Keep in mind, this is an AU of the main stuff, and in no way affects it. Nothing from the Main Storyline will make an appearance here, other than some characters.

I will be uploading two chapters per week [Tuesday/Thursday], since the chapters are so short.

Thank you for clicking this story, and I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review!


Part Nine – Diner Dash

"Tell me, Zeb, what became of that panda you were with, huh?" Tennessee asked. He had a bitterness towards pandas, under the impression that his Trixie had run off with one.

While Zeb related the story, Beary and Jewel found them all a nice half-moon booth at the diner to sit at, and were already looking at the menus and drooling. Henry and Fred joined them, sitting on either side, and Zeb and Tennessee took the outer sides.

Tennessee sighed and shook his head, before looking at Henry. "How can you say we're getting the band back together? Are you insane? Sorry, boys, but I just can't play the thang. Not without Trixie there. No Trixie, no thang. She's probably off with some panda or something. How'd you even get ahold of her daughter? Why isn't she with her parents?"

Jewel shrank back a bit. "I, uhm... I don't... I don't know who my father is. Mama never told me," she explained meekly. "And the only panda she's been around is her manager."

Tennessee blinked, startled by this information. No father? Trixie wasn't like that! Was it possible that he was the father?! He glanced over at Beary. "And you? Who are your parents? Henry and Helen, right?"

Beary's ears lowered. Why did everyone think he was Henry's son? "I... My... My birth parents abandoned me in the woods when I was little." The more he thought about it, the more he could remember something like a big fall, crying for his mother, fear, terror, and running free. He even thought he remembered the night he'd had the tracking collar put on him. "I... I was taken in by some humans. I..." He closed his eyes and lifted the menu up to hide his face.

Tennessee was too shocked to cry, Zeb muttered something about such sad news being given too early in the day, and Fred blubbered a little. Nothing was compared to Henry's expression of utter sorrow and loss. If Beary really was his lost son, how would he ever explain what happened to him? Maybe, when this whole shebang was sorted out, he could figure out what to do. Yeah.

"I've heard of parents abandoning cubs, but to leave them in the woods!" Tennessee exclaimed. "That's just cruel. Kid, I'm sorry for asking."

Jewel frowned. "You don't know that you were abandoned for sure, though, Beary. The Barringtons took you in because they found you alone in the woods, as I've told you before. Dex was just being a jerk." She leaned forward and gently nuzzled him, licking his snout.

Zeb, however, frowned. "Okay, what's up with you two? You dating or something?"

"What? No!" Jewel laughed. "He's my best friend and as close to me as a brother. I'm allowed to show affection, am I not?"

"Well, I guess. It's just odd, that's all. Usually you only see couples do things like that. I mean, you don't see me going over and biting Fred's ear all friendly like."

Jewel frowned, ears lowering slightly. "It's odd?"

"Yeah, totally."

"Oh..." She shifted over from Beary, who let out a soft whine and threw a spoon at Zeb's head, hitting right between the eyes.

"Ow! Hey!"

Henry groaned. "Surrounded by cubs, that's what this is. Bunch of cubs."

"Regardless... I can't play. The music's gone, boys and girl," Tennessee went on.

Beary slowly put down his menu and looked at him. "But we need everybody to pull this off, the whole band," he pleaded. "You can do it. You're Tennessee O'Neal, the world's best thang player."

"Kid, he's the only thang player. What he's the world's best at is being a crybaby," Zeb snorted.

"But!"

Tennessee grabbed his scruffy ears and shook his head as if it were full of bees. "No, no, no. I told ya. No Trixie, no thang."

"Why'd she break up with you?" Jewel asked finally, resting her chin on her paws. She was curious about her mother's past. Trixie never really spoke of Tennessee, though Jewel had heard her crying one night in a hotel room and peered over at her bed to find her holding a picture of Tennessee against her chest.

"Was it that sweater you're wearing?" Zeb asked, stifling a laugh.

"Huh?" Tennessee asked blankly. "I dunno. She up and left me. Said she wanted to strike out on her own. Met a panda who gave her a recording contract."

Henry raised an eyebrow, looking at him in surprise. As far as he'd been aware, Trixie St. Claire had a contract through Taylor Enterprises, along with a singing alias of Bonnie Riatt. She did have a panda manager, though. What was Tennessee on about?

"What's with the pandas? They get everything," Fred commented, shaking his head and looking at the menu.

"And they break your heart," Zeb muttered with a shake of his head.

Tennessee sighed. "I just want to know why I wasn't good enough for her."

"Are you sure it wasn't the sweater?" Zeb asked, this time laughing hysterically at the extremely colorful sweater his old friend was wearing.

"If I knew where she was, oh, boy, I'd be there in a second," Tennessee went on, ignoring Zeb's childish behavior.

Jewel reached into her pocket, fingering the cellphone she had. Should she turn it on and text her mother, asking where she was?

Beary glanced at her curiously and smiled. He leaned over and whispered into her ear. "Go for it. Maybe tell your aunt that you're getting the band back together while you're at it."

"After food, Beary," she replied softly, returning her attention to the speaking bears.

"But look, even if I could play, who'd come? Nobody cares about The Country Bears anymore! Nobody even knows who we are! They're all obsessed with young boybands!" Tennessee shook his head sadly.

Just then, two waitresses collided with one another, spilling a tray of food on the table and the other spilling not quite hot coffee down Tennessee's front. One was a pretty blond with gently tanned skin, and the other a female peach colored sloth bear with a pink nose.

"Oh, my gods! Sir, I'm so, so sorry!" the she-sloth cried, grabbing a wrapped up silverware's napkin – and sending the silverware crashing to the table with a loud clatter – and pressed the cloth napkin against his vest, trying to blotch out the horrendous coffee stains.

Tennessee was too shocked to respond to what just happened, and Zeb just roared with laughter.

"Even she thinks your sweater's ugly!" he cried, holding his arms.

Tennessee waved the waitress off and sighed, shaking his head. "It's fine. Simple accident. Don't worry about it."

"I'll have my parents comp off part of your bill, sir, I swear!"

"Cady, maybe you should talk to your parents before you make a promise, though I think in this case..." The human female shook her head as she picked up what food she could. "Hey, wait a minute..." She looked at the faces of the bears in shock. "Oh, my gosh! You're The Country Bears!"

Cady, the she-sloth, backed up and took a look at them as well, gray eyes wide. "It is! Ah! That just makes this so much worse!"

The human smiled and held out her hand to shake each paw. "I'm Jennifer. Jennifer Paige."

"You know who we are?" Tennessee asked incredulously.

"Sure!" both girls responded.

"You guys inspired us to go after our dreams to become famous singers!" the she-sloth Cady responded dreamily.

"Didja make it?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, Fred, they made it. They just work here for the free uniform!" Zeb said sarcastically. He turned sheepishly to the waitresses. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken," they responded with a laugh.

"My parents run this place. We work here when they really need the help and save up our money to try and get a studio to let us record something," Cady responded.

"Yeah, still working on it. Just glad I have a family to support me. Cady's parents were nice enough to give me a place to stay when I got kicked out of my old place. We've been sisters for about three years now."

Beary's ears lowered. This human had been adopted by bears, but she still thought of them as family? Maybe his human family could still be his family, too!

Jennifer smiled. "We even do one of your songs, Kick It Into Gear."

The band rolled their eyes.

"That old thing?" Zeb laughed a bit.

"Blow the dust off that one," Fred echoed.

Cady shyly tucked a piece of her hair behind her ears. "We kinda got our own arrangement."

"Let's hear it!" Beary and Jewel said enthusiastically.

"Here? Now?"

The bears that sat at the table crossed their arms, watching. "Tell you what – you sing, and I won't say anything about the spilled coffee," Tennessee grinned.

"Well, okay." The waitresses started to sing in loud, powerful voices that got everyone's attention. Two cooks in the back joined in, singing backup. A third cook suddenly picked up the rhythm, tapping his stainless-steel spatula on the grill. It wasn't long before he was whacking all the pots around him like drums.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the backup singers pulled out an electric guitar – and then the place really got jumpin'! The people in the diner went wild when the human waitress jumped up on the counter and sang, while Cady was below, swinging her hips from side to side, waving her arms in the air like she was reaching for the stars!

Jennifer nimbly danced over the cups, saucers, and plates on the counter.

"I don't remember that part!" whispered Zeb to his amazed friends.

Cady and Jennifer sang their hearts out. Three little old ladies whipped out horns and started to play. Everyone in the diner was swaying and clapping along.

"Hey, I kinda like this song," Fred said as Beary and Jewel climbed under the table and danced in the main part of the diner as tables and chairs were moved out of the way.

Tennessee was movin' to the groovin' in his seat. "Kinda?"

The whole place was cookin'. Busboys drummed on ratty old white buckets. The cooks drummed on anything they could find in the kitchen. Jennifer was still on the counter, dancing and singing, and Cady was still below her, laughing and singing like they were on the world's biggest concert stage. Both threw their hair around wildly to the beat of the drums. A whole line of truckers spun their stools in time to the beat.

Jennifer jumped off the counter, joining her bear sister on the floor. Both led the other waitresses in on the makeshift dancefloor, customers lining up behind them and following their moves.

Suddenly, while the song was ending, tables and chairs were moved back – somehow still in beat to the music – and Jennifer finished as a cook shot a plate into the air and dinged the dinner bell. "Order's up!"

Beary and Jewel returned to their seats – once again climbing under the table, while Jennifer reached into her pocket and pulled out a notepad. "Now then, how'd you guys like your eggs?"

No one responded for a bit, but then Zeb came out of his stupor. "Hot!"

Cady laughed. "Also, what are you all doing together?"

"We're getting the band back together!" Beary said excitedly. "Can you tell everyone? There's going to be a couple concerts."

"Sure! Just let me write down the information!" Jennifer listened to the cub and started writing, pulling the paper from her notepad and putting it in her pocket.

Henry smiled at them and reached into his pocket, pulling out an old business card. "You two keep ahold of this. I'll be back in the office in about two weeks or so. I think I may just have a proposition for you. I'd go over it with you further, but right now, I'm rather busy. But in two weeks, I'll see you at my recording studio if you're interested. Should have found you two years ago, but my wife's the talent scout."

Both girls let out excited squeals and, forgetting to pick up the tray of food and finishing the order taking, left to go tell the head of diner, Jack and Esmeralda Swinburne.

"I guess people do remember us," Tennessee put in.

"Yeah! Henry's even on TV!" Zeb responded, and everyone turned to look at the TV in confusion.

A reporter in a green tie and was reading from some papers he had clutched in his hand while a smaller picture showed an image of Henry. "Police believe that this bear is involved in the abduction of two ten-year-olds named Beary Barrington and Jewel St. Claire. Reports are unconfirmed at this time whether this older bear is willingly kidnapping, or if he was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you have any information, please call this number." At the bottom of the screen flashed a telephone number.

Jewel groaned. "Oh, geez."

Zeb turned to look at Henry. "You're kidnappin' them?"

"Of course not!"

Beary rolled his eyes. "Jewel, call that number before Henry gets in trouble."

"Already on it."

"Wait, no, you two!" Henry groaned.

Beary glanced around a moment and froze. He put a paw on Jewel's and lowered her phone to the table. "Guys, I think we might have a problem..." He pointed over at the door, where two cops had just walked in.

.~*~.

Hamm and Cheets smiled, proud of the work they had done so far. Earlier that day, they had interviewed a chubby bear named Big Al at Country Bear Hall, after getting their permission to cross county lines, and had been told that Beary and Jewel had been 'taken' by Henry Dixon Taylor. They had also been very enchanted by Big Al's beautiful Kentucky Fescue grass.

Naturally, they immediately gone to a TV station, who said that they'd air the information immediately. What Hamm and Cheets didn't know was that James and Jade had gotten ahold of the reporter, and had modified the information, as what they [the reporter] had been told was not 100% true information and could cause trouble for everyone involved, as both James and Jade knew Henry from past connections – Jade knew him through her father, and James knew him through Trixie – and were well aware that he'd never do anything like that.

"Those kids will be home in no time!" Hamm said, taking his seat at the table, ready to order some lunch.

Cheets nodded, lifting up his menu for a moment, and then glanced around the diner curiously, hearing the clattering of plates. "Wow, rude that someone would just leave such a big mess like that!" He then heard what sounded like a metal trashcan falling over outside, and peered through the blinds to see a group of bears racing towards a bus. "Suspicious activity at ten o'clock!"

Hamm looked at his watch. "How could you possibly know that? It's only noon, you doof!"

"Look outside!"

Hamm parted the shades and looked in time to see two cubs – one of them a very distinct golden color – give the two waitresses a hug and climb into the bus as well. "Let's go!" They grabbed their hats and raced outside in time to see the bus start pulling away. Quickly as they could, they jumped into their vehicle, unaware that they were being followed by another car, a silvery-blue pickup truck.