Chapter 21: Home Sweet Home, part 2

Harmony ran through the village blasting his trumpet as loud as he could. Many of the smurfs covered their ears and glared at him annoyingly. Finally Smurfette got up from her garden to run up to him.

"Harmony Smurf, stop! What is it that's got you so excited?" She desperately asked him.

Harmony removed his trumpet from his lips to take a deep breath. "Hefty Smurf… He's come back."

"What did you say?" Came a scowl-toned voice from behind.

Both Smurfette and Harmony turn to see Handy Smurf standing with a pencil sitting on his right ear, and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Handy, you have to believe me. It's really Hefty. I saw him with my own two eyes. He's at the field right now with Papa Smurf and the others. Not only that, but he also brought more smurfettes with him." Harmony said barely containing his excitement.

Already some of the other smurfs started running towards the field. Handy simply stood frozen with a stunned look on his face as he digests the information his brother just announced.

"Hefty's back? A-A-And there's more smurfettes, you say?" Jokey said with a big grin. "This I gotta see." He added running up to the field with one of his 'special' parcels in his hands.

"Me too." Chirped Smurfette as she ran in the same direction as Jokey.

Handy at first followed Jokey and Smurfette with his eyes. When he saw Harmony heading back to the field, he too started running up as well. If what Harmony was telling the truth? In order to believe him he had to see it with his own two eyes.

Once he got to the field the first thing he notices was all the smurfs surrounding someone. Handy also noticed nine new smurfette faces. This part of what Harmony said was true. It is when he saw Papa Smurf move his head, he finally saw Hefty. Handy Smurf stood frozen, he was afraid to move in case all of this was nothing more then just a dream.

As Harmony walked through the crowd he noticed Melody. Mostly what had caught his attention was the guitar that she has strapped on her back. 'Ah, a fellow musician.' He thought to himself. With a smile he walked up to her.

"Hi, I'm Harmony Smurf."

"I'm Melody. It's a pleasure meeting you."

"I notice you have a guitar strapped on your back. You play?" Harmony asked.

"Of course." Melody proudly responded. "I play many instruments. Not only that, but I also have preformed for royalty. From Pixie Queens to Human Kings."

"Really? Well, perhaps we can play a duet?" Harmony suggest just as he lifts his trumpet to his face and began to play it.

Melody, along with the rest of the smurfs and smurfettes, instantly cringe as he plays each sour note.

"May I please see your trumpet, Harmony?" Melody finally asked desperately reaching to relieve the smurf from his instrument.

"Sure."

Melody studied each angle of the wind instrument with a questionable look before bringing it up to her lips. She took a deep breath then played a few cords in perfect tune. Harmony and the other smurfs stared in awe at how well Melody is playing. After she brought the trumpet down to inspect it with a puzzled look once more. "Hmm. No, it is not the instrument." She muttered while scratching her head.

"Wow, you played that smurfingly." Smurfette cooed.

"Thank you," Melody smiled. "It's actually my first time playing a trumpet."

Many of the surrounding smurfs became even more impressed with Melody.

"Gee, Harmony, you could learn a few pointers from this smurfette on how to play real music." Laughed Jokey Smurf.

As Jokey laughed heartily, Harmony turned to him and glared hard. Ignoring Harmony's angry stares, Jokey turns to see Toughette still leaning up against the tree by her self. Her expression has a combination of sadness and irritation to it. With a mischievous grin, Jokey looked down at his 'special' parcel then back at Toughette. With confidence he walked up to her.

"Here this is for you." Jokey said handing the gift to Toughette. He began to chuckle amusingly to himself as he took a few steps away.

"Oh, um, thanks. What is it?" Toughette replied in a bashful way. She felt a bit uncomfortable in receiving a gift from someone she barely knew.

"It's a surprise." Chuckled Jokey.

Valvette and Nursette, whom both were standing by her, curiously lean forward in anticipation of what could be in the box. Before Toughette could finish pulling off the ribbon, the package exploded, covering each of their faces in black soot. This also resulted in the three of them screaming out of surprise. Jokey began to burst out in laughter over the shocked expression of the three smurfettes faces.

As soon as Hefty heard the blast, he turned to see where it came from. "Uh oh." He muttered as soon as he saw who were the poor victims of Jokey's present.

"Ha, ha. Gottcha." He pointed at them and laughed some more.

Tattlerette leaned up to him with her notepad and pencil in her hands and asked, "Hi, Tattlerette here. What did you say your name was again?"

"Jokey, Jokey Smurf." He said in between giggles.

"Heh, it was nice knowing you, Jokey Smurf." Tattlerette shook his hand after writing his name down. She then quickly stepped away from him. This suddenly puzzled the smurf clown.

Toughette's shocked look quickly turned to anger. She growled loudly as she prepared to pounce at Jokey. As she leapt, Hefty rushed up to her and caught her.

"Let me at 'em!" Toughette screeched.

"Toughette, no!" Hefty pleaded as he struggled to keep her away from Jokey's reach. "He was only trying to be funny."

"Funny? I'll give him funny! Right up the smurf!" Toughette emphasized by pounding her fist into the palm of her hand. She then attempted to reach for Jokey once more, but Hefty kept holding her back, barely.

"Toughette, please!" Hefty managed to pull her back so she could see the desperate look on his eyes. Toughette suddenly felt guilty. Not only that but embarrassed as well. With a sigh, she looked apologetic up at Hefty.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him. After she looked past him and at Jokey. "I'm sorry." She repeated a bit more loudly to the trickster before stepping back.

"You know he kind of reminds me of Prankette back home." Tattlerette mentioned as she finished writing down another note on her pad.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that too." Gingerette nodded.

"You, um, have to forgive Toughette. She has a bit of a temper." Mama Smurf explained to Papa Smurf.

"I see." The village elder answered, still shocked by the scene.

Valvette and Nursette pull out their handkerchiefs and wiped their faces from the black soot. After Nursette finished she tried to wipe Toughette's face, but she slapped her hand away. Nursette then tried to offer the slightly used cloth. Toughette slowly accepted it and rubbed off the soot from her face. Hefty simply watched absently as Toughette cleaned herself off.

"Hefty?" Handy finally chocked up the nerve to walk up and speak.

Hefty turned and smiled. "Hey there, old pal." He said holding out his arms to him.

Without hesitation, Handy wraps his arms around Hefty and gave him a big hug.

"We thought we had lost you." Handy finally said after a few moments.

"For a while, you kind of did." Hefty pulled back from the hug and looked Handy in the eyes. "It has been a long journey. I often wondered if I'd ever make it back here."

"Ooo, but the most important thing is that you are here now, Hefty." Smurfette cooed as she reached over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Gee, thanks Smurfette." Hefty grinned bashfully.

Seeing Smurfette kiss Hefty was more then Toughette could handle. She suddenly had become too upset to get angry. All she wanted to do now was leave this scene as quickly as possible. During her attempt to rush off, she accidentally bumped Nursette's shoulder.

"Hey, Toughette where are you going?" She called out after her upset sister.

Hearing Nursette's voice got Hefty's attention to turn and notice Toughette running off into the woods. "Hang on, I'll be right back." He told the other smurfs before running after the golden haired smurfette.

Tattlerette started to grow a mischievous grin on her face. She quickly pulled out her notepad and pencil again. "I smell a scoop here." She purred. But before she could run after Hefty and Toughette, Cowgirl stopped her.

"Girl, I'm only going to tell you once. Leave 'em alone!" She demanded squeezing Tattlerette's arm tightly.

"But…" Tattlerette pleaded.

"Don't make me hog tie you, now." Cowgirl warned loudly.

"Honey, Cowgirl's right. Lets give them this moment." Valvette said soothingly.

Tattlerette sighed in defeat. "Alright."

"I don't get it, what's going on?" Brainy asked puzzlingly, scratching his head.

"Lets just say Hefty and Toughette have a bit of history together." Brainette explained calmly.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Toughette, wait. What's wrong?" Hefty cried as soon as he caught up to her. He grabbed her arm in order to stop her from running even further.

"Nothing." She answered attempting not to sound like she is about to start crying. With a jerk, Toughette released her arm from Hefty's grip and took two steps away from him.

"Look, you have been acting really strange the past two weeks. Now I want you tell me what's smurfing you!" He demanded.

"Oh, come on. Isn't it obvious?" Toughette snapped back, practically in tears. Hefty gave her a dumbfounded look. "You are home now. And when King Randolph smurfs back home on his ship the smurfettes and I will smurf back with him. Never will we see each other again."

Suddenly the reality of all of this hits Hefty like a ton of bricks. He was so excited to finally be returning home that he didn't realize this might be the final time he would see Toughette and the other smurfettes. With a guilty look, Hefty gazed up at Toughette.

"I-I-ah-I…" He stumbled to say something, but without success.

"Oh smurf-up, Hefty. It will only make this harder." Toughette struggled to hold back her tears.

"W-Wha-What do you mean?"

"You don't understand how difficult it is for me to admit this. From the moment I first found you, to the moment we almost shared during the Blue Moon Ball, I have come to one conclusion."

"What's that?" Hefty asks carefully.

"You have affected me more then I ever could imagine. Have you ever felt so strange that you couldn't even explain the feeling you have? For the past two years that is how I have felt. When I look at you I get these feelings. When you held me under the moonlight, I felt it even more. I-I, think I love you, Hefty. And… And I don't want to have to say 'goodbye'." She said as the tears finally escaped.

There was no way for her to stop them. She began to feel very embarrassed for letting herself cry like this. To her, crying was a sign of weakness. "Oh, I feel like such an idiot." Toughette sobbed as she covered her face with her hands. "I don't know why I even bother to come here. Perhaps I should have just stayed home. All I've managed to do is embarrass you and everyone else with the way I reacted just moments ago. Maybe I do have a problem with my temper?" She softly admits.

"Toughette," Hefty finally replied. He too suddenly felt his eyes beginning to get watery. "Fate has somehow guided me to you and the other smurfettes. My life since then has never been the same. I never want what we have to go away." Toughette lifted her head to look up at Hefty. Her eyes glistened as the tears swelled up and trickled down her cheeks. The sight of her like this nearly tore him up inside.

"Toughette, I want you to know that no matter what, one way or the other, I want us to always be together. You have not only saved my life, but you also hold a piece of my heart." Toughette turned away, unsure on how to respond to this. It was both a relief, and yet, painful to hear at the same time. Carefully, Hefty lifted her head up so he could look into her teary eyes once more. "Toughette, I love you too. And I don't want to have to say 'goodbye' either."

Before Toughette could respond to his speech, Hefty leans forward and kissed her passionately on the lips.

Further up the path stood Papa Smurf and Mama Smurf. They watched with caution as the two young couple finally addressed their true feelings to each other.

"You know Papa Smurf, I have a feeling this will be a beginning of a whole new adventure for our young smurfs and smurfettes." Mama Smurf foretold.

"You could be right, Mama Smurf, you could be right." Papa Smurf agrees.

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you've enjoyed the story. This is basically my version on how the Smurfs should be…with more female power, lol. If anyone is inspired to write a story with any of the smurfettes from this story, then you are free to do so as long as you let it be known which story you originally got them from.

Each review I receive is greatly appreciated, and I would like to thank each of you for taking the time in reading this story and sending me any comments of this story.

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Take care, All, and Thanks!

Raven Child.