(A/N: I was [and am currently] having writer's block for "The Other Uncle", "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride," and "RShenziTimon: Alphabet Story," and I had this idea for a while, so I decided to write it. By the way, this takes place in the same universe as my TLK 1 1/2 rewrite, where Timon and Shenzi are childhood friends, but Melody from "Short Stuff 2" is included. Anywho, enjoy.)
As Long As My Heart Beats
Summary: "Timon? You okay?" "Y-yeah, I'm fine; I was just thinking." "About what?" "… About Dad." After telling Melody about her grandfather Lane, the Berkowitz family gets a surprise visit from a certain someone.
*Flashback*
"Hey Timon? Nina?" A young Timon looked up, and smiled at his father Lane.
"Yes, Lane?" Nina smiled at him.
"We have a couple guests that will be staying with us," He told them, "And I'd like for you to meet them."
"Me too?" Timon confirmed, interest and curiosity shining in his big brown eyes.
"Yep, you too," Lane nodded, "Come on; Max is already there with them." He gestured for them to follow, before he started walking to the den where their guests were. Timon scampered up to him, and grabbed his hand.
.
.
"Jackals!" The meerkat on sentry duty screamed out. The colony went into panic mode, and ran around like headless chickens. Timon and Shenzi, who were still young kids, stood still, both paralyzed with fear, and not knowing where to go.
"Timon! Shenzi!" Max yelled when he saw the two young friends out in the open. He ran over to them, swiftly picked up Shenzi with one arm, and grabbed Timon's tiny hand. "Come on!" He ran with them to the nearest tunnel, and practically threw them down to safety. When he turned around, his eyes widened in horror when he saw that the trio of jackals were way too close to his brother, and Timon's father. "Lane!" He yelled, running back over to them. "Get away from him!" He snarled at the jackals, a feeling of sudden bravery rushing through him.
In the tunnels, Timon, Shenzi, and the kits were huddled together in fear. Nina and Vitawny ran over soon after, and looked after them all. The two friends widened their eyes in surprise when they heard Max tell the jackals to stay away from Lane. Adult meerkats popped in one after another.
They heard what sounded like a smack from a paw, and Max yelling in pain, and tumbling away. Timon's eyes welled up with tears upon hearing his uncle getting hurt. He may fight with him quite a few times, but he still loved him nonetheless.
After a while, an eerie silence wafted over the den, and outside. Everyone's hearts were pounding so hard in their chests, they could almost be heard by them all. Then a loud thump startled them all; It was Max jumping, or falling, back in the den, face-down. They stared as Vitawny rushed over to him.
"M-Max?" She stammered.
When Max looked up, he had a distraught and traumatized expression. "They… they got him," He mumbled, his voice heavy.
"N-no!" Nina whimpered, before she started sobbing, along with Timon, Shenzi, Vitawny, and Max.
Besides Nina, Timon took Lane's death the hardest; He was his best friend, besides Shenzi, and knew how to make him feel better whenever Pimon and Swifty picked on him.
*End of flashback*
"Timon?" A familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Timon looked up, and saw Shenzi standing in front of him, looking concerned. "You okay?" Their daughter Melody was gazing up at him as well from her place in his arms. She had just started talking, but still mispronounced certain words.
"Y-yeah," He stammered, nodding his head, "I'm fine; I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"… About Dad," He whispered, but she still heard him.
"Ah," She nodded, before frowning sadly. "I still remember like it was only yesterday."
"What happened?" Melody asked them, and they reluctantly explained it the best they could without traumatizing her. "Oh…"
"Yea," Timon nodded, "Those filthy jackals killed him." His breath hitched as tears came in his eyes. Shenzi nudged his cheek in comfort with hers as tears came in her own citrine eyes. "I, I wish you could meet him, Mel," He told the young child, stroking her red hair, "You'd love him… and he'd love you."
"You talking about Lane?" Nina asked them as she, Max, and Vitawny walked up to them.
"Yeah," Shenzi nodded, "We were telling Melody about him."
"Mommy and Daddy said that Grandpa was killed by jackals," Melody said quietly with pure innocence in her voice.
"Yeah, he was," Max nodded, his voice vague before he sighed sadly.
"Well, we were going to tell you that…" Vitawny hesitated, "… We're going to visit Lane's grave today."
"Okay," Timon nodded, before standing up, and carrying Melody. "We'll take Mel with us." Shenzi nodded in agreement.
"Okay," Nina nodded, before they walked to their destination.
At their destination, after setting Melody in Max's arms, Timon quietly walked up to the tombstone that had Lane's full name carved in it. "Um, h-hi Dad," He stammered, "It's me, Timon."
Meanwhile, a certain dark tan-furred, dark brown-haired meerkat was watching them from a distance. When he clearly saw who the group was, he smiled widely with joy. 'Finally,' He thought, 'I finally found them!'
With the group, Timon was still talking to the stone. "Um, our lives have been… good, but we always feel that there's something, or someone, missing. That someone is you, Dad." Nina felt tears well up in her green eyes. "Um, if you didn't see it, me and Shenzi got hitched," He smiled, as Shenzi did too. "So did Max and Vitawny, so… you now have hyena in-laws," He chuckled, before slowly ceasing. "And uh…" He tried to think of something else to say, "Pimon and Swifty are still being pains in our butts," He chuckled, before stopping again. "Um, I, I don't know what else to say."
"I do," Nina quietly piped up, and Timon let her take over. "And Lane… I'm 100% positive that if you were here right now, you'd be so proud of Timon's accomplishments, although I'm really sure you are. He moved us all to a beautiful, predator-free paradise. You'd love it, although I'm sure you do. And like Timon told you, he and Shenzi are married, as are Max and Vitawny. You and I both knew that they were meant to be together," She smiled sadly. "You must be so happy for them."
The male meerkat decided that it was time to announce his presence to them. "And I really am," He told them, smiling widely. The group's breath hitched at the all too familiar voice; Shenzi and Vitawny turned around first, and after seeing who it was, they swiftly turned Timon, Nina, and Max around by their shoulders. A shy Melody hid from the "stranger" before he could clearly see her behind her great-uncle. Seeing that they were too stunned to move, Lane ran over to them in a big group hug. And to his surprise and amusement, Max lifted him up for a second.
"Oh my God, Lane!" Nina cried tears of joy, as she hugged her husband tightly. After Lane hugged her back and kissed her, Timon tackle-hugged him tightly with sheer joy.
A wave of pure happiness suddenly washed over Max. "Oh hug me, brother!" He exclaimed, as he wrapped his arms around Lane's neck, and hugged him quite tightly, cutting off air circulation unintentionally.
"H'oy!" He wheezed as he suddenly couldn't breathe. "Ma-Max! Choking, not breathing!" Timon smirked at the familiar phrase.
"Oh, sorry!" Max loosened his grip, but didn't let go, "I really missed you, Lane."
"I missed you too," Lane smiled, "All of you." He then hugged Shenzi and Vitawny in turn.
"Oh, Dad!" Timon piped up, "We have to introduce you to someone I think you'd really want to meet."
"Who is it?" The brown-haired meerkat asked his son.
Timon walked up behind his uncle, and knelt down on his knees. "Mel? It's okay Melody, you can come out." The child reluctantly scampered in her daddy's arms before he scooped her up, and walked back to Lane. "Dad, this is Melody Nina Marie Maxine Lana Berkowitz, your granddaughter." He smiled as his father looked genuinely surprised.
"You and Shenzi had a daughter?" He breathed out in shock.
"Yep," Shenzi nodded, "We actually adopted her."
"She had no family, so we took her in," Timon explained, before holding her out to him. "You want to hold her for a bit?" Melody held her arms out to him.
"Sure," Lane smiled, as he gently took the child in his arms. "Hey kiddo."
"Can you say hi, Mel?" Timon asked her.
"Hi Mel," She giggled, to everyone's amusement.
"She gets it from Timon," Vitawny giggled as Lane chuckled at Melody's smart-alecky response.
"It's true," The redhead shrugged.
"Hey, y'know something?" Nina piped up, "We should go somewhere to celebrate Lane coming back!"
"I like that," Vitawny smiled.
"Yeah," Max agreed as his brother gave Melody back to Timon. "We really should celebrate the return of my lil' baby brother!" He teased as he grabbed Lane's neck in a headlock, and started giving him playful noogies.
"Hey! Max, stop it!" Lane yelled, smiling widely, but his big brother disregarded his request and kept at it. So Lane used a trick that worked on Max every time: He reached over, and tickled his side.
"Aahahahaey!" Max burst out laughing as he let him go, and covered himself, "I hate when you do that!"
"I know," Lane smirked, "We're brothers; I know what you hate."
"That is true," Max rolled his eyes, "You're just lucky I'm in a good mood," He smirked.
"Yep," Lane smirked back, "So… where should we go?"
After about a minute of them thinking, Melody spoke up. "Disneyland!" She exclaimed, "Let's go to Disneyland!"
"Hmm…" Shenzi thought, "How does that sound, guys? It'll give Lane a chance to really bond with Melody."
"… I love it," Timon smiled.
"Me too," Lane agreed, "I haven't been there since Timon was a kit."
"Same here," Nina piped up, "We should go."
"As soon as possible," Max nodded.
"Next week or something?" Vitawny suggested.
"Absolutely," Shenzi nodded in agreement.
"Yay!" Melody cheered.
"But for now, why don't we all just relax at home?" Timon suggested, "We can show Dad around the Oasis."
"I'd love that," Lane smiled.
"Come on, let's go," Max said before he yanked the tombstone out of the ground, and the group plus one headed home. "We won't need this for a while; By the way Lane, if those jackals didn't kill you, where have you been all this time?"
"Well, apparently the jackals wanted their "meal" to go, but I managed to escape," Lane explained to them, "But the thing is, I didn't know where I was. No locals would help me, so I just wandered the Serengeti all these years. Then today, I finally found you guys."
"Whoa," Timon breathed out in awe at his story, "Well, I'm so glad you escaped those filthy jackals." He hugged him again.
"I am too," The brown-haired meerkat agreed as he hugged his son back. "So, what is there to do here?"
"Oh, lots of things," Timon smiled, before going on about everything they could do with him.
Finally, the empty space was perfectly full again.
(A/N: I got the story title from the song "To Know the Unknown" by Innosense from the 3rd Pokemon movie. Timon, Shenzi, and Nina don't belong to me, but Lane and Melody do. The phrase "Hug me, brother!" Is from Drake and Josh. XD And the idea for Lane's name came from Timon's movie voice actor: Nathan Lane. ;) Should I write a sequel for this story, when they go to Disneyland? X3)