A/N: Thank you to all read the last chapter, so close to our goal of 300 visitors for the month and only two more days to do it. Right now at 275, just 25 more and we've done it. Let's get Chapter 19 going. As always, all rights go to their respective owners. So without further adu, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 19: The Reunion...

It seemed like the day would never come. For the first time in nearly a month, Theodore was back home with his family.

"Theodore!" Eleanor called out as she ran out the door to see her best hop out of the limo that brought him.

"Guys!" He called back to them as the remaining of them came out also.

Theodore was greeted to a big hug from Eleanor as the rest of the family joined in. The tension between was clearly behind them as all of them were just happy to see each other again.

"I'm so happy to see you again!" Eleanor looked into his eyes and wiggled his chubby cheeks which made him giggled and smile.

"Me too." He told her back and then looked to all of them. "All of you. And...I-I'm sorry about what I said that night." Eleanor then turned to the others also to see their reactions. They were all very forgiving in their expressions as Alvin was the first to speak.

"Oh, don't worry about that Theo." Alvin spoke out as the others chimed in in agreement with him that eased Theodore.

"So where's Ian?" Dave asked Theodore as he was curious to what the situation was for Ian's reason for leaving so suddenly.

"Oh! He said he has an interview with a TV Show, he told me it was a big deal. He let me come here so we could hear it together." He sounded very giddy when he told them which made them think it was a very big deal.

"Seems pretty important. What's it about?" Simon asked.

Theodore thought about it deeply as Eleanor looked to him. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything about it." He answered. The others were pretty confused by the answer he gave; almost to the point where it didn't make sense.

"Seems weird he wouldn't tell you something involving yourself." Simon politely filled him in. It made Theodore think about it again, but he was almost certain that Ian had told him nothing about it.

"Well..." Theodore started, but was quickly cut off by Alvin who had heard enough of all the gargon.

"Ah who cares!" Alvin blurted out as he put a paw over Theodore's shoulder. "Theo's home, let's just have some fun."

"I'm in." Eleanor agreed which Theodore's face was a bit surprised by his look.

"Really? You guys still wanna play with me?" Theodore asked with uncertain, the others were a little surprised themselves by his question.

"Of course, why wouldn't we?" Brittany asked him. "We're still your friend." Simon and Jeanette nodded to him.

"Yeah, last one to the couch is a rotten nut." Alvin yelled out and bolted into the house. All the others ran into the house fast as they could as Dave looked on with a smile. The day went as great as kids wanted, they were all back home playing games, and having fun with each other. Though after while, they began to treat it like a regular day and during the afternoon, the couples went off to do their own thing. Kinda on Alvin's part as he tried to butter up Brittany to do something together, but she knew that it would clearly cause trouble; something she had enough of for one week.

In the kid's room, Theodore and Eleanor were coloring a picture together. Eleanor turned to him with a smile, though he was so into the picture that he didn't notice.

"I'm really happy you're back." Eleanor broke the silence which got his attention as he looked up to her from the art.

"Really?" He asked her which put a smiling, confused, look on her face which she giggled at.

"Of course silly." Eleanor chuckled which made him blush kind of in embarrassment that he even asked the question to her. The two were smiling and talking as Alvin and Simon peek into the bedroom to see how their brother was doing with his friend. Once they got their look, the both head out to the living room and jump on the couch. A thought quickly emerged in Alvin's head and felt Simon should hear it.

"Si, I've noticed something about you and me through all this." Alvin stated.

"Huh...this alt to be interesting then. What is it Alvin?" Simon asked him, though by his tone not very interested in hearing it.

"You and me haven't had a single argument since all this started." Alvin told him. Simon was about to say something until he noticed something. Alvin...was right. But how was that possible.

Meanwhile back with Eleanor and Theodore, Theodore felt he needed to ask her something very important.

"Eleanor, if we could do this all again, would you say anything different?" He asked, she couldn't look up though, it was still a hard topic to discuss with anyone, much less him.

"I've been thinking about that every day," Eleanor responded to him, but then a shake of the head followed as he looked on with worry. "...and I still don't know Theodore."

"Ellie I need to know." He almost pleaded with her putting a paw to hers, she was mentally all over the place now.

"Theodore I...wait a second." She stopped and realized what Theodore had just said...he said "Ellie"? She turned to him as he looked as if he wasn't even aware of what he called her. "You've never called me Ellie before." As he eyes blinked repeated.

It then dawned on him that he did say it, he called her by her short name; only her sisters ever called her that. But now...

"Uh...Well uh..." He looked away embarrassed pulling on his collar. he was sweating now from head to toe stuttering with every word.

"Theodore...I have to tell you something." She turned his face to hers which he stopped trying to speak, though he wasn't doing a great job of it anyway. "I had to say this to all of them before and I couldn't find it in me to say it to you. But I feel I should now." She took a deep breath. "I don't think I really, really, like you anymore." She told him with a paw on his shoulder.

His heart sank..."What! You don't?" His eyes wide almost full of tears.

"No, ...because I think it's something more." Eleanor reasoned which almost jolted him back as she grabbed both his hands as they were face to face. "Theodore I...I love you." She smiled as he looked almost in a transic state, not believing what he heard.

"Well...I uh...I..." He tried to say the right, the thing he knew she wanted to hear, the thing he knew he wanted to say. "I'm getting hungry, are you?"

"Uh Huh." She dejectedly nodded, but understandably. She knew that they had just seen each other for the first time and weeks and she jumped this on him so quickly. Theodore though felt twice as worse, he just couldn't say...he wanted to, but he couldn't.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to her frowning down.

"It's okay Theodore. Because I know when you do say it. You'll really mean it." She comforted him, so she chose to change the subject to lighten the mood in the room "So...what would you like? Anything..." Asking him what he wanted. He thought about and decided.

"How about some oatmeal?" He asked.

The look on Eleanor's face then turned to shock and fear, she heard the word..."Oatmeal"

"NOOOO!" Eleanor randomly screamed out which Theodore jumped back from not knowing what he did wrong.

"What? I just said oatmeal..." Theodore said as he walked back to her.

"NOOOO!" She screamed again, this time running out the bedroom door as fast as she could leaving him standing there...confused beyond belief. All he could do was shake his head with his mouth partly open.

"Boy...Ian was right. Girls can be really picky." Theodore randomly stated to himself. Simon and Alvin walk through the door of their bedroom and see their younger brother on bed staring away befuddled as they both jump up and turn to him.

"What was that all about?" Simon asked with his paw extended gesturing out the door. Theodore just shook his head unsure.

"I don't know, something about oatmeal." Theodore stated, Simon and Alvin slightly jumped that went unnoticed by their brother as they looked at each other. "I don't get it." Theodore finished arms out.

"And neither do we. Do we SImon?" Quickly butted in Alvin as he turned to Simon again telling him to play along, deep down begging him to though.

"Uh yes. No clue here." Simon slightly chuckled stratching his head and staring away.

"Hey Theodore, can we talk to you for a second?"Alvin told him.

"Sure." He nodded as he waddled over to his brothers, they looked happy but he wasn't sure why. Alvin placed an arm over Theodore's shoulder which he looked down to.

"Theodore, we're really, really proud of you." Alvin stated, Simon nodded along in agreement. Theodore's expression though didn't seem to justify what they, he seemed hestitant in his responce.

"Awe, you guys are just saying that." Theodore answered as he backed away from them looking a little moopy. Alvin didn't understand his responce, nor did Simon for that matter as he chimed in.

"Theodore, we're serious." Simon added on, but Theodore didn't budge.

"No no, you can't trick me this time." Theodore contined to deny, though he wasn't upset, almost in a playful manner he told them.

"Theodore?" Alvin voice got a little more serious. There was a pause between the three of them and after about five seconds...Theodore giggled at his brothers.

"Gotcha!" As he gave a big trissure cat grin and followed it up with a wink with a "chick" sound. Simon and Alvin then realized he had baited them in and that he had tricked them. Simon laughed along as Alvin was a bit stunned a first of his little brother's antics, but he soon smiled too.

"You sly devil munk you, come here bro!" Alvin called his brother over which Theodore jumped into his brother's arm who attempted to spin his brother around like he did when they were younger. "Attempted" was the key word has Alvin had a hard time doing it, laughing at his struggles. "Whoa! Oh, you're getting so big Theo, I can barely spin ya anymore." He laughed out as Simon looked on with a smile as Theodore giggled at Alvin's struggle.

"Ha! You're just getting weak Alvin." He said back mocking Alvin as he gave up trying to catch his breath as he up looked up and noticed the reason.

"Weak? Ha, look at that belly you're putting on?" Alvin joked to Theodore pushing in on his tummy making his brother laugh being so ticklish. "You must weigh five pounds now." Alvin and Simon would most likely have been the only ones who would notice, but they clearly saw that Theodore had "filled out" some; however, they were almost certain it wasn't his fault. They figured that Ian was spoiling him with food to keep Ian on his good side, which was smart on his part, and was clearly working too. But Theodore clearly didn't care, and if he didn't, they wouldn't either. Theodore wasn't one now though to let his brother get the last word in.

"Well, then it's five pounds more than you weigh Twigmunk." Theodore cracked back at Alvin poking at his side, being nothing but skin and bones.

"Twigmunk?" Alvin questioned putting a smile on his face. "That's it! Nuggie Time." With that Alvin grabbed Theodore in a headlock and began to rub his head.

"Oh no!" Theodore laughed out as he tried to escape to no avail as Alvin continued to play along as Simon was enjoying his brothers having a good time together.

"Give up Theo!" Taunted Alvin.

"Never!" Cried out Theodore. Theodore then managed to escape out of Alvin's grasp and remembering Alvin's trouble lifting him took it upon himself to jump right in Alvin's arms. Alvin struggled as Theodore expected and feel to the floor with Theodore on top him as Theodore shifted his weight on top him as Simon laughed and clapped at the exchange.

"Hey! No fair, get off me!" Alvin laughed hoping Theodore would listen, but no dice.

"Not until you give up Alvin. I can sit on you all day if I have to." Theodore now taunting Alvin as he lightly pounced up and down putting pressure on Alvin's chest making him weez out every time.

"Simon! Help me!" Alvin called to his brother just standing there smiling.

"But why Alvin...you have this under control." Simon mocked Alvin, which Alvin sighed in defeat.

"Okay! You win, I give...I give! AH! Beaten by my own brother, now that's low." He admited when just then.

"ALVIN!" Dave shouted out from another room which got all three of their attentions. "Who threw up in one of my socks!" Dave loudly questioned. Simon then looked down at Alvin on the floor who Theo was still sitting on.

"Alvin. You really gave her a sock?" Simon harshly toned.

"Well..." It was all Alvin could say which Simon sighed in disgust, "Now that's low." Simon concluded shaking his head and left the two of them alone to carry on. Theodore of course had no idea what that was all about and thought nothing of it as a result.

"Roll over Theo!" Alvin pleaded with his brother to get off him which Theodore finally did so and the two of them were now laying in Theodore's bed side by side looking up.

"I'm glad you're home Theodore." Alvin told him again reminding Theodore of his true sincerity of the matter. Theodore then nodded in agreement.

"Me too." He followed up as they both sighed one after another. Alvin and Theodore never had a little brother to brother talk like this, yet they never knew why. But it was fun being together again, though Alvin did need to ask his brother something.

"Theo? You're not gonna have to leave again are you?" Alvin asked, still looking up. He almost knew what the answer was, but anything to talk to him would make him feel better about it.

"I have to Alvin...my whole life has changed." Theodore kind of sheepishly admited, Alvin regretted asking the question and felt to lighten the mood and ask him something else.

"So... what were you and Eleanor talking about?" He looked over to him and rolled over on his his stomach, which Theodore soon did the same as they were eye to looking at each.

"Umm...nothing much." Theodore denied looking away with a blush in his face, Alvin noticed though and would continue to pester him.

"I see you blushing Theodore, what'd she say to you?" He repeated, Theodore grew a grin to come to what she said to him to Alvin as he looked over.

"She said she loved me Alvin." Theo giggily said as he sat up.

"You go Theo!" Alvin soon sat up and nudged his brother's arm, but Theodore was unsure of himself.

"But what should I do? I have to leave again, what if I say the wrong thing?" Coming to Alvin for advice, just as Eleanor came to Alvin many weeks ago. Alvin certainly hadn't forgotten and wanted to make sure to not make another mistake and say the wrong thing again.

"You just have to believe in yourself, just like you have been." Alvin advised, but his brother wasn't sure what "himself" he should be.

"But I've been acting so weird lately. I'm sure you guys have noticed." Theodore frowned upon himself.

"What? Of course not...How could we no..." Alvin reasoned but the tone of Alvin's voice made him look over to him, he knew that Alvin was just trying to make him feel better, but Theodore wanted the truth; Alvin reconsidered. "Well maybe we've noticed a little bit..." With that Theodore fell back on his back looking up again.

"You guys must think I've been acting like a goof." Theodore moaned.

"Well, no actually. They think you've been acting like...me." Alvin responded which Theodore sat back up to and looked to Alvin. He looked sincere, he sounded honest. Acting like Alvin, was that really true?

"Don't they think you're a goof Alvin?" Theodore said with a smile.

"Ha ha..." Alvin slapped Theodore's knee playing. "I sure hope not, maybe just like you've been...really cool, confident, and...macho." He finished shaking his brother's shoulders.

"Well, I learned from the best..." Theodore looked to Alvin with the biggest compliment anyone could give as the two looked at each other with such admiration for the other, they were both so proud of each other and for what they had done.

"Awe shucks Theo..." Alvin told his brother and pulled him in and the two gave a small chuckle to another as the two were having so much fun together. Hoping it would last...forever.

There is Chapter 19. Chapter 20 is coming as soon as possible, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading!