A/N: Hey guys, I'm back, I hope nobody missed me too much! The last couple of weeks have been terribly hectic and very unforgiving on me so I'll apologize for the late update and I'll let you get right into it so here's chapter 9 for you guys. Like always, read, enjoy and review!


Waking the next morning to the pleasant sounds of the birds chirping outside his window and the not so pleasant sound of the alarm clocks purposely obnoxious continuous beeping, Alvin turned over groaning loudly in contempt of the idea of waking up.

Reacting more so out of reflex, Simon quickly reached over and shut off the clock and stood from his bed, moving his head around in a circular motion to loosen up his stiff muscles he saw, like usual, that his younger brother had, much like himself, rejoined the realm of the living while his older brother continued to lay in his bed half asleep, "time to get up Alvin" he announced briskly.

"I know" Alvin mumbled to his brother through a sigh as he continued to lie on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Sighing again he began his process of mentally preparing himself for the next five days of school.

The way Alvin saw it, there were two kinds of people in the world; those who looked at Monday and reflexed back on the previous week and made commitments to change or do things differently that may not have worked. Then there were yet another type of person, the type of person that loathed Mondays because it was the start of yet another week full of pain and sufferable activities such as school or for most adults, work. Alvin reconciled with the fact that he fit into the second group, the Monday loathers. He accepted this idea and had no quarrel with it.

On the surface and even a couple of layers down Alvin felt this way, but deep down he was excited to start a new week. Sure, the routine became tedious, and if there was one thing Alvin hated it was a routine. He knew however that it was for the greater good, he knew Brittany needed and loved to have the company and spending time with his best friend was his favorite activity.

Sighing heavily thinking about that prospect the chipmunk snapped himself back and hurried to get ready and grab breakfast before it was time to leave for school.

..

Leaving the school building that afternoon with the remaining two chipettes the trio walked to the Millers' house. Upon reaching the house they found that Miss Miller and Brittany had returned not long before they had arrived. While Jeanette and Eleanor stopped in the kitchen to greet their guardian, Alvin continued right up the stairs and down the hall to the chipettes' bedroom where he knew Brittany would be.

Reaching the bedroom door he knocked lightly before reaching for the knob but found it locked, somewhat surprised by this, he knocked a little heavier on the hardwood door. "Britt?" he asked "it's me… open the door".

Alvin waited patiently for a little while, because he knew that although she was more mobile thanks to the medications, she was still shaky on her feet and it could take her sometime to walk even a very short distance. After nearly three minutes had passed he came to the conclusion that she was not going to open the door. Unsure of exactly why she would be ignoring him he slowly pressed his ear against the door to listen. From the other side of the door he could hear… sounds, they sounded like Brittany but it sounded like she was crying. Pulling his head away from the door he stared at the door confused for a moment before knocking again, "Britt is everything ok?"

Getting no response again he slowly turned and began walking down the stairs, as he slowly walked down the steps he began to get lost in his wandering thoughts. He tried to make sense of why she would be ignoring him and why she would be crying. Continuing to walk in his puzzled daze he meandered right out of the house and down the porch steps. Reaching the sidewalk he began walking home, every once in a while he would glance back to look at the house and ponder the mystery placed before him. Although it took him almost the entire walk home to think of an idea he finally had a plan to gather more information, as he turned to his right to walk up the path he continued spinning to completely reverse his direction of travel. Tearing off at a run he sprinted back to his friend's house, upon arrival he bypassed the front door and went right around to the side of the house where his personal 'side-door-tree' was standing. Like every other time he quickly climbed the tree and scooted out onto the branch, trying to remain as stealthy as he possibly could. Cupping his hands around his eyes to prevent glare from the sun he tried to peer through the window but much to his dismay the blinds were down and the curtains were drawn preventing any attempt to see into the room. Becoming desperate he tried to push the window open but it had been locked refusing any intruders access. He knew the only reason this upstairs window would be locked would be to keep him specifically out, he just needed to know why, was she mad at him? Had he done something wrong? He tried to think of anything he could have done or said to her to make her angry or upset but he kept drawing blanks.

Having no other choice the chipmunk resorted to a most basic form of espionage to gather information since he could not get to the chipette. Propping his body against the sill of the window he leaned his head against the pane glass window to listen for any activity in the bedroom of question. Being not as thick or dense as the hardwood bedroom door, the window did a better job of letting noise waves carry through to the covert listener.

"Brittany… are you sure that's the way you want it?" he heard a voice that he guessed was Jeanette's ask, although he could not tell for sure the voice sounded distraught and stressed maybe even sad.

He did not hear Brittany's response; she could have either given a nonverbal answer or merely said it too low for Alvin to hear from his perch outside the window. He did however hear Miss Miller's follow up comment, "if that's how you want to handle it honey, we'll support you".

"Yea… that's what family's for" he heard Eleanor add, her voice was clearly distressed.

This time he did hear Brittany's response, it sounded as if it was muffled by nasal congestion from crying a great deal, "I love you guys… thank you".

Alvin listened for a while longer but the room fell silent so he took his leave and left, now more confused than before he walked back home still trying to figure out now two things. First and foremost, why was Brittany ignoring him and was it in connection with something he did or said. Secondly he had to figure out what they were talking about in the bedroom and what if any significance it held for him.

..

Waking the next morning much like he did the previous one he started to repeat his daily routine, today however there was almost a cloud like atmosphere hanging over him, his heavy contemplation was draining his concentration on other matters.

When he and his brothers met up with chipettes at the corner it took all of his self-control to restrain himself from asking the girls about the conversation he had overheard but he knew it would be better not to tip his hand and hold his cards close to the vest, so to speak. Successfully fighting the urge he asked a different question instead, "how's Brittany doing?"

Jeanette hesitated for a short moment before replying, "she's doing ok… the tests and scans they're running on her took a lot out her".

"Uh huh" Alvin said affirmatively, he knew there was more to the story but Jeanette had no reason to lie to him or hide information from him so he took her explanation at face value.

As if in response to an unasked question Jeanette said in an almost apologetic tone of voice, "she's going to be going in and out of testing all week, so she's going to need her rest, it's probably best if you don't come by until the tests are done".

This statement caught Alvin off guard, he knew the medical tests and scans would wear her down significantly but he did not think it would have that great of a toll on her. Very reluctantly Alvin agreed to give her a break and not come by this week, Jeanette reassured him that her last round of testing was on Saturday so he would be able to come by Sunday and see his friend. Happy that there was a light at the end of the week long tunnel Alvin let the matter drop and choose to just accept the entire situation at face value.

The week that now only consisted of four remaining days but seemed like forever to the chipmunk finally passed, with the week over Alvin made the short journey over to his friend's house. Much like any other Sunday Alvin waited until early afternoon before heading over to give the Millers time to return from church. Reaching the house the chipmunk snuck into the house through the unlocked front door, wanting to remain unnoticed, he crept up the stairs and into the chipettes' bedroom through the already partially open door. Brittany was sitting on a bench like seat that was built into the sill of the bay window that overlooked the front yard with her back to the door.

Smiling to himself Alvin tiptoed silently into the room and right up behind the chipette. "It's nice outside today" he said suddenly, announcing his presence and startling the chipette, Brittany jumped and let out a surprised squeak as she turned to find Alvin standing right behind her. Pressing one hand to her chest as if to manually slow down her now rapid heartbeat, she turned to the chipmunk with a half angry half relieved expression, "Alvin… don't scare me like that" she said as Alvin sat down beside her.

The chipmunk shrugged off the reprimand; "sorry" he said more out of formality than actual remorsefulness. Taking a moment he thought about her reaction and studied her face for any expression that would signal she was holding any anger or contempt for him. Getting nothing from the chipette's behaviors he did notice however a heaviness of her mood an almost somberness that was not normally there. Shaking it off he changed the subject, he asked the question that had been burning into his mind for the past week, "what did the doctors say?" he asked curious as to how the regiment of tests she had undergone went.

Brittany sighed almost sadly as she contemplated the answer as if it were a difficult question, "nothing important" she said forcing a smile at the chipmunk before saying, "let's not talk about that".

Alvin was still curious and wanted to know more but he obeyed her wish and let the subject drop, letting his gaze drop as well he noticed something in her hands, "what's that you got there?" he asked noticing a string of beads she was holding. "Oh… these" Brittany said slowly moving the beads between her fingers, "they're rosary beads".

"What do they do?" Alvin asked looking at them curiously.

Brittany giggled at him as she held the string of beads up for him to see more clearly, "nothing silly, they're prayer beads".

"I say my prayers before bed but I don't use those… how do they work?" Alvin asked his curiosity peaking.

"They're mostly to help you keep count because for each bead you say one prayer, depending on the bead and position in the chain dictates which prayer you pray" Brittany explained.

"That's a lot of prayers" Alvin said noting the length of the cord.

Brittany nodded her agreement, "have you ever thought about your faith?" the chipette asked curiously.

"Ehh…I'm not really that religious" Alvin replied "I try to be…sometimes… but it's pretty hard".

Brittany nodded understandingly, "you just have to find an interest in it, I did, and you might too if you look a little harder".

The red capped chipmunk shrugged, although not completely dismissing the idea he put it on the back burner to be thought about at a later time, "you might be right" he said thoughtfully.

"Of course I'm right… when ain't I?" Brittany replied with a smile.

"Don't take that 'know it all' tone with me" Alvin said teasingly.

"Well, I just did… what are you going to do about it?" Brittany replied moving closer to him so they were practically nose to nose.

Instead of a reply Alvin tipped his head up a little and planted a quick friendly kiss on her forehead, "that's it, that's all I'm gonna do" he said with a smile making her giggle. "Are you allowed to go outside?" he asked getting a new idea.

"Alvin… even if I wasn't, why would I stay inside on such a beautiful day" Brittany replied with a smile.

Knowing he would get an answer like that he reworded his question, "what I meant is, would it be harmful for you to go outside" Alvin said restating his concern.

"I don't see why it would be… after all fresh air and sunshine never killed anybody" she said with a small smile.

Smiling back at her Alvin stood up from the bench and held out his hands for her to grab, pulling her to a standing position he helped support her. One of the medications she was taking had a habit to cause her to become dizzy when she stood up too fast. The dizzy spells could range from mild to severe sometimes severe enough to cause her to partially or even fully blackout, and they could last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. Being a more severe attack she teetered and began to fall backward. Faster than gravity could pull her down, Alvin caught her before she was able to hit the hard floor. Setting her back down to a sitting position he waited for the spell to pass before sliding his hand under her knees, positioning his other hand against her lower back he lifted her up cradling her in his arms. "Thank you Alvin", Brittany smiled up at him as he carried her towards the door.

"You're lighter than I thought" Alvin commented with a grin as he carried her across the room. The chipette snorted lightly at his comment about her weight, "you really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?" she replied with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"I get that from all the girls" Alvin said with an air of pride, "don't ruin the moment" Brittany warned.

"Right" Alvin said as he carefully walked down the stairs with the chipette in his arms.

Being careful to not alert the elder lady in the kitchen Alvin snuck out the front door with Brittany in the hopes that Miss Miller wouldn't notice the chipette missing from her bedroom. Walking down off the porch he headed around to the side of the house and sat down under one of the large trees, still holding Brittany but resting her on his lap. Sighing gently Brittany slid herself off his lap to sit next to him on the cool grass resting her back against the trunk of the tall tree, "thank you again Alvin".

"For what? I haven't done anything" the chipmunk replied

"For starters, you carried me all the way out here… you didn't have to do that, and more importantly, you're here right now… you're here for me; you've been here for me when I needed somebody the most" she replied looking upon his face with a very grateful expression, "what else could I ask for besides a friend that's always here for me?"

"I don't know…what else do you want, what do you want the most?" Alvin curiously

Brittany shrugged as she thought about this, "I want to runaway… far away, I want to leave this life behind and start over so I can live happily ever after" the chipette replied in a dreamy but hopeful tone as a smile overtook her face as she thought about this prospect.

Alvin smiled as well as he nodded, "well, we could but I don't think we would get very far because I don't have any money".

"Not now silly" Brittany laughed, "I mean when we're older"

"Oh… yea I knew that" Alvin said "we should do that then".

"And that's what makes use perfect friends" Brittany said happily, "even if you're not sure you can really make my wish come true you make it come true here" she said pressing her hand to her chest over her heart, "any of my other friends would have degraded the idea 'don't be stupid… stuff like that only happens in fairy tales'".

Knowing he couldn't leave well enough alone he had to let his ego get the best of him, the chipmunk grinned, "and they would probably say, 'you're running away with Alvin… oh we're so jealous'". Brittany giggled, and playfully punched him in the shoulder causing him to chuckle in reaction.

As silence began to fall between the two chipmunks Alvin began to think about several different things all with the common denominator of Brittany. Taking a moment he put all of them together in his mind and smiled down at Brittany as he began to think of a song. Reaching down he began to lightly tap a beat on his knees that corresponded with the song he was thinking of, getting the beat started he began to sing.

"I saw her yesterday
And I never felt a feeling like the one I felt today
And now she's taking over me
I've never met anyone like you
Cause I never could find the words to write you

She's been on my mind (she's working overtime)
She's got perfect reasons
Says she loves to talk to Jesus
I think I believe her when she says
Life can be so simple if we'd all just learn to pray

She's got every little thing I wanted
And it still feels just like the day it started
I'll say goodbye to the broken-hearted
And I could never express the way I felt before tonight

She sits there all alone
She's reading from a chapter that she sometimes calls her own
And now she's taken over me
This girl I once rejected
Has now become the girl of my dreams

She's got every little thing I wanted
And it still feels just like the day it started
I'll say goodbye to the broken-hearted
And I could never express the way I felt before tonight

She's not an ordinary girl
I see it in her eyes
I'm just an ordinary boy
God must have heard my prayers last night

She's been on my mind (she's working overtime)
She's got perfect reasons, says she loves to talk to Jesus
I think I believe her when she says
Life can be so simple if we'd all just learn to pray

Every little thing I wanted
And it still feels just like the day it started
So say goodbye to the broken-hearted
And I could never express the way I felt before tonight

She's not an ordinary girl
I can see it in her eyes
I'm just an ordinary boy
God must have heard my prayers last night"

As Alvin finished singing the last verse of the song he let his gaze fall upon the chipette's face, specifically her soft ice blue eyes. Reaching up with his index finger Alvin gently pressed against her nose in a playful gesture causing Brittany to giggle and without saying a word she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

Letting his cheeks blush a bright red he replied to her nonverbal compliment, "I'm glad you liked it" he replied slowly as he let his head slowly fall to the side to rest against hers. The two friends remained as such under the tree conversing over small talk and stuff of the like for several hours. Before they knew it dusk was starting to settle in over the neighborhood taking the place of the warm afternoon sun leaving with the cool chill of evening. For Alvin the slight change in temperature was no big deal he barely even noticed the slight chill in the air but Brittany's struggling immune system left her vulnerable to cold. As they continued to carry on their conversation about music and singing Alvin felt her body quake briefly with a shiver that she tried her best to hide. After the second body shaking shiver Alvin decided to silently call it a night, without saying anything to her he stood up and stretched the muscles in his back and arms that were stiff before he crouched back down to her level. Not waiting for her to try and stand on her own Alvin scooped her back up into his arms like he had to bring her outside and began to carry her towards the warm comfort of the house.

"Where are we going?" Brittany asked, her voice heavy with sadness because she feared she already knew, as he began to walk.

"Back inside" Alvin replied slowly.

Brittany sighed in slight sadness, "I guess we better… it is getting chilly out here".

Hearing the immense sadness in her voice over the most trivial idea of merely going back into the house brought sorrow to the chipmunk's heart. This sorrow caused him to stop walking for only a moment before he came up with an alternate idea, hopefully an agreeable compromise that she would be content with. Stepping over the top step onto the porch the chipmunk moved over to the porch swing that resided at the far end by the light fixture that was mounted on the wall just over the swing. Setting her down on the swing he explained that he would be back momentarily before he disappeared into the house.

Brittany waited on the porch for about 5 whole minutes, as she checked her watch she wondered what he could possibly be doing. After a minute or two more she was about to attempt to see what was taking him so long but before she could move he reemerged from the house carrying a warm thick blanket in one hand and a hot mug of tea in the other.

"For you" the red capped chipmunk said with a cheerful smile as he handed the chipette the warm beverage, "green tea, slightly sweetened… just the way you like it".

Brittany was surprised and very grateful that he remembered what type of tea and how she liked it, "thank you Alvin" she thanked him after taking a short taste, "it's perfect".

Before sitting down he took a moment to gently wrap the blanket he had brought out around her back and shoulders. Very accepting of the extra warmth the chipette drew up her legs and tugged the blanket around tighter as he sat down beside her.

Taking another sip of her herbal drink the chipette sighed lightly, "you know; evening is probably my favorite time of the day".

Although he probably already knew why he was curious to know if he actually knew so he inquired, "why's that?"

Taking in a long deep breath through her nose taking in all the sweet smells she carefully thought about her reply, "it's just the way everything feels… everything feels at rest. The air smells fuller, sweeter… it's cooler, but generally not too cold… it's just an overall pleasant time of day".

Nodding his understanding and agreeance he took a moment to look around, what she had said was mostly why he figured she liked the evening. He mostly liked the evening because it was almost time to sleep, one of his favorite hobbies, if sleeping could be considered a hobby. "Evening is pleasant… especially this one" he replied softly as he continued to let his eyes wander around his surroundings taking in everything that was seeable.

Returning his gaze back to her, he found her staring into her drink as if looking for answer to a complex question, the resolution to an unsolved puzzle but was still not finding it. Continuing to practically stare at his friend he became lost in thought trying to figure out what she could possibly be thinking so hard about.

With the previous conversation all but dried up the auburn haired chipette stared down into the mug that contained her warm beverage as if contemplating something… something important. 'I should tell him something' she mused silently in her mind as she wrestled with the idea. Slowly biting her lower lip, a thoughtful tick that she had, she began speaking, she was not sure why, she really did not want to say anything but she felt this compelling urge to offer up some information.

"Did you know that Philadelphia has the second best children's hospital in world?" Brittany asked with a very thin smile, almost forced.

Honestly, Alvin had never given that prospect any thought what so ever, he had no reason to, "no… I didn't know that" he replied gently as he slowly shook his head, he could not help but wonder why she was telling him this… what purpose did it serve if any? Maybe she was just sharing her knowledge? But to what ends? Was it significant in some way? Probably not. Alvin's brain quickly re-categorized the new information as more or less useless and shoved it to the back of his memory as unimportant.

After Brittany had shared that piece of knowledge she took to pondering why exactly she even mentioned it. It really was not of any importance to Alvin, why would he care? Her mental journey took her around and around as she tried to figure out why she felt compelled to share such information. Although not of free will her mental travels were cut short as her body suddenly felt the need to let her know she was tired by forcing her to let out a long yawn. Recovering from the involuntary action she found it hard to keep her eyes open and let them slide shut to relieve the heaviness she felt in her eye lids as she let her head rest against the back rest of the swing.

Observing these actions, Alvin knew it must be time for her to go to bed; it had been a long and pretty eventful day for her in her current state of being. Taking point on moving her back to her bedroom the chipmunk stood up from his seated position and moved in front of her. Extending his hands for her he gave her a quick nod, "bed time Britt".

As she took his hands she nodded her agreement. Using his grip on her hands he slowly pulled her to a standing position being care to not pull her up to quickly as to give her a dizzy spell.

His maneuver was a success; he got her standing on her own two legs without her lapsing into a fit of dizziness. Although she was shaky on her feet with his support in the form of an arm wrapped around her middle back, while she used his shoulder to steady herself the duo was able to make it up the steps and into the chipettes' bedroom without incident.

Not wanting to deprive her of the precious sleep she needed, after depositing her by her dress so she could get changed Alvin began to head for the door only to be stopped by his friend. "Alvin…" she called out in a small voice just loud enough to grab his attention.

With his attention redrawn to the chipette the red capped chipmunk spun around on his heel to face the auburn haired chipette who was addressing him. Seeing that she had his attention she smiled at him, "good night Alvin".

Nodding quickly he returned the salutation, "good night Britt".

"Will you be by tomorrow?" she asked hoping for an affirmative response which he did indeed give.

"Like always… directly after school" he said with a wide smile.

"I suppose I'll see you then" she said as he once again began heading for the door.

Reaching the door way the chipmunk stepped through shutting the door behind him saying as he did, "good night Britt, sleep well". Without waiting for any response he finished shutting the door and made his way out of the house and onto the street where he began his walk back to his own residency.

Every time he left her, even knowing he was returning the very next day he could not help but feel a void opening wider and wider every single time. The feeling was impossible for him to describe, it was a longing, a needing, a hole that needed to be filled but it was only fillable with one thing and one thing alone, her, Brittany Miller.

As this strange feeling seemed to overtake his thought process he tried to figure out why, what could possibly be causing this feeling? 'Maybe, it's because she's not feeling well and I don't want to leave her alone… I want to help her?' he contemplated this idea for quite some time. Was that truly it? Did he just feel sorry for her because she was sick? The prospect of feeling sorry for her, for some reason unknown to him churned his stomach, 'no… I don't pity her, that can't be it'.

'Perhaps it's just because we're best friends… I have a longing to be with her. Is it natural to feel that way about your best friend?' This question seemed to hang over him as neared home, if this was the reason, which made sense; was it weird that he had an almost emotional craving to be with the pink clad chipette?

Coming up the path to his front door the chipmunk sighed loudly as the continued to think about this question, 'you know what, no, it's not weird, we're best friends… that's the way best friends are supposed to feel about each other… inseparable under any circumstances… just like we are'.

With the utmost conviction in his new found belief of best-friendship he allowed that train of thought to pull into the station to let off its excess passengers easing his mind on the matter. With that concept out of the way he would be able to sleep easy at least tonight knowing where exactly he and Brittany stood in their friendship.


A/N: There you go chapter 9, I know it may feel like I'm just spinning my wheels on this story a little bit but the plot is thickening, slowly but steadily. In the next couple of chapters is where the plot really takes off and escalates quickly stay tuned and be ready. Again I hope you enjoyed this chapter so go ahead and drop me a line, I love hearing from you guys!

Oh, and quick disclaimer I do not own any rights to the song used in this chapter titled "Every Little Thing", all the rights belong to the artists "Hawk Nelson".