"Justin Case"

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, but chapters will most likely be spaced out. I don't own the Care Bears, but I do own Justin, Regal and her family. Soulful Heart belongs to NebulaBelt.

Chapter 2: Not So 'Itsy-Bitsy'

The next morning held much disappointment for Pace. The leaders had taken him seriously, allowing themselves to be led to the place he and Soulful had found the night before; however, there was no evidence to suggest that the thief had been there. The very contours of the cloud floor beneath them had changed overnight, and now the clearing dipped into a shallow bowl shape.

"Are you sure this is where you found the apple cores?" asked Brave Heart, "After all, everything looks different in daylight, so it's easy to make a mistake."

"It's no mistake, Uncle Brave Heart." Pace protested, looking both crestfallen and determined. "This is the same place, only...it is different. It's been changed, somehow..."

Brave Heart nodded indulgently, and Pace lashed his tail a bit as if the lion had given him a patronizing pat on the head. He didn't have Soulful here to back him up, for the fox had flat-out refused to accompany them.

Noble Heart scratched thoughtfully at his mane, and seemed to be more willing to buy Pace's story than Brave Heart was. "You said you heard something run away, so it makes sense that whatever might have been living here would have moved. Seeing the beam from the flashlight and hearing you two coming closer, whoever it was must have been frightened away." The purple horse turned to the mortified liger, and gripped his shoulder comfortingly. "I'd say this wasn't a total loss, son. We're no closer to discovering our thief's identity, but we have a rough idea of where to search for him. But in the meantime, there's too much work to do down on Earth."

"I'd like to continue to search, if I may." said Pace.

Noble Heart smiled, amused by how formal Pace's speech could be sometimes, and replied, "All right. You have two hours."

"Two hours?" asked Pace incredulously.

"We need you. Besides, if the thief works at night, this might not be the best time to look." said Noble Heart.

Pace bit back another protest, and nodded in acceptance. Noble Heart was right, and he didn't necessarily have to be the one to find their thief. He knew his family well enough to know that they would ask questions first and 'attack' second, if you could call using their tummy symbols an actual attack. He had no reason to be vexed about being given a time limit to search when it wasn't likely that he would find anything.

The three leaders departed, and Pace stooped to examine the depression in the clouds. He prodded at it with his paws, feeling how springy and tightly packed they were, and looked thoughtful as he stood up again. He was sure that the clouds had curved outward the night before, and now it was as if...

"As if a hole has been filled in..." Pace muttered. He looked at his watch, then turned and hiked deeper into the Forest.

"I'm telling you, he'll be mad." warned Hope, who was already resigned to the fact that her twin wouldn't heed her.

"I know, I know," Connie waved off the warning impatiently. "but he's in a mood more often than not anyway, and he wasn't very forthcoming earlier."

They were talking, of course, about Soulful Heart Fox and that morning's brief meeting. Soulful didn't go down to Earth nearly as often as the others did, so it was no surprise that he elected to stay home and catch up on his sleep.

"What makes you think he'll be very forthcoming now?" asked Hope. "That is, assuming he'll even get out of bed to answer the door. Doubtful. You know he doesn't like to be disturbed."

Connie smiled mischievously. "Sometimes forgiveness is easier to get than permission."

Hope smiled back, ruefully. "Not with Soulful."

"Hush up, girlie, you cramp my style!" Connie elbowed her playfully, and the two of them were still giggling when they climbed the front steps of his porch and rang the doorbell. No answer. Connie rang the doorbell twice more before they heard the sound of Soulful's rather distinctive voice as he approached the door.

"Oh, now, is that nice?" Connie called through the door, able to make out some of what he was saying.

Soulful yanked the door open, standing there in his nightshirt and looking quite perturbed. "Yes?"

Connie had the good sense to refrain from commenting on his attire, but she couldn't quite wipe the rebellious smirk off her face. "Hey. Listen, we're sorry to wake you up, but - "

"No you're not, I know you better than that." he said. "What do you want?"

"I really need to ask you about something, and I don't have much time, otherwise I would have waited." she explained. When he grunted a response, she continued, "We brought you some Double Stuff Oreos..."

Hope, who had been standing with her paws behind her back, revealed that she was carrying a package of cookies.

Soulful eyed the treat, knowing he was being bribed, but he was slightly amused that they'd go to such lengths to get on his good side. Not that it actually worked, but he saw that there was no getting out of it. He sighed, running a paw through his headfur, which promptly sprang back up again from his having slept on it. "Fine. You might as well come in; I'm freezing my tail off out here."

"'Tis the season..." snickered Hope as they entered his home, putting the package of cookies on his table.

Soulful looked at her impatiently. "Well?"

Hope indicated her sister, who was standing by the front door. "Your show, not mine."

"Okay..." Connie folded her paws in front of her and leaned against the door. "At the meeting this morning, you didn't say much of anything before you left, even when you were asked what you thought it was, right?"

Soulful made a show of looking at his wristwatch, and tapped his foot. "Your point, if you please."

"Come on, Soulful." wheedled Connie, "Even if you didn't see what was out there, I think you have some idea of what it might have been."

"Well, you thought wrong." said the fox, "Now, if - "

"Tell us what you heard." Connie pressed him.

"I don't know what I heard!" snapped Soulful, looking more agitated by the minute. This statement wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't false either. He had no way of knowing what it was, but he had a dim recollection of hearing that type of sound before. A possibility had sprung to mind, one that he didn't even want to entertain, and he had dismissed it entirely.

Hope tried a different approach, and put a paw on Soulful's shoulder, earning a suspicious look from the fox. "I think you might have a thought, but you're afraid we'll think it's stupid." When he snorted in negation, she said, "Can you describe what you heard? Pace said it sounded like footsteps, but not quite."

Soulful looked from one liger to the other after shrugging off Hope's paw, and finally he sighed. "It sort of sounded like this," and he drummed his fingers rapidly on the coffee table for a second or two. "That's all I can tell you. Now, please go and let me get some sleep."

They could tell that he was making a real effort not to be snippy with them, and they nodded agreeably and left. As soon as they were gone, Soulful locked the door. Then, as he had compulsively done every two hours or so that morning, he checked his back door and his windows to make sure they were securely locked.

The day hadn't gone well for Pace. He had lost track of time and received a minor scolding from Noble Heart, and throughout the entire day he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been watching him the entire time he was searching the Forest. He had tried calling out, but received no answer. Of course, he wasn't surprised. His Missions went well enough, but he had trouble concentrating as he worried about what might be happening back in the Kingdom of Caring. When he arrived home at around dinner time, he brewed a pot of coffee and drank half of it in less than an hour.

"Dang, Pace..." Chance watched him with equal measures of awe and dismay, "You're gonna mess up your insides something fierce, you know that?"

Pace gave him an arch look. "That's disgusting."

"Well, he's right." said Stellar, helping himself to half a cup as he said this. "Why're you drinking coffee this late anyway?"

"I need to be alert tonight." said Pace.

"Why?" asked Chance.

"I have somewhere to be." Pace said evasively.

Chance grinned at him and elbowed Stellar. "Finally asked out Hugs, did ya?"

Twin blossoms of crimson appeared on Pace's cheeks, but his only outward sign of annoyance was a slight twitch of his tail. "Actually, I thought I'd spend some time at the Hall of Hearts doing inventory. I've already cleared it with the higher-ups, and it'll be a late night."

"Maybe I'll come with you." Stellar said thoughtfully, wrinkling his forehead in a look of worry.

"It only takes one to do inventory, and you need to be out earlier than I do." Pace informed him, "I'll be fine. It won't be for the entire night or anything."

"Well..." Stellar rubbed his chin, but he wasn't quick enough.

"Well, I gotta run." Pace said brightly, putting his coffee mug in the dishwasher and brushing off his paws. "I'm wanted at the Hall about...oh, five minutes ago! See you."

"Well..." Stellar held up a finger as Pace passed him, "Um..."

"Too late, Dad. You're losing your touch." laughed Chance.

Stellar shrugged and sipped at his coffee before spitting it into the sink. "Too cold..."

It only took Pace two hours to finish doing inventory, and so far nothing else was missing. He switched off the light and sat in the semi-darkness of the Hall of Hearts Cafeteria, waiting to see if anything would happen. He hoped that if the thief did come he wouldn't scare him off or provoke him into attacking. Just because this 'person' had consistently run away and kept himself hidden, that was no guarantee that he was friendly. Pace wasn't certain why, but he had a feeling that their thief was a male, and that he worked alone. Perhaps his nose knew something he didn't; he had a more sensitive nose than a human, but not by a heck of a lot. Certainly not enough to tell by scent what species he was dealing with. Also, the actions didn't quite seem to be those of a female; the thief only took a handful of apples, and ignored the more savory treats the pantry had to offer.

Pace sat on the floor with his back against the wall, and let his mind wander. He could sit like that for hours and not grow bored, for he had plenty of thoughts in his head to keep himself occupied. He could call up chapters of 'The Hobbit' almost word-for-word in his mind, and he could imagine the scenery and characters so vividly that no movie would ever be able to come close.

He had been sitting there for nearly three hours, and was trying to remember the exact words of the riddle contest between Bilbo and Gollum when he heard a peculiar skittering sound on the roof of the Hall. He froze, cocking an ear toward the sound, his heart thundering in his chest as the sound disappeared. Then there was a slow, soft creak as the front door was pushed open, and an eight-eyed face peeked in. Pace's heart was in his throat, and he held his breath. 'What in the world is that?'

The eight eyes were arranged in a rounded 'M' pattern, like the famous golden arches of McDonald's, but they were separated in the middle, presumably where the nose would be. The head, which was roughly shaped like a Care Bear or Care Cousin's, turned slightly to the left and right as the as yet unnamed creature surveyed what he could see of the room. Its breath shivered in its throat as if it were cold, or nervous, or both. It then cautiously extended two strangely-shaped arms in front of it, the 'paws' placed palm-down on the floor.

Pace blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but they weren't. The arms possessed an extra joint, making it seem like there were two elbows on each arm, but otherwise they appeared quite normal. They were merely a bit oversized for the arms of a Family Member. When the rest of the creature followed, however, Pace couldn't suppress a gasp, and they both immediately froze.

The creature had six more limbs, each shaped the same as the 'arms', which were clearly more like forelegs than anything else; The four rear limbs faced backwards, sort of pushing off of the ground to propel the creature forward when it was in motion, while the four front limbs pulled its rounded bulk forward. Its main body was almost teardrop-shaped, its head placed at the wider end on a neck so short it couldn't be seen in such terrible lighting.

Before Pace could do more than register the fact that this creature had heard him, it turned with surprising agility and reared up on its four rear legs, stroking the air with it's forelegs and hissing viciously.

The liger had only been this terrified once before, but fortunately he couldn't remember as he had been a baby at the time. He drew a deep breath and got slowly to his feet, holding out his hands to prove he carried nothing.

Apparently this was a mistake, because the creature hissed again and raised its forelegs even higher.

Pace lowered his arms, wondering what he had gotten himself into, and swallowed hard. It was then that he noticed the creature had taken a gulp too, and it was shaking. It couldn't have been from the cold because it was fairly warm in the Hall itself. 'Is he afraid of me?'

It was true. The strange being was trembling like an aspen leaf in the wind and panting softly.

Pace swallowed again, wishing his throat wasn't so dry, and began to speak quietly. "Hello. My name is Patient Heart Liger, but my friends call me Pace. Are you a friend...or a foe?"

The creature was silent for so long that Pace wondered if it could even understand him, and he was about to speak again when it said in a low, husky male voice. "It depends."

Pace sighed. "Oh good, you can talk. It depends on what?"

Another pause, then, "You keep your distance, and we may converse. You come at me, and I strike."

"I'll stay back. Do you mind if I turn the lights on?" asked Pace.

The creature's eyes narrowed. "I mind."

"Okay...They can stay off, then. But...Not to be rude, but I can't quite tell what you are."

The creature slowly lowered itself back into a non-aggressive pose, and sighed. He had been caught, he hadn't been attacked, so he might as well tell him. "I'm a spider."

Pace settled himself slowly into a chair, and pointed to the table across the room. "Feel free to help yourself to some cider and apple cake, there's plenty."

"Huh?" the spider looked confused.

"If you needed food, all you had to do was ask." Pace said quietly, "Though I can appreciate why you didn't."

"Why is that?" asked the spider, almost challengingly.

"My guess is that you haven't been this way for very long, and you weren't sure what to think of us, and what we'd think of you." Pace replied.

The spider folded one foreleg over the other, amused and discomfited. "You're rather nosy, aren't you?"

"I suppose so..." Pace shrugged, and walked over to the table to get them some snacks. The fact that the spider didn't run away or become defensive again was promising, but Pace knew it would take a while to gain his trust. "And I guess you're wondering what happened to you."

The spider shook his head. "I know what happened to me, but not why. I had seen others...Others who changed, like me. But no spiders. I have, however, seen how beings react to spiders here, and having no desire to be a smudge on the clouds, I made myself scarce."

Pace winced. "A lot of people are afraid of spiders, I'm sorry to say. Maybe that's why you've been changed into a Cousin."

"Beg pardon?" the spider arched an eyebrow; he had two of these, one over each four-eyed arch, and an almost indistinguishable heart-shaped nose.

"Maybe your purpose is to show people that spiders can be beneficial..." Pace said.

"I wish to be left in peace." the spider told him in a very 'the subject is closed' manner.

"That's understandable..." Pace said, offering a cup of cider, which the spider took and sniffed warily before taking a sip. "But we can't have you starving. You can take whatever you need from the pantry. Now, don't look embarrassed. From your point of view, you did what you had to do."

"Why are you doing this?" asked the spider.

"Doing what?" Pace looked genuinely confused.

"This." the spider waved a foreleg to include the food. "Why do you share with me when I stole from you? Why do you not attack? I do not understand..."

"Well...Partly to help you." said Pace carefully, "and partly out of curiosity. We were wondering who it was, and even if we were in danger."

The spider snorted, shaking his head ruefully. "Without fangs or venom, I'm no more dangerous than you are. See?" He drew his lips back in an exaggerated smile and pointed to his mouth, the moonlight glinting off of a set of straight white teeth. Aside from the slightly elongated canines, they seemed almost human. "Good for chewing nuts, but bad for immobilizing prey. If my hatchmates could see me now, they'd laugh themselves into a premature molt."

"Spiders laugh?" Pace asked before he stopped himself, then he looked horrified. "I'm sorry, that was rude..."

"Well, they don't really..." the spider amended, "I quite startled myself the first time I did it."

"Do you have a name?"

The spider hesitated, then said "Justin."

"Justin. And I'm - "

"'Patient Heart Liger', I know." Justin smiled, "I'm no callow hatchling, but I'm far from entering my senility."

Pace gave an embarrassed chuckle, and said, "May I turn on the lights now?"

Justin sighed, "If you must..."

Pace got up and switched on the lights, and for the first time he got a good look at his new friend. Justin was as brown as Tender Heart, with a heart-shaped brick-red nose pad, and unnervingly large eyes. His wide mouth was tightly closed, and he was squinting against the glare of the lights. He had no fingers on his forelegs, but he did have an opposable thumb, and he could grip things just as easily as any Care Bear Cousin. Pace couldn't tell if he had a Tummy Symbol or not, but he was willing to bet that he didn't.

"Not quite the reaction I was expecting." Justin observed.

"Actually, any stranger would seem sinister in the dark. We've been talking for about ten minutes, so we both know there's nothing to fear. Now, tell me. Would you be willing to meet the rest of the Family?"

"Um..." Justin put down his cup, and backed warily towards the door. "I have to go."

"I won't force you. But I will have to tell them about you. You know that." said Pace.

Justin nodded resignedly, and said, "I can't promise anything...but I might join in my own time. Do not press me."

Pace didn't reply, but he picked up a sizable sack of produce and brought it over to the spider. "This should keep you fed for a week, so you don't need to make contact with us until then. It'll give you time to think."

Justin finally cracked a brief smile and hefted the sack over his shoulder. "I thank you."

Pace smiled and nodded. "You're welcome."

Justin turned and headed off into the night, and Pace folded his arms and tried to think of a good way to bring this up to the Family. Not everyone was a fan of spiders...

More to come...