DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own any of the characters from Rugrats. They belong to Nick.

Enjoy!

A?N: This idea came to mind after talking to a friend about one of my favorite episodes of the show. I hope this story fills in some of the blanks that the episode left out.

“No Place Like Home: Prologue”

“

All of her friends gasped in surprise upon seeing what Susie had brought over to show them.

“What is it?” Phil asked as he gazed at the contraption with wonder.

“It looks like a giant pink lollipop.” His twin sister, Lila commented.

Susie shook her head.

“It’s called a microphone. “ She explained. “My Aunt Teresa sent it to me for Quanza.”

“What do you do with it?” Chucky asked.

Tommy supplied the answer for him.

“Chucky, we’ve seen microfomes before. On TV, remember. The lady who talks and talks about all kinds of stuff uses one.”

“Oh yeah.” He replied.

Susie smiled at them before correcting Tommy’s pronunciation.

“It’s a microphone.” She said patiently. “And you can use it for all kinds of things. Even singing.”

“We can put on a show!” Lil cried.

“And Susie can be the star!” Tommy suggested.

Susie blushed, but didn’t have time to respond, because at that moment, they were joined by a very unwanted guest.

“The only star around here, is me.”

“Hi Angelica.” Susie said tying to be polite. “I thought your Daddy was taking you to the zoo.”

Phil leaned over to whisper in Tommy’s ear.

“Maybe they closed it when they saw her coming.”

Lil, who had her brother’s words started giggling.

“I heard that!” Angelica exclaimed. She glared at them before turning her attention to Susie.

“So, what’s this show you’re talking about?”

“Well, we haven’t thought of anything yet.” Susie admitted. “We were just about to…”

“Great! Let me figure out.”

“Who said you were in charge?” Susie demanded.

“Yeah.” Tommy put in. “It’s Susie’s microfome.”

“So?” Angelica said. “Everyone knows I’m the bestest singer here.”

“Says who?” Susie asked.

“Everyone.”

“Your parents aren’t everyone.” Susie pointed out.

Chucky gave Tommy a worried look.

“Do you think we should do something?”

“Nah. Susie wouldn’t hurt Angelica.” Tommy assured him.

“But what if Angelica hurts her?” He asked.

The girls stopped mid argument when two things happened at once.

First, Susie glanced up to see Dill happily munching on the top of the microphone and Tommy’s mother came out and announced lunch was ready.

“Dill, no.” Susie said gently. “That’s not something to eat.”

DD invited Susie to stay as well much to Angelica’s chagrin.

Susie excepted. Before she knew it, she along with her friends and Angelica, were sitting down to a lunch of pb and j and milk.

After lunch was over, the kids went back outside and proceeded to work on the show.

Angelica insisted that it’d be named after her while Lil wanted to name it after all of them.

While Susie gently pride Dill’s hands and teeth away from the microphone and gave him a teething ring to suck on, she glared daggers at Angelica.

“We’re not naming the show after…” She stopped as a coughing fit ensued.

“Susie, are you okay?” Tommy asked in concern.

“Maybe you’re getting the weasels.” Lil suggested.

“Weasels?” Chucky asked. “Don’t they have teeth?”

Susie nodded. She then corrected Lil.

“I think you mean measles.” She said as she coughed again. “And I don’t think I have them. Edwin did once though. I know because my Mommy told me.”

Angelica smiled at this.

But as the kids continued to work on ideas for the show, Susie couldn’t help but start to worry a little bit. She had felt fine earlier, what was going on now?

After they had decided that Tommy could be the ringmaster and Spike could play a lion, Susie’s mother came to get her.

Susie took a nap when she got home and awoke a few hours later to her mother bending over her with a thermometer in her hand.

Before Susie could say anything, her mother gently shushed her, telling her to go back to sleep.

She didn’t argue and let her eyes drift shut.

The last thing Susie remembered was her mother kissing her good night and closing the door half way behind her.

The next morning, Susie awoke to sunlight streaming into her window. She gazed over at her digital clock and gasped when she saw the numbers.

The clock read 8:99 AM.

Just then, her mother came into the room.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked, sitting down next to her daughter on her bed.

Susie nodded. She was about to say something when her mother beat her to it.

“You had a pretty high fever last night.” She told her. “It seems to have broken over night though. But I wanted to keep you home just in case. I have to go into the hospital for an afternoon shift. But DD offered to watch you. Just rest for now.” She said. “I’ll come and get you when it’s time to leave.”

After her mother left, Susie sighed. She hated being sick. She hoped she would feel better soon.

A few hours later, Susie found herself in an exam room in her mother’s work. She was just there for a check up, but she would have rather been anywhere else.

Her mother’s friend and co-worker, Dr. Martin, smiled at her warmly as she finished the examination.

“So what’s the verdict?” Lucy Carmichael asked. Her friend.

“There’s no doubt about it.” She told her. “Susie’s tonsils need to come out. She’s had three sore throats in the last two months. We’ll schedule the surgery for this Friday.”

Lucy nodded. She patted her daughter’s shoulder before drawing her in for a hug.

“It’ll be okay.” She assured her. “I’ll be there with you.”

Susie nodded. She was a little afraid, but she was feeling more tired than anything else. All she wanted to do was sleep.

When the arrived at Stu and DD’s, Susie was ready for a nap.

Lucy informed DD what was going on and gave her some last minute instructions before kissing Susie good bye and leaving for the hospital once again.

She didn’t have to remind Susie to be good because she knew she would be. Her youngest rarely caused any trouble. It was usually Edwin who would get the bright idea to do experiments in the house without thinking things through.

After Lucy was gone, DD got Susie settled on the couch hand brought her some juice. She also brought the other kids some as well.

Tommy gave Susie a concerned look and made to come closer, but DD stopped him.

“No, no, honey.” She said while picking her son up. “Susie needs rest. You can see her later.” With that, she put Tommy in the playpen where the twins were coloring a picture of Reptar and Chucky was playing wit his stuffed duck.

Once she was gone, the babies wasted no time in firing questions at their friend.

None of them knew that Angelica was around. They had been taking their own naps when she had arrived.

“What happened?” Tommy asked.

“Are you contagerous?” Chucky asked worriedly.

“Do you have Weasels?” Lil persisted.

Susie shook her head.

“No.” She said. “And it’s contagious.”

“What’s the matter?” Tommy asked.

“I don’t know.” Susie replied. “My throat hurts and my Mommy let me stay home today. She took me to the doctor and she said I need my tonsils out.”

“How do they come out?” Phil asked.

“I have to have an operation soon.” She told them.

Chucky gasped.

“It’s okay.” Susie assured him. “My Mommy will be there. She said there’s nothing to be scared of.”

“And you beloved her?” Angelica asked as she appeared in the doorway.

“Angelica!” Tommy shouted. “How long were standing there?”

“Long enough.” She then turned to Susie. “So, I hear you’re an operation.” She said in a devious way.

“What’s it to you?” Susie asked.

“Nothing. Except….never mind. You wouldn’t be interested.”

“What?” Tommy asked.

“Do you really want to know?” Angelica asked.

“Tell us!” Everyone except Susie chorused.

“Well…since you asked so nicely. You might think having an operation is no big deal. But you’re wrong.”

“No, you’re wrong.” Susie challenged. “My Mommy wouldn’t like to me.”

“Okay. That’s what they told Maria Evans.”

“Whose that?” Susie asked.

“Nobody special. She had an operation too.”

Chucky gulped.

“What happened to her?”
‘Nobody knows.”

“Don’t listen to her.” Susie told a now trembling Chucky. “She doesn’t anything.”

“Oh yeah. I know the whole story. But I’m going to warn ya, it ain’t pretty.”

“And it’s probably not true either.” Susie mumbled.

“I hear that!” Angelica exclaimed. “And it is so true.”

“Okay. Fine. What happened?”

“Well, since I have nothing better to do, I’ll tell you. But don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Dill started to whimper just then. He may not have been able to talk, but he could sense something was wrong.

“It’s okay, Dill.” Tommy said. “Angelica’s just telling stories again.”

“It’s not that type of story.” She told him.

As Dill’s whimpers increased, he reached for Susie and she took pity on him.

“Come here.” She said. She picked him up and returned to the couch.

“Okay, Angelica. Do your worst.”

“Oh, I plan to.” She told her evenly.

“Just get it over with.” Susie retorted.

“Well, Maria Evans was just a kid like you and me. She ate her vegetables, did her homework, fed the stray cats. Then it happened.”

“What?” Chucky asked breathlessly.

“She had Tonsillritis.”

“It’s Tonsillitis.” Susie corrected her.

“Whatever. Whose telling the story here?”

“Sorry.” Susie said.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, she had Tonsillaritis. The doctors said she had to get them out. They told her it was no big deal, but they lied.”

“Wha-what do you mean?” Chucky asked.

“Chucky, don’t listen to her.” Susie said. “My Mommy’s a doctor and she never lied to me.”

“Ba-but she didn’t know Maria.” He said.

“That’s right.” Angelica replied. “Now the day of the operation, they ran out of anastasha, so they couldn’t put her to sleep.”

“Uh, Angelica?” Susie interrupted.

“What?”

“Anastasia is a princess.”

“Whatever. They did the operation anyway. And it hurt, real bad.”

Chucky was shaking by now and Susie glared at her rival.

“That’s not true!” She half shouted. “You’re lying!”

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. I guess we’ll see on Friday. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…” With that, she left.

Standing just inside the door to the dining room, Angelica burst out laughing.

“Oh boy, Cynthia, those babies will believe anything!”

Meanwhile, back in the living room, Susie was trying to do damage control. It wasn’t that easy when she had Dill who was wailing and Chucky who looked like he had just been told that Santa Clause wasn’t real.

It also didn’t help that she couldn’t say more than three words without coughing.

“Look,” she said, “listen to me. Angelica was wrong. I’ll be fine.”

“Ba-but they never saw her again.” Chucky whimpered.

“She probably doesn’t’ exist.” Susie replied. “I promise. I’ll be okay.”

But as much as Susie tried to assure Chucky and Dill that she would be okay, she couldn’t help but hear Angelica’s words ring in her head.

“They did the operation anyway. And it hurt. Bad.”

Later that night, Susie promised herself that she would try and be brave about this. She had a feeling Angelica’s story had just been that. A story.

But a small part of her wasn’t so sure…

THE END