Hey folks! Now that I've made my reappearance, it seems I've gotten a couple of requests to continue this fic. I had actually completely forgotten it even existed, but now I'm excited to be working on it again. I'll try to devote relatively equal amounts of time to this & "The Nagging Dark." I'll try to update one or the other at least every week or so.

So anyway, without further ado, here is the looooong-awaited chapter 2 of "Closer to Home." It's another short chapter but things should pick up soon. Don't forget to review, pretty please!

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"Howdy!"

It was early in the morning, the sun was shining gaily, and Dexter was standing on the windowsill of Goldie's grocery store, waving his arms and generally making a fool of himself. Howdy, annoyed at being so rudely awakened from what had been a peaceful sleep, ignored him. Finally, Dexter jumped down from the windowsill and made his way over to Howdy's cage.

"Howdy, wake up!" he shouted again, shaking the bars of Howdy's cage for emphasis; Howdy groaned and rolled over.

"Whaaaaat?" he asked, making no effort to mask his irritation.

"I have news!" Dexter replied, grinning.

"Can't it wait?" Howdy asked. "I was gonna sleep in today. Not all of us can be so damn peppy in the mornin'."

"It's about Curtis. And Goldie," Dexter replied.

At this, Howdy perked up a little bit. He sat up and gave Dexter a quizzical look.

"Well, go on then."

"He bought a ring."

"What?"

"An engagement ring."

"What??!"

"Yep."

Howdy jumped to his feet, squeezed through the door of his cage and threw his arms around Dexter.

"This is fantastic!"

"Yeah, well, he's too shy to actually give it to her," Dexter admitted, wrestling free of Howdy's grasp. "So I was thinking maybe we need to step in. You know, give him a little nudge or something. I'm just not sure how."

"Well, that's easy," Howdy replied.

"Hmm?"

"We just have to give Goldie the ring for him." Howdy smirked, evidently very proud of himself for coming up with this idea. "You know where the ring is?"

"Yeah, Curtis hid it in the cash register."

"And the key to the cash register?"

"Well, he takes it home with him every night, but I don't imagine it would be too hard to get a hold of."

"Then this'll be a cinch!" Howdy exclaimed, excited at the prospect. "We can get the ring tonight, after Curtis closes up shop, and then leave it somewhere for Goldie to find when she comes in to open the grocery store tomorrow morning."

"But how will she know it's from Curtis?"

"Who else would it be?" Howdy asked. "And besides, even if she doesn't make the connection right away…You know how they always take their lunch breaks together? She's sure to bring it up."

"Alright, I guess I'm game," Dexter agreed. "Maybe we could round up some help at the clubhouse."

Howdy nodded. "Let's go!" He grabbed Dexter by the paw and took off.

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"Who wants to go on a mission?" Howdy shouted emphatically as he burst through the clubhouse door, Dexter following close behind.

Hamtaro was seated at the table, but leapt eagerly to his feet upon hearing the word "mission."

"I love missions!" he replied, nearly bursting at the seams. "What sort of mission?"

"Calm down, it's not that exciting," Dexter interjected. "See, I just found out last night that Curtis – "

"Curtis bought an engagement ring for Goldie!" Howdy finished.

"An engagement ring?" Bijou gasped, her eyes wide. "How romantic!"

"Sure, it's romantic," Dexter sighed. "But he's a complete mess around her. I don't know how he's going to be able to work up the courage to give it to her. So we thought maybe – "

"That we could give Goldie the ring for him!" Howdy shouted, grinning broadly.

"A mission of love!" Hamtaro declared. "That's the best kind of mission!"

"Count me in!" Boss added, pumping his fist in the air. The others agreed that this was indeed a mission worthy of undertaking.

"In that case," Dexter said, "we'll need to formulate a plan of action."

Howdy threw an arm around Dexter's shoulders, unable to hide his enthusiasm (though not really trying to, either). "This is gonna be great!" he proclaimed, and Dexter couldn't help but smile.

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Sorry this was such a short chapter! Longer one next time, I promise!

-Genie