Author Notes - Like I said before, it won't just be back-to-back reunions with the Guppies until the whole band is back together. I want to take some time to unwind and really reconnect with these Guppies after so long. You know, seeing how their lives turned out, and if the Guppy themselves has changed in any meaningful way. Speaking of which, let's do what the title says!

CHAPTER FOUR - CATCHING UP WITH OONA

Oona's home was just as welcoming as she was. It was warm and comfy, kinda like going to your grandparents' place. That's how Brianna saw it, anyway. She sat down on the soft couch and let herself sink into it.

Mere seconds later, Oona put a plateful of cookies down onto the coffee table. They had been baked a couple days ago, but Brianna didn't care. It didn't make them any less delicious! Zooli and Nonny took their seats next to her and cookies of their own. Oona sat down on a chair so she could see all three of them at once.

'So!' She said. 'It's been a little while, huh?'

Nonny swallowed a cookie and nodded. 'It really has. A few years, I think.'

'I wasn't talking about you and me. I was talking about us. All of us! You know, the band. I've still got a poster or two in my room!'

Zooli sighed. 'It was certainly a good time, wasn't it?'

'A good time? It was a great time! … Okay, so I barely remember a thing about it. But I remember we had one hell of a time together! Can I be honest with you? I really only remember being a part of that band because I still get people asking me if I'm 'the' Oona.'

Brianna finished her fifth cookie and got a good look at Nonny. Even though he wasn't very expressive, she could see the love in his eyes. Love for Oona, of course. The man was practically admiring her like she was a diamond.

'Hey, Oona, can I ask ya?' Brianna asked. 'What have you been up to all these years?'

'Ask me anything you want!' Oona replied. 'And to answer that question, well, not much to be honest. I never wanted to have an exciting life. Nothing extraordinary happened to me, aside from dates with Nonny. I moved to Fishington when I got a good teaching job here. There's nothing I wanted more than to teach kids about the world. And I like to imagine the kids like me, since I always try to help no matter what. Some students struggle with learning more than others, but that's no reason to leave them behind. Otherwise, I mostly just garden.'

Oona's life may have sounded mundane to most people, but Brianna was on the edge of her seat the whole time.

'Woah!' She said. 'You know, your fans were predicting a lot back in the day what job you'd have. I always thought you were gonna be a teacher, and I was right! It just seemed so fitting for you. So sweet and kind and gentle.'

Nonny shuffled just a little in his seat and stared at the hands in his lap. Zooli merely grabbed another cookie.

'But that's enough about me!' Oona said. 'How's life treating you guys? What about you, Zooli? I may not remember you too well, but I still wanna know what an old friend of mine is up to.'

'You didn't know me that long,' Zooli said, looking more at the cookie than Oona.

'So? I still wanna know! A friend's a friend.'

Zooli smiled. 'Well, it's been pretty good. I've been travelling across the globe and filming all sorts of wildlife documentaries.'

Oona's eyes lit up with excitement, but she didn't dare interrupt her old friend.

'And while I was down in Australia,' Zooli continued. 'I, uh, met someone. A lady named Bindi. She was making her own videos about the animals in the outback. Working together seemed like the right thing to do. A-And she was really pretty…' She cleared her throat. 'Turned out she really liked exploring the world too, so, uh, one thing led to another, and…'

Oona chuckled. 'Now you're together?'

'So that isn't… weird to you?'

'Weird that you fell in love with a lady? Of course not! Love is love. I'd never judge someone for something like that. How silly do you think I am?'

Zooli let out a long sigh of relief. It was something that was pretty easy to admit to strangers, but strangely difficult to mention to a friend. She knew she had nothing to fear, but there would always be a part of her that worried. And not without good reason, unfortunately.

'Now,' Oona said. 'Time for the real discussion of the day. So, Nonny…'

Nonny almost choked on the cookie he was eating. He coughed up several crumbs that fell to the floor, though Oona didn't mind. For some reason, he was surprised that the conversation cycled back to him.

'M-Me?' He stammered.

'Well duh!' Oona said. 'You think I don't wanna know how my Nonny's been going the past few years?'

'Uh, n-not much. Still doing archaeology and palaeontology like last time. It's nothing more than that, really. I just-'

He was interrupted when Zooli blurted out in a casual voice, 'He wants to date you again.'

'ZOOLI!' Nonny cried, his face going red.

Oona stopped smiling. Nonny started panicking. Brianna was on the edge of her seat. Zooli, meanwhile, just sat there and watched it all play out.

'You do?' Oona asked.

Nonny felt like he had a gun pointed to his face, but he nodded.

'Y-Yes,' He replied. 'I do.'

Oona was silent for a moment.

'How long have you-?' She tried to ask.

'A while,' Nonny since. 'Since… since you moved away from Bubbletucky.'

'And you never told me about this because…?'

That was the question of the hour. And Nonny struggled to come up with an answer.

'Because…' He said. 'Because I was scared of rejection, I guess.'

He hung his head. In shame.

'I get that,' Oona said. 'But I don't think it really worked out. Instead of going with a chance of rejection, you made the decision to guarantee our relationship never continued.'

It was a bad situation, but Nonny let out a small chuckle nonetheless.

'Sounds kinda stupid when you word it like that,' He said.

'Because it is stupid!' Oona said. 'If you really did like being my boyfriend and wanted to stay with me, you should've said something. I would've said yes!'

'Oh, in that ca- WHAT?!'

Even as an adult, it was quite rare for Nonny to shout like that. The kind of shout that echoes through the house and makes your voice crack like a teenager.

'Y-You would have?!' He cried, voice still cracking.

'Of course!' Oona said. 'I barely remember anything about that band anymore, but I'll always remember how much the fans loved to ship us. I swear, it was the most popular ship! I know sometimes shippers are just looking way too deep into things, but sometimes they pick it up.'

'U-Uh…'

Oona stopped smiling. 'Oh. I've thrown too much at you at once, haven't I?'

'I-I…'

'I'll take that as a yes.'

Though Brianna was watching the whole thing like it was a soap opera, Zooli didn't like the rising awkwardness in the room. She nudged Brianna's arm, and had to do it a few more (increasingly intense) times before it got her attention.

'What?' Brianna asked.

'I think we should leave them to talk about this on their own,' Zooli said. 'It's getting kinda awkward.'

'Aw, but it was getting so good!'

'Brianna.'

'Oh, alright.'

Zooli quietly removed herself and Brianna from the room, taking her to the balcony out back. It took some time, but soon enough Brianna and Zooli were sitting down on the backyard balcony. Overlooking the gorgeous flowers. The garden in the front yard did not do the whole thing justice.

'This is all your fault, you know,' Zooli said. 'I don't know how you convinced me to do this, but you did.'

Brianna smiled. 'I know, right! I'm responsible for Oona and Nonny rekindling their relationship. Isn't that cool!'

'Brianna, I- You're not going to stop this until you get the whole band back together, are you?'

'Well, I'll try. I know that some of the Guppies might not want to come back. They gotta still be alive cos I would know if they weren't, but I'll admit that getting the whole back together might be kinda unrealistic. But I won't stop trying!'

Zooli watched a little purple butterfly flutter between the flowers. There were a whole bunch of butterflies flying around in the garden. Most of them were gathered together. The pink one, however, was on its own.

'What are you going to do if this doesn't work out?' Zooli asked.

'I… don't know,' Brianna replied. 'I guess I'll worry about that if I get there. But it wouldn't be so bad. I got Oona and Nonny back together, after all!'

'Kind of bold of you to assume that they're definitely going to end up back toge-'

'WE FREAKING DID IT!' Oona shouted.

Oona burst through the back door so suddenly that both Zooli and Brianna yelped. In fact, Zooli jumped so much she almost fell out of her chair! Not helped by the fact that Oona did not, in fact, say 'freaking' and instead used its much more vulgar alternative. A word your narrator was forced to censor, lest the rating of this story go up. So if her language ever seems 'child-friendly', let it be known that her actual word choice was likely something much worse.

'O-Oona,' Nonny pleaded behind her. 'Language. Not in front of the kid.'

'No time for that, Nonny!' Oona said. 'Cos we're dating again!'

Despite having the sunlights scared out of her, Zooli smiled.

'Wait, really?' She said. 'That's awesome!'

'Yes!' Brianna said, throwing her fist into the air. 'Now I can tell my friend that I healed a relationship between two celebrities. Oh, she'll never believe it!'

'Calling us celebrities might be a massive stretch,' Nonny said. 'But the rest of it is true.' He leaned up against Oona and smiled. 'You and Zooli gave me the courage I needed.'

'Look at that, Brianna,' Zooli said. 'Keep going with a track record like this, and the whole band will be back together by the end of the week!'

Oona whispered something to Nonny that Brianna couldn't quite make out. Whatever it was, it made him blush. He nodded, and less than a second later Oona and Nonny locked lips in a quick but glorious kiss. As soon as they broke apart, Brianna broke into a big one-woman applause.

'WOOOO!' She said. 'Giving the fans exactly what they wanna see!'

'Okay, that's enough,' Zooli said. 'Like they said, they're not really celebrities anymore.'

'Maybe so, but they're still celebrities to me! All seven of you!'

'Speaking of which,' Oona said. 'Right now, it's just the three of us. That still leaves four of us! Which means we still have to find, uh…'

'Deema, Goby, Gil, and Molly!' Brianna said. 'I could recite your names in my sleep.'

'We better get on that right away!'

Zooli and Nonny weren't sure what to think of their friends' insane enthusiasm for this little plan. They shared looks of confusion and concern. A silent communication of 'are they weird or are we weird'. Zooli just shrugged her shoulders.

'But where do we start?' Oona asked. 'I knew where Nonny was the whole time, and you brought Zooli right to us. Other than that, I have no idea. I mean, where the hell would someone like Deema be anyway?'

'I know!' Brianna said, fishing out her smartphone. 'Deema is really easy to track info on because she's still a celebrity, unlike most of the other Guppies.'

'Oh yeah!' Zooli said. 'Ms Deema Swimmer. I see her all the time in new movies. Everyone agrees that she was the one good thing about that live-action remake of Wish. Heck, she's even guest-starred in several cartoon episodes!'

'And everyone knows that this lustrous star has made her home in Big Bubble City! Which means that's our next best lead.'

Zooli stood up, waving her arms around to get their attention. By some miracle, it worked.

'Woah, woah, woah!' She said. 'You can't seriously be suggesting that we go all the way out to Big Bubble City, can you? That's hours away. And you need to get a ferry. That's absurd!'

'I'm willing to drive all day if it means I could get the chance to see Deema again!' Oona said. 'And who knows? Maybe we find our other friends there too, or on the way.'

'Come on, Nonny. You have to agree that going all the way to Big Bubble City for a chance - not even a guarantee - to meet one person, is ridiculous.'

Nonny didn't say anything. He just played with his hands, looking away from his friends.

Zooli's shoulders went limp. 'Nonny. Please. You can't be considering it.'

'W-We don't have to do it today,' He said. 'Besides, there's plenty to do in Big Bubble City. Even if we don't find anyone there, it might be nice to go there together. As friends.'

'Yeah!' Oona said. 'Sounds like a great idea to me!'

Zooli quickly came to the realisation that she wasn't getting out of this. Three Guppies were staring at her with the kind of eyes a puppy has when it begs for treats.

She let out a long, tired sigh. 'Alright. Fine. We'll go to Big Bubble City.'

Oona threw up her arms. 'YES!'

'BUT, I'm laying down some ground rules. We're not going until tomorrow morning. And we're booking a hotel room, cos we are not going all the way just for one day.'

Oona nodded. 'Sounds fair enough to me.'

'And, most importantly… I gotta get permission from Brianna's parents first. I can already tell they're not going to be happy with me bringing her to Fishington. They're really not going to like me taking her all the way to Big Bubble City!'

For a moment, Brianna stopped smiling. It should've been impossible for her not to smile in the presence of her heroes, but there it was. A brief mention of her parents. That was all it took.

'I'm sorry, Brianna,' Zooli said. 'But I have to do it. We can't just take a kid who isn't ours on a road trip that big. If they say we can't, and odds are they will, we'll have to take the trip without you.'

Brianna perked up. 'But you'll still do it, right? Try to reunite the other Guppies?'

Zooli smiled. 'Of course. Might as well.'

'Well, in that case,' Oona said. 'I think I oughta go back to Bubbletucky with you to spend the night. That way, we can all head out together as soon as possible! Don't worry about me. I've got a place to stay for the night!'

Nonny immediately went bright red in the face.

Author Notes - Well, looks like Oona and Nonny are back together already! Fanfics typically depict Molly and Gil as the ones who end up together first, including some of mine, but it's fun to mix things up a little from time to time. The next chapter will introduce us to Brianna's family situation, which is... a bit complicated, to say the least.

By the way, there are no plans for a live-action remake of Disney's Wish, as far as I know. That was just a dumb little joke, considering that this story is supposed to take place a couple decades in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney does indeed to something like that in the future. So who did Ms Swimmer play? I like to imagine a genderswapped King Magnifico.