Chapter 4

The three boys paced back and forth. The baby, wrapped in its blanket, was now in the arms of Theodore, who was failing in his attempts to calm it down.

"Where are those girls!?" Alvin cried.

Just then, right on cue, they heard a tapping at the window by the front door. They peered out it to see the three Chipettes standing on the window ledge. They waved. Alvin immediately sprang to the door and let them in.

The girls rushed into the living room.

"Omigod! You three really do have a baby!" Brittany exclaimed.

"What? You didn't believe us?" Alvin asked in disbelief as he trailed along behind them.

"Well, I wasn't sure. At first I thought there was no way, but when it was Simon on the phone and not you, I had a feeling this could be true," Brittany explained.

Eleanor and Jeanette ran up to Theodore and stared adoringly at the baby in his arms despite the small cries. Though it seemed to be settling a little. It seemed to like the attention.

"Awww! It's so precious!" Eleanor gasped.

"So you just found it on your doorstep?" Jeanette asked.

"Yep. We still don't know who left it there," Alvin said.

"Can I hold it?" Eleanor asked. Theodore nodded and seemed relieved to be handing it over to someone else. Once the baby reached Eleanor's arms, the crying came to an end and it giggled up at her.

"Wow! Maybe he just wanted more attention," Brittany said standing next to her sister. She rested her elbow on Eleanor's shoulder coolly and smiled down at the bundle.

Eleanor, still not taking her eyes off of the little ball of sunshine in her arms, asked, "So what's its sex?"

"What!?" the boys asked simultaneously giving her an odd look.

Eleanor looked up from the baby to them, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore just blinked giving her quite blank expressions. Their lips twisted in confusion.

Brittany slapped a paw over her eyes. She cried, "Oh my god, you guys! You mean that you're trying to take in this baby and you didn't even bother to check to see if it was a boy or a girl?"

"Uh…" Alvin began, but he was cut off when Brittany gasped, "Ugh! You three really do need all the help you can get." Brittany took the baby into her arms.

"Mmm… So you'll take this baby off our paws?" Alvin asked pushing himself forward.

Brittany's head shot around to look at him as she let out a surprisingly shrill, "No!"

"Well, by take it off our paws, I mean, like help us with it," Alvin said.

Brittany replied, "Uh, where have you been for the past billion years? We're going on vacation tomorrow! We can't." Eleanor pulled the blanket back some that was around the baby.

"Oh, but you've gotta help us!" Theodore begged.

Jeanette said, "Well, we'll try our best to help you guys just for today, but after that, you're on your own."

"Oh thank you guys so much!" Simon gasped.

Eleanor looked up from the baby and announced cheerfully, "It's a boy!"

"What!?" the Chipmunks asked in unison again with the confused looks on their faces.

"Looks like you've got another brother, boys," Jeanette said with a smile.

Alvin thought this over and he whispered to himself, "A fourth chipmunk brother?"

Brittany said, "See? You four can form a lovely quartet now."

"Quartet?" the three boys asked in unison. The idea never occurred to them that having this new sibling could possibly make a big change in their music careers. They suddenly had a weird image appear in their minds. It showed the three of them all dressed in red and white, vertical stripes with hats and fake mustaches. Along with the baby, but an older version of the baby, all grouped together singing. Simon was singing the low notes, Theodore the high notes, Alvin singing the lead, and the newest member of their group, singing the harmony.

The little thought bubble disappeared and the three all exchanged unsure looks. Alvin looked the worst. He wasn't so sure how he would go about accepting this big change. It's always been three. Never more, never less. Could this baby change their lives forever?

The Chipettes seemed to notice their expressions. Brittany forced a laugh, "Don't look so unhappy about it. Be fortunate that it's a boy. I mean, if it was a girl then you three would probably feel really messed up."

The boys began to imagine what their music group would be like if the baby was a girl, but they quickly stopped. They didn't even want to think about that.

Jeanette asked, "So what are you going to name him?"

"We don't know," Alvin mumbled.

"Well, you can't just keep calling him, 'the baby'. He needs a real name," Brittany said.

Simon and Theodore snapped out of their uncertainty. They would be able to adjust. No problem. Just one more brother in the band wouldn't be so bad. However, Alvin wasn't feeling very keen on the whole idea. He would be fine with the baby as long as it didn't interfere with their band.

Alvin tried to shake it off and joined in on the conversation, "I say we call him Alvin Junior!"

"Alvin, you can't name him after yourself when he's your brother," Simon said.

Alvin made a face and mocked, "'Alvin, You can't name him after yourself when he's your brother.' Give me a break, Simon. Like you've got any better ideas."

Everyone looked at the baby again.

"We'll think on it," Simon said.

"Well, while we're on the subject of names, I think that we're going to have to start… you know… 'babying' our names," Eleanor advised.

The boys all let out yet another simultaneous, "What?"

"Well, you don't expect him to be trying to learn a name like, 'Theodore' right away do you?" Brittany said.

Eleanor continued, "It's easier for a baby to learn names that end with the 'ee' sound. For example, Brittany wouldn't have to change her name, but I would have to start going by Ellie. And Jeanette would be Jeannie."

"Oh, I get it!" Theodore said, "So I'll let him call me Teddy."

Brittany said, "Right. And Alvin, you can be Alvie. And Si-mon-n-n…" Brittany stretched out Simon's name kind of playing with the sound. "You're out of luck, Si. I don't think we can 'baby' up your name."

Simon waved his paw and said, "I don't care. I actually didn't really want my name to be 'babied'. Besides, it's only two syllables. He can even call me 'Si' for all I care."

Jeanette looked up in thought and then suggested, "How about 'Bubby'?"

"Excuse me?" Simon replied.

"Yeah. You know for sister it's 'Sissy' and for brother it's 'Bubby' well until the baby is able to pronounce their sibling's name."

Alvin laughed out loud and put his paw on Simon's shoulder to keep him from falling over with laughter. He said, "Oh! Bubby! That's good. Can I start calling you that?"

"No," Simon answered flatly.

"Too bad. I'm going to start calling you that… Bubby," Alvin said with a grin. Simon rolled his eyes and said, "It doesn't matter. He can call me that, but I will refuse to refer to myself as that."

Jeanette said, "Well, good. We won't dwell on our names too much. Let's just make sure that he knows you guys."

Just then, the baby began to cry again.

"It's gonna be a long morning," Alvin muttered.