Spring Showers
Chapter Sixteen: Acceptance
"Jeepers, Verne's awfully late, isn't he?" Penny waited alongside the log, Ozzie and Heather waiting alongside her, her husband chasing around their three kids. They had gotten into the caffeine again.
"Spike, slow down there son!" Lou panted, chasing one then another of the triplets, trying to get them to voluntarily slow down. "Bucky! Be careful! Don't run into anyone!" Lou nearly had a heart attack when Bucky nearly ran into Ozzie.
"Geez, did they get into some of RJ's energy drinks again?" Ozzie froze in his place as Quillo surrounded him, running circles around him, laughing like a maniac. As soon as Quillo broke from his orbit around him, Ozzie promptly collapsed.
"I saw my life flash before my eyes!" Ozzie breathed hard.
"Quillo! Bucky! Spike! Slow down or you'll be eating broccoli for the next week!" Penny threatened, having had enough of her children's horseplay.
The triplets froze in their tracks and let out a collective, "MOM!"
"Whoa! Now that's cold!" Heather shivered, just the mere mention of broccoli causing her stomach to feel weak. "You don't really mean that, do you?" She was very sympathetic with the triplets, and the idea of eating broccoli… ugh.
"If they don't stop, then I will make sure that they eat every little stalk." Penny glared to the three. The triplets whimpered at the threat. They took their mother's threat seriously and walked back to the log, plopping down on the grass, trying to control their still hyper and twitching bodies, behaving themselves as best they could.
"Thanks honey." Lou panted, coming to his wife, taking her into his arms for a big hug, thankful for her intervention. "I don't know what I would do without you."
"Your very welcome, Lou, dear." Penny gave him a peck on his cheek.
"You're almost as good of an actor as my Dad." Heather complemented Penny's ability to switch between her moods so seamlessly.
"Who said I was acting?" Penny retorted, somewhat angrily, scaring Heather.
"I'm sorry." Heather smiled widely and easily, hoping to appease the porcupine.
"Oh, stop it already, Penny." Ozzie said, picking himself up and dusting the dirt off of his fur.
"Hehe, sorry." Penny chuckled, offering a hand to Heather to help her up. "Just wanted to have a little fun with you dear."
"O… Okay." Heather nodded, sighing relieved.
"Mom, Dad, do you hear something?" Spike spoke up, hearing something odd coming from a distance.
"What do you mean?" Lou and Penny looked around, turning their heads to try and find any odd noise or sound coming from the distance.
"COOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…"
"What in the world is that?" Ozzie and Heather, now hearing the odd noise that Spike was probably referring to, turned their ears to the apparent source of the sound.
"Maybe an owl that doesn't know when to stop?" Heather speculated, the high pitched sound now growing and becoming annoying.
"Can't be." Lou listened intently as the sound changed somewhat.
"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Oh no." Spike, Bucky, and Quillo gasped, realizing what was coming. "JUMP!"
"Wha?" Lou, Penny, Ozzie and Heather looked to the triplets quizzically, wondering why they should…
"COOKIE! COOKIE! COOKIE! COOKIE! COOKIE!"
"HAMM…?"
BOOM! CRASH! SLAM!
"WHOA!" Spike, Bucky, and Quillo watched as their parents, Ozzie, and Heather went flying into the air as an orange and grey blur tossed them up, the whole scene playing out before them as if in slow motion. They had to admit, this was some very cool special effects and stunt work they were doing right in front of their eyes.
"Oh geez!" Ozzie had landed hard on his back, nearly knocking all of the wind out of him. However, he had just about enough breath to do one thing:
Scream his head off.
He was watching in slow motion as he saw an incoming brown, SPIKY, ball headed right for him. If he saw his life flashing before his eyes when the triplets circled around him, now, in those few seconds, he felt as if he was re-living it all over again.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
…
"Are you okay, Dad?" Heather shook her father, trying to get him to uncurl from the fetal position. "It's okay."
"I'm… I'm alive!?" Ozzie cracked his eyes open, not realizing that he had shut them, and looked around him. He immediately sat up and looked over his body. No spines skewered into him, not sign of blood, not even a scratch. "But, but, but I thought I saw Lou coming towards me and I thought that I would be…"
"Nah, I landed short of you." Lou popped up next to Heather, pointing out where he had landed, barely a few inches away from his feet.
"What in the world sent us flying?" Ozzie spoke up, before something caught his, and ultimately everyone else's attention.
"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" RJ yelled angrily, half shaking, half livid, all because of Hammy's stunt, causing them to end up crashing into the rest of the family.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to get back home and get started and maybe get some cookies and…" Hammy babbled on, trying to explain to the furious raccoon his reasons for dragging him through the forest brutally as he nearly broke the time-space continuum.
The rest of the family stood back away from the argument but got ready to interfere if anything happened to Hammy, especially seeing RJ as he was now.
"HAMMY, YOU… YOU…" RJ eased his breathing, closing his eyes and trying to reign in his anger. A few calm breaths, he opened his eyes and immediately, he cursed himself for his rash actions.
"I'm sorry." Hammy said weakly, looking down to the ground, his shoulders limp and his ears flat on his head. RJ sighed, regretting his actions and feeling the need to make it up to Hammy.
"Hey Hammy." RJ pulled the little guy to him, picking up his head to let him look up at him. "I'm sorry for overreacting." He apologized to him. "I didn't mean to scare you and make you feel bad. I'm really sorry." He looked to him thoughtfully, hoping that he would accept his apology. "Just don't do it again, okay?" He chuckled. "I don't want to end up in the future or in some other dimension the next time you do that."
"RJ." Hammy jumped to RJ and hugged him tight, his words muffled by his chest fur. "Thanks, RJ. It won't happen ever again." Hammy turned his face up to him, smiling happily, tail swishing high and swiftly.
Hammy jumped to his toes and gently pressed a quick kiss to RJ's lips.
"WHAT THE…?" The family's jaws dropped and their eyes bugged out upon seeing the young squirrel giving a kiss to the raccoon. But it was nothing compared to what happened next.
RJ happily returned the kiss with gusto, taking Hammy into his arms and deepening the kiss.
…
THUMP!
"Uh oh." Hammy broke the kiss, hearing the family falling to the ground.
"Oh damn." RJ groaned. It was not exactly the way he wanted to break to the family the good news of his relationship with Hammy. "This is not good."
"Well, looks like you guys have heard the good news." Stella spoke out to her family lying on the ground, Tiger following right behind her, lying on his back, a still semi-unconscious Verne, babbling nonsensically, trying to take in all that he had just seen moments ago.
"You mean?" Hammy nearly screamed out.
"RJ!" Verne, locking his eyes on RJ, leapt off of Tiger's back and stomped towards him, growling menacingly at him.
"Verne, I can explain everything!" RJ began stepping backwards, suddenly wishing for Hammy's lightning fast speed.
"WHAT IN THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Verne continued to stomp forward, his eyes full of rage and hatred, seeming to emphasize his intent to wring the neck of the ring-tailed mammal. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN LAY A HAND ON HAMMY AFTER…"
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"Hammy!" RJ gasped. Hammy stood in front of him, hands outstretched, legs slightly bent, his face scrunched into a scowl, signs of him taking a defensive stance. RJ had to admit he thought that he would be defending Hammy if anything were to happen, not the other way around.
But still, it was rather chivalrous of Hammy to defend him.
"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON MY BOYFRIEND!"
THUMP!
"Ugh." Though he now lay on the ground, after collapsing out of sheer embarrassment, he still couldn't help the blush that was now spreading over his face or the weird, warm, tingly feeling he was now feeling inside.
Still, he wished Hammy would have stated his feelings with a subtler choice of words.
"RJ." RJ blinked and saw Hammy looking to him, holding his hand out to him to help him up. Once he was on his feet, Hammy hugged him close, pressing himself as close as he could to RJ.
"He loves me, Verne." RJ wrapped his arms around Hammy and stroked his back.
"Just as much as I love him." Hammy cooed happily, his tail now curling around them.
"What?" Verne stared at them, his rage evaporating in an instant, now left more befuddled than before.
"I think they just told you that they're together." Ozzie walked up next to Verne, placing a hand on the reptile's shell.
"As if the kissing wasn't enough to show you that." Heather pointed out the obvious to him.
"They actually look quite cute together." Penny stated.
"Especially since RJ's still blushing." Lou pointed out. RJ smiled uneasily after realizing that he was.
"So, I take it we shouldn't have to worry about any more emotional breakdowns." Stella walked up to Hammy and patted his head. He opened his mouth to answer her, but RJ spoke up in his place.
"Never." RJ firmly stated and hugged him tight. "I'm never going to let him go through anything like that ever again."
"Since when did you become such a romantic?" Stella asked with a sly grin.
"Don't know." RJ replied. "Hammy just seems to bring out that side of me." He looked down and smiled to him.
"Watching too many of those soap operas, huh?" Tiger assumed.
"You watch quite a few yourself, Tiger." RJ snapped back.
"I just enjoy watching the complex human relationships that those programs explore over the span of a single hour." Tiger defended himself.
"Yeah. As if Jenny's ex-husband's brother's girlfriend and Richard's step-son's best friend's father have any chance of staying together while their families try to find the elusive, cursed opal of the…" RJ explained.
"Alright, alright." Tiger gave up. "Granted, they are a tad farfetched sometimes." Everyone else shot him with raised eyebrows. "But they can be rather romantic." Tiger walked over to Stella and nuzzled her.
"Tiger." Stella giggled.
"If you ever do anything to hurt Hammy ever again…" Verne started in a low voice, warning RJ.
"If I ever do, make sure that I regret it." RJ finished his words. "Hurting Hammy is the last thing I ever want to do. He means so much to me." RJ met Verne eyes with a steady, strong gaze. Verne, somewhat surprised at his response, seeing RJ's sincerity to the commitment he had made with Hammy, somehow felt a little more at ease.
"You know this is going to take a bit of getting used to." Verne stated.
"I'm sure things will be just fine." Heather stepped into the conversation, giving them her opinion. She smiled and gave a little wink to RJ and Hammy.
"Thank you." Hammy mouthed out the words to Heather, grateful for her support.
And, in some way, for RJ.
"Oy." Verne rubbed his head. "Every time I think things will somehow settle down and things will return to normal, something weird happens and we have to learn how to get used to it."
"That's what makes everything fun!" Quillo spoke up.
"It'd get boring if we never had any of the weird stuff happening." Bucky added.
"We're one big, happy, dysfunctional family." Spike concluded.
"Ugh." Verne, though he hated to admit it, he had to agree with the triplets. Somehow though, as odd and mind-boggling as the concept was, he couldn't help but crack a little smile.
Glancing over to RJ and Hammy, somehow he knew, in the back of his mind, that they were going to be alright. It would take getting used to, Hammy no longer under his care, now striking out into new territory, learning and maturing on his own now. Granted, it wasn't exactly what he had imagined for Hammy's future when he had taken him under his care as a child.
But, seeing the happy squirrel in the arms of the one he had fallen in love with, the wily raccoon that they had learned to trust and accept into the family only a year ago, maybe, just maybe, he didn't have to look after him anymore.
"Thank god it's all over with." Verne sighed, feeling somewhat relieved.
"I wonder what's going to happen next!" The triplets happily said in unison.
THUMP!
"Verne!" The family rushed over to the fallen turtle.
"Are you alright?" RJ asked his friend.
"Why can't we just be a little bit more normal?" Verne felt like crying.
"Come on, Verne!" Hammy helped him up, giving him a quick hug, hoping that it would make him feel better. "We should really get started on that raid plan! Maybe we might find something for you for your falling problem!" Hammy encouraged him.
Verne just started cracking up.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Verne just let out all of his stress in one long, jolly laugh. "Okay, okay, Hammy." Verne shook away the rest of his laughter and stood up. "Let's get started on the plans for tomorrow." Verne looked to RJ, who nodded in agreement. Verne sighed.
It was a start to the return to normality.
"Okay, so first, we have to deactivate the security system and sneak in through the basement to access the kitchen, where there may be a dog we'll have to distract and subdue, before we can get to the good stuff inside…"
"Eh, close enough." Verne smiled to himself as RJ explained the plans for tomorrow night's raid. It was normal enough for him.
-+-+-+-+-+-
If you have any advice or suggestions, please feel free to review me. All flames will be ignored.
-+-+-+-+-+-