The Family Emergency

Summary: Partially parodies an actual event that's been going on in my family since July 4, 2015. When grandpa Lou ends up in the hospital after nearly taking his own life, it's up to the Rugrats, to save him, but it won't be as easy to do as they thought. Story may be told from multiple POV's, and don't be surprised if it disappears with no notice, should my family discover it and disapprove of my story.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrat characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, Aunty Celeste, Sherry Berry, Sandy, Reggie, and any OC's you don't recognize, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse is owned by Jesse Barrow Stories, Rosie and her family and Sandy are owned by Nairobi-harper, Hazel and Hanna are owned by HazelNutSwirl, Natalie is owned by Emma Pickles, and Courtney is owned by Tropical Blue Jay. Not sure if all of these characters will be appearing in this story, but figured I'd better cover myself, just in case. Now, on with the first chapter of this story!

Chapter 1, Lou's Secret

Lou Pickles, the father of Stu and Drew, and grandfather of Tommy and Dil, has always been an excellent card player, but what most people don't know about him, is he has always been a frequent gambler at various casinos around California, as well as other places throughout the country. It all started back when he was a teenager, and his cousin Mirium, who was twenty-one at the time, and allowed in the casinos, got him into this addictive activity. As a result of being so mean to her friends, her cousin Lou was about her only friend left on earth, because despite how she treated him, they were after all, family, and he didn't wish to outcast her at the time. She would sneak him in with a fake ID, and they'd play several rounds of Blackjack, Poker, and other various games, trying to win the jackpot. In the end, Mirium would end up cheating, causing her to become disqualified, resulting in Lou getting her winnings.

As the years passed, whenever Lou was struggling with troubled times, or feeling stressed out, he would sneak out late at night and go gamble, unknown by his family. The only time when there was any possible hint of it, was when Lou lost one time when his boys were quite little, and he couldn't supply Drew and Stu with their allowance. This prompted Drew to start saving his money come the next allowance, and he became so fascinated with money, that he grew up to become an investment banker. He was also counting and interested in numbers at the young age of three, making him interested in going into some field in mathamatics, but the profession of being a banker came into play later. Of course, when his wife, Trixi asked him that time what happened to his pay check from the repair business, Lou simply shrugged his shoulders, lying, saying that he had lost it while on the way to the bank to cash it.

This pattern continued for many years, nobody suspecting a thing, until of course, the day Trixi died. At the time, she and Lou were living in a special retirement nursing home, where the sick wife could get medical care, and the two could still be together. By this time, Drew and Charlotte had a little girl named Angelica, who was two-years-old at the time of Trixi's death, and Lou's grandson Tommy, the son of Stu and Didi, was nearly 10-months-old. Unfortunately, as a result of being under so much stress with his sick wife dying, this prompted Lou to gamble even more, and with being preoccupied, he lost, more than winning, nearly gambling the bulk of his money away. Regardless, while he still had one saving's account of his that he hadn't touched, the rule was he could only stay in the retirement home while Trixi was alive, and once she was gone, Lou would have to find a new place to live. Because he didn't have quite enough money to put down any sort of down payment on a house, and he didn't wish to live in an apartment post her death, while Stu was at the funeral, he offered his father a place to stay, so Lou accepted, moving in with his youngest son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Tommy, which was quite a delight, as he'd finally get to meet his grandson, seeing his wife was too sick for him to leave her side at the time of Tommy's birth.

After he moved in with Stu, he gambled far less, though he had quite the time doing it when they took their trip to Los Vegas, and at times, when he told Stu and Didi he would be going to play at the lodge, he was only telling the partial truth. In reality, he was going to play cards, but snuck away to a casino, and one time, he felt so guilty about losing his winnings, not to mention, staying out all night, that he faked an illness the following day, hince, the events of the 'Grandpa's Bad Bug,' episode.

After that, he didn't go gamble as much for a while, as soon, another grandson was on the way, Stu and Didi's second child Dil, and Lou was needed more than ever to help out around the house, especially since his son and daughter-in-law, now had two kids to take care of. That is, until the day the chips hit the fan, and Stu's Reptar robot exploded in the basement, prompting Lou to finally move out for good, to a retirement home that his cousin Mirium had recommended, as a bunch of her friends lived there, and she spent a lot of her time there, hanging out, as well as secretly sneakihng off to gamble, only to cheat and get disqualified. In turn, Lou met Lulu, and things seemed to calm down.

They moved into the retirement home together, and did many activities together as well. But what Lou didn't know at first, was that in Lulu's family, they were facing some problems, one of which, was her sister was on her death bed, and wanted to see Lulu a few more times, before she died. Lulu gave in, and went to visit her sister, but since it seemed as if her sister wasn't inviting Lou, Lulu went by herself. This left Lou feeling very upset, hurt, and left out, and as a result of this, they didn't get to spend their first Valentine's day together as a married couple. Upset and depressed over this, Lou went out to gamble again, something he hadn't done in quite a while. Unfortunately, he lost, and not only did he lose, but he lost all of the money he had in savings at this point.

This happened on the night Lulu was coming back from her sister's. Not wanting her to find out, he snuck back into the retirement home very late that night, hoping to not wake her up. He went to bed in a recliner in the living room, falling asleep to the late night run of the fishing show on TV, hoping Lulu wouldn't suspect a thing, but the following morning, he awoke, only to feel even more depressed. He was also awakened, by a phone call. It was Didi, asking if he would come and watch the kids.

"Uh, hello?" Lou asked into the phone sleepily.

"Hi Pop, how are you doing this morning?" Didi asked on the other side of the phone.

"Well, Lulu has safely returned from her sister's." Lou replied.

"Well I was wondering if you and Lulu could watch the kids today while Stu and I go shopping?" Didi asked into the phone.

Of course, at this point, Lou was off in a daze. For the first time, he felt so depressed, that he didn't wish to be around his grandkids, let alone, around any humans.

"I can't!" Lou snapped, very loudly into the phone, nearly startling Didi half to death on the other end, and causing Lulu to wake up with a startling start, stumbling into the kitchen, to see what was going on.

At this point, Lou had pulled a knife out of the drawer, and Lulu spotted him with it in his hand.

"Lou! What's going on here?" Lulu asked, upon walking into the small retirement home kitchen, to find Lou standing there, the knife in one hand, the phone in the other.

"Didi, get someone else to watch the kids, because I quit." Snapped Lou into the phone, as he stabbed the blade of the knife into his stomach, passing out on to the floor, dropping the phone.

"Lou!" Lulu cried, as she picked up the phone, to hear a crying Didi on the other end.

"Didi, it's Lulu, is that you?" Lulu asked.

"Yes." Didi replied through her sobs.

"I'm gonna have to call nine one one, Lou just stabbed himself with a knife and passed out on the floor. Will call you later." Said Lulu, as she hung up the phone, called 911, and within five minutes, an ambulance was at the retirement home, rushing Lou off to the hospital.

Didi couldn't believe what was going on. While she could never call Lou a father, she felt at times, she was closer to him and Lulu than her own biological parents, Boris and Minca, who only came around at the holidays it seemed, as deep down, they were very upset with their daughter for marrying a non-Jewish man, and weren't afraid to show it, by giving her the cold shoulder half the time. Lou had lived in her house for over a year, and while he did things to irritate her, falling asleep while watching the kids being one of them, especially when they ended up lost in that forrest right after her second child was born, one of the main reasons why she hired Taffy to watch the kids when she returned to school, she didn't wish to go to school, worrying if her kids would still be at her house when she returned, but regardless, she felt more attached to her father-in-law than her own parents, so for Lou to go and take his own life, and on the phone of all things, really left her feeling upset.

Upon hanging up the phone, Didi continued to cry, unsure what to think at that moment. Something was definitely wrong, if only she knew what it was. She continued to cry for a few more minutes, the cordless phone on her lap, as she occupied the room that use to belong to her father-in-law, when her two-and-a-half-year-old son tottled into the room, and climbed up on to her lap, nearly knocking the cordless phone on to the floor.

"Good morning sweetie." Didi said, wiping away the tears from her eyes, as she gave Tommy a hug.

Just then, Stu walked into the room, a worried look appearing on his face, when he saw what was going on.

"Is everything ok? And are Pop and Lulu coming to watch the kids while we go shopping?" Stu asked.

"No Stu." Didi replied.

"What's going on?" Stu asked.

"I'll tell you later, I don't wish to discuss this in front of the kids. Take Tommy and Dil downstairs and give them their breakfast." Said Didi.

"Sure thing Deed." Said Stu, as he approached her and lifted Tommy out of her lap.

"Come on Champ." Said Stu, as he carried Tommy out of the room and back into the nursery.

Didi got up from the chair at this point, and went back to her room, where she got dressed, then made some phone calls, to see who could watch Tommy and Dil for a few days, while they got this mess with her in-laws straightened out. She called the Finsters and the Devilles, but nobody answered. Then she called the Barrows, but nobody answered there either, and she knew Taffy was busy with school and getting ready for her big tour coming up the following summer in Washington D.C. so knew she wouldn't be the best candidate to watch them at this time, so she gave Peter a call.

"Good morning Didi, how goes things?" Peter asked upon receiving the phone call.

"Would it be possible for you to watch Tommy and Dil for a few days? We have a serious situation going on with my father-in-law." Didi asked.

"Oh dear, what's going on? Is Lou all right?" Peter asked.

"Afraid not. Lulu says he stabbed himself with a knife and is heading to the hospital." Said Didi.

"Sounds like a suicide attempt." Peter replied.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, and we're just, all in shock and unsure what to do at this time." Didi replied, about ready to cry again.

"Look, I wish I could help, but I have to go out of town to Quebec for the next week. I'm leaving this afternoon." Said Peter.

"Oh, well, good luck. Is this king related business or a personal trip?" Didi asked.

"Royalty related business." Peter replied.

"Well good luck, and we'll see you when you return." Didi replied.

No sooner were they about to disconnect, when Didi received a call waiting beep. It was Lulu, calling to tell them that Lou was at the hospital, being checked out. He wasn't dead, but depending on how bad the damage was, he might have to get surgery done on his stomach. She also discovered when going to get some money out of a checking account that she and Lou shared, that there was no money, and apparently, being the smart lady she was, she put two and two together. Lou had gone out gambling while she was out of town, and gambled all of their money away.

"No wonder he's upset." Said Didi.

"Yes, and I'm not sure if he told you, but Mirium recently had to go into a nursing home, as a result of becoming ill with Parkenson's Disease. We were thinking about leaving the retirement home and living in her house, but because of these events, we can only stay in her house until she dies, unless we buy it post her death, and with what I've recently discovered, because the state pays for her nursing home costs, and the state gets her house post her death, causing us to have to buy the house after she dies, which, we now can't afford, I'm afraid we don't have the funds to buy the house." Lulu replied.

"Oh dear." Didi sighed disappointingly, as another call waiting beep was heard.

Peter was calling back, just to make sure she didn't need anything else before he left for Canada. She went on to tell him what was going on, and Peter agreed to stop by with some legal documents he had around with regards to such situations that were going on, as maybe, there was a way Lou could get the money he gambled away back, making everything ok again.

"Well, it's a start, bring by what information you have, and we can go from there. Anyway, I'm in the process of lining up a sitter for Tommy and Dil, so I'll see you when you get here." Said Didi, as she hung up the phone, and gave the last person on the list a call, Zack's aunt, Celeste Wehrenberg.

"Didi! What a pleasant surprise!" Said Celeste.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's exactly pleasant for us. My father-in-law just recently tried to take his own life over gambling his entire life savings away, and is now in the hospital, and Stu and I need a huge favor from you." Said Didi.

"Say no more, I'd be happy to keep Tommy and Dil for a few days, but Zack and I leave for music class in a couple of hours, so if you can get here before nine-thirty, that would be greatly appreciated." Said Celeste.

"All right, will do." Didi replied, hanging up the phone, looking up to find Stu in the room, getting dressed.

She filled him in on everything, and Stu nearly collapsed to the floor. He knew his father could do some pretty ridiculous things, staying out all night to play cards and falling asleep while babysitting to be amongst them, but gambling his life savings away and taking his own life? Stu couldn't believe he would do this, and when it sank in, he let out a loud piercing scream.

"How could dad do this?" Stu shouted.

"Now Stu, calm down." Didi replied, hugging her sobbing husband at this point.

Once Stu was calmed down, the adults walked downstairs to see Tommy was toddling towards the bottom of the stairs, and the doorbell was ringing. They opened the door to see Peter standing there.

"I got the documents you wanted." Said Peter, as he walked into the living room.

Didi put Tommy and Dil into the playpen, and the two adults and fourteen-year-old king went into the kitchen to review the documents.

It wasn't easy to concentrate as Dil was continuing to babble and cry at the top of his lungs in the living room, but they tried hard to block it out, while looking over the documents, only to learn that the winners of the money weren't obligated to give it back, leaving Lou and Lulu, up a creek without a paddle at this point.

"Well, I'm sorry there's not much more I can do." Said Peter disappointingly.

"It's ok Peter, we'll get through this somehow." Said Didi with a sigh.

"Well I'm gonna go tell the little ones goodbye and see to heading off for my trip." Said Peter, as he excused himself from the table, and headed back into the living room, to tell Tommy and Dil goodbye.

Didi headed upstairs and packed up a few days of clothes and other things for Tommy and Dil, as she would need to take them to Zack's apartment shortly, before he and Celeste left for music class. While this was all going on, Stu got himself some Reptar cerial for breakfast, only to sit there and pick at his bowl, not wanting to eat. He was a bit shocked and beside himself at that moment.

Once Didi had everything ready, she carried the overnight bags downstairs, gathered up Tommy and Dil, took them upstairs, got them dressed, and with half an hour despair, she had her boys in the car, and drove off to Celeste's apartment. Upon getting there, she walked up to the door and dropped the boys and their stuff off.

"Thank you for watching the kids." Said Didi, as she handed Tommy, Dil, and their stuff over to Celeste in the doorway.

"It's no problem Didi, I'm happy to watch them while you get this situation resolved. And Zack will be happy to see them too." Celeste replied with a smile.

"Bye Tommy and Dil, you be good for Zack and Celeste." Said Didi, as she waved and headed back to her car.

Once in the car, she drove back home, where she picked up Stu and the two of them headed off to the hospital, where she ran into Lulu, Drew and Charlotte, who she's guessing Lulu must have called, after filling Didi in on the situation. Drew and Charlotte left Angelica at Harold's for the day, much to Angelica's dismay, and they told her that if she and Harold played nicely, she could spend the next day with the babies. Stu and Didi told them that they left Tommy and Dil at the Wehrenberg's, while they got this situation with Pop under control.

"So what's the story?" Drew asked, once everybody had found seats in the waiting room, and the room was mostly deserted for a few minutes, with the acception of the Pickles family.

"Well, the good news, Lou is still alive. The bad news, even if he doesn't need surgery, he will need to stay in the Psychic ward for a few days, while he's evaluated." Said Lulu.

"With what he pulled, I'm glad they're recommending therapy, I hope he can get the help that he needs." Said Didi.

"I just can't believe this, it's not like I can recall Pop gambling before, except for when we were in Los Vegas." Said Stu.

"You don't remember when we were kids, and he couldn't give us our allowance, because he lost his paycheck?" Drew asked.

"Of course not." Stu replied.

"Shows how much you know. He was off gambling, and didn't want us knowing about it." Said Drew.

"Oh." Stu replied.

"Please you two, let's not get into any sort of argument, not with your father the way he is right now." Said Didi.

"We're not." Snapped Drew and Stu simultaneously.

Lou was more or less, kept unconscious the rest of the day, as they saw to stopping the bleeding in his stomach, getting him patched up. Everybody went to pay him a visit, once it was safe to do so, and while a mixture of emotions passed over the group of adults, everything from shock, to sadness, to anger, however, they were relieved that he was still alive.

Once visiting hours had ended at the hospital, Lulu decided to stay the night, to ensure that Lou was going to be ok, while the rest of the adults went and got a bite to eat at a nearby Cracker Barrel. After dinner, Drew and Charlotte left to pick up Angelica from Harold's, while Stu and Didi went home to get some sleep. On the way home, Didi received a text on her phone from Celeste.

"Your son Tommy misses you." Read the text.

"Oh dear." Didi thought to herself, as Stu pulled the car into the driveway, and they headed inside, where Stu went upstairs to get some sleep, exhausted. Didi was about to follow him, when her phone rang. She picked it up to find it was Celeste, calling to check in.

"I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time, I just got the kids to bed and thought I'd call to check in." Said Celeste.

"It's fine, we just got home, and were heading to bed ourselves." Said Didi.

"So, any news?" Celeste asked.

"Well, Pop is still alive, but he's still very much out of it, while they get the bleeding stopped. If they find tomorrow he's doing better, and doesn't need surgery, he'll be moved to the psych ward for treatment." Said Didi.

"Well that's good, I hope he gets the help he needs." Said Celeste.

"So, I saw your text, how are the boys?" Didi asked.

"Well, Dil seems to be doing just fine. He ate his lunch and dinner, took his nap, and went to bed without a fuss, playing nicely with Zack all day. Unfortunately, Tommy, is a different story." Celeste said.

"Oh?" Didi asked, wanting to hear more.

"Well, music class was canceled, so I took the boys to the park, ohnly to find them trying to leave the park, which told me they weren't interested in going in the first place, so we went home and had some lunch of tomato florinteen soup. Zack and Dil ate all of their lunch, but Tommy hardly touched his, so I put his away to have for dinner. Then, they played outside in the yard for a little while, only Tommy tried to escape in Zack's toy ride in car, he even tried to open the gate by standing on top of the car, or I'm assuming that's what he did, as he sent it flying into Zack's water table, causing it to fall over, making a complete mess. I put the boys down for a nap, at which time, they all fell asleep, with Zack and Dil being the first two to wake up. They played quietly in the living room, but when it got close to six o'clock, Tommy still wasn't awake, so I went and awoke him, only to be greeted by one cranky boy. He wet his pants, but I got him changed into some clean shorts and underwear, and he made the potty the rest of the day. Even after changing his wet clothes, he was still cranky, so did several things to try to calm him down. He eventually calmed down when I gave him two bottles, only afterwards, he tried to let himself outside with the keys, as he found them on a hook on the wall, and it took chasing him through my apartment to get them back." Explained Celeste.

"Did you get them back?" Didi asked.

"Yes, and Tommy was still upset. I sent him to play in the living room with Zack and Dil while I got supper ready, and, I guess Zack put on one of his Sherry Berry DVD's, and that got Tommy to calm down." Said Celeste.

"Sherry Berry? Who's that?" Didi asked.

"Oh my goodness, you've never heard of Sherry Berry?" Celeste asked, surprised.

"No." Didi replied.

"Oh, she's a wonderful singer of children's songs, both, classic songs and songs of her own. I'll have to take you to her concerts this coming summer at Nature Village. I found her award winning DVD, 'Sing a Song of Spring' on sale at a record store back last Christmas, gave it to Zack, and he absolutely loved it, and I'm guessing Tommy and Dil loved it too, as I hardly heard a peep out of them while the DVD was playing." Said Celeste.

"So? Did Tommy remain calm the rest of the night? And how did dinner and bed time go?" Didi asked.

"Well, when brushing Tommy's teeth, I noticed his back mollers are coming in, so gave him some Tylonol along with his vitamins and floride, as he didn't eat much of his dinner either, and he was slightly fussy as I was putting them to bed. He also ran off to bed before the others. I think he really misses you two, and I can only hope tomorrow, things go better. Before giving you a call, I got a hold of Kira, Betty, Laura, and Drew, and looks like I'll be watching all of the kids tomorrow." Said Celeste.

"You didn't by chance, say anything to them did you?" Didi asked.

"About your situation? I told them I was watching Tommy and Dil for a few days while you and Stu took care of a family emergency, but that's as far as I went with it. If they wanted to know more, to contact you directly." Said Celeste.

"Thank you, because we'd appreciate keeping this underwrap until we fully know what's going on." Said Didi.

"Mum's the word, you've got my promise, I will do just that." Said Celeste.

"Thank you." Said Didi.

"Well, I bet you're exhausted. I'll let you go and we'll talk tomorrow." Said Celeste.

"Well, ok then. Goodnight." Said Didi.

"Goodnight." Said Celeste, as they both hung up the phone, and Didi slowly climbed the stairs, barely able to keep her eyes open at this point, as she trudged slowly into her room, changed into her pajamas, and collapsed on the bed next to Stu, who was already sound asleep, and drifted off to sleep herself.

And this, ends chapter 1. So, you may be thinking, when will we get some interractions from the adorable Rugrats? No worries, it's coming in chapter 2, which I'll hopefully, have up later on today, after I release the start of another story I hope to go on ahead and get started at this time, as I'm going to pull the keep two stories going at once scheme again, and see how I do with that.

Author's Note: So, now you know what this story is a parody of. Yes, I won't say who in my real family did this, but back on Independence Day of this year, one of my family members attempted a suicide, and to keep it short and sweet, I ended up being needed to babysit my nephew for a few days while things got resolved. I'll say, while things aren't totally resolved in the real situation, and probably won't be for a while, this story will get completed over the course of this month, and it will hopefully, have a happy ending. It should also be noted, that the events Celeste told to Didi near the end of the chapter, are from her view of the events that took place in my one-shot story, 'My Firstest Exposure to Sherry Berry.' If you haven't checked it out, I strongly recommend you do, as it's told from Tommy's POV, while this was told from Celeste's POV, and you'll see just how differently adults and toddlers experience a day of the same , feel free to follow, favorite, and leave a review, and there'll be more chapters, coming soon.