Chapter Thirteen: It Has Been Done
Hello everybody! Thanks again for all of your reviews, and here's the much anticipated Chapter Thirteen. I won't take up much of your time because I'm sure all of you want to read the next chapter, so here it is.
**********The Hospital Waiting Room**********
All the Hams, minus Andre and Boss, were sitting in the waiting room, desperately waiting for the nurse to return with the results of the tests. The Hams, on the verge of crying, kept their faces still, for Bijou's sake. The past day's events flashing before them uncontrollably, especially for Hamtaro.
**********Flashback**********
"HEY JOSIE, WANT TO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT OUR LITTLE FIANCEES?"
Hamtaro pinned Andre against a wall and covered his mouth. "Andre, I don't know how you found out, but I'm begging you: Don't tell Josie!!!"
Andre viciously pushed Hamtaro away. He smirked evilly. "Do you want to know how I found out?" he asked all the horror-struck Hams as he watched Boss and Stan get all red and sweaty.
"We don't care, just don't tell Josie!!" they all pleaded.
"Andre don't" begged Bijou as water started building up inside her eye. "Please, Andre, you must understand. I don't love you, I could never have a happy life with you."
Andre simply watched and laughed "You pathetic creature! Marriage is not about love and trust and any other of your loving Ham-Ham ways. It's about having a ring on your finger, and living a life with your real fiancée." Andre spat at Hamtaro and Bijou. "But I feel it important that you know where I got my information from. Why Boss, won't you do the honors?"
"Boss?" Hamtaro asked as he turned his head to his 'best friend'.
"Is there another one here? Your jealous friend, because of his feelings for Bijou, told me everything in hopes that I would come up with a plan to crumble you, Hamtaro." Andre devilishly explained.
"Andre" Boss started "I know what we did was wrong-"
"What's this WE business? WE zid not do anything, YOU on the other hand, wanted to ruin everything you had with your friend because you were jealous, isn't that right, Stan?" Andre turned his attention toward the trembling Ham.
"I don't have time for this right now." Hamtaro said as he comforted a shocked and scared Bijou "Andre, I know that we shouldn't have done what we did, but you must believe it that we did out of true love for our friend! Don't do this to her!!!!"
"You should've thought about that before you said 'She's my fiancee', and you" he snarled as he shifted his direction towards the tremulous Bijou. "You disgusting mongrel! Agreeing to this savage's plan practically sealed your own fate. If you weren't so pretty, I wouldn't ever want to be in the same room as you ever again." Bijou nearly fainted, but Hamtaro caught her.
Hamtaro and Boss wanted so badly to choke Andre, to kill him, to rid the world of the burden he caused. But Hamtaro, with a quavering Bijou in his hands, and Boss to embarrassed to even say anything after Andre had just revealed his infatuation for Bijou and revealed what Boss had been hiding from the rest of the Hams, were at no liberty to say anything. Andre, with one sentence, could take away Bijou from the rest of the Hams forever. He had the upper hand against Hamtaro and Boss. It was up to the rest of the Hams now.
"Andre, you're a reasonable Ham. Be lucid about this. The girl hates you. She never wanted to return to France ever again because of fear that she would have to see you again! Andre, stop this childish behavior."
"When you put it that way, Maxwell, ..... NO! And don't tell me to be lucid about this. You sordid half-breeds are the ones who played with me and Josie's minds! You thought we were fools. That we were victims of idiotism like you. But let me tell you something, we dominate over you."
"What'll it take to convince ya? Leave the girl be, she doesn't want to marry you." Howdy explained.
Andre was amazed at the Hams' struggles, but being the mean (to put it lightly) Ham that he was, that didn't change his mind. He turned to Hamtaro and said "Say goodbye to your precious Bijou because in three weeks your Ham-Human month will expire and by then Bijou will be my bride."
"I'd never agree to marry you! You'd have to send a thousand stampeding oxen after me before that would ever happen!"
"Tsk tsk tsk such noble words from such a stupid girl." Andre chortled as he came down to Hamtaro and Bijou's level "You only had looks, and I thought somewhat brains, but now you're nothing but a-"
Hamtaro jumped on Andre. "I'll kill you! I swear I will!" he hooted as he strangled Andre.
"No Hamtaro! You could go to jail!" Pashmina reminded as she tried to loosen Hamtaro's grip on Andre.
Hamtaro looked back to see a weak and scared Bijou "But it'd be so worth it!" He snarled with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.
"WHAT IZ THIS?" came Josie's voice as she entered the room, completely flabbergasted "Hamtaro, what are you doing on Andre?"
Hamtaro did realize that there was still time to kill Andre, but he also realized that Josie didn't know yet. There was a ray of hope. He got off of Andre and put on a nervous smile.
"We were just pretend wrestling." Hamtaro answered. But Josie was not listening anymore. She had gone to the aid of her blank daughter.
"Oh zarling, what happened?" Josie worriedly asked her daughter. Bijou's fearful face was causing Josie to get extremely anxious.
Bijou seemed to realize exactly what Hamtaro had, and she quickly shook her head and smiled. "Nothing, muzzer, I guess that salad I ate wasn't agreeing with my stomach." she lied clutching her stomach.
"No they weren't." Andre chimed in as he wiped the dust off of his pants "Do you remember why I called you here?"
"Something about Hamtaro and Bijou, no?"
"Oui, oui. Josie, ask Bijou how Hamtaro proposed to her. No better yet, ask her about their first date, or maybe how-"
"Where are you getting at, Andre?" Josie impatiently asked.
Andre smiled like a kid on Christmas.
"Isn't is strange that Bijou never mentioned a fiancée before Hamtaro showed up? Isn't it weird that when she found out about the fact that I was still engaged to her that she did nothing but complain and beg not to marry me when she should've said she already had a fiancée?"
"Well, she did mention something about a handsome, brave, sweet and lovable Ham."
Andre pointed his finger toward Hamtaro "And is that in anyway a description of him?"
"Andre, are you still jealous over the fact that Bijou has found a fiancée?"
"There's nothing to be jealous about, Josie. After all, I couldn't possibly be jealous at myself."
"Que?"
"You heard me. Hamtaro and Bijou are not engaged, they are not boyham/girlham, in fact I doubt that they even like each other."
"Andre, you must get help for your denial issues." Josie said.
"MY denial issues? Why won't you see what has been going on right in front of you? I am telling the truth! These hoodwinks were lying to us for the past two weeks. Still don't believe me? Ask your daughter. See if that goody two shoes will lie to you now."
"Bijou, pleaze oh pleaze tell me zat Andre is bluffing! He's got issues right? He's just being his old jealous self again, right?!" Josie desperately asked staring at the nervous face Bijou held.
Bijou could not look her mother in the eye and lie. She tried to turn away but Andre went to her, took her head in his hands and shifted it to face Josie. With her mother's pleading eyes staring at her, she mumbled "I'm sorry, muzzer."
Josie put her hand over her heart and gasped. "No, no it couldn't be!"
"Oh, but it is!" Andre more than happily exclaimed "How selfish! They lied to you so they could save her. We were idiots to them, Josie. But now that the cat iz out of the bag, let's set things straight."
Josie shook her head "Andre I'm sure what Bijou did was out of-"
"Josie you and your zaughter are starting to irritate me. Your zaughter did what she had to do out of selfishness! Which brings forth the fact Hamtaro is not Bijou's legal fiancée, I am. And as her legal fiancée, a few changes are to be made."
All the Hams held their breath. Hamtaro could see Bijou shivering with fear, after all, her future was at stake. Bijou could sense Hamtaro's nervousness. They both kept their ghostly white faces still, waiting for Josie's reply.
"Oh Andre, she zoesn't love you. How could she ever be happy with you?" Josie finally spoke in a moribund tone.
"Again! There iz no such thing as love. There was an agreement made many years ago that betrothed me to Bijou. Now Bijou here never really liked me, but you know very well that to prevent from marrying me, Bijou must've acquired a real fiancée, like me. That was the promise our families made." Andre very forcefully explained as he looked to Josie then to Hamtaro.
"Promises are meant to be broken." came Bijou's weak and fading tone as she started to feel dizzy and once again Hamtaro caught her in his arms.
"Not in this case." Andre snapped back.
"Andre you jerk! How can you do this to someone? You're taking her life and ruining it! Don't you care at least one bit?" Hamtaro implored while Bijou kept still like a rose in his arms, yet she started to grow paler and weaker like one too.
"You shouldn't be talking. And neither should you." Andre said cutting off Stan just as he opened his mouth. "You all devised and played along with this scheme, therefore all of you are guilty of FRAUD!"
The Hams kept quiet. Why wouldn't something come out of their mouths when they tried to speak? Pashmina and Sandy found the answer to this question soon enough.
"Pashmina" Sandy called in a faint, raucous whisper "Look"
And sure enough, there it was. A speck of the same yellow light, floating near the kitchen sink. Why couldn't the other Hams see it? Once again, Sandy could feel the tiny speck blinding her through the corner of her eye, and once again no one else besides Pashmina and Sandy noticed it.
"What about Bijou?" Pashmina thought to herself as she remembered how Bijou could see the orb too. And she did. Pashmina saw Bijou lifting her head and watching the orb with studious eyes while Hamtaro was trying to scold Andre, but Hamtaro could not get any words out of his mouth.
"Andre, be reasonable about this, I'm begging you!!!" Josie beseeched "Zon't do this to my zaughter."
"Your zaughter did this to herself. Now, we can't always get away with things and we must once in our lives pay the consequences, and yours are particularly terrible this time." Andre said looking at Bijou.
Boss and Hamtaro wanted so badly to kill Andre, once again. Give them the electric chair or life in prison! They didn't care. They just wanted to see the girl they both loved be happy.
"Make it official." Andre hissed to Josie "You can't get out of this one, they falsely broke the engagement, that's like breaking the law."
Josie looked at her daughter who had a film of tears forming in her eyes. She looked down to the ground and said "Andre has got a point dear, he iz your legal fiancée, you (gulp) must marry him."
Bijou started to get dizzy, Boss really fainted, and the Hams were in shock. Josie wanted to take back the things she had said the second that they came out of her mouth, but then Andre stood up.
"It has been done. What a birthday gift!" he said as he clapped his hands together. "Now I'm off to make MY wedding preparations." and Andre jauntily skipped to his chamber.
The Hams stared at each other for a minute. If only they had guns, knives, chainsaws, whatever was compatible enough to kill Andre.
"Poor Bijou!" Pashmina and Sandy exclaimed as they went to her aid. Hamtaro backed away and put his back to the wall as he slid down with his hands on his forehead. Stan and the other boys went to Boss who was laying unconscious on the Villa's French tiled floor.
**********Ten Minutes Later**********
Boss was laid on the couch in the Parlor. Bijou had recovered from her shock, but Boss had not. The Hams were fanning Boss and placing cool cloths on him, but he still hadn't shown a sign of waking up.
"I think we should take him for medical help immediately." Maxwell finally suggested after checking Boss's very, very, very faint pulse.
While the boys looked for a stretcher or some sort of transportation for Boss to the local medical clinic, Hamtaro comforted the sobbing Bijou, and Josie approached them.
"I am zo zorry zarling!" Josie cried wrapping her arms around Bijou.
Bijou shook her head furiously "No, no muzzer. Andre was right. I did this to myself. I should never have lied to you. This is what I get."
Hamtaro watched Bijou bravely face her worst fear, Andre. They were both sitting on the sofa near the unconscious Boss. Andre came in just as jauntily as he had left.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he asked "Stop your sniveling. Stress adds weight and I don't want a fat bride!" he commanded Bijou. "Poor, poor Boss. He deserved it you know? He did betray you, and so did Stan, but you don't see him fainting. How unfair!" he falsely pouted as he mumbled something about how savages always lose. "Oh and one more thing, I found this in the back of my closet." and he pulled out a sleek, black and beautiful tuxedo, perfect for a groom. He left humming the wedding theme.
"It's not too late to kill him." Hamtaro said trying to lighten the mood.
"I couldn't do that, I'd get blood on my new dress." Bijou added as she cracked a small smile but she stopped that smile as soon as she thought of Boss. Then another thought hit her.
"Hamtaro, did you find a tuxedo in your closest?" she asked not wanting Hamtaro to find out about the dress in her closet.
"No." he simply answered "Why?"
"No reason."
"We may have lost the battle, but certainly not the war." Josie said as she stood up.
"Muzzer?" Bijou asked
"Bijou you must be optimistic. I pinky swear to you that you will not have to marry Andre." Hamtaro vowed.
Bijou looked at him for a second thinking that this was not the best time for a pinky swear, but then again this was Hamtaro. His childish behavior was one of the many things that she loved about him. "Okay" she said as she returned the pinky swear.
**********End Flashback**********
Bijou was worried sick over Boss. Her big brother was in trouble. "He loved me so much that he couldn't take the fact that I would be unhappy." Bijou thought to herself "I could never ask for a better big brother." she urgently wanted to see Boss since the Hospital didn't allow the Hams to see him until one day after he was admitted.
Hamtaro listened and waited to the silence of all the Hams in the waiting room. The quietness of the waiting room was getting to him. The tan tiled walls, the smell of medical soap, the tingly sensation you get in your teeth when you're really nervous, he hated that. Bijou was sitting right next to him and was gripping the armrest. Josie sat across from Hamtaro trying to look as calm as she could. What was taking so long? They saw the nurse walk down the hall. Hamtaro gave Bijou a nervous smile as he stood up to receive the nurse's report. The Hams crossed their fingers. "Oh please let him be okay." they hoped.
She approached the anxious Hams and nodded her head "Your friend umm lets see oh yes-Boss- is doing well, yet his heart received a severe shock. Did anything happen to hurt him recently?"
The Hams remained quiet. Reciting yesterday's events would just hurt them more.
"O-kay. You may visit your friend now." said the nurse as the Hams followed her to Boss's room.
********************
Yes, Bijou is now engaged to Andre. Where will this lead? And will Hamtaro get the girl in the end? R/R and I'll update faster. How about this, if I get ten reviews for this chapter, I'll post Chapter Fourteen tomorrow?
Tootles,
Celestial Night