ONE TIME SKIP LATER...
A car was riding down the road into the humble town of Springfield where a lot had changed since a certain 11th birthday of local boy Bart Simpson. In fact, this was way after that as now Bart was a teenager along with a good friend of his who was coming by for a visit.
"Well, kiddo, we're almost there to see the Simpsons again," Felicity told her younger brother as she was driving him over. "You think Bart Simpson ever finally grew up?"
"Maybe, maybe not," said LJ. "Either way, it's gonna be interesting."
"I know you've made a difference in his life and I'm quite proud to know that." Felicity remarked.
"...you're proud of me, Flick?" LJ asked softly, sounding touched.
"Well, yes, that's what our family does with these adventures," Felicity reassured him with a small smile as she looked back at him while stopping to a red light. "We make a difference in people's lives. You've helped Bart Simpson mature and learn as a person a bit, especially on that 11th birthday misadventure, I've made a different by befriending Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, Zofia's made a difference with that Pagemaster adventure, and I hear even David has his own adventures."
"At least we're all making headway." said LJ with a smile.
"Exactly," Felicity smiled back. "We've all come a long way."
Soon, the light turned green and they continued to drive off to make it further into Springfield. However, as they rode off in the car, a blonde teen boy could be shown riding around through town on his skateboard. This was one Bartholomew JoJo Simpson, age 16, and he was at least looking at things a little differently than he had been before. LJ glanced out the window and rubbed his eyes curiously before humming. Eventually, they made it over to the Simpsons house and Felicity parked the car before unlocking the trunk and went to get LJ's stuff out of there while he would come out to stretch his legs.
"Let them know we're here." Felicity told LJ as she helped him out.
LJ nodded, before he headed over to the door and rang the bell. Felicity smiled as she sorted out her little brother's things to help him out a bit.
Eventually, the door opened and no one seemed to be there until LJ looked down to see a little girl around the age of 6. "Why, Maggie Simpson, is that you?" he then asked, sounding shocked.
"Who wants to know?" The little girl asked, sounding a little shifty.
"Oh, it can't be Maggie Simpson," LJ then said, shaking his head. "This is just a beautiful young woman and Maggie Simpson is just a baby~"
The little girl giggled. "I'm only 6!" she then told him.
"It's LJ!" LJ beamed. "Boy, did you ever grow up!"
Maggie giggled bashfully before she hugged his legs and he bent down to pick her up and hug her back.
"Homer, you shouldn't leave the front door open," A woman's voice said. "What if Maggie got out?"
"Aw, she's just playing!" Homer's voice replied.
"Huh, Marge sounds really different." LJ commented to himself.
A woman came into the living room and was definitely not Marge. She had long slightly wavy orange hair and she seemed to be only slightly pudgy, but was very beautiful.
"...that's not Marge." LJ said to himself.
"Oh, Maggie, you shouldn't run off like that," The woman told the youngest Simpson child. "What if someone took you away?"
"Sorry, Aunt Mindy~" Maggie whispered before jumping out of LJ's arms and suddenly hugged the woman.
"Ah," LJ mused. "Are you a friend of the family?"
"Oh, um, you could say that," The woman named Mindy replied as she looked at him. "Oh! Are you that kid who's come to visit to see what's changed around here?"
"That's me!" LJ nodded. "Lionel W Schartz Jr, but everyone calls me LJ."
"Well, hello there, LJ," Mindy said with a small smile. "My name is Mindy."
"Pleased to meet you," LJ nodded. "What brings you by?"
"Oh, um, well, I'm just... helping with babysitting." Mindy explained, sounding a bit strange.
"Aunt Mindy's always here to see Daddy!" Maggie giggled at LJ.
"Wow, you sure are talkative today," Mindy grinned nervously at the youngest Simpson child. "Say Maggie, why don't you go play while we help LJ come inside and get settled?"
"Well, alright." responded Maggie as she headed in, and LJ followed behind.
"So, uh, welcome," Mindy said to LJ with a nod. "I've heard of you a couple of times."
"I hope they were good." LJ replied.
"For the most part, especially from Bart and Lisa." Mindy replied.
"So, uh, where are Mr. and Mrs. Simpson?" LJ asked as he came inside to see the household as it looked pretty much the same, but with a few newer photos of the family such as Maggie's Kindergarten graduation, Bart being seen with various girls such as Jessica Lovejoy, Gina Vendetti, Greta Wolfcastle, a Spuckler kid named Mary, and one girl who seemed a lot happier with him known as Nikki McKenna, and there was a giant wall that had a plaque above it with several photographs of random people who came to move in with the Simpson family temporarily for one reason or another.
"Having another important meeting, things are very different around here, I don't know how much you may know." Mindy explained.
"It has been a while," responded LJ. "So... maybe you can give me the quick version, but fill in the gaps later?"
"Well, this might be hard to take in, but the big thing is that... Homer and Marge aren't married anymore." Mindy told him softly, feeling obligated to tell him first.
"Huh, really?" LJ asked. "...honestly, I guess that's a given. I'm shocked it actually happened, but I guess it was bound to sooner or later."
"Yeah," Mindy nodded. "It wasn't easy, but it had to be done, but that's where I come in." she then added.
"So you met Mr. Simpson at some point?" LJ asked.
"Yes, but this was long before you came to visit for the first time in the summer," Mindy explained. "I actually used to work at the Nuclear Power Plant."
"Huh, so that's where you met Homer?" asked LJ.
"Yup," Mindy replied. "We really hit it off... but it was kinda awkward. What with Homer being married and all."
"But not anymore?" LJ guessed.
"It's a process, I mean, their marriage counselor was shocked to find that this married couple of 15 years carried enough marital stress that other couples built up to over the course of three decades." Mindy remarked.
"...three decades?" LJ muttered.
"Homer moved into the Village Apartments and started living with two roommates, a couple by the names of Julio and Grady. They've set Homer up on a few dates, but they've always ended in disaster because the women weren't able to put up with Homer's antics or buffoonery... then I came along." Mindy then added.
"Gosh..." LJ said softly.
"The only good thing going in Homer's personal life is that after getting fired from the Power Plant, Homer decided to become a brewer and make his own beer," Mindy then continued to explain. "With all the beer Homer has drunk over the years, his taste palette is perfectly tuned for the perfect beer taste, which made it an instant success around Springfield. Getting a few bakers together, Homer opened up a bar/restaurant called Homer's Brewhouse: Bakery and Beers."
"Wow," commented LJ. "Who'd have guessed that things would come together like that for him? Congrats!"
"Marge has also taken up an artistic side," Mindy then said. "She actually said that-oh, I'm sorry, I said too much."
"No, it's okay, you can tell me." LJ insisted.
"Oh, dear, nope, I'll spoil the surprise~" Mindy said bashfully.
"Well, if you tell me, I'll still act surprised~" LJ replied innocently.
"That ever work on your mother?" Mindy smirked playfully.
"Not once." Felicity teased.
LJ shrugged. "Ah, well, worth a shot." he replied casually.
"I'm sure it'll be very nice though." Mindy replied.
"Okay, now you're just baiting him," Felicity smirked as she held out her hand. "Felicity Schwartz, nice to meet you."
"Charmed, I'm Mindy Simmons," Mindy nodded as she shook hands with Felicity. "How very beautiful you are for an older sister~"
"Oh, I'm not really that beautiful~" Felicity blushed and waved her hand a bit.
LJ decided to let them both get acquainted and go looking around the place. Maggie smiled as she was watching the Itchy & Scratchy reboot show, which had them as girls, not seeming to mind that as she laid down on the living room floor like her older brother and sister would have back when she sat on the couch with them.
"Whoa, history repeats." LJ muttered as he headed up the stairs.
"I'm afraid Bart's gotten into beyond trouble lately, you may have heard someone mention Juvey?" Mindy then continued to explain everything to LJ as he was getting settled and familiar with the Simpsons household again.
"Not until now," said LJ. "But... I kinda figured it would happen."
"Well, that happened," Mindy explained with a weary sigh. "That Bart Simpson and his pranks."
"How bad was it?" LJ wondered.
"After performing the mother of all pranks on Skinner, he was arrested and sentenced to four years in Juvey for theft, arson, mayhem, forgery, and jaywalking." Mindy told him.
"Four years..." commented LJ. "How bad was it?"
"Well, going off the police report, it involved fireworks, every ball in the gym, and some chemicals from the chemistry lab." Mindy responded.
LJ winced. "Cuh-rikey!" he responded. "I'm mortified, but I can't say I'm not impressed."
"It's quite astounding in a bad way," Mindy remarked. "I only hope that Maggie doesn't adopt habits like her brother."
"Hey, she should be alright," said LJ. "She's got plenty to take influence from."
"Well, I like that spirit from you at least," Mindy smiled. "I heard you were an interesting person."
"More interesting than you know." Felicity nodded.
"So are you staying with your brother?" Mindy asked her.
"Just until tonight and tomorrow afternoon, then I have to attend to important business where my friends are," Felicity explained. "It's a bit strange to explain to an outsider, but let's just say that other worlds are going to slowly come together into one like the adventures from over 20 years ago."
"Well, I'll take your word for it," Mindy nodded. "Glad to have you along at least."
"Glad to be here," Felicity agreed. "I never really had much time to visit Springfield like LJ, Zofia, and David, so maybe I can get to know it better these next couple of days before I'm away again."
"I wish you didn't go away all the time, Flick," LJ pouted. "We miss you."
"I miss you guys too," Felicity agreed before looking soft. "Maybe I do spend a little too much time away from family, especially after I got that scholarship when I was around your age."
"...just a suggestion," LJ shrugged. "But... I wouldn't mind being more involved."
"Of course, LJ," Felicity smiled. "Tell you what, after I visit Ben and Mal for this meeting after tomorrow, I'll see about Chip, Honey, and I coming to see you guys for at least a month or two, how does that sound?"
"Well, alright," said LJ. "Sounds good to me."
"All right, why don't we get settled?" Felicity suggested. "Mr. and Mrs. Simpson will be back soon, right?"
"Yes, Homer is visiting some friends and Marge is bringing back groceries since we heard you were coming over today." Mindy nodded.
"Alright, doable," responded LJ. "I'll wait for the others to get back."
"You mean Bart, right?" asked Felicity.
LJ shrugged. "...yup." he replied.
"All right, I'm going to get settled," Felicity nodded. "You know I need a little time to get used to my surroundings."
"I understand and I'm glad you're here." LJ said as he went to go downstairs.
"I'm glad to be here too." Felicity smiled.
LJ gave her a hug and headed upstairs. Felicity smiled and she went away to get comfortable.
"Whoa, I've never seen these characters before..." Maggie said to herself as she watched the TV.
Scratchy grinned as he was about to tackle Itchy with a chainsaw and then a flickering energy ball appeared. Suddenly, out came two teenagers, a boy and a girl and the girl appeared to be wearing a lot of red.
"Stop this cartoon!" A voice urged, coming between Itchy and Scratchy and it was a teenage boy with a very pronounced hat on his head. "This timeline has been corrupted and none of this makes sense and I'm from Wonderland! Listen to me, don't change the channel! This universe is in mortal dange-"
"Blaaaah..." Maggie groaned as she changed the channel, feeling bored of the two teenagers.
Clearly, that wasn't the right way to try and communicate... or the right person to communicate to. LJ headed up and went to a nearby window, before he got out a comic and started reading it. Bart had met up with a gothic girl named Nikki and the two were sitting and talking further in town for a while in the meantime.
Bart had complained about things changing and how it was worse than how he imagined it would have been back on his very shocking 11th birthday party that was too good to be real and felt like a fever dream compared to other adventures they had before. However, a random stranger with a guitar was standing overhead of them as he walked by and said he was in time for the Springfield Country Music Awards hosted by Rich Texan. There was then suddenly a very life-changing and emotional experience that cast over Bart before he would meet his family at home for dinner that night, since LJ and Felicity would be in town.
Marge soon came home and brought in grocery bags, thanking Mindy for her help and she glanced over. "LJ Schwartz, is that you?" she then asked.
"One and the same, Ms. Marge," LJ beamed. "Good to see you again!"
"Good to see you too," Marge smiled as she came to hug him. "I hope you don't mind if I hug you, but I always loved you like another son."
"And that is much appreciated," LJ responded as he returned the hug. "How've you been lately?"
"Oh, I've been alright, spending time with some good girl friends like Ruth Powers," Marge said with a nod. "She has a daughter named Laura who used to babysit for Bart and Lisa."
"Hey, that's great!" said LJ. "So... how have the kids been?"
"I love this house, but it feels empty sometimes." Marge admitted.
"I heard something about Lisa going to a new school?" LJ then remarked. "I haven't seen her around."
"Actually, Lisa is in college already." Marge explained to him.
LJ gave a whistle. "Well, I guess she really was smart enough," he commented. "In that case, good on her!"
"Yes, now she can really discover her true potential as first female straight president or even a doctor like one of her distant cousins on her father's side." Marge beamed. "Anyway, what would you like for dinner? I know you don't really eat pork or turkey like your father, so one option is a baked chicken."
"Chicken sounds good." LJ nodded.
"All right, I was hoping that would work because who doesn't love chicken?" Marge agreed.
"Chuck Little from my school," Felicity quipped. "He's the son of Chicken Little and grandson of Chanticleer the Rooster."
Marge blinked with wide eyes and glanced over while Felicity chuckled.
"...I'm not sure if she's kidding or not really." LJ admitted to Marge.
"Right, well, I'll get dinner started and everyone should be back here very soon." Marge then said to LJ kindly.
"Oh-kay then!" replied LJ. "Thanks, Ms. Marge!"
Marge chuckled warmly. "Ms. Marge, I like the sound of that." she told him gently as she patted him on the head kindly.
LJ smiled at that, but let Marge go about her business and went to wash up.
"This is a very nice couch." Felicity told LJ.
"Yeah, it's a classic," LJ nodded, though saw that it was a bit rundown. "Hey, Ms. Marge, you ever think about getting a new couch?" he then asked before he would wash up with his sister.
"Oh, sometimes, but that couch is almost like apart of the family," Marge replied as she poked her head out from the kitchen. "Homer's words though, not mine."
"...I'll make a note of that." mused LJ.
Marge nodded and then went back into the kitchen. LJ and Felicity soon washed up together as the rest of the family was on their way over to meet them since they were coming to visit for the first time in quite a long while.
Eventually, the others had gathered almost completely at the house. Bart and Nikki made it through the door, both having wide eyes as they seemed to be enlightened spiritually somehow.
"Do we tell anyone what happened?" Nikki asked him.
"Maybe over dessert." Bart replied.
"Yeah... deep..." Nikki nodded. "Who knew Wreck-it Ralph really knew how to touch your soul?"
"You really DO kinda sound like that Vanellope von Schweetz girl." Bart said to her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Nikki scoffed.
"Well, well, Bart Simpson, as we live and breathe!" LJ greeted in a playful Southern Belle voice.
"Ey, LJ, long time no see." Bart greeted him.
"How you been, dude?" LJ asked. "Y'know, post-Juvey?"
"Eh, I'm pretty alright, nothing special." Bart replied.
"Ahem?" Nikki cleared her throat and glared.
"Oh, sorry..." Bart then said. "LJ, this is my girlfriend, Nikki. Nikki, this is our family friend LJ, his sister Zofia was pen pals with Lisa back in the old days."
"Hey, nice to meet ya!" LJ greeted. "Here's hoping this relationship lasts longer!"
"Yeah, Mr. Ladies' Man," Nikki smirked. "Tell him all about Jenda."
"You're hilarious," Bart rolled his eyes before he faced LJ. "You won't believe what just happened to us, it was kinda like my 11th birthday where it seemed like this world was ending or ceasing to be all because of the changes and how life changes for everyone no matter what."
LJ raised a brow. "Do tell," he mused. "I'm all ears."
"Well, I dunno if I can sing it as good as-" Bart shrugged until the doorbell rang.
The door then opened on its own and came a certain actor with a guitar.
"John C. Reily?!" LJ asked. "What the heck's John C. Reily doing in Springfield?!"
"That's exactly what I said!" Bart replied.
"Huh? John C. Reily, no, uh, I'm, um-" The country singer-like actor began to say.
"Ralph?" Nikki smirked.
"Quiet you," The actor ignored her. "I'm Dewey Cox: multigenerational country music star who's known Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and a whole lot of other people over the years!" he then announced, almost sounding boastful. "I'm in Springfield in time for the music festival in the park which is why Lisa Simpson happens to be in town this week and not just to say hi to LJ Schwartz."
"...huh, that is pretty impressive," mused LJ. "But, alright, that makes sense at least."
"Yeah, I got a surprise for y'all during my visit here in town," Dewey Cox said as he looked around and came inside. "Nice place ya got here, I could see myself coming here one week out of a television season and sing a powerful song that people remember for years to come."
Bart and Nikki just blinked and shrugged.
"So you've probably had a lot more interesting adventures than I've had for the past six years." Bart said to LJ.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," LJ nodded. "But it's a lot to get into, y'know?"
"I could say the same for us." Bart nodded.
"Guess we can discuss it later," said LJ. "Still, it's nice seeing you again."
"Likewise, man," Bart nodded. "Make yourself at home."
And so, everyone sat together and ate up a very wonderful meal together, especially with musical legend Dewey Cox who was currently telling them all the story about how he had a tragic backstory of cutting his brother in half when they were children and his father hated him for it ever since which led to him meeting a couple of blues musicians who got him into playing music.
"Wow! What a very exciting an interesting life we are all right now hearing about!" Lisa beamed.
"Don't push it." LJ remarked dryly.
Lisa muttered and shrugged at that.
"Well, Mr. Cox, sounds like you've lived quite a life and congratulations on your Lifetime Achievement award." Felicity remarked.
"Thank ya kindly, young lady," Dewey Cox nodded. "Ya know, I like to do a little thing before every show."
"What's that?" Marge wondered.
"I reflect on my entire life leading up to that point," Dewey Cox said mysteriously. "Going all the way back to the accident with my brother that pushed me to become the music man I am today and going to my high school talent show at 14 and having a 12-year-old girlfriend until we got married and had a baby."
"Not the best path to follow." Lisa whispered to Maggie.
"Noted." Maggie responded.
"I can't wait to share this song with y'all." Dewey Cox said to them.
"How long until the concert?" LJ asked as he charged his headphones he got from Cherry to help make loud noises and surroundings a bit more tolerable.
"In just about-" Dewey Cox was about to say until a giant fast forward button appeared and everything was skipped until the concert.
"What the-?" LJ muttered in a Simpsons-esque tone of voice as he looked around and suddenly found himself sitting in the audience along with everyone and his headphones. "Felicity, did you see that?" he then asked his oldest sister who was luckily there with him.
"I sure did, but I don't know what it was." Felicity replied ominously.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to introduce for the first time on-stage in 25 years performing his final masterpiece that will sum up his entire life, the one, the only Mr. Dewey Cox!" Troy McClure announced on stage as the audience applauded while the aging country music star was on his way to the stage and was being escorted by his second wife/former musical partner known as Darlene Madison.
"Damn," mused LJ. "...you know, I get the feeling something might just be wrong. Maybe we should investigate after this."
Felicity nodded in silence as she had the same feeling.