Lisa stood by the doorway of Mr. Mardel's sixth grade classroom, waiting for the grumpy middle aged teacher to let his classroom out for the day. He always seemed to make them stay a bit longer which was something Bart complained most about in that class. Lisa had not seen Bart at all that day, she knew he wouldn't be if he had run away but she had seen Milhouse and knew that when Bart ran away he was usually with him. She just needed to find out if he was okay.

After standing for a good five minutes, the door finally opened, the first sixth grader walked out looking a bit annoyed that he had to stay an extra few minutes, even Martin was showing it which was a bit odd for him. They must have been given extra homework assignments.

It wasn't long before Milhouse appeared and he immediately looked at Lisa with a surprised face almost like he had not seen her in years or he was up to something.

"I thought you had appointments all day?" asked Milhouse as he made his way to his locker.

"Did Bart tell you that?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah he said you both had doctors appointments and a dental appointment all in one day, I kept thinking that your mom really wanted to make your life miserable today," said Milhouse while at the same time he rummaged through his locker looking for what he needed.

"Well we did not have any of that today, Bart lied to you and I am guessing it is because he does not want you to slip your tongue and reveal where he has ran off to," said Lisa with a serious voice.

"You mean he ran away?" Asked Milhouse in a surprised voice.

"Yeah he ran away Saturday morning, he didn't tell you that?" asked Lisa.

"No, he just told me that your mom wanted some quiet time so he came over to spend the night on Saturday, we ended up playing a few pranks on Mr. Burns and watched some scary movies. He stayed until Sunday afternoon and told me he was wanted home, he didn't really talk a lot this weekend, he seemed really down in the dumps," said Milhouse.

"So he didn't sleep over with you last night?" asked Lisa sounding a bit concerned but also annoyed after hearing that her brother had also caused trouble with Mr. Burns again.

"No, he said that you were all expecting him home," said Milhouse now feeling a bit nervous about this whole conversation as if he needed to know a dirty little secret.

Lisa let out a sigh; Bart had stayed somewhere else last night and would probably do it again tonight if he was not home yet. She knew she had to find him though and straighten things out. She was just about to reply to Milhouse when she heard Todd Flanders call out her name. She turned to the sound of his voice and saw him running over to her along with Colin her Irish boyfriend.

"Are we still gonna practice for the rehearsal tonight at your house," asked Todd once he was in earshot.

Lisa slapped herself in the face. She had totally forgotten about the school recital that would happen in two weeks. She had been more concerned about Bart all day that she forgot she had made a date with Todd and Colin.

"How could I forget that?" she asked herself as she thought about what to do. It was important to practice everything, but then again, where was Bart and would he listen to her?

"Is there something else on your mind Lisa?" asked Colin.

"Yeah, Bart ran away after an argument with my Mom," said Lisa.

"Didn't like the evening with my Dad?" asked Todd.

"How did you know?" asked Lisa in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Dad seemed really confused all weekend and I asked him what the matter was, he only said he was trying to figure out what had gone on Friday night. Something must of happened," said Todd.

"Yeah, and Bart is very angry at her I even heard the fight and it was not pretty," said Lisa with a sigh.

"I knew he would tell your mom how he felt at some point," said Milhouse who seemed to have said too much because now Lisa was rubbing her face not wanting to hear any more of it, she just wanted to find Bart. Milhouse did not get the message and was about to say something else when Todd gave Milhouse a face that told him that he needed to keep his mouth shut.

"Do you want to meet another time then?" asked Colin.

Lisa looked at both Todd and Colin; both seemed to show concern on their faces knowing that family was more important than band practice, the recital was two weeks away any way, they still had plenty of time. They had seen her get distracted throughout the day so her brain was not on school time.

"Would you both be alright working without me?" she asked.

Colin looked at Todd curiously to see what he would say. Todd only nodded at the idea that Lisa needed to find Bart, they could practice together without her for a bit.

"I'm okay with that," said Colin.

"Me too, maybe I can try and get Rod to be you for a while," said Todd with a silly grin.

"Good luck with that," said Lisa with a giggle as she thought about Rod trying to blow into an instrument he did not know how to play.

"Oh good you made her smile," said Colin with a big grin. Lisa only blushed before deciding that she needed to get a move on to find Bart.

"Todd can you tell my mom that I am out looking for him, I'm gonna try a few places and see if the people around there have seen him. And Milhouse, if you see Bart please tell him to come home because Mom is very worried," said Lisa.

Both Todd and Milhouse nodded before Lisa ran down the hall towards the main entrance, hopefully she would find her brother before nightfall.


It was starting to snow heavily as Lisa pedaled her bike through the sidewalk toward her Aunt Patty and Selma's apartment, it was an odd idea to believe that Bart had been there but it was always good to check. She hoped to get the search over with quickly so it would not be too difficult getting home on her bike. She just hoped that Bart would listen to her and hoped that she could convince him to come home. Having all girls in the house just didn't seem right; Bart needed to be there to complete everything even if he was being too overly dramatic.

Lisa soon reached the apartment and ran up to her aunt's door. She gave a quick knock and Patty was the first to answer with a cigarette in her mouth and a very grumpy look on her face.

"Oh good, Lisa is here to unclog the drain for us," said Patty.

Lisa gave a disgusted look as Selma came forward with her purse obviously trying to bribe her into it.

"We'll give you ten dollars to unclog our shower," she said.

"Do I have to?" asked Lisa who was really not sure how to respond to that.

"It would mean a lot if you did, I bet Bart would do it," said Patty.

"Where is that boy any way?" asked Selma as she stepped out of the hall to look around.

"That's why I came to see you, has he visited you two lately?" asked Lisa with hopeful eyes one that immediately told Patty and Selma that something had been going on with their little sister and her kids.

"Not since last weekend when we invited you to dinner, what's going on?" asked Selma.

"He ran away after Mom went to dinner with our neighbor Mr. Flanders," said Lisa.

Patty and Selma both stared at Lisa, they had known that their little sister had been seeking help from Ned Flanders; they just didn't know how serious it was.

"What did she do with him any way?" asked Patty.

"Mom said it was a thank you dinner for all his help which I thought was kind of nice. Bart of course thinks she went out with him because they are in love, but I really don't think Mom would do that, she loved Dad or still loves him. How does that even work?" said Lisa with eyes that told Patty and Selma that this current situation was really upsetting her.

"I think you can still love someone if they are six feet under, it's hard but you know how lovers are. So your mother loves him dearly, you saw how she always stood up for him when we treated him like crap which of course we feel bad about now, not all wives will do that, usually they just take the pressure," said Selma.

"Yeah I know, I guess I am just scared for Bart right now, he could be hurt and we don't know where he is," said Lisa as she tried to hide her worry.

"Well keep looking for him, we'll find someone else to unclog our drain and be careful, it's gonna get really cold and icy tonight," said Selma.

"All the more reason to find him," said Lisa as she quickly left her aunts and headed down the hall and out of the apartment complex.


Her next stop was to try the Springfield Retirement Castle. Bart had been known to visit Grampa for the past four months just to keep the old guy company; he seemed to need it after loosing his only son. Lisa skidded across the parking lot as she arrived and looked around for the familiar pink sedan that was in her grandfather's possession for the time being. She found it on a corner already covered in snow and with a brand new dent on the back bumper. She saw him two weeks ago so this must have happened just recently and she wondered what he had backed into to create such a noticeable dent.

Lisa set her bike up against the door and then made her way in, it was dinner time so Abe and his small group of friends were in the dinning room enjoying some corn and complaining that the meat was too soft. Usually it was the other way around; their medications probably got mixed up.

It didn't take long though for Abe to finally get bored with his problem, now that Lisa was here, he had more interesting things to take care of.

"Well I'll be damned! Two grandkids come to visit in one day, lets see your grandkids do that Jasper," said Abe with an excited voice while taunting Jasper at the same time.

Lisa's eyes lit up when she heard that, Bart had come to visit earlier to see Grampa.

"Bart was here?!" she asked with a surprised voice.

"Oh ya, he left about an hour ago, said he was needed home to help with dinner," said Abe.

"Oh I really hope he did that," said Lisa happily as her eyes lit up while Grampa took a big bite out of his meatloaf.

"Didn't talk much but it was nice to see him," said Abe.

"He told us how Battleship really works," said Jasper.

"It was Colonel Mustard in the submarine with the Knife who sunk it," said the Old Jewish Guy that no one seemed to know the name of.

Lisa only rolled her eyes; of course Bart would do something crazy like that.

"You want to teach us anything Lisa?" asked Abe.

"No I just came in for a quick hello and to find out if Bart was here, I also noticed the big dent in the car," said Lisa.

Abe quickly jumped up when she said that and quickly pointed his finger at Jasper. "It was Jaspers fault; he took the wrong pills and went on a joy ride in the parking lot. He backed into a dumpster before he floored it and ran over a squirrel!" Abe exclaimed while Lisa just watched with fascination at the tall tale her grandfather was telling.

"That squirrel was good though," said Jasper.

"Nah there were too many bones," said the Old Jewish Guy.

Lisa quickly made a face at the idea of three old men eating a dead squirrel that was no doubt tenderized and seasoned by a rubber tire.

I better get going," she finally replied.

"Don't go yet Lisa, I have one more question to ask you," Abe said as he jumped up and had his back toward her.

"……Okay?" Lisa said curiously.

Abe rolled his shirt up a little before pointing at a big giant mole on his back, one that would make any one get turned off just by looking at it. "You know Jazz, what does it look like Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday?"


Lisa made her way out of the retirement home a little disgusted by what she heard and saw but also glad that Bart had been seen by someone else, at least he was talking to someone. She passed by a payphone and quickly decided it might be best to call her mother and find out if Bart had really made it home, the retirement home was only twenty minutes from the house, he could be home by now and if he was, Lisa could stop the search and head home herself.

Marge was quick to answer, which was surprising because she could hear Maggie yelling about something in the background.

"Grampa said that Bart was coming home, has he really done so?" asked Lisa with a little bit of excitement in her voice.

"I haven't seen him, he might have snuck into his room without me knowing it though, let me go check while you say hi to Maggie," Marge said in a rather frustrated tone, obviously Maggie was being a handful tonight.

Lisa could hear her mother pass the phone to Maggie who quickly responded with a silly giggle.

"Who is this?" she said.

"It's Lisa," Lisa replied in a matter of fact voice.

"Hurry up and come home, Santy won't play with me," said Maggie in a voice that sounded a little annoyed but happy all at once.

"I will soon Maggie, I just have to find Bart," said Lisa.

"Maybe he went to Heaven to see Daddy," said Maggie.

At that moment, Lisa wished that Ned Flanders never told Maggie about Heaven. It now made her worried, especially since Bart could be any where and he could be in a dangerous situation.

"I don't think so Maggie," said Lisa sounding a bit frustrated by what she said.

"Well I don't know where he could be, I don't go out much," said Maggie in a pout that made Lisa giggle a little.

"Well one day I will take you to all sorts of places," said Lisa.

"Yay!" Maggie exclaimed before she suddenly let out a moan that she obviously inherited from Homer. Marge had taken the phone away from her.

"The room is still the way it was Lisa," said Marge in a sad voice.

Lisa let out a sigh, Bart had lied again, where he was now was making Lisa nervous. "I guess I will keep searching," she said.

"Lisa I think its best to let Bart come home on his own," said Marge obviously wanting Lisa home before it got too cold.

"Mom I know you are worried about him and I am too, what if something happened to him?" asked Lisa.

"I try not to think about that Lisa, but Bart is not going to show his face even if you look in the place he is hiding, if we do not hear from him by Wednesday we will call out a search party," said Marge.

"But Mom, he needs someone to talk to about what happened, I know I can convince him to come home and I know you can tell him it was a mistake if I tell him to listen to you," said Lisa.

"I know you can Lisa but it's late, the snow is starting to come down and I have dinner waiting," said Marge in a voice that was stern yet soft. It was still not enough to get Lisa to listen though.

"But I'm scared for him Mom," said Lisa.

Marge let out a murmur that Lisa could tell she was in no mood for arguments at the moment. Lisa sensed that she better obey, she did not want to get into a fight with her mom, she had enough of that already.

"Okay Mom, I'll be home soon," said Lisa in a dejected voice.

And with that Lisa hung up the phone and headed out the door where her bike was waiting on the side of the wall. There was now a small coating of snow on it and Lisa quickly brushed it off before mounting herself on it and making her way home, hoping with all her heart that Bart was in a safe place and that he would come home soon.


A/N: Eh I have mixed feelings about this chapter, for one thing I love the part with Grampa but the ending is just blah. I actually had three different endings to this and this one I felt was the best way to end it, it wasn't too sad and it still left you in question. Originally I was going to have Lisa visit Homer's grave again to see if he had been there but I just didn't want to end it that way. I also had a part where she went to Moe's bar but I had the characters ramble too much. So yeah there you go, the next chapter will be more interesting I hope any way.

Well please review when you can, let me know what you all think and all. Next chapter will be up in a week so have a nice week.