I am so sorry about the long wait! I really struggled with writer's block during this chapter. I also am working on finishing up a fic for another fandom, so that took up a lot of my time. But now I am back, and hopefully this chapter is a good enough excuse for my long absence! If not, then... I'm sorry ;-;

Also, keep a lookout for any one shots I may be posting soon! Lots of people have given me ideas and inspiration, and I honestly need to write out these ideas before I forget what I want to do with them XD

In any case, enjoy! Please review and let me know what you think.

Johnny's truck rumbles to a stop, the engine growling behind the front grille. He sets it into park and hops down, quickly moving around the other side to the right door. Gingerly he takes his passenger's hand, as if it is a flower petal he doesn't want to crush, and helps her down from the tall vehicle.

As Ash's feet hit the sidewalk, she glances up. "Oh," she sighs. "So this is why we had to dress up."

"Wasn't my idea to come 'ere, trust me," Johnny says as he hands the keys to the valet. "If it had been up to me, we'd be pullin' up in front o' a nice burger joint 'ight 'bout now." He runs forward a few steps to hold the door open for her, but a prim and proper baboon doorman beats him to it.

When they enter the restaurant, Ash can feel the monkey's gaze hot on them. It's not tough to figure out why; her "dress" is a dark red one that is very rough around the edges, with a few slashes near the hem to give it a more ruffled appearance. It's so short that it required jeggings to be worn underneath. It is more like a tunic, really, than a dress.

Johnny is sporting a pale blue button down that looks nice on him. She secretly appreciates his decision to leave the top button undone— which exposes a few more tufts of dark chest hair than his usual green shirt does— but the baboon doesn't seem to agree with that choice. Even so, the doorman stays silent and lets them pass under his laser-like gaze.

From across the room, they glimpse Buster waving at them. Their boss, along with Eddie, Rosita, Gunter, and Meena, is seated at a large round table close to the squid tanks in the center of the dining area.

Shyly, the pair joins the group. Ash squeezes in between Rosita and Meena, while Johnny is a third wheel trapped between Buster and Eddie. The koala is already turned around, engaged in some kind of sign-language interaction with the squids. A few of them are glaring at him, tentacles crossed.

"Um…" Ash leans in to whisper in Meena's ear. "They don't look happy."

"I think they're the guys who got washed down the storm drain," Meena mutters back. "If I were them, I'd definitely be traumatized."

At last Buster turns back to the table, his ears drooping slightly, as their waiter walks up. Once everyone's drinks are ordered, Buster grins at Ash.

"I arranged this special dinner just for you, Ash! In honor of your return."

"Oh." Sheepishly, she rubs her arm. "You didn't have to do this—"

"No, we wanted to," Eddie assures her. "We were so worried about you, in a way it's like we're also celebrating our relief."

Buster grins stiffly and raises his empty wine glass. "Yay to me being off my anti-anxiety medication!" he cheers.

Guilt floods Ash as everyone else chimes in with their own unusual toasts. These included, but were not limited to: Rosita becoming so distracted that a few of her children ran rampant around the grocery store; Meena baking a new cake every night just in case Ash were to show up at the theater that day; and Gunter gaining five pounds from binge eating. Ash is only able to celebrate her relief when the guilt-tripping confessions are over.

"S- so," she says. "Where are Mike and Ms. Crawly?"

"Ms. Crawly had a date with this new man she met on that dating website, and Mike is… oh, right there," Rosita explains, nodding toward the entrance.

Mike strides in wearing his entire getup: purple velvet suit, fedora, and a venomous smirk. He takes the hat off as soon as he enters, makes a face when the baboon offers to take it from him, then heads over to their table and begins to climb up onto a chair.

"Sorry I'm late, folks," he grunts as he struggles to heave himself onto the chair. "Got held up by my dear lady again."

Eddie leans over the table, eyebrow arched as everyone watches the mouse scrabble his way up the chair leg as if it were a tough-to-scale mountainside. "Uh, do you need help, Mike? Like… maybe a booster chair or something so you can see the table—"

"Me? Need a booster chair?" Mike snorts. "Don't make me laugh, Fluffy." Finally, he makes it onto the chair, and remains standing so that the tips of his round ears can be seen. He calls up to everyone while trying to hide his breathlessness from his climb. "So, did I miss the guilt-trip Ash session or…?"

Ash feels her face flush, though from annoyance or shame she can't be sure. Luckily the waiter brings their drinks right then, and she's able to drown any impending spiteful words in her water.

"Are you all ready to order?"

The waiter's question is met with a smile from Buster, one that's so wide it stretches his cheeks to their peak elasticity. "I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm perfectly fine with my eucalyptus and mayo sandwich here." He raises the aforementioned object, not noticing when a mayo-soaked leaf lands on the freshly-ironed tablecloth.

"Sir," the tiger says as the beginnings of stress marks appear on his furry forehead, "I'm afraid you cannot bring your own food into this dining establishment."

Buster frowns. "Oh. Well, I… I just thought…"

"Wait a minute," their waiter goes on as if he hadn't spoken. "You're that koala, aren't you? The one that Paul kicked out a few months ago?" He doesn't even give Buster time to answer. "I'm afraid you and your party will have to be escorted out. We cannot allow such… disgusting behavior as you exhibited here in November to happen again."

The group exchanges disappointed glances, some more curious than others. Ash is one of them; just what did Buster do last name that was so bad?

"Sir," the tiger says. "If I must ask you again I will have to call for backup."

A minute later, the theater family is standing outside the restaurant, dumbfounded. Almost every pair of eyes is cast on Buster.

"Jeez, Moon. What did you do in there, murder somebody?" Mike demands.

"No. I just… there was a mishap. It wasn't a big deal," the koala replies absently. He kicks suddenly at a pebble, sending it skittering down the sidewalk. Then his huge ears perk up, and a cheery grin is restored to his face. He turns to face the others.

"Come on, you guys! We can't let getting booted to the curb bring us down! The evening is still young. This is a big city. There are plenty of other places to go!"

Ash crosses her arms. "We'll just have to make sure you're allowed in them first."

"Very funny, Ash."

Just then, the valet pulls up with Johnny's truck. Another one comes up on a rickety bicycle, while a third arrives with Rosita's minivan.

There's only a single snort from somewhere in the group as the valet dismounts the bike and disdainfully lets it fall onto the ground with a fragile clunk.

"Hey, hey! This is a vintage Schwinn right here. Doing that is the equivalent of dropping a diamond ring into the gutter." Buster rushes over to retrieve his precious bicycle while shooting a glare at the penguin.

"Not really," Ash mutters. Johnny nudges her in the ribs, and she turns her own scowl on him. "How about you try nudging me in the back next time and see what happens?" she hisses.

Rosita fishes her keys out of her bag after tipping her valet. "Look, everyone. I really need to get home in forty-five minutes to tuck my kids into bed. If we're not getting along, then I think we should just call it a night."

"No, wait! Please!" Buster mounts his bike and makes a wide sweeping motion with one arm. "Everyone, just get in a car and follow me."

"Where are we going?" Meena asks.

Their boss grins, and Ash gets a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "You'll see."

Johnny and Ash climb back into the cab of his truck, while everyone else piles into Rosita's minivan. To any outsider, it must be a hilarious or disconcerting sight to see two cars closely following a small koala on a bicycle. But to everyone in the group, it is just another average day. If the sky falls right now, none of them would even bat an eyelash.

Sure enough, the brakes of Buster's bicycle squeal to a stop in front of the Moon theater. Johnny and Rosita are quick to pull over their respective vehicles, while Buster parks his beloved bike in a secure spot and waves hello to the squids as they walk under their tanks and into the lobby.

The group weaves between the aisles of seats, their footsteps echoing and bouncing off the walls of the cavernous room. Buster takes them up onto the stage, where he plops down in the center and grins gleefully. He takes his sandwich back out of its back and takes a big, crunchy bite.

"Here we are," he says. "We don't need a fancy restaurant"— he pauses to swallow— "to welcome Ash back home."

Eddie sits down next to him with a resigned sigh. He loosens his bowtie and slides it off of his neck. "Hey, if it means I can take off your super-tight bowtie, then I'm all for it."

Buster smirks. "What, it couldn't fit around all that fluff?" He reaches up to plant a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek.

A groan comes from Mike. "I wish you'd informed me this is a couples' night. If you two get to be all cutesy-patootsy, then I should be allowed to romance my woman in front of…"

Abruptly, his rant tapers off. Multiple pairs of eyes are glued on Ash.

"Uh, is something wrong?" she asks, confused. Her moment of realization arrives the very next second.

Instinct had taken ahold of her, and now she's leaning her head against a certain somebody's muscular arm.

In front of the entire crew.

"Shit." Play it cool Ash, just play it cool. And yet the words do nothing except make her cheeks hotter than two burners on a stove. She jerks backwards away from Johnny as if he has sprouted a second head. "Um…"

There's a gleam in Meena's eyes that Ash doesn't like one bit. Their friend leans forward and props her chin on her foot with a mischievous air so foreign to her personality.

"So, I'm not only the third wheel to my two best friends," the elephant begins, "but I'm now officially the only single one in the group. Yay me."

"Meena!" Ash and Johnny explode at the same time. Various obscenities rage within Ash's mind, along with several curses on her friend.

"Well, you weren't exactly hiding your affection there, sweetheart," Mike points out. Ash scowls at him.

Rosita is busy taking out her earrings. "I've actually known for a while too," she admits. "I was watching both of your faces during the interview with Wendy. Particularly when she was, um, discussing how Meena and—"

"Yas!" Gunter cuts in, to Ash's relief. "Eet ees often when two souls seeng a duet where the root of true love forms."

Eddie picks a eucalyptus leaf out of Buster's sandwich, sniffs it, then bites into it with a shrug. "Yeah, I walked by your rehearsal room a few weeks back and saw you two swapping spit against the wall. I thought everyone knew already."

When Ash turns to look up at Johnny, he's glancing down at her tenderly. She doesn't even resist when he takes her hand and encloses it in his warm palm. It feels so right, there is no way she can deny his touch.

Yet there's still some tension remaining on the stage. The only one who has yet to speak is Buster.

The koala tosses his half-eaten sandwich away. His face is frozen in an expression of shock.

"Buster?" Eddie asks.

It's like somebody dropped Buster in the middle of a horror film. He sits, still as a statue, made of furry gray stone. The only sign of life is the faint movement of his chest.

"Buster, are ya alright?" Johnny says, a note of concern palpable in his voice.

Then, out of nowhere, Buster lifts his fist into the air as a shaky grin forms on his face. "Yay to me being back on my anti-anxiety medication!" he cheers.

Ash's stomach drops. If only he knew the worst of it.

oo0oo

Every night since she came back from her parents' home, Ash has stayed at the garage. Johnny doesn't mind this at all. The only irritation is something trivial: he treads more carefully around the place. He always cleans up after himself, always washes every dish rather than leaving it in the sink for later.

He also keeps a close eye on her. He would do this anyway, but knowing her particular condition, he does it all the more insistently. He is fully aware that if he were to admit this aloud that he would get a face full of spines, but it would be a small price to pay in exchange for her wellbeing.

Every day, he has to banish the same question over and over again: "What are you going to do?" The words creep up his throat, but they never make it off his tongue. He doesn't want to stress her out. Yet at the same time, carrying her ex's child is an obvious burden on her. He hates to see her like this, and he hates to feel so useless.

Johnny arrives home late one night a few days after their relationship was confirmed to the theater group. He had run out to the store really quick to pick up some necessities, and as he slides under the heavy metal door, her voice comes to charm him almost immediately.

"Isn't anyone trying to find me? Won't somebody come take me home?"

The words are accompanied by the soft strum of guitar strings, but it's the melody her exceptional voice produces that captures him. The lyrics glide up her throat and dance off her tongue.

"It's a damn cold night… trying to figure out this life… w- won't you take me by the hand?"

Johnny gently sets the groceries on the counter and takes calculated, soft steps up the staircase. He goes down the short hallway and stops in the open doorway of his bedroom.

She's sitting cross-legged on top of his bed, which dwarfs her even more than Johnny himself. She is surrounded by an ocean of blue sheets that are crinkled and crumpled like waves receding from the shore. Music sheets are littered around her. Her guitar case sits open to the side, while her prized instrument rests in her lap. Her fingers and the guitar pick make a great team as she works them over the strings.

"Take me somewhere new… I don't know who you are, but I… I'm with you…"

It takes every ounce of strength in his body to not pounce on top of her. She looks stunning in this moment, illuminated only by the watchful yellow gaze of his nightstand lamp. He sees her nose twitching furiously and her eyes directed at the ceiling; a clear-cut sign that she's holding back tears.

She utters out the final line of the chorus as he approaches her. His deeper voice combines with hers beautifully.

"I'm with you…"

Hearing the unexpected tone lurking behind hers startles Ash. She sets down the guitar and glances up at him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles. "It's just… that's an old song I used to love a- and… well, I just get it so much more now."

He takes her hand and squeezes it. "You 'ave absolutely nothin' ta be sorry for. It's a beautiful song for a beautiful girl ta sing."

She shuts her eyes, and the tears leak out, tinged black with mascara. She falls backward onto the bed, which Johnny now notices is covered in quills as well as music sheets.

"Ash…" he starts.

"They fall out a lot when I'm stressed out. Sometimes it's nice to just"— she reaches behind her and yanks out another spine, flicking it away— "yank them out. It feels good."

"No," Johnny says. "Don't do that to yourself." His body reacts faster than his brain to her compromising position. He crouches over her, running his hands over her small body.

"Johnny," she shudders.

His mind panics, as he realizes she must be intimidated by his hulking size. He rips himself away from her. "I- I'm sorry— I don't want to hurt you."

She frowns, brushing several quills off the sheets. "I- I don't want to hurt you either."

"You won't," he says confidently.

"You can't," she replies.

Still he hesitates. His chest heaves over hers, and when he exhales they're almost touching.

"I know you won't crush me," she murmurs. "Just as I won't prick you. This is about trust, Johnny. I feel safe with you."

His mouth falls open. He knows how silly he must look, and yet his jaw seems wired to hang open that way. "Ya do?"

"Safe as I've ever felt." Her paws trace over the bulging muscles in his arms, and he feels an odd desire to rid himself of his shirt. Her words are like a boost to an ego that has never been especially inflated. He puffs out his chest, and at last he bends down over her and allows his lips to connect with hers.

They continue with this for several minutes, engaging their mouths in this pure bliss and magnetic attraction. He's taken aback when she suddenly moves her lips off of his and travels downward. She's clinging onto his shirt, pulling him as far down as he can go so that his body is pressed against hers. She nuzzles into his neck, nibbling and sucking at the rich black fur there. Goosebumps ripple over his skin.

He's only had a few encounters in the past similar to this. It has been a while, but now old instincts are kicking in. He swallows a groan of pleasure and focuses on sliding the zipper down her back.

She doesn't protest. Rather, she mimics him. Her hands find the hem of his shirt and pull upward. Simultaneously, they shrug out of their tops. His jeans feel tight and hot, squeezing his legs like a coiled rattlesnake.

He is so lost in this amazing moment with her that the alarm bells don't go off in his head until far too late. They are tangled in the sheets and tangled in each other when his eyes finally pop open. There she is, naked from the waist up with clumps of his dark chest fur grasped in her fists. Worry and second thoughts consume him, and he leans away from her.

"Johnny…" She whimpers gently, her eyes wide and very extraordinarily blue when they land on him. "Please…"

"I don't wanna hurt you." He sits up, gathering his shirt and holding it up to his chest.

"I said, you're not going to—"

He shakes his head vigorously. Tears sting the back of his eyes. "Ash, I can't do this! Ya say I won't hurt ya, but there's still a chance I might. An' if I hurt ya, then I could never forgive myself."

A look of malice glitters in her gaze. "So you're gonna reject me? Just because of how I… h- how I am?" Her voice is mocking and scornful when she goes on. "Because of my 'condition'?"

It's like she has been reading his mind all along. He buries his face in his hands, refusing to meet her angry look.

"Ash… ya need ta figure that out. Or, rather, we need ta. There's some trust on your end, maybe, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't trust ya completely yet!" he bursts out. "Ya just left town, without any warnin'. What if ya do that again? Tomorrow I could wake up and you'll be gone. Do ya know what that feels like? I- it's like you're takin' a grater ta my heart, just shreddin' it over an' over an' over…"

She blinks down at her lap, then back at him. "I'm sorry… I don't mean to hurt you." She laughs grimly. "You said I wouldn't hurt you, and yet here we are."

There is a long period of silence. Johnny knows he should put his shirt back on, but he doesn't make any move to. Before she came here, he always used to sleep shirtless. The past week he's worn a shirt to bed, but it feels so unnatural to him.

Besides, she isn't putting her shirt back on, either. So what's the point?

"Maybe we should… like, start over," she says. "Everything has gotten so screwed up over the past month and a half. If we just revert back to how things were in the middle of June, then maybe we'll be alright."

He nods. "I see your point, but… everyone knows about us already. A- and you're…" He can't bring himself to say it. But, luckily, she knows what he's implying.

"We can take things slower," Ash tells him. She speaks carefully, going through each word like a well-timed baby step forward. "And we'll tell each other exactly how we feel. We won't hold anything back, not anymore. And…"

He tilts his head. "And?"

She closes her eyes and exhales. "I'll tell Lance what's going on."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she mutters. "He deserves to know."

Please note: those song lyrics are not mine and probably should not be included here; I know. I'll remove them if I must. But I really thought they were necessary to make this scene a little more emotional. They are from the song "I'm With You" by Avril Lavigne. It's a really beautiful song and I find it very fitting for Ash in her current situation, so I recommend you give it a listen if you haven't already ^^