Broken? - A Care Bears fanfiction
(**Note: I do not own the Care Bears, they are properties of their creators. But I'd still like to meet them some day.)
An unusually quiet day in Care-A-Lot found Friend and Secret Bear out for a walk, just enjoying the sunshine. For fun, they were attempting to coordinate harmonizing a whistled tune that had come to Friend earlier in the morning while she was getting ready for the day. Unfortunately, they were getting thrown off key by the sound of crying.
"Crying? In Care-a-Lot?"
Secret Bear shielded his eyes with one paw, glancing around. He finally pointed ahead and to the left of them and turned expectant eyes to his companion.
"Yes, we should definitely see who it is. Besides," Friend added with a bit of a giggle, "It's just too nice a day for anyone to be sad."
As they neared the source of the sobs, they found a half curled up ball of pink fur. "Baby Hugs?" Friend Bear ventured, her voice soft and full of concern for the cub. "What's wrong?"
Red rimmed eyes rose to take in the two arrivals; her appearance immediately put the two older bears further into worry.
"Oh, hi Friend Bear, Secret Bear," Hugs mumbled from the renewed sanctity of the arms folded over her knees.
"Are you all right?" Friend asked as she and Secret knelt on either side, placing a paw each on Hugs's shoulders.
"No, not really."
Friend and Secret shared a look over the younger bear's head. "Do you want to talk to Grams Bear? We can get her for you."
"No!" Wide, frightened eyes stared imploringly up at Friend Bear. "Please don't tell her. I don't want to make Grams upset. She told us to always be careful and to not break things."
"Uh oh..." Another shared look. "W-what did you break?"
The cub was silent for a long while, trying to decide if she should actually tell. She glanced between the trustful faces of Friend and Secret Bear before finally answering, in a barely audible whisper, "Me." Fresh tears began to flow down her face.
Friend was speechless. She and Secret started searching the cub for any outward signs, but Hugs seemed entirely unharmed as far as they could tell.
"Why don't you tell us what happened."
Baby Hugs sniffed. "Well, I was playing tag with Tugs and running really fast, like Grams said we shouldn't. And I.. I tripped." she hiccuped back more tears as she finished with, "I tripped and broke me."
On the third shared look between the older bears, Secret pointed a finger to the side of his head and twirled a bit, his expression turning the gesture into a question. However, his only response was a glare for even suggesting the possibility.
Utterly stumped, Friend Bear put a paw gently on Hugs's head. "You look fine to me," she said, trying to sound reassuring despite her increasing worry for the shaking form beside her.
"But," replied the trembling voice that was likely the preamble to further tears, "What about this?"
Friend stared blankly down at the little white thing revealed in Hugs's now opened paw until Secret tapped her shoulder. Before she could ask, he pointed at his mouth, then made a popping noise.
"Oh!" Friend smiled as realization dawned on her. "I should have known." She laughed softly, drawing further confusion from the distraught cub. "You only lost a tooth, Hugs. You're not broken. Let me see."
She lifted the younger bear's chin and peered into her mouth. "It looks clean. Do you hurt at all?"
"Well, no..."
"Then you'll be just fine. It's natural for teeth to fall out when you're young. This way you have room for your bigger teeth."
The explanation helped brighten Hugs's mood. "Bigger teeth? For when I'm all grown up like you two?"
"Exactly! But, I think you should tell Grams Bear right away," Friend added.
"Really?"
Both Friend and Secret nodded, and the latter held up a finger. Concentrating, Secret Bear created a tiny red and gold box which he placed in the little outstretched palm.
Friend applauded, "Good idea!"
"Oh, thank you, Secret," Hugs said, as she inspected the little chest. "but what's this for?" The responding gestures grew a little too complicated and after a dizzying moment of watching the silent bear nearly fall over as he flapped his arms, she turned to Friend Bear.
"You put your tooth in it," Friend Bear translated. "To keep it safe. Then place the box under your pillow tonight. When you wake up tomorrow, who knows? You might just find a surprise there."
"A surprise? Really? Oh, goodie goodie gosh! What kind of surprise, Friend Bear?"
"You'll just have to wait and find out."
Hugs carefully placed her tooth into box. Once she was certain it was secure, she jumped to her feet. "I'm going to tell Grams right now! And then I'll put this under my pillow." She was already heading for home.
"Just be careful not to run too fast!" Friend called the reminder, though Hugs was probably already out of earshot by then. "I'm glad she's feeling better now... What's wrong?"
She was drawn by the sudden look of concern on Secret Bear's face and watched patiently as he attempted to explain by first tilting his head to the side with his paws under them He covered his eyes, then spread his paws with a look of excitement that soon melted into sadness. His down-turned eyes shifted to Friend's face, a question clearly there.
"I don't see why she'd be disappointed, Secret."
Secret Bear hesitated a moment before he leaned over and whispered something into Friend Bear's ear. She laughed. "I don't think Hugs and Tugs will have the same problem we did. After all, Noble Heart and True Heart probably had a much harder time with so many of us cubs losing teeth at the same time."