"Hey, honey." Rob said lovingly as he walked into Tress MacNeille's bedroom, carrying her School work she had missed today.

Tress had completely lost her voice, due to a really bad case of tonsillitis.

She waved at her boyfriend, gesturing him to sit down. 'Can you stay?' Tress signs shyly, looking away, almost embarrassed. Rob frowns, seeing a vulnerable look in her eyes.

"Of course I can, love." Rob said softly, truly hating seeing his girlfriend so low when she's usually so confident with herself.

"I can't stand being like this!" Tress says, her voice barely there.

Rob squeezes her hand. "Try not to talk too much Tress.." Rob urges gently.

This causes her to stay silent, looking down. The 12-year-old had spent all of her life 'trying not to talk' so hearing that, because she was ill, although valid, made her sad. Her older and younger sisters, Anastasia, older than her by four years, and Addison, younger than her by four years, which made her the middle child, made it very difficult for her to garnish any form of attention. At least from her older sister, anyway.

Rob, realising his mistake, immediately took her hand in his, squeezing it comfortably. "Oh, my bad. Tress, I'm sorry! I-I-I did-didn't mean to!—" Tress silenced him with 'It's fine, I know you didn't mean it.' She signed with a loving yet painful expression.

They were interrupted by her sisters coming in, Anastasia with her arms folded, and Addison looking worried. "God Tress! Why is it you always getting throat issues? If you just didn't talk as much you wouldn't have this issue." Anastasia said, glaring at her younger sister.

"She doesn't mean it like that, sis," Addison said quickly trying to reassure her, glaring at her sister. "Anastasia! That was too harsh!" Addison scolded.

Anastasia tisked. "Well, it's not my fault she keeps getting tonsillitis now is it? If she just didn't talk as much and stayed silent, she wouldn't get so sick all the time, it would be a lot easier, that way, Mom can pay attention to the people that really matter." Anastasia said.

The sick 12-year-old really wanted to retort, but decided against it, opting to throw one of her plushes at her instead. Her older sister looks at it carelessly before throwing it down and stamping on it, making the 12-year-old internally cry. Anastasia left quickly after that, tossing the medicine awkwardly at Rob. "Here, 'Turtle Nerd ' you can give her the first dosage since you love her that much. Just read the instructions and you'll be fine." She said, striding away.

Addison picks up the plush her older sister stamped on, frowning. "Don't worry sis, I'll patch Ellie up for you." She said sweetly.

'Thanks, Addison.' Tress signed with a small smile. 'I love you.' She adds quickly.

"I love you too, sissy! Get better!" Addison said, skipping away, plush in hand.

Tress hated her older sister. She couldn't stand her. Anastasia always made fun of her, making her feel as though she didn't belong on this earth at all, her boyfriend watched in awkward horror, paralysed his girlfriend was allowed to be treated like a nobody to her older sister. Robotically, he opened the medicine, remembering he didn't have a spoon. But just as he was about to go up and get one, Addison came in with one, her older sister's elephant plush all patched up. Rob silently thanked her, her older sister smiling gratefully at her. "Mom said you can have an ice pop after you take your meds! I'll go get one! "Addison said quickly, running out the room and down the stairs to the kitchen, getting her sister an ice pop.

Rob returned to his previous task, opening the medicine and pouring the correct amount onto the spoon. He handed it to his girlfriend, who quickly swallowed it gagging instantly. She quickly grabbed her drink of orange juice quickly swigging it to take the horrible taste away. "Oh fuck, that's gross!" Tress said.

"I'll tell you what's gross, the way that bitch known as your sister treats you!" Rob commented without thinking.

The 12-year-old nodded silently wishing she didn't have to deal with such a bitch.

After helping her with her homework, Rob said goodbye to his girlfriend promising to come and check on her tomorrow. The 12-year-old watched her boyfriend leave. Sitting in silence.

FLASHBACK.

"Tress honey, I have to go." Adult Tress said to her daughter, age 5. The little girl understood, walking away silently. She knew better than to have a tantrum about it. Her mother looked concerned as she saw her daughter play with the Play-Doh that was set out. "Bye, Miss MacNeille." The teacher, known to be Miss Applesauce, said to her mother, looking at the little girl with a sweet smile.

The innocent little girl continued to play by herself, making adorable little play-Doh sculptures with the different colours of Play-Doh before squishing them and starting all over again. The little girl was quite happy to play with her Play-Doh while the other kids sat and played with the dump trucks or Barbies.

The little shy girl played for a few more moments before the other children in her class trickled in. "Good morning Rob!" Miss Applesauce said to the boy who was busy putting his coat in his cubby and Backpack on the peg with his name on it. "Good morning, Miss Applesauce." Rob said politely. Going over to join the little girl at the Play-Doh table.

"Mind if I join you?" Rob asks.

Tress nodded, taking off her backpack and pulling out her notepad. 'Hi, I'm Tress, nice to meet you.' She wrote.

Rob smiled softly at her. "Nice to meet you too, Tress! I hope we can be great friends!" Rob says.

Tress smiles, flipping the page in her notepad. 'Me too!' She wrote.

The two kids played with the Play-Doh, pausing briefly to get to know each other. Rob learning that the girl doesn't talk much, which she would like to keep that way. Then another boy, Rob's friend Maurice came over. He wearing a inspector Gadget shirt. "Hey Mo! Come play with us! "Rob says, the boy comes over to the Play-Doh table, sitting down opposite the shy girl, The kids played together, Rob introducing Tress.

Once everyone arrived, Miss Applesauce gathered them around for circle time. The Shy girl and Rob sitting next to each other.

"Hello, Boys and girls! How was your summer?" She asked.

The children respond with different enthusiastic answers, all of them except Tress. Who wrote her answer.

"That's wonderful, children! I'm sure you already know this by now, but we have a lovely new member to our classroom! Tress? Would you like to say hello?" She asked.

The young girl starts to tremble, tears streaming down her face. Rob squeezed her hand. "I'll go with you." He offered, she nodded, getting up with Rob, who stood next to her as she wrote her welcome note.

'Hi, I'm Tress. I'm 5. My favourite colour is yellow. My favourite character is Tinkerbell, or Daisy. My Mommy voices her!

My favourite food is supernoodles. My favourite dessert is brownies and ice cream, strawberry ice cream preferably. It's nice to meet you. I hope I can be friends with all of you!' She wrote, Rob reading it for her.

That's how it continued for her first year at school, the little girl would use her notepad to communicate. That all changed on her 6th birthday, however, when she promised herself she was going to speak in front of her friends for the very first time. Rob had heard her whisper things to him, but the boy age 7, hadn't heard her openly talk to him.

But she was going to try. Even though the sheer thought of talking was absolutely utterly terrifying! But she was gonna do it! She was going to speak a full sentence to her friends, without crying, without stuttering, well, she would try and not stutter at least. So as she got up and cleared her little throat, she looked at her friends, willing herself to say something. But all that squeaked out was a little awkward and barely audible "Hi!"

Rob waved at her, not even phased that she just spoke for the first time in front of him. "H-Hi." She stuttered, trying to make her voice audible so that she could talk. Rob realised what she was trying to do, gently trying to encourage her. "Hi." He repeated back, her other friends looking very confused. "I-I'm-I'm s-s-s-s-sorry." She stuttered, stumbling over her words.

The girl felt her whole body start shaking, tears rolling down her face as her breathing picked up pace. Rob immediately saw that his friend was not okay, immediately rushing over to her, and taking her hands in his. "Hey hey hey hey, it's okay... It's okay... Just breathe, in and out, like you're blowing up your birthday balloons." Rob said, with absolutely no clue what he's doing.

Jess opted to get her notepad for her, which was sitting on the table where she was sat. He gently offered it to her, the girl taking it gratefully, quickly writing something down. 'I wanted to speak to you guys.' She wrote, tears streaming down her face before she quickly added. 'With my voice.'

Rob's face softened at her confession, squeezing her hand tighter.

"That was very brave of you, and you did speak some words! Only I could hear them, but I definitely heard them! Plus, your voice sounds really pretty from what I did manage to hear." Rob told her.

Sparkle clapped her hands. "Yeee! Pretty as a princess!" She added.

But that didn't seem to help much. Tress just cried, Rob feeling kind of guilty for making the situation a little awkward. But no, that's not why the little girl cried. She explained through her notepad that girls were supposed to talk, but she was told not to. Her older sister told her not to, saying that Mommy would pay more attention to her If her little sister didn't speak. All of her friends came round and gave her the biggest hug. "Your sister is a meanie pants!" Jess said, handing the birthday girl one of the many cupcakes to cheer her up.

"Talking is so cool! You can sing! You can laugh! You can tell a story! There are so many ways to talk!" Jess told her enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Leela added. "We'll help!"

Over time, the kids helped her find her voice. She only spoke to a few people at first, stuttering and stumbling over her words. Her friends being extra extra supportive. It took about two years for the shy girl to finally come out of her shell, not long after her baby sister Addison was born actually, the day the girl saw her, Tress vowed to become more confident with her voice for the sake of her little sister.

And stick to her word she did. By the time she was 9, Tress was the loudest out of her classmates, helping other people like her come out of their shells. She had gotten into performing, which made her confidence go up in leaps and bounds. Now, the 9-year-old sang around the house, no shame whatsoever. She was heroic and brave, hitting higher notes than her own mother could. Her mother had never seen such a huge transformation than what her daughter went through, and she couldn't be prouder.

END OF FLASHBACK!

But that couldn't be said about Anastasia. Anastasia just didn't like her sister, more so because her confidence grew, and because the now 12 year old wouldn't allow herself to be treated like that. But, even if she stood up to her sister, Anastasia would still find a way to bring her down. Thankfully, it wasn't abusive, but still.

The 12-year-old just couldn't understand why her sister was the way she was! Why couldn't she be like Addison,? Nice, kind, loving and sweet, was is it that hard for her 16-year-old sister, not to be nice for once in her life?

Anastasia came back in the room, her face looking angry.

SLAP!

Or at least it wasn't supposed to be abusive.

Anastasia started yanking her hair, insulting her with every yank. Tress just endured the abuse, unable to speak, which was an advantage on Anastasia's part. Anastasia continue to hurt her younger sister, threatening her at every turn, making sure she heard every single word, and is ingrained in her for the rest of her life.

"ANASTASIA SCARLET MACNEILLE!" Her mother shouted at her, causing the 16-year-old girl to drop her sister, causing her to bang her head, arm, and leg on the bed. Their mother rushed in cradling her daughter in her arms, Tress sobbed despite her voice's protests.

I-I-I-It hurts, Mommy.." Tress whimpers hoarsely, shifting more into her mother's embrace.

"Shh, shh, I know princess, I know." Her mother soothed, caressing her face. The mother and daughter stay put as her mother demanded her eldest child call an ambulance, much to Anastasia's annoyance. Eventually, after 30 minutes or so, Tress and her mother were on the way to the hospital.

The 12-year-old awakens again in the hospital a few days later, her boyfriend at her side, stroking her head.

Her eyes open blearily, tears rolling down her cheeks. Rob heard her whimpering.

"There she is. Hi Starshine…" Rob said softly.

She hadn't had that name since she was little. Come to think of it, her head does feel kind of fuzzy. Maybe it was just the meds that she was on, but she just felt really fuzzy. "Fuzzy…" She mumbles.

Rob caresses her face. "Shhh, I know Starshine, I know..But Rob's here with you, and your mom is too. We're all here."

The girl looks for her stuffie, looking for it in the clump of bedsheet. "Ewwie…" she whimpered.

Rob, noticing her distress, looked at her concerned. "Whatcha lookin for Starshine? Can I help?" Rob asked gently.

"Ewwie…" She whimpered.

Rob noticed her stuffed animal at the bottom of her bed, giving it to her. "There's Ellie! She was just watching over you, but I think she definitely needs some cuddles and snuggles." Rob eased.

Over time, the 12-year-old eased her way back into school. Good thing, too. The wedding was only a few weeks away, she could miss that!

Same couldn't be said about her sister, though. Her sister got in biiiiig trouble. Tress wasn't supposed to, but when she heard her mother lecturing her eldest daughter, the 12-year-old couldn't help but snort as she was braiding her younger sister's hair. "Oooh sister's in troooouble!" Addison said, laughing. Her older sister did too, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Ahh yes. Hearing her sister get what she should've deserved years ago, couldn't be any sweeter in Tress's opinion.

A/N:

BACKSTORY TIME!

I've always wanted to explore Tress's Toon character and have yet to in this universe until now. Honestly, I feel like she is the most character depth in the series lol, and I ain't mad about it lmao. The girl needed that honestly, and I love it! But oh my God! Poor baby though:;(

Her older sister Anastasia is a bitch though lol! It's just Isabela Madrigal without character development lmfao! Which I love! Addison is the one kid in the movie at the beginning with the braids and hat, that child is just so pure, just like Addison or she could be baby Mirabel! I don't know which is cuter.

Lots of Rob x Tress fluff! It's so cute! I don't think I've ever written a thing for them before, it's so cute! I'm gonna die so much fluffiness! Especially them as little smol beans! AGHH! SO FRICKING CUUUUUUTE! LITTLE ROB HELPING HER THOOO! TOO PRECIOUS! :') I CANNOT!

*Cuteness, overload noises*

But anyway, let's talk about stuff. I've always wanted the girl to have a reason for not having much dialogue in the series, and I feel like (hope). This is a valid enough reason as to why she doesn't get much dialogue in the series, I'm hoping to expand her character even further, alongside the others, I have a few story ideas for Toon Jess and Randy, I'll have to do some research on the latter, though. But I do have a few ideas!

As for me, I vented to Leela the other night, because life fucking sucks, and I don't feel good mentally right now. Thanks, girl, I owe you like, way more than one, but we'll discuss that at a later date.

For now, don't forget to leave reviews as they really help! Thank you! Sparkle, loves you deep down in her heart! :3