Chapter 5

Erik and the others got home a lot earlier than Alvin and Marshmallow had previously anticipated and they sprinted towards the living room, covering the back door with the curtains on their way, and leaping up on the sofa and turning on the TV to look as casual as possible. They had perfect timing, as Erik and the others walked in through the front door just as they were starting to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas ("starring Jim Carrey," the announcer proclaimed) o ABC Family.

"We're back," Colin chirped. He set the bags near the window of the living room along with the others and stood up, dusting off his paws. "So, what did you guys do while we were gone?"

"Mostly this," Alvin said dully as he gestured towards the television, on which Jim Carrey was scaring Lucy Luu, who was no more than two. He suddenly frowned. "We haven't put the tree up yet and it's almost Christmas."

"Oh, that reminds me," Renee said suddenly. "Erik, Marshmallow, have you guys written your letters to Santa yet?"

This inquiry caused Alvin to look at the two skunks in question with a quizzical look on his face.

"What?" Erik asked.

"Okay, Marshmallow, I understand," Alvin said, "but, dude, you're in your twenties. What are you doing still believing in Santa Clause?"

Erik's face fell and his ears flattened against his head, his thick striped tail curling around his feet, and he, without thinking about it, began to stroke the tip.

"Oh, come on, Alvin, leave him alone," Colin said, hugging the skunk, causing a smile to appear on Erik's face. "There's nothing wrong with believing in a little Christmas magic. Dave tells me that you still believe in the tooth fairy."

Alvin's cheeks burned red as Erik smiled at him. "Well, that-that's different," he stammered in an effort to show the difference between the two. "She gives you money! Santa Clause doesn't do that."

"No, he just gives you a shitload of presents," Colin mumbled, flinching as his mother smacked in the back of the head, clearly telling him to watch his mouth in front of the little ones. "Sorry, Mom."

"New rule," Alvin proclaimed. "No more talking to Dave or Simon."

"You're just embarrassed," Erik said, his happy mood suddenly returning.

"Oh, and, Marshallow, look what we got while we were out," Renee said, fishing out a jug of boiled custard, much to the white skunk's delight as she squealed in joy, kicked her legs, and clapped her paws together, her tail swatting Alvin in the head. "Who wants some?"

The family charged into the kitchen while Alvin remained on the sofa.

"Alvin, aren't you coming?" Colin asked.

Alvin folded his arms angrily. "Hmph!" He turned away from the raccoon.

"Ah, come on, Alvin," the raccoon said gently. He slid his arms around Alvin's waist and nuzzled his ose in the soft, warm fur on Alvin's neck. "Don't be sore at me. We were just having a little fun is all." He heard nothing in response. "Come on. Quit being a pussy and-"

"Colin Phillips," Renee shrieked, making the raccoon wince.

A mischievous smile crept across Colin's lips. "Quit being a baby and come join us." He heard nothing in response. "Or just sit there and pout, I don't care." He finally slid away from Alvin, releasing the chipmunk and walking away towards the kitchen with a swish of his ringed tail.

Alvin watched him go, struggling with indecision before crying out, "Wait for me," and running into the kitchen with the others.

"Why is are the curtains drawn over the back door?" Renee wondered out loud.

"Yeah, I was just noticing that myself," Colin stated.

Erik, Alvin, and Marshmallow each gave each other a knowing look, a look that Renee instantly recognized and called them out on it. "Boys, Marshmallow, do you know anything about this?" She pointed to the curtains and put her paws on her hips, a gesture that Alvin recognized from Dave as one being told that they meant business.

Erik gave a nervous smile and replied, "Let's just say it's a surprise, a surprise none of you can see until Christmas, okay?"

"Ooh, what is it?" Colin asked excitedly, hopping up and down.

"Especially you, Colin," Erik instructed in a mockingly stern voice.

"It's something for me, isnt' it?" Colin guessed, his tail wagging.

"Yes," Erik replied, "but you can't see it until Christmas."

The raccoon's face fell. "But that's ten whole days away," he whined. "I want it now!" He jumped up and down, making the others laugh with how childish he was being.

"Oh, quit being a baby and drink your boiled custard," Alvin replied, shoving a tall glass of the liquid into the raccoon's mouth and forcing it down his gullet. Once Colin took the glass and kept chugging, Alvin let go, watching in amazement as Colin guzzled down the rest of the boiled custard without stopping, taking a deep breath as he set the empty, stained glass on the counter, breathing heavily.

"That's a good way to choke yourself," Marshmallow noted towards her brother.

Erik gently kicked her shin. "You're one to talk. You can drink a whole bottle of milk without stopping to take a breath. What room do you have to criticize?"

She smiled. "Okay, okay, I admit it. I'm a milkoholic, so sue me."

"Mm-hmm," Erik mumbled as he took a drink of the vanilla-colored liquid in his glass.

Noticing that he had yet to drink his, Renee motioned for Alvin to try some. "Go on, Alvin, try it. It's really good. You'll like it."

The red-clad chipmunk shrugged. "Okay, here I go." He reared back his head and took a swig of the stuff, a grin spreading across his face as the liquid touched his tongue and traveled down his throat to his belly. He straightened his head, licking his lips in the process, and smiled at the glass. "Mm! That is good!"

"Told you," Renee said.

"Guess who I ran into while at the mall," Colin said.

"Who?" Marshmallow asked.

"Rita," the raccoon answered, smiling. "She was out back digging around in the dumpsters in search of something to eat."

"Well, at least the two of you have one thing in common," Erik said. "Dumpster divers."

Colin playfully glared at him. "I'm not some smelly little skunk who offends people with my odor."

"You are when you come home after you're through digging through the neighbors' trash," Renee stated, smiling as she took another drink of her boiled custard.

Colin smiled bashfully. "Okay, okay, you got me."

"Is she still in a bad mood?" Erik inquired.

Colin shook his head. "No, she's calmed down some. Of course, she won't be coming over here for Christmas. She's going over to her aunt and uncle's place."

"Will Gillian be going this year, her cousin?" Alvin asked. "I went with her one year. I was supposed go up to her room for some private time, but I, uh, accidentally fell asleep and she ended up sleeping with Mark, Gillian's boyfriend at the time." He chuckled. "Not surprisingly, they hooked up after that. I guess the relationship didn't last, because she was banging you there for quite a while, Colin." He smiled at the raccoon, who quickly looked away upon seeing his mother glaring at him.

"Her idea," Colin said quickly in his defense. "I didn't even want to do it, but she tied me down and forced me to. Protection wasn't exactly necessary since she really had a thing for anal pleasure. Didn't have to use my thing. A dildo sufficed."

"Colin," Renee yelled, gesturing towards Marshmallow.

"What's a-" Marshmallow began.

"Something you don't need to know about for another ten to fifteen years," Erik said quickly, cutting her off.

Marshmallow gave an understanding nod. "Okay." She went back to drinking her boiled custard.

"Sometime within the next ten days we need to go out and get a tree," Alvin stated.

"No need," Renee said. "We can use the tree we use every year. It's in the garage, along with all of our Christmas decorations."

"Oh," Alvin replied.

Renee chuckled. "Relax, Alvin. We have plenty of time to get the tree up. There's no rush."

The red-clad chipmunk gave an understanding nod before finishing off his boiled custard.

"I think I'll go write my letter to Santa," Erik said, wandering off towards the hall.

"I wanna come too," Marshmallow chimed in. Her brother smiled at her and took her by the paw and led her down the hall towards the bedroom that he shared with Colin and, on occasion, Alvin.

The brown raccoon let out a yawn, stretching and scratching at his backside while he smacked his lips, barely able to keep his eyes open. "I think I'll turn in for the night. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning."

"All right," Renee agreed. She pecked him on the cheek. "Good night." She ruffled the brown fur on his head.

He smiled and lightly swatted her paw away. "Night." He turned to Alvin, smiling at the red-clad chipmunk. "Alvin, care to join me?" To his surprise, Alvin shook his head, stating that he would watch some TV before going to bed. Colin merely nodded his head and tarried off towards the bedroom that he shared with Erik while Renee and Alvin went their separate ways, Renee to her bedroom and Alvin to the living room.

The TV was on, the volume turned up just enough to where Alvin could hear it properly, but the chipmunk wasn't paying that much attention to what was happening on the screen at the moment, his mind wandering. He had lots of things buzzing around in his head. His mind was wandering to that of his brothers. He couldn't help but wonder what they were doing at the moment. His family was most likely busy viewing some kind of Christmas special. From what his subconscious could detect, there was a Christmas special on right now: A Christmas Story, a film that he had come to hate due to how many times he had seen it. He clumsily felt around for the remote. Upon finally finding it, he changed the channel, shutting the TV off, the silence in the room leaving him alone with his thoughts, which was scary territory for him seeing as how he hardly ever stop to think and let his thoughts surround him.

Sighing, he hopped off the couch and headed down the hallway, turning and entering Erik and Colin's bedroom, passing the bathroom along the way, hearing running water and humming coming from the only truly sanitary room in the whole house. He smiled when he saw Erik and Marshmallow on Erik's bed, lying next to each other, both writing in their notebooks, probably busy working on their letters to Santa. He chuckled to himself, still completely awestruck at the fact that someone in their twenties still believed in Santa Clause. Again, he could understand why Marshmallow was seeing as she was just starting her teens and therefore, had a lot of growing up to do. He walked across the room and sat down on Colin's bed, watching the pair before leaning over the bed and retrieving his laptop from his backpack. He hoped that he could get an Internet connection so he could get on Skype and hopefully get connected with his family. Chances were that Simon was on his own laptop while watching the Christmas special, the blue-clad chipmunk bored with the program and looking for something else to do. More than likely Simon was also on Skype, probably talking to one of his geeky friends from school or one of his extra curricular activities like the science club.

He looked upon suddenly hearing footsteps, making his ears twitch. He watched as Colin entered the bedroom, the raccoon's ringed tail bobbing to and fro.

"You almost done?" Colin asked Marshmallow. "You should be getting to bed."

As if the raccoon's words on some kind of effect on her, Marshmallow started to yawn. She smacked her lips after stretching, using a paw to scratch at her neck with her claws. She got down on all fours and stretched her arms and legs, her tail performing its best helicopter impression. She sat back down on her hindquarters and reached out for him, and he picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He carried her out of the room and to her room, setting her down in her crib and tucking her in, tucking Mr. Snuggles under her arm before walking out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

As he walked past the bedroom that he shared with Erik, Colin's ears twitched when they

picked up Erik's voice. His curiosity got the better of him and he stopped to take a listen.

"You're sure this isn't bothering you?" Erik asked Alvin.

The red-clad chipmunk gave a nod. "You bet. Don't worry about me, pal. You're not bothering me one bit. Why don't you go ahead and read to me what you have so far."

"O . . . Okay . . ." A rustling of paper was heard as the skunk picked up his letter to Santa and began reading it off, his friend sitting across from him being perfectly silent, listening intently as he read. He cleared his throat and coughed into his paw before speaking. "'Dear Santa, what do I want this year, you may ask? All I want is Colin . . . .'"

There was more to the letter than that, but Colin zoned out after hearing what Erik wanted for Christmas. All Erik wanted was him? Was Erik in love with him? It was possible. It wasn't anywhere near impossible. He recalled the night that he had watched Erik sleep and talk in his sleep. The skunk had uttered his name. Not only that, they had shared a quite passionate kiss the other night, a kiss that even now he recalled enjoying. Granted, he shouldn't have enjoyed it in the slightest, but he couldn't help himself. Were he and Erik meant to be?

He went to the living room and sat on the couch to think about it, his feet having started to hurt and him having grown tired of walking.

Erik gave Alvin an apologetic look.

"What?" Alvin asked.

Erik swallowed and gazed at the floor before glancing back up at Alvin once again, looking almost remorseful, regretful for what he was about to say. "I had to ask you, Alvin, really, I do." He wrung his paws. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind watching Marshmallow tomorrow while we're all at work?"

"You can't take her with you?"

The skunk smiled. "Oh, don't get me wrong. She's great help with Colin and me, but," his grin widened, "she has a tendency to eat the food before getting it to the customer, and I'm sure you've noticed her getting a little pudgy."

Alvin chuckled and playfully poked the skunk's belly. "Well, then maybe you shouldn't make the food so tasty."

Erik laughed and gently swatted Alvin's finger away. "I have no room to talk, really, since I sometimes do that myself. I let her have a few samples of the food to avoid this conflict since she tends to get hungry, as is expected when you're surrounded by such yummy food. Whatever leftovers we have we give to Colin to keep him from digging around in the neighbors' trash cans." He chuckled, making his body shake. "Anyway, you wouldn't mind watching her, would you?"

Alvin shook his head. "Nah. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Erik grinned. "Thanks." He yawned and stretched. "Well, best be getting to bed, then. Got to get up at five in the morning, you know?" With that, he turned and pulled back his covers before climbing into his bed, followed by Alvin. He couldn't help but smile as the red-clad chipmunk wrapped a warm, comforting arm around him. He took Alvin's hand and held it close to his chest, gently kissing it before falling into a deep slumber.

The TV was on, filling the living room with light, but Colin was simply staring at it blankly, his mind continuing to think about what Erik had said that he wanted for Christmas. No wonder the skunk hadn't told him at the mall, and had only confided in Alvin about his Christmas wish. The poor guy probably was scared stiff to tell him, because he was afraid that the raccoon would most likely never want to talk to him again, much less live under the same roof as him, afraid that he would be molested in the middle of the night.

Why on Earth would Erik think such a thing? After all, Colin was the one who had stood up for the depressed little skunk and had prevented the skunk from offing himself on more occasions than one, whereas his mother had been completely oblivioius to it due to her work. It had been Colin who had suggested that Erik start doing some creative writing and keeping a journal so the skunk had some form of outlet instead of constantly trying to kill himself. It was Colin who had Erik get over his depression and form a whole new perspective on life and had given him a better friend than the skunk could ever ask for.

Colin would never abandon his family for anything, even if one of the members was apparently madly in love with him. In all honesty, Colin could see Erik was so in love with him. He was quite atractive. He was very slim and very handsome. When he wasn't making a pig of himself via bingeing on snack cakes like Twinkies and other foods, he was quite well-mannered. Because of his slim figure, he was constantly eating, trying to put on weight, believing himself to be too thin. Besides, he'd always loved the mental image of him with a full, bulging belly and a big, round furry rump. The mental picture of himself fattened up always made him smile, and the thought of being stuffed with food by one of his loved ones got him aroused, strangely enough.

His former girlfriend Rita had had a thing for fat guys and was constantly feeding him, ordering him as much food as he wanted when they ate out. The fact that she was a binge eater herself thanks to her horrid childhood didn't particularly help matters, and they would oftentimes go out in the middle of the night and raid garbage cans, stuffing themselves with as food as they could food, whatever they could get their greedy little paws on.

They had met one winter outside a deli. They had discovered each other while both had been digging through the trash looking for any leftovers that might have been thrown away. Surprisingly, they decided to share the back lot of the deli, sharing any food that they happened to come across, striking up polite conversation while gorging themselves on patries like pies and donuts and cakes and other goodies of which they found surprisingly vast quanities of. It didn't take long for their talkings to become somewhat erotic, both feeling the chill of the winter winds and both needing to find some way to stay warmer. While they had both gotten extremely fat from their overeating of the human food, extra fur and a filled belly didn't exactly make them warmer, unfortunately, and they found themselves needing to resort to more fun methods to keep warm, albeit the experience had been quite fun and extremely enjoyable for both parties involved, each experimenting with the other in various ways to see what worked and what was a complete turn-off. Naturally, they discovered each other's g-spots and used these to their full advantage, much to their pleasure as they made known to the world, the two of them unable to contain themselves for too long without screaming out their pleasure.

Looking back now, the whole thing made him smile. He didn't know he could land a girlfriend through food. Apparently, she had known that since she had used fod as a means of seducing him, seeming to know he became aroused out of having his cheeks and belly stuffed with food to the point where he had a horrible tummyache, but, hey, it was worht it! Totally worth it! And now, he found himself without a mate, a special someone to be with it, and his happy smile suddenly faded into a complete frown.

Unfortunately, this had the direct side effect of him thinking about Erik. He had told the skunk not to get involved when Rita had lost her shit during dinner, but a part of him was happy that Erik had gotten involved. It had showed him that Erik did love and care about him, as the skunk should have since Colin had done so much for him. He saw it as Erik's way of returning the favor. What had really tugged at his heartstrings was the fact that Erik had called him "brother." Granted, he was not biologically related to any of the members of the Matthews family, but they had taken him in under their wing and had sheltered and fed him as they would have any other member of their family.

They had done the same with Alvin. They considered the red-clad chipmunk family, and as a member of the family, Alvin had done his part to protect and defend Colin during Rita's rampage, although none of them had bothered to make sure he was all right before lashing out at the rampaging red fox. He recalled that the only thing he could taste was blood and nothing else, other than carpet. Nothing a warm washcloth and some toilet paper wrapped around his muzzle couldn't handle, although the latter did make his voice muffled and made him sound funny, which had been enjoyed by Marshmallow via his expense, although he was happy to see her happy, especially after she was so upset after the violent outburst of Rita. He never wanted to see that look on her face again. She had looked absolutely terrified of Erik as she'd crawled out from underneath her hiding place.

He would need more than one night to think about how he truly felt about it. At the moment, he was too tired to think properly. A good night's rest would refresh his mind and then he would be able to decide whether or not how he felt about Erik. With his decision made, he stood up and walked down the hall and silently slipped into the bedroom, only for a smile to appear on his face when he saw Erik and Alvin sleeping in the same bed. He had to admit that the two looked quite adorable in their current position, and he secretly admitted to himself that Erik looked cute when he was sleeping.

Walking up to the snoozing skunk, he ruffled the white fur on Erik's head, a warm smile coming across his lips, only to have it dashed by the cry coming from the bedroom beside his and Erik's through the thin beige wall directly in front of him.

"Colin?"

He entered Marshmallow's bedroom a couple of seconds later to see the white skunk sitting on her knees in her crib, one paw gripping one of the rails while the thumb on her other paw was jammed in her mouth, she idly sucking on it, looking around until her eyes landed on him, and she smiled and motioned for him to come closer. "Hey, sweetheart." He walked over and peered at her through the bars of her crib, pressing his muzzle through the spaces between them. "What's the matter, huh?"

"I can't sleep," she replied, still sucking on her thumb. In her other paw she was tightly clutching her favorite blue blanket. She gave him a nervous smile. "Could . . . could you sleep with me? Please?"

Shrugging, he replied, "Sure," and lowered the railing so he could climb in, not feeling like having to hop over it. He grabbed her blanket and spread it so that it was covering the two of them, then rested his head on her pillow, his eyes on hers while he put an arm around her and smiled at her.

She smiled at him. "You're forgetting, Colin. If you're going to sleep in the crib, you have to be a baby, remember?"

He chuckled. "Of course." He ruffled the silver gray fur on her head before climbing out of the crib and walking over to the changing table.

She sat up and watched him, gripping one of the bars with her paw while she sucked on her thumb. "D'you want me to help you?"

He turned to face her and merely shook his head. "No, thanks." Turning back around, he spotted the pack of diapers in one of the crates underneath the changing table and grabbed as many as he could in one paw. He counted them before smiling to himself. Seven would make for a good thick feel. He went over to her dresser and began looking through her chest of drawers. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow one of your shirts."

She shook her head. "No, not at all. You're so skinny that I'm sure I have some that might fit you."

He let out a groan as he firmly slapped his flat white stomach. "Tell me about it." He bent over, exposing his brown furry rump to her, his ringed tail swaying back and forth, the diapers still clutched in his paw. He removed a plain white t-shirt. He unfolded it and held it out at arm's length to get a good look at it before smiling to himself. He slipped the shirt on, it stopping just slightly above his belly, and he laid down on the floor, the stack of diapers beside him.

He grabbed the first diaper and unfolded it, pulling back the tabs and the tapes. He shivered in bliss as he slid the diaper underneath him, feeling the soft padding on his bottom. His ears went a-flutter as he heard the soft rustling of the diaper. His paws trembling, he brought the tapes toward the tabs and attached them to the front of the diaper before grabbing another diaper. He repeated this process until all seven diapers were on him. Grinning from ear to ear, he slapped the front of his diapers and rubbed them, moaning happily at the thickness of them and the feeling of his diapers as they caressed his furry rump.

Standing up, with some difficulty due to the thickness of his diapers, he waddled over to the dresser and fished around in one of the drawers until he drew out a blue pacifier that matched Marshmallow's t-shirt exactly. He grinned and shut the drawer before walking back over to Marshmallow's crib and climbing in, his thick diapered bottom causing him to bounce off the mattress until he was by Marshmallow's side. Grinning at her, he popped the pacifier in his mouth and began sucking on the nipple, his sister grinning at him from ear to ear. She reached forward and pinched his nose, causing him to sneeze, resulting in the pacifier shooting out of his mouth. She picked it up and gently placed it in his mouth after he opened his mouth for her to do so. She patted his head and her grin seemed to grow all the more wider. He put an arm around her, drawing her close, and they both closed their eyes, eventually going to sleep.