"Oh please don't tell me that…that…"

The excruciatingly frantic young woman shamelessly begged as she could feel her heart sank into her stomach in despair. Unfortunately, as it quickly became all-too-clear, no amount of desperate pleading was enough to wipe the frown off the miserable little blob standing before her. With a sigh, Bloo gazed sadly into her eyes as he gave his report.

"I…I-I looked everywhere, Frankie…we all did, but…I'm sorry, there's still no sign of-"

"No!" Frances "Frankie" Foster immediately burst out yelping, unable to handle the awful truth. "No, that's…th-that's…no, no, it just can't be! He's gotta be around here somewhere, he just has to be! Are you sure you remembered to check-"

"We looked everywhere." The azure imaginary friend repeated glumly. "And…and Mac still hasn't been found yet."

Judging by how ghastly her pallor had become, it was as if Frankie had just received a death sentence as she continued to try and stubbornly refuse to believe in this living nightmare.

"No, no you guys just haven't been looking hard enough." She argued defiantly as the hot tears started to well up in her emerald eyes. "Maybe…maybe he's just-"

For once in his life, as totally unbelievable as it was, Bloo appeared to be holding the position of the voice of reason as he just shook his head and interrupted morosely, "Frankie…M-Mac's been missing for two days already."

"N-n…n-n-n…n-no…." Frankie whimpered defiantly as she could feel her heart plummet into her stomach in absolute despair. "Th-that…that doesn't mean anything, we'll find him -"

"How do we know that he's even lost?" the imaginary blob suddenly pointed out with a dead-serious expression. "I mean…look, we don't even know yet, but…I dunno, maybe…y'know how he once mentioned about running off to…you remember…"

Usually, whenever Bloo cooked up a theory about literally anything, the redhead would normally be one of the very first to discard it like a piece of trash. However, strange as it sounded, the second he tossed out the suggestion, Frankie's eyeballs instantly bulged to the size of saucers.

"You…y-you don't think that…th-that he was…that he actually…" she started stammering uncontrollably.

"I really don't know! I don't!" Bloo cried as he started patting her shoulder. "It's…I'm sorry, but…I mean, there's this such a high chance that he actually….y'know…ran away…to join the circus…. "

Even though what came out of his mouth was absolutely ridiculous, judging by her horrified gasp, it sounded as if the normally sensible young woman actually believed him, outright bizarre as it sounded.

"N-no!" she sputtered. "Not…not the…"

"But we don't know that yet, okay?" he reassured with a poorly stifled giggle. "We just don't know. Look, look, everyone else is gonna continue looking, and while we do that, how about you just stay here, and see if the police call back with any updates, all right? Here's the phone…"

"All…a-all right…" Frankie whispered hoarsely as she wiped her eyes. "Th-thank you, Bloo…"

As she thanked him, a genuine grin started to snake its way across Bloo's face as he lit up with unmistakable delight. As he clapped a blobby appendage over his mouth to try and conceal his smile and also muffle a giggle or two, the little imaginary friend hopped off the bed and started slowly backing out of the bedroom.

"It's...it's okay…" he tried to assure around his laughter, while the panic-stricken redhead didn't appear to notice a single thing. "Just remember to ask him to check if they asked all the circus clowns, okay? You remember how Mac always said that he wanted to-"

"He did?" she whimpered confusedly. "But…well, if you say so…"

"Don't worry" Bloo tittered. "It's okay, we'll find Mac-"

"Find who?" an immensely familiar voice inquired bewilderedly from directly behind.

Almost instantaneously, Bloo's mirth met a swift demise while his skin tone paled noticeably and he temporarily went as frozen as a statue as he was hopelessly caught red-handed in the act. With eyes almost popping from their sockets, he managed to take a hard gulp, and slowly began to turn around as he attempted to plant on a woefully fake smile.

"H-hi, b-b-buddy," he murmured softly to the astonished brown-haired boy standing right there in the threshold of Frankie's bedroom. "Back s-so…so soon?"

Wide-eyed in confusion, the tremendously puzzled child glanced from his undeniably guilty-looking imaginary friend, to his feverish, nightgown-garbed guardian sitting atop her bed, where she appeared as panicked as could possibly be, before he demanded flatly, "What is going on?"

"Bloo?" the sickly caretaker whined as she listened intently to the ripe banana that the blob had handed her. "Bloo, the police haven't called back yet! What if…what if they haven't found any clues where Mac went yet? W-what if the circus already left town, and…a-and-"

"Oh, no!" Mac yelled in dismay as soon as he figured it all out. Without wasting a second, he tossed aside the damp washcloth in his hands and bolted over to the ailing young woman's side.

"Frankie, no! No, it's okay!" he yelped as he scrambled up onto her bed. "Look, I'm right here! It's okay, I'm right here, I'm-"

"Mac?" Frankie squeaked hopefully the instant she jerked her head around and laid eyes upon him. Immediately, she discarded her "phone" and clumsily swept up the child into a rib-bruising hug.

"Mac! Mac! Mac!" she started squealing joyously while she held him close and started nuzzling him furiously. "Oh, pal! I…I was so worried about you!"

"Ackpth!" Mac sputtered as the indescribably relieved young woman started planting kisses all over his cheeks and forehead, and unfortunately increasing the chances of passing on whatever flu bug she had caught. "No! Wait, wait, wait! Frankie, hold it! Wait, wait, wait!"

Alas, his pleas were totally fruitless, as the delirious redhead was simply too caught up in the illusion that her charge had just returned after running away. As she contently squeezed him in another lovingly fierce bear hug, Mac ceased his squirming, and shot his imaginary friend a look that could kill.

"Bloo, what did you do now?" he snapped angrily. Trying to play as innocent as he could, the little blob just shrugged and tried to flash a disarming smile.

"What? I was just checking up on her, when she started rambling on and on about-OW! OUCH!"

Even though she held a bottle of aspirin in one hand and a water bottle in the other, that still didn't prevent the little girl still standing in the doorway from lashing out with a swift physical reprimand. Wearing an ugly scowl, Goo kicked him sharply twice in the rear with her banana-yellow cowboy boots as she burst out chattering furiously.

"Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar! Don't say you have no idea what's going on, because you so do know exactly completely what's going on! You were messing around with Frankie's head because she's sick and super feverish and stuff, which actually makes you the biggest sicko here because Mac and I were only gone for five minutes, just five minutes, and now you have her totally freaking out because-"

"Nuh-uh! Nuh-uh!" he protested as he rubbed an aching behind. "I didn't do anything! Frankie always gets totally loopy when she gets a high fever, and-"

"And you always try and confuse her when she does!" Mac growled while he was still being strongly cuddled. "Remember last time? You put on Lauren Goes Explorin' and you convinced her that the TV was talking to her! Bloo, do we have to go over this again? It's not funny, it's just…it's just mean!"

"Nuh-uh!" Bloo shot back defiantly and crossed his arms. "I didn't do a single thing, I was just keeping an eye on her when-"

"Oh, thank goodness we finally find you! Now you can help me!" Frankie, whose current grip on reality was still woefully flimsy at best, burst out babbling gratefully before she tucked Mac under her arm and crawled over to the side of her bed.

"Hey, hey!" the boy cried as he struggled in vain to break free. "Frankie, what is it? What's wrong? I told you, it's all right, I'm fine-"

"Shhh!" the delirious caretaker held a finger to her lips and urgently hushed him as she peered down cautiously at the floor. "Quiet! You don't want to scare him away, do you?"

"Scare who?" Mac asked exasperatedly as he managed to wiggle out of her grasp. "Who are you-"

"The gremlin!" she whispered urgently as she kept her watchful vigil. "The gremlin under my bed! Bloo…B-Bloo told me he still has my wallet, and… and unless I-I want to see my credit card again…"

As Frankie rambled on and on, Bloo meanwhile cringed uncontrollably as both children glared daggers his way and stabbed him with their piercing glares.

"So…you didn't do anything, huh?" Goo spat while her lips curled into an ugly snarl, as Mac meanwhile tended to Frankie.

"It's okay…it's okay…" he whispered reassuringly as he stroked her head and hugged her like she was a fussy baby. "It's okay Frankie, don't worry…"

"But…but the gremlin…" she protested weakly as he tried to settle her down and move her from the edge of her bed. "Mac, I need your help…h-he has my driver's license…he…"

"Don't worry," the boy sighed and rolled his eyes as he humored her. "I'll…I'll, uh…I'll catch him for you later. Don't worry, it's be-"

"You don't understand." She protested, still waiting patiently for the 'gremlin' to appear. "B-Bloo says that he-"

"Oh come on!" the little imaginary friend protested. "You're really going to take her word over mine?"

Just seconds later he found himself cringing and whimpering pathetically as Goo's piercing gaze sent him the obvious answer. Swiftly realizing there was little chance he was going to worm out of this mess without being branded the one at fault for Frankie's trauma, the azure figment quickly sent his mind racing for another tactic.

"Okay, okay, okay, so I got her a little worked up…" he granted before pointing out in a last-ditch effort to defend himself, "But…I got her to think that a banana was a telephone and that you might have joined the circus…I mean, you gotta admit, that's pretty funny, right? Right?"

If he thought his phony smile and lame excuse was going to save him, then he had to be totally out of his mind as the little girl quickly cooked up a suitable retribution. Still keeping her eyes locked upon him, Goo used her foot to slam the bedroom door behind her, much to Bloo's tremendous unease.

"Uh…Goo? Goo, what're you-"

"Hey, Frankie!" she cried out, and effectively nabbed hold of the delirious woman's attention.

"Huh?" Frankie whined as she turned her head. "What is it?"

Still clutching the aspirin and water, the child lifted her leg and pointed at the miscreant blob with a cowboy boot.

"There's your gremlin." The little girl announced.

Instantaneously, the ailing redhead broke out into a vicious snarl while the raging fires flared up in her eyes. Before Bloo could realize what was happening, the young woman had already deposited Mac safely aside before she actually lunged off her bed with a vengeful roar.

"GIMME BACK MY WALLET, YOU THIEF!"

"AUGH! Frankie, don't-AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, everybody!" The pigtailed little girl greeted as she bounced into the bedroom with a hopeful smile. "Feelin' better today? Huh? Did the nasty fever go down at all yet? Huh?"

The question was more or less for courtesy's sake, for it was hardly difficult to see that a certain caretaker was well on the road to recovery after a good night's rest. Hardly the feverish, hallucinating wreck of a human being she was the day before, Frankie managed a weak grin as she turned her attention away from her small TV, while Mac meanwhile sat perched on her lap where he had been keeping her company.

"Much better." The young woman chuckled as she reached over to give the child a welcoming pat on the head. "Partially thanks to your guys' help…I think, at least…"

As she grimaced while she struggled to remember what the day before was like, it became quite easy to see she couldn't recall much, if anything.

"Blech, I must've been a fright yesterday." Frankie murmured apologetically. "And probably out of my mind…as usual. Sorry if I freaked any of you out, or if I started-"

"It's okay, you couldn't help it." Mac smiled and reassured. "At least the worst of it is over, right?"

"Thankfully." His guardian laughed before glancing back down to Goo and patting her mattress invitingly. "Care to join?"

"Sure!" the little girl chirped as she clambered up and plopped herself down. As Frankie scooted over to make room, she suddenly spotted a flash of azure out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, hey Bloo!" she kindly greeted the familiar little face as he passed on by the doorway. "Hey, you wan to join us-"

Bloo froze, took one look into her emerald eyes, and it was as if he just had a vision of hell. Immediately, he erupted into an extraordinarily shrill screech of pure terror, and in an instant he was off like a shot, rushing for safety lest he suffered a repeat of the day before. In no time he had vanished from sight, leaving behind one very, very flummoxed redhead.

"…What the…what was that all about?" she asked the children as she floundered in confusion.

As Mac rolled his eyes and shook his head, Goo unsuccessfully held back a snicker or two as she answered, "How about we say that the gremlin got the best of him yesterday?"

As her sniggers quickly evolved into a full-fledged case of the giggles, Frankie just gawked bemusedly before she sighed heavily. "You know…I think for once in my life, I don't even wanna know…"

The End