A/N: For summer reading, I had to read The Yearling, then we had to do a project. Erica and I worked together on writing an alternate ending, and this is what we came up with. So, while I typed the whole thing, I did not write it all, Erica and I worked together.

The thoughts were tumbling over each other in Jody's mind. He had just done the unthinkable, he had shot his best friend, betrayed him. He couldn't stop the tears or the loud wails that escaped his young mouth.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes that he had seen all his life and a young yearling leaped out. But wait…no…it couldn't be! But yet it was- Flag, in all his glory was standing before him.

He glanced at the dead yearling beside him then to Flag. How on earth could this be so? This new Flag wasn't even wounded. And then he saw it.

The spot pattern…on this dead yearling, the spot pattern was different. And then it all came back to him: falling asleep next to Flag, waking up and he wasn't there, the yearling that didn't even know who he was. Of course, he should have known that Flag wouldn't run away from him, but to him in a time of desperate need. That was what friends were for.

"Oh, Flag! Oh, oh, Flag, you're alive I cain't believe it!" Now he was crying again, but this time it was tears of joy, streaming down his young face, he had his whole life ahead of him, a life with his deer.

~X~

He knew that he couldn't go back to his parents; they would never understand how he felt about his dear deer friend. There was only one thing to do, and that was start a new life, on his own.

It was so hard at first, but he got a job at the store, and when his parents came to look for him, he told them everything he had wanted to say.

"Now, you listen to me, and you listen real good. Ma, Pa, I ain't never goin' back to you, ever. Me and Flag have our own life where you two ain't gonna interfere!"

They didn't fight because they knew they would lose against their son. But he was not their son anymore, no way, Jody Baxter was his own man.

~X~

It was from working at the store that he and Eulalie got much closer. Their rivalry soon turned to friendship, and it was then that Jody realized he had always loved this girl.

He and Flag, now a buck, were living happily, but there was something missing from both of their lives: women. And so it was with great nervousness that Jody proposed to Eulalie Boyles and it was with great happiness that she agreed.

Their wedding was a happy day and as soon as she moved in with him, she suggested that they find Flag a doe, and that was how Light was brought into their family.

The family grew from there. Unlike his parents, Jody and Eulalie's children lived, and they had three: two boys and a girl. Flag and Light had their own beautiful fawn that they named Fodder-wing, after Jody's good friend.

It was a happy life for Jody, Eulalie, Jack, Marcus, Patricia, Flag, Light, and Fodder-wing, one happy family.

A/N: Yayz-ness!

I actually had a story planned out for this project, but I agreed to work with Erica and write it differently, because we're best friends and I was thrilled to be included.

Me: I want to include some romance!

Erica: NO.

She thought I was referring to some of the lemons that she begs to read. Why have you guys not read them? Because I fail at Jiraiya/OC stories, that's why.