And so begins another piece of the never-ending saga of the poor peasants in Forget-me-Not. I'm actually beginning to end it now if you can believe it. Not all of the couples will end happily…so sad but true. There will be one rather shocking couple and one disturbing one! So read on my fellow HM addicts, read on!

Snowpenguin55: Aww…I'm blushing. Thank you.

1angelette: You know, Lenga, I didn't really like the Hugate pairing when I first began to write it…but now it's really grown on me. If you liked the last bit I'm sure you'll enjoy this next chapter.

Awesome RapidashThank you! Heh heh…I have plans for Daryl…

Moonlit Dreaming: Well…you know…about Flora…what she doesn't know won't hurt her…right? The only thing I'd be worried about would be Carter finding out. -nudge nudge-

Morgan Lee Faye: Amusing? I hope so! Thank you!

AshRB: Wait 'til you see what she does in the next chapter! I sure hope that you hate Gustafa as much as I do!

Cloudy.skye: Yes, it is Hindi. I got it off of The Secret Garden the musical…so don't think I know Hindi or anything like that. Even though that would be cool.

CHAPTER TWELVE: Arsenic and Affections

There's something supremely sweet about watching somebody you like work and making small talk and jokes to pass the time. There's something even sweeter about those moments when the work is done and you wrap a friendly arm around your 'friend's' waist and silence falls for the precious minute that you are awarded with. Then duty calls and you separate, feeling the gentle tension stretch and become taut once more.

Today was one of those days for Nami. The Valley was silent that morning--apart from the ever-present songs of birds, chit-chat of small animals and the rushing water-like sound of wind in the trees. Lumina wasn't around to play her music, Kate and Hugh weren't bothering the cows and Muffy…well…it would be a while until the valley was cursed with Muffy's singing once more. That wasn't a bad thing, either.

It was six days ago that a gleaming black limousine had pulled up in front of the Blue Bar and honked it's horn loudly. Muffy had stepped out of the Bar moments later, laden with baggage of all shapes and sizes. Her blonde hair was freshly curled and her cherry-red stilettos were polished. Griffin followed her out. "What in tarnation is that long automobile doing outside my Bar?" He then stared at Muffy's bags. "Where do you think you're going?" Celia and Marlin hurried, hand in hand, to the bar. Rock followed close behind.

A dark-skinned man with black hair tumbling out under a patterned purple bandanna climbed out of the car. "Are you ready to go, Muffy?"

Muffy quelled under her foster father's glare and twittered, "Oh…did I forget to tell you? I'm leaving. That's Hunter Carr and he's my new agent! I'm going to be a famous magazine model!"

"Model, my foot! You ain't going nowhere." Griffin crossed his arms, protective of his 'daughter'.

"Okay. First of all, 'you ain't going nowhere' isn't proper English. It contains a double-negative because 'ain't' stands for many things like 'is not', 'are not' and 'am not'. Combine with the word 'nowhere' and you have a double negative." Muffy posed, pulling one pretty knew over the other. "Second of all, I am going somewhere and that somewhere is Chupacabra Isle."

Griffin waved the grammar lesson away and thundered, "What makes you believe that you could be a model?"

"Oh, my gosh! Who here has seen Legally Blonde?" She turned to the crowd of townsfolk that now included Jack, Nami and Murrey. Only Nami, Hunter and Muffy herself raised their hands. "You poor, deprived people…not having seen Legally Blonde! Well, anyway, I'm just like Elle Woods. No one believed that she could follow her dreams either!"

"But," Nami pointed out, "you aren't going to Harvard. You're going to a modeling agency. No one believed Elle because law school was a-typical of a skinny blonde beauty. Modeling is so you it isn't even funny."

"Thank you." Muffy flashed Nami a white smile. "And another thing, Griffin. You didn't finance my trip so you don't have a say!"

"Where did you get the money?" Marlin was curious.

Muffy lost her perkiness for a minute. "Ah…I…memorized my parents' credit card number."

"You're going to let her pay with money that isn't hers?" Celia asked the handsome Hunter.

He shrugged. "It's not my business where she got it as long as it pays the bills. Muffy, we really should hurry up…HEY!" He turned around and swatted at his back pocket.

Murrey was holding the agent's wallet while eating a fifty-dollar bill. "Moi." Hunter snatched his expensive wallet back and motioned to Muffy.

"See you soon, guys!" She hugged Celia and Jack and tucked her bags in the backseat of the limo.

Just then, Kate and Hugh ran out of Jack's farm carrying identical blinking machines. In a flash of red and purple, they dashed towards Hunter and jabbed needles in his buff arms. He shrieked with pain and surprise before diving in the driver's seat. "Come on, Muffy! This place is crazy!" Satisfied with their new samples of DNA, Kate and Hugh scampered towards Daryl's house.

"NO!" yelled Griffin and Rock simultaneously. Muffy waved a final goodbye and climbed in the limousine. It quickly drove off, chased by Griffin who grabbed the rear bumper and tore it off in a moment of furious strength. The car didn't stop until it was miles away from the Valley.

Even stranger than that even was the next morning when Ruby knocked on Jack's door. She was bearing a plate of pancakes. "Oh…Nami…dear…I felt that we got off to a bad start the other day. Tim's making me take medicine and it makes me loopy sometimes," she simpered when the redhead answered the door apprehensively. "so I brought these pancakes to apologize."

Pleasantly surprised, Nami thanked her and took the pancakes into the kitchen. Jack had just woken up, so she stayed in the kitchen for a while so her friend could change. He finally came into the kitchen and grinned when he saw the pancakes. "Did you make those for me?"

"No. Ruby brought them. Try one." Nami pushed it across the table. He picked one up and was about to bite into it when a loud ruckus began outside. Jack dropped the pancake and hurried out the door. Two dogs were rolling around on top of one another, fighting with teeth flashing and growls resounding. After observing them for a second, the farmer went inside and retrieved one of the pancakes. He dropped it in front of the dogs and they stopped fighting.

"Which ever one eats the pancake we'll keep, how about that? I love dogs." He watched as the long-eared dog ran forwards and scarfed the bread. It barked happily once before wheezing once and falling over dead. Both Nami and Jack shrieked and looked down at the dead animal. "I…I…er…I guess we won't be taking the one with the long ears. H-how about the other one?" The other dog was stocky and orange. It's ears were pointy on top.

Nami picked it up and turned to Jack. "Was it the pancake? Ruby brought them…"

Jack ran inside and grabbed the plate of sweets and brought them outside. "I'm going to go ask Ruby what she put in them…stay here." Clutching the pancakes, he wasted no time in getting to the Inn. Once Ruby was located, he shoved the pancakes at her. "What did you put in these, Ruby?"

Looking like the world was made of sugar, spice and everything nice, Ruby bowed slightly. "Did Nami eat one?" Her voice was quivering with excitement. "Did she?"

"Er…" Jack lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah." Lying was a sin. Oh well.

"YESSS! My goal has been reached! You see, my prolific farmer, I filled those pancakes with arsenic! Hah! I win! I win! I win! I win! I win!" Ruby danced around the Inn kitchen with unrestrained glee. "I've been trying to poison her ever since she got here, but up until now it's only ever given her a sick stomach. I win! I win! I win! I win!"

Heart pounding, Jack raced out of the Inn and back to the farm. When he arrived, panting, in front of Nami, he gasped out, "Nami! Don't ever accept anything that Ruby gives you! Ever! Never! Understand?"

Nami was confused, but sensing the extreme distress of her…friend…she nodded. "Yeah. Okay." Her fears only increased as Jack pulled her into a desperate hug. Her fears increased and so did her heartbeat.

Hugh wasn't sure that he wanted to go near the giant turtle in the swamp near Cody's trailer. "It looks…dangerous. Should you really touch it like that?"

"Relax. This is a turtle that er…crawled into my luggage from the palace of the Poobah Jones. He has a third eye, but I concealed it with a bandanna. He won't bite you. The Poobah had him trained to be amiable. Imagine the stir that would be created if he took a chunk out of one of the princes' legs!" Kate patted the turtle's wrinkly head. "Now take the MEA and put it close to the head."

Hugh did as he was told and scanned the readings appearing on the screen of the machine he was holding. "No pheromones. Sorry."

"How unnerving. What did Daryl want these for, anyway?"

"I'm not sure. It had something to do with Flora."

Kate laughed derisively. "Flora. That's all he talks about aside from our business. How pathetic and useless."

"Useless? Au contraire. I find it to have it's uses. Speaking of which, did you know that he has a secret stash of brown sugar candy? We should go ask him for some."

"I did know about his stash. I've asked him for some before and he spazzed out. I doubt he'd give you any." Kate smiled at her partner.

Hugh smiled back at her. His smile mimicked hers more and more every day--vampire-like. "That's where Flora's use comes in. You know the only thing that scares Daryl more than cacti is having Flora find out about his picture stash."

"So you're talking blackmail, eh?"

"Precisely."

Kate grinned and nodded. "You know, I think you'll make a fine villain yet." She watched as he began running towards Daryl's house, then stopped and motioned for her to follow. Maybe…just maybe…love wasn't so pathetic and useless after all. Maybe.

Gustafa had been doing some deep thinking (as deep as Gustafa could get) and had recently come to an interesting conclusion about life and about some events that had transpired in the past. He was sitting on a log outside his yurt when the thought rapped his skull to him that life wasn't much fun alone. No, his favorite memories were the ones when Nami was sitting next to him on a matching log…counting bugs and singing folk songs. After some more shallow thought patterns, he concluded that he really should rethink what Nami had said to him so much earlier that year.

She had said that she liked him and he had turned her down. He had promised that he would devote himself to nature. But nature wasn't a very good conversationalist and it didn't play the harp. Or the banjo. Well…technically Nami didn't play the banjo either, but that could be remedied if they renewed their friendship and spent some time together again. Playing the banjo was a greatly sought-after quality in a woman in Gustafa's eyes.

And luck of all luck! Just as he was thinking these thoughts, the same woman who had been dancing in his mind came strolling down. She was accompanied by Jack, but Gustafa didn't pay any attention to that. As the two passed his yurt, he called out to her, "Yo! Nami!"

Nami was more than a little surprised when he spoke, but she excused herself from Jack and walked over to her old crush. "Yes?"

"Peace, sister." The hippie laid down his guitar and looked at the redhead in the eyes. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have time?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Well…do you remember a while back when you told me that you were…interested in me?"

"Yeah." Nami was becoming uncomfortable with the conversation at hand.

Gustafa ploughed on. "I've been thinking about that day for a long time and I have decided to change my answer. You're an amazing girl, Nami. What do you say?"

Nami didn't answer for a split second. During that second Jack caught his breath and held it. No, no, no, no, no, NO! Nami! No!

But what she did next shocked both Jack and Gustafa.

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OMG! What did she do?!?