Arnold and Olga entered the den just in time to see the Washington State Lottery logo give way to the stage and drawing machines as the numbered balls bounced around the enclosure. And just like those ivory spheres Eleanor too trembled with excitement. An anticipatory silence fills the room, broken only by the suspenseful piano riff sound tracking this half a minute game of chance.

"It's Washington State Lottery's evening Pick 3, Match 4 and Hit 5 drawings. I'm Phillip LaMarche and here's tonight's numbers…"

The wide grin on Eleanor's face slowly began to slide off and her posture became slouched in disappointment as she thudded onto her mother's lap. While she loved the subtle and gripping orchestration which played in the background of the drawings as well as guessing which number would pop up when, the real cherry on top for the four-year-old girl was seeing 'Aunt' Lila Sawyer on TV. Nonetheless, the little girl learned long ago (and the hard way to boot) that such turns of events were not worth throwing a tantrum over.

Watching his daughter from the doorway, Arnold let out a sympathetic grin as he turned his eyes to the television set and watched the rest of the drawing play out. Before long, the half a minute ended and all talking could resume.

"Oohp!" Helga said suddenly. "Someone needs a diaper change."

"Here let me." Arnold said taking Cecile. "You and Eleanor stay seated."

"So Eleanor." Olga said as she sat down. "You psyched to be in Kindergarten next week."

"Yeah." She said dismissively. "But it's not gonna be as fun without KiKi and Kiara."

"Gerald and Feebs' kids." Helga explained to her older sibling. "Before we moved here, they were a lot closer."

"I see."

"But Eleanor has made many new friends since we moved here, hasn't she?" Helga asked. "Justin, Anndi, Ashley, Craig and Olivia come to mind."

Eleanor let out a small but affirmative hum. It wasn't like moving to Boston Harbor completely erased the Johannsen girls from her life. The three of them still had playdates most weekends and Gerald was always calling Arnold to refer another student or five from PS 118. That said, knowing that a rift existed in the closeness they once shared was still devastating to the Shortmans' eldest daughter. But thanks to her goldfish-level attention span, those sad feelings quickly found themselves put on the backburner as a new commercial began to air.

"Hello all. Lila the Lottery Lady."

Perking up like a hummingbird on coffee. Eleanor wildly clapped and pointed at the screen as her family's other childhood friend continued to hawk the newest edition to the Washington State Lottery's ticket scratch-off ticket: Sapphire Sevens.

"Well, you got to see Aunt Lila after all sweetheart." Arnold said as he stood against the doorway and rocked Cecile to sleep.

For the slightest of moment, Olga bristled. As much as she and Eleanor were related by blood, Lila earned the honorific distinction of "Aunt-hood" by virtue of being there from day one while by contrast she was off in England. Swallowing the guilt, she takes Cecile in her arms once Arnold returns and seats himself next to Helga on the couch.

"Mhm." The girl said affirmatively with a beam. "She's got a really cool job, gets to be on TV. Meet famous people and she's really pretty too…(Helga cocks her head in facetious shock)...but not as pretty as you mommy."

"Good save kid." Helga shot back with a wry smile.

"I'm...just...gonna put...Cecile down for the night..." Said Arnold as he screwed up his face to hold in a laugh; remembering all too well the acrimonious relationship his wife and Lila shared as children. Even with holding a dishrag to his mouth in some attempt to muffle the deep wheezes and guffaws he emits, the Shortman patriarch's howling still manages to fill the kitchen and carry itself through a large portion of the house.

"But who can blame her really for being star-struck at the end of the day?" Helga continued once her husband's merriment reached an appropriate volume. "That said, Lila has come around on holidays and birthdays and even taken Eleanor to the studio enough times to demystify the whole 'celebrity' thing. By and large it seems to have worked."

"I'm just glad between her and Phoebe, Eleanor has had…"

"Aunt figures?"

Olga nodded a little sadly as the final credits play over the Wheel and the lucky winner for that night's episode.

"Look. We can't change the past. We can only work now to salvage the future." Helga said frankly as she flipped the channels.

"Mommy! Aunt Lila's commercial again." Eleanor interjected as Helga pauses her channel surfing.

"Besides, Like I said, she got a very important lesson about how famous people are flesh and bone like the rest of us. Right sweetie?"

"Yep. I think you'd like her if you met her." The little girl replied. "She likes to play hide and seek, she's allergic to stuffed animals, and she's also a 'lizzy-bean'."

"You mean lesbian." Helga said. "And more importantly, that's not something Olga needs to know about her from you."

"But she is." Eleanor protested. "And she's not ashamed to say so-"

"Because it's her story to tell, not yours. How would you like it if I told people your business without permission."

The wheels in Eleanor's head turned as she considered what her mother asked. And with a comprehensive nod and a face colored in slight shame she toddles over to the TV set and gives it a contrite patting.

"You're right. Sorry Aunt Lila."

"I'm sure she accepts your apology, and is proud to see you learning." Helga said gently as she gave the girl a hug. "Now let's get to bed."

As the mother helps her daughter make her way upstairs, Olga shuts off the TV for the night lest she run the risk of potentially giving Eleanor ammunition to use against going to sleep that evening. Yet when in her darkness of her boudoir proper, with both door and light shut, sleep eludes the elder Pataki woman as she processes the image of a now adult Lila in her mind's eye.

Part of her wanted to fight it, after all, she had a decade or so of life under her belt; a decade or so that once upon a time had qualified her to be Lila's surrogate big sister when both signed up for the Big Sis/Little Sis program. Sure they bonded and all over operas, horse-drawn carriages and international cuisine, but when all was said and done the thought of anything beyond that sounded at best pathetic.

And yet...