Chapter 21: Confessions
With Caitlin, Natsu, Megan, and Chad...
"Well, Shoxxi gals, I have got to go," Chad remarked as the four hamsters exited the restaurant four hours after they had entered. It was barely raining by now.
"Thank you, Lord," Megan muttered under her breath.
Caitlin giggled and whispered, "I was just thinking the same thing."
"It's the truth," Natsu whispered back.
"Shall we get together again tomorrow?" Chad inquired.
"Uh, yeah, sure...," Caitlin mumbled. "That'd be grand. Just hurry up with lunch, for Heaven's sake!"
"Alright, alright." Chad winked. "See ya tomorrow, Shoxxi gals!" He walked away down the sidewalk and looked back twice before going out of sight.
"THANK YOU, LORD!" Megan shouted once Chad was out of range. "The stupid enthusiastic idiot is gone!"
Caitlin giggled and remarked, "Tootru."
"We probably need to tell Mike what little we found out," Natsu said. "That guy goes on forever about nothing!"
"Oh, that's the truth!" Caitlin exclaimed. "What was he talking about?"
"There's no telling," Megan remarked. "Let's just go find Mike now. You think they're in the park since it's way after lunch time?"
"I guess," Natsu mumbled. "That's probably where we'd find them."
"Well, ham gals, AWAY!" Caitlin shouted as she ran down the sidewalk.
Natsu and Megan glanced at each other and muttered, "Riiight, CC, riiight..."
Once in the park...
Caitlin looked around at the park. The rain had stopped, but it still looked gloomy. Natsu and Megan were right behind Caitlin as they walked around the park looking for Mike.
When they reached the red Merry-Go-Round, where Caitlin almost burst like a balloon because of a memory of it, the three girl hams saw Mike's black Lamborghini parked underneath it. There were a few of the Numbers surrounding it talking in solemn, low tones.
Caitlin walked up to the few Numbers and remarked, "Hashaa, where's Mike?"
"That's what we wanna know," one of the Numbers, Number 5 said.
"You don't know where he went?" Natsu asked.
"Not a clue," Number 12 replied.
"Wow, there's a Snot Almighty on the loose," Megan said.
Caitlin nodded and remarked, "Where's everyone else?"
"They went to find Mike," Number 8 responded. "And they went...that way." He gestured toward the swingset on a nearby hill.
Caitlin nodded and whispered, "Thankies. Let's go, ham gals!"
Caitlin, Natsu, and Megan walked toward the swingset, and there they saw Roger and Becky and a few more of the Numbers. They still had no idea where Mike was.
"Oh, I'm SO worried!" Becky said in a worried tone.
"Laaast time I saw heem, he waas walkeeng around zee park," Roger remarked in his French accent.
Caitlin nodded slowly. "Let's split up, y'all... I'll go that way..." Caitlin pointed ahead of her. "Natsu, you go that way..." She pointed left of her. "And, Megan, you go that way..." She pointed to the right.
"Alright," Megan said as she walked to the right. Natsu shrugged and walked toward the left. Caitlin walked straight ahead.
After a few minutes of walking, Caitlin came to a row of bushes. She thought she heard a bush rustle, but she thought it was just the wind. After listening to the bush for a minute, Caitlin heard low murmurs coming from inside the bush. She shook her head and slowly walked into the bush.
Once she walked a ways into the bush, she heard a low, deep voice talking. Caitlin listened in closely to what it said.
"Sigh...it's your fault, and you know it. Oh, why the heck did you get into that fight between those two? Maybe none of this would've happened...hif...if you just kept your nose out of it...hif..."
Caitlin recognized the voice. It was Mike's. She edged closer toward where she heard his voice. Caitlin finally saw Mike after a minute, but there was one thing that Mike was doing that half surprised and half frightened her...
He was crying.
Caitlin gasped. She had never seen Mike get actually close to being depressed. Caitlin watched Mike as he snatched a piece of grass and wiped his eyes. She knew that Mike had only cried once in his life, but this made the second time.
Caitlin felt her heart transform. She knew there was something under Mike's surface now. She decided to leave him alone, so she stepped back, but while stepping back, she stepped on a twig and broke it in half...
Mike spun around quickly. Caitlin froze; she had been caught. She tried to run out of the bush, but the bush's twigs caught onto her. Mike jumped up, ran over to Caitlin, spun her around, and hissed, "Cait, what the hell are you doing here?"
Caitlin gulped and whispered, "Well, the Bad Hams were looking for you..."
Mike frowned as he glared at Caitlin. "Oh yeah, I wasn't crying...there was just something in my eye..."
"...And I'm supposed to believe someone who's lied to my hubby?"
".......I didn't lie."
"Oh, yes, you did."
"...OKAY, I ADMIT!"
Caitlin shook her head. "Mike, I know why you're upset. And you're gonna be more upset by the time I finish telling you everything I just found out."
Mike looked up with his eyes burning bright. "What now?"
Caitlin told Mike about everything she knew, and she watched his expression change from depression to rage. He turned away from Caitlin and whispered, "So, he plans to marry my girl? I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch when I find him..."
"Ooooo," Caitlin mumbled. "Just one thing...we don't know where the heck he is. And what if Chad double-crosses us and leads us somewhere else? We've got to be careful..."
Mike sighed and sat down on a patch of grass. "Caitlin-Chan, I don't even know if I'll even be able to win without her... I mean I only robbed and killed hamsters with purpose before I met Stella, and then after I met her, I started robbing and killing hamsters passionately with her... I don't know if I'll be able to win a fight for her back without her..."
"MIKE! GET YOURSELF TOGETHER!!!" Caitlin shouted in his ear. "You're a big ham now!"
"....GOD! You sound like the retard you are when you say that." Mike flashed a kind smile with a look in his eyes that said, "You know, you can be helpful at times other than for information."
Caitlin slightly smiled back and whispered, "You know, you're not that bad."
Mike smiled more brightly and said, "You're not that much of a retard either, come to think of it. You're actually pretty smart but not as smart as me." He winked. "Heh, if this Chad guy talks as much as he does about nothing, you must be exhausted. I know I am. How about we go back to our place and try to decipher this info that we got so far? That way you can rest for a while."
Caitlin smiled with a content connotation. "Well, if you want."
Mike nodded and stood up. He led Caitlin out of the bush, and the two Bad Hams went back to the swingset, where there was Natsu and Megan since they couldn't find Mike where they went. The rest of the Bad Hams were also there.
"Mikey!!!" Becky exclaimed as she ran over to him and hugged him.
Mike blushed and remarked, "You all act as if Hell had struck! I was just off doing my own thing by myself. As CC said, I'm a big ham now." He winked.
Caitlin gasped. Mike had called her "CC". She blushed bright red as she whispered, "Hehe."
Mike turned away from the Bad Hams and remarked, "Let's move out! We're done for the day!"
"Were we successful?" Number 1 inquired.
Mike turned around with a big grin on his face. "Yes, we were," he replied with confidence.
Later with the Bad Hams...
Caitlin, Natsu, and Megan entered with the rest of the Bad Hams into the enormous front room of the place where they stayed. They had been told to go to rest for a while, and then at seven, they were to have dinner in the dining hall.
"What time is it?" Natsu murmured as the three ham girls climbed up the stretching stairs slowly.
Megan looked around. "I think it's about...um...maybe six or six thirty?"
"Maybe," Caitlin replied with fatigue showing in her voice.
Once the three girls had gotten to their room, they plummeted down on the bean bag chairs immediately. Caitlin leaned back and almost fell off it while doing that while Megan fell asleep immediately and Natsu rolled off her bean bag.
"Looks like you all are exhausted," a voice said from the doorway.
Caitlin looked up, and behold, there was Mike. He leaned up against the door frame and knocked on it. "Can I come in, CC?" he inquired.
Caitlin blushed. "Sure," she whispered.
Mike sauntered in and stood over Caitlin. "Well, I just wanted to come and tell you a few things...," Mike remarked. "First, don't tell anyone what happened at the park. Well, I think you already knew that if you told a soul that I would literally chop off all your fingers one by one and then make you eat them, and yes, I've done that before. Second, don't tell that Chad guy anything that might make him retract his offer. Alright, CC?"
Caitlin nodded. "Alright," she whispered.
Mike smiled with a light of contentness. "Well, dinner's in about an hour, so be sure to come down ten minutes before you're supposed to, but you already knew that." He winked again. "Well, I'll see you later." Mike turned around casually and walked out of the room.
Caitlin glanced over at Megan who was sleeping and Natsu who was just staring straight ahead at Caitlin. "He didn't know I was here, did he?" Natsu remarked.
"I don't believe."
Natsu looked her best friend in the eye and remarked, "You like him, don't you?"
"...EH?! I mean...EH?!?!?! Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"You have a crush on Mike, don't you?"
"Um, I'm married..."
"You have a crush on him, do you not?"
"...Maybe..."
"He called you CC. He normally only calls you Caitlin-Chan or Cait."
"...Maybe..."
"You like him now?"
"...Maybe..."
"That's a yes, isn't it?"
"...Maybe..."
"Is maybe a yes or a no?"
"...Maybe..."
Natsu sighed and glared at Caitlin. "Is it a yes or a no or I go get Becky and tell her you like Mike?"
Caitlin jumped and shouted, "It's a yes..."
Natsu snapped her fingers and whispered to herself, "I knew that'd work..."
Caitlin blushed slightly while glancing down at the floor. "That doesn't mean I like him more than Boss...," she whispered.
Natsu nodded. "I can't believe it...practically everyone but me likes Mike. Why do they like that idiot? That I'll never understand..."
Caitlin sighed. "I never said I liked him...I just think he's cute..."
"Riiight, CC, riiight...," a voice mumbled.
Caitlin glanced over at Megan who was watching her and Natsu. "You think Mike's cute, CC? Alright, I admit now...you DO need mental help," Megan remarked.
"Tootru...," Natsu murmured.
"I don't like like him. I just said he was cute." Caitlin blushed mildly.
"Riiight, CC, riiight...," Megan and Natsu said in unison.
Megan mumbled, "Next you'll be saying that you like him, and then you'll say that you have a crush on him, and then you'll tell him that you like him, and then you'll snog with him, and then next thing you know..."
"...As if...," Caitlin retorted. "That sounds more like Bijou with Hamtaro."
"OOOH! Harsh!" Natsu giggled.
"Hehe...and no about the last three things. I don't think that's about to happen. I'm married, for Heaven's sake!"
"Heh...riiight...," Megan responded with a condescending tone.
Caitlin blushed violently and mumbled, "I don't like him...I just think he's cute."
"As I said, then you'll get stoned and you know what."
"...GAH! Bad image...," Natsu remarked.