Suzie

Despite Lulu being an early riser, Mondays were an exception. More often than not her uncles carried her into the Murphy's house. Today was no exception.

Milo accepted the little girl while Sara came forward to talk to Vinnie and Balthazar.

"One of my classmates asked me to watch his little sister today," She explained, "She's a year or two older than Lulu. I just thought I would warn you. I don't know how the kiddos would react to each other."

"Lulu should be fine," Vinnie handed his niece's bag over, "Between you guys and Sammy, I don't think she'll have too much trouble communicating."

Sara nodded, "Alright."

When they turned around, a familiar young man was making his way up the walk.

"Dakota! Cavendish! Candice told me that Sarah and Milo were watching your niece. But I wasn't expecting to actually see you this morning."

"Ah, Jeremy," Vinnie smiled and nodded, "So your sister is who they're watching."

"That's actually a huge relief," Balthasar admitted, "I was a little worried about Lulu meeting someone new. But now that we know it's your sister…"

"Yeah, Suzie's a good kid," Jeremy bounced his sister slightly, "She's usually good with new people. Usually Candice watches her when I can't but they're out of town until after noon today."

Suzie slipped from his arms and smiled sweetly up at them, "Hi!"

"Why don't you and Winnie head inside, Suzie. I'll come pick you up after work. OK?"

"OK!" Suzie scampered into the living room, little black poodle trotting along behind her.

Lulu was curled up on the sofa with Deohgee and Piccolo. The dog lifted his head at the other dog and her owner.

"Oh, look, Winnie," Suzie cooed, "There's a baby here, too!"

Winnie sniffed Piccolo and yipped playfully. Lulu sprang up, clutching her plush platypus tightly.

"No! Mio Piccolo! Senya comtatto!"

Suzie stared at the younger girl. She turned to look up at Sara.

"What's wrong with her mouth?"

"Lulu doesn't speak English," Milo picked Lulu up, "But she understands you just fine. She just chooses to speak Italian."

"Why?"

"Cuse she's sad."

Sammy led Melissa into the room. Suzie blinked at tht young Cavenpuss before shaking her head.

"I've seen weirder… But why is she sad?"

"Mama y Papa partido," Lulu slipped out of Milo's arms and went to stand by Sammy, "e ora devo vivere con Zio Vinnie y Zio Balths."

"...Partido?"

"Gone," Sammy explained, "She lives with her Zios."

Suzie looked up at Sara.

"Lulu lives with her uncles. She only recently moved to Danville."

"I thought those were her daddies."

Melissa shook her head, "Nope. She's living with them until her Daddy can come and get her."

"Oh. Ok."

"Now that that's out of the way, who still needs breakfast," Sarah led the way into the kitchen.

"ME!" Sammy waddled after her.

"Yeah, we got a bit of a late start today."

"I'm a little hungry," Suzie shrugged.

"Passo avere delle mele?"

"Um...Mele...Oh! Yes, Lulu. You can have apple slices."

She grinned and soon all three children were seated at the counter with their breakfasts.

"Do we have any plans for these kids?" Melissa asked, "We've never had three kids to keep an eye on before and we don't know what kind of kid Suzie is."

"I doubt it'll be much different than our usual routine," Sara insisted, "We could take them to the park for a bit after naptime."

"Park?" Sammy purked.

Winnie and Deohgee barked and began bouncing around.

"Maybe we should go on a walk once Zach gets here," Milo gave his sister a look.

The dogs lost their minds. Barking and running to the door. Deohgee actually picked up his leash and ran in circles.

"Thank you, Milo, for using the 'W' word."

Lulu shoved the last of her apple slices in her mouth and slipped off her chair. She scurried into the living room and grabbed her backpack.

"Sto andando a fare un passeggiata?"

"Not yet, Lulu. We'll go after lunch."

Lulu pouted and sat on the couch, looking out the window.

"Why does Lulu have a leash?" Suzie whispered to Sammy.

"Lulu's really fast. And when she gets excited she sometimes forgets that she has to stay with everyone else."

Suzie shrugged and went back to her toast. Melissa gave Milo a dark look and clapped slowly. He smiled sheepishly until the faucet burst off the skin, spraying water everywhere. Suzie screamed. Sammy just slipped off his chair and waddled into the living room. Melissa picked up Suzie and carried her into the living room with the others. Milo just pulled a wrench out of his backpack and got to work.

"What happened?" Suzie gasped, "That can't be good!"

"It's just Murphy's Law," Melissa assured her, "It happens all the time. It's nothing Milo can't fix."

Suzie shook her head and sat on the sofa next to Lulu.

"I take it I missed the first of Murphy's Law of the day?" Zach asked as he ambled through the door.

"Yeah. It kinda freaked Suzie out."

"Suzie? Oh. Hey."

"Hi."

"Zach!" Lulu squealed.

She leapt off the sofa and latched onto his hand, "Melissa ha detto che possiamo fare una passeggiata quando arrivi. Andiamo!"

"Actually, I said we would go for a walk AFTER LUNCH."

"Piu tardi, Lulu. Aspettiamo Milo e gli altri."

Lulu pouted up at him.

"Non guardarmi così."

"Per favore!"

"No."

Lulu continued to pout and pulled his hand over her head. Zach chuckled and pulled her close. Lulu nuzzled into his belly and hugged him.

"Why are you her favorite?" Melissa asked, "I really thought it would be Milo since he's so much like Dakota."

"Maybe so," Zach held his head high, "But I speak her language! Besides, Lulu's the closest thing I'm getting to a little sister."

Lulu grinned and bounced up and down.

"Are we going for a walk now?" Suzie asked, standing and grabbing Winnnie's leash.

"Later," Melissa promised, "Milo has to fix the kitchen and we'll have lunch in a little bit. Then we'll go."

Suzie nodded and pulled paper and scissors out of her bag. Lulu ducked away from Zach and watched as the older girl folded and cut the paper. Suzie smiled and unfolded the paper.

"Do you like paper dolls?" She asked.

"I do now."

Lulu just stared at them.

"Do you want to learn how to make them?"

The younger two nodded and Suzie got out more paper. She taught them how to fold the paper and draw the outline of the doll. She let Melissa cut the dolls out and then she got out her markers and crayons. They spent the next couple of minutes coloring in each of the dolls.

"Alright," Milo stepped into the room, "The kitchen is fixed and cleaned."

"Who wants to play school?" Sara offered.

"OK!" Sammy scrambled over to the table, Lulu hot on his heels.

Suzie gave her babysitter a hard look, "Is this a new way of tricking us into learning?"

"Of course not! Milo, Melissa, and Zach will play too. Right, guys?"

"Of course!"

Suzie continued to sit with her paper dolls before grinning and joining the others, "Ok."

For a while, Sara tricked the toddlers into learning their colors and sight words, making drawings and doing little crafts in between, until Milo and his friends took them outside to burn off some energy. The young woman took the time to order Ye Olde Pizza rather than risk damage to the kitchen again so soon. It was less than an hour before Veronica crashed into the garage.

"Thanks, Veronica. Do you have time to join us?"

"Sure! You guys are my last delivery of the day. Everyone else in the back?"

"Yeah. Milo and the others are watching the little ones."

"Little ones? Oh my gosh! They're adorable! God...That makes me feel old… Little Milo's all grown up and babysitting himself now."

"I know. Sometimes just the energy those three have makes me feel old. We're too young to feel this old."

Veronica nodded as Sara called the others into the house to eat. Milo was perfectly happy to introduce his charges to his old babysitter. She was practically family after all.

"Alright," Melissa put the dishes in the sink, "Who's ready to go for a walk?"

"Yeah!" Lulu sprang up and grabbed her backpack.

"Shoes first, Lulu."

She glared up at him and stamped her foot.

"Shoes or no walk, "Sara insisted.

Lulu continued to pout but complied. They leashed her and the dogs and set off down the road. Deeohgee and Winnie pranced ahead of the group and Lulu rushed to the end of her leash. She tossed Piccolo over her head.

"Carefull, Lulu," Milo warned, "You don't want to have to give Piccolo a bath today, do you?"

She shook her head and snuggled the plush platypus. In just a minute, she was tossing him again.

"Lulu! Can I play too?" Sammy pulled ahead of the teens.

Lulu grinned and tossed the plushy to her best friend. Sammy caught it and tossed it back. The duo practically ran circles around their babysitters as they tossed the toy back and forth.

"Can I play?" Suzie grinned.

Lulu nodded and tossed Piccolo over. Suzie caught the toy and tossed it to Sammy. Sammy tossed it back to Lulu. Lulu tossed it to Melissa. Melissa tossed it back to Suzie. Suzie turned to toss the doll back to Sammy. Winnie leapt up and snatched the plush platypus out of the air. She ran off, her leash snapping in the middle as she took off down the road. Lulu froze.

"Winne! No! Drop it!" Suzie shouted, taking off after her dog, "That's not your toy! Drop it! Winnie!"

The poodle ignored her person. Deeohgee barked and chased after them both.

"Suzie! Deeohgee!" Sara dropped the broken leash and followed them.

Milo pulled a spare leash out of his backpack, "Melissa, Zach, grab Lulu and Sammy!"

"Way ahead of you, Milo."

The three teens ran after Sara and Suzie. By the time they caught up to them, Deeohgee had cornered Winnie and Sara had caught Suzie in the dog park.

"I'm sorry," Suzie cried, "I didn't think she would take Lulu's toy. Honest!"

"It's ok, Suzie," Milo hugged her with one arm and clipped the new leash to Winnie's collar with the other, "It was just an accident."

"Milo, I hate to say it but I think this is going to take more time to fix that we have," Sara showed him what was left of Piccolo, careful to keep her back to Lulu and Sammy, "I can't even find all of it."

Lulu's eyes grew wide as she caught sight of the orange and teal fabric that littered the ground and the stuffing at Sara's feet. Tears flooded her eyes and her breath started to come in gasps.

"Uh oh…" Sammy whispered.

Lulu burst into screaming sobbs.

Milo, please tell me you have a spare Piccolo in your backpack," Zach begged.

"No. Sorry, Zach. It doesn't work that way. Is there something in her backpack? Popsicles? A blanket?"

"Nothing," Melissa dug into the bag, "She has a change of clothes and some stim toys. No other plushies or anything like that."

"Then let's head home," Sara picked up Suzie, "I'll call Dakota when we get there and ask him what to do."

Her brother and his friends nodded and tramped after her. Lulu continued to sob the entire way.

"Dakota? We have a problem. There was an accident when we went out- No! No, no one's hurt but… Winnie ate Piccolo… Hello? Dakota? Zio Vinnie? Ok…" She hung up, "He's on his way. The good news is they were just about done at today's cleanup sight. The bad news is he did not sound happy."

Zach rolled his eyes and nodded, "If this is a normal meltdown for Lulu then I'm not surprised."

"I'm actually kinda surprised she didn't have a meltdown sooner," Milo sighed.

It was only a few minutes longer before Vinnie and Balthazar arrived to collect their niece. Vinnie wasted no time taking lulu and attempting to calm her while Balthazar talked to Milo and his friends to try and learn what happened.

"It was an accident," Milo insisted, "The three of them were playing and Winnie grabbed it out of the air. You've seen Deohgee do it with stuff from my backpack all the time."

"Of course," Balthazar nodded and knelt down in front of Suzie, "Are you alright, Ms. Johnson?"

"I'm not hurt," Suzie assured him.

"That's not what I meant."

Suzie blinked up at him and nodded, "It was an accident…"

"I know. You're not in trouble. I just want to make sure you're ok."

Suzie nodded again, "I'm ok. Just...tired…"

Balthazar nodded and pat her head gently. He stood back up and let Melissa put Suzie and Sammy down for their nap. Lulu had finally fallen asleep against Vinnie's shoulder, tears staining her face.

"We're going to take her home for now," Vinnie explained.

Milo and the others nodded sadly and waved them off. Vinnie was uncharacteristically quiet on the ride home and as he tucked Lulu into her bed. He stayed quiet when he went back into the kitchen, grabbed a bag of chips, and sat on the sofa. Balthazar put an arm around his shoulders.

"Alright. What are you so nervous about? I thought you had dealt with Lulu's meltdowns before."

"I have," Vinnie swallowed and leaned his head back against his husband's shoulder, "But never one like this. Lulu's meltdowns are usually triggered by loud noises or crowds. Overstimulation and stuff like that. I can fix that. Noise cancelling headphones, finding someplace quiet. I can't fix Piccolo. I don't like not being able to help her…"

Balthazar hummed and nodded, pulling Vinnie closer to his side. A knock on the door made them both sit up. They exchanged a look and Balthazar went to answer it.

"Hi, Mr. Cavendish," Phineas grinned up at him, "We overheard Candece on the phone with Jeremy say something about your niece losing her platypus so Ferb and I thought she might like to hold onto Perry for a bit."

The platypus chittered in Ferb's arms and winked up at Balthazar.

"Well, that's very kind of you, boys. But Lulu's just gone to sleep for now. Maybe you two...could…"

Perry wiggled out of his person's grasp and waddled down the hall and into Lulu's room.

"Perry!"

Vinnie followed the boys and Balthazar as they followed Perry. The platypus had crawled into bed with the sleeping toddler and was now tucked under her arm.

"Perry's very good about this," Ferb explained, "He's our therapy animal so it makes sense that he would seek her out here."

Perry chittered again. There was another knock on the door. Vinnie opened the door to find it was Candice, Jeremy, and Suzie. The little girl held her hands behind her back.

"Mr. Dakota," Jeremy smiled, hands on his sister's shoulders, "how's Lulu?"

"She's sleeping right now. Bath and Perry are in there right now with her and your brothers, Candice. What brings you over?"

Suzie mutely held out her hands. Vinnie smiled softly.

"Candice helped me. We couldn't find everything but we tried to match to it as best we could."

He coughed back a sob and knelt down to Suzie's height, "Thank you, Suzie. I think Lulu will like it very much, even if it doesn't all match. Why don't you go back with Phineas and Ferb and give it to her?"

Suzie smiled and nodded before slowly following his directions. Vinnie watched her before turning back to Candice and Jeremy.

"Thank you, both. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do."

"I understand," Candice shrugged, "I've seen Phin and Ferb BOTH have meltdowns and after eleven years I still don't always know what to do. I don't know how Mom deals with us all."

Vinnie nodded and rubbed his eyes, "Still. Thank you. Come on. I want to see Lulu's face."

The teens grinned and followed the man to the back room. Lulu was still asleep, Perry still tucked under her arm. The Platypus appeared to have dosed off, purring quietly. Balthazar sat on the floor, whispering with Suzie. Phineas and Ferb were tinkering with Lulu's little plastic dollhouse.

"Boys!" Candice hissed, "Not without permission."

"But, Candice," Phineas tried to whisper, "We just wanted to surprise her."

"I know. But maybe Lulu likes her little dollhouse."

The boys nodded and packed up their tools. Lulu yawned and cuddled Perry closer.

"Chao, Perry. Perry!"

The platypus chittered up at her.

"H-Hi, Lulu."

"Chao, Suzie," Her eyes widened comically, "Piccolo!"

Lulu scrambled over Perry and snatched the pushy from the other girl. Then she tackled Suzie in a bone crushing hug.

"Grazie! Grazie!" She scrambled into Balthazar's lap, "Zio Balths! Guarda! Suzie ha riportato indiertro il nostro Piccolo!"

Balthazar chuckled and pet Piccolo, "Si, Lulu. I see. Is Piccolo all better?"

"Mmhmm," Lulu hugged Suzie again, "Grazie, Suzie."

Suzie nodded and hugged Lulu back, a familiar gleam coming to her eyes. Ferb picked up Perry and went to stand with his brother and sister.

"I feel bad for anyone who picks on Lulu…"

"Yeah. I think Suzie has a new favorite person," Jeremy chuckled.

LLB

Italian translations:

Zio Balths! Guarda! Suzie ha riportato indiertro il nostro Piccolo!- Uncle Balths! Look! Suzie brought our Piccolo back!