"Where is she?" Tenderheart asked the next morning. He and Bright Heart agreed to wait in the Hall of Hearts for Gentle Heart to show up and see for them selves whether or not she was fine. But so far, she hadn't shown up and none of the other cousins knew where she was. Proud Heart Cat shrugged.
"I haven't seen her all morning." Tenderheart turned to Bright Heart who simply shook his head.
"Well, thanks anyway Proud Heart. If you see her please bring her to the Hall of Hearts. Do you understand?"
"Purrrfectly." The cat purred as she walked on. Tenderheart started to pace across the length of the Hall of Hearts while Bright Heart sat down and looked to be in deep thought, which is how he almost always looked.
"I'm getting worried Bright Heart. Do you think we should go look for Gentle Heart?"
"I think so. I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't be here unless she needed help."
"Right. Let's go to the Forest of Feelings." With that, Tenderheart headed out of the Hall of Hearts, Bright Heart right behind him. By cloud car, the Forest of Feelings was only a few minutes away from Care-a-Lot. The car had barely touched then ground when an increasingly worried bear and raccoon leaped from it and split up to find a certain lost lamb.
"Okay, let's be logical about this." Bright Heart thought to himself after spending too much time searching and not finding a trace of her. "If I were Gentle Heart, where would I be?" He dismissed her home out of hand. Tenderheart was already heading in that direction. So what did that leave? "Her garden!"
Whenever she had any spare time, Gentle Heart spent it cultivating her own small garden in the middle of the Forest of Feelings. It wasn't as large as the one Proud Heart built, but it was small and full of delicate flowers that needed Gentle Heart's care, which Bright Heart supposed was the point. It was her secret spot, where she'd go when she was upset.
Looking around, he saw that he wasn't far from the garden. In fact, he only had to pass through a few bushes and shrubs and he'd be right there…sure enough, there was Gentle Heart, but she was laying against a tree trunk, looking even worse than the last time Bright Heart saw her.
"Gentle Heart! Are you all right?" His concern only increased when she turned her head to him, her eyes, usually soft and full of life looked weary and full of fright. She didn't even have the strength to answer him. Gentle Heart tried to stand, but toppled over almost immediately. Bright Heart only nearly caught her before she landed on the ground.
Bright Heart paused as he held the unconscious lamb in his arms. After a second's hesitation he sent a Care Cousin Call to Tenderheart, hoping he would arrive soon. Looking down at Gentle Heart's face, he knew he'd never be able to live with himself if something happened to her.
Tenderheart was walking through Gentle Heart's home as all this was happening. "No sign of Gentle Heart," he sighed to himself. Everything here seemed normal, nothing to suggest why she'd be acting so strangely. He paused outside her bedroom door, debating whether or not he should violate her privacy further. "This is an emergency." Tenderheart told himself. "I have to check it out."
Opening the door, Tenderheart didn't know what to expect. Whatever he was expecting though, this was definitely not it. Her bed was an unmade mess. It looked like she'd been thrashing around all night. Tenderheart spied her blanket over in the corner of the room. He barely had time to take this in when he was nearly struck in the face by a glowing heart shaped light bulb.
"Bright Heart must've found something!" Tenderheart realized as he followed the bulb back to its source. After a brief run, Tenderheart stumbled into the garden where he found Bright Heart cradling an unconscious Gentle Heart.
"Thank goodness you showed up!" Bright Heart said, his voice full of relief. "I didn't know what to do!"
Ignoring that startling admission of ignorance, Tenderheart focused his attention on Gentle Heart's plight. "What happened?"
"I found her here, she tried to get up after I arrived but fell over when she tried." Tenderheart said nothing for a moment, digesting this.
"It doesn't look like she got any sleep yesterday either." He said finally.
"No, and it doesn't look like she's sleeping now. She's not awake, but it looks
like she's still not getting any rest."
"From what I saw of her room, I'd say that's definitely the case. We better get her back to her home." Gently taking Gentle Heart by the legs, he helped Bright Heart lift her up and slowly carried her home.
"Now what should we do?" Tenderheart asked, unaware he had said it aloud until Bright Heart answered.
"After we get her to bed, I'd suggest we get Bedtime Bear and wait for her to wake up on her own."
"That's a good idea, no one knows more about sleep problems than Bedtime. If he stays awake long enough to help." Tenderheart added silently.
By the time they had finally managed to get Gentle Heart back in her bed, both Tenderheart and Bright Heart were exhausted. Tenderheart sent out a Care Bear Stare to let the others know they needed help before collapsing into a nearby chair. Bright Heart was busy pulling the covers over Gentle Heart and tucking her in. When he finished he turned to Tenderheart.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" He asked him. Tenderheart knew that Bright Heart was aware that he didn't know what was going on anymore than Bright Heart did. He just wanted reassurance that his fellow cousin would be all right.
"I think so Bright Heart. After all, we've survived tougher situations than this." He added, trying to channel a little of Brave Heart's courage and self-assurance. Tenderheart didn't think Bright Heart looked convinced but maybe it helped. Maybe.
"Tenderheart? Bright Heart?" A voice softly called from the behind the closed bedroom door.
"Swift Heart? Is that you?" Tenderheart asked.
"It isn't the Easter Bunny." Swift Heart said as she opened the door and walked in, accompanied by Bedtime and Grumpy. "What's wrong with Gentle Heart?"
"We were hoping Bedtime could answer that. It doesn't look like Gentle Heart's been getting any rest and she's always tired."
"That's terrible!" Bedtime said. "But I don't really know what I can do right now. If I talked to her first, maybe I could find out if something's been bothering her and keeping her up at night."
"Well, in that case, maybe we should just wait for her to wake up and then-"
"It's okay Tenderheart." Gentle Heart murmured softly, gaining the attention of everyone in the room as she sat up in her bed. "I'm awake."
"Did you sleep well?" He asked hopefully, frowning when she shook her head.
"No." She bleated wearily. "It feels like I'm laying my head down one minute and waking up the next minute, no matter how long I rest. And I always end up feeling more tired than I did before I fell asleep."
"Has anything been bothering you lately? Anything that might cause you sleeping problems?" Bedtime asked. Gentle Heart shook her head. Bedtime scratched his head and yawned. "Hmmm, I'm stumped. I guess the only thing to do now is wait for nightfall. Then I'll stay with Gentle Heart. Maybe if I'm with her tonight I can find someway to help."
"All right Bedtime, this is your specialty after all." Tenderheart said. To Gentle Heart he added. "Don't worry, I'm sure Bedtime will have you counting sheep in no time. Er, I mean-" Gentle Heart giggled. Tenderheart felt his face warm. "Well, you know what I mean." Privately he took it as a good sign that Gentle Heart could still laugh.
"Well I just hope that I manage to have a good night's sleep." Grumpy mumbled his arms crossed over his chest. "The pipe over my bed keeps leaking all over my covers."
"Ah, Grumpy," Swift Heart said. "You always were a wet blanket." Grumpy groaned at the sheer awfulness of the pun as everyone else started laughing, as much from Grumpy's reaction as from the joke.
From his castle, No Heart watched the scene from his cauldron. "Laugh while you can Care Bears. I promise you this, you're friend wont be tonight. Or ever again." A dark laughter began to build up in him, quietly at first, then louder as it echoed off the walls and would soon be heard even in the Kingdom of Caring.