Author's Note: First and foremost, I apologize for the three year hiatus. It was not my intention, but as many fanfic writers know, real life like to butt in every once in a while, making free time, and fun things take a back seat. But, this chapter is done, and I believe it is one of the longest, if not the longest one. I've been reworking and retooling this story, which is part of why this has taken me so long. Thank you for the feedback and the reminders that there are people still reading this, this chapter if you guys. Enjoy.

Disclaimer (that I forgot in the first 7 chapters): Warner Bros. owns "Animaniacs."

Chapter 8: Tangled

When he finally closed his eyes, Yakko saw he was home. Seeing his siblings were nowhere in sight, he sat on the couch, sighing. Looking around, he noticed things were much different than when he left. How long ago was that?

Three snickers approached Yakko.

"Wonderful," he muttered darkly. "Just what I need."

"I know what's really bothering you, Yakko," came the first voice in sing-song form. It belonged to the tallest of the three Yakko lookalikes, Reynold. He threw an arm around Yakko's shoulders. There was no point in trying to push him away. He wouldn't budge. "You're scared of going home. Am I right?" Yakko gave no response. He simply stared stoically ahead, desperately trying to ignore Reynold. "That's what I thought."

"I think he should be scared," said the smallest of the trio- Russell. "It's been a while since he's gone home, a lot must have changed. You saw the way Wakko was all over Dot. He replaced ya, Yak! They probably don't want you to go home. And why should they? If the way you're treating is now is any indication of what kind of brother you are, I'd be glad to be rid of ya myself!" Without warning, he pulled Yakko's head back by the ears, causing him to cry out. "Here's how I see it. You should stay here with us, and never go home! Then ya can't hurt them anymore!"

"That's a great idea!" exclaimed Rueben, the middle Yakko doppelganger. "Maybe we could adopt you, or make you our big brother! …wait a second. On second thought, I don't think that would be such a good idea."

"True." Russell said. Rueben nodded in agreement.

"Now, now, fellas. That isn't very nice. We haven't asked Yakko what he thinks about all of this." Reynold turned to the oddly twisted Warner. "Wanna stay here, Yakko?"

The three boys all turned to face Yakko, grinning maliciously. Yakko was glaring up at the ceiling.

"Leave me alone."

Instantly Russell let go and Reynold removed his arm from Yakko's shoulders. The three shared a glance and nodded.

"Not a chance, Warner," they said in unison.

Rueben grabbed Yakko's feet and pulled him off the couch. Unable to grab anything in time, Yakko's head collided with the floor with a dull thudding sound.

"Ow! What the hell?" Yakko yelled.

"Whoopsie," was all Rueben said.

"Such naughty language," Russell said, grabbing Yakko's arms. The two began making their way to the front of the water tower with Yakko, who was trying in vain to struggle against them. Reynold followed silently. Rueben kicked the door open. When everyone was outside, Yakko was dropped callously.

"You're becoming boring, Yakki," said Reynold. "And we're hurt. We're beginning to think you don't want us around."

"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?" Yakko shot back, standing up and dusting off his pants.

"See, it's that attitude that is making this so much harder than it has to be. We don't want you to get hurt," Reynold shook his head.

"I'm getting hurt because of you!"

"Denial is such an ugly thing," Rueben mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You're only hurting yourself, Yakko," Russell said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Yakko said.

"You won't let us help you make this better. Therefore you make your situation worse."

Yakko grumbled in frustration. "What situation? I don't even know what you're talking about anymore!"

"If you haven't figured it out by now, then you're more messed up than I thought. Fellas?" Reynold motioned to the other two. They circled Yakko, grabbing him as he began to try running away from them. "We're not asking you now. No, now, we're just gonna take what we want. See ya on the other side, Yakki!"

Yakko felt himself being lifted off the floor. He was being thrown over the edge of water tower. Just as on the couch, there was nothing he could grab or hold onto. He was too much in shock to even yell for help. Once the shock wore off, Yakko looked down saw there were only a few seconds before he became a permanent splat on the Warner Bros. Studio lot.

He landed…

"NO!"

Yakko awoke in the hospital room. Drawing in a breath of relief, he sat up. It was still dark outside, which wasn't helped any by the heavy rain. A flash of lightning pierced the sky, making it look like daytime for a few seconds. Yakko wasn't sure whether it was really late at night, or very early in the morning. His room wasn't equipped with a clock, either, so there was no way of him knowing.

Yakko sighed. He wasn't tired anymore, despite sleeping so little. It wasn't like he was going to go back to sleep even if he was tired, not after that little nightmare. It was bad enough to keep Rip Van Winkle awake.

Reaching over to the nightstand beside his bed, Yakko grabbed the picture Pinky had left for him that was leaning against the wilting sunflower. Yakko smiled briefly at Pinky's "family", and then turned it over to the back. There, taped to Pinky's family portrait, was a picture of the Warner siblings. It was the most subdued picture, relatively speaking, that had ever been taken of the trio. Yakko remembered taking that picture. It was right after Wakko was released from the hospital. That was when they figured out why Wakko ate so much, it was brought on by hypoglycemia.

Sometime during the summer, Wakko had begun to get very sick. Neither Yakko nor Dot knew what he had, if they could catch it, or how to take it away from Wakko. After having gone to get groceries one afternoon, Yakko arrived home to find Dot practically yelling at Wakko. Thinking nothing of it at first, Yakko was well prepared to intervene on Wakko's behalf, when he walked into the room and saw Wakko, laying on the floor, grabbing at his side. He then noticed the panic in his sister's voice, and just how sick his brother actually looked. He froze and for the first time he had no words to say.

Though neither could remember how, Dot managed to realize that Yakko was there, standing shell-shocked. Right away, Dot ran to the phone to call for an ambulance. Yakko immediately rushed to Wakko's side. Dot managed to take charge while Yakko tried to get Wakko to respond to him, rubbing his back. He listened to Dot speak as calmly as one could in her situation as he placed a hand on Wakko's forehead.

"That's quite the fever you've got, brother sibling," he said quietly. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well? I would never have gone to the store if I knew."

Wakko leaned into Yakko's hand, not saying anything. After a short while of Yakko speaking quietly to Wakko, Dot arrived with help.

Wakko was admitted into the hospital with appendicitis, and the Warners were told that Wakko's appendix needed to be removed. That was enough to scare Yakko, but when the doctors then told him that they wanted to run a few more tests, Yakko was beside himself with worry. After being told to wait for an amount of time that felt like 20 years, the doctors finally emerged with the results of Wakko's blood work.

Low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia.

Oh yeah, and a missing appendix.

Yakko didn't move from his brother's side, only leaving when the doctors told him to, staying at the hospital the entire time his brother was there. Dot went back and forth from the tower to the hospital, taking better care of herself than Yakko was. If one didn't know better, they would assume Dot was the older sibling taking care of him.

Dot came to the rescue yet again, a few days after Wakko was brought in. She was virtually dragging Yakko kicking and screaming from Wakko's room when he refused to budge.

"Yakko, you need to eat something! Wakko is asleep, which is something else you need to do! He won't mind you not being there for a few minutes! " she argued.

"But, what if he does wake up while I'm gone? And besides, I've slept!"

She shot him an incredulous look. "Oh really? When?"

Yakko looked up, thinking very hard and counted on his fingers. "Today's Tuesday… he had a checkup Sunday… Four days ago. I had a nap four days ago."

"FOUR day ago? That's not healthy, Yakko!"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine," Yakko said, patting Dot on the head and turning around to go back to Wakko's bedside. He proved to her just how fine he was by promptly collapsing to the floor.

Dot squeaked in fright and ran to Yakko. "This is fine?" With a smug look, Dot had the nurse (who was male, to Yakko's dismay and Dot's delight) bring a wheelchair so she could take him to the cafeteria. After that, Yakko decided to swallow his pride and start taking better care of himself while Wakko was getting better. No need for both of the Warner Brothers to be out of commission.

Once Wakko finally got the ok to go home, and at Dot's insistence, Yakko had the doctor look at him, he once again took over as eldest sibling. He called everyone he could think of for someone to pick them up, as he didn't want Wakko walking that much. When nobody agreed to pick them up, Yakko called the last person on his list, and the only person who would agree to help, however reluctantly. Hindsight being what it was, Yakko felt like kicking himself for not having thought of making that particular phone call first.

That was how Scratchansniff found himself driving to the hospital and then back to the water tower on his day off. He really didn't want to do it, but something about Yakko's equanimity on the phone let him know that they wouldn't be playing any tricks on him.

He went inside with them, to make sure they got settled in. He waited three hours for them to finish doing whatever it was they were doing, not even sure why he was waiting. Once they did emerge, Scratchansniff wished he has fled when he had the chance.

The outfits they changed into were bizarre, even for the Warners.

Yakko, for reasons unknown, decided to channel the late Freddie Mercury, wearing very shiny red leather pants, and a shirt that looked as though it had just been in a vicious battle with a mountain lion and lost. Wakko was wearing footie-pajamas, which would have been normal, had it not been for the peacock feathers protruding from various locations. Dot's outfit was quite simply the easiest to explain. She was Baby Spice, down to the blonde wig.

"Why?" Scratchansniff sighed, referring to all three outfits.

"She's the cute one," Dot replied, not even remotely answering Scratchansniff's question. Scratchansniff groaned.

They jumped on the couch, and smiled at Scratchansniff. "Ready for bed!"

Wakko wasn't as loud as his siblings, which they noticed immediately. Wakko just shrugged at the looks on their faces. Yakko put an arm around him, giving him a squeeze and a tender smile.

Without them even realizing it, Scratchansniff pulled out a camera, taking a picture of them. All three jumped at the flash.

"Where'd you get the camera, Scratchy?" Dot asked.

"I…don't know."

"Huh."

"Well, now what?" Wakko asked.

Scratchansniff looked at the camera in his hands. He smiled and said, "Say cheese!"

Not taking his arm away from Wakko, Yakko reached over and pulled Dot onto his lap, resting his head on hers.

"Queso!"

"Fromage!"

"Bacon bits!"

Yakko had asked Scratchansniff for copies of both pictures and kept them with him at all times. He spent a few minutes staring at the picture he taped to the back of Pinky's with a frown on his face.

Everyone seemed to think his asking to go home was Yakko's way of betting back to his siblings. The truth of the matter was, he only asked because he wanted to get out of the hospital. His siblings had nothing to do with that decision. The longer he stayed locked in that room, the more likely it was that he really would go crazy.

If he was really honest with himself, the thought of being alone with his siblings, after everything that just happened, terrified him. It would be assumed that he would go back to "Big Brother" mode. That made him nauseous. He wasn't ready to do that yet. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to go back to that at all.

But to tell Wakko and Dot that would break their hearts. To think, they were actually looking forward to Yakko coming home.

'Although,' he thought, 'maybe my not coming back at all would be a blessing in disguise for everyone.'

Yakko dropped the picture, his frown deepening. He, Yakko Warner, thought that. The "Three R's" had nothing to do with his unhappiness this time.

Outside, the skies of Glendale filled with black clouds. The wind began to move tree branches, with the occasional gusts shaking stop signs. The night sky was lit up like the Fourth of July with the amount of lightning flashing. The thunder rumbled so loudly that car alarms began blaring off in the distance.

And inside a small hospital room, Yakko Warner was staring out the window, once again intensely considering disappearing.

At a laboratory in Burbank sat Pinky and the Brain. The pair was silently watching the monitors in front of them. Each chart and graph had different readings and numbers, all of which were slowly dropping.

Despite his not being as smart at Brain was, Pinky was very aware of what was going on with Yakko. Anybody could see it. All they had to do was look at the video he was looking at. Yakko was sitting on his bed, his head in his hands, not moving. He hadn't moved since he sat in that position twenty minutes ago. Pinky looked at Brain, who sighed.

"I fear this is going to get much worse before it gets better, my friend." Brain stole a glance at the still dropping numbers, before sighing once again and leaving the room.

Looking at the screen one more time, Pinky gave a sad "Poit," followed Brain, leaving behind the image of Yakko looking absolutely broken behind.

Morning came far too quickly for Yakko. He hadn't fallen back to sleep. Not that he tried to, anyway. He merely sat on his bed, watching the storm pass over him, debating with himself as to whether or not it would be a good idea to venture out into it. He made it to the door twice, but lost his courage both times. He would have roamed the halls, but he wasn't in the mood to that, either. So he sat on his bed and looked out the window.

'I'm really good at it, anyway,' he thought darkly. He turned his attention to the door being opened. An elderly nurse walked in with a tray of food.

"You're up awfully early, dear," she said. She looked like she should be in bed, not tending to those that were.

"I'm going home today," he shrugged.

"You don't seem very excited about it."

"Oh, I'm very excited. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

The elderly nurse smiled and nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. But congratulations on your dismissal."

Yakko watched her out of the corner of his eye until she left. Once she was gone, he looked at the "food" she brought him. Some egg…thing. Was that supposed to be toast? Something else that had the appearance of meat, hopefully, and the consistency of a rubber ball. Orange juice and milk. Grabbing the milk he went towards the bathroom. He dumped the milk in the toilet, and flushed. No use getting sick on his final day in Whitewashed Hell.

He sat back down, pushing around the food-stuff on the tray. He wasn't hungry. And his nerves wouldn't let him eat anything anyway. Not that any "food" looked edible, anyway. Once again the door opened, but Yakko ignored it.

Dr. Pauniell walked in silently. To say that he was very busy would have been an understatement. After leaving Yakko yesterday, he ran back to his office, calling several people before doing more research on his own. That morning, he'd received a very disturbing phone call from Brain. Observing Yakko this morning, he looked worse than he'd ever seen him. Jesse cleared his throat, making Yakko look away from the tray.

"How are you feeling today, Yakko?" he asked, trying to get Yakko to say anything. Yakko only shrugged. "Ok, then…" Jesse scratched his arm nervously, if only for something to do. "Well, I know a couple of people who are very excited that you're getting out of here."

Yakko's head shot up, but the reaction wasn't exactly the one Jesse was hoping for.

"The sibs are here?" Yakko asked, a slightly panicked look replacing the blank mask he wore a few seconds prior. Jesse shook his head.

"No, they're waiting for you at the water tower, from what Scratchansniff told me."

Yakko relaxed a bit, and resumed playing with the items on the tray in front of him.

"So, do you want to finish eating or…"

Immediately, Yakko pushed the tray away, and hopped off the bed.

"Let's go."

Jesse nodded, leading Yakko out of the room and out of the hospital.
-

Sitting on the couch in the water tower, Dot silently watched her brother pacing. Something was off, and she couldn't put her finger on it.

She and Wakko had, however begrudgingly, gotten used to the silence in the tower their oldest brother had left them. It was almost deafening at first. In the time that Yakko had been gone, they'd grown accustomed to Yakko not poking his head through the door in the morning, or yapping away about every topic under the sun.

Sighing, she looked at the clock. She wanted to go to the hospital, to pick up her brother. Scratchansniff told her no, that she and Wakko had to stay in the water tower and wait for Yakko's return there.

Dot hated waiting.

Wakko, and his newfound restlessness, was wearing down the floor going back and forth around the couch. His arms were behind his back, his faced pulled into a look of deep concentration that Dot wasn't normally used to seeing on it. The thing that killed the look was the tongue hanging out of mouth.

Watching him go around yet again, Dot started giggling. Wakko stopped.

"What?"

"You look so weird!" Dot laughed.

"Gee, thanks," he said before grinning, sticking his tongue out at her. He sat on the couch next to Dot. "It's gonna be really weird the next couple of days," he said, staring hard at the floor.

Dot tried reading his face. Wakko was always the one of the three who could hide his emotions the best. Yakko once said it was almost a defense mechanism, a way for Wakko to assess whatever was happening around him better. With the exception of emotional extremes. When Wakko was very angry, everybody knew it.

Discouraged at her inability to read Wakko's mind, Dot huffed in annoyance. It was a few minutes before she said anything.

"How long do you think it'll take before things get back to normal, Wakko?"

Wakko hesitated, adjusting his cap. With a quiet sigh, he said, "I don't know if things will get back to normal, Dot. A lot had happened."

"But Yakko's going to get better!"

"Maybe," Wakko shrugged, looking uncomfortable, "but it won't be the same as it was."

Dot jumped off the couch, running to her room. She threw herself on the bed, pouting. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Unlike Wakko, Dot wasn't good at hiding her emotions at all. Wakko's comments about Yakko upset her. Instead of hitting him for upsetting her, she just ran away to sulk alone.

She could hit him later.

She wasn't stupid. She knew things were going to be different. Wakko didn't need to be a jerk and tell her, though.

"I want you to tell me if Yakko gets worse…"

Dot shuddered, remembering her conversation with Dr. Pauniell. Despite what Wakko felt about the man, he obviously wanted to help. Dot was going to make sure that he got to help them, whether her brothers wanted him to or not. Yakko had no say, since he would be the one getting the help, and Wakko wouldn't be able to do anything about it, since Dr. Pauniell gave her that business card, not him.

Leaning over towards the nightstand next to her bed, Dot started rummaging around for the card.

"Dot?"

Dot jumped and screamed at the voice at her door, slamming the drawer shut. Wakko was giving her an odd look, but stayed at the door. She didn't say anything to him, just stared at him from her bed. She knew it was making him uncomfortable, which was just fine with her.

"Dot, I'm really sorry I upset you. I wasn't trying to…"

"Well you did," she interrupted.

Wakko rubbed his face with both hands. "I know. But it wasn't on purpose, sis. Can I at least come in?"

She should have made him stay where he was. Technically, the only thing keeping him out was his own objections to upsetting her more. Still frowning, she relented. "Fine."

Quietly, Wakko made his way to her, leaning on the bed post instead of sitting down on the bed. Dot assumed it had to do with her still being upset, and his not wanting to be within her reach.

"I know you're worried about Yakko, and you want him to go back to normal. I want that too. Heck, I think even TP wants that!" Wakko threw his arms up to emphasize his point. "But, I don't think we have had time to think that whatever's going on with in his head- Yakko's, not TP- can, maybe possibly be something permanent." Dot shivered at that. Was it really possible that Yakko couldn't get better? Wakko's face grew more serious. "You're only eight, so you probably don't think about this stuff. You shouldn't have to because of that! But ever since all this 'crazy' business started…"

"Yakko's not crazy," Dot muttered, getting tired of having to tell people that.

Wakko gave her a sympathetic look. "No, he isn't. I know that, and you know that. Unfortunately, no one else wants to see it, cause they wanna see Yakko happy and not …not talking. I just want to make sure that you don't get too upset if all this is permanent. I've already started to lose my brother. I don't want to lose my sister, too. Yakko isn't crazy, but he is sick. So we're gonna have to step up and take care of him the way he is always taking care of us."

Dot gazed at Wakko in amazement. He had really taken his responsibility a lot more seriously since Yakko had been gone. Most of the things Yakko did, Wakko was now taking care of. She wondered, if Yakko did get back to normal, would Wakko would go back to being the way he was, too?

She looked at Wakko watching her, waiting for her to say or do something. Wakko was right. It was too much for an eight-year-old to think about. Wakko was eleven, he was too young to have to worry about any of this.

And poor Yakko was having some sort of midlife crisis of epic proportions at fifteen.

"I'm sorry I got mad, Wakko," Dot said crawling over to him on the bed. She opened her arms for a hug, as a peace offering.

Smiling, Wakko accepted the hug.

"I do have a question, though, Wakko."

"What is it?"

Dot smirked. "When did you get so smart?"

Wakko answered by taking his hat and covering her face with it.

The drive from Glendale back to Burbank was taking a very long time. The company was not the best. Reflecting on his ride home, Yakko was both very annoyed and very bored.

The only consolation he got was every second he was in the car was another that he wasn't tied down on a bed or forced to stare at walls. Being locked in a car wasn't that much better, but at least he had the option of opening the door and running out, if he so felt the need. Not that he would, chucking himself out of the vehicle into ongoing traffic going 75 wasn't what he would call "smart".

Although, he really was beginning to wonder which was the lesser of two evils?

As he watched the scenery go by, his thoughts drifted to what would be waiting for him in Burbank. He wasn't a pessimist, and often went well out of his way to make sure that his siblings weren't either, but he was having second thoughts about going home. He briefly wondered, if he asked nicely enough, would Hello Nurse take him in. Only for a little while, of course. Maybe a couple of months. A year. Yeah, a year with Hello Nurse, that would be nice and relaxing.

Not that it would happen. She wasn't even in the car. Pauniell was driving, and Scratchansniff was riding shotgun.

Yakko hoped they didn't plan on following him up to the tower to "observe his interactions," as the other doctors he'd been so privileged to encounter called it. It was going to be tense enough without the constant watch of someone observing his every move.

The two doctors were discussing something, using words that didn't sound English and seemed to be talking about him, trying to avoid saying his name. he honestly didn't care. They could talk about him all they wanted, just as long as it was away from a hospital. Looking out the window again, Yakko sighed at the sign on side of the road.

WELCOME TO BURBANK

"We're here," he muttered. Not as though anyone else in the car was listening to him.

Almost agonizingly slowly, they made their way to the Warner Bros.. Yakko was surprised to see that the guard at the gate wasn't Ralph.

'But I've been away. Why would he need a vacation?' Yakko started to laugh at his thought. Scratchansniff heard him and turned around.

"Are you alright?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

Yakko waved his hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. Just thinking about something funny."

Scratchansniff nodded, then turned around, muttering something about "You kidses zink everyzing is funny."

Yakko smirked, but kept his mirth to himself this time. No point bothering Scratchy without the sibs, it wasn't as much fun. Not to say it wasn't fun in its own right, but his siblings always found a way to make it more creative.

His siblings.

With that thought, Yakko's smirk disappeared. There was another can of worms that he'd not been waiting for. Would they be ok with him wanting some space? He didn't know. Normally they would be, be he wasn't sure if his stay in hospital gave them some new, weird form of separation anxiety.

Oh how Yakko was not looking forward to finding out.

Finally standing in front of the water tower, Yakko felt a cold shiver run down his back. There he was, finally home, but it felt so completely foreign to him.

There was some consolation, however. Pauniell had dropped him and Scratchansniff off at the studio, before saying he had some work he needed to take care of back at his office. One doctor down…

"Let's get you home und vith your brozer und sister, ok?"

…one doctor still observing. Yakko wanted to say something, anything to get Scratchansniff to let him do this on his own. He just couldn't find the words.

He had to stifle a bitter laugh. Months ago, Scratchansniff would have to found Yakko's inability to speak a blessing and something he would try to delve deeper into. But now it was just another thing on a growing list of things wrong with Yakko. Huffing, Yakko started starting to climb the ladder up the tower. If Scratchansniff followed him, fine. If he didn't, even better. At the top of the tower, Yakko could see Scratchansniff slowly, very slowly, but surely, making his way up. Watching the doctor climb up, Yakko had a brief flash of the nightmare that kept him awake most of the night. The image of himself being thrown over the railing…

Yakko backed away from the railing, closing his eyes as he leaned against the base of the tower. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok, Yakko?" Scratchansniff asked, looking at him with concern.

Yakko blinked. "Uh…yeah. Just…it's been a while. I forgot how high this was." Yakko closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "I'm ok now. Just needed to…gather my bearings." Scratchansniff said nothing. Yakko gave him a shaky smile. "Let's go see my sibs, yeah?"

'And my heart just stops pounding,' he thought as Scratchansniff walked around him to open the door. Yakko quietly went inside, feeling only half as awkward as he thought he would standing in the tower again.

"Now, Yakko, I have to go und finish somezings, but if you or your siblings need anyzing, you call und I vill try und help."

Yakko spun around. "You're leaving?"

"Did you vant me to stay?"

"No!" Scratchansniff's eyebrows shot up. "Sorry, I meant no, you don't have to if you're busy." With a nod, Scratchansniff patted Yakko on the head, to his displeasure. Without another word, he left.

Unsure of what to do with himself now, Yakko sat on the couch. He could call out to his siblings, letting them know he was home, but he didn't want to do that. Wakko and Dot came out of Dot's room, saving him anymore contemplation on how to get their attention.

"Yakko," Dot said, stopping in front of her door. Waving awkwardly, Yakko gave what he thought was a smile, but it could have been a grimace.

"Hey, sibs."

The two younger Warners just watching Yakko, unsure of what to do. Dot goes to give him a hug, but is stopped by Wakko, who places a hand on her shoulder.

"So…" Yakko said, looking more uncomfortable by the second, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Um… I'm gonna go make a sandwich," Wakko said. Dot looked at him strangely. "Do you want one?" Wakko asked Yakko.

Yakko shook his head.

"No. Thank you, though. I…uh, I ate before I was discharged from the hospital."

"Ok," Wakko nodded.

"Do you guys mind if I go lay down, it was a very long drive to Burbank."

Dot was about to object, but Wakko shook his head. Looking at his brother, he said, "No, you go ahead and do that. We'll catch up when you're more rested."

Yakko managed a grateful smile, before walking to his way to his room. Dot and Wakko watched his retreating form as he exited the room. When the door closed, Wakko let out a sigh.

"He's not happy to be home," Dot said sadly.

"We just gotta give him space. It'll be a while before things get back to normal." Dot nodded, looking down to hide the fact that she was crying. "Hey, don't do that. He's home now, right? At least we have that. Progress!" When Dot didn't respond, Wakko grabbed her hand. "C'mon. I'll make you a sandwich." Dot giggled quietly. "What?

"You just want a sandwich."

"Well, yeah. I'm hungry."

"Wakko, you're always hungry."

Yakko sat on the floor next to his bed the ever increasingly present frown on his face yet again. The water tower was uncomfortably quiet. His siblings were off to their own devices, which was fine with him, as the two sentence conversation with his brother was an experience he didn't particularly feel like repeating anytime soon.

He had no idea how long he'd been in the room by himself, but judging the way his butt felt numb, he gathered it had been a while. Standing up, he stretched his back, hearing his bones make a popping sound. He sat back down, this time on the bed, leading his face on his hands.

The one thing that bothered him more than the awkwardness felt whenever he was in the same room as his siblings, was the fact that he hadn't been bothered by the figments that inhabited his mind lately. Ever since he woke up from the nightmare, he'd been in a bad mood, and his "inner demons" hadn't so much as bothered him once. Normally that would have been a blessing, but to Yakko it felt too… convenient.

He doubted it had anything to do with the fact that he was home. With the exception of the worst sibling encounter ever, he'd been holed up in his room. Silence was not golden if said silence meant his siblings were being ignored. Rubbing his face, Yakko groaned. It hadn't even been a day! What was the matter with him? He fell back on the bed. This wasn't good. He needed to figure out a way to get passed these doldrums, otherwise…

Yakko didn't know what the otherwise meant, he just knew it was nothing good. It also probably involved more doctors, and he really wasn't in the mood for that.

Sitting up, he began plotting a radical idea. Wakko and Dot wanted things to go back to "normal", whatever that was. Of that, Yakko was absolutely positive. Scratchansniff and Pauniell, more the former than the latter, wanted to not have to focus so much attention on Yakko's mental stability. And dammit, he was an actor. If nothing else, all those acting lessons taught him how to control emotions, and how to fake them believably. If everyone around him wanted him to act more like his former self, then Yakko Warner would give the best performance of his life.

He just hoped his acting skills were as good as everyone told him they were.