Again, I have no idea if K+ is the right rating for this. If not, please tell me.

Needless to say, this is a direct continuation of "These kids need love" so if you haven't read that one, you might want to.

So, since writing that first Animaniacs story, I kinda got this sleuth of ideas rushing through my head on what to write next.
At first I was planning on leaving it a stand-alone story, but I liked the idea of the Warners having an actual family too much. Of course like all families it isn't going to be all rainbows and sunshine, but I'll let you find out 😉
Don't worry, nothing too dramatic.

Also, a little backstory on that New-Toon Syndrome from the first story. I've read a lot of people's fanfics and tumblr posts where the Warners have autism, and I liked that idea. So I thought 'Huh, what if that's the reason they're so insane-y?'.
Then I had another thought. 'What if toons have their own form of autism?' And so the idea of NTS was born.
Except when I started writing the specifics of NTS it ended up pretty different from actual autism, so... whoops xD
It is going to be a big part of this story, so if you don't like it... Sorry?

Edit: Made slight adjustments to the NTS book part. I forgot I my story took place in a different time period and I've been made aware that autism was thought of differently back in the day. So I hope this fits better with that time period.

Thinking back on it, Kassie may have made a mistake. Staring blankly at the paperwork Plotz had shoved at her, thinking about the events that unfurled in the last few hours.

Yeah. She definitely made a mistake.

Oh, no. Not taking the Warner siblings under her care! There was no mistake at all in taking them from that abusive environment. The mistake was-

"Hey! Get off me you damn monkey-kid!"

Kassie sighed. Taking the public transit bus…. That's the mistake. Though in her defense, she didn't know she would be taking three children home that day! Her boyfriend had to use the car that morning to get to work, so that hadn't been an option. Sure, she could've gotten a lift from a friend, but she didn't know how long the interview - Blegh, the idea of her ever having wanted to work there made her sick - would take, and she didn't want to bother them.

So public transit it was.

Except now she had three children who had very clearly never seen beyond the studio lot.

She was pulled back from her thoughts when one of the siblings plopped down beside her. Wakko. He must be the one the lady just yelled at.

"Is everything alright, Wakko?" she asked softly.

She noticed how Wakko flinched away and had to force down a growl. No. Wakko had been in the wrong here. He can't just jump on people's laps.

"Hey, it's okay." she spoke again. "I know you're curious, sweetie, but you can't just jump into people's lap like that, okay?"

Wakko kept staring at his feet. Clearly he'd crept back into his shell again. Kassie looked over her shoulder for the other two. They were still as excited and energetic as Wakko had been 2 minutes ago. The brother and sister were bouncing from chair to chair, looking out every window at the view that passed them. Oh, it was so painfully obvious they'd never seen the world before. They were just lucky that there were barely any people taking the bus at this moment.

The newly-assigned (read: forced Plotz to make her their-) caretaker lightly tapped Wakko's arm, trying to ignore how he pulled away. "Wanna switch seats? You'll have that nice window view."

Wakko just lifted his head to look at her. Without waiting for an answer, Kassie stood up, allowing Wakko to crawl from his seat to hers as she took the isle seat.

Keeping her ears open for the bouncing duo, she kept her eyes on the middle child. (Well, she assumed Wakko was the middle child, she hadn't really gotten around to ask.) He was on his knees on the seat, hands pressing against the window. Pretty soon his smile returned as he stuck his tongue out again in that happy manner.

Kassie let out a sigh of relief. She gave Yakko and Dot one more reminder to not bother the other passengers, thanking her lucky stars that she was almost home. That they were almost home.

~One walk from the bus-stop later~

Kassie had never been more relieved to be home. The bus-ride had been fine for the most part… If you didn't count the man who came in the sop before hers and screamed at the children to behave. Like, literally screamed, including words she wasn't about the repeat. Sufficed to say Yakko, Wakko and Dot were back to the scared kids she found in the tower. Just when they made progress too.

Swinging the door open, she didn't waste any time leading the kids over to the couch. They'd stayed quiet the entire walk home and, from what she read from Plotz's papers, that wasn't exactly normal. Especially not for Yakko.

The cat toon knelt down to their eye level. "Are you three alright? You've been awfully quiet." Neither sibling answered. So that was probably a no. "Listen, I know it's probably not easy right now. I'm not gonna push you, but I will be right here when you want to talk, okay?"

Kassie jumped up from her knelt-down position. Checking the clock, she saw it was already past 12pm. "Well, I think it's about time for some lunch, wouldn't you say?"

The Warner siblings looked up at her in surprise. They got a say in that here? The executives always just locked them out of the cafeteria whenever it was lunchtime on set. Their surprise must have been apparent as Kassie's face fell.

"Alright, I have to ask this." she said in a manner that made it clear she didn't want to ask. "When was the last time you actually ate something?"

"…I don't know…" Yakko uttered after a moment of silence. "Before we got locked up, at least."

Kassie took a deep breath. That was pretty bad. They were lucky to be toons, or they'd be-… "Well, that won't do." Kassie walked around the couch to go to the kitchen. "You three sit tight. I'm going to make you some lunch."

She turned on the radio for the kids before retreating into the kitchen. First thing she did was grabbing the phone off the wall and dialing a friend of hers.

'Hello, Vicky Lynne speaking.' a familiar cheery voice sounded over the line.

"Hey Vicky. It's Kassie." Kassie tried to sound casual. "I had a question. Do you still have that book our creator gave you?"

'Which one? The one on syndromes and disabilities in toons, or the one on common illnesses and how to treat them toon edition?'

"The first one."

Meanwhile the Warner brothers and sister were staying still in the living room, itching to do something. Sitting still was a pain. Why sit still when there's so much to do? But at the same time, they didn't want to get into trouble.

It was nice being free from the water tower, and it was nice of that lady to bring them to her home. But they didn't know this place. At the studio, when they 'misbehaved' they knew exactly what was going to happen. But here? What would this stranger do if they 'misbehaved'? Not to mention, how could they stop 'misbehaving' if they didn't even know what they were doing wrong?

After what seemed like forever, Kassie finally emerged from the kitchen several plates, bowls and glasses in her arms and tail. Luckily nothing fell, mostly due to toon-powers, as she set it all on the table. There were 3 plates with pancakes, a small bowl of fruit for each and a glass of juice.

"I may have made a little much, but you don't need to eat everything. Just eat what you can." Kassie told them. "Well, dig in."

And dig in they did. The trio was scarfing down the food in record speed, leaving the adult toon to tell them to 'take it easy before they choke'. As Kassie went back to the kitchen to grab the leftover fruit, which was just half an apple, the front-door opened.

A light-gray furred dog toon walked in, his snout deep in the papers he was reading. Kassie stepped out of the kitchen to greet him. "Hi Andy. How was work?"

The dog, Andy, barely looked up from the papers as he kissed Kassie on the cheek. "Hello dear. Work was good. New song to practice. Gotta go." he all said in a hurry. He walked passed the couch, absentmindedly petting Yakko on the head. "Hey kiddo." he said in the same hurried tone, before walking into another room, closing the door behind him.

While Yakko looked in confusion about what just happened, Kassie just shook her head fondly. She held up her hand, counting down from three.

3…2…1…

Right on cue the door was ripped open by a disheveled dog. "Wait- Kiddo?!" His eyes then fell on Wakko and Dot. "Three kiddos?!"

He locked eyes with Kassie, who chuckled sheepishly. "Surprise?"

Which is how Kassie found herself in the music room with her very confused boyfriend

"How?! What?! Who?!" Andy sighed, pinching his snout. "What is going on?"

Kassie fidgeted with her hands. "Well, to keep a long story short. I demanded to be their caretaker after freeing them from the water tower at Warner."

Andy cocked his head. "Wait, what? Why?"

"You should have seen it, Andy." Kassie sighed. "The people had them locked up in there! I couldn't just… I couldn't just leave them there."

"Kassandra…" The cat flinched. Full names didn't usually bode well. "Honey, I know how you feel about children. Are you sure you didn't overreact?"

It was a fair question. Due to her inability to have children of her own, Kassie did tend to be very protective of other kids. But this had been different.

"Andrew… I'm sure." was Kassie's answer. "Yakko, Wakko and Dot were locked in that water tower for 13 years at least. All because the executives failed to take time to understand them and their behavior!" The woman took a couple deep breaths to calm her rising anger. "They have NTS."

"New-Toon Syndrome?" Andy asked bewildered.

Kassie nodded. "Yeah. And instead of receiving help, they would get thrown aside or locked up every time they 'misbehaved'."

"So they have no idea." Andy's eyes widened in disbelieve. "All they know is hat they're punished for-…" He couldn't finish that sentence.

Kassie nodded solemnly. "For being themselves."

This time Andy's hackles rose as the reality of the situation became clear. "I'm calling TPS."

"Don't!" his girlfriend was quick to stop him. "Please, I know this is bad, but I made a deal. The studio only cares about money, and the kids are still making them money from loan-outs. If we call now, they can sue us and get custody of the kids back."

The couple stood in that room in silence for a while. Finally Andy turned around and embraced his girlfriend.

"We won't lose them, Kass." he said, soothingly. "We won't. I promise."

Leaving Andy in the music room to work his emotions out, Kassie went back to her- the kids. They were still in the living room, sitting near motionless on the couch again.

'Well, of course. Acting zany like they used to has only ever gotten them locked up.' A voice in the back of her head whispered.

Kassie shook it off. Not anymore. These kids were gonna get the treatment they deserve. But first…they were gonna get a bath.

Yakko, Wakko and Dot were pretty confused when Kassie took them to a room. They were even more confused when she asked them to take their clothes off. For as long as they existed, they've always taken baths with their clothes on.

Still, they weren't exactly eager to find out what Kassie's punishment for 'misbehaving' might be, so they complied, even taking off their gloves which was a first. They watched as the cat left the room with the clothes, bathwater still running, and came back a few minutes later.

On her say so, they entered the bath, which was just big enough for all three of them. It was surprisingly nice, especially the bubbles! Dot cupped a handful of foam in her hands…and promptly dumped it on Wakko's head. As her older brother went cross-eyed to follow the foam go down his face, Dot burst out in giggles.

Naturally, a bubble fight ensued. Water and foam splashed over the tub as she siblings tried to cover each other in bubbles, all the while laughing happily.

A fourth laughter joined them, reminding the Warners about the other toon in the room. Looking over at the woman, they found her soaked as well. Another victim of their water fight.

"It's good to see you three enjoying yourselves." she said.

That was not the usual response they got when they made a mess. "Sorry about your clothes." Yakko apologized.

Kassie just waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't going into this expecting to stay dry." she reassured them. "But I do think we should get you three cleaned up, shouldn't we?"

Reluctantly, the brothers and sister let Kassie scrub them down with shampoo. The touching felt uncomfortable to Yakko, but the feeling of muck and grime leaving his fur was great. Besides, his sibs seemed to enjoy Kassie's help, so he could live with it.

A nice, long bath later and the Warners were wrapped into warm, fluffy towels and dried off. Kassie suggested the hair dryer, but only Dot seemed to enjoy that. After that all that was left to do was brush their fur, which Kassie left them to do themselves while she left the room.

While brushing Wakko's back, Yakko decided to drop the question that had been on his mind. "What do you think of her?"

His siblings froze for a moment, knowing who their brother meant. "Well… She seems nice." Dot replied. "She didn't even get mad when we soaked her with water."

"Yeah. And she didn't tell us to stop, or yell at us." Wakko added.

The older sibling nodded. "Yeah, I guess." he muttered. He just couldn't help but worry. What if she was behind that door, grinning at the camera like a villain because it was all some act? What if her punishments were worse?

His thoughts were interrupted by the bathroom door opening. Kassie came in, wearing different clothes now, and she'd brought their soaked clothes too. All it took was some good old toon logic, wringing them out above the bathtub and the clothes were dry as a cork.

When they came back downstairs, Kassie found a bag of toys in the living room as well as a book on the couch that wasn't there before.

'Ah. Vicky must've brought what I asked for, but what's with the toys?' Kassie wondered.

Kassie picked up the book from the couch, finding a note stuck to it.

'I know you only asked for the book.' it read. 'But here's some toys my nephew doesn't play with anymore. You'll need it ;)'

Sure enough, when she looked back to the bag she found a certain trio looking and poking at it. She couldn't help but smile at her- the curious little monkeys.

"You can play with those, you know?" Her voice startled the trio back from the bag, until her words registered. "Go ahead. But try not to break anything, or hurt each other."

While they dove for the bag, grabbing whatever they could lay their hands on, Kassie sat down on the couch to read the book. "Here goes nothing."

'NTS and how to help someone with it.'

'New-Toon syndrome (NTS), named that way due to it being noticed in newer toons far easier than in older toons, is a condition which distorts a toon's sense of reality. Though it is mostly discovered in new toons, it is present in older toons as well, simply discovered late.

Other names for it might be: Reality Distortion Disorder (RDD), or simply Toon-Autism, which some prefer to call it, though it does seem to differ from the human equivalent.'

'These toons may believe the world they were created for is real and will act accordingly to their world's rules. In other milder cases of NTS, the toon may simply have trouble distinguishing the line between their reality and ours.'

Kassie nodded along with the book. She couldn't quite tell where the Warner sibling fell on that spectrum yet. Though she was hoping they were simply having trouble seeing the line.

'NTS is a developmental issue. Literally. Their creators have usually not finished developing their character, backstory or abilities and/or purpose for said abilities completely before bringing the toon to life. That is why it is recommended by professionals to write all important information down on either their origin sheet (the sheet of paper the toon's official design was first drawn on) or a separate sheet to attach to the origin sheet before bringing the toon to life.'

'A creator's messy head may lead to a toon's messy mind.'

Oh how she wished to throw this book in Plotz's face right now and shove all the blame of the siblings' insanity on their creator. Then again, according to the papers he gave her their creator was already driven to insanity, so maybe not…

'NTS is therefore not curable as it is not a disease. However there exists special treatments to help a toon manage it, as treatments used for humans don't usually work on toons. For extreme cases, such as where the toon fully lives in their own toony world, it is recommended to seek professional help. They are much more capable of dealing with such behavior.

However, mild cases are treatable at home if you so prefer.'

Yes, she preferred. Skipping ahead to the chapter that talked about the treatment for children, she resumed reading.

'How to treat a child toon with NTS:'

'- Sit them down and explain the situation.

Toons with NTS do not know they have it. They fail to understand that their world view is any different from other toons. Explain it to them calmly and in a manner that they'll understand best.

Be patient with them too. Remember that their entire world view is being turned upside down. It might take a while for them to understand it.

Answer their questions in an equally calm and patient manner. It takes more than just one explanation for them to grasp the reality of their condition. Make them feel safe. Children have an especially hard time coming to terms with their condition. Ensure them that having NTS does not mean there's something wrong with them, despite what they might think.'

Kassie winced. She was gonna have to do this soon, wasn't she? Looking up from her book, she saw the children playing some sort of game involving a soccer ball, pirate's sword and dolphin plushy.

Their happy smiles calmed her nerves enough to continue reading. This was for them after all.

'-Help them distinguish realities.

Whenever they have a film-shoot, be present to help them distinguish the line between worlds. Be sure to teach them the cue wor-'

And skip. This was clearly for the directors.

'- Play pretend.

As silly as it may sound, play-pretend has been proven to help. Not only does it encourage the child to enter their own world, but by setting a time limit it'll also teach them when it is time to step out of their world. After a certain amount of time you could even ask the child to cut playtime short. It will show the progress they've made.'

Well, as observed earlier, the kids certainly had no shortage of imagination. Play pretend shouldn't be too hard.

'- Don't be too quick to punish.

Mistakes are bound to happen when they're in their own world. They might not realize they've made a mistake. If they don't, then don't just throw around punishments willy-nilly. That will just distress the child, as they don't understand what they did to deserve punishment.

Take the time to talk to them, tell them what they did wrong. When they understand what they did wrong, give a light punishment if you really deem it necessary, for example; cleaning up their mess, or sitting in the corner for a short few minutes.

If the child does understand that they did something wrong, that is great. They know to pull themselves out of their world. For punishments, the same as above goes.'

'- Remain patient.

NTS is something toons will struggle with their entire lives. The right treatment might help them to see the line between realities better, but that doesn't mean they always will. There will be moments where they relapse, when it's hard to pull them out of their world.

Just be patient. That is the most important thing.'

While Kassie had been engrossed in her book, the Warners took to scavenging the bag for the best toys. There were balls, plushies of all kinds, jump-rope, some yo-yos even a plastic sword. How could they not play with them?

As Yakko held mermaid-princess Dot and her loyal dolphin companion captive on his pirate ship, Wakko snuck up on him with his ball friend. The royal taste-tester of the underwater world couldn't let this pirate get away with kidnapping their princess.

Even though the princess liked the idea of being on display for all the world to see her cuteness, she didn't really agree on the tank part. Water made her skin so wrinkly. Why else would she constantly go up to the surface? She looked behind her captor and saw one of her loyal servants. She was saved!

Right when Yakko was about to try and convince the princess with his famous tickle torture, he noticed her looking passed him. When he turned around he found Wakko standing there.

"Ah. So the royal servant came to save his princess, did he?" Yakko taunted lightly.

"Yes he did. I mean- I did." Wakko said, brandishing his weapon. "Free the princess, tickle pirate!"

Not waiting for an answer, Wakko threw the ball at his older brother. The eldest sibling dodged and ran away. "Hey! This isn't dodge-ball!" he joked.

The younger siblings took that as their cue to start a game of dodge-ball and started throwing balls at Yakko as he ran away. He was dodging the balls like a pro, but one ball from Wakko came dangerously close to his face. Out of instinct he swung with the sword, managing to hit the ball and save himself a bruised face.

*Tink* *Crash*

Yakko's sigh of relief was cut short as he and his sibs froze. That was not a good sound. That was the sound of something breaking. Sure enough, when they reluctantly looked over to where the sound came from, they found a shattered vase, a puddle of water and scattered flowers.

They broke something. Kassie told them not to break something and they broke something!

'Look at all the damage you caused!' Yakko flinched at the memory of Plotz yelling at them through a toon-proof net. 'Do you know how much that's going to cost us?! That's it! Lock those menaces up! I never want to see their faces again!'

When Kassie found the trio they were curled up close, bushy tails hiding between their legs as an obvious sign of fright. Not wanting to startle them even more, she knelt down in front of them before she spoke.

This was it. The siblings pushed as close together as they could. This was where they were gonna get in trouble for breaking another prop…

"Is anyone hurt?"

Too startled by the unexpected question the siblings were stunned quiet. They were still shaking, expecting an explosion of rage as soon as they said they were fine.

But then she surprised them again. "Hey, I'm not mad." she spoke softly. "This stuff is replaceable. You aren't."

They still weren't speaking. But Wakko did pull away from his siblings, just enough for Kassie to check him for injuries. Dot was next to follow her immediate older brother, leaving Yakko to be the last. He flinched away from her touch at first, but then he let her when he realized she wasn't going to hurt him.

Satisfied with finding no injuries on her children, she pulled them closely to her chest and started purring. The purring of a cat - toon or not - was like a lullaby, soothing and calm. And right now, she was hoping to calm her scared, possibly traumatized kittens.

And if she nuzzled them and licked their heads… Well… No one had to know.

Oops, how did that angst slip in here?
Seriously though. Years of being locked up for being yourself is bound to leave some mental scars.
So, this chapter was originally going to be longer, but I got to writing this part and decided to cut it in half.