After the events that take place in DreamWork's Over the Hedge, Verne finds himself still having trouble trusting his newest family member, RJ. A typical outing to raid the human development turns into a huge fight between Verne and RJ. The incident causes a rift between the two, eventually causing a frustrated RJ to leave his heartbroken family, and Verne is left to pick up the pieces. RJ runs into troubles from his past, and Verne resolves to fix the mess he made. Rated T for violence and mild coarse language.

Disclaimer: Over the Hedge (movie) is owned by DreamWorks, and the characters are property of Michael Fry and T. Lewis. All the copyrights associated with Over the Hedge belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.

-ONE-

Disconcerting Dreams

RJ lay in a tree watching the night go by with his eyes lazily half-lidded. All was quiet save a grumbling noise from his middle. "Hey, none of that," he mumbled to his stomach. RJ stretched and then hopped out of the tree.

He strolled over to a hollow log and peered inside. RJ could make out the sleeping forms of his newly acquired "family." Lou and Penny, the porcupine couple, lay huddled together with their three kids, Bucky, Spike, and Quillo. Hammy the squirrel was curled up next to Verne the turtle, gripping a bag of cookies to his chest like a security blanket. RJ chuckled softly. And just beyond Verne was a large stash of various snack goodies. RJ smacked his lips and began to crawl into the log.

Tiptoeing over the others quietly, RJ approached the stash cautiously, wincing as his foot knocked against Verne's shell. Verne began to open his eyes slowly, then instantly he became alert. His eyes darted frantically around, stopping on a shadow to his right. Verne squinted to see the familiar form of a raccoon picking through their stash of food. Verne rolled his eyes.

"RJ, I swear, between your late night snack indulgences and the TV shows you watch at the most ungodly hours, I'm never going to get any sleep."

RJ hummed as he examined a bag of Dorritos. "Hey, don't blame me. I've tried to catch some Z's, but this guy-" he patted his tummy "-won't let me. Besides, sleeping at night is overrated." Verne cursed the inconvenience of nocturnal friends, and then rolled over to his side. RJ settled on a box of Twinkies, then crept out of the log.

Entering the cool night air, RJ breathed deeply, then plopped against the log. Reaching in to the box, he pulled out a Twinkie and unwrapped the crinkling plastic that held the snack cake captive. Carefully, his fingers pried the golden sponge cake from its wrapper and broke it in half, revealing the creamy filling within. RJ chortled with glee. Placing the cake on his tongue, an involuntary shiver ran through his body. RJ had his Twinkie. Life was good.

As RJ savored the Twinkie, he noticed Ozzie and his daughter Heather were hanging by their tails from a branch nearby. The opossums must have just returned from some midnight venture, and were now snoring softly. RJ wasn't the only night owl among his friends. From the time he had been with them, he noticed that Ozzie and Heather frequently spent most of the night away, often returning with various food items to add to the winter supply. Stella, the skunk, was probably out dating Tiger, a cat that the hedgies had accidentally befriended during a large food heist.

RJ watched the tiny sliver of the moon and mused that it had been a little over two weeks since the incident with Vicent, a very large and demanding bear that almost killed RJ after he had attempted to steal from him. RJ had managed to save his neck the last second by promising to restore all the food that had been lost, Vincent giving him only a week to do so. To accomplish the near-impossible task, RJ targeted a nearby human suburban community he discovered, and encountered for the first time a group of woodland creatures living behind the hedge. RJ had deceived the hedgies into believing that he would help them scavenge food off of humans for their hibernation, planning to take the food to Vincent once they had gathered enough. After a struggle with Verne, who didn't trust RJ and his intentions, several raids on the humans' houses, a scuffle with a control freak named Gladys Sharp and "The Verminater", RJ had managed to collect all the food to replace Vincent's stock exactly sans a can of Spuddies. On the finale raid to get the Spuddies, the others were captured as RJ escaped with the last item on his list. He had everything he needed to save his neck, but as he made away with the food, his guilt got the better of him. He ended up turning around and saving his family from the Verminator, and through a few turn of events, Gladys and the Verminater were arrested and Vincent was sent packing away to the Rockies.

RJ stuffed the last bit of Twinkie in his mouth and licked the remainder off his fingers. Boy, a lot can happen in a week, he thought. He pulled out an i-pod from the blue golf bag he kept all his findings in. RJ had found the i-pod while rummaging through the garbage cans. Its screen was a bit cracked, but it still played music. Placing the headphones over his ears, he hummed to himself and shifted a bit to get in a comfier position. Slowly, his eyelids began to shut as sleep crept upon him.

While most of the hedgies slept in blissful unawareness, Verne was experiencing a terrible and very persistent dream.

RJ was leading him and the other hedgies through a dark forest dimly lit by a waxing moon. RJ kept looking over his shoulder anxiously as in if he was expecting something, but when Verne asked about it, RJ only replied, "It's nothing." Verne could feel his tail tingling wildly, and he had the nagging feeling that they were being followed. Suddenly, RJ stopped with his hand raised. He beckoned them to hide in a nearby bush. The others obeyed quickly, but Verne stayed, looking quizzically at RJ.

"RJ, what's going o—"

"Hush, Verne! Hide!"

Suddenly, RJ's face held a look of pure terror. A huge, towering shadow stood over him. Verne's eyes widened as he ran to hide. Looking back, he could see that RJ was frozen in place as a huge paw reached out.

"RJ!" Verne skidded to a halt and began to turn around, but he was being held back. Verne looked to see Ozzie grasping his arm, staring back at him with large, frightened eyes. "No, don't go back! He'll only kill you too!"

Verne watched helplessly as Vincent picked up RJ by his head, RJ screaming in pain as the bear's claws bore into his skull. "AAAUGH! NO! VINCENT! STOP!"

Vincent gave a twisted smile as he watched the hated raccoon struggle. "It's too late now, RJ. The moment you broke your promise to me to save your family, your life was forfeit. It's a pity really. Giving up such a comfy lifestyle for what—a few insignificant animals that call you "family?" You're a lying, thieving, selfish, slimy rascal, RJ, no good for a family, and you know it." Vincent chuckled. "All you're good for is a meal." Vincent raised the raccoon towards his sharp, glistening teeth, his jaws opened wide.

"Wait!" RJ panted, shaking visibly. "I-I'm only good for o-one meal, r-right?" Vincent paused, his eyebrow raised. "I-if you spare me, I can show you where the others are."

Verne gasped in horror.

"Heh heh, now that's the RJ I know. You sly dog. Alright, I'll play along. The more the merrier, right?" He let RJ down. "Where's dinner?"

Verne watched with baited breath. RJ wouldn't, couldn't betray them!

"They're right behind that hedge."

Verne awoke with a start. "It's just a dream… just a dream."

He sighed and got up. The others were still sleeping, and he noticed that Stella and Tiger were curled up next to Hammy. Must have snuck in late last night, he thought, smiling a little. He made his way out of the log into the early morning sunshine.

In contrast to RJ, Verne had always been an early riser. He liked to begin the day quietly reflecting on anything that came to mind. This morning in particular, he was thinking about how beautiful the daybreak was. It was spring, and the flowers had begun to bloom, butterflies flitting about for their breakfast of nectar. Birds were singing their anthems to the sunrise, and soft, pale light broke through the branches of poised trees. There was a slight breeze, and the smell of lilacs from a human's garden. Verne felt a huge smile creep across his face, and a song rise in his chest.

Verne breathed in deeply, and then turned to see an unkempt raccoon sprawled across the grass, earphones in, clutching a box of Twinkies, surrounded by wrappers, and his mouth hanging wide open to let out a very loud and unpleasant snore, marring the perfect beauty of the atmosphere. Verne stared. Then he frowned. Then he sulked away, grumbling something inaudible.

Sometimes it amazed him how different he and RJ were. They were like opposite ends of the spectrum. Verne was cautious, compassionate, sensitive and disciplined. RJ was risky, devil-may-care, cool, and arrogant. Verne had intelligence, RJ had street-smarts. Verne planned for the future, RJ concerned himself only with the "now." Verne was the killjoy, RJ the reveler.

There was one thing, however, that Verne hoped…prayed he and RJ had in common. And that was an incontestable loyalty to this little group of woodland animals that he liked to call "family."

"Hey, Mildude! Mind doing us all a favor and taking a bath?"

Verne looked to see RJ approaching him with his hand gripping his nose. Verne rolled his eyes and replied in annoyance, "I was just on my way over. I was hoping that if I did it before anyone woke up, I'd be able to soak in privacy."

"Aww, you're not still mad about that little joke, are you?"

"That was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me in my life, thank you. And then you had to go and post it on YouTube."

"Dude, that got like, 58,000 hits in three days! You're famous! Trust me, in a few years, we'll all look back on that little incident and laugh. And then you'll thank me."

"Yeah, sure. And when I die of embarrassment from whatever prank you have planned for April 1st, I'll be sure to thank you then, too."

"Good. Well, I've got to get ready for a big heist this afternoon. Our Twinkie supply is running a bit low, and Hammy just informed me that he needs more cookies. I'm gonna make a list of things to get for the stash. Any requests?"

Verne's tail tingled. "Um, are you sure we need to go steal from the humans right now? It's so soon after the incident with the Verminater and Gladys, and I'm sure the humans are all going to be extra alert. Besides, Hammy has enough nuts stored in that log to last us far into next year, and-"

"Verne, Verne, Verne, Verne." RJ placed his paws on Verne's shoulders and shook his head. "When are you going to learn to trust the raccoon? Besides," he said, making a face. "How can you even consider that stuff to be food? It grows into a tree! And it taste like…like the stuff that collects in the rain gutter! The nuts are there for an emergency. We, my friend, are in no such dire situation, and so I will not be forced to eat that…that stuff. Understood?"

"No. But then, I probably never will understand you. Now add loofah to that list, and let me bathe in peace."

"Loofah is not a food, Verne."

"No, but you asked me what I needed, and that's what I need. Unless you like the mildew smell."

RJ groaned. "Fine, fine, we'll get you a loofah. Now PLEASE take a dip before I pass out. Later, Mildude."

"Later."

Thanks for reading! I'll upload the other chapters as they come. This is my first fanfic, so any critiques or comments are very welcome.

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