Hello, Roxy Goth here. This is my first time writing for the muppets. I came up with this idea after watching the 1st season of the muppet show. I do not own Mupppets. Disney does. Hope you enjoy.

Kermit was a busy frog. Ever since he had had this, this insane idea to go to Hollywood and try and be famous he'd been stressed. And now it wasn't just him he had to look after it was Fozzie Bear as well. And they'd be more to add to that list when he'd secured the cast of 'The Muppets!'

His tightly frayed nerves were NOT being helped by said Bear, who kept coming up to him with 'great' ideas about the show, most of which, if Kermit had to be brutally honest, were either to stupid, to expensive or to plain insane to work.

"But Kermit, it would be so good!"

"But Fozzie, where we we get a whole pool's worth of Jello from anyway?"

Fozzie looked at him like HE was the stupid one and said. "Why, the grocery store, of course! Talking of which I have a great joke about an orange and an apple, wait till you hear it -!"

Oh no. No, no. Kermit was NOT listening to another of Fozzie's jokes. He'd just listened to at least 50 of them while they were trying to secure the first guest stars - or at least ONE guest star would be a start - and if he heard another he might actually have a breakdown.

"Fozzie-!" He began, in what he called his 'authoritive' voice.

Fozzie instantly stopped and looked at him like Kermit had just slapped him or something.

'Just say you don't want to hear another of his jokes.' Kermit told himself. 'He'll understand. He is an mature, responsible adult after all.'

"Yes, Mr Fr-wo-rg?" Fozzie asked, putting his head on one side.

"I-er-um..." Gee, I can't do this. "...I want you to do me a favour. Go outside, look through some of the local bars and things and see if you can find any acts you think are good. If you find any, bring them to me and I'll see if they can be on the show."

Fozzie's eyes went wide and he said, slowly. " You'd trust ME to do that?"

No, not really, but I can't deal with another of your jokes right now. Kermit thought. "Yes, of course." Was what he actually ended up saying. "Why wouldn't I?"

The bears mouth splitting into a wide grin was all the warning Kermit had before Fozzie envolped him in a hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He exclaimed, happily. "I promise I won't let you down!"

'Mmpth!" Kermit gasped, which translated as: 'I can't breath!'

"Oh, sorry." Fozzie let him go and said, excitedly, as Kermit took a massive gulp of air. "I pormise I won't let you down!" Before saluting and running off.

So. Turns out it's a bit difficult finding acts good enough to be on the show. Even if he and Kermit wearn't entirely sure what the show was going to be they had a sort-of plan that relied on one thing. Most of the acts had to be good. The main 'bad act' would be Fozzie himself, and the plan was for that to come off as 'endearing'.

Fozzie had no idea how he would make that happen, or indeed what endearing even meant, but felt confident he would figure it out with time.

Just then the bear was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of music. Literally. Piano music, he fancied.

Very good piano music at that.

He followed the sound through the streets and even under a bridge, a feeling of excitement deep inside him. This was it! Whoever was playing this music clearly knew what they were doing, and if they were famous - or even vaguelly well-known, Kermit had already warned him they couldn't afford to be picky - they could be on the show! And wouldn't the frog of his heart be impressed if he came back with a guest?

As he rounded the corner and saw the performer he stopped dead. It was a dog. And not any normal dog - a MUPPET dog. Fozzie grinned and mouthed 'thank you' to the sky. The only issue was that he was not the only thing that had heard the music. The dog had attracted quite a big crowd, the majority of them humans. Fozzie liked humans but he couldn't help but be a bit nervous about them. They always seemed so self-confident.

So he waited a bit further back, hoping the crowd would thin out a bit - or preferably disapear altogether. Either that or the dog would finish his act.

A bit later the dog finshed his song and took a bow. The crowd applauded politly, and the dog grinned, whipped his hat of his head and held it out hopefully.

Most of the crowd took the opportunity to make a speedy walk for it, some pushing past Fozzie without even a glance. Other, kinder humans, popped silver coins into the hat and spoke in low tones to the dog, who nodded politely and seemed to joke and laugh with some of them. One particulary generous gentleman popped a NOTE into the hat, which was lovely of him, and Fozzi could see the dog's eyes light up, but the moment was rather ruined when the man then patted the dog's head before walking off.

The dog had been polite when the man patted him, but as soon as the gentleman was a little way away he shook himself, ran his hand though the fur on his head and started counting the money in the hat.

Now that the coast was clear, Fozzie edged up to the dog and stood just a little way away, hoping he would notice him. He didn't have to wait long. The dog looked up, blinked, then smiled at him. "Howdy there!" He said. "Can ah help you?"

Now. Fozzie ran a lot on instincts. He could usually get a vibe about someone after a few minutes conversation and this was no exception. This dog was clearly a good, friendly sort so Fozzy stuck his hand out and beamed. "I like your playing." He said, warmly.

"Thanks." The dog grinned, returning the hand-shake. "That means a lot, eh... I don't suppose..." The dog shook his hat hopefully.

Fozzie frowned a little and shrugged apoligetically. "Sorry. I havn't got any money."

"Oh." The dog's smile faded a little and Fozzie,noticing this, said hurridly.

"I think you're really good though."

"Thanks." The dog said again, this time a bit distratedly. By now he'd finished counting his money and was putting it carefully in a small tin that already had a fair bit in it.

"Wow!" The bear exclaimed. "That's a lot of money!"

The dog hushed him and looked around the street. "Keep your voice down! What are tryina do? Get me mugged? Anyway..." He put his hat back on. "I've got another set, so..."

"Set of what?"

The dog gave him a look, Fozzie couldn't work out what the look was exactly but he didn't really mind because he still had a good vibe coming from his fellow muppet, which was further confirmed when the dog, rather than rolling his eyes or yelling like people had in the past, simply explained. "I do at least three performances per day. This is number three, so yeah, I need to get back. You can watch though, if you want?"

Fozzie nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, sounds good!"

The dog nodded, gave him a thumbs up and went back to his piano. He played a jazzy little intro on it that attatcted the attention of several passers by before announcing. "Ladies and Gentlemen! My name is Rowlf the Dog and I am here to play the piano for both yous and mines pleasure. All I ask is that you consider making a small donation to keep this piano going-" Rowlf ran a paw loveingly across the top of it. "-And me out the dog pound!" The dog gave a hearty laugh. "And now, with no further ado I shall play -!" Unfortuantly a car drove past at that exact moment drowing out the dog's voice so Fozzie didn't catch the name of the piece, but he could catch the music all right.

Oh, the music! It was lovely, a pleasure to listen to! And actually standing closer Fozzie could now see that although Rowlf had the music in front of him he wasn't actually looking at it very often, seemingly playing from memory the majority of the time. He could also tell that despite the fact that Rowlf was obviously making a bit of money from this act, money was not the main motivation as the dog clearly loved what he was doing.

If there was any doubt this dog would be perfect for the muppets that final thought got rid of them. Kermit had explicitly said that althought he wanted GOOD acts he also wanted people who loved what they were doing and/or had a great love FOR the arts. This dog was all three. He was brilliant! A true profesional!

Fozzie had to get him to join the muppets. But how? The dog was making money here and there was no guarentee he would do that in the muppets. As a matter of fact Kermit said they would probably LOSE money for the first couple of months at least.

"Thank you, thank you!" Geez, Rowlf was finished already. That seemed to have gone quicket that the last one he'd watched. The dog smiled and held his hat out hopefully again.

After the whole charade with the humans had finished, Fozzie ran back over to Rowlf and said, excietedly. "How much did you make this time?"

The dog smiled. "Enough for a good bone or two!" Then he frowned and looked suspiciously at the bear. "Why are you so intrested in how much I'm makin' anyhow? I don't even know who you are!"

Well, there was a cue if Fozzie had ever heard one. "Fozzie Bear!" He said, sticking his paw out again.

Rowlf smiled and shook his paw back. "Rowlf Dog - but you pro'ably already heard that! Now..." his voice dropped a little and said. "Is there a reason you're hangin' around here?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean, are these humans bein' alright to ya? Some of them can be a bit weird..."

Fozzie frowned and then, seeing what Rowlf was getting at, said, hurridly. "Oh no, they're fine! No, you see..." He took a breath, this was going to be intresting. "Me and my best friend Kermit have rented the Muppet Theatre off Mr Grosse. But part of the deal is that we need to put on a show! So Kermit - he's my best friend - has sent me out to find acts for him. I came out here and heard your music and so I followed it and now I'm here talking to you!" A deep breath and then: "So what do you think?"

A pause and then: "I think you're nuts!"

"Oh." Fozzie slumped dejectedly. "You're not intrested then?"

Rowlf paused, which gave Fozzie a ray of hope, then said. "Are you saying you need acts for this show of yours?"

"Yes!"

"How much money?"

"Er...none." Fozzie admitted. Seeing the look on the dogs face, the bear explained. "Kermit says we won't be able to make any money until we put on the first show. We've got to find a network. Kermit's dealing with that though - I don't really understand it."

"Whoa, hold up. Network? This is going on TV?"

Fozzie held up two crossed fingers. "Hopefully!"

A long pause and then Rowlf said, slowly. "Do you mind if I come with you and speak to this Kermit fellow? I mean, no offence, but it sounds like he kinda runs the show, so to speak..."

"Oh he does!" Fozzie said, beaming. "Come, come follow me!"

"Sure thing, just let me grab my piano..."

Fozzie waited while Rowlf picked up his piano then, when he got back, said, happily. "I know a joke about a piano!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, wanna hear it?"

Despite his slight apprehension, Rowlf found himself smiling. "Sure."

"Great! What do you call a cow who plays the piano? A moo-sician! Woka-woka! And-and listen to this one - How did the piano get out of jail? With his keys! Ah - fun-ney! And, and how about this one..."

As Fozzie carried on joking Rowlf found himself smiling. If this 'Kermit' guy was as friendly and funny as this bear then maybe, just maybe, Rowlf could finally find a place to call home.

Maybe.