Title: Of Eggs and Parenting: Chipmunk Style
Written by: Somnion
Disclaimer: I do not own Alvin and the Chipmunks. It belongs to Bagdasarian productions.
First of all, I'd like to thank all those who reviewed. I'm really touched so many of you took the time to write. This would be the first fanfiction I'm writing about elementary school kids, or chipmunks for that matter, so I'm glad that you guys think I was able to keep the characters in character and I'll try to keep it that way. I usually write romances about teenagers or at least young adults so this was a real jump out of my comfort zone. Anyway, I know you guys didn't come here to have me write to you my life story; so now, onto what you guys have been waiting for; the next chapter.
Chapter 2: It should be Pink
"There," Simon said as he adjusted the legs on the base of the egg case. "That should be able to hold the case upright so it doesn't tilt to its side."
"Thanks, Simon," thanked Alvin with a grin as he grabbed the case of the work table. Simon frowned as he watched Alvin make off with the case. It was amazing, really, that despite the fact they weren't in the same group he still ended up doing Alvin's work.
"Always a pleasure, Alvin," Simon said sarcastically. The argument back home between Alvin and Brittany which he and Jeanette got dragged into had really drained the energy out of him and he was too tired to start another quarrel with his somewhat irresponsible brother. He walked over to his partner, who was already busy writing the introduction paragraph of their report. The egg which they had been tasked to watch over was in front of her, safe in its case. Jeanette, despite having nearly dropped the egg the first time, didn't want to have the egg out of her sight. Simon simply dismissed her strange obsession with the egg as diligence in accomplishing their assignment. He would have pondered more on the subject but Theodore burst down the stairs, his arms carrying a large amount of paint and art supplies.
"I got the paint, everyone," he announced with a smile. "Let's get started."
They all gathered around the stout little chipmunk, each taking a set of brushes and some paint to begin coloring their egg cases. Eleanor and Theodore agreed to paint it green, a lighter shade for the top and a darker shade at the bottom. Simon and Jeanette began mixing blue paint to paint the top half of their case and put aside some purple for the bottom, a coloring which Simon concluded was very similar to Jeanette's choice of clothing, her baggy royal blue turtleneck and purple skirt. Alvin was busy mixing some red paint, while Brittany was mixing in pink. When he was finished mixing the paint with some water, he dipped his brush and was about to start his work. However, no sooner had the brush touched the cardboard of the egg case, Brittany gave out a cry.
"ALVIN!" she screamed. "What are you doing? How dare you paint our baby girl's crib red?! It should be pink!"
"Since when did we decide that our baby egg is a girl anyway?" retorted the infuriated chipmunk. "It's a BOY! And boys don't wear PINK!"
As their siblings argued once again over the gender of the egg, the other chipmunks let out a sigh of weariness. This egg was causing even more quarrels with the two of them than usual. The thought of running and hiding in Simon's lab was beginning to seem more and more like a good idea and the four chipmunks would have probably done that to escape their battling siblings but fortunately, Dave came in just in time before things between Alvin and Brittany completely snowballed out of control.
"What's all this noise?" asked Dave as he entered the room.
"Alvin and Brittany can't decide on a name for their baby," Simon said blankly.
"BABY?!" Dave yelled in surprise. "What baby?"
Alvin and Brittany held up their egg. With a slight chuckle and a sigh of relief, Dave sunk back into a chair, his hand on his forehead. "Oh, that baby," he said. "Of course, I should have guessed it was the egg parenting assignment."
"Dave, Dave," Theodore cried as he ran up to their adoptive father, his egg in his hands. "Eleanor and I named our egg after you. Say hello to Dave, Baby Dave."
"Why, thank you, Theodore and Eleanor," thanked the man as he lovingly rubbed both the little Chipmunk and Chipette's head. "I'm very flattered you would name your egg after me."
"Well," Alvin said suddenly, interrupting the younger chipmunks, "I wanted to name our egg, James, but Brittany keeps insisting that we name it Farah. Dave, come on, tell her how stupid that sounds."
"It's not stupid," Brittany cried in her defense. "Farah is wonderful name, ten times better than James anyway."
"Alvin, Brittany," Dave said with a sigh. "Parenting is not about getting your way all the time. It's a lot on compromising, joint responsibility and doing what's best for the child. Oh, speaking of names, what did you and Jeanette name your egg, Simon?"
"We didn't name it," Simon said bluntly.
"Oh, I guess you two haven't found names yet," summarized Dave, rather hastily. "Well, keep trying, you'll find one. I'm sorry I can't stay too long boys but I've got some errands to run. You kids take care now and no more quarrels, understand?"
"Yes, Dave," answered the group in unison as Dave walked out the door.
"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Alvin pouted. "We still don't know what color to paint our egg case."
'Well, you could always make another one, so that when the egg is with Alvin, the case can be red and when it's with Brittany it can be pink,' suggested Jeanette.
"Well, I guess that's a reasonable compromise," Brittany said after considering the proposal voiced by Jeanette. "Alvin?"
"Deal," He said as he shook Brittany's hand. "And I know just where to get another case."
He turned to his brother Simon who was busy painting his egg's case. A smile was smeared across the mischievous chipmunk's face which Simon recognized all too well. Letting out a defeated sigh, he relented. "Oh, brother, why do I even bother? Fine, I'll make you another case."
As soon as Simon had readied another case and all cases had been nicely painted and left to dry, the question remained what the six of them were going to do until the paint dried. Everyone had things to be done but they couldn't very well leave the eggs alone. So it was decided they would work in shifts to watch the eggs. Simon and Jeanette had the first shift, Alvin and Brittany had the second and Theodore and Eleanor had the third. So as everyone left, Simon and Jeanette began their one hour shift. Since they were stuck in the house, they started work on their homework until an entire hour had passed. Closing their books, they waited for Alvin and Brittany. But when they failed to return after fifteen minutes, the two chipmunks gathered that their siblings weren't going to come back.
"They're not coming back, are they?" Jeanette asked sadly.
"Doesn't look like it," sighed Simon. "It's just like them to forget and make us work their shift for them."
"I really needed to drop off some books at the library too," said Jeanette. "I hope they get back soon. I don't want to be fined for overdue books."
"You go ahead and drop them off, Jeanette; I'll keep an eye on things here until you get back," Simon offered.
Jeanette thanked him as she grabbed her books and headed for the library. She returned the books promptly and was about to leave, when a book caught her eye. The title read; Naming your Baby. Jeanette was hesitant at first; worried that Simon might get the wrong idea if she borrowed it. But then she reasoned that Simon didn't have to know, at least for the moment. Grabbing the book, she checked it out at the counter and stuffed it in her satchel. She didn't know why she checked it out, but a part of her, deep down inside her, moved her to do it.
She made it back to the Seville's house in about fifteen minutes and although half an hour had passed since their shift was over, Alvin and Brittany hadn't shown up yet. Minutes passed until finally, Theodore and Eleanor returned, who were obviously shocked to see Simon and Jeanette still there.
"Simon? Jeanette? What are you guys still doing here, we thought it was Alvin's and Brittany's shift," Theodore asked in surprise.
"Take a wild guess, Theodore," Simon replied.
"I don't believe Alvin and Brittany," said Eleanor. "Making the two of you do their shift for them. I know it's not much time but, you two can take a break now if you want."
"It's alright," Jeanette answered. "We really wanted to go to the library but it's probably closing now."
"Well, Eleanor and I bought this game, would you guys like to play with us then?" Theodore offered as he held up a board game called the Game of Knowledge.
Smiles spread across Simon and Jeanette's faces and they accepted the offer. So, the four chipmunks played their game until they heard the doorbell ring an hour later. Theodore answered it and lo and behold! There stood Brittany who had come back with Alvin carrying a huge amount of boxes.
"Where have you been Brittany?" cried Eleanor as she ran up to face her sister. "Did you know that poor Jeanette and Simon had to work your shift?"
"Well, I tried to tell her," Alvin replied. "But you try talking to her when she's in the middle of a shopping spree."
"I'm so sorry, Jeanette," Brittany apologized. "I just lost track of time." She rummaged around through one of the boxes and pulled out a lavender colored ribbon.
"I know it's not much, Jeanette," she said. "But I bought it for you. I hope you'll accept it."
Jeanette smiled as she took the gift. "Thank you, Brittany. It's beautiful."
Eleanor and Simon let out a sigh. Jeanette was far too forgiving for her own good sometimes. It's a wonder how she was able to put up with Brittany all the time. Still, it was a nice gesture that Brittany had bought Jeanette something, a little act of kindness to show that she cared for her sister.
It was getting quite late when the Chipettes decided to go home, but now there was another problem and Dave was the first to point it out. "So, who'll be watching the egg tonight?" he asked the six chipmunks.
Each chipmunk looked at their partner; it was obvious that each one of them wanted to keep the egg with them. Their intentions must have been showing because Dave was able to read them and suggested a toss of the coin to decide whether it would be the Chipmunks or the Chipettes who would keep the egg for the first night, a suggestion to which they all agreed.
"Alright, kids," he said as he tossed the coin. "Call it."
Alvin had called heads and Brittany had called tails. The coin tossed in the air and Dave caught it as it began to fall, then slapping the coin onto the back of his fist he removed his hand to show the result of the toss.
"Heads," he said with a smile, "Well, I guess the boys will be keeping the eggs with them. Sorry girls, but don't worry, you'll get your turn tomorrow."
"Ok," said the Chipettes, a bit disappointed that they couldn't take the eggs back. As they made their way to leave, Eleanor stopped and went to Theodore.
"Theodore," she said, "I forgot to give our baby a goodbye kiss. May I?"
"Sure," he said as he passed her the egg.
"Goodnight, Baby Dave," she wished as she pressed a soft kiss on the egg. "Goodnight Theodore, see you tomorrow."
"Alvin, may I see our baby?" Brittany asked; who like her sister wanted to wish her egg goodnight.
Passing her the egg, Brittany gave it a kiss and wished it goodnight. "Goodnight, Baby Farah."
"His name is JAMES!" Alvin yelled after her.
Jeanette waved goodbye to Simon as she and her sisters walked off. The thought of giving her egg a goodnight kiss had obviously crossed Jeanette's mind but part her of her worried what Simon would've thought if she had asked him for the egg. "Would he think me silly for indulging in such a silly game like that? But still…" Her thoughts went unnoticed for Brittany had found out that Eleanor was actually carrying an egg with her, which she had conveniently hidden throughout most of the journey.
"Eleanor," she cried, "is that…"
"I couldn't help it," she said. "I really wanted to bring him home with me. So I switched eggs when Theodore wasn't looking."
"I don't believe it," responded Brittany in surprise. Eleanor cast her eyes down in shame. She really did feel guilty about doing this to Theodore.
"I can't believe my sweet little sister, Eleanor, had such a mischievous streak in her," Brittany screamed teasingly as she hugged her blonde haired sister. "You're a genius, Ellie; I'm surprised that I hadn't thought of doing that myself."
But as Brittany continued teasing Eleanor; their tall, bespectacled sister called out to them. Apparently, Jeanette had forgotten something at the Seville's place and was heading back there. She said she would meet them back home and left with haste. When she reached the Seville's, she was out of breath. She rang the doorbell and Simon was the one to answer it.
"Jeanette, what's wrong?" he asked with concern as he noticed her fatigue.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, "but I forgot something."
Simon invited her in and she quickly made her way upstairs to finish what she had forgotten to do, surprising Simon with her hurry. The boys were having dinner with Dave so no one was in the room when she got there and when she looked at Simon's nightstand, there it was. As quick as she could, she opened the lid of the egg case and carefully gave her egg a goodnight kiss and hasty wish goodnight before anyone saw her.
"Goodnight, Baby," she whispered so no one would hear.
She came downstairs and apologized and for her intrusion before leaving. As she walked back home, she felt a large weight lifted off her shoulders. Placing her hands on her chest, she prayed from the depths of her heart that somehow Simon would soon understand how she felt so she wouldn't have to keep hiding her motherly affections which, despite her rational mind was reasoning against, seemed to be growing stronger and stronger.
Chapter 2 Ends
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. The writing of your thoughts is invaluable to me. Thank you.
