Featured song:

1. Right Here in My Arms (Reunion) from Barbie as the Island Princess. (This song has been featured a few times before, but I never get tired of it.)

The Batch brought everyone home soon, and the little girl... Hunter carried her into the Jedi Temple with Anakin guiding them to the healer's wing. It seemed the little one trusted Hunter the most at the moment.

"The little one really seems to like you, Hunter." Anakin said.

"I think she'll also like to be treated for all these injuries." Hunter said. "Okay, little one. You're gonna be checked by our friend Mariposa. She'll help you feel all better."

Mariposa finished getting some medical supplies together and was ready to examine the patient. And just in time too, because Hunter just arrived.

"Oh, good, Hunter. Thank you for bringing her here." Mariposa said.

Hunter set the little girl down onto the examination table.

"There we are, kid. Meet-"

But the moment the little girl spotted Mariposa's butterfly wings, she freaked out and clung to Hunter, crying in fear.

"Whoa there," said Hunter. He toned his voice down gentler. "Hey... what's the matter?"

"She's frightened." Anakin said.

"I can see that. But why?"

"My best guess, being around a lot of strange people? Here, let me hold her." Anakin said, and he took the little girl into his arms. "It's okay, kid. Mariposa is really nice. She won't hurt you."

But the little one cried when she saw Mariposa get close to her again.

"Wait a minute." Anakin said. "Are you... scared of other doresho gypsies?"

The little girl didn't answer.

Anakin set her down and got her to look at him.

"Sweetie? Did a doresho gypsy hurt you?"

The girl didn't say anything again.

This time, Hunter decided to say something.

"Was it a doresho gypsy who put you in that prison and did all these bad things to you?"

This time, the little girl nodded.

"It looks like she trusts you the most, Hunter." Mariposa said. "You did rescue her, after all."

"Is that true?" Hunter said. "You trust me, kid?"

The little girl nodded again.

"Well, since you trust me, I'm gonna let ya know, Mariposa is here to help you get better. She'll..." Hunter thought about how he'd seen any Jedi parents talking to little kids or babies and tried to mimic that. "She'll make all your ouchies go away. But she can't do that if you won't let her examine you. If I hold your hand, will you let Mariposa examine you?"

Hunter looked into the girl's blue eyes and took her hand to demonstrate. The little girl looked Hunter in the eyes and nodded slowly.

"Okay, little one." Mariposa said. "First thing we need to do is check how bad the damage is."

So, Mariposa got the little girl fitted into a hospital gown and checked her over.

"Hold still now," said Mariposa. "This won't hurt a bit."

Mariposa then made a little butterfly appear in her hands, but the little girl got scared again.

"Don't worry, kid." Hunter said. "She's not gonna hurt you. She's gonna heal you."

"That's right, Sweetie." Mariposa said. "There's nothing to be afraid of here. You're very safe. Mariverde can't hurt you if we're here to protect you. Not all doresho gypsies are bad, and I hope you and I can be friends. You know, I have a little girl of my own a little bit younger than you I think."

Mariposa took out a picture of her with her family.

"See? This is my husband Garrett, and our little girl, Goldie. She's six years old. How old are you?"

The little one didn't seem keen on talking still. So... she held up eight fingers.

"You're eight years old?"

The kid nodded.

"You're a very pretty young girl too. Once I heal you, we'll also give you a nice bubble bath and you'll feel even better."

The little girl still seemed hesitant.

"Don't worry, kid. I gotcha." Hunter said.

The little girl closed her eyes tightly and held onto Hunter's hand, and Mariposa worked her magic.

"Change for good, change to heal, just one touch, and well you will feel."

Mariposa gave the little blue butterfly a kiss, and let it flutter onto the little girl's head.

And like magic, all the girl's bruises started to disappear, to the little one's great surprise. She felt so much better too.

"Now let's get you into a bath." Mariposa said, seeing how dirty the little one was. "Anakin, would you be a dear and find something for the little one to wear?"

"Sure."

"Hunter, I may need your help to give our little guest a bath." Mariposa said.

———————————————————————-

The little girl seemed awfully curious as she sat in the bath fully of foamy bubbles.

The child blew on some of the bubbles and watched how some of them floated away.

"Looks fun, doesn't it?" Hunter chuckled, and he popped one of the bubbles. "The kids love bath time."

Hunter squeaked a rubber ducky and set it in the water. The little girl started to giggle as she started playing with the ducky as it quacked, and she splashed in the water with it as if she'd never played with a toy before.

"You sure like that duck, don't you?" Hunter chuckled.

The girl made the duck squirt water at him and giggled as Hunter spat and sputtered.

"Very funny," said Hunter sarcastically.

"I'd say it's time to rinse you off little one." Mariposa said.

And she got some non-soapy water and began rinsing off the girl while Hunter grabbed a towel to wrap the kid in.

Once the child was all clean and dried off, Anakin found a nice new set of clothes for the little girl to wear, including an orange dress much better than the raggedy one she'd been in. But they planned to wash and fix it up if they could. If Carmine learned anything from his grandmother and Anakin from his childhood, it was how to recycle old materials.

Mariposa even brushed the little girls hair into a nice lopsided bob that brought out her beautiful eyes.

The little girl felt much better now too. Of course, she needed food too. So, naturally, the royal family brought her home to have dinner with them.

The child really dug in the moment a plate of stir fried rice was placed in front of her, and she downed at least five glasses of water too.

"My, was she ever hungry." Susy said, seeing the child gobble up her food.

"Slow down, little one." Padme said. "You don't want to give yourself a stomachache."

The little girl seemed pretty satisfied to be clean and eating something.

"The poor dear," said Shmi. "Where do you suppose her parents are?"

"They're probably dead if Mariverde managed to get to Orange." Crosshair said.

"Is that her name? Orange?" Qui-Gon asked.

But the little girl shook her head, looking annoyed now at being called 'Orange.'

"I don't she likes being called that either." Carmine chuckled.

"What's your name?" Mariposa asked the little one.

At first, the little one seemed hesitant, so everyone kindly told the girl their names in an effort to make her more comfortable. The girl still seemed nervous, but for the first time in a while... she spoke.

"Mona. Mona Sommers."

"That's a pretty name."

"Where are you from?"

Mona looked down a little.

"How long were in that prison?" Tech asked.

Mona started to breathe heavily as she thought back to being in that prison again, so Hunter came by again and comforted her. She seemed to calm down fastest whenever Hunter held her.

"Tech! Don't speak of that again." Hunter scolded. "The kid's scared enough."

"I was merely trying to comprehend how she got there."

"Right now is not the time." Padme said. "Mona has already been through a lot, by the look of it. She'll need time and patience. For now, I think it would be best if we have her spend the night and contact child protective services to see if we can get this little one home."

Boba and Omega looked at Mona and how frightened she was. It reminded the two of them how scared they were at some point. Boba wasn't much older than Mona when he lost his father or when he got adopted. And Omega was probably just as scared as Mona was now when she was taken from her family before they completed the adoption process for her. What if Mona had gone through something like they had?

"Don't worry, Mona." Hunter said. "We're all gonna take care of you for as long as you need."

As if on cue, Mona started yawning.

"I think that means it's bedtime now." Caroline said, just as Charlotte started crying. "And I think Charlotte agrees."

Caroline gently rocked the new baby to calm her down, while everyone else got up to go get ready for bed themselves.

As Caroline got Baby Charlotte ready for bed, Carmine and Lamenta helped set up a nice cozy bed for Mona to sleep in tonight.

"There we go." said Carmine, placing the blankets on the bed. "These sheets are woven from a very soft silk. They'll make sure you stay warm and cozy tonight."

Hunter even tucked Mona in so she would feel comfortable.

"Sleep tight, Mona." Hunter said.

But, Mona felt too scared to sleep in the dark room by herself. So, she slipped out of her bed and followed Hunter to his room and crawled into his bed as he was about to fall asleep.

"Mona... what are you doing in here?" said Hunter.

"Sleeping." Mona said.

Hunter picked Mona up and carried her back to her room and put her back in her bed and tucked her in again. But when he got back to his bed, Mona was there again! So, Hunter brought her back to her own bed, and she got into his again. And again. And again.

"Mona, please. I'm too tired to deal with this now." Hunter said tiredly but also loudly.

Hunter's frustration managed to wake up some of the family from their slumber.

"Hunter, what's going on?" Padme asked.

"Mona won't sleep in her bed." Hunter said. "She keeps crawling into mine."

If he weren't mutated to be extra sensitive, Hunter would let Mona sleep beside him, but he found out from one time when Omega had a bad dream and she crawled into his bed that it wasn't such a good idea, because Hunter was very ticklish, and being tickled didn't exactly help him sleep well. So, they needed to find a way to get Mona to sleep in her own bed.

"I might know something that could help." Padme said. "Mona, would you like to hear a bedtime story?"

"Bedtime story?" Mona seemed confused.

"You've never had a bedtime story read to you before?"

"I usually had to read books myself. No one ever read to me."

"Well, I think we can find a story you'll like. What kind of things do you like to read?"

"I don't know. Everything I read was spell books and history books. Nothing else."

Padme brought Mona to a shelf of books that Qui-Gon read to the kids sometimes, and she picked one she thought Mona might like.

"How about the story of Cinderella?"

"What's it about?"

"It's about a girl who lives with her mean stepmother and stepsisters and wishes to go to the prince's royal ball to dance and have a fun night. Cinderella is a classic fairy tale."

Mona had never heard a fairy tale story before, but she was interested. So, Padme had her sit beside her as she read the story. Mona listened intently as Padme read every bit from the wicked step-family to the glass slipper fitting Cinderella, and she was ecstatic when the story ended with Happily Ever After.

"Are all step-families mean like Cinderella's?" Mona said.

"Of course not, Mona. You know, Shmi is actually going to be Kara's stepmother very soon. And I've know Shmi for a while. She's wonderful, and Anakin and Carmine are her half-siblings, which is kind of like a stepbrother, I suppose, but they and Kara all love each other very much. In here, even though we're not all related, we're all a family."

Mona was a little sleepy, but not quite ready to fall asleep. So, Padme got Mona into her bed with another idea.

"Have you ever had a lullaby sang to you?" asked Padme.

"What's that?" Mona said.

"It's a special song you sing to fall asleep. Lots of times parents sing them to their children when they're babies, but some never outgrow them. Don't tell Boba and Omega I told you, but they still like hearing lullabies from time to time."

"What are lullabies like?"

"Every one is different." said Padme. "But how about I sing you the one I sing to my kids?"

"Okay."

Padme held Mona in her arms and gently swayed her side to side as she sang her a familiar lullaby.

Padme:

Sun goes down and we are here together

Fireflies glow like a thousand charms

Stay with me and you can dream forever

Right here in my arms tonight

Sounds of day fade away

Stars begin to climb

Melodies fill the breeze

Sweeter all the time

My love

Is always with you whether near or far

How sweet to hold you

Right here in my arms tonight

And just like magic, Mona's eyes slowly drifted closed, and the young doresho gypsy finally was peacefully deep in sleep.

Padme gave Mona a kiss on her little head, so did Hunter. And that seemed to make Mona even more relaxed.

"She's a real sweetheart, isn't she?" said Hunter.

"Yes, Hunter. Mona is a sweet girl. I only hope she'll recover okay. Who knows what she went through before you rescued her."

"Whoever she is, her parents are probably worried sick about her."

One of Mariverde's troops grunted in pain as he was thrown against the wall.

"What do you mean she escaped?!"

Mariverde didn't remove her hood, but Rampart could see the scowl on her red lips very clearly, but she quickly moved her hood up more to hide what little visibility of her face appeared.

"We don't know how it happened, Your Majesty, we just-"

Mariverde zapped the guy with a spell and changed him back into a butterfly.

"No matter. She was useless to me anyway. It's not as though she will prove of any use to the royal family either. The minute they know who she is, they will no doubt interrogate her, making her a perfect target for another one of my mariclavas."

Mariverde returned to her hideout on Mustafar and looked into her magic mirror.

"Magic mirror on the wall, show me the family who makes me appalled."

And what Mariverde saw in the mirror intrigued her.

Lamenta was sitting on her bed sometime that same night, brushing her hair before she went to sleep. But she had a lot on her mind.

"You know, Lammy. I kinda feel like Indira's been hiding something. I've noticed it a lot more lately. She never lets me ride her or even touch her. Come to think of it, I don't think I've even seen her dreams before she moved in here. But it's not just her. A lot of people seem afraid of me getting too close to them because they know I can see the truth, and that includes deep dark secrets. But I would never hold that against any of them."

Anyone who knew Lamenta well enough knew she wouldn't blackmail them, nor would she laugh at them for having secrets. But still, a majority of any sentient population would normally be terrified and mortified if anyone knew their biggest secrets whether it was having a crush on someone, having a strange habit, or making a mistake one feels extremely ashamed about.

Lamenta also liked to think it felt better to learn the truth the old-fashioned way, rather than forcing it out of people. Sadly, with her power, she couldn't help it.

"You know, Lammy. I really wish that for just one day I didn't have to look into everyone's minds to find out the truth." Lamenta said.

And then she went to sleep.

"Oh, so our little dream maker has a wish does she?" Mariverde sneered. "Well then... why don't we see if what they say is true. The truth will set you free?"