Chapter Eleven

"WAAAAHHHH!"

Surly sat up right, snapped awake and looking around his knothole and looked around to see what was causing that racket in the middle of the night and quickly realized that it was Baby Maddy crying again. With a yawn, Surly walked over to one of the cradles Megan had created for her new siblings and picked up the crying baby "There there babe, Daddy's here now. Please go to sleep."

It had already been a week since the children were born and Surly was half ready to go mad with lack of sleep due to his children crying all hours of the night for many different reasons, mainly Maddy who cried the most while the others were sound sleepers. And tonight was none different.

"Ugh, I cannot take one more sleepless night like this." Surly said with a yawn as he rocked the still crying baby.

Andie came over, just as tired as Surly as she yawned and said "Maddy can't sleep again?"

"And if she doesn't get any sleep soon, I'll have to do something drastic." Surly said "Like staple my ears shut."

"I wish we knew what to do." Andie said as she yawned "If only we had our parents around."

"They'd probably wouldn't give us the time of day." Surly said

"Excuse me?" Andie asked, slightly offended "My parents loved me very much, it's not my fault yours were the worst."

"Say what?" Surly asked "And what makes you think yours were any perfect they were probably just as worse!"

As Andie and Surly began to argue, their loud voices woke up Baby Isabelle and Baby Ben, causing them to cry as the arguing continued for a good few moments before finally Buddy, who couldn't stand the fighting that was waking up the entire park anymore, came in and covered their mouths with his paws.

With Andie and Surly quiet, Buddy went to work trying to sooth all three crying babies. Effortlessly, he gently picked them up and held them close in his arms, gently rocking them and humming a soft, soothing tune that the pair could've sworn was a lullaby.

What was even more surprising what that the babies were slowly stopping and were now cooing in the rat's arms, gently snuggling him before as the babies slowly began to settle down and yawned. Finally they were both sound asleep and Buddy gently put them back into their cradles.

Andie and Surly were relived and impressed that Buddy had managed to settle down their children all by himself and Surly said "Well, what do you know? Buddy's a natural when it comes to child care."

"Yes, he is. This must be why he's so affectionate and caring." Andie said

Surly walked over to his buddy and slung an arm around him "Thanks for helping us out. I mean it."

Buddy looked at Surly with a smile... then it changed to an annoyed one as Surly remembered why he was like this: ever since the babies began waking up in the middle of the night both Andie and Surly have become confused, cranky and tired all the time... especially that one time he snapped at his friend just because Buddy wanted to play with the babies.

"Buddy... i'm so sorry I snapped," Surly said softly "I didn't mean too... I was just tired. Taking care of babies is hard work, but you made it look so easy. Would you mind giving us some pointers and advice sometimes?"

Buddy smiled again and hugged Surly, which was soon joined by Andie as she said "I'm sorry too boys... I didn't mean to fight with anyone, and we've been fighting with everyone lately."

"But it's not entirely our fault." Surly said "We just couldn't keep it together due to lack of sleep."

"But still, we love our children very, very much and I don't know what i'd do if I never saw my precious darlings ever again... just the thought of it gives me nightmares." Andie said

Andie wrapped her arms around Surly and he hugged her back, rubbing her back with is paws up and down to comfort her as he said "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to our babies. Daddy will always be there for them, no matter what."

"Mommy will too." Andie said with a sigh, watching her three little darlings sleep.

Buddy was about to leave when Andie grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a hug from both squirrels as Surly said "Not so fast Buddy, your still part of our family. And I can already tell you are already a perfect fit to our family. Our kids already agreed with that."

Buddy felt touched and looked at the babies with his heart melting by how adorable they looked when they were asleep. Buddy decided to spend the night with them as he slept with the babies close by. Andie and Surly decided to go back to sleep as well, knowing that their children were safe in the hands of their loving uncle.

The next morning Surly bid good bye to Andie, who was staying behind to take care of their triplets, and went off with Buddy to the mill where Megan was already in her animal costume and surrounded by several other animals who wanted to go and hunt for food with the girl.

"Is everybody ready for today?" Surly asked the group.

Megan's stomach rumbled loudly and she rubbed her furry middle as she said "I'm starving."

"Don't worry baby, we'll get you fed really soon." Surly said "Now does anyone have any questions before we begin our mission?"

"I do." Said a chipmunk girl "And I've been meaning to ask everyone this for quite some time... but where is Grayson?"

Grayson, the old park hero, who the animals had quickly replaced with Surly once they found out Surly was the one who saved them from starving during their first ever nut raid long ago. In fact, as far as Surly knew, nobody had ever seen or heard from Grayson in quite a long time.

Surly sent a pigeon to retrieve him but when the bird came back he reported that Grayson's knothole was filled with cobwebs and dust, indicating that he hadn't been home in a very, very long time. But if Grayson was no longer in the park when where was he and how long had he been gone with nobody else knowing about it until now?