Roadie parked the bus on the curb as the bears looked at the building in front of them.
"Are you sure this is where Tennessee is?" Henry asked.
"This is the address I got from the last phone booth", Vivian said looking at the page she tore out. "This is Tennessee's office."
"Think they're going to let us in there?" Fred asked as they looked at the building.
"They'll let us in", Beary said with a smile. "You're the Country Bears after all. Tennessee will see you guys. No doubt!"
Vivian raised her eyebrow as she looked at him. As nice and supportive as he was, it was getting a little annoying and not to mention creepy how obsessed he was with them. Just as she mentioned before, just because they were a has-been band, didn't mean they were going to get every single thing that they wanted. Henry lead the bears off the bus, into the building.
"Excuse me", Henry said looking at the receptionist. "Is Tennessee O'Neil available?"
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked sounding bored, not even looking up from her paperwork.
"Well, no…"
"You can make an appointment with Mr. O'Neil and he will see you then", the receptionist said.
"Well, this is kind of an emergency", Beary said. "Is there any chance we can see him today?"
The bored woman looked up, almost ready to argue until she saw who she was talking to. Her eyes widened and her jaw almost dropped.
"The Country Bears…" she gasped. "Oh, my goodness…! Oh, by all means. Mr. O'Neil is in the middle of an appointment, but it won't take long."
Everyone turned toward the door, hearing the loud couple argue in Tennessee's office. They weren't sure how this meant a short appointment.
"I'm tired!" the woman said. "I've been with the baby all day!"
"Look, I work all day", her husband said. "I get a lot of stress from my boss. I come home, I just want to relax! What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Tennessee asked. "I think you two are so dang lucky to have each other. Oh, I'm sure you might fight over the dishes. But, at the end of the day, at least you're going to be together…not like me! Not like me and Trixie! I lost her!"
"Dang…" Vivian said as her ears flattened. "I knew he was bad when he left, but I didn't know it had gotten worse."
"He was just this bad the last time I saw him", Zeb said as they heard Tennessee wailing and yelling in his office.
They watched as the door opened to reveal a married couple looking somewhat disturbed and satisfied.
"I feel better", the wife said.
"He's good", the husband nodded.
"Well, now at least we know how his technique goes", Vivian shrugged. "Let's go and say hello."
Henry sighed as he walked over to the door, knocking on it.
"Come in…" Tennessee said.
There was still a whimper that could be heard in his voice as he calmed down. Henry opened the door, allowing everyone to come inside. One by one everyone filed inside, seeing Tennessee try to calm down, catch his breath and wipe his eyes, trying to making himself look presentable. As he turned around, Vivian smiled see how off-guard he was.
"Don't tell me you're getting the band back together", he quickly said.
Tennessee knew the whole band wouldn't come and see him unless that was the case. It had been 10 years with no visits from anyone except Zeb. He knew this wasn't going to be good.
"Tennessee…" Henry slowly nodded. "We're getting the band back together."
"No!" he quickly said. "No, no! I can't! I can't do it!"
Everyone looked at Tennessee and shook his head. 10 years hadn't changed him a bit. Vivian looked around his desk, seeing it cluttered with pictures of Trixie. It was a real shame that the two of them never got back together despite the deep love they had for each other.
"Please, Mr. O'Neil", Beary said looking at the whimpering bear. "We can't do this without you."
Tennessee looked at the young cub, not sure of what to say. This was someone new to him.
"Who is this guy?" he asked looking at the others.
"That's Beary". Henry said. "Look, why don't we go grab some breakfast? We just got here and we could really use something to eat."
"Fine", Tennessee sighed.
