Spring Showers
Chapter Thirteen: Chasing a Dream
"Hiya, Hammy." RJ looked to the young squirrel resting his head on his chest, his body curled up around his own.
"Hey." Hammy greeted him before he pressed his head to RJ's chest, hearing him take deep breaths, listening to the strong beating of his heart.
"What are you doing?" RJ asked, shifting his hands until they came to a rest on Hammy's back. And it felt good to hold him.
"Just resting." Hammy turned up to face RJ, smiling up to him. "And thinking."
"Oh, about what?" He asked, returning the smile as he looked back to him, interested to learn what was going on in his mind.
"You." Hammy replied simply, turning away from him slightly. "And me." He looked back at him thoughtfully, looking to see his reaction.
"Can you tell me more?" RJ inquired as he widened his smile, hoping to encourage Hammy to go into a little more detail so he could better understand him.
"I was thinking…" Hammy started before pushing himself up RJ's body, coming to rest his head under his chin, wrapping his hands around RJ's neck. "About how much I love you." Hammy tightened his hold around his neck. "And I wondered…" He hesitated for a second. "If you love me just as much."
"Hammy!" RJ was somewhat taken aback at Hammy's words. He gently pulled Hammy up until they faced one another, staring at each other, eye to eye.
"If I ever made you doubt my feelings for you, please forgive me." He apologized sincerely. "But always know no matter what, no matter what happens between us, that I will always care for you." RJ spoke to Hammy.
He watched for his reaction, looking to his face, finding himself mentally tracing the curves of his cheeks, the moist tip of his nose, the thin, slightly open mouth. He took his hand and placed it on his face, feeling the fur in his hand, so soft and smooth.
And his eyes. Just looking into them, he could get lost in the depth within them. The twinkle in his eye, one he always saw whenever he looked eye to eye with him, shone brightly, representing more about him, telling him so much more about him than any physical description ever could. And now, looking to those same eyes, they spoke to him in volumes.
And he blinked.
"I love you." He told him, smiling widely and proudly.
"I love you too." And their lips met, pressing into a gentle kiss.
Hammy surrendered to the kiss, swooning, the rush of emotions that surged through him, emotions that he and RJ now shared, all with this simple kiss. He didn't want it to end.
"I love you." RJ spoke after they broke the kiss, slowly regaining his breath. "I love you with everything that I am." He smiled to him, raising his hand up to Hammy's face, admiring how beautiful the young, red squirrel was.
"You do?" Hammy grinned. He felt a little giddy, never expecting such romantic words from RJ.
"Yeah, Hammy." RJ nodded. "Of course." He added, chuckling as he moved until the tips of their noses were now touching. "It's because you help me become everything good that I want to be."
"Really?" Hammy blushed, truly amazed at RJ's words, at himself, finding it hard to believe that he, simple, little he, could do so much, mean so much to RJ.
"Yeah." RJ reaffirmed his declaration. "I love you." As RJ placed his hand on his face, he rolled his head in his hands, letting him feel the softness of his fur. He opened his eyes and looked to him longingly. In his eyes, Hammy could also see the same fire, the same passion he felt for him.
"I love you." They closed their eyes as they leaned into one another for one more heartfelt, passionate kiss.
"Thank you." He whispered as they met. Nothing in the world could separate them now.
Here and now, everything made perfect sense.
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Hammy lay still on the soft bedding of the log, staring up to the ceiling blankly, not wanting to get up yet, even after having been up for over an hour already. He stretched his hand out, trying to grasp at a stream of light, already knowing that he wouldn't catch it. Not in this world anyways.
In his dreams, light was a tangible, amorphous substance, something he could hold in his hands, providing him light and warmth. It was so unlike the real thing. But then again, in his dreams, he had everything he wanted.
He didn't want to get out of bed. Whenever he heard the stirrings of one of the other family members, he would feign sleep, shutting his eyes and staying limp, hoping to fool them to leave him alone. One by one, he watched carefully with thinly opened eyes, controlling himself to stop him from making any sudden movements, lest he alert them to his deception. He saw Verne, then Stella, come over and watch him, a small frown seeming to be set in their faces. Hammy could tell that they were still worried about him. But if anything, the fact that they couldn't tell that he was awake while they watched him only seemed to support the idea that he could fool them.
Who knows, in time, he'd be able to convince them that nothing was wrong with him and leave him alone. Then everything would go back to normal, with everyone else none the wiser.
He turned and tossed a little, trying to find a comfortable position to rest, but failing to do so. With every movement, he grew hotter and uncomfortable. Eventually, he just gave up and decided to get up. Pushing himself up, he stretched out, yawning, letting the kinks out his body, all before collapsing back onto the bed. He reached his hand over to his opposite arm and gently pinched himself.
"Ouch." Hammy winced slightly, before letting out a defeated sigh. Though he disliked it, he had to remind himself of what was real and what was a dream, that what he had experienced before waking up was just that. "It's just a dream." He told himself, as if to convince himself of the truth.
The cold, hard, and lonely truth.
Oh how he wished, however, that it was reality, that he could just switch the worlds. But he had given up on wishing for what he knew would never come to pass.
He sighed. Picking himself up, off of the foam bedding, and made his way to the back of the log where the storage of food was kept. Picking through the various foodstuffs that had already stored away for the winter, still months away, he grabbed a small bag of cookies, the macadamia nut chocolate chips cookies he had stashed away for a special occasion. He took them, hoping that maybe he could enjoy them and lift his spirits, if only for the day. With his late breakfast in tow, he made his way outside to the waking world.
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"Morning everyone." Hammy feigned a smile and waved to everyone else as he walked out, seeing everyone going about their morning routine.
"Hey, Hammy!" Quillo, Bucky, and Spike rush to him, happy to see their friend finally up and awake. "How did you sleep?" They jointly asked.
"Just fine." Hammy chuckled, seeing the triplets helped to lift his spirits. It had been a while since he had played with them last. More and more, he realized that his time with them had lessened significantly. At this, he suddenly felt really old and he missed having fun with them. "I'm doing just fine." Maybe he could start playing around with them again. It would definitely help raise his spirits.
"Have you eaten yet?" Quillo asked.
"Our mom is going to give us some of this weird stuff called granola." Bucky stuck out his tongue, not too fond of the breakfast that their parents were making for them. "It tastes like cardboard."
"It's not too bad." Hammy gave his opinion, having tried some of the stuff before. Granted, the granola usually came with nuts, so he was a little biased.
"Still, we'd rather eat something else." Spike remarked. "Anything else!"
"Hey, I've got an idea." Hammy stormed up an idea. "Here, why don't you three chow down on these and I'll go have some breakfast with your parents." Hammy suggested, holding out his bag of cookies to them.
"SURE! COOL! AWESOME!" They all jumped for joy, free from having to eat the hard and weird tasting stuff and being able to chow down on the good stuff.
"Okay, here." Hammy smiled to them. He felt good helping them, even though he really shouldn't have done that. But still, he could understand their feelings and he wanted to do something to help. "You go on and I'll go to your parents." He told them.
"Okay then!" They carried the bag away with them. "We'll see ya later!" They added. "And thanks!"
"You're welcome!" Hammy laughed, feeling so much better now. He watched the triplets head to their little area, probably to eat the cookies and jam to some of their music. As they disappeared from his view, he turned around and headed towards the direction of Lou and Penny. He knew that he would have a bit of explaining to do to them for giving the cookies to the triplets instead of letting eat the healthy and wholesome granola.
Then again, it was granola. He just prayed that they had nuts in them.
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"Oh, hey Verne! Hey Stella!" RJ greeted them with a smile.
"Hey there, RJ!" Stella returned the greeting. "You seem to be in a good mood today." Stella noted the extra bounce in his usual strut.
"Uh, yeah, I guess I am." RJ was a little surprised at the observation, that his feelings would be so obvious when he didn't notice it himself.
"So why are you so happy?" Verne asked with a half smile. "You have a big plan for us for tomorrow's big raid on the Johansen house?"
"You can say that." RJ replied, bearing a mysterious grin. "Where is everybody else?" He looked around, hoping to see some of the other family members.
"Lou and Penny are having breakfast with their kids right now." Stella remembered talking to Penny earlier that morning.
"How about Heather?" RJ inquired. "And Ozzie?" He added.
"They should be together as well, most likely at Ozzie's place, or maybe by the log." Verne replied, a little unsure of where the two opossums were.
"And I think Hammy may still be asleep in the log." Stella added as an afterthought. "He's been waking up a lot later than usual." She noted.
"Yeah, but I guess he just needs the rest." Verne sighed, wondering if Hammy really was still sleeping. As he looked to Hammy earlier that morning to check on him, he had the nagging feeling that maybe, just maybe, Hammy was watching him.
"I'm sure he's going to be fine." RJ assured them. "Anyways, we should try getting the family together and go over the plans for tomorrow so that we don't have to rush it for tomorrow." He recommended.
"Alright, we'll tell the others." Stella got the idea.
"I'll go talk with Heather and Ozzie. Just want to go over a few things with them." RJ volunteered.
"Okay, sure." Verne said. "Are you going to tell Hammy?" He asked wondering if RJ would wake Hammy up to inform him of the meeting.
"Should I?" RJ asked Verne, as if he were asking permission for him to do so.
…
"Yeah." Verne nodded. "Yeah, you should wake him up and tell him as well." He had his reservations about letting RJ be the one to inform Hammy, but part of him thought it would be best if he did, a sign that things were as normal as they ever were.
"Okay then." RJ nodded.
"Well, we'll see you later then." Stella spoke up after letting the two have their little talk.
"Okay then." RJ waved back as he started on his way to the log. Verna and Stella waved back until RJ was out of view.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Verne asked Stella, feeling a little unsure at what may happen when RJ and Hammy meet.
"I don't know." Stella responded. "I honestly don't know."
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"I wonder what we have here?" Ozzie asked himself, rustling through the different packages of food in the log. He tossed aside some bags of chips, bars of chocolate candy, and cans of snack foods, trying to find something he liked.
"Watch where you're throwing those, Dad!" Heather dodged an incoming can of potato sticks that her father had flung to the side.
"Sorry, Heather." Ozzie apologized to his daughter, however still digging through the stock of food, hoping that maybe he could find himself a bag of trail mix or some kind of fruit or nut combination. Then again, Hammy usually ate those up before anyone else. However… "Jackpot!" Ozzie was lucky once in a while.
"Oh, Dad." Heather just rolled her eyes, seeing her father pull out a bag, the words "TRAIL MIX! NOW WITH MORE FRUIT!" written across the plastic bag. She was munching on a candy bar, chewing happily on the chocolate covered caramel and nougat bar.
She cracked a smile, feeling an odd sense of happiness and appreciation in just knowing that he was her father, as weird as he was.
"Hello?" A voice called into the log from outside.
"RJ?" Heather recognized the voice and headed outside. As she walked out, she came to face with him.
"Oh, hey Heather." RJ smiled to her, albeit a little uneasily.
"Hi, RJ." Heather replied shyly, a little uneasy given the events of last night.
"Good morning, RJ." Out stepped Ozzie, his face a cross between a smirk and frown, making it very difficult for RJ to determine whether of not he should leave or try to play nice, absolutely sure that Heather had told her father the events of last night.
"Hey there, Ozzie." RJ decided to try and play nice. "How have you been?" He smiled as widely as possible to try to appease Ozzie.
"I've been better." Ozzie stared back at him. RJ swore that he could see daggers, no swords, no… whatever were in Ozzie's eyes, they would make him suffer in the most horrific way possible if they were real.
"DAD!" Heather, sensing the growing tension between her father and RJ, elbowed her father, causing him to keel over in pain. "Sorry about that." Heather apologized for her father's rude behavior.
"It's okay." RJ sighed in relief. "I understand." He moved to Ozzie and helped him up. "Your father has every right to be angry." RJ stared eye to eye with Ozzie before turning away.
"It's okay, RJ." Heather placed her hand on his arm, looking up to him, reassuring him that she was okay with what had happened. "I'm doing okay." She turned to her father. "Dad, apologize to RJ!" She demanded.
"Well," Ozzie resisted, growling low in his throat. It took one more glare from Heather to convince him. "Alright." Ozzie sighed, walking up to RJ and, with a heavy sigh and under the stern gaze of his daughter, extended his hand out. "I'm sorry." He asked for forgiveness. RJ, with a much easier smile, took his hand and gave him a firm handshake. Ozzie couldn't help but crack a smile of his own, especially hearing the relieved sigh of Heather next to him.
"So what are you doing here at the log?" She asked RJ for his reason being there.
"Oh." RJ remembered the original reason why he came there. "I came to tell you that everyone will be meeting later on at my place so that we can discuss our plans for the Johansen raid tomorrow night." RJ informed them.
"Okay then." Ozzie nodded to him as a show of respect. "We'll be there."
"Thanks." RJ nodded as well, returning the same respect to Ozzie.
"Was there anything else you needed to tell us?" Heather asked.
"Uh, not really." RJ admitted. "Actually, I was wondering if you had seen Hammy." RJ told them. "Verne and Stella said that he might still be here sleeping."
"He wasn't here when we got here." Ozzie informed him. "But I think he might be with Penny and Lou." He tried his best to remember.
"Oh, okay." RJ noted. "Thanks for telling me."
"You're going to talk to him, huh?" Ozzie asked him. RJ sighed.
"Yeah." RJ replied simply, lowering his head.
"So what are you going to talk to him about?" Heather wondered.
"Just some things." RJ replied. "I honestly don't know what's going to happen." RJ admitted to her.
"Just tell him the truth." Heather smiled to him. "I'm sure that is what he wants to hear from you right now." She added.
"Heather!" RJ's eyes widened, surprised at her words. Ozzie also looked to his daughter with a shocked look on his face.
"Dad, you're not the only one who knows how to read people." Heather grinned to her father. "You taught me how to, after all." She added before turning back to RJ. "You better go on and find him." She said before giving RJ a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, Heather." RJ pulled Heather into a quick hug. Breaking it, he nodded to Ozzie, with him returning as well, and ran off to Lou and Penny's place.
"You think things will work out?" Heather asked her father as she moved back into him, seeking comfort within his arms.
"Yeah, I think everything may just work out." Ozzie replied. "You okay?" He asked, wondering how she was feeling after meeting RJ.
"Yeah, Dad." She smiled back at him, genuinely. "I'm just great." She assured him that nothing was bothering her.
"I'm slowly getting this whole love thing." She added, happily. Ozzie sighed with relief, holding her daughter tight, content that she was okay, and maybe, in a little way, he was happy that he could still hold onto his little girl for a little longer.
"I wonder if I'll meet anyone else anytime soon." Heather spoke out, a small grin crossing her face, figuring what must be going through her father's mind.
"Oy." Ozzie groaned, dreading the thought, hearing Heather giggle lightly after his little reaction. "For now, at least." He reminded himself. "For now."
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