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Head-Over-Heels

The next morning, we saw Montery Jack, Zipper, and Jake off with a small, lithe youth called Kumi. This process took some time for Chip and Monty; they seemed to be discussing something important. Afterwards, Chip had Dale, Sophia, and Endesha boarded the Eagle with me.

"I want to check out the mineshaft so we can get an idea of how much explosive we'll need," Chip said, strapping himself into his chair. "And then you can show us where you saw Fat Cat, Sophia." I noticed he had refrained from mentioning Jules. Sophia seemed to visibly shake whenever we talked about him.

"Very well," she answered, settling herself somewhat timidly next to Dale at the Tactical station. "This is very impressive, Gadget."

"Thanks," I grinned back at her.

"Wait till you see what this does," Dale said encouragingly, dragging Sophia's attention to the controls in front of them. I had to wonder if he was going to take this moment to gauge her reaction to Alice Cooper.

Luckily though, Sophia decided that quieter music was more appropriate, and as the Geegaw and village dropped away behind us, I heard her chatting happily with Dale. I was happy that Dale could set her at ease so quickly – it was fairly clear Sophia preferred not to get too close to my inventions right now. She seemed ill at ease about everything.

"There is the mine," Endesha informed us, standing up to point over Chip's shoulder. "The opening you are seeking should be visible soon."

"How big is it inside?" I asked, maneuvering the Eagle into a hovering position above the cavern. The opening was large enough to admit the plane, but I wasn't about to dive headlong into a mineshaft that I might not be able to get out of.

"I spent a lot of time here in my youth. I believe your plane will fit with plenty of room. The opening will go down for a short distance, and then level out and wind north, keeping above the human shaft."

"Hmm." I mused for a moment before making my decision. Endesha seemed to know his way around everything, so I decided to trust him. Slowly. Hopefully, I would be able to memorize the route within a few flights and figure out where to best drop the charges. "Will the old plane I'll be fixing fit in here too?"

"Oh yes," he laughed. "It is much smaller!"

Beside me, Chip laughed at my fears. It was true the Eagle was enormous compared to the Ranger Plane and Wing, and likely much larger than anything else rodent-made. "All right then, lets go in."

I dropped out of hover mode and slowly descended into the shaft, turning on the outside LEDs for better visibility. I knew I wouldn't have that luxury in the crop dusting plane, but I wanted to learn the route with the lights first. "We'll have to run through it several times, guys, so I can get used to it."

"That's all right, Gadget," came Dale's voice. "Don't worry, we won't crash," he added, probably to Sophia.

"Do you need me to do anything, Hackwrench?" Chip asked.

I shook my head as I slowly turned the Eagle in a tight circle, letting my senses adjust to the lighting and the height and width of the tunnel. "Sorry. I'd have you take GIS points on it, but we won't get any satellite signal in here. And I need to be able to do this blindfolded."

I saw him give me a worried look, as if he had just realized he was letting me go Kamikaze on him, but held his tongue. Endesha carefully took a seat behind me. There was silence in the cabin and I shut my eyes for a second, tuning everything out. I needed to fly high enough that I could drop a charge without setting it off while it was still in contact with the plane. I needed to fly fast enough that the explosions would stay a consistently 'safe' distance from the plane. But I needed to fly slowly enough that I could drop an adequate amount of charges.

The Rangers dropped out of my consciousness. The music went away. My mind was quiet, clear, and razor-sharp. "Let's go," I muttered.

I followed the tunnel slowly, mentally taking note of the angle of the walls, the number of turns, and small pockets beneath me where charges could be dropped. It looked like I had half a foot of clearance on every side, which wasn't a whole lot. My stomach tightened somewhat at the thought of banking around a corner, only to clip the side of the plane and go crashing into a fiery oblivion. At one point, I couldn't see where the shaft was leading.

"Endesha? I can't see where to go now."

Chip was craning his neck to see out the windows. Endesha appeared between us and pointed upwards. "It comes up here, rather sharply. But not far after it widens considerably and you will be able to see the end."

"Light at the of the tunnel, huh?" Chip muttered.

I eyed the opening and pulled the Eagle directly under it. With the Eagle, I almost had to use hover to get up at the steep angle, but managed to just pull it off. I knew the crop dusting plane wouldn't have that function, and I needed to be able to bank upwards fast.

We flew up, and I was thrilled to find Endesha was right about the tunnel widening. I had far more room than I needed, and pressed the speed a bit as I saw a light filtering towards me. Within moments, we were out, roaring into the open morning air. My knot in my stomach dissipated somewhat. I had done it once. That meant I could do it again, and with more speed and efficiency.

"I hate to say it guys," I said, turning to look back at Sophia's tight face, "but I'm going to need to do that several more times. It's a little tricky on maneuvering."

Ever the champ, Sophia nodded grimly to me, then turned almost desperately to Dale, who fired up a Solitaire game for her.

"Rescue Spelunkers away," Chip quipped, winking at me.

I giggled and winked back.

"Are you two..." Endesha ventured, a small smile on his face.

"Yes," we answered, smiling.

He chuckled. "I thought as much," he said warmly. "You will have to tell me the story."

"Sophia can tell you the first part of it," I said over my shoulder, focusing on bringing the Eagle up to the mineshaft again. "She can take all the credit for getting me into a relationship."

"I do try to help," she said playfully.

"I would be happy to hear the story, Miss Marskov," Endesha returned, smiling at her.

"It would be a pleasure. Dale is in the story too, come here and I'll tell you."

Endesha joined Sophia and Dale, leaving Chip and I alone, and probably the only ones conscious of danger, as I flew through the mine repeatedly. Each time we did, I felt more comfortable, but Chip looked more worried.

"Are you all right?" I asked quietly. I attempted a distraction. "What were you talking to Monty about this morning?"

Chip looked at me with a weighty expression. "I'm worried about you doing this. This mine shaft is tight – a lot could go wrong once you've added the dynamite." He didn't say anything about Monterey Jack.

"I know." I shot him a desperate glance so he would know I was being serious. "But someone needs to shut down this mine, and I'm the most qualified." I wasn't boasting, and he knew it. Chip could easily have flown a smaller plane through the shaft without any problems, but he wouldn't be able to do it fast enough, in the dark, and certainly not also concentrating on dropping dynamite behind him.

He didn't say anything in return, so I ran through a few more times, each time faster, until the last time, when, without saying anything, I shut off the LED lights outside, took a deep breath, and plunged through. We came through on the other side, Chip looking grim yet impressed, in 46.8 seconds. It was a good time.

"I've got it now," I announced, turning the proceedings back over to Chip, who was still blinking at me. Luckily, Sophia hadn't seemed to notice the absence of safety lights the last time through.

"Sophia? Are you ready to show us where you saw Fat Cat?"

Sophia unsteadily made her way forward, gave a good look around, and then pointed west. "I can see the knoll in the distance. It has the small tree."

"Roger that," I said and brought the plane up to a slow cruising speed. Sophia retreated back with the others and I dimly heard her continuing her story.

"I know I'm a bit of a control freak," Chip said. I glanced over to show I was listening. He was staring forward, the way he did when he needed to think through what he was saying. "It's natural to me, I was raised around Dale. Someone had to keep him out of trouble. I grew up feeling like I was naturally the one to be in charge, and that everyone else needed to be managed, because Dale couldn't really take care of himself the same way I could. I know I still boss him around all the time, but not anywhere near as much as I used to."

"You are a lot nicer to him," I offered, remembering my constant annoyance at Chip and Dale's bickering during the early years of the Rangers. I had often wondered how two people who fought so often could be so close. I had never liked to fight with people I loved.

"I'm afraid for him still though, Gadget. Kind of like I'm afraid for you. I don't worry about Monty or Zipper – they've always taken care of themselves; they don't specifically need me, or the Rescue Rangers. They stay because they want to, and they're usually really great – you're all really great – about letting me do things my own way."

He seemed embarrassed, but he pressed on. "But I guess it boils down to that I don't want to lose anybody. As long as I feel like I'm in control of the situation, that Monty or I are the ones taking the risks, we'll all come home at the end of the day. I know you can take care of yourself, Gadg, but ever since day one I was terrified I was going to lose you."

I smiled at the memory. "You looked like you were going to cry when I said I needed to go back home after our first case."

He laughed nervously. "I can guarantee I would have. And I probably would have come after you."

"Really?" I glanced over at him. I hadn't thought any of them would have come back, with the possibly exception of Monty.

He nodded firmly. "I was hopelessly head over heels for you." There was a moment, and then he asked me something he hadn't before. "What did you think of me?"

I blinked a few times, thinking. "Well..."

"That doesn't sound promising, Hackwrench."

I laughed. "No – you didn't tell me what you thought of me, you told me what you felt. And I can't say I felt anything back then except depression. I was pretty numb. But I liked your jacket. And since you had Monty with you, I liked that you were there. I was lonely, even if I couldn't admit it to myself."

"You liked my jacket, huh?"

"It reminded me of my dad."

We shifted easily into silence. When I looked back at Chip again, the vulnerable, worried chipmunk was gone, and the leader of the Rescue Rangers was back. I smiled out the window to myself. I had long since gathered that it had been love at first sight for him, and I knew that it hadn't been for me – I was too busy being paranoid and depressed to feel anything good. I recalled the first case, and that opening myself up to any emotion at all – excitement, fear, hope – had been excruciating. But Chip had, right from the get-up, been supportive. He had listened. He had asked questions. He had asked for my help, encouraged me to invent something, and been proud of me when I did. I had loved him for that, I knew. I had loved the stability he offered: the home he had shown me, the friendship, the support he managed to give me even when he knew it would most likely literally blow up in his face.

So what if Monty had come back to visit and invited me to come with him on his adventures? Chip had taken all of us in, made sure we had a roof over our heads, and had trained us to work as a team. I would have probably tried to refuse Monty's offer, but I couldn't turn Chip down, even if it did mean leaving everything I knew and moving in with four boys. It meant I wouldn't be lonely anymore, and it gave me a support group: I couldn't walk out on those boys even if I had wanted to. I'd tried it before, and they hadn't let me get very far.

I glanced sidelong at Chip. It hadn't been romantic, but he had knocked me head over heels from the beginning.

Rousing myself from my reverie, I slowed the Eagle as we approached the filming area – I could see the camera and the other equipment still on the ground by the river. "Sophia, we're here."

Sophia rose from her chair and looked out the cockpit window. "Yes, that is the knoll."

As I prepared to land the Eagle, Chip fiddled with the GPS unit. "We're only half a mile from the village right now, and the mine is another half a mile east of us."

I glanced down at the GPS as the Eagle settled. "And not very far at all from Olduvai Gorge," I noticed, interested. "I've always wanted to see that."

"Scenic Olduvai Gorge: the Garden of Eden of the human race," Endesha said fluidly, in his best tour guide voice.

Chip grinned at him and pressed the button to lower the ramp. "Let's see what we can find," he said.

Enedsha took Sophia's arm and led her down after Dale. Chip and I made to follow them, but before we reached the ramp, I impulsively grabbed his paw.

"What?"

"I was knocked head over heels. You survived my salesman traps, wanted me to come with you, asked for my help, got me to start believing in myself, and didn't let me go back to being alone. I was shocked. And very, very happy."

His face broke into one of his adorable smiles that always made me want to tackle-hug him, but as we were standing fairly close to the ramp and as I didn't want to awkwardly find myself tumbling into a crowd with Chip, I decided to kiss him instead.

As was his wont, he was totally distracted. I had to physically push him away, laughing. "Go find some footprints, Sureluck," and moved to kick him.

He scampered down the ramp and I followed him at a stately pace. Once on the knoll, I joined Sophia, who gave me a rather knowing look. Endesha was looking pointedly at the ground.

"Okay - " Chip's voice cracked and he cleared his throat hastily and tried again. "Okay, this is where you -ahem – where you believe you saw Fat Cat, Sophia?"

She smiled sweetly. "Yes."

Chip looked like he was going to reply, but then thought better of it and went to examine the area on the knoll's ledge. I elbowed Sophia to get her to stop. Endesha and Dale left us and went to assist Chip.

"You have him wound up, Gadget," Sophia said wickedly.

I shook my head. "Yeah..."

She nudged me. "And? Are there wedding bells in the near future?"

"Yes."

Sophia nearly squealed with delight, but I covered her mouth with my paw.

"We haven't set any definite plans yet. And I don't even have the ring, okay?"

Sophia nodded and regained control. "Of course. I don't wish to be over-bearing, I simply wish you to be happy."

"We are, Sophia. Very happy."

"And if you need any help with the wedding, the shower, the invitations, with anything - "

I smiled, attempting to hide the weariness. "I know. I call you."

I just wanted Chip. Not a big wedding. Just Chip. Unfortunately, the bride simply wanting to marry the groom was a foreign concept to Sophia. There had to be all sorts of hoops to jump through beforehand. I can't say it appealed to me.

"I'll let you know," I said again. "Let's go help Chip."

We approached the boys, who were all kneeling on the ground around a set of footprints. I had seen Fat Cat's all over, but Chip seemed to have honed in on two separate mice footprints.

"Did you find anything?" Sophia asked quietly.

Enesha looked up soberly. "Yes. This - " he pointed to a circular indentation in the ground near the ledge, "is where Asani sat. You can smell the bad medicine."

I could indeed smell something faint and foul about the place.

"And these are definitely Fat Cat's," Dale announced a little further back. "He must have stood here to watch."

"And these," Chip said quietly, pointing to a set of prints near Dale, "must be Jules's." He knelt again and sniffed them. "It's been a while, but I think that's him."

Sophia joined him, then froze as still as a statue. "Yes, it's him," she murmured.

I looked at her. "Who would have thought he'd end up here in Africa with Fat Cat?"

Sophia sniffed gingerly. "Who would have thought that we would see him again at all?"

[TBC]