A/N: This chapter is very long compared to my others. It looks better to not have this spit into two chapters so pardon my scatterbrain writing and just enjoy.

Flicker in My Life

By Fantasy Cat

Chapter Four

Disc: If you know who they are, then someone else owns them.

Back at the clubhouse, the Ham-Hams were left utterly confused. And then, Pashmina came in. She was warmly dress in a pink winter set (to match her scarf). Penelope followed suit with extra layers over her.

"Didn't you hear what happened? Bijou's house burned down."

All the Hams were in complete shock at the news. "Burned down?!" Oxnard cried. "You mean ashes and soot burned down?!"

"I just hope she got out okay. Penelope and I passed by the house and we were both in shock. We were looking for her a while and when we couldn't find here, we thought she would be here."

"You don't think…" said Panda.

"OH BIJOU!" cried Oxnard as tears came out of his eyes like waterfalls.

"Pull yourselves together, gang," said Hamtaro. "I just know that Bijou had to have made it out. Why don't we go the house and search for her again."

"And what about Boss," asked Howdy.

"We'll leave him a note. Knowing Boss, he'll be just as worried about Bijou as we are to come and find us."

"We better get going before the snow starts to hit," said Maxwell.

"Yeah! Let's go!" cried the Hams-Hams as they set to venture out in cold weather.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Boss was holding on to Bijou as they were traveling underground. Unlike the tunnels to the clubhouse, the tunnels that the two were traveling were either too sooty or muddy and Bijou found it rather uncomfortable.

"We're here," said Boss. They came upon a badly made wooden door, and Boss banged on it. It sounds as if some party was going on inside according to Bijou's ears.

"Password," called a voice from behind the door.

"Now, let's see…I remember this one, Boss thought long and hard. "Oh yeah, I remember now…'muck hamster'" The door open and a gruff pinkish female hamster greeted the twosome in.

"Well, Boss. Long time no see. I see you got yourself a girl hamster there, but you know our policy."

"Yeah I know, Myra, but this is what you call…well…an emergency. My Bijou here needs some medical attention and this was the closest place to go. Cant you let it slide, just this once?"

"Well, okay, but only because we've all been missin' ya for a while. Bring her on back and she can rest in the guest room for a bit." Myra waved for Boss and Bijou to follow her.

Through the large darkened room they traveled hamsters were at tables playing cards and pool a bar was off to the side where a hamster was serving snacks. As they walked through the place, all the gruff and dirty looking hamsters seemed to stare, moreso at Bijou.

"What kind of place iz thiz, Boss?"

"It's a club. You know kind of like the clubhouse except it's strictly for field and wandering hams. But Myra's sweet enough to let ya get some rest here."

They arrived in the small back room. Only a bed and a badly made table with a light on top occupied the room. Boss took Bijou to the bed. Myra passed Boss a blanket and he took the liberty of shyly tucking Bijou in. "Why don't I make you some sunflower soup while you're resting," Myra said to the dozing Bijou. "And Boss, you can treat yourself to a drink? You can tell Pocko it's on the house."

"Thank you Myra. I should let Bijou rest for a while," said Boss as he slowly progressed out. He took one last look at poor Bijou who was already falling asleep. "Get better Bijou," he whispered.

"Hey Boss man! What can I get for my old buddy?" asked Pocko, the club bartender.

"Sunflower seed schnapps for starters," said a quiet Boss, even though he hasn't seen these old friends of his in a while. "You bet," said Pocko.

Boss was scratching at the edge of the old bar table while waiting for his drink. Everything was made of scarp bark and mulch so it didn't matter if any damage was done to the place.

"A girl hamster Boss?" said a familiar yet unknown voice that took his place at the bar next to Boss. "And a white one too."

"Not so color blind anymore aren't we, Chief?" said Boss in a gruff voice.

"Come on, every hamster in this club can tell the difference between a field and a sophisticated. You think you can pass off some white hamster with neat fur and blue ribbons as a field hamster?"

"Myra said she could come in. She's too sick to be outside."

"Want something, Chief" asked Pocko as he handed Boss his sunflower seed schnapps.

"Berry spirit," said Chief. He wanted to turn his conversation back to Boss. "Word has it you turned your place into a clubhouse for house hams."

"It's true," Boss took a sip of his schnapps. "It's all fair leadership as long as they don't mess up the place."

"So, you're trying to pass yourself off as a house ham huh? Is that how you got the white one? I gotta admit the guys at the poker table and I think she's a damn looker."

"She's not my girlfriend," said Boss. "I wish she was though," he muttered hoping that chief couldn't hear but he did.

"Ha! Man Boss you think that white puff is gonna fall for you, Boss."

"That's not nice to call her a white puff!"

"I know, sorry. My point is any house ham of high class like her we'll never be impressed with wanting some field ham like you or me. Maybe if she was of a normal ham class, but man, you're gonna have to take tons of ham baths and get tons of ham vaccines to get to that girl's heart."

Boss refused to look up at him. Pocko came by with Chief's Berry Spirit and he took his sips. Boss looked at his glass to see that he only drank 1-2 sips of his.

"I'm going to check on Bijou," said Boss as he left the bar. He wanted to check on her, but he also wanted to get far away from Chief.

As he walked toward the back of the club…

"Hey, Boss. Your girl ham's hot!" yelled a field hamster from the pool table. Some of the hams in the bar laughed, hollered, and/or whistled.

"Shut up!" yelled Boss as he opened the door to the room.