Phew! Long time since I last updated, right? Well, as I promised, here's chapter five to this story. Thank God for Spring Break, because these last days I've been having some great ideas for the stories I'm currently writing and for the next ones, but unfortunately, two weeks of vacation weren't enough to update more than just two times :( Now on with the replies!

Kitten630: Welcome to Liloexp626's stories! I'm happy to know I just got one more reader, which makes me feel quite flattered :)

Now, I'll understand if you believed that I had totally forgotten of this story. Those that already know me and my rate to update already know its pretty normal for me to delay weeks, sometimes even months to update one single, eight-page-long-in-Word chapter. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten of this story; I've got great ideas for it, and stopping it out of the blue isn't in my plans. However, I still have school, homework to do and a lot of other stuff that come first than the computer, and therefore, before my stories and Internet. I'll always write a chapter in a lapse of one or two days, but that's only when I get enough time to give to the computer (which doesn't happen very often, unfortunately). Well, to make it shorter: I know (too) how it feels to read a story I like and have to wait for a long time for the author to update (if the story is still in progress). I understand it might be a little exasperating having to wait for months and/or weeks for me to update some story, especially if you already grew to like/love it, but believe me: high school isn't really something that leaves you so much spare time anymore. Please understand this and that I have to be responsible of several things that come first and try searching for some other stories that you might be interested in. That might entertain you for a while until I can update, okay?

Thanks for the nice review and welcome to my stories! Glad you're liking them so far!

VoxAdam: As always, it's always a pleasure to read your reviews. Oops, yeah, the story is advancing at its own pace (maybe a bit too slow, but I still feel comfortable about it), just like "If I Never Met You". You know, it doesn't really feel that strange to write at the same time to different-angled stories. It gives me more variety to work with, which helps me not to get bored.

Oh yeah, that's one of the things I like most about fanfiction. I can read what everyone thinks about the story and find something to think about, even though sometimes the reviews aren't really constructive. I like to see what people thinks would happen next, so I can reinforce the story and make it more credible. Yep, definitely, that's something good about in-progress stories (although I wish I could update more often *sigh*)

Hmm, well, since I don't have much time left to be on the computer, I'll just reply to the most important points you made in your review. Like Angel and Stitch's relationship, for example... I know by experience how it feels like to have parents that are emotionally distanced, and even though Aleia hasn't showed yet that it affected her someway, she will do it, sooner or later in the story. It's not like such "relationship" could last that long, and I think that, in fact, if it hadn't been for the hurricane, Stitch and Angel would have ended up in a worse way.

Well, about Lilo/Stitch, some of your points are already being answered in this chapter, so I'll just let you read and take out your conclusions (my gosh, I love doing that :D ), and as for the other points, they will be answered in the next chapters as well. I just ask for patience, as I already did with Kitten630, okay?

Oh, and about that letter in "When You Love Someone", I think Stitch kept saying he and Lilo could never be together because actually, he was trying to deny (somewhat) his strongest feelings for the girl so it wouldn't hurt him that much when the moment to leave came. However, that denying just made it worse, as it could be seen on the first chapters of this story. Maybe it was just my interpretation for that letter in MisGelRcy's story, but at least to me, it could make sense.

Thanks for such a nice, rich review! I always appreciate reding what you write for my stories! ^^

P.D. I'm not thinking about turning Lilo into an experiment as a main point in the story... not even as a secondary point, LOL. I actually Like Lilo and Stitch just the way they are, because I've always known them the way they've always been. Changing them wouldn't be a bad idea, but some part of me still likes them like a human/experiment couple. Some people think it's sick, but I don't really care as long as they don't try to flame my work. I guess I have some kind of liking to "forbidden" love xD Well, actually, only inter-species couplings ;P

spritex620: Thanks! Glad you liked the last chapter and here you go! ^^

stitch8000: Mahalo plenty ^^

Ugh, I guess I won't be able to read the reviews this chapter receives until Sunday or so. I'm leaving for the beach tomorrow xD However, I hope that won't stop you all from reviewing, LOL. Enjoy!

If They Come Back To You

Chapter 5
Two homes

The night sky looked extremely beautiful. At least Aleia thought so. It was the first time in weeks she could see a clean sky, with brilliant, twinkling stars on the black velvet and a beautiful silver moon, resembling to a little pearl. She let out a sad sigh as little tears, brilliant as the stars she was admiring, rolled down her cheeks to land on her arms and legs.

"I wonder if Mom and Kenny already have a star up there." She wondered, wiping out one single tear that had just gone out of her eye. "I hope so. That way I could still look at them somehow and maybe talk to them."

She lowered her eyes for a few moments to look at her surroundings. Several men were lifting heavy boxes that were meant to go to refuges and people who had lost their houses. A few ships were starting to wander on the dark mass that she knew was the sea, bringing food and medicine for the people of other islands. One of those huge, spectral ships had brought them to Kauai last night, and now her to this place.

She only had to choose a good place to hide and then just wait until the ship stopped on a safe place. She finally could get out right when the sun was setting behind the sea, which allowed her to have a good view of the island, even though she didn't like what she saw. Everything looked horribly different to what she remembered calling Honolulu: several houses had collapsed, and the ones that had miraculously remained up had no more color on them; it was like the storm took everything away, even the color. No wonder why she thought the sky looked exceptionally beautiful this day: it was the only thing with color she could see in that usually colorful island, now gray with some lingering clouds and the atmosphere coming from affected people.

She had to immediately lift her eyes once more. She couldn't stand seeing people she used to know, if only by looks, looking so miserable. She couldn't stand seeing places where she used to play everyday now torn into pieces, turned into bits of nothingness. She couldn't stand seeing the now empty places, where palm trees used to sway softly their leaves while she rested under them with her family. And over all, she couldn't stand looking into the eyes of the people, which mirrored her own eyes. They had lost dear things and loved ones too, and now their eyes and faces only held sadness and anguish, some of them even lacking completely of hope. She didn't want to think she looked the same way they did, because everytime their eyes met, it always would make a cold shiver run down her spine. Besides, she was starting to regret leaving Kauai. She missed her dad and she wasn't really sure of how to get back there.

She did the only logical thing she could do. Standing up slowly, she left the beach and the wet, muddy sand behind. Even though she didn't really like what she was seeing so far, she felt she couldn't stop staring. It was like something she needed to do, to remember everything perfectly, or maybe it was some kind of enchantment, because she never could just look away. She walked through known streets, streets that usually she was never allowed to walk through unless her mom or her dad held firmly her hand. However, now she had to walk through them alone, with no protective hand around hers. It scared her as well, because they weren't the same streets anymore. Everything looked too different to what she remembered. She felt completely lost, even though it was a place she used to know.

Another strange scene welcomed her eyes: several people, most of them young looking ones, were breaking the glasses of some stores and going into them to come out after a few seconds with some valuable things, or at least valuable enough. She couldn't help letting out a snarl at them, loud enough for her to hear. She knew almost every person in her neighborhood and its surroundings, so she immediately knew they weren't the owners of the stores. It made her angry: her parents had always taught her and her brother to do the right things, and she hated seeing people like these doing bad things, taking advantage of the situation.

She moved closer to the little group of hooligans, forgetting of her age and size, and snarled. One of them stopped on his tracks to look at her. He smiled, amused.

"Hey Joe! Look at this! I think it's a koala." He called one of his mates. The other man, who seemed to be the leader, looked at Aleia for a few seconds and then back to his companion.

"Leave the games for later, Mike. Hurry up; we never know when the cops are near." He called with his hoarse voice, speaking with a thick Hawaiian accent.

"Aww, come on! It'll be for just a sec. It looks kind of cute, y'know… what if we keep it?" Mike asked with his childish voice, putting down a TV he had been holding to his chest to pat Aleia on the head. Either he was too stupid or he hadn't noticed when she snarled at them, because now he tried to pat her as anyone who pats a friendly puppy.

Aleia didn't doubt for a moment: she closed her jaws onto the man's hand, causing a severe pain to shoot through his fingers and arm.

"OW!" He cried out a curse, detaching his hand quickly from Aleia's sharp teeth, which let go as soon as she tasted a bitter flavor. His hand had only a thin, little stream of blood rolling to his fingers. "Damn dog, now you'll see…"

He was too fast for Aleia, who fled a few steps away after the man kicked at her side. He walked over to her once more, but this time she was alert and dodged his foot. She wasn't coward: she wouldn't run away unless she needed so, and she would have gladly returned the man's kick if it wasn't for a siren that was heard near there.

Another two men and a girl returned quickly as if on cue, bringing their worthy prizes and putting them into the car as fast as they could. In almost no time, they all were in the car and driving off the street at an incredible speed. Mike had put a piece of fabric to his hurt hand, and then showed it to his companions.

"Do you think it'll get infected?"

Everybody rolled their eyes.

Aleia kept walking, rubbing her side. She wasn't used to such aggressions, even though she and her brother would play rough sometimes, but the pain wasn't that strong, so she forgot of it after a while.

She passed by a street that went another way. Several men and women were there, and some trucks with food took that street. That street leaded to Bolivia's school, which now was probably used as a refuge, but she didn't want to go there. She left behind the rowdiness of the street and kept walking with quick steps.

It wasn't long before she got to a very well known suburb, which used to have beautiful palm trees and ornamental ferns on every street.

One, two, three… she wondered if she hadn't mistaken the street. That hideous, miserable heap of soaked sticks and fallen beams couldn't be the house where she had grown up and where her loving family used to live at. It just didn't make sense, it wasn't possible…

She turned around and counted again the streets. One, two, three… there was no way she could be mistaking her house. Hers was on the fourth street, right in front of that swinging tire she liked so much, hanging from a leafy, strong tree that looked pretty much the same than it did when she lived in her house. When she lived… here.

She had never seen a tree which even resembled to this one near her neighborhood. This couldn't just look similar, it must be…

Her eyes filled with tears again, and this time she couldn't keep them back at all. "No, this is not my house! I must listen to mom when she says that I shouldn't drink too much coke before going to bed… yeah, that's it. I drank too much coke last night and now I'm having a nightmare, just like she said I'd do…"

However, she still knew that it wasn't just a bad dream. It hit her childish mind like a ton of bricks.

She rushed into the house, trying to look for something that wouldn't look wrecked or broken, but there was nothing complete inside the house. When she went in by the doggie door in the kitchen, every plate was lying on the floor, broken into thousands of pieces, just like the glasses and other dishes she had always been told to be careful of. Her room didn't exist anymore. It had come down with the rest of the superior floor.

She found puddles everywhere; little drops of water fell from the ceiling and walls, resembling to the tears she was crying. But there was one especial thing she was looking for…

While Aleia was looking for her deceased family, a noodle-shaped alien and a pregnant woman in Kauai waited eagerly for the members of their family that had gone out to look for a missing kid.

Nani sighed heavily and then sat down carefully on her favorite couch, while Pleakley fidgeted nervously with his skinny fingers.

"How's everything so far?" Nani asked worried. Pleakley looked at her.

"Well, Jumba says they're still overseas, but not for long." He replied, putting his communicator on the little table in front of him right before sitting down as well.

"God, I hope they'll find that kiddo…" Nani added, feeling somewhat awkward. "I had never seen Stitch so worried. It's still kind of… weird. Seeing him scared and sad at that point… I'm not used to it."

"Yeah…"

Neither of them spoke any other word. Pleakley stood up and claimed he'd look for an interesting recipe to prepare, now that there was no TV to watch. Nani rolled her eyes and went her own way to look for an interesting book or magazine to read, without getting too far from the communicator, in case they called…

A hundred miles from there in open sea, four persons traveled in something that any person would have mistaken by a quite peculiar boat. A four-eyed, massive alien was behind the controls, and a black haired surfer man sat by his side. On the back seats rested a blue, fluffy experiment and a tan, raven haired girl.

David was taking care of the communicator, just in case Pleakley or Nani called to tell them that Aleia was back at home. Jumba's eyes were fixed sternly on the horizon, and so Lilo's and Stitch's eyes. There was no other sound more than the water or the wind passing them by, but none made any effort to break the prevailing silence.

Just to have something to get distracted with, Stitch let his hand touch the warm waters of the dark sea. He usually hated water, but right now, it kind of calmed him down and helped him to think more clearly. Jumba had already told him he should calm down or then he'd have an attack; of course, he was only bluffing a little, but Stitch did really need to calm down. It wasn't like Aleia would get lost forever, right? Besides, he had to think some things over more clearly…

He would peer at Lilo from time to time, but she never seemed to notice. He just looked at her for a few seconds. Of course, he said he'd always love her, but right now he was just unsure. Having only one kid still would take him time and a lot of patience.

Besides, he didn't want to get too many hopes around her. He knew he had hurt Lilo, and he firmly thought she had the right to hate him if she wanted to. He was thankful she didn't, though. However, he had noticed that she was somewhat colder towards him too. It was so… weird. It felt wrong. What had happened to all those years they've spent together?

"And the worst of all is that this was my whole fault…"

It didn't occur to him that Lilo still felt awkward around him, and that was why she couldn't behave more friendly with him. He was just too submerged in his own thoughts to even notice.

"Prepare to arrive to island. We'll be there in about ten minutes." Jumba announced, breaking the silence with his thick Russian accent.

It was barely visible, but right ahead of them, a dark mass could be seen, being illuminated by the moonlight as the sparkling waves crashed against the edge.

Lilo turned to Stitch. The look she gave him was one of the rare warm looks she gave him ever since he had returned to Kauai.

"Don't worry, Stitch. We'll find Aleia in no time at all."

He only nodded, hoping that the warm look on her eyes wouldn't be just pity.

Soon, the vehicle was already resting among the big ferns and vegetation of the beach, and Stitch led the other three persons to the place he had tried to call his home for four long years. The environment had the same effects on him than it had on Aleia; it made him feel even bluer than he already did.

Lilo noticed the change of mood in Stitch and walked closer to him timidly. She patted his shoulder in a comforting manner, though hesitantly. Stitch looked at her and smiled, patting as well the hand that had just comforted him. Words weren't necessary at that moment to let Stitch know that Lilo still cared for him, which made him feel a bit better.

They followed Aleia's scent for a few minutes, thanks to Stitch's nose, which made sure that she had been here a short while ago. Finally, they reached the suburb where Stitch and his old family used to live at. Once more, the streets were counted. One, two, three… and then he gasped.

The sight of how the sticks and pieces of the roof and walls now lay on the ground, scattered all over the place, made a horrible feeling of dread go through his veins. Everybody gasped when they understood as well, but none could move for the first two seconds. The whole house had come crashing down.

"ALEIA!" Stitch cried out in pure terror, fearing the worst. Oh, how he loathed himself at that moment. He should have never told Aleia that he had buried his mother and brother in Honolulu; maybe if he had told her that they had got lost, she would have never tried to get back to this place. It didn't matter, though; he needed to see if she was inside the house.

He didn't hesitate for a moment. Actually, if it hadn't been for the arms that held him back, he would have dashed into the ruins of that spooky house, where Aleia's scent lingered.

"Let me go! I have to take her OUT!" Stitch shouted to the owner of the arms. However, Lilo wouldn't let go.

"No Stitch, don't! If Aleia is alright and you come in all of sudden, you could cause the house to fall down even more and get her hurt!"

"Lilo's right, Stitch! We must be careful!" David agreed, helping Lilo to hold Stitch back by placing himself in front of the short alien.

"I am to be agreeing with Surfer Boy and Little Girl. No sudden enters to the building, 626! It might collapse and if your Little Pup is in there, the consequences could be fatal."

At this remark, Stitch had to force himself to calm down. He had already lost his new owners, Angel and Kenny. He didn't want to lose his little girl as well. However, his insides were still aching with anguish.

"But… Jumba! What if she's hurt! What if… what if she…!" His eyes started to water up, and then his voice cracked, voicing up his worst thoughts. "I don't want to lose her too. It would be…"

"It's alright. We'll find a way to take her out; just be patient. Please…" Lilo murmured, slowly letting go of him. A part of him missed immediately her touch and didn't want her to let go, though, which made him wonder if his feelings for her were reappearing or if it was just the need of a friend comforting him.

"Besides, how do you know she went into the house? Maybe she's somewhere outside." David tried to comfort Stitch as well.

"I smell her! Her scent is IN the house!" Stitch cried out, starting to agitate again. Lilo and David tried to calm him down once more, none of them noticing that someone of their little group wasn't there.

Nobody had noticed that Jumba was gone until he called all of them. David and Lilo went immediately towards the huge tree in front of the house, where Jumba was standing. Stitch couldn't move at all; all he could do was look at the fallen house and make up plans in his head to get his daughter out.

"Stitch, Aleia is here!" Lilo's shout finally made him turn around. There was a little, furry blue bundle in Jumba's bulky arms. Stitch felt the beat of his heart calming down, bringing a hand to his chest in a relief manner. He ran to the place where the group stood and took his little girl from Jumba's arms. Aleia was barely starting to wake up.

"Daddy, you came here…" She murmured groggily, smiling to him. Stitch had already a thousand of things he had to say to her, but seeing her smile stopped him for a moment. He brought her to his chest, smiling as he held the little warm body of his daughter.

"Don't do that EVER again. You had me so scared…" He simply said, thanking silently for having found his daughter safe and sound. Aleia hugged him back.

"I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that I had to see mom and Kenny to say goodbye…" She detached from her dad's body to wipe a little tear from her eye. Stitch looked behind Aleia and the group, where two lumps of soil rested on the ground, one bigger and larger than the other one beside it. He understood.

"Come on, let's go back home…" He murmured, lifting his little girl in his arms once more. Of course, this time Aleia knew he wasn't referring to the broken building that rested in front of them, but to that little, though beautiful island called Kauai.

None of the others dared to say anything, fearing they'd break the father-daughter moment. They just kept walking silently, listening as Aleia related what had happened when she had first arrived. Stitch clenched his fists at the part where the thief had kicked her, and even though he scolded her for being so imprudent, he felt proud of his little daughter and told her so. Then she came to the part where she had come into the house.

She had finally found what she had been looking for: a photograph where all the members of her Ohana of Honolulu appeared. She contemplated on staying for a while inside the house to look for more things she would like to take out, but she decided to get out of there. However, she still wanted to find two old makeshift dolls of hers and her brother's that she and Kenny had made themselves a few years ago with the help of their mother. She delayed quite a bit, but she finally could find them. That would explain the old, wet dolls she was carrying on her arms like babies.

She had gone out as quickly as the fallen pieces of the house would allow her after this. She had just remembered that Stitch had said he had buried Angel and Kenny beside that tree she liked so much, to avoid curious people from trying to investigate what kind of creatures they were, and she felt the sudden need to go out and be there.

Maybe it was coincidence, or someone was watching over her, because if she had stayed more time into the house, or if that thought hadn't flashed through her mind, then she would surely have joined her mom and Kenny.

She hadn't even walked two yards when the whole house came crashing down. She turned around at the horrible sound of wood breaking and glass spreading everywhere and jumped backwards instinctively, right before a huge piece of wood fell where she had been standing a few seconds ago. Still trembling, she picked up her dolls and the picture, holding them close to her. She ran to the tree, finding almost immediately the two bumps of soil. She left her stuff there and went out to look for a few flowers. It took her a while, because after the hurricane there weren't many flowers left, but after an exhaustive research, she could find some decent ones to bring to her dear mom and brother. After bringing her little homage to her deceased family, she sat down and played a little with her dolls. She fell asleep right onto the wet soil, hugging her dolls and holding her picture with her free arm.

By the time she was telling them this, they had arrived to the place where the updated buggy rested between the ferns and vegetation. Everybody climbed onto their original seats, except that this time, Aleia sat in between Lilo and Stitch. The vehicle rose over the ocean once more, bringing them all slowly to Kauai.

Again, the silence was dominant. This time, though, Lilo spoke up.

"So, how do you feel now, Aleia?" She asked to the little pup beside her, noticing that she was still somewhat sad. Aleia turned to look at her and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm okay, I guess…" She spoke softly, without lifting her eyes to look at the raven haired girl. Stitch put an arm around her.

"I bet you're totally exhausted. Why don't you sleep a little before we get home?" He suggested. Aleia only nodded and cuddled up against her dad. Lilo looked at both of the aliens, but especially at the smallest one.

"I know how you feel." The black haired girl started. Aleia immediately turned her attention to her. "You still don't quite believe that your mom and brother are already gone, and you think that sooner or later you're going to wake up from this nightmare, and everything will be the same than before: that everybody's going to be just fine and that you all will be a happy family again, just like before..." At this point, Lilo's eyes started to water up, having to go again through the first days after her parents were gone, when she was just a confused five-year-old girl.

"You feel that even though there's still someone that cares for you, something's missing, and you can't fill the empty place that remained inside you. You can't believe it is real, but in the few moments you do, you feel like shouting out why. Why… everything. That it's not fair. That if they're gone, then why you're still alive. Why… they had to leave you, when you most needed them. You miss them and love them more than you ever did, but now they're not here to hear you say this to them. It's plain frustrating and confusing, and your head keeps spinning like a twister, and you just don't know what to do. It almost makes you crazy…"

Aleia looked at Lilo for a few seconds, totally shocked. How could this girl know so much of her feelings when she had barely met her this morning? Yes, she had already realized that Lilo was a very sensitive and smart girl, but she didn't imagine she would be this smart… or this sensitive about the death of people she was so unclose to.

"How do you know that?" The pup asked in a whisper. Stitch looked up from Aleia to Lilo, knowing the answer of the teenage girl. Lilo wiped up a few tears with the back of her hand, but more were starting to make their way out of her brown eyes.

"When I was about your age, about five years old, I…well… my parents died." She did a little pause, trying to get her composure back, but it wouldn't work. Everytime she remembered those days, the pain would be just as strong as it was back then. Aleia's eyes had widened up in surprise. Her father hadn't told her about this, and until now, she had thought that Nani was Lilo's mother (for some reason, she thought Nani could be Lilo's mom). She immediately felt sympathy for the human girl beside her.

"What happened to them? Was it a hurricane too?" She asked softly. Stitch's arms stiffened around her, bringing her a bit closer. He felt he was about to cry as well; he did never really understand how important and painful it had been for Lilo to lose her parents. He had never lost to death anybody he cared for, so how could he really understand? But now that he had gone through this whole thing, he felt he could truly comprehend, at the point of feeling the same pain that Lilo and Aleia were feeling at that moment.

Lilo smiled a bit, though it was more of an irony smile than a happiness one. "Well, it was something like that. It had been raining the whole day, and they went out in the car. Nani and I stayed home. Somebody called in the early morning, like at 3 am or so. They told us they had crashed on a tree and that they were dead."

"I felt that pain for a long while until I met your father." She stopped on that part, unsure about going on with her story or stopping it there, somehow. However, the pup's eyes encouraged her to go on. "We were really good friends. Best friends, actually. I almost never thought of my parents anymore since I met him; he helped me to get over this horrible experience by being a true friend to me. We were really close, but…"

"But…?" Aleia asked expectantly. However, Lilo felt she had gone already too far with her story. She wasn't ready yet, and she didn't want to open up that much to the girl, and besides, Jumba and David were listening too, which made her feel somewhat awkward. Stitch was looking at her in a funny way too, wondering if she would already tell them how much she suffered because of him.

No, it was too soon to talk about that, she decided. However, she didn't want Aleia to think she had something to hide, so she ended up with another different thing to what she had been about to tell.

"But, well… I still feel sad about my parents' death. It doesn't matter how close you get to someone, or how good friends they are with you. You'll always feel that empty place that belongs to the people that left…"

Nope, that didn't seem like a correct ending, so she added up some more. "However, something that really makes me feel better is thinking that someday I'll see them again, and while I'm still here they'll be waiting for me. What I do here will make them feel proud of me, so I try to leave aside my sadness and be happy for them, because they wouldn't like me to be sad."

"Oh…" Aleia mused thoroughly. "So… Mom and Kenny will be proud of me if I'm happy instead of sad?"

"Yeah, well… that's the point." Lilo smiled again, this time in a comforting manner and with genuine happiness. "They wouldn't like you to live sad because they left. Nobody that loves you likes to know you're sad, after all."

"Okay… I guess that makes sense." Aleia smiled to Lilo. "I'll try to be happy for them. I'll make them proud."

"That's great." Lilo nodded and then supported her head on the upper part of her seat. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, feeling tired. She had to go through a lot of things during that day. However, a childish voice made her open her eyes once more.

"Lilo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem. Sleep well, Aleia."

Both girls closed their eyes, one cuddled up against Stitch and the other one only resting her head on the upper part of her seat. Stitch kissed Aleia's forehead goodnight and then let his gaze fall on Lilo, who had already fallen asleep. He sighed and looked down at his daughter, who had fallen asleep as soon as she had stopped moving.

He had just realized how alike Lilo and Aleia were and wondered what would become of them. He had noticed that both girls felt sympathy for the other and liked each other almost immediately after they met. Lilo could be very helpful to Aleia after all she had to go through with the death of her parents, even more helpful than himself. After all, she knew better than he how Aleia felt at that moment. For a second, maybe not even a second, the idea of Lilo being Aleia's mom flashed through his mind, but he immediately shook it off.

Gosh Stitch, no! What the blitznac are you thinking about! He scolded himself. Lilo and Aleia could become something like best friends or sisters… never that! Dang… you must be REALLY tired to be thinking crazy things like that one, Stitch. You better get some rest.

He fell asleep after a while as well. However, he woke up when he felt that the buggy wasn't moving anymore. He stirred slightly and looked around, realizing they were already in front of their house. He noticed some missing weight on his right arm, where Aleia had been sleeping. He turned to his side and what he saw made him freeze for a few seconds, but he smiled almost immediately.

Aleia was cuddled up against Lilo, while the human girl's protective arm had gone around the kid and held her to her. Even though both of them were soundly asleep, a smile was etched onto their faces. Stitch looked at them for a few seconds more before having to take his little daughter into his arms; however, Aleia woke up as soon as she felt the lack of warmth on her body.

She yawned. "Are we already home, daddy?"