As shocked and horrified as Professor was to see what had just happened on the TV in the lab, he knew he couldn't waste any time. He didn't know what Mojo meant regarding Lenny so he called the jail. He was happy to hear that the evil chimp hadn't done anything to Baxter, as he feared, but the news that he was in no condition to help them was a disaster. Bubbles might hold out for a day or so in the refrigerator, but never until Spengler could make it. They were out of luck.

He wasn't angry with the Girls. When he had worried about something possibly happening with Bubbles' body, he was thinking about them getting careless, like kids often did, not this. He knew they had to be devastated, especially poor Bubbles.

"What am I going to tell them?" he thought."I need to get them calmed down first before I do anything else."

Blossom flew as fast as she could and yelled for Bubbles to wait up. Buttercup was still in a daze and Blossom was worried about both of them. Professor was right, they never should have taken her down there. Bubbles slowed down, seeing Blossom struggling, and took herself from her sister. She stopped crying when she saw Buttercup's eyes.

"Blossom! What's wrong with her? Buttercup! Say something!"

Buttercup turned her head slightly to see where the sound was coming from. "Oh...Bubbles...we blew it..."

She snapped out of it in an instant. "WE BLEW IT! That stupid Mojerk!..."

Her face a mask of anger, she tried to squirm free and fly back toward downtown, but her sisters held her.

"No, Buttercup, we gotta get Bubbles home!" Blossom cried. "But you're right. We shoulda left you home, Bubbles."

"I know!" she whined. "Professor's gonna be really mad!"

They were nearly home now.

"Oh, man, I don't wanna go in there!" Buttercup said.

"I'm really sorry, Bubbles, it's mostly my fault." Blossom admitted. "I was thinkin' about havin' fun instead of doing what was best for you."

"No, Blossom, it's OK. We're in this together."

"Yep." said Buttercup. "Together forever, no matter what."

They touched hands, then landed and went inside to face Professor, together.

They quietly opened the door to the lab, knowing they'd find him there.

"Professor?" Bubbles called.

"Down here, Girls!"

"Hey, he doesn't SOUND mad!" Buttercup said. "Come on!"

They held one another's hands as they floated up to him, sitting at his desk. He didn't exactly look happy, either.

"We're sorry!" they said, looking down.

He sighed, "Me too, Girls. Egon was our best shot." Then he jumped up. "But I've taught you to never give up, and neither will I. I just don't have any more bright ideas, that's all."

Blossom spoke up, "Professor, what exactly were you and he planning?"

He pointed at the conversion grid. "Well, Blossom, my original idea was to use THAT to feed Bubbles' energy back into her body through the house wiring. Egon thought it would work if we could generate enough power. That's what he's working on, or was. I wonder if he saw the news yet..."

"Professor, how would you put ME in THERE?" Bubbles asked in wonder. Her sisters looked just as amazed.

"Well, Egon was going to convert one of his traps into a kind of supercharger and greatly increase your energy level; then we would wire it into the grid, plug your body in, so to speak, sort of like what you did yesterday morning, and hope for the best."

"Hey Professor, aren't traps for something that doesn't WANNA get caught?" Buttercup asked.

"Hey, yeah! I WANNA get caught!" Bubbles giggled. "Can't I just fly inside one of those batteries?" she asked, pointing at one.

"Hmmm. I imagine you could at that, Bubbles. We didn't think about that, but the problem is, we don't have enough power. The electricity alone won't do it, we only need that to get it started. The power has to come from you and you aren't strong enough. That's what we needed the supercharger for."

"Oh." Her shoulders sagged and she looked about ready to cry again.

Blossom stood deep in thought, trying to remember something about energy. Bubbles face suddenly became angry.

"That mean 'ol monkey! He gets me so mad sometimes that I could 'splode!"

"Bubbles! That's IT!!" Blossom shouted. "Professor, remember what she did yesterday when she got mad in the Danger Room?"

She meant when Bubbles had suddenly tripled in size, her energy expanding right through the walls.

His eyes got huge. "Blossom, as unscientific as that sounds, it might just work! Bubbles! You know how I've always told you 'Don't get mad, get even?'"

"Uh huh."

"Forget it just this once!"

Her sisters stood back and watched in awe as Bubbles' ghostly face eerily reflected the memory of every bad thing Mojo Jojo had ever done to her, her family and her friends. Within seconds, she began to expand until she filled the laboratory, and her energy was a physical presence that could be felt.

"Now, Bubbles!" Professor told her.

She whooshed toward the last battery on the right. It was only about half the size of her earthly form, and though she was flowing into it, it appeared as if the battery was sucking her inside. Then, she was gone.

"Whoa! That was AWESOME!!" Buttercup gasped. "Do ya think it'll really work?"

"It better, and FAST!" Blossom exclaimed. "LOOK!!"

The entire grid began shaking. The power level indicator on the battery Bubbles was in was all the way into the red 'danger' zone.

"Girls! Go get her plugged in, and HURRY!"

They zipped out of the lab. He shut down the connections for all the other energy cells and made sure the 'outflow' switch was in the 'open' position. The shaking got worse and he hoped they got Bubbles hooked up in time or he might be joining her.

Blossom grabbed her from where they'd set her down, outside the lab door, and headed to their bathroom.

"Buttercup, hurry up and find something we can use and meet me upstairs!"

She arrived there only to see Buttercup waiting with a grin on her face. She was already letting the sink fill up with water.

"My curling iron! You did that on purpose!"

But she knew there wasn't any time to waste. She pulled the rest of the packaging away and leaned Bubbles against the sink while Buttercup plugged the iron in and wrapped it around Bubbles' left hand. They readied themselves to clear out, and Buttercup dropped Bubbles' hand into the water.

"ZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAPPPPP!!!!!"

He took the stairs two at a time, racing out of the lab and up to the Girls' room. As he rounded the corner, he heard a loud crash and saw Bubbles flying right toward him from the hole she made in the wall. He feared the worst, thinking that it hadn't worked. Her hair was all frizzed out but her eyes were still shut and he was afraid that his little girl's ghost had been scattered to the four winds. Then the blue eyes opened and they were the most beautiful blue he'd ever seen. Her face was filled with joy as she reached him and knocked him down.

"PROFESSOR!!!!" Oh, Professor, it worked!! I'm me again!!"

He'd have been ecstatic if she hadn't knocked the wind out of him. He sat up, dazed, but she didn't notice. She was too excited.

"Yippeeeee!!! Girls!! I'm alive again!!"

They should have been out there by now. "Girls? Blossom? Buttercup? PROFESSOR!!!"

"Huh...wha?"

"Professor, what if they got turned inta ghosts too?!"

That woke him up. "Oh, no, please, not them, too!"

He ran, following Bubbles into their room, and saw smoke wafting out of the bathroom. Bubbles shrieked. He ran inside and saw his other two girls stretched out on their backs, their hair sticking out. Their eyes were closed. Blossom's hairbow had landed in the sink. He immediately knelt beside Blossom to check for a pulse and Bubbles did the same with Buttercup.

"BOOOO!!!!"

Professor and Bubbles tripped over each other as they tried to get away, then glared at the two 'Puffs who were holding each other, laughing, with tears pouring from their eyes.

"That was mean!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Hey, it's only fair after what you put us through!" Blossom chuckled.

"Yeah! Now YOU know what it was like for US!" Buttercup grinned.

Bubbles stuck out her tongue. "But you don't know what it was like for me! Nyah!"

"Now, Bubbles, don't tease your sisters. You got to do some pretty cool things that they didn't."

"That's OK, Professor," Blossom smiled. "I'd rather have plain old superpowers than supernatural ones any day!"

They all had a good laugh, but then Professor looked at his watch. It was almost seven-thirty on a Sunday evening.

"Well, Girls, it's certainly been some weekend. But tomorrow's a school day, so I'll whip us up something to eat and then it's into bed for you three. You should really do something about your hair while you're waiting."

They looked at each other and made faces.

Blossom pointed at her ruined curling iron, still plugged in and dangling. "I'll have to manage with my brush and comb for now."

Bubbles' voice was full of wonder. "Oh, Blossom! You gave up your curling iron for ME?".

Blossom pouted, "No, Buttercup did!"

Buttercup shrugged, "Hey, what're sisters for?"

While Professor was making dinner, he called New York and spoke to Peter Venkman. They had all seen the events as they happened. Egon Spengler was working harder than ever to get his 'supercharger' ready, just in case, and Professor gave Venkman the good news with a request to keep it under wraps. They talked for a few minutes more, with Venkman telling him that Baxter's secret technology could raise their business to new heights. They were coming out anyway, and couldn't wait to meet the Girls. Ray especially wanted to find out anything Bubbles could tell him. When Professor hung up the phone, he called the Girls down to eat.

They talked over the dinner table and it was decided that the news of Bubbles' 'rebirth', as it were, would be kept a secret until morning. Professor would call Sara right after they ate and let her know. It was only fair, for she had been the one most responsible for keeping Townsville from panicking, and she was also the reason why the folks from Channel Five and CNC hadn't already pounded their door down to get Bubbles' reaction to Mojo's little stunt. They also thought it would be a good idea to keep HOW Bubbles came back a complete secret. The less anyone knew, the better, should anything like this ever happen again. Letting everyone see her body had been necessary to let the truth sink in, but it was also what gave Mojo Jojo his evil scheme.

Bubbles was thinking about the dastardly deed even as Professor told them it was time to go to bed. She had other plans.

"But Professor, I'm not sleepy! I slept for two whole days!"

"Hmmmm, yes. But you still have to go to bed or you'll be falling asleep in school."

"Can't I do one little thing first, Professor?"

"What?"

"Get even with Mojo Jojo!"

"Absolutely not!" He'd let her if she gave a good enough reason. He sat back and got out of the way, smiling to himself. He loved watching his Girls engage in their spirited discussions.

"Bubbles, he's already in jail! What more do you want to do?" Blossom asked.

"I say go for it, Bubbles!" Buttercup enthused. "I'll help!"

"Buttercup, we can't just beat somebody up when they haven't committed a crime, other than breaking out of jail, but he ALWAYS does that!" Blossom said. "We'll have to check, that might not even be a crime anymore...."

"Who needs a reason?" was the answer her green-eyed sister gave.

Bubbles crossed her arms indignantly. "He did too commit a crime!"

Blossom giggled, "What, opening a toy without paying for it first?"

Bubbles harrumphed. "How 'bout 'Depraved indifference to human afterlife', huh?"

She smiled proudly when, after they all stopped laughing, Blossom said, "Hey Bubbles, we should see about getting that one made into a REAL law. You never know when we might need it!"

"So, Bubbles," Professor said, "what kind of punishment did you have in mind?"

"Yeah, Bubbles, won't just finding out you're alive again be enough?" Blossom asked.

"Nope! I wanna see his face when I go down there and bust into his cell and get in his face and..."

" And what, Bubbles?!" Buttercup shouted. "Don't keep me hanging!"

"And breathe the same air he is! Muahahahahaha!!!!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I learned after getting about a third of the way into writing this story that my original title 'The Trouble With Bubbles' would also be the title of an upcoming DC Powerpuff Girls comic, so it was changed to first 'Weekend at Utonium's' and then, thanks to Rich (Cuteswan) Wilson, to 'Weekend at Bubbles'. I got the idea for this one from remembering a movie I saw many years ago with my late sister Gail ( I was too young at the time to 'get' it, but I remember that all she did was laugh). It was Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 black comedy 'The Trouble With Harry', and had to do with a corpse being dragged everywhere. The 1989 film 'Weekend At Bernie's' took that concept and reworked it. The other film references are a bit more obvious, they being 'Ghostbusters', 'Ghost' and 'Poltergeist'.

Hope you got some laughs out of it!

Gary Curtis-April, 2001