(violet's outfit for this chapter) 

After Violet got ready for the day she went over to her next door neighbor. She was currently in the kitchen with Stephanie, trying to get Tommy to eat. 

"Can somebody get the door? Vivi and I are trying to feed Tommy!" Stephanie calls out when the doorbell rang. She glances back at Tommy with confusion. "Do you like these carrots or not? Just give me a sign. A hint." Violet's eyes widen with shock when Tommy threw some of the mashed carrots at Stephanie which landed on Stephanie's face, right by her left eye.

"Well, he definetly gave you a sign." Violet chuckles, smiting at her with amusement. She stands up and walks over to the kitchen island. "I'll get you a towel."

"Thanks." Stephanie sighed.

Violet grabs a towel off the kitchen island, handing it to Stephanie as the door to the kitchen opens. "You have a visitor." Jackson said to Stephanie. He had a goofy smile on his face as he whispers, "She's English and she's hot."

Violet chuckles, rolling her eyes at his comment. A blonde-haired woman wearing a crop top, a black skirt, and heels walks into the kitchen, smiling and pointing at Jackson. "You are an observant young man."

While Stephanie and the blonde-haired woman hugged, Violet walks over to her best friend, laughing lightly as he kept looking at the blonde-haired woman with an awestruck look. Violet pushes his head forward and shoves him towards the living room. "Alright, Jax, let's leave Steph and her friend alone." 

"Fine." Jackson grumbled.

****

Violet was now hanging out with Jackson in his room, helping him fix his skateboard. Something was wrong with it and he asked if she could help him out with it. She didn't know much about skateboards, but she was going to try her best to help him out. 

Max walks into the room, carrying his trombone. "Do you guys know where Aunt Stephanie is?"

"She's out of town." Jackson replied.

Max's eyes widen in disbelief. "What?" He exclaims. He sets his trombone on the bench in front of Jackson's bed, turning to face Jackson and Violet with panic. "She has my super magic scarf! My recital is tonight! I'm about to freak out!" 

Violet's eyes widen with surprise as Max yells. Jackson stands up, going over to Max to try to calm him down. He grabs onto Max's arm and gets his attention. "Max, Max, Max, Max!" Max stops screaming, but still looks panicked. "Take a deep breath." Max copies Jackson does and takes a deep breath. "Now let it out slowly." Jackson lets go of Max's arms and smiles. "You feel better now, right?"

"That did nothing." Max responds. "Status update: I'm doomed." He then flopped down onto his bed, laying face first.

"Max, Max, listen to your big brother." Jackson shakes Max and backs away as Max stands up. "Whenever you're nervous on stage, just picture the whole entire audience in their underwear." 

Max looks at him with disbelief. "Are you nuts?" He snaps his fingers and points at the light. "Hit your lights on your way out!" Violet smiled sympathetically at him while he pulled back his covers and climbed into bed, pulling the covers over his head.

"Trust me," Jackson pulls back the covers, smiling reassuringly at Max. "It works. When I ran for class treasurer, I had to make a speech in front of the whole entire school."

"But you lost." Max reminded him.

"Yeah," Jackson crosses his arms and smiles. "That's because I was imagining all the girls in their underwear. And then I forgot my whole speech." 

Violet rolls her eyes and lightly punches Jackson's shoulder as a way to scold him. He winces, rubbing the spot she hit. "Max, don't listen to him." She glances at the younger brother with a small smile. "You're gonna be great, alright? You don't even have to look at the crowd, you can have your eyes closed the whole time. Or you could look at the ceiling or just focus on one person." 

Even though he still looked worried, Max smiles a bit. "Thanks, Violet." 

****

Later that night, Violet stood by Jackson and DJ backstage. Max was backstage with them, peeking behind the curtain to check the crowd. "You're up next, buddy." DJ smiles at Max when he turned to face her, Jackson and Violet. "Jackson, Violet, and I will be cheering you on."

"No, you won't." Max shakes his head, looking nervous. "I'm not going out there, mom." 

Violet frowns. "Why not, Max?"

"I need my super magic scarf, but Aunt Stephanie took it." Max replied in a sad tone.

"She took your super magic scarf?" DJ questioned in disbelief.

"What happened to the underwear trick?" Jackson inquired.

"It didn't work." Max responds. "My puppy was cute," His face scrunches up with disgust. "But that crowd is full of wrinkly old people." 

Jackson goes over to the curtain to peek out at the crowd, looking back at the others with a disgusted expression. "Ugh! You're right. That's a lo of granny panties." Max nodded in agreement.

"Max, you can just try what I suggested." Violet chimes in. She smiles. "Keep your eyes closed or focus on one thing or someone the whole time."

"That's actually not a bad idea." DJ smiles. "But I'm gonna call Stephanie and see if she can help." She got her phone out of her purse and called her sister. 

Upbeat music and cheering is heard on Stephanie's end of the call when she answered. "Deej, what's going on? I'm kinda busy. Is everything okay?"

"No, it's not. You took Max's super magic scarf." DJ told her.

Stephanie looks at her with confusion. "What magic scarf?"

DJ points at the scarf she's wearing. "The one you're wearing?"

Stephanie glances down at the scarf she wore and she grimaces. "Ugh! I'm an idiot. Put him on." DJ then moved her phone so Stephanie could see Max, who had an upset look on his face. 

"It's Max. Remember me?"

"Oh, Max, I'm so sorry." Stephanie apologizes. "But lucky for you, I can transfer the magical powers of the super magic scarf through this phone. Okay, just touch the screen and say, 'I believe'. Ready?" She rubbed the scarf over the phone, but Max didn't say anything and continued to look upset.

"What do you think, I'm in preschool? Everybody knows you can't transfer magic over wifi." 

"Okay, Max, the truth is you don't need the scarf. Play that song now and I'll prove it." Stephanie told him.

"I'll try, but just so you know, I'm very skeptical." Max admitted.

Stephanie cuts the music, causing the crowd to stop dancing and cheering. "Okay, what's up, party people?" She calls out. "I've got a special guest coming live from Harvey Milk Elementary, Mr. Mighty Max Fuller!" The only one who cheered was her friend, Shannon, who was jumping up and down and cheering. Stephanie looks at Max with a smile. "Old MacDonald had a farm." Max then played the next part on his trombone. Stephanie and Max continued to play the rest of the song, but at the end everyone was silent, staring at Stephanie wtih confusion.

"Oh, come on, you jaded ravers!" Stephanie glares at the crowd. "He's a little kid!" Once again Shannon is the only one who cheered for Max and some people in the crowd hesitantly clapped. 

"DJ Tanner, yeah, you rock!" Shannon exclaimed.

"Come on, everybody give it up for Max!" Stephanie then starts chanting Max's name and eventually the crowd joined in which caused Max to smile. Stephanie smiles at Max. "Max, you just played Coachella. Thousands of people are chanting your name."

"Holy Chalupas!" Max shouted with surprise.

"Max, if you can play Coachella, you can certainly play a second-grade recital." DJ smiled.

"Go knock 'em dead, Max." Stephanie encouraged.

Max smiles widely at her. "Thanks, Aunt Stephanie. We're still friends." He blew a kiss at her and Stephanie smiled at him before she hung up. And unbeknownst to Violet and the others Stephanie made a remix of what Max had just played on the trombone and everyone at Coachella loved it.

****

After Max's recital, they all went back to the house. Violet was walking over to Ramona's room to hang out with her when she overheard a conversation between DJ and Stephanie in Tommy's room. She knows she shouldn't be listening in to the conversation, but she couldn't help herself. She was curious and the door was open so it was kind of hard not to listen in. She stood by the door, but out of sight so DJ or Stephanie didn't see her. 

"Ooh...Look who's getting sucked into the vortex of motherhood!" DJ said excitedly.

"Yeah." Stephanie agreed, sounding less enthusiastic than DJ did which confused Violet. 

"Hey, Steph, you alright?" DJ asked her.

Stephanie nods. "I'm fine."  Violet couldn't see her face, but from how sad her voice sounded she knew Stephanie wasn't fine.

"No, you're not." DJ notices. "What's wrong?"

"I really don't wanna talk about it." Stephanie admitted.

"Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me." DJ reassured her.

"I can't have children." Stephanie confessed and after hearing her voice wavering Violet knew she was crying. Violet's heart dropped to her stomach when Stephanie confessed that and she frowned. She didn't know Stephanie even wanted kids, but it seemed like after being around her and the others Stephanie had changed her mind. The fact she can't have kids is heartbreaking. 

"Oh, Stephanie." DJ said in a sympathetic tone. 

Violet peeks into the room slightly, noticing that the sisters were hugging. "Are you alright?" DJ inquired when she and Stephanie pulled away.

Stephanie shrugs and manages a small smile. "I'm okay. You know, I just found out a while ago. It's just not gonna happen for me."  

"Why didn't you tell me?" DJ asked her.

"I was in England and you had just lost your husband." Stephanie replies. "You had enough going on. And I wasn't really thinking about starting a family then anyway." She sniffles. "But then I moved in here and I really got to know your kids, and feel what it was like to have a family of your own...Things changed."

DJ sighs sadly and pulls her in for another hug. "I'm so sorry. Aw, this breaks my heart." When they pull away from the hug, she smiles sadly at Stephanie. "But you should know that my kids are your kids. And we appreciate everything that you do. We love you." 

"I'm your kid too." Violet shyly chimes in, stepping forward as she let her presence be known to the sisters. They both look over at her with surprise and it was clear neither one expected her to be there. She frowns at Stephanie. "I know I shouldn't have been listening in, but I was walking by when I overheard the conversation and I'm so sorry that you can't have any kids, Steph. I also appreciate everything that you do and love you." 

Stephanie sniffles again, wiping some of the tears from her eyes. She wasn't even upset with Violet for listening in on a private conversation, she was just happy to know Violet thought that way about her. "Thank you, Vivi. I love you too." She gestured Violet to walk into the room further so she could hug her. Violet hugged Stephanie and pulled DJ in for the hug. 

"Not that I'm counting," Stephanie said as the three of them pulled away from the hug. She glances at her sister with a small smile. "But that was our fourth hug in a minute."

"I can't help it. I'm turning into dad." DJ chuckled and pulled Stephanie in for another hug. Violet smiled sympathetically and wiped her tears that were getting teary. 

Then Jackson, Ramona, and Max walk into the nursery, smiling at Stephanie and greeting her excitedly. "Hi! Hello, hello!" Stephanie smiles widely and pulled them in for a group hug. DJ wrapped her arm around Violet's shoulder, sharing a smile with her. '

"Why are you crying?" Max asked when he noticed Stephanie crying.

Stephanie wraps her arm around Jackson's shoulders, wiping away her tears. "Gosh, I'm just really sad that I missed your first recital."

"Well, cheer up. Mom has it on her phone." Max said excitedly. "You can watch it over and over and over again."

"Good." Stephanie smiles at everyone. "I love you guys." She gestures for everyone for a group hug. "Come on, bring it in." 

Kimmy walks into the nursery, grinning when she saw the group hug. "Just in time!" She then walked over and joined the group hug. 

When they pull away from the hug, DJ glances at Kimmy and smiles. "Hey, how was coffee with the plumber?"

Violet chuckles, glancing at Kimmy with amusement. "You had coffee with a plumber?"

"Yes, I did." Kimmy grins. "Oh, it was great. Hank lives on the water in Sausalito, in a cute little, um..." Her voice trails off as she tries to remember what the word was. "Uh...What do you call it?"

"Houseboat?" Max asked.

Kimmy then starts acting like a chicken, causing everyone to look at her with amusement. Violet snickers. "Was she hypnotized or something?"

"Yep." Ramona chuckles. "She was hypnotized to act like a chicken when someone says houseboat." Violet nodded in realization and smiled with amusement.

"Boxcar." DJ, Stephanie, and Ramona spoke in unison.

Kimmy acts like normal after they said that word. "Good night, everybody." She smiled and waved before she walked out of the room. 

A/N i love violet's & stephanie's friendship so much !!