Chapter 4
I own nothing of Happy Tree Friends except the kids. All credit goes to Mondo Media
Russell handed a plate of sandwiches to his husband and daughter before taking a seat between them and sipping a mug of tea. Umi kept her eyes fixated on a cartoon showing on the TV screen, not minding if it was an episode she had already seen before, while Lumpy was on his phone checking for updates on whatever topic seemed interesting. The former pirate kept his eyes lowered into his mug in silence as he closed his eyes with a thought. He enjoyed the peaceful feeling around the table, and he wanted to savor the moment in case things got chaotic.
He took a sandwich for himself as Umi jumped down from her chair to head into the living room to play with her toys, leaving the couple alone as Lumpy turned the TV off anc pecked his cheek. "You seem to be out of it."
"Yeah I know," Russell replied, taking the last bite out of his sandwich and standing up with a calm smile. "It's just hard to believe that my old crew is here. I thought they were never coming back."
"Well, the unexpected always rears its ugly head," Lumpy replied while rubbing his shoulders in order to relax him. "Whether it be a good thing or a bad thing." Russell nodded in response before heading into the living, watching Umi stack some blocks on the coffee table. He ruffled her hair gently and pulled her away from the blocks and towards the front door. "We're heading to the farmer's market for a bit. We'll be back soon."
"Bye Daddy!" Lumpy smiled at the girl waving at him as they left him alone in the house.
The bluenette tightly held onto a bag of vegetables with one arm and held Umi's hand with the other as they passed through the market crowd. The toddler held onto her mother in order to not be separated as she felt intimidated by those around her. She glanced around until she saw a cookie stand not far from the two. She tugged on Russell's arm and pointed in that direction. Russell saw the stand and glanced down at her with a smile. "Alright alright as long as you don't make a mess of yourself."
"Okay." Umi grinned at him in response as they began to step over until Russell heard a familiar voice call out to him. He turned around and his eye slightly widened when he saw Alexander walk towards him with a similar bag of fresh food with a calm smile on his face. Russell thought back to what Lumpy had told him, and he slightly kept his guard up. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." He said as he stopped in front of the two. Russell faked a smile with a concerned thought. Right. This would be the perfect day to pick up supplies here. What was I thinking? "Well, I thought it would be good to stop by and see what was here." He responded. The pirate took notice of the child with them and glanced her way with a lifted eyebrow, causing Umi to shroud behind her mother. "And who is this?"
Russell slightly froze and frantically thought of something that might sound convincing to his former crewmate. "T-This is my daughter, Umi. Lumpy and I felt our house was a bit empty, so we adopted her when she was a baby."
"Mama, who's that?" Umi had the courage to speak up, but stayed hidden behind her mother. Russell stroked her cheek gently as he responded. "He's one of my old crewmates from when I was a pirate."
"So, he's a pirate too?" The bluenette nodded and the toddler lowered her head while holding onto his hand tighter. Alexander bent down at her eye level and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, lass." Umi glanced up at her mother before hesitantly shaking his hand slowly. "I almost didn't recognize you because of how you dressed."
"Well, you did tell us to blend into a crowd," Alexander replied with a shrug. "And making sure we didn't make it obvious that we were pirates when we talked."
"You have a point. I can hardly make out your accent," Russell giggled before he felt his daughter tugging on his arm and pointing to the cookie stand again. He nodded and stroked her hair gently. "I better get going before she has a hissy fit." With a final wave, the bluenette turned his back on his former comrade and began to walk away with Umi eying the pirate carefully. "I don't like him, Mama."
"Is it because he's a pirate?" Russell asked as he paid for two chocolate chip cookies and handed one to her. Umi shook her head as she took a bite of her treat and followed him out of the market. "He's a bad man."
"Sweetie, not all pirates are bad."
"But he is." Russell would usually brush off what his daughter was saying and believe it was one of her usual stories if he didn't know how smart she actually was. He was concerned whenever the toddler had a bad feeling, which most likely meant he should be cautious. He glanced back at Alexander only to see that he was nowhere in sight. He lifted an eyebrow before heading back to the car to head home to drop off the food.
Russell gently placed the vegetables and fruit on the counter before Umi ran back towards the front door as her mother pecked Lumpy on the cheek. "She wanted to go to the park cause she promised Ruby she would be there," He briefly explained as the toddler called out to him impatiently. "Probably has something to do with the cookies I bought." Lumpy shrugged in response and turned back towards the rest of the house. "While you're gone, I might as well clean the attic. Been a while since I've been up there."
"You go do that." The two waved at each other in response before Russell caught up to Umi.
Once Umi spotted the tiny red-head, she ran off in that direction as Russell waved hello to Flaky on a nearby bench. "I heard your old crew is back." The younger of the two stated as he swung his legs. Russell nodded with a slight smile and the red-head lifted an eyebrow. "You don't look so happy."
"It's not that," The bluenette replied with a lowered head. "It's just surprising to see them, that's all. But that doesn't mean I'm not happy to see them," The two saw their daughters interacting with the other kids before continuing their conversation. "Although, I've been having conflicting thoughts on whether or not I should go back with them."
"I think the real question is if you willing to leave behind your husband and daughter to follow your dreams." Russell shook his head and turned back to the red-head. "Of course not. They would both be devastated if I left. I didn't marry Lumpy to only abandon him afterwards."
"And I didn't marry Flippy out of fear."
"Well shit everyone knows this," Russell jabbed a finger at his chest with a slight pout. "Everyone saw the fucking grins on your faces. Hell I saw it close up cause I was the Maid of Honor."
"You kept bugging me about it until I said yes."
"Got that right," Russell pulled away and crossed his arms, slightly slumping in his seat with a tilted head, lifting an eyebrow as he saw Umi pull her friend towards a fort. He chuckled and smiled. "I wonder how they're gonna be when they're older. Flippy and I are fucked people, so they still might get something from us."
"So you think Umi might inherit your hysteria?" Flaky asked with concern, and the bluenette merely shrugged in response. The red-head sat back with a slight sigh. "To be honest, ever since we saw Ruby showing signs of having PTSD, we've been on the look out despite the problem being taken care of."
"Makes sense, even though it hasn't been seen for months. By the way, speaking of Ruby," The bluenette fished out a small card from his pocket and handed it to his friend. "I told Umi that it was a month too early to be giving out invitations, but she's too stubborn to listen."
"I wonder where she got that from," Flaky giggled and took the card with a smile and Russell pouted. "I'll make sure we'll be there."
"Good. Well I better get home before my husband loses his mind." The former pirate stood up and brushed off his pants before calling out to the toddler in the sand pit. Umi hugged her friend good bye before running to her mother and jumping in his arms. "Did you give Mr. Flaky the card?"
"No need to worry. He got it." Umi smiled and waved at Flaky before she and Russell returned to the car and began to head home.
"So anyone care to explain this?"
"Nah, mate. We saw it all."
"I knew there was somethin' weird about our cap'n. Nev'r thought he was homosexual."
"It explains why he never joined us when we raided the houses for women."
"Now now, mates. Let's wait a while longer before jumping to conclusions. Then we'll make our move."
