Little Red

SIXTY EIGHT

"You'll never leave me, right?" she asked. "We'll always be best friends?"

"Right!" Frankie said with a grin. "Don't worry, Ellie! We're gonna be best friends forever!!"

Dani laughed softly and kissed the boy's head as he sat up to hug her. "Best friends forever," she said. "You're the best little brother in the world, you know that?"

Frankie nodded. "I know!" he said, which caused Dani to snort.

The sound of the doorbell ringing caused them both to look up towards the entrance before a small smile spread across Dani's features as she realized who was at the door.

"Do you know who that is, bud?" she asked. "It's Chio!"

A wide grin spread across Frankie's features as he said, "It is?! Can I get the door, Ellie?! I want to meet Pinonoko!!"

Dani laughed at the mispronunciation of Pinocchio's name as she carefully got up from the couch and grabbed Frankie's hand to walk to the door. Though they had been given some kind of explanation as to what was happening to her, her health was still fastly deteriorating...to the point where she couldn't even hold her brother anymore and had taken to holding his hand instead.

"Woah! Hold on there, bud!!" Dani exclaimed as Frankie tried to pull her towards the door. "He's not going anywhere! You're going to break my arm!!"

"Oops! Sorry, sissy!!" Frankie said with a smile while slowing down his steps. "Do you think Pinonoko will like me?"

"Pft, like you? He's going to love you!" Dani said. "You're the best little boy in the world! Who wouldn't?"

Frankie's smile widened as Dani opened the door for them to see a grinning Pinocchio on the other side.

"Chio!!" she greeted and threw her arms around him. "Hey!"

Pinocchio laughed and said, "Hey, El!" as he hugged her back.

Though they had found out just the day before, the duo's knowledge of being siblings in a past life had quickly caused their relationship to grow stronger overnight, and the excitement Dani had felt from finally having the older sibling she had always wanted was indescribable.

He had truly been a blessing in disguise for her.

"Pinonoko!! Hi, Pinonoko!!"

Dani snorted as Pinocchio raised his brows in amusement and looked at his sister before kneeling to the boy's level as he said, "Well, hi there! I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that you must be Frankie!"

Frankie grinned and nodded as he said, "Uh-huh!! Ellie says that you know how to help us! Are you gonna help us, Pinonoko?"

Dani's hand shot up to her mouth to hold back a laugh as Pinocchio gave her another amused look before turning back to Frankie.

"Why yes, I am!...and that's a very interesting pronunciation of my name," he said with pursed lips, which caused Dani to burst into laughter.

Pinocchio smiled and stood back up as Frankie ran off into the kitchen. "Momma, Momma, Momma!! Pinonoko's here and he says he's gonna help Ellie!!"

Dani burst into laughter again as Pinocchio joined in before it quickly died down as he turned his head to examine her features. "You're getting worse," he mumbled sadly.

"Yeah...Dad's making me wear his clothes now on top of Mikey's, but I still feel like I'm freezing from the inside out," she told him in the same tone.

Pinocchio nodded before furrowing his brows. "Mikey?" he asked. "As in Mikey Darling? The nephew of Mayor Darling?"