Chapter 18
Eleanor came downstairs at the Xanatos' house and sighed relief as she sat on the lounge, "Well she's finally asleep. She kept waking herself up in a fright, poor thing"
Ron and Tahlia came in with a tray of hot cocoas and set them on the coffee table, "Thought you could use some sustenance" he smiled weakly, "We'll give you guys space, we'll be in the kitchen if you need anything"
Steph smiled, "Thanks daddy"
Jeanette walked in and tucked herself up next to Simon, who wrapped his arm round her, "How's Miss Miller?"
Jeanette rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Yeah she was wound up and panic stricken, but I managed to calm her down. I told her we were all here together and that seems to have eased her mind" she looked at Eleanor, "She's stuck at Mildred's place, so she'll be home tomorrow afternoon at the earliest she said"
Eleanor nodded and reached for a cup of cocoa.
Theodore, who was sitting at Eleanor's feet, rubbed her leg and rested his head on it. He hadn't said a word since seeing Alvin being carted out of the house.
Eleanor stroked his hair and sipped her cocoa.
Alex shook his head, "Man what a crazy night huh?"
No one said anything.
Steph looked at him, "Sorry, you wanted a response?"
Alex shook his head again and reclined in the chair, "No, no, just saying"
They were all quiet again.
"Why was Britt wearing Alvin's shirt?" Jeanette asked
The others looked at her.
She blinked and asked again, "She only had his shirt on"
Simon rolled his eyes, and felt suddenly angry, "That's why he gave his ticket up"
Steph added, "So he and Britt could get it on?" she shrugged, "Makes sense I suppose"
Jeanette's eyes widened as she looked up the stairs towards Steph's room where Brittany lay sleeping, "But...they wouldn't...would they?"
Simon frowned, "Why would they?"
Alex shrugged, "Why wouldn't they?" he looked at Simon, "Come on, home alone, with your girl, you're both in a certain mood and know that no one's coming home for hours. Please. Gotta fill the time up with something. Besides we're all seen how Alvin's been acting round Britt lately"
Simon scrunched his nose up, "There's gotta be other things to do, surely"
Steph scoffed, "Than fight off teenage hormones? Not likely"
Simon felt his cheeks redden, "of course you'd say that Steph"
Steph held her hands up defensively, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
Simon rolled his eyes and leant forward, Jeanette sat up a little, "You know exactly what it means"
Steph stood with and sized Simon up, "You calling me some kind of slut or something?"
Simon lowered his eyebrows, "If the boot fits"
Steph looked shocked.
Everyone else gasped
Simon continued, "Besides if you hadn't acknowledged the fact of their racing hormones and given them some childish permission to explore them, they'd probably never have gotten the idea into their heads in the first place. Then they'd be home watching a movie and none of this would've happened"
Steph took a step forward, "What?" she pointed a finger at him, "I did nothing wrong! I'm not the one in charge of their minds or bodies, hell, they did this one on their own, don't try and blame this night on me Simon! Besides if they were just watching movies and the guy broke in, he'd have shot them then and there, probably" she stopped in horror at what she just said, "Sh*t what did I just say?" she whispered to herself.
She looked up to apologise to Simon, but he already had tears in his eyes and gave Steph a hard shove.
Steph took a step back, then came at him defensively and punched him back in the arm, hard.
Alex and Jeanette stood up to try and break them up. There was a lot of yelling when suddenly they all heard...
"STOP IT!"
Everyone froze and looked at Theodore.
He sat there with his knees up at his chest, eyes closed and hands over his ears, "Just stop it"
He opened his eyes and lowered his hands, "Alvin's in the hospital right now and Brittany's pretty shaken up too, and you're arguing over petty things?" he looked at Simon, "Who cares if Alvin and Brittany were going to do something, who cares if that was their plan the whole time, who are we to tell them what to do?"
Simon looked to the ground and sat down slowly next to Jeanette.
Theodore then turned to Steph, "But on the same note, it's not something we should be encouraging either. I mean, maybe I'm old fashioned, but I'd rather wait to be honest. But in this case maybe it was a good thing they were upstairs, otherwise we don't know what would have happened to them"
Steph looked away then looked at Simon, "Sorry Simon, I didn't mean to say that" he looked up and opened his arms, "Same here, sorry Steph" she leant in to hug him and squeezed him tight, kissing him on the forehead, "Al's gonna be ok...he's a fighter, in everything he does, right?"
They all nodded, and sat down again in silence.
Theodore sighed heavily, "Maybe we should call Dave?"
Ron entered the room again, carrying a pile of blankets.
He was followed closely by Tahlia who had some pillows and cushions.
"Maybe you should all get some sleep? We'll take you to the hospital in the morning" Ron said and started handing out blankets, "Girls you can all sleep upstairs in Steph's room, guys you can crash on the lounges"
Everyone soon felt tiredness kick in and nodded as they put their bodies on auto pilot; the girls heading towards Steph's room, they guys stretching out on lounges. Ron had offered Tahlia his bed as he slept on the lounge in his study.
By 1am, everyone was asleep.
Brittany slowly blinked her eyes into focus. She groggily looked round the room and noticed nothing of familiarity, she sat up panicked and looked down, noticing the shirt she was wearing she screamed and pushed herself up against the strange bed head.
The other girls woke with a fright and quickly came to Brittany's aid.
Eleanor and Jeanette sat on opposite sides of Brittany and held her, "Shh, it's ok, shhh, Britt, we're here, it's ok, it's ok"
Steph rubbed her eyes and yawned, "Britt, you're cool, you're at my place"
The guys came rushing in, "We heard screaming" a topless Alex said as they reached the doorway.
Brittany looked at the guys and back at her top, she had noticed Alvin was not with them and felt the tears building, "I thought it was all a bad dream. Then I saw I'm still wearing this and" she stopped herself and looked horrified at Eleanor and Jeanette, "Oh please don't hate me" she looked at Simon and Theodore, "Don't hate him. We didn't, I swear, we didn't" she buried her face in her hands again and cried.
Jeanette held her closer and stroked her hair, "Brittany, no one hates you or Alvin"
Brittany quickly pushed Jeanette off and sat upright, "Alvin? Oh my gosh is he ok? Can we see him now?"
Steph stood up, "I'll go ask Daddy if we can go to the hospital now" she left her room and went downstairs.
Eleanor held Brittany's hand, "Before we go anywhere, you need a shower, some breakfast and a change of clothes"
Brittany shook her head, "I'm not taking this shirt off til I know Alvin is ok"
Eleanor sighed, "Fine you can put it back on, but you need a shower and you need to eat something"
Brittany sat there stubbornly, but was far too exhausted to put up a fight.
She finally caved and even allowed Jeanette and Eleanor to help her in the shower, while everyone else made their best efforts to get ready.
Mean while in the hospital bed, Alvin awoke to the beeps and whirrs of hospital machinery surrounding him.
His face felt swollen and sore, and it hurt when he breathed in deeply or moved to sit up. He found he couldn't lift his left arm too well without a dull ache seeping through his shoulder joint.
He felt he had a tube in his nose feeding him oxygen.
He twisted his head and saw Dave.
He was sitting on a chair, but had leaned over and had fallen asleep resting on the end of his bed.
Alvin slid his leg over and tapped Dave on the head, "Rise and Shine" his voice sounded gruff and dry.
Dave blinked himself awake and turned to notice Alvin, eyes opened and smiling slightly.
He stood and called the nurse, "Nurse? Nurse, he's awake!" then he came and gently hugged Alvin, who only responded with an "Owww"
Dave stood upright, and pulled the chair in closer, "How are you feeling?"
Alvin raised an eyebrow, "I got my ass kicked in last night, how do you think I feel?"
Dave smiled a little, "you had me so worried, us all worried. I'm so proud of you, but why didn't you call the police sooner?"
Alvin twisted a little to sit up, but grabbed at his side.
Dave helped him, as a nurse entered and gave assistance, "Oh my, dearie, you won't be able to sit up on your own you know" she was a lovely older nurse with a heavy British accent and reminded Alvin of someone who should spend their days baking gingerbread men and apple pies, not assisting young teens in hospitals.
Alvin thanked her, "Cheers sweetheart. Dave this guy was going through our stuff, through your computer, he wanted something specific, I couldn't wait for the cops to arrive. I'd hoped once we got rid of the gun, we could stall him enough before the cops arrived. Damn prick screwed my plan"
The nurse left the room and arrived seconds later carrying a tray with a water jug, glass and a little cup.
"Now this is some pain killers the doctor has given you to help you cope with the pain. You're lucky them injuries you came out with weren't more severe"
Dave helped Alvin take the medication.
Alvin looked down at his shoulder, "So what exactly did happen to me?"
The nurse looked at his chart and rattled off a bunch of medical terms.
Alvin looked at her, "And now in plain English?"
She smiled, "Well dearie, basically, you'll have some swelling and bruising on your cheek there, but there's been no fracturing or major damage done to that, just a few broken capillaries, which is causing your bruising there"
"That's from his killer punch to my head"
She continued, "Your shoulder was treated on scene, the paramedics removed the dagger-"
"Dagger?" Dave cried
"Letter Opener" Alvin corrected
The nurse nodded, "Letter opener, from you and patched you up. You had an x-ray last night showing it hasn't done any major damage to bone or muscle, but it has ripped a few tendons, but that will all heal up over time, providing you take it easy. And your ribs are quite badly bruised and two are fractured slightly, so we'll have to monitor that to make sure you don't do any more damage to it. Sometimes the slightest cough can cause it to fracture more. So if you need help moving, you need to buzz us so you don't risk doing any more damage"
Alvin nodded, taking all this new information in, then he paused, "Wait, I need help moving? How the hell do I pee?"
The nurse gave him a smile, "Oh we're going to need to put a cathedra into you for a few days"
Alvin sat up quickly, "What?" then fell back down in pain, "Argh!"
The nurse was quickly at his side, "Dearie, it'll only be for a couple of days until the doctor says you can get up and about"
Alvin closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing the pain away, "But I'm only 17...i thought those things were for old people?"
The nurse smiled, "Well we could give you a bottle, but that means you'll need to buzz and wait for someone to come in and help you each time?"
Alvin shut his eyes tighter and shook his head slightly, "No, no, fine do the tube thing"
There was a knock at the door.
The nurse turned as Brittany poked her head round the curtain, "Alvin?"
Alvin opened his eyes, "Brittany?"
She walked round to his side and stopped, with her hands up to her mouth and started crying, again.
She was still wearing the shirt she had on the night before, and a pair of shorts.
Tahlia had taken Jeanette back to the Miller's house to pick up a fresh supply of clothes for the girls, while the boys simply came in what they had on the night before.
Alvin patted a spot next to him, "Oh baby, don't cry, I'm fine"
Brittany tried to cuddle into him, but this made Alvin grimace and yell.
She sat up quickly and cried a little harder, "Oh I'm so sorry, look what that guy did to you"
Alvin breathed out, "Cracked rib" he turned his attention to the nurse, "When's these pain killers kick in?"
The nurse looked at her watch, "Give it ten minutes, if it hasn't kicked in by then, let me know, I'll ask the doctor to give you something stronger" she wrote on his chart and smiled, "Now I'll be back shortly with your 'bathroom key'"
Alvin forced a smile back, "Can't wait" he turned to Brittany, "Where's everyone else?"
She sniffled and wiped away the tears, nodding her head towards the hall, "They're just outside they said I can come in first"
Dave stood, "I'll give you two a moment, and go see the others"
He kissed Alvin on the head, who let him, and walked out.
Brittany scooted herself down the bed a little and sat on her knees, "So you talked to the police then? Gave your statement?"
Alvin nodded, "As best I could last night, but I think there's someone else coming in today. I dunno, I was out of it"
Brittany looked down at Alvin's arm and hand.
He had a canular in and was being fed from an IV drip some saline fluids.
The sign above Alvin's bed read his name, a doctor's name and the words, "B&E Witness – Police investigation".
There was also a red sign hanging on the IV drip saying "CLEAR FLUIDS ONLY"
She took his hand in hers and stroked it against her face, "My poor Alvie"
Alvin smiled and beckoned for her to come closer.
She leant in and kissed him.
Alvin looked down, "I found out who it was Britt"
Brittany looked at him.
Alvin looked up and met her eye to eye, "It was Butch. The bastard broke in with some crazy intention to screw us over big time"
Brittany shook her head, "I said we needed to file a report, I said it" she started to tear up again
Alvin took her by the hand, "Britt, I know, ok, I'm sorry. But he's been caught now. Let's just hope there's enough evidence against him to keep him the hell away from all of us from now on, ok?"
She nodded and then held her hands to her face, "He had a gun Alvin"
He tried to wrap his arm round her, "I know baby, it's ok now"
There was another knock at the door.
Two police officers entered, escorted by a nurse and nodded toward Alvin, "How are you feeling Mr Seville?"
Alvin looked at his shoulder and ribs, "Been better that's for sure"
One of the officers took out a note book, "We hope you're been able to rest a bit more, and were hoping to get the rest of your statement? Is now a bad time?"
Alvin nodded, "No worries, now is fine" he held Brittany's hand, "Can she stay?"
The other officer looked at her, "I'm afraid Miss Miller will have to step out briefly, only because she was a witness too"
Brittany nodded slowly, "I'll be just outside" she kissed Alvin and climbed off the bed, she headed for the door when the nurse shuffled past her
The lovely nurse returned, "Ooh, bit of a party in here ain't it? I'm sorry officers, won't be a minute, I just need to help Mr Seville with something" she held up the cathedra.
The officers blushed slightly as Brittany's eyes widened, "That's not going where I think it is, is it?"
The nurse laughed, "It ain't going up his nose if that's where you think"
Alvin closed his eyes and tilted his head up, "Oh for &$%#'s sake"
The nurse frowned at him, "Ah, ah, no potty mouth from you mister"
Alvin looked at her, "You've got to be kidding me"
The nurse smiled at the officers, "Won't be a minute" she closed the curtain.
Brittany and the officers were left on the other side a little stunned as they heard they heard the nurse giving instructions, "Now just prop your legs up like that and-"
They heard Alvin groan, "This is so humiliating"
The officer motioned for Brittany to move, "I think we should give him some privacy" and they left the room.
They closed the door just as Alvin let out an almighty, "WHAT THE %$#& WOMAN? ARGH!"
Brittany snickered, "I think it's in"
The others looked at Brittany and then at the door to Alvin's room.
Dave put his hand to his head as other patients and medical staff in the hallway looked in their direction, "Oh Alvin"
Brittany whispered to the others, "He's having a cathedra put in"
Simon, Theodore and Alex flinched and crossed their legs slightly, "Ahh, oww"
The girls tried to not giggle.
When the nurse came out, she smiled and said to the officers, "He's ready to see you now"
The officers nodded to the nurse and stepped inside.
Alvin was half leaning to look over the side of the bed at the bag, now hanging at his bedside, "Seriously, this is the most humiliating thing ever...and the most uncomfortable" he looked up to see the officers, "Just stay on that side, ok?"
They nodded as one flipped open a notebook, while the other switched on a tape recorder, "Can do, now can you start from the beginning of what happened"
Alvin let out a sigh and started to recall the painful memory that was the night before.
The officers took what felt like forever with Alvin.
They emerged from his room looking somewhat exhausted, but satisfied with the statement.
A nurse went in momentarily and came out with a smile, "He seems ok for a few visitors, but not too long, young Mr Seville needs his rest, he's had a big morning"
Dave nodded and ushered Theodore and Simon inside. Brittany followed as the others waited outside, eager to see Alvin soon.
Alvin was leaning back in the bed. He had his hand to his eyes, rubbing them. He sniffled a little, then wiped his eyes and smiled when he saw his family and Brittany return.
Simon approached Alvin's bed and gripped Alvin's hand, "Man you had us worried"
Alvin patted it and smiled, "Eh, I like to keep you all on the edge of your seats"
Theodore stayed close to Dave, almost hiding behind Dave, like he used to when he was younger. Dave looked at him and gave him a gentle push towards Alvin.
Alvin smiled and held his good arm out to him, "It's ok, Theo, I'm not contagious"
Theodore smiled and poked gently at Alvin's face, "Does it hurt?"
Alvin flinched a little, but shook his head slightly, "My face not too much, my ribs are what's really killing me, and my shoulder if I move about too much" he smiled.
Dave came and rested his hand on Alvin's good shoulder, "Feel better after giving that statement?"
Alvin's face fell, "Yeah, yeah much better" he sighed, "I'm just glad they got him" he turned to Brittany, "They said they should have enough evidence to charge him, I told them about the pool too"
Brittany hugged herself and nodded.
Dave looked back and forth between them, "Wait what about the pool? You two know who did this?"
Alvin looked at Dave and nodded, "It was Kevin Tommerson"
Simon and Theodore both gasped, "Butch?"
Dave looked at his other boys and back at Alvin, "Kevin? Butch? Who?"
Simon paced the floor slightlty, "Kevin, also known by the name Butch, has had it in for Alvin for years Dave"
Theodore added, "He's a bully"
Alvin snorted, "He's a little more than a bully; the guy's a psycho! He had a gun" he rested his hand on his head, "Oh %$#& the guy had a gun"
Dave dismissed his son's swearing and tried to comfort him, "Well what did he have against you? And what was with the pool? And why didn't you tell me?"
Alvin lowered his arm and poured himself a glass of water. Taking a sip, he put the cup down on the table and turned his head to face Dave, "Dave he had everything against me, why, I dunno, like I said the guy was a psycho" Alvin took a moment to explain the back story to Dave, who in turn had to sit down.
Alvin continued, "We had a slight run in at the pool. I dodged a punch and he slammed the wall. I guess he had some pent up anger and came looking for us. I mean, everyone knows where we live Dave, but we've never really had any issues..." his voice trailed off. He coughed a little and held his side before continuing, "I still don't know exactly what he was looking for but he had open some documents of upcoming concerts, my guess was he was going to show up at a few, probably try and take me out them I suppose"
Dave looked at Alvin.
He no longer saw him as the tiny young chipmunk, who was always getting into mischief and trouble at school. He saw him, now as a strong young teen, who finally seemed to have his head screwed on right. He couldn't believe how much he'd grown. How much he'd missed him grow. He looked at Simon and Theodore and it dawned upon him, they too had grown up too.
He suddenly wanted to turn back time and hold them all on his lap and protect them once more from the monsters in the wardrobe and the bogeyman under the bed.
But he knew those years had now passes and now his sons faced real dangers and real nightmares; people who actually wanted to hurt his family.
It became too much and Dave found himself sobbing softly.
Alvin reached out to Dave, "Dave?"
Simon and Theodore stood either side of him as Brittany passed a box of tissues.
Dave looked up and saw the faces of concern on his boy's faces, "I'm fine, just overwhelmed I suppose. I'm just relieved you're all ok"
Alvin smiled weakly, then stopped and raised an eyebrow. He peered over the edge of the bed and made a groaning noise, "Oh that is disgusting" he said to himself "and it feels weird"
Simon, Theodore and Brittany all looked at each other and peered round the corner to the bag hanging on the bed.
Alvin looked at them, "Don't look at it while I'm peeing! Argh!"
Simon and Theodore couldn't help but burst out laughing as Brittany put her hand to her mouth and giggled.
There was a knock at the door as Eleanor, Jeanette, Steph and Alex poked their heads in, "We heard laughter, everything ok?"
Alvin was a slight shade of red, "This is too weird"
Simon managed to choke out, "Alvin's peeing in a bag"
The others looked round the side of the bed and saw a bag hanging with yellow fluid inside. They all recoiled in disgust.
Alvin looked blankly at them, "Well why'd ya look then?"
Steph asked, "Can you feel it coming?"
Alvin looked at her, "Seriously? That's your first question for me?"
Steph shrugged.
Alvin rolled his eyes, "Look it's just weird. It just kinda...happens" he shook his head, "Why are we talking about this?"
Everyone else laughed.
Dave looked at his watch, "Ok guys we all need to wrap this up, we better let Alvin get some rest" he kissed Alvin again on the head and headed out to the hallway.
Eleanor and Jeanette came either side of Alvin and kissed him on each cheek, gently; Alex bumped his fist with Alvin's and they nodded to each other.
Steph came and gently squeezed Alvin's face into her breasts, "To help with the recovery process"
Alvin smiled and simply laughed, "Medical staff bewildered at the magical healing powers of young teen's large breasts"
Everyone laughed as Steph smiled and shrugged.
Simon came and gave Alvin a hug; which was big for Simon, who wasn't much of a man hugger, and Theodore came and did the same.
When they'd all left, Alvin looked up and saw Brittany standing there.
She pulled the curtain closed and walked over slowly, climbed onto the bed next to him, and lay down on her side, careful to not put Alvin in any discomfort.
He turned to her and smiled, looking in her eyes.
She looked back and closed her eyes, opening them again slowly and cradling his head in her hand, she leant in a kissed him.
Alvin tried to hold her, but his other arm was in a sling and couldn't be moved, so he just had to make do with his free arm, which he managed to hold her slightly near the waist.
Brittany moved slightly and sat up on her knees, still kissing Alvin.
She held his free hand and guided him up her body.
He felt the lacy edge of her bra and opened his eyes.
He tried to pull away, but Brittany forced him to stay there, and kissed him harder.
He could feel a wetness on his cheek and wasn't sure if it was his tears or hers.
She took his wrist and pushed him up under her bra, holding him there on her naked breast.
He could feel her heart beating faster, and knew it was a rhythm much unlike his own at the moment too.
She felt him shaking slightly, and caressed his face with her other hand.
Alvin relaxed slightly and brushed over her nipple.
He recoiled back a little and felt his body shake.
He held her breast in the cup of his hand and softly caressed the side of her breast.
Slowly he pulled out from her bra and pulled away from the embrace.
Brittany sat there breathing heavily, with a small, soft smile on her face
Her cheeks were stained with the flow of tears.
He smiled and knew his cheeks looked the same.
She held his hand to her heart, "Because I thought you deserved a reward for your bravery last night"
He blushed somewhat and smiled a little, "Well thanks, beats a medal any day"
She laughed and began to hop off the bed, "I better go now, they're all waiting"
Alvin gave a sideways smile, "They're gonna wonder why you took so long"
Brittany winked, "Let them wonder" she drew back the curtain, "Get better soon, ok?"
Alvin smiled and nodded, "You betcha, hey you could play the hot nurse? That'd make me feel better" he winked at her.
She smiled and shook her head, and blew him a kiss as she exited the room.