Told ya I'd forget! sorry bout that! Anyway, here's the last part.
Ash's idea had been to use the side of a flatten box she hadn't bothered throwing away as a sign. They used thick black marker to write "We found the baby. He is safe." along with Ash's contact information in big, clumsy letters. But it was still fairly legible, so the pair bundled up and ducks outside. The sun had gone down and the outside world was already chilled without its presence. Meena set up the homemade sign on top of the dumpster while Ash stood aways back, her hands out in front of her as she directed Meena in adjusting the sign. Once the sign was in place, they gave the area a quick look around and found no one, which was both relieving and disappointing. Ash finally declared it time to go back in and they retreated to the warmer inside of the apartment.
After stomping off the snow on their shoes and losing a few layers, Ash went to turn on all remaining lighting methods they had set up and Meena went to gather up as many blanket as she could find. The winter air was starting to become noticeable in the apartment.
Meena entered the living room a couple minute later with a mountain of blanket and was about to ask Ash about sleeping arrangements when the porcupine caught her eye and Ash brought a finger to her own lips, signaling Meena to keep quite. Meena set down the blankets in a pile on the ground and gave her friend a confused look. Ash just smiled and pointed at the couch. Curled up in the nook of the arm and back of the couch was Johnny, slumped against the back on the couch and soundly asleep. The cub was tightly cradled in his arms, a tiny paw clutching the cloth of his sweater. And to top everything off, there was a gentle purring coming from the cub.
Meena had to cover her mouth to keep her cooing from getting to loud. The scene was overwhelming adorable to her. Ash even used some of her precious phone battery to take a picture of the sleeping animals. Once Meena recovered from the sheer cuteness of her friend and the cub she asked about where everyone would be sleeping. Ash shrugged. "You guys have slept here before. I thought we'd just all sleep on the couch like normal. It's not like Tiny takes up a lot of room." The porcupine pulled a blanket from the pile on her floor and wrapped it around Johnny's sleeping form and the cub as best she could, whispering her reply. Both girls grabbed blankets for themselves and settled on the couch. Meena sat in the other end and let her head lean against the back, and Ash curled up between the two of they with head on Meena's thigh and her legs kicked up against Johnny's. Both were asleep within 20 minutes.
The serene scene lasted a blessed couple of hours before a tiny paw kicked Johnny in the face and crying woke the other two. Meena sleepily got to her feet as her foggy brain remembered something about cubs needing to be fed every few hours. Automatically, she took the fussing baby and ambled off to the kitchen. Ash, whose comfy sleeping position had been disrupted by Meena's leaving, tried to go back to sleep, but was disturbed again by Johnny get up and following the elephant and infant. Ash closes her eyes again, felt guilty being the only one not helping, and begrudgingly got up to trudge to the kitchen, blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The porcupine didn't end up doing much as Meena was trying to soothe the upset infant while Johnny groggily filled and warmed the bottle. Not much was said, after Meena mentioned the need to fed cubs every few hours, Ash brought an small kitchen timer with them back to the living room. After a quick feeding and diaper check, all returned to couch and nodded off within minutes.
The timer went off two hours later and all three sleepily repeated the process. This went on a few more times through out the night. Each time, all three teens fell the need to get up for some reason, even if they were too tired to be of help. During a 4:00am shift, Johnny managed to fall asleep standing up and leaning against Ash's fridge. Meena spared him a sympathetic look before focusing her attention on the squirming cub who was insistent on being fed. When Meena had a chance to look back up and over at her sleeping friend, she also saw Ash on the counter next to Johnny with a pen in her hand. Ash frozen as soon as her and Meena made eye contact.
"No." Meena said simply with exhausted tone.
"It just an eyeliner pen. Completely washable!" Ash shushed insistently as gestured to Johnny. Meena still shook her head and the porcupine grumbled as she slouched back against her cupboards. "His own fault for falling asleep there..."
The elephant rolled her eyes and gave a sleepy smile. She gently nudged the gorilla as she walk past to put away the milk, wincing at the light from the fridge. Once closed, she leaned back against the the fridge door as a large yawn took over. Meena stopped mid yawn when it hit her. Her glaze snapped to Ash who was also sporting the same look if realization. Ash jumped down and bolted to her light switch, practically smacking it. The kitchen lights turned on and Ash's mood jumped through the roof. "The power's back! Johnny, wake up!" She snapped at the drooping gorilla and watched him fumbled awake.
"Huh? Oh, oh! That's great! We need to call.. who do we call?" Johnny clumsily pulled his phone before realizing he had no idea who to contact about finding a baby in a dumpster.
Meena had beaten him to finding a place online, but sighed at hours of operation. "St. Huron children hospital is closest, but it doesn't open until 7." She yawned and gave her phone a disapproving look. "We could try calling Rosita. Or maybe my mom. They might know what do." Meena's sleep riddled brain struggle to come up with suggestions.
Johnny shook his head. "Naw, even if one of 'em is awake, they might try t' come out 'ere if we told 'em what was going on. I don't want either of 'em driving at this hour." His brow furrowed as he thought. "There's always 911."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at him from where she was leaning against the wall. "But there's not really any emergency, though. I mean, Tiny seems happy." She smiled and jabbed a thumb at the little cub in Meena's arm, contently chewing on the blanket he was wrapped in.
"He also seems pretty awake." Meena mentioned remorsefully. The cub's eyes still weren't open, but he was moving around and kicking at his blanket.
Realizing the cub may not go back to sleep anytime soon, Ash cleared her throat and spoke. "Okay, new plan. We make a bunch of coffee and wait out the three hours until the hospital lines are open. Cool?" She was already digging through her cupboards for her coffee before the others could answer.
A few minutes later, they all had piping mugs of coffee and Ash had turned on the TV to try and find something worth watching. Despite Meena's best efforts, she couldn't stand the taste of coffee and could only nurse the mug in her hands. The elephant soon nodded off, unable to consume her caffeine quick enough. As she was sat on the floor leaning back against the couch, Meena soon slump over sleeping against Johnny's legs.
Johnny had long since confiscated the baby from the drowsy elephant and was playing with the tiny cub, letting the infant gnaw and wrestle with his hand. The gorilla only looked up from the wrestling match when he felt the weight of Meena's head against his knees. He smiled, deciding she had done the most work and deserved the rest.
Click
Johnny's gaze shot up in time to see Ash snap a picture of all of them with her phone. "Aren't you three adorable?" She teased a stiff and blushing slightly Johnny. The gorilla gave Ash a suspicious glare that her only return amused grin. She climbed up in the couch next to him. "Sorry, but there's something kinda funny about seeing my 'tough, former criminal' friend all curled up with Tony the Tiny here." Ash leaned against Johnny to look over at the infant.
"It was pretty funny seeing a moody rocker bottle feed 'im too." Johnny lightly jabbed back with a smile.
The night carried on sleeplessly with many cups of coffee and lots of bad TV. At 6:45, Ash was calling the hospital line repeatedly. At 6:58, she finally got in touch with a very irritated receptionist who was straining to remain professional. The receptionist's tone made it clear this had better be important, and Ash took great pleasure in hearing her tone switch to shock at the words: "Yeah, we found a baby in the dumpster." The receptionist on the line, who clearly didn't think three teenagers should be left with a new born, sent out an ambulance to collect the child despite the weather. Less than an hour later, a nurse arrived at the small apartment.
The nurse, an elderly camel, laughed when she saw the make-shift diaper the child was in. "Well now, this is a first!" She said as she eyed the three worn out teens with a soft smile. After quickly changing the cub into a proper diaper, asking about how the infant was cared for, and collecting Ash's contact information, the trio had to say there last goodbyes to the now half-asleep cub. After all three stood in the doorway to watch the ambulance drive any for a bit, both relieved and a little sadden, Meena yawned and slinked back to the couch to collapse on top of it. She was barely conscious enough to register the other two follow suit and both fall half on top on her.
Epilogue:
Two days later, Ash got a call. Five minutes laters, she was frantically trying to contact both Meena and Johnny. The ecstatically happy porcupine managed to convey a time and place to the other two teen, leaving the larger two mammals with many questions. Later that day, all three met at the cafe Ash had told them to go to and once again, Ash left her companions in confusion as she waltz right into the cafe without telling the others why they were here. She ignored her friends' questions in favor of looking around the small cafe. After finding her targets, Ash lite up and cheerfully approached a friendly looking lion and cheetah sat at one of the tables.
Meena and Johnny traded inquisitive looks. Ash had her fair share casual friends and acquaintances, but the two adult male cats look to be somewhere in there thirties, and not like the kind of animals Ash would normally make friends with.
A flustered Meena stumbled over a proper greeting to the two adults, still trying to figure out why she was meeting them. Any curiosity Johnny had about the two cats was replaced by curious over a small baby carrier next to the cheetah. Leaning to the side a bit to peek in the carrier, Johnny caught a glance of a small, fuzzy, striped form. His eyes went wide with realization. "Wait! Is that..?"
Johnny interrupted the polite small talk between Meena and the two strangers. Neither cat seemed to mind and were actually smiling fondly. The cheetah reached into the carrier to rustle out the cub.
Ash was beaming ear to ear as the cheetah presented a familiar little tiger cub. "Meena, Johnny, meet Tiny's new dads!"
sorry for the rushed epilogue! I wanted Tiny to get a happy ending! Please let me know what you think!
