Just Like Asthma

Stories of Seth, Ryan and Sophie through the eyes of the parents that love them

I finally got myself on solid ground with the whole college application thing and I'm no longer in freak-out mode. That means I have time to write some fic. Woot Woot!

Enjoy.

Pretend

He lay his stomach, the shelter above him effectively blocking out the elements and the ground below him scratchy and uncomfortable. The sun was setting and it wouldn't be long before the entire campsite was dark, but the adventurer was used to such conditions. He moved closer the warmth of the fire just outside his dwelling and settled down to sleep.

Suddenly a dark shadow crossed his tent.

He turned his head to get a better look, but it was gone as quick as it came.

A low growl caught the campers ear.

He sat up, looking around at all sides of his shelter but seeing nothing but the fire, fallen leaves and the various rocks and trees scattered amongst the clearing. Sensing no danger, and figuring the creature to have been a raccoon or some other harmless animal, he lied down and closed his eyes again.

And that's when it attacked.

"Ahhh!"

"Grrrr"

The man quaked with fear

"Oh please, Mr. Bear, don't eat me!"

The little bear covered his mouth to stifle his laughter before replying

"But I'm hungry… Grrr. I'm a hungry bear and you look tasty"

The bear was small for his size, but still very ferocious. The camper caught a brief glimpse of his shaggy fur, light brown, almost blonde, before the creature sat on his back, prepared to give no mercy

The camper tried to rationalize

"You don't want to eat me, I'm too old. I'll taste disgusting"

The blonde bear licked his lips then stuck the tip of his paw in his mouth before replying

"No. I like the taste of campurs bestest-"

The camper winced "Please- what if I find you someone else to eat"

The bear pulled his thumb from his mouth, contemplating it, when another noise was heard from outside the tent

The blonde bear smiled "We got him! He's over here, brover! Grrrrr"

"Where?" Another bear, slightly larger in size with darker fur and big brown eyes poked his head through the tent

"Oh! Grrrr"

"There!" the adventurer pointed to the larger bear "Eat him!"

The blonde creature was incredulous "I can't eat another bear. Besides he's my brover"

"Cousin" The brown bear corrected

The blonde rolled his eyes "Yeeaah, but in this game we're brover bears"

The brown bear nodded his agreement and then he too sat on top of the helpless camper, a little far down from the first bear, perfectly prepared to feast

"Sorry about the wait, Grrr… nature called"

The camper rolled his eyes, he could guess where the bear learned that. But he wasn't

going to say anything. He was trying to get out of being eaten, after all.

Instead he let out a loud groan

"- Hey, you two big bears are really heavy"

The beasts giggled

"How about you let me go. Huh? Please?"

"No." The Brown bear growled "We're going to have you for dinner. First, I'm going to eat your legs…"

The blond bear frowned "I said I wanted to eat his legs"

The bear's ears twitched and he shook his head

"No. I called it"

His brother slid off the camper's back standing full height in the tent, arms outstretched in righteous fury

"No you didn't!"

The second grizzly bared his teeth, stood toe to toe with his brother and roared back

"Yes I did. While I was in the bathroom"

"That's not fair"

The camper sighed in relief

"You can have the arms!"

"I don't want to eat his arms!"

The lucky camper slowly and quietly crawled his way out of the tent.

There weren't to many hiding spots in this forest, but right now he was too exhausted to care. He sat himself on the larger bolder and caught his breath. From inside the tent the two bears will still arguing over who would eat what and had yet to notice he was gone.

The seasoned camper closed his eyes. Besides the roaring from the argument in the tent, everything was peaceful. Birds chirped in the distance, their calls sounding slightly like a 70's rerun. There was the faint chatter of a tourist, a young camper once herself, talking animatedly to some unknown creature outside of their woods. Through the clearing he could smell the smoke from his favorite Park Ranger's fire, he hoped it was good smoke.

Checking his radio and hearing no sounds, he smiled with the confidence that the littlest bear, still too young to venture out into the wilderness, was sleeping soundly in he own little cave down the path.

He'd been camping many times in his life, in several different forests, encountered bears, raging rapids and heard every ghost story ever told, but nothing compared to this. The man loved camping and everything that came with it, especially the bears. He didn't get to do so as often as he liked; his own little campers thought themselves to old to venture into the forest. And he loved it when these two little bears travled to his neck of the woods. Even if meant being chased.

But he'd forgotten how much camping tiered him out.

A tap on the shoulder made him pop one eye open and in front of him were the two bears from before

"Hey!" The blonde bear pouted, sticking out a paw in accusation "You left"

The camper shrugged "Well, I couldn't stick around and get eaten could I?"

"Well we got you now. Grrrr." the brown bear replied.

Both larger bear climbed on the boulder along with their captive camper.

The blonde bear, still to small to climb up the boulder by himself and kept slipping off the side of the rock. The creature looked cute, but the camper was too wise from his years of travel to fall for such tactics. He knew even a sweet looking creature like this could be a real danger.

Still…

"Do you need any help?" the brave camper held out his hand to the scowling bear only to have it swatted away

"No. " His snout scrunched in determination "I can do it myself'

The adventurer smiled as the young animal reminded him yet again of another bear he knew. He'd met this grizzly too late, out of season, and they'd never gotten the opportunity to venture into the forest together or play the game of hunter and hunted. And it saddened the camper, but there much use in mourning for travels never taken. Adventure waited for no man and the most he could do was enjoy the time he had in this season, with the little cubs he had. .

The ones that were about to chew him into little bits.

It would have to be enough

"I'll help you up" The brown bear tried and the camper watched as the blond bear took the offered paw without protest.

The brown bear smirked "We're going to eat you up. I'm going to eat one of the legs and Chri- I mean, my brother. is going to have the other leg and the neck, but I get the head because I wanna eat the brains like in the zombie movies where-"

The blonde bear grunted and poked the other beast in the arm with a little paw

"If you keep talking, he'll get cold. Grrr."

"Oh yeah. Grrrr. Rowr"

Both bears advanced on the poor camper, licking their lips and rubbing their tummies

The camper held up his hands in a last attempt for escape

"Wait"

The bears froze

"I have a secret weapon against hungry bears"

The brown bears face tilted in curiosity "What?"

The wise camper looked around "Do you hear it?"

The fierce little animals followed suit and seeing nothing shook their head in anticipation

"What? What is it?"

The camper tilted his chin towards path leading down to a small stream.

"I think it came from over there"

They hopped off the boulder to get a better listen, their growls turning into nervous giggles

"Oh no… wait.. .. I think it's … the sound … of me turning into… the tickle monster!"

The campers easy smile turned into a dangerous one. He sprouted horns and was happy to note that he had grown a purplish - blue fur of his own.

"Ahh!"

Both bears screamed and ran for their cave, but it was a well known fact that tickle monsters are faster than hungry little bears any day, even on all fours.

Horrible monster chased them around the bolder and through his tent, over the logs and scattered leaves and around the small fire. The blonde bear ran straight for the cave but the brown bear split up from his brother and the camper cornered him at the edge of the clearing.

The monster gave a sickening smile and stepped menacingly towards the trapped animal.

Seeing no exits, the brown bear immediately started to climb

"Hey! What are you doing?" The camper exclaimed standing up to full height

"I'm climbing this tree. Rowr."

"Oh no. No climbing trees. That's too dangerous. Get down"

"But-"

" You could hurt yourself. Come down from there."

"Come on- "

"Nate Cohen. Get down. Now"

The brown bear hopped down immediately, a few branches broke from their place and fell to the ground.

The cub scratched behind his ear while wriggling from side to side and even though he was grizzly, the monster could swear his eyes were pure puppy - dog.

"Sorry. i couldn't help myself. Climbing is like a bear's super power and bears gotta climb right?, all of 'em. Like Smokey, I'm sure he clilmbs, or, or Pooh bear! You know the story when he gets trapped in that honey tree and..."

The camper found he couldn't stay mad at this young, cub, much like a certain other bear at his age, he had the uncanny ablility to weasel his way out of any situation with a cute look and string of grunts and growls not even the wise camper could always decipher.

The camper now monster chuckled and ruffled the soft fur on top of the bear's head

"It's ok. No harm done. Didn't know you were such a good climber"

The bears sharp teeth showed in his sheepish grin "Well, I am a bear"

" Right. And do you remember what I am?" The monster raised his arms, snarled and resumed his position on all fours

"No!" the bear's roar was overtaken by laughter as the monster chased him into a small cavern

He ducked into their cave, bumping his head lightly on the top of the structure and rubbed his head, not appreciating the reminder that the bear home was not camper sized.

Soon the blond and brown bear were squealing for mercy

The older bear, the fur on his face now bright red, gasped for breath, managing to call out

"Stop! Grandpa Stop!"

The vicious monster grinned

"I'm not Grandpa, I'm a tickle monster!"

"Grandpa" the blond bear wheezed after catching his breath "Tickle monsters don't live in forests"

"Yeah" The brown bear chimed "You can't change from a camper to a tickle monster. You're not a transformer"

Darn it. He managed to encounter two smart bears in the woods on today of all days.

"Ahhh…you got me…my tickle powers… are fading"

The tickle monster fell to the ground, his horns shrunk, his powers were lost and he was reduced to a helpless camper again

The bears resumed their siege

"Get him!"

"Tickle him!"

"Eat him!"

"Tickle him, then eat him!"

And just when the camper thought that it might just be his last adventure, the sweet sound of the Park Ranger's voice echoed through the clearing

"Guys, Lunch!"

The bears cheered

"Alright!"

"I'm starving"

"Then you two had better hurry up. The Park Ranger will be really upset if can't eat any of her peanut butter and honey sandwiches because you're too full from eating me "

They raced towards the cabin and the kind Park Ranger who was surely waiting with two nicely prepared sandwiches for her two starving bears

"Good bears wash up in the stream before they eat!" The saved camper called after them

The camper looked up at the clock. Pretty soon, his all grown up bears, now papa bears themselves, would be here to pick up their little bears and drag them back to their respective zoos.

It was always fun while it lasted.

Sandy pulled the layers of sheets off the carefully placed dining room chairs and folded them neatly before resting them on the oversized couch. He picked up the flashlight, now abandoned in the center of the room, and rested it on top of his writing desk. He rearranged the furniture so the clearing was no more and returned the fallen books to their shelf. And finally, he made his way to the ktchen, hungry, and looking forward to spending lunch with his grandkids and later, repaying his wife for the valiant rescue with a little adventure of their own.


All together now. Awww. Couldn't do this series without at least one grandkid fic.

Ryan, Seth and Sophie will be back. Within the week if I can get my homework done as quick as I did tonight.