Though it was a rather last minute arrangement, Stephanie was surprised that there was more than enough food to spare for her to join the Noodlemans for their lunch. They tucked into a mushroom risotto with grilled asparagus, accompanied by a cheese salad with roasted beetroots, mixed greens and crumbled parmesan cheese. With she and Porsha having mostly relied on fast food for the past few days, it was certainly a surprise to be served such a substantial yet elegant meal outside of Redshore.

"So, Miss Frangipane..."

Stephanie was snapped out of her own thoughts as she straightened up and looked over to Nana, who still remained focused on her meal without making eye contact.

"It's been a few years since you rather abruptly disappeared."

"Oh, right. Well... I kinda went off to seek my fortunes, as ya might say." Stephanie chuckled. "Just packed up everything I had, got on a bus to -"

"Yes, I heard..." Nana cut her off. "You did quite well for yourself, didn't you? Hitching your wagon to Jimmy Crystal. Next best thing to marrying royalty, I would say."

"Right... funny you should say that, Nana, because um... well, it... it didn't work out." Stephanie winced. "Yeah, that's actually why I came back."

Nana eyed her suspiciously. "You had children, did you not?"

"Uh-huh, just the one. Porsha." Stephanie realised the less-than-stellar conclusions that Nana was coming to, so she quickly clarified herself. "She's here too! Well y'know, not here here, she's at school today, but um... but yeah, I brought her back to Calatonia. I figured this was better for both of us."

Nana nodded, still keeping a neutral expression, so Stephanie then turned to face her grandson.

"So, um... what have you been working on recently, Eddie...?"

"Well..." Eddie slurped some of his soup. "I manage a baseball team."

"Oh, cool..." Stephanie nodded, just about to take a swig of her drink. "Little League...?"

"Fantasy League."

Stephanie just barely resisted the urge to burst out laughing and spit her drink everywhere, having just noticed the disapproving glare that Eddie's answer had gotten from his grandmother, so she quickly forced herself to swallow it before she spoke. "Well, that's a uh... a pretty interesting project, I'll bet."

"Hmm..." Nana sat a little straighter, now more intrigued as she finally looked at Stephanie directly. "And what exactly do you have in mind for yourself, Miss Frangipane?"

"Well, I uh..." Stephanie cleared her throat. "I've not exactly got it a hundred percent ironed out yet, Nana, but I couldn't help noticin' the Prairie's all closed down now."

"Ah, yes..." Nana pulled a rather bitter grimace. "You can thank that ruffian Graham Griswold for that."

"Griswold? What's he got to do with... uh... y'know what, never mind." Stephanie shook her head to regain her focus. "Anyways, I um... I'm wanting to reopen it."

"What for...?"

"Well whaddaya mean what for? Shows, obviously!" Stephanie stifled a laugh. "I mean, come on, Nana! Y'know, first time I saw ya singin' when I was a kid, I -"

"Ugh... please don't start talking about Golden Slumbers..." Eddie groaned, prompting another glare from his grandmother.

"Well actually, for me it was when ya did Holding Out For A Hero. But still, Nana, you were absolutely amazing!" Stephanie gushed, holding a hand over a heart. "And I bet there's a ton of little kids out there right now, just like my Porsha, and they're all waiting to be inspired, just like in the good old days!"

"They were not good old days, Miss Frangipane." Nana scoffed, though she took on a more sentimental tone as she seemed to stare off into space. "They were magnificent. And that theatre, the Prairie... it was a palace of wonder and magic."

Eddie rolled his eyes while he continued eating, though Stephanie propped up her head with both hands as she listened to Nana.

"I can recall the ushers in their velvet suits. Queues a mile long just to get a ticket. The curtain rising over that glorious stage..." Nana sighed. "Music and light, bringing dreams to life."

"Ya said it better than I ever coulda done, Nana..." Stephanie smiled, before feeling a surge of determination. "And that's what I wanna bring back. Y'know, the magic, the wonder, the music... I wanna give kids like Porsha, and... and her kids, and even their kids... I want 'em all to get a chance to feel that same feeling."

Nana regarded her for a moment, then nodded slowly. "You know, you just might just be onto something there, Miss Frangipane. Perhaps it is time for the Prairie to rise again."

Stephanie felt a thrill of excitement. "Ya really mean it, Nana?"

"I do..." Nana gave a small smile. "But you must understand, my dear, it won't be easy. There's the matter of funding, and permits, and of course, you'll be having to hire a crew and performers."

"Oh yeah yeah, sure." Stephanie rubbed her temple as she tried to process all this. "I mean, I got about seven hundred grand now, but I gotta think about takin' care of Porsha, gettin' an apartment and all that. So yeah, it'll probably take a few years to get all the money and stuff to even buy the old place, Nana."

"I assume you'll be contacting Florence at least?"

"What, y'mean Florence Fletcher? Yeah, of course I will!" Stephanie laughed. "But yeah, I just... I really do believe in this, Nana. And I think if we all pitch in... y'know, me, Florence, you, all the old gang, we... we could make something real special here."

Nana pursed her lips, then gave another small nod. "Very well, Miss Frangipane. I look forward to seeing what you'll make of it."

Porsha clutched her backpack tightly as she walked alongside Meena towards the gate. Though she had been utterly terrified at this same position only a few hours prior, she certainly felt a lot better standing here now talking with her new friend, and it was clear Meena felt the same.

"Wait... you have three parents...?" Porsha tilted her head at the three adult elephants that were waving to them. "I thought ya said ya only had one, Meena."

"Oh, I do. My Mommy's that one in the middle." Meena answered, pointing to the most youthful looking of the three. "That's my Grandma and Grandpa with her. Y'know... my Mommy's Mommy and Daddy?"

"Gramma and Grampa...? Hmm..." Porsha pursed her lips and pondered this to herself, having never heard of such a thing. "I don't got any of those... or at least I don't think so..."

"Oh... well okay, I... I think I gotta go now..." Meena started shuffling over to her family, turning back again to give a shy little wave to the wolf pup. "I'll see you tomorrow, Porsha."

"Huh...? Oh, uh... y-yeah, tomorrow..." Porsha pulled a little smiled as she waved back. "Bye, Meena!"

As her new friend left with her family, Porsha went over to the bench where her mother had told her to wait, and climbed up to sit down on it. With nothing else to do, the little wolf sat here silently, focusing on the big clock that hung from the tower of the school. By the time the big hand was pointing down, all the other kindergarteners had left with their families and the parents for the older classes were starting to arrive, but Stephanie was still nowhere in sight.

"Y'alright there, dear...?"

Porsha tensed up a bit at the sound of this voice, and the fairly large shadow that was cast over herself, but she calmed down a bit when she saw the towering but still friendly-looking figure they were actually attached to.

"Oh, uh... y-yeah, I'm okay." She answered. "I'm just waitin' for my Mommy. She was 'sposed to be here at three."

"Ah, well that's not a problem. I'm sure your Mummy's just running a bit late..." The gorilla carefully lowered herself down onto the other end of the bench, making sure to give the little pup a comfortable space. "My little one doesn't finish for another five minutes. So I'll just sit here with you, if that's alright..."

"Um... alright..." Porsha nodded with a small smirk. "Yeah, that'd be okay..."

They sat in silence for the better part of a minute, though Porsha spent much of that time tilting her head and studying the older woman sat beside her.

Most other gorillas that she'd seen - mainly the ones that did the heavy lifting over at the Crystal Tower Theatre - were big and scary monsters, even more so than the elephants she'd seen there. This one looked a little shorter than they were and was also on the chubbier side, but even with her unkempt, darkish-brown fur and the casual, somewhat frumpy clothes she wore, she actually looked quite pretty.

"Wait..." Porsha finally broke the silence. "Are you Florence Fletcher...?"

"Florence Fl... the Florence Fletcher?!" The gorilla laughed heartily, straightening her small, circular glasses. "Dear me. Oh, I wish, darling. I'm surprised someone your age even knows who that is!"

"PORSHA!" Stephanie's voice echoed from the small crowd of other parents while she made her way through, the wolf letting out a sigh of relief as she bolted over to the bench where her daughter was sat. "Aw, baby, I'm so sorry! Y'okay...?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, Mommy."

Porsha tried to climb down from the bench, prompting Stephanie to kneel down and help her, before looking to the other woman present.

"Yeah, I just... I got held up, lost track of time, y'know...? Sorry if she was botherin' ya..."

"Oh no no, she wasn't a bother at all... and I know it can be tough, love. It's no different when you've got an eight-year-old either..." The gorilla chuckled, crossing her legs while she studied the two wolves. "So... you two new in town...?"

"Uh... old, actually..." Stephanie scoffed, thinking for a moment before extending a hand. "Yeah, I uh... I'm Stephanie, by the way."

"Ah..." The gorilla gave a warm smile, then gently shook Stephanie's hand while answering with her own name. "I'm Mary."

The bell right above the clock on the tower then rang, as the students from the older classes all came out. While Stephanie picked Porsha up off the ground, they watched some of these kids climbing up on the old oak tree right outside the gate, which prompted an annoyed grimace from their new acquaintance.

"Right... there's my boy now..." Mary sighed, getting to her feet as she began walking towards the gate. "It was lovely meeting you both!"

"Yeah, you too!" Stephanie called, giving a small wave before she started heading down towards the bus stop with her own little one in her arms. "Well, she seemed real nice. Didn't she, sunshine...?"

"Jonathan!" Mary's harsh but concerned scolding suddenly took them - and everyone else in the area - off-guard for a brief moment, and they all turned to see her reaching up to pull a much younger gorilla down from the branch he was hanging off of. "What did I say about climbing on that bloody tree?!"

After finding a small bench for two near the middle of the bus, Stephanie had kept her gaze fixated on her phone screen while she typed some notes from her meeting, though she still made sure to keep a tight but protective grip on Porsha's hand. Eventually, the little pup found herself getting rather bored of this silence, especially since all the other passengers were almost just as tired and quiet around them, and she finally decided to speak up.

"So... what did you do today, Mommy...?"

"Huh...?" Stephanie's eyes widened a little as she snapped out of her concentration, then looked down at her daughter. "What was that, sunshine...?"

"Well, I just... ya left me at that Sir Chool place today..." Porsha pursed her lips as Stephanie scoffed, having been amused by her continued mispronunciation, but the older wolf straightened up a bit to listen again. "So... where did ya go...?"

"Uh... well, I just had a couple errands to run, baby..." Stephanie said. "Yeah, but I um... I had to go over to the Noodleman place to see Nana again. See, I'm thinkin' of buyin' the old -"

"Oh, is that my Gramma...?!"

"Wait, what?!" Stephanie's eyes bulged to their widest point, making Porsha tense back a bit. "I... how did... Grandma...?!"

"Well yeah... I was talkin' to one of my new friends today, and she lives with her Mommy too!" Porsha waffled on. "She doesn't have a Daddy, though, so her Mommy's Mommy and Daddy live with them instead, and she calls 'em Gramma and -"

"No no, baby. It... oh boy..." Stephanie stifled a chuckle. "No, Porsha. Nana's not your Grandma."

"Then why is she called Nana...?"

"Because that's her name!" Stephanie laughed. "Nana, she... she's this old singer, I used to work with her a few years back, it... ugh, never mind, but point is... she's somebody that I have a lot of respect for, Porsha, and that's why I wanna do something very special that's gonna make her real happy."

"Oh, okay..."

"Wait..." Stephanie straightened up. "Did you just say y'made a friend today?"

"Uh-huh!" Porsha nodded excitedly. "Her name's Meena. She's a heffalump! Mmfh!"

Porsha's voice was muffled when Stephanie suddenly put a hand over her daughter's mouth. Stephanie glanced over to the pachyderm couple sitting a few seats away, making sure they hadn't heard what Porsha had just said, then sighed as she looked back to her daughter and took her hand away.

"Porsha, ya can't call 'em that word..." She almost whispered. "They're called elephants."

"But Daddy calls 'em that..."

"And that's cause Daddy's a racist asshole, baby."

"Oh..." Porsha looked down to the floor. Mother and daughter both remained silent for the better part of a minute, before the little one sat slightly straighter and finally spoke up again. "Mommy...?"

"Uh-huh...?"

"What's a racist asshole?"

"Aw geez... um..." Stephanie pinched the bridge of her nose, biting her bottom lip as she thought about how to answer. "Well... let's just say it's a very mean kinda person you definitely shouldn't be."

"Oh, okay..." Porsha itched the back of her head. "I don't wanna be a racist asshole, Mommy."

"I know ya don't, Porsha." Stephanie gently kissed her little one's forehead. "Ya just gotta stop using those words Daddy uses, okay?"

Porsha nodded, pulling a small smile as she held onto her mother's hand. "Okay, Mommy."

"BLERRRRRGH... ERGH... BLAGH!"

Stephanie had tried her best to be as quiet as possible, both for Porsha's sake and the neighbouring guests in the other rooms. But even with the bathroom door locked and her head hovering right over the toilet bowl, her violent grunts and retches echoed right back at her as she continued vomiting into it.

"BLURGH! AALACK!"

Her hands were shaking, even as the gripped the edge tight, and this only made it hurt even more as she stuck her left index finger right down her throat again, prompting another disgusting onslaught into the water. Seeing the gorgeous meal that had been prepared and served to her at the Noodleman Mansion was already depressing enough when she'd been eating it a few hours earlier, and seeing the mashed up remains of it now floating in the toilet below only made the literal pit in her stomach sink even deeper.

"Ugh... oh God.. BLERRRRRGH!"

This was the last of it, but it still made tears stream down her face as she coughed and gagged, finally forcing the rest of her lunch out and flushing it down without a trace. After about a minute of taking deep, tearful breaths, she finally pulled herself back up to face the mirror above the sink, her ears drooping down as she took in every depressing detail of her reflection.

Every time she put herself through this disgusting ordeal, the dark, mascara-stained circles under her eyes and the sweat-stained ruffling of her fur seemed to age her at least a decade older than she actually was, and she shook her head in disgust before finally splashing her face with freezing water from the faucet.

But as much as she hated doing it, the habit had become far too ingrained over the past few years for her to put it away so easily.

The sudden knock at the door almost made her jolt up with fright, though she relaxed a little as she heard her naive four-and-a-half year old's voice. "Mommy...? I uh... I got my paj... my pajjy... uh... my PJ's on!"

"Oh, uh... y-yeah, good girl!" Stephanie coughed back, trying to make herself sound happy. "Yeah, I'll just be a second, Porsha. Mommy's just... she's just cleaning up..."

She heard Porsha's footsteps receding from behind the door, then let out a long, fatigued sigh as she looked back at herself in the mirror.

"Oh, she's so beautiful..."

Stephanie turned to see Suki and Jerry standing in the doorway, and noticed the saluki's eyes misting up a bit as she observed the little pup lying in the crib. The wolf was equally tearful as she knelt down beside it, gently rocking her newborn while Porsha softly snored.

Jerry and Suki both tensed up a bit when Jimmy passed by, the older wolf giving a small, but still rather smug, grin at the sight of his wife and daughter. He then turned his attention back to his phone and continued walking on, prompting his two assistants to trail behind him.

"Porsha's quite the little angel. Isn't she, sir...?" Jerry said in an eager tone, quickly shoving himself in front of Suki as the saluki playfully rolled her eyes. "I uh... I bet she's really gonna take after you, Mr. Crystal."

"Oh-ho, I'll bet!" Jimmy let out a rather hollow chuckle as he stopped and turned back, still focusing on his screen. "So uh... it's been about two weeks now, Suki. Any idea when Steph's gonna be gettin' herself back to normal...?"

"Normal...?" Suki's eyes widened. "What... w-what do you mean, sir...?"

"I'm just saying... ain't all that fat 'sposed to go away once ya have the kid...?"

"Wait, you mean her... the b-baby weight...? But she..." Suki gulped, then tried to put on a more firm tone. "Mr. Crystal, your wife just gave birth. It's perfectly natural for her to -"

"You just leave that to us, Mr. Crystal!" Jerry cut in, still sounding as chipper as ever. "In fact, I'm gonna go and look up all the best exercise and diet programmes right now, sir! We'll have Mrs. Crystal back to her pre-baby size in no time!"

"Hmm... great. Thanks, Jerry. Sooner we get her fixed, the better..." Jimmy looked at his phone again as he and the little cat walked off, though Suki could still catch a little bit of what he was saying before they entered the elevator. "Last thing we need's her showin' up lookin' like one of those tubby little mommy pigs next time I'm puttin' on a show."

Suki struggled to restrain her disgusted sneer until her employer was definitely out of sight, but her heart sank to the floor when she turned back to the nursery. Stephanie was stood right there in the doorway, gently cradling her little pup in her arms while her eyes became red-rimmed with tears.

"Oh honey, I..." Suki struggled to speak, so instead she rushed over to pull the wolf into a hug. "I'm so sorry you had to hear that, Stephanie."

"No no, Suki, it... it's okay, really..." Stephanie pulled out of the embrace, trying to sound casual again as she wiped her tears. "Yeah, I uh... I could probably shed a couple pounds. No big deal."

"Alright, come on, you, into bed..."

Stephanie let out a tired chuckle as she pulled back the covers, then picked up her giggling four-and-a-half year-old off the floor and placed her right there on the other end. With the room only having one king-sized bed, Stephanie had decided the best option was for her to share it with her little one, and Porsha wasn't complaining about getting to stay close to her mother all night long.

She waited for Porsha to shuffle under the covers before tucking her in, then planted a small kiss on her little one's forehead. "Okay... you all good here?"

"Uh-huh!" Porsha rested back in her bed, and watched as her mother lay back too. "Hey, Mommy...?"

"Yeah...?" Stephanie jolted around, a concerned look on her face. "What is it, baby...?"

Porsha hesitated for a moment, biting her bottom lip, then finally came out with it. "Could you tell me a story?"

"A story?!" Stephanie scoffed, then shuffled over onto her side, propping herself up with her elbow. "What story...?"

"Well, I dunno, I just..." Porsha fumbled her hands together. "Meena was telling me today that her Mommy always tells her stories before she goes to bed. Y'know, like... like fairy tales, and stuff like that..."

"Oh..." Stephanie pursed her lips. "Yeah... Moms do that, don't they...?"

Porsha shrugged, still rather uncertain. "Well, if ya don't know any, Mommy, I can just -"

"Oh no, it... it's okay, sunshine, I'll think of one... alright... okay okay okay, now let me think..." Stephanie clicked her tongue as a story formed in her head, before looking back to her daughter with a smile. "Alright... I think I got one..."

"Ooh!" Porsha brightened up a bit, making herself more comfortable in the bed as she propped herself up against her oversized pillow. "Okay, I'm ready, Mommy!"

"Hmm..." Stephanie gently clasped one of Porsha's hand in her own. "Okay, well uh... Once upon a time, there was a peasant girl."

"Oh, like a bird...?"

"What? No no, that's a pheasant, Porsha. A peasant is, uh... well, it... it basically means she was poor." Stephanie waited a moment for Porsha to nod, indicating that she understood, before continuing. "Anyway, this peasant girl, she uh... well, she didn't have a Mommy, or a Daddy, but she had big dreams, and she wasn't gonna stop at anything until she made 'em come true."

"Was she a pretty peasant girl?" Porsha asked.

"Well, she didn't like to brag, but she certainly turned a few heads." Stephanie chuckled, before wincing a little. "More than she should have, really, but... but whatever, that's not the point of this story."

Porsha nodded.

"Anyways, one day she packed up what little she had and set off to the most fabulous kingdom there ever coulda been!" Stephanie continued. "She ended up marrying the King of this kingdom, and they had a little baby. Hmm... she was the most precious little princess in the whole wide world."

"I thought I was the most precious little princess in the whole wide world." Porsha interrupted, though she seemed more curious than offended.

"Well sure you are now, sunshine, but ya gotta remember this story was like hundreds of years ago." Stephanie explained, prompting a shrug of acceptance from her little one.

For a brief moment, Stephanie couldn't help feeling a little impressed with herself that she'd thought up such an easy answer on the spot, even more so that Porsha apparently didn't feel the need for further elaboration. But rather than pat herself on the back just yet, she figured she still had more story to tell.

"But when time went on, the Queen realised that she wasn't really happy in this kingdom. The King was a very mean and greedy king, and he didn't care about her or their daughter."

"If he was so mean, why did she marry him?" Porsha's question took Stephanie much more off-guard than her previous one, and the next few seconds passed in complete silence.

"Um... w-well, I... I dunno, I guess... I guess she was just... ugh..." Stephanie pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "She made a terrible mistake."

"Oh..." Porsha's eyes widened a little at the sudden change in her mother's tone. Despite her naivete, the four-and-a-half year-old could sense that she had touched upon something sensitive. "I'm sorry, Mommy, I didn't mean to make ya sad again..."

"What, no! N-no, ya didn't, baby, it's okay!" Stephanie sounded rather desperate, but she forced a smile. "Besides, y'know, it... it's just a story, right...?"

"Right..." Porsha nodded, though she still looked a little uneasy.

Stephanie cleared her throat and continued her tale, trying her best to regain her composure.

"So anyway, the... the Queen decided to leave the kingdom and took her daughter with her, and they travelled far and wide until she found a place where they could finally be happy..." She beamed lovingly as she tightened her grip on Porsha's hand. "She became the ruler of this new land, and she and her precious little princess lived happily ever after... hmm... The End."

"Aw... that's a nice story, Mommy..." Porsha said, her earlier discomfort forgotten as she nestled back into the bed again. "Real nice..."

Stephanie smiled, still keeping a grip on her daughter's hand for another moment or two. "Alright... now it's time for ya to go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay..." Porsha yawned, already starting to drift off. "Goodnight, Mommy..."

Stephanie gently caressed her daughter's head, feeling a few tears prick at her own eyes, then she reached over and finally switched off the light.

"Yeah.. goodnight, sunshine..."