The house was nearly silent, as all of the residents had long gone to sleep except for the short, nasally man with a bright orange moustache to match his messy orange hair and purple glasses. He flipped through the mementos slowly, reminiscing and thinking back to what each moment had meant to him. He smiled as he came upon a photo of his now-deceased wife holding his baby son in her arms, grinning down at the bundle of joy.

Chas sighed as he looked down upon her face. It had now been 16 years to the day that Melinda had passed, and with time and a loving new family to look after, the emotional heartache had dulled to a sort of numbing pain every now and then.

"What was she like?"

Chas turned with a start, thoroughly surprised to see his daughter, Kimi, standing in the doorway. She giggled a little at his reaction, and then sat down beside him to look through the box laid out on the floor. Scattered across the carpet were collectible stamps, a bunch of old records, some of the photos Chas had seen already, as well as some old toys that Kimi recognized. She grabbed her Superthing doll and started flying it in the air with her arm, chuckling slightly at the nostalgia.

Chas watched for a little bit before explaining, "Melinda was something… special. She had a vibe about her that I just can't explain. She loved having a family and was just so full of life." He looked back down at the picture and sighed. These words had been said exactly the same way to his son, right before they left for Paris all those years ago.

The older man proceeded to the next photo, wiping off the dust to get a good look at it. Meanwhile, Kimi had started looking through a journal that Melinda had written during her time in the hospital prior to her death. Her words were filled not with remorse and sadness, but with hope. Hope for what may have been to come if she wasn't going to make it, and hope that her boys would move on if she was to pass.

"She seemed awesome, Dad. Why don't you like to talk about her very much?"

"I think that I've had enough time to mourn her loss, so it's not really an issue anymore. I've come to realize that there's no point looking back with regret, but to focus on the future with courage."

Kimi smirked and jokingly replied, "Yeah, 'cause you're so courageous and all, right Dad?"

Chas pretended to be offended and lightly tickled his daughter, holding her sides and bringing her closer to him.

After they finally settled down, Kimi tiredly leaned her head against Chas' shoulder, as he paused to look at more pictures. "I really like these ones." Chas remarked, talking about the pictures of the gang and their mothers during the road trip.

"Oh yeah," Kimi exclaimed, "I think we took pictures at pretty much every possible rest stop, and we almost got eaten by a bear…"

"What?!"

"Oh, and here's the one of us all after the soccer championship! Phil was so disappointed." While everyone else seemed like they were just having fun, Lil was angrily staring at her brother, who was sobbing on his knees with his hands over his face.

There were some more pictures of the gang, including everyone at Susie's sister's wedding, them standing outside the newly-renovated Java Lava, them at Angelica and Susie's graduation, and (Kimi's favourite) everyone, including the parents and grandparents, having an aerial photo, making goofy faces.

"I think this one is my favourite of all." Chas said softly, pointing to the one that he held in his right hand. The wooden frame was kept neatly and well-preserved. At the top left had the whole family when Kimi and Chuckie were babies, with Kira holding Chuckie in her arms and Kimi on Chas' back. The bottom left showed the family just before they were about to do the Kabuki theater production back in middle school. The top right showed everyone at Kira and Chas' wedding, featuring all of the Rugrats gang and their parents.

Kimi glanced down at the last picture and grinned at the recent memory. Chuckie had been the first of the gang to get his driver's license (who would've thought) and he, Kimi, Tommy, Lil and Phil decided to go on a day trip to Los Angeles. They drove up to the Hollywood sign and got a group photo taken, with everyone hanging onto a piece of the sign.

While Kimi continued to look at it, Chas started to shuffle up the remaining photos into a nice, neat pile. The middle-aged man had many fond years with his family, and he realized that his kids grew up so fast right before his eyes. Kimi would soon become a grown woman, and before he knew it she would find a new job and a new place to call home. Even though the thought of his kids leaving terrified him, Chas knew that it was inevitable. They would soon be able to face real-world situations all on their own.

His thoughts then returned to why he had taken a look through the pictures in the first place. The 17th anniversary of Melinda's death was tomorrow, but he was just going to visit by himself since Chuckie would be away with Kira at his chess tournament.

"Kimi?"

"Yeah?" she asked, not looking away from the collection of belongings.

Chas scratched the back of his head in hesitation, but eventually he asked, "Would you like to come with me to visit the cemetery tomorrow?"

At that she turned around, wide-eyed and surprised. She hadn't expected that at all. "Umm… well, are you sure that's okay? I mean, I didn't actually know her, and I don't want to be disrespectful or anything…"

Chas shook his head and responded, "Not at all. I'd love to have you come along, and I'll answer any questions that you might have about it. But I don't have a problem if you decide not to- completely understandable, sweetheart."

"I'd love to go," Kimi replied, reassured in herself, "what time did you want to leave?"

"Oh, let's say around lunch-time, that'll give us plenty of time to do anything else you want to do tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan, Stan." Kimi stretched up her arms and yawned softly, indicating that she had stayed up for too long. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, Kimi." Chas hugged her daughter before she left to go back to her room. He packed up the rest of the items back into the box before putting it back onto the shelf. Closing the door behind him, he whispered to himself, "I know that you're up there, Melinda. I just want to say thank you, for watching over us for all these years."

As Chas stumbled in the dark trying to make his way to his and Kira's room, he thought of something pretty important.

"Now if only I could find my car keys…"

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