slim, why shouldn't she be allowed to think it? After all, imagination is kind of necessary for our current 'conditions', she should practice it. Wow… this time last year and I'd be terrified at the idea… Weird how things change.

After we'd finished eating, I figured that I'd take Flynn to the side to help me with the dishes while the others became occupied with some sort of game in the other room. I think he kind of guessed what I wanted to talk to him about because almost instantly he huffed.

"I'm not being mean or anything, but there's cartoon characters in out living room, why does she need an imaginary friend too?"

"Well what makes you so sure it's imaginary?"

He tilted his head, "You don't believe her, right?"

I shrugged, "She's eight, and she's going to be for a while so if she wants to make up some stuff then why not? And anyway, maybe she did make a friend, you never know."

"But you don't think it's weird? I mean, you don't think that she's gone a little cra -" he cut himself off and lowered his eyes in guilty, "Sorry…"

And the penny dropped, it seemed. I didn't want to make him feel guilty, but I did want him to know that sometimes, it was just better to go along with things. If Poppy had made a real friend then good for her, if not, then what difference did it make?

"Forget it, just go easy on her, alright?" I grinned, flicking some soapy water at him, I just wanted to move on now, "How was the Youth Club today?"

He tensed, "It was, uh, good."

"Made many friends?"

"A couple of the guys are okay; and Dani's alright."

That's a new name, "Danny?"

"She's new, haven't seen her around school or anything yet."

She? It must be with an 'i'. Oh, I see, "So it's going well by the sounds of it."

"Huh? Oh, sure…"

"But?"

A sigh as he looked down at his hands, "But, I keep making things happen when I don't mean to. I just can't get the hang of it!"

Oh… "Did anyone see?"

"No one is guessing anything if that's what you mean; come on, who would?" he asked.

"Fair point, but look you'll get there. You're trying, that's the main thing, right?"

"Yeah… but you've been trying for ages."

"Without help." I cut him off, "You've got the guys helping right from the start, you'll catch on quicker. Heck give it a few more weeks and I'll be taking extra credit to catch up."

A small smirk, "Don't tell Yakko that."

I tousled his hair, "No worries."

A/N:

So, it's a little like history is repeating itself with people not believing Poppy, but at least Talia is letting her make her own choices instead of forcing others on her. After all, she knows what it's like.

I know that the Warner's haven't really been as involved this time, but that's going to change soon, I promise XD I hope this isn't too boring for you, it'll improve XD Please review, and keep all your ideas/suggestions coming guys, they're awesome!