Dr. Crygor was still frozen in Club Joe. All throughout the rainy night, he had not moved a muscle. However, shortly after opening time, Joe, Mona and everyone else noticed his fingers were beginning to twitch a little. Mona gasped, "He's moving! It looks like he finally snapped out of his ecstatic immobilized state!"

Everyone watched closely, his whole body was moving again, his hand, arms, feet and legs seemed to be no longer immovable. Once Dr. Crygor was able to speak again, he looked around and asked, "What happened?"

The whole gang cheered with joy, the old man wasn't gone after all. As Joe, Mona, Dribble, Spitz, 5-Volt, 9-Volt, 18-Volt, Ashley, Red, Kat, Ana, Cricket, Mantis and Orbulon were all happy that Dr. Crygor was alive. He then restated his question, "Seriously, what happened last night?"

Jimmy T. chuckled nervously, "Funny story. You seemed so ecstatic when you saw a huge birthday cake that you froze with excitement."

"Really? Oh my. Where is it?"

Joe said, "The police confiscated it...and the presents...and locked you in here."

Dribble and Spitz blurted out, "We almost thought you were dead!"

9-Volt added, "You were like a statue, you didn't move a muscle!"

Dr. Crygor was embarrassed, "Oh dear. How long was I like that?"

18-Volt looked at his watch and answered, "About 12 hours, maybe 13."

Suddenly, Mike entered and admonished Dr. Crygor, "Where on Earth have you been?! You didn't come home last night! I was worried sick!"

Changing the subject, the old man asked, "Where's Penny?"

Ashley guessed, "Maybe at home, still asleep in her bed."

Kat said, "It's still pretty early in the morning."

Ana said, "Go to her, Penny will be excited to see that you're alive."

However, in Penny's Lab, Dr. Crygor gasped in horror when he saw it was empty and tried to find her, but grandpa could not as he panicked, "Penny! It's me, grandpa! I'm not dead!"

Her bedroom was empty too. Dr. Crygor screamed in fear, getting everyone's attention, Orbulon asking, "What has caused you to shriek in sheer terror?"

Dr. Crygor freaked out, "Penny's gone!"

5-Volt was puzzled, "It's not like her to disappear. She must be somewhere in town."

Young Cricket may have cracked the code, saying, "Where would someone go when they've lost all of their family members?"

Master Mantis then told Dr. Crygor, "Get directions for the Diamond City Orphanage. She must be there."

Meanwhile, at the orphanage, the orphaned Penny had cried herself to sleep. She also had pretty intense nightmares and was too tired to wake up, even after she heard a voice calling out, probably Kat's or Mona's, "Penny..."

Then, Dribble and Spitz called out, "Penny..."

That was when the female receptionist came to wake Penny up and say monotonously, "Get lost, kid. You're done here."

Penny whimpered, "But...but I don't have a family anymore."

She escorted Penny out, tossed out her bags and droned, "Just follow the voices, you'll find them."

Ashley called out, "Penny..."

While the whole gang headed for the orphanage, they also stopped to look left and right, even scattering to cover more ground just in case they thought Penny wasn't in the orphanage. Everyone checked everywhere to leave no stone unturned.

The redhead thought she was hearing things. When she heard 18-Volt and Ana call her name, Penny sighed and walked to where she thought the voices were coming from. Then, Jimmy T., 5-Volt, 9-Volt and Orbulon said her name. Cricket and Mantis also shouted, "Penny? Where are you?"

Dr. Crygor then said, "Penny? Penny?"

That was when Penny's eyes widened in surprise, she almost thought it was too good to be true as she silently said, "Grandpa? Grandpa? Grandpa!"

"Penny?"

Penny smiled and said, "Grandpa!"

All it took was her grandfather's voice to give Penny the gumption to find him, asking, "Where are you?"

When Dr. Crygor squinted, he looked at a wandering redhead from far away and it said, "Grandpa!"

The old man gasped happily, "Penny?"

Walking a little closer, he could see more clearly that it was his granddaughter and she was running towards him. Having finally found her, Dr. Crygor ran to her, happily calling out, "Pennyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Likewise, Penny called out, "I'm coming, grandpa!"

"Penny!"

"Grandpa!"

Penny jumped into Dr. Crygor's arms, making him fall backward on the ground as they happily reunited and embraced. Dr. Crygor sniffled as he tightly hugged his granddaughter, "Oh, Penny!"

The rest of the gang heard their voices too, Dr. Crygor happily announced as they all approached, "Everyone! Look! I found Penny!"

All the others eagerly hugged Penny and Dr. Crygor, overjoyed that the Crygor family was whole again. Penny held back her tears as she said, "Grandpa, I thought I lost you!"

However, when Penny let go of grandpa and sat on her knees, her voice cracked while saying, "I...I..."

Her eyes watered with tears streaming down her cheeks, her lips trembled and Penny began to cry, not out of happiness, but out of sadness. The way Penny was sobbing was when Dr. Crygor looked worried for his granddaughter, who was genuinely distraught.

As Dr. Crygor looked at how Penny was crying, he touched her face. Penny's eyes were wet and puffy, her cheeks felt positively soaked with tears dripping down from her chin onto the ground and her face was starting to crinkle up. Crygor removed Penny's glasses and dried her eyes, comforting her, "Penny, what's wrong?"

Penny choked between sobs while fighting back another round of tears, "I...I...I'm responsible for what happened to you! The way you became frozen...was because of me! This is all my fault!"

"Well, Penny, I..."

"You're really disappointed and angry at me, aren't you? After everything that's happened between us, you probably hate me by now and want to disown me by leaving me at the orphange, don't you?"

That caused everyone else to say things like "whoa, whoa, whoa", "hey, hey, hey" and "don't be silly."

When it looked like Penny was going to break down in tears again, Dr. Crygor reassured her, "Penny, I'm not angry or disappointed at all, I don't hate you and I don't intend to disown you. What irresposnible deadbeat abandons his own family?"

The fragile redhead whimpered, "Why wouldn't you get rid of me? My voice elixirs keep damaging your body, I ruined your barbecue that one time, there was the whole limousine incident, April Fool's day, you visiting my school, the family vacation, me shoplifting and now this. When am I ever gonna learn? You must think I'm a terrible granddaughter and want nothing more to do with me at this point."

Dr. Crygor cupped Penny's cheeks in his palms, wiping her eyes with his thumbs as he told the weeping redhead, "Penny, look at me."

Holding back her tears, Penny looked her grandpa in the eye as he explained, "I know deep down inside, you don't have any ill intentions or mean any harm. I know you're a good kid and a good granddaughter, but no child in the world is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Parents and grandparents aren't perfect either, not even me, nobody is perfect."

"Grandpa, I'm so sorry for everything! Please forgive me! I...I..."

Crygor consoled her, "Penny, it's ok. There's nothing to forgive because there was nothing you needed to apologize for. A family's love should be unconditional and what's important is that we all learn from our mistakes. No matter how many times you let me down, I'll never stop loving you, just like how you never stop loving me no matter how many times I let you down, like how I got angry when you were too scared of shots or when I ate that chocolate bar off of the ground. Believe me, I will always love you no matter what."

Penny sniffled, "...ok. I'll always love you too."

Dr. Crygor opened his arms, saying, "Come here, my poor baby."

As Penny let Dr. Crygor hug her delicately, he consoled her as she wept, he caressed Penny's hair, kissed her forehead and whispered sweet sounds of "Shhhh", "It's okay" and "Just let it all out" into her ears. He even rocked Penny back and forth like a father would to an upset child. Penny slowly but surely regained her composure as Dr. Crygor lovingly held her in his arms, patted her back and stroked her hair, waiting for her sadness to repress as she wept into his shoulder.

In a few minutes, Penny stopped crying and finally quieted down, too tired to cry anymore. She rubbed at her face and wiped the last few tears away. Dr. Crygor put her glasses back on her face and asked, "Feel better, Penny?"

"A little. I just wish could give your birthday present right now, your birthday is ruined now, isn't it?"

Dr. Crygor held Penny more tightly with his arms around her back, wanting to hold her until the end of time as he told her, "Penny, all I need for my birthday...is your love. No present in the world is more important than having you in my life, I just want to be there for my sweet, adorable and bubbly granddaughter."

Penny smiled as her arms were around his neck, she felt so safe and wanted in his arms that she almost wished he would never let go of her and she said, "I love you, grandpa."

"I love you too, Penny."

Everyone said, "Awwwwwwww..."

After a few more minutes of slience and hugging it out, Dr. Crygor told her, "Come on, Penny. Let's go home. If you'd like, I can even move into your lab so you won't need to worry about being alone ever again."

"Please do. I need you since you're the only family I have left."

Penny returned home as Dr. Crygor, Mike and Doris moved into Penny's Lab. Their friends celebrated them being together again with a new birthday celebration. This time, Dr. Crygor asked them all not to get cake or presents to avoid another incident. The party lasted from late at morning to late at night (the Christmas break meant no school).

As soon as Dr. Crygor's Lab was empty, the old man sold it for a lot of money. In terms of sleeping arrangements, the guest room in Penny's lab became Dr. Crygor's bedroom. Now that they were living together under one roof, they wouldn't need to worry about each other's safety anymore.

At night, everyone had gone home. Penny was in her nightgown, getting ready for bed as Dr. Crygor tickled her and she tickled him back. They both laughed and squirmed as Crygor held Penny above his head and spun around, the redhead looked like she was flying as she laughed, "Grandpa, this is exhilarating!"

Soon, they started to playfully wrestle on Penny's bed. After calming down, Dr. Crygor tucked his granddaughter in and kissed her forehead. The redhead asked, "Grandpa, do you still love me?"

"Of course, Penny. I love you with all my heart. No matter what happens, our family bond will never be destroyed. As Whitney Houston said..."

Crygor screeched with his rather bad singing voice while trying to imitate Whitney, "I will always love you!"

Mike overheard and facepalmed, "There goes our happy ending."

Penny giggled, "I will always love you with all my heart too."

Once Penny went to sleep, her grandpa exited her room, but not before taking a moment to look at Penny sleeping soundly with a smile on her face and letting his heart swell. The redhead and her old man could rest easy, assured and reassured that their unconditional love would never die, Dr. Crygor slowly closed the door, saying to Penny, "Goodnight, my sweet little granddaughter. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, grandpa."

He closed the door and Penny happily slept like an angel.

THE END