I know the last chapter was fairly doom-and-gloom, which I'm kind of sorry about but not really. I do hope I'm not misrepresenting the story, but loss and coping are pretty noticeable themes at play, especially at this point.

I'd meant to have this done and uploaded by yesterday, but I fell a little behind. I didn't expect this chapter to be so long, so I ended up deciding I'd need another day to go over it. If this happens again, I might end up just splitting the chapter into parts...we'll see.

Anyway, I get the feeling I'm going to start losing people by next chapter. To those people, I'm sorry, but hopefully I've gotten just enough good-will that you'll read on anyway. Enjoy.


"Alvin!" Theodore finally shook his brother awake. Alvin's arms flailed in the air for a moment defensively. "Finally!" he declared; he'd spent the last few minutes chanting his name to wake him up, but Alvin was a heavy sleeper. Especially today, apparently.

Alvin rubbed his eyes and groaned. "Go back to bed, Theodore. Wake me when it's morning."

"It IS morning," Alvin's eyes shot open and filled with sunlight.

"What? Why didn't you wake me?" Alvin scolded.

Theodore scowled, "I did! You kept falling back to sleep!"

Did he? Alvin couldn't remember. Yesterday was completely exhausting; everything afterwards was just kind of a blur. "Well can you blame me? It's not every day you have to walk a thousand miles in the rain." He sat up and brushed at his hair, throwing on his signature red cap to mark the start of the day. "How can you get up so early, anyway?"

That was a silly question. "Well, it is breakfast time, isn't it?" Theodore responded. He was always up for breakfast; heck, half the time he was the one who made it.

"You found something to eat?" Alvin questioned with excitement, only now noticing how hungry he'd gotten. Theodore nodded and held out a little hand filled with berries. Alvin looked at him suspiciously, but tried one anyway. He bit down and swallowed quickly, cringing at the overwhelmingly sour taste. "What are you trying to do, poison me?" He spat.

Theodore half-retracted his offer. "I think I'd know if they were poisonous, Alvin. Besides, it's all we've got."

"Okay, okay!" Alvin conceded. "If that's all you've got, I'll live. I hope!"

Theodore chuckled. "Right, well I'll go see if I can find any more. You should wake up Simon and make sure we're not late."

"Late for what?" Alvin asked as Theodore stood up and started for the deck.

"Well, school, obviously."

Alvin's jaw dropped. He would have objected, but Theodore was already outside and climbing. He still wants to go to school? Is he crazy? Even Simon must be against school in this situation.

Oh right, Simon… Alvin looked over at his sleeping brother, memories of the last night coming back. Theodore was doing a remarkable job of handling everything, and he thought Simon was doing fine too other than a typical bad mood, but what he saw last night broke that illusion. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help it – he hated letting his brother feel that way.

Alvin fell back down onto the wooden floor that served as his bed. He still ached a little from the journey; he'd take all the rest he could get.


Simon's eyes slowly blinked open to a blur of unfamiliar brown and grey. He reached over for his glasses but only touched down on empty ground, sighing as reality sunk back in. Was it too much to ask for this to all just be a dream?

Alvin rolled onto his side to face his waking brother. "Hey, Simon. How are you feeling?" He asked with genuine concern. Simon had quite the moment of weakness last night.

Blinking hard, as though maybe his vision would clear up, Simon responded. "Thirsty, actually," there was no sadness in his voice now, he spoke very matter-of-factly. "Can you believe it? All that rain and not a drop to drink."

"That's not what I meant," Alvin corrected. "I mean about that stuff last night."

Simon lifted himself into a sitting position and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alvin, nothing happened last night."

"I mean when you-"

"Alvin," Simon repeated, resting his head on his knees and looking at the vague shape of his elder, "nothing happened last night."

Alvin nodded, "Right." Clearly that wasn't anything he was meant to see. He could understand Simon not wanting to talk about it. "I must have just dreamed it."


Theodore returned a few minutes later with barely a handful of berries to show for his efforts. Alvin had clearly just gotten out of bed and thrown on his clothes, but Simon continued to lie there and look off into the distance. He looked a little different this morning, like he was unwell or something.

"What's wrong with Simon?" Theodore asked, keeping his voice low enough that Simon wouldn't overhear.

Alvin looked over, concerned but trying to keep it from showing. "He's just… got a cold. Nothing to worry about," he said as nonchalantly as he could. If Simon didn't want to talk about it, he probably shouldn't either.

A frown spread on the young chipmunk's face. That made sense; they were in the rain for a long time, after all. Dave used to warn them that this would happen. He started to walk over to Simon, then stopped as Alvin caught his arm.

"What are you doing?" Alvin whispered a bit more forcefully than he should have.

"What does it look like? I'm bringing Simon some breakfast," Theodore replied. Alvin let go; he couldn't think of any reason why that would be a bad idea without seeming suspicious.

Theodore crouched by Simon and held out his breakfast offering. "Hi, Simon. I brought you some breakfast." He paused for a moment, realizing Simon couldn't see clearly. "It's just some berries," he explained.

Simon slowly turned to his brother and clumsily accepted a small part of the offer. Alvin waited for the cringing look to appear on his face, but it seemed the sour taste didn't bother him. "Thanks, Theodore. I wasn't expecting breakfast in bed."

Theodore smiled. "Well you've got to keep your strength up for the walk to school, right?"

"Uh, Theodore," Alvin interjected, "I don't think now's a good time for school. We've got plenty of reason to take a few days off, right Simon?"

Simon shook his head. "No, Alvin. Nice try, but we're going."

Alvin was a little taken aback by that. Did Simon think that he was just using this as an excuse to get out of school? That wasn't it at all! Well, not really.

That wasn't the time, but Alvin had to clear this up.


"What did you mean by 'nice try'?" Alvin asked. He and Simon had taken the lead in their extended walk to school, so Theodore was unknowingly just out of earshot.

"You know exactly what I meant, Alvin," Simon scolded in a tired tone. "Don't pretend you don't."

"I wasn't just saying that to get out of school, Simon!" Alvin knew he was coming off as a little desperate, but he didn't like being accused of something he wasn't guilty of. "You believe me, right?"

"No, I don't." Simon was blunt. "You're always doing this; you try to justify your actions but the bottom line is that you're just selfish. I'm not letting you ruin this too!"

Alvin tore his eyes from Simon. It didn't matter what he looked at right now, as long as it wasn't him. 'Ruin this too…' he knew what that meant. He also knew he should have stopped there, but his ego got the better of him. "So you're trying to blame me for everything?"

"I'm not trying to blame you! The sources at the trial all pointed back to you; we missed our last hours with Dave because of your little shortcut; and our best friends turned us away because of a fight you obviously started. I think the evidence speaks for itself."

"Simon-"

"I don't want to hear it, Alvin!" Simon snapped, "You've done enough already."

Alvin almost stopped in his tracks at the outburst; he probably would have if they weren't already running late. Instead he just kept moving and avoided looking at his brother.

That could have easily turned into a heated argument, but Alvin didn't want that. He knew well enough that Simon was just acting out – he'd done it enough times himself that he could recognize it. He didn't mean to be hurtful, so Alvin had no trouble letting this one go.

But still…Simon was smart, even more so than he let on. Even acting on impulse, he'd know what he was talking about. That's the part that hurt; everything he said was true, and Alvin knew it.


The Seville brothers arrived unusually late to school, entirely missing the morning classes. Instead of walking to their classrooms as they would any other day, they veered off into the yard to join the more timely students for the end of the lunch break.

There was no one worth seeking out though – or at least no one that came to mind. Instead of socializing, they moved to the first table they could find and took a seat to rest after their travels.

The late arrival didn't go unnoticed. Sitting at their own table further towards the centre of the yard, the Chipettes watched with concern. The chipmunks weren't acting conspicuous in any way, but after they left the Miller house, the seriousness of the situation started to dawn. When they didn't arrive for class, the worry got worse, but that made the Chipettes' efforts to find them now that much more focused.

Jeanette was the first to spot them, and pointed them out to Brittany as soon as they fell back on their seats to rest. Brittany shared a brief look of concern with her sisters, "Ok, let's get this over with." She stood up and made her way over to the other table.

Brittany dropped down three paper bags infront of the sulking chipmunks. Simon inspected the one closest to him suspiciously. "What are these?"

"Your lunches," Brittany replied in a neutral tone.

Simon looked to his brothers. "Not that we're not grateful, but…why?" He asked for all of them.

"More importantly," Alvin pulled a sandwich from his bag and smirked at Brittany, "who did you con into making them?"

Brittany put her hands on her hips. "I didn't con anyone! I made these all by myself."

"Of course you did," Alvin responded sarcastically, "because that's just so like you."

Following in their sister's wake, Eleanor and Jeanette joined the table. "She actually did, Alvin," Jeanette defended, but sounded a little uncertain herself. "She even got up early to get them done on time."

Brittany blushed. "Yeah, well…I didn't know if you'd have anything without Dave around. I didn't want you to be hungry all day." She shuffled a little and recomposed herself. "Besides, now no one can say I didn't help out!"

Jeanette sighed and sat down at the table opposite Simon, Eleanor sitting by her side. Brittany lingered for a moment stubbornly, then pushed her youngest sibling aside to claim the middle of the seat – she refused to sit across from Alvin.

The chipmunks accepted Brittany's lunches happily. It wasn't much – a sandwich and some fruit – but it was better for their appetite than a few sour berries.

"Where have you guys been staying, anyway?" Brittany asked.

Before any of them could respond, Eleanor spoke up. "I told them they could stay in the treehouse."

"You what!"

"Come on, Brittany, we're not using it anymore," Eleanor wasn't in the habit of letting Brittany always take charge; not for matters like this at least.

"What's up with that place, anyway?" Alvin asked. "I thought it was meant to be like a palace."

"It was," Eleanor answered, Brittany still too busy glaring at her to do it herself. "But when we moved in with Miss Miller we took a lot of the stuff with us. The rest kind of got moved over time. We haven't been there in a while though, so there's not much left. I probably should have mentioned that."

Alvin huffed. "Yes, you should have."

Simon fiddled with his sandwich, inspecting it but not eating it. "Well we appreciate it anyway. It's easy to forget that you've all been through this before."

Jeanette looked straight at Simon, "I don't think any of us are going through what you are." The Chipettes were orphans and had to fend for themselves for a long time before Miss Miller came along, but this wasn't really the same situation.

Alvin raised a brow. That seemed like an odd thing to say, and it sounded like she wasn't speaking about all of them.

"It's not that different," Brittany seemed to miss the veiled subtext, "but at least they have friends like us to watch out for them." An egotistical confidence was clear in her tone; it seemed she was all too proud to help out.

After a short moment of boasting, Brittany finally noticed Simon's lack of appetite. "You're not going to eat that? I didn't make it wrong, did I?"

Simon looked up at her, otherwise distracted for a moment. "Oh, no, you did an excellent job. It looks great, really!"

Brittany narrowed her eyes. "Then why aren't you eating?"

"Is it because of your cold, Simon?" Theodore questioned beside him.

Simon looked down at him, confused. "Who told you I –" his eyes flicked to Alvin for a moment, then returned. "…I don't have a cold, Theodore. I just don't feel like eating, that's all." He smiled and passed along his barely-touched sandwich. Theodore reluctantly accepted it, then stashed it away in his lunch bag. It was unusual for him to save lunch, but it looked like he was treating this more as a food supply than a meal.

That made Simon smile. It was only fleeting, but he was proud of Theodore's foresight.

Right on cue, the school bell rang to put an abrupt end to an already short lunch. Alvin and Theodore put away what remained of their lunches while Simon passed his along, then they all arose to make their way to class.


Miss Stone, the third grade teacher, was a kind woman. She had flowing blonde hair and a gentle, encouraging personality that drew the attention of more than one Seville. Alvin had developed quite the crush on her early into the year, but of course got turned down when he tried to pursue things. She gave a fair reason, but Alvin only considered it an excuse.

As it turned out, Miss Stone and Dave had a mutual attraction that served as a scapegoat for Alvin's pride. Things did end between her and Dave eventually, but on good terms. To her credit, she never let that little matter get in the way of her teaching.

She was good as a teacher too. Always supportive and willing to go the extra mile for her students, but perhaps her most noticeable fault was that she took her time responding to the school bell. The class had already assembled at their desks several minutes before she walked in.

"I hope you all enjoyed your lunch," Miss Stone greeted the class from the front of the room. "If you'll all open up your text books, we can just pick up where we left off." Theodore looked around at his brothers, unsure of what to do without any books to use. Alvin just shrugged in response.

Miss Stone took notice of the chipmunk boys. "While the rest of you work on that, could I speak with the Sevilles and the Millers out in the hall, please?" She gestured to the six. Hesitantly they complied and followed their teacher out the door, leaving their classmates to their work.

Miss Stone took a short overview of the class before closing the door to keep the conversation private. "I'm really sorry to spring this on you, but I wanted to make sure I could speak with all of you together. Has anyone gone over with you what Dave's trial means now?" She never did return to a formal manner of speaking when it came to Dave.

Simon sighed. "No, but I think I know where this is going." He was really hoping this wouldn't come up, but that was just wishful thinking.

"The law's stance is that none of you are legally treated as people anymore, I'm afraid." Miss Stone tried to be as gentle as possible. "It's really something you should speak with the principal about, but the way it sounds–"

Simon cringed, blocking out the rest of the speech. He knew what she was going to say before she said it. As long as we're not people, we can't be students either. He could feel Alvin's eyes on him but resisted the urge to meet his gaze. It wouldn't really matter anyway when he couldn't see clearly.

The six chipmunks remained quiet, just looking at each other in the hopes that someone had something to say – other than Brittany, who just glared at Alvin. It was hard to tell if she blamed him for this too or was still angry from whatever happened before.

Regardless, no one was looking forward to getting the official word.

Breaking the silence, Alvin spoke up. "Well, only one of us has to go see the principal, right?" Miss Stone nodded. "Ok, then the rest of you can go back to class. I can handle this by myself."

Brittany stomped her foot against the ground. "You better know what you're doing, Alvin! You got us into this mess, you can get us out." She started to march off with her sisters in her wake. They kept up and tried to remedy her bad mood, but that was no simple task.

While Brittany was pouting and her sisters were distracted, Simon chimed in. "Let you handle this alone? Have you lost your mind?"

"Simon, trust me," Alvin said, but he said it differently this time. Usually those words were filled with pride and feigned confidence, but now they sounded completely sincere.

Simon noticed this. He didn't know what why it was different, but he was willing to give Alvin the benefit of the doubt this time. "Ok, Alvin. Go ahead," he replied reluctantly. Please, don't make things any worse…


Alvin was walking back down the hall by the time the school bell rang, on his way back to class. He'd be lying to himself if he thought he was eager to get back; once that business was taken care of, he took as much time as he needed for everything else. After all, who could pass up a chance to ditch class legitimately?

The students left the third grade class single-file and funnelled into the halls, followed by a familiar band of chipmunks. They noticed Alvin and headed in his direction, meeting him half way down the corridor.

"Ok, Alvin," Simon spoke first with a saddened tone once they were closer, "just tell us the bad news now so we can get on with it."

Alvin grinned at his brother's pessimism. "Bad news? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Quit stalling and just say it," Simon responded. Alvin's teasing must have seemed like mocking when Simon couldn't make out his expression.

"Simon, Simon, Simon…you give me too little credit," Alvin continued, but the glares of the others warned him to stop pushing it. "The short version is that we can stay."

"You-" Simon was prepared to get angry, he didn't expect good news. "Wait, you're telling us that you went into Miss Milliken's office and convinced her to keep us in school? How did you, of all people, manage that?"

Alvin brushed off what was probably meant as an insult. "Please, Miss Milliken loves me! I just threw on the old Seville charm and she was putty in my hands."

Brittany pushed past Simon. "Uh huh, right, but what really happened?"

Alvin groaned. The questioning was ruining his moment. "I just pointed out that she's already been paid for the semester, so it's not going to cost anything to have us around anyway. But it was the way I said it that made it work!"

Brittany shrugged, "I guess she was in a good mood."

"There are a few tiny conditions though," Alvin resumed. "Well, more just one big one. If anyone gets sent to her office for punishment, the deal's off…something about a liability." They all looked at him with narrowed eyes – it was pretty obvious who that condition was aimed at. "Don't look at me like that; I said I can handle it!"

Eleanor sighed and started to move down the hall. "Good job, Alvin. Really. But can we talk about it outside instead of just standing here?" Her sisters followed her lead, as did Simon and Theodore.

As Simon started to step past him, Alvin held out his hand. "Oh right, one more thing," he presented an assortment of bound books. "I stopped by the library on my way back; I thought you could use something to read."

Simon felt out at the books just to confirm they were real. "I appreciate the thought, but carrying those all the way back to the treehouse is an unnecessary burden. More importantly," he waved a hand in front of his grey-blue eyes, "they won't do much good when I can't see."

Alvin looked down and thought for a moment, then perked back up. "Don't you worry about the details; I'll take care of everything!" He pulled the books under his arm and took off down the corridor without his brothers.

The remaining two stood back in his wake for a moment before moving on. "Theodore, does something seem…odd about Alvin to you?" Simon asked his little guide. Maybe he was missing something when he couldn't make out the visual details.

"He is acting kinda funny," Theodore confirmed. "Do you think maybe he has a cold?"


Simon and Theodore walked out the school gates, the day officially ended some time ago. Alvin had vanished after delivering the news to them and was still nowhere to be seen. Him skipping out on class wasn't too unusual, but they didn't want to actually leave without him unless they had to.

Unfortunately, it looked like that time had come. The Chipettes stayed back as long as they could, but Simon insisted they head home before Miss Miller started to worry.

"Hey guys, wait up!" Alvin shouted, noticing them start to walk off without him. They turned to face him, giving him a moment to run over.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Reliable," Simon lectured. "We've been waiting here for over an hour. Care to explain your absence?"

"Of course," Alvin replied and forced himself closer to Simon, reaching towards him.

Simon pushed him back, but he kept shifting closer. "What are you doing?" He fidgeted.

"Would you just hold still for a second!" Alvin forced something onto Simon's face.

Simon stopped and blinked – everything was clear again. He reached up and touched the familiar set of glasses placed over his eyes. "Alvin, where did you find these glasses?" He asked, genuinely surprised.

"It was pretty obvious that you'd have a spare somewhere, so I went home to look for them."

"But the house was locked, and just…why?"

"Well you heard the guy with the van; that stuff's not going to be there for long. It was either now or never, so I went in through the window."

"The windows were locked too," Theodore pointed out.

"So I unlocked them. With…a rock." Alvin chuckled nervously.

Simon cleaned his glasses with the fabric of his clothes – a welcome and familiar habit. "As much as I disapprove of your hooligan larceny, I must say you did well." That was about as close to a thanks as he could get at that point.

"You're welcome," Alvin responded with pride. "Now let's get back to the treehouse before it gets dark!" He started to walk on ahead of his brothers when Simon noticed he was still carrying the bound books.

"Alvin, I can carry my own books," Simon offered, but Alvin was insistent on carrying them himself.

"What part of 'take care of everything' didn't you understand?" He kept up his pace without looking back. Skeptically, Simon and Theodore followed. Alvin trying to be responsible…that kind of behavior was more concerning than anything else they could imagine from him.


By the time they got back to their treetop home, Alvin was ready to collapse. He stumbled over to his bed and fell onto the pillow, groaning with fatigue.

Simon shook his head. Alvin shouldn't have overexerted himself. They had to walk for hours anyway just to get to and from school; there was no need for him to double-up by going to their house too – especially with the added weight of the books. This was a different kind of stubborn, but he was still stubborn nonetheless.

While Theodore dug through the remaining lunch supplies, Simon sat beside his drowsy brother. It wasn't exactly a moral high-ground, but Alvin would be easier to talk to when he didn't have the energy to be so dramatic

"Alvin, are you awake?" Simon asked, getting a nod in response. "You can't keep doing stuff like this, you know. It's not healthy to overwork yourself."

Alvin groaned. "Don't worry, I won't."

With bags of food under-arm, Theodore hopped over and joined his brother at Alvin's side. "It sure was nice of Brittany to bring us lunch, huh?"

Simon nodded. "That was quite the relief. I guess she felt guilty about turning us down in the first place." He pulled the sandwich from his bag and bit into it, following the lead of his little brother.

Alvin didn't get to eat whatever was left over for him. The long day had caught up to him and pulled him into a deep sleep. It was exhausting, but it was worth it; Simon was starting to act like himself again, and that was a good sign.


The next morning was easier than the last. They were reduced to scraps for breakfast, most of which went to Theodore, but the attitude of the broken family had improved. Simon could see again, which alone made a big difference in his demeanour. The major drawback being that now he could clearly see how unkempt their accommodations were.

Alvin was no happier than the other day, but was too exhausted to complain about the petty things, which didn't hurt matters. Theodore was just pleased knowing things were starting to even out.

Even if they weren't happy with the situation, they were at least closer to being content with it, which wasn't something they expected.

News from Brittany broke that state of mind. "Dave called this morning. He tried calling his parents but couldn't find you there, so I volunteered to pass on the message. He wants to see you guys as soon as he can."

That was enough to end the contentment, but they did just that; as soon as school was out, they started on their way to meet their imprisoned father. The Chipettes wished them luck when they parted at the school gates, but it didn't do much to calm the boys' nerves. The walk to the prison was carried out in silence.


The Seville brothers stood just outside of the prison entrance, having a hard time crossing the threshold. Theodore clung tightly to Simon, "I don't wanna go in there…i-it sounds scary."

Simon patted him on the back. "I know, but we have to be strong for Dave. Right, Alvin?" He looked back to his elder who lingered a few steps behind.

"I don't want to go in either…" Alvin admitted.

Simon gave him a disbelieving look. "Why not? I would have thought seeing Dave would be important to you. It certainly means a lot to him."

Alvin looked at his feet uncomfortably. "I know, and I do. It's just that…" a sombre look appeared in his eyes and his voice went quiet, "…I just don't want him to blame me too." He took a deep breath, then sighed it away, quickly trying to force himself on before he could let his nerves get the better of him. "Come on, Dave's probably waiting for us," he ordered, walking past his brothers and into the building. Simon followed, Theodore still hugging him close for comfort.

They stepped into a small, green-tiled room. Two corridors stood at either side; a locked one leading further into the prison, and the one behind them leading out. There wasn't anything aesthetically pleasant to be seen; only a few desks topped with documents, and a single moustached man tending to paperwork.

The man looked at the nervous newcomers. "Let me guess…you're Seville's boys?" His gruff voice was offset by the almost comical bounce of his facial hair when he spoke.

The younger brothers waited for Alvin to answer, but he was too busy fidgeting with his feet. Realizing his brother wasn't going to handle it, Simon took charge. "Yes, that's correct. We'd like to see Dav- uh, Mr. Seville, if we may."

The man eyed the room around them. "Where's your guardian?" He asked.

"G-guardian?" Theodore repeated.

"Children aren't allowed in the visiting area without a legal guardian I'm afraid."

Simon groaned and adjusted his glasses. He was getting sick of all the legal roadblocks getting in the way; they didn't come all the way down here just to leave. "Ok, how about this? Obviously you know what he's in for. As far as the law's concerned, we're not children - we're animals, and last time I checked, animals didn't need legal guardians."

A single chuckle sounded from the man. That wasn't exactly the reaction Simon was hoping for. "Look, boys, I'm not meant to let 'animals' in either. It's not against the rules, but it is a safety issue." Simon lowered his gaze. "You're just lucky you caught the Governor in a good mood. I'll tell you what I'll do: your father has promised me that you'll behave, so if you can do that, I can't see any harm in letting you through for a little visit."

Simon smiled. "Thanks, we appreciate the leniency. And don't worry, we'll be on our best behavior," he promised for all of them.

The man stood and walked around his desk, leading the chipmunks down the opposite corridor. "The name's Parrish, by the way," they exchanged introductions as he led them down the halls. Simon had to speak for Alvin, whose focus never seemed to leave the floor.

Barely a few corners into the prison and they'd arrived at a small, confined room with only a clock and table for decoration. Mr Parrish listed the rules for the visit, "You'll only have twenty minutes with him when he arrives, since visiting hours are almost over. Once he's here, there's to be no physical contact. You can speak only English, and the visit will end early if anyone misbehaves. I'll have to be here the whole time. You get all that?" They nodded, so he left to let Dave know he had visitors.

Once the footsteps of their guide vanished down the hall, Simon moved over to Alvin. "Are you going to tell us what's wrong?" He asked, worried about Alvin's sudden change of attitude.

"I just don't like this place, alright?" Alvin shifted with discomfort. "I don't like Dave being stuck in a place like this. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. So I have one weakness, big deal!"

Simon looked at him for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not he making excuses. As far as he could tell, he wasn't, but he was downplaying it. "Ok, Alvin. Don't worry about it. Theodore and I can handle the visit, I'm sure Dave will understand."

Alvin was grateful for that, but tried not to let it show. He didn't think he'd able to get through this himself.

A few moments later, the door opened to let Mr Parrish and Dave inside. Dave barely set foot in the room before Theodore called out in joy and gave him a big welcome-hug. "No physical contact," Mr Parrish reminded him.

"Oh, sorry," Theodore let go. Simon also delivered a warm welcome, but he remembered to keep his distance.

Dave took a seat at one end of the table at Mr Parrish's insistence. Simon and Theodore shared the seat at the opposite end, leaving Alvin to sit on the ground beside them. It didn't matter too much; he was turned towards the wall anyway so that he didn't have to watch. Listening was more than enough.

Dave noticed Alvin hadn't responded with the same enthusiasm as his brothers. "Is Alvin ok?" He asked with concern.

"He's fine, Dave," Simon answered, "he's just not feeling well right now." That was technically the truth.

Dave nodded in understanding. "And what about you guys? I tried, but I couldn't reach you at my parents' place."

"Well that's because we…" Simon cleared his throat nervously. "We didn't go to the farm."

Dave's eyes widened. "But Simon, I thought I told you –"

"- to wait there for you to call," Simon finished. "Yes, I know, but if you recall, we don't actually know where they live."

Dave almost slapped himself in the forehead when he noticed his mistake. "Oh, right. I'm sorry guys, that completely slipped my mind."

"That's ok," Theodore piped up, "Eleanor's letting us stay in the Chipette's treehouse."

"So…you're all by yourselves?" Dave sounded concerned, but Theodore nodded happily anyway. "Gee, I don't know…I don't like the sound of that."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Simon defended. "It's at least better than being stuck in a prison. I can't imagine how terrible it must be to be kept in a place like this," he exclaimed, momentarily forgetting they were being watched. "No offence."

"Well it's definitely no five-star resort, but it's not so bad. I'm just worried about you guys."

"Don't be. We had… a bit of a bumpy start, but I'm sure we'll be fine now."

"I hope Alvin's not giving you too much trouble."

"Actually, Dave, Alvin's been a huge help." Alvin smiled at that, not that anyone could see it.

"Alvin? Really?" Well-founded disbelief.

"Trust me, I wouldn't be saying it if he didn't. He's the whole reason we haven't been kicked out of school."

Dave smiled at the back of his oldest boy. "Well I'm proud of you, Alvin." Alvin didn't respond, but Dave knew he was listening.

Mr Parrish drew Dave's attention by tapping on the clock on the wall. Dave got the message, then turned back to his two attentive boys. "I don't want to rush into things, but there is something I need to talk to you about."

Theodore frowned. "It's not more bad news, is it?"

Dave would have laughed at the question, but the situation was still a bit too serious for that. "No, this is good news. Maybe. It's hard to say. Right now I'm here for almost a year, which is bad news, but I've spoken to our lawyer and he says we might still have a chance of fixing things." All three boys paid closer attention, intrigued. "He's started to work on an appeal, which means that in a month we get to try again and reverse the first judge's decision. It's not a sure-thing, but he thinks he can build a better defence now that he knows what to expect."

Simon nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, an appeal would be the best option."

"The only thing is, that still leaves you boys alone until then. Are you sure you'll be ok?"

Simon looked at Theodore, then back at Alvin. He thought back to the Chipettes lending a hand, and to Miss Stone's quiet support. A month was a long time, but things were looking up already. "I think we'll manage."


When their time was up, Alvin, Simon and Theodore bid a tearful goodbye to Dave and left him to his sentence. Alvin's farewell was brief and distant; it was the best he could do. Mr Parrish told them they could come back for a longer visit next week, but it was hard to not feel sad that they'd have to leave him alone for so long.

The chipmunks returned to the treehouse with conflicted feelings in the air. One month they'd have to fend for themselves, maybe a year if things went badly, but it was a sliver of hope.

There was a lot on all their minds. The last few days had been incredibly trying, but it was starting to look like they'd make it. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, as the saying goes.

Simon sat under his sheets, stacking and sorting the previously-bound books to his side. It was about time for bed and there wasn't much use trying to read by moonlight anyway. He looked over towards Alvin, who was getting ready to sleep beside him. "I still can't believe you got us to stay in school. That's not at all like you," he commented.

Alvin shifted in his sheets, trying to get comfortable against the wooden floor. "I know it means more to you than me. I'm not THAT selfish, you know." That was the honest reason; Alvin would love to get away from school if he could, but Simon needed it. For some reason, it was important to him, and Alvin didn't want to let him lose anything else like that. They'd lost enough.

Simon took off his glasses and looked down at them in thought for a moment. The sight of them made him reflect on the last few days, which made him realize how terrible he'd been to Alvin, especially considering all the effort he's gone through. Things would have been a lot harder if he hadn't stepped up. "Look, Alvin…about what I said the other day…I'm sorry."

Alvin sat up. An apology was the last thing he was expecting. He knew exactly what Simon was talking about, but frankly he didn't think he deserved it. "Don't worry about it, I had it coming," he qualified.

"No, you didn't," Simon shook his head. "It's not your fault that we're in this situation, and it never was. But it wouldn't matter regardless; what matters is that we're all in this together."

Those words warmed Alvin's heart. He didn't completely believe them, but they were nice to hear. "Thanks, Simon…" He laid back down against his pillow and closed his eyes. They all needed sleep.

Lying there, Alvin couldn't help but reflect on the last few days himself.

Dave gets taken away from them and they lost everything they owned, which was hard. Then Simon broke down infront of him, which was even harder. He seemed better now though, which was beyond relieving. It was heartbreaking seeing him like that.

And then there was that prison visit…Alvin had no idea how difficult that would be. He just couldn't find the strength to face it. He knew he had to, for Dave's sake, but it felt like the whole place was crushing down on him…the thought of it was painful enough. Still, he was glad he went; it was worth it to hear Dave again.

It was kind of funny; he would have thought that Dave being proud of him would mean everything, but it was Simon saying it that made him smile. Maybe it was because Simon didn't make him go through all that himself. That was one thing he could always count on; Simon could always be relied on when you really needed help.

Alvin smiled thinking about it. That really meant a lot to him. Simon really meant a lot to him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it felt different now. He'd had feelings close to these before, but they couldn't possibly be the same this time. The way he felt about Simon, it was almost like he -

Alvin's eyes shot open.

Aww, nuts…!