HEY Y'ALL :D SF here :D Keep your shirts on, it's just the last chapter! Can you believe this story's already over? D: Still... I can't say this (LONG) chapter wasn't fun to write...Still! Far out man! XD

I'd really like to thank CartoonCaster21, FlowerPower71, Zinka17, and Fan de Basil de Baker Street, and of course all my anonymus reviewers :D You guys all rock! :D

Give up about the song yet?

here's your final hint, and the answer will be given at the end :D

Hint#1- The song name starts with an "S"

Hint#2- It was made in 2005.

Hint#3- One word title.

Hint#4- it's from the Country genre

Hint#5- It's about cancer

Hint#6- read the underlined letters -_-;

See y'all next run! :D c'mon back now, y'hear? XD

(Slouchy)

There was no other explanation for it. Sassette was some kinda miracle. She lived through the night. Then the next night. Then the next night. Pretty soon, she could sit up on her own and talk in rhythm with the Venismurfsion machine. Papa smurf still had to give her those yucky medicines, but she was actually getting better, I think. About five days after that night, she started doing something we all kinda thought she'd never be able to do again…

Papa smurf and Nat and Snappy and I were all around the bed, Handy next to the machine. Papa smurf was holding Sassette's hand reassuringly. "We'll be right here, every smurf of the way," Papa smurf said, "Just try to breathe normally… no talking, or laughing, or anything. Just breathe like you normally would."

Sassette nodded her head a little bit. "Okay…." The machine forced her to inhale. "Pappy…"

Papa smurf gave her hand a little squeeze and a smile. "And if you feel like you're starting to get short breath at all, even just a little, give my hand a squeeze and we'll turn it back on, alright?"

Sassette nodded. "Ready, Sassette?" Nat asked her.

Sassette smiled in reply "Hollerin' Her-" the machine forced her to take a breath-"Hermit crabs, Nat! I sure-" the machine inhaled again,"-am!"

Handy put a hand on a dial on the machine. "Orright… on the count'a smurf…." He said. "One… Two… Three… SMURF!"

He slowly turned the dial, slowly making the machine turn off. We all held our breaths.

This was the moment of truth.

Slowly, Sassette breathed in real deep, then exhaled again, a wide smile on her face. We all breathed out, relieved. Sassette followed the same pattern of inhaling and exhaling for a few breaths. Then after a little while, she gave Papa smurf's hand a hard squeeze and started nodding her head.

Papa smurf nodded to Handy, who slowly turned the dial back on again. The machine slowly kicked back on, forcing air through Sassette's damaged lungs. She smiled real wide, and actually had tears rolling down her cheeks when she looked at us. "I…."she said, her voice full of pride, "I did it…."

Sassette took a breath all by herself.

After about two weeks of "weaning", as Papa smurf called it, she could breathe without any help from the Venismurfsion machine. She still had to stay in bed, but she could still play with us, and we'd play with our pirate ships on her blue blankets, pretending it was the ocean. When Sassette could finally get out of bed, it was almost time for the village Christmas party. There was lots of snow on the ground, and all the smurfs were busy decorating Greedy's mess hall with mistletoe and stuff for the party.

Snappy, Nat and I were with Sassette in the lab after she'd taken her medicines for the day. Her tummy still hurt, so we were gonna stick around for her for a little while until she was feeling better. Papa smurf was outside helping everysmurf with the decorations and stuff. Brainy, of course, was out telling the others how they ought to be smurfing their lights and stuff, and ended up making some kind of a snow angel heaven outside the village with how much he was getting kicked out. Snappy stood on his tiptoes and watched all the activity outside as the whole village made Christmas preparations. Smurfs were hanging wreaths on doors, hanging garland between the houses, putting bright colored lights up on the roofs, singing Christmas carols. Even from the lab we could smell Greedy's Christmas gingersmurf cookies. We'll have to go smurf a few later, I mentally reminded myself.

"Golly, jus' look at all this Chris'mas stuff!" Snappy said, turning back to us for a minute, then looking back outside at all the pretty lights and stuff.

Nat looked out the window with him. "Yeah." He said, "An' pretty soon it's gon' be th' village Christmas party."

"I think it's gon' be pretty smurfy this year," I said, smiling a little at all the holiday cheer, "Greedy an' Farmer were up all night las' week smurfin' up more sarsaparilla cider."

"Whaddyou think Sassette?" Nat said, looking at Sassette in the bed.

Sassette curled up and faced away. "Jolly jackrabbits, Nat, how should I know?" she said, "I'm not goin', 'member?"

I looked at her. She looked sad and tired, and she kept her face hidden from us. "Aw, c'mon, Sassette!" Snappy said, sitting back down across from her, "It'll be fun. It's Chris'mas, y' can't jus' be all 'lone."

"Well I do'wanna go to th' party," she said, curling up tighter, "All my hair's gone… everysmurf's gon' look at me!"

"Well, sure everysmurf's gon' look at'cha." I shrugged, "they're all 'mazed that you've been so strong with th' whole cancer thing, course they're gon' look at'cha."

I guess that didn't help too much. She just seemed to retreat more into a tight little ball, burying her face under the pillow. "Listen, Sassette," Nat said, "We don' wan' you t' be all 'lone on Chris'mas… Please come with us?"

She didn't answer. She didn't even shake her head under the pillow or anything to acknowledge that she heard us. There was a loud knock on the door. Then the door simply opened, and Handy poked his head in and looked around. "Heya smurflings," he said, "Is Papa smurf home? He asked me to help him fix his Christmas lights."

I shook my head. "Nope. Las' I heard he was over at Greedy's kitchen helpin' with the Gingersmurf Cookies."

Handy muttered for a minute, then looked and noticed Sassette all curled up on the bed. "Hey… Sassette, what's wrong?" he said, coming over to the bed and sitting down next to her feet.

"She doesn' wan' go to th' Chris'mas party," Snappy said, "We're tryin' t' get'er t' come with us."

Handy frowned and moved the pillow off her face. "Aw, how come you don't wanna go, Sassette?" he asked, "It's Christmas, it's the smurfiest time of the year."

"I KNOW, Handy," she said, blinking a lot and sniffing loudly. "B-but everysmurf's gonna look at me… Not even a good kinda look, they're all gonna look at me an' talk about me when they think I'm not looking or can't hear… A girl withou' any hair… goin' to this party…"

Her lower lip twitched a little and she sat up and hugged Handy. "It'd be a mistake, Handy…" she said, wiping her face with her hands. "No'un'd wanna come near me with this look, an' this- this- thing in me!" she gestured to the needle and tubes in her chest.

Handy hugged her tight around the shoulder, swaying a little and muttering words of comfort under his breath. "It's alright, Sassette… It wouldn't be a mistake…" he said, "I know plenty of escorts that'd be proud to go with you, no matter what you looked like."

Sassette let go of him and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah? Like who?" she said, almost sarcastically.

Handy thought for a moment, rolling his eyes to the left thoughtfully, "Hmmm, well me, for one." He said, "And Farmer, and Papa, and Smurfette, and Hefty, and Greedy…"

Then he looked at me and the smurflings. "And let's not forget Nat, Snappy and Slouchy," he said with a smile. "Any one of us'd be smurf proud to be a certain young lady's escort tomorrow."

"Tha's what we've been tryin' t' tell her," Snappy rolled his eyes, "She doesn' believe us!"

Sassette wiped her eyes more and hugged Handy again, tighter. "Well then maybe we should show her," Handy replied, smiling a little at the smurfling.

Handy stood up from his seat on the bed and took Sassette's hand in an old-timey polite gentlesmurf way. "Sassette, would you do us gentlesmurfs the honor of accompanying us to the Christmas party tomorrow evening?" he asked, smiling politely and gesturing to Snappy, Nat and me.

Sassette smiled a little bit back, but shook her head and sat with her knees smurfed to her chest. "You're jus' doin' this cause you know I do'wanna go… An' you think tha' actin' all gentlesmurfly's gonna get me t' say yes."

Handy shrugged a little bit and smiled smugly, "well, is it working?"

Sassette gave him a little pout. But before she could answer him, Greedy rang the dinner bell. "You guys go'n get some dinner, my tummy's still upset." Sassette said smiling and rolling over on the bed.

I think Snappy would've protested more if his stomach wasn't so grumbly. "Well… Okay…" I said, "Bu' it wouldn' be very ladylike for you t' turn us down like that."

She gave me a little pout and waved goodbye. Since I was the last one out, I shut the door on the way out. "Gosh," Nat said, tromping through snowbanks in his galoshes on the way to Greedy's mess hall, "Sassette's sure sad 'bout th' Chris'mas party…"

"Hmmph!" Snappy said, crossing his arms, "I jus' don' get it! We all tell'er we'll take care'a her, we tell'er we don' mind her loosin' her hair, an' she still won' come!"

He kicked a little snow in his path. "An' wha's th' big deal if somesmurfs look! It's not like they've got anythin' t' be proud about like that." He added irritably.

"I guess she doesn't feel like anybody really gets it," Handy shrugged, "sure we all keep our hats on because we don't have hair, but it's not like we lost it. It's just how we were smurfed. It's not the same…"

"But we do keep 'em on cause it's kinda 'mbarrassing," Nat admitted, scratching the back of his head, "Elves, gnomes, pixies n' stuff all get hair, and we're bald? Some luck that is."

"I wish Sassette cou' see she's not th' only one who doesn' like not havin' hair." I muttered.

All the sudden, Handy had a wide smile spread across his face. "Slouchy, I think I know something that'll make her see we understand where she's smurfing from!" he said. "C'mon! Let's go talk to Farmer, Vanity and Smurfette! And Tailor too!"

Nat and I shared a confused glance and followed Handy to Farmer's fields.

(Smurfette)

Handy had cleared us all on at least part of his plan. All he told me was to have Sassette all dressed up formally at my house at 6 o'clock.

"Are you sure this's going to work, Handy?" I asked, "What if Sassette doesn't want to come with me?"

"Just trust me on this, Smurfette." Handy assured me, smiling, "if she does refuse, then just say you, Hefty and Vanity are smurfnapping her for the day, or something like that."

"Tch! 'Smurfnapping' sounds so brutish," Vanity scoffed, casting a conceited glance at his mirror, "what about 'smurfopolizing her for the evening', or something a little less crude?"

"Call it whatever you want, Vanity," Handy shrugged, "the point I'm trying to smurf is have her all dressed up for the Christmas party by 6 at Smurfette's house."

There was no way she was going to willingly come over to my house to get ready for a party she didn't even want to go to. This cockamamie scheme would never work! But, if it would help Sassette come out of her shell a little bit… "And what are YOU boys going to do?" I asked.

Tailor smiled smugly and pulled on the ends of his tape measurer. "I'm goin' t' smoif her up th' smoifiest lil' dress for th' party, a cowrse!" he said, his loud, unique voice louder than all of ours. "Lil' fehgeleh won' know what smoifed 'er!"

We all looked at him. "Fe-what?" Snappy asked.

"Wha's a feh-… feh-…." Slouchy tried to pronounce the word like Tailor had, but eventually gave up "What's that?"

"Fehgeleh, bubbee. A sweet young girl, someone sweet. It's a term of ensmurfment." Tailor rolled his eyes a little. "Now if you don' mind, I'm gon' go work on it."

Tailor left to go "smoif up" the dress. I turned to the rest of them. "And what about you smurfs?" I asked, "What're you all doing that's so special?"

Handy shook his head. "That's for us to know, and Sassette to find out!" he said, a big smug smile on his face.

It had rolled around to the next day and Vanity and I were walking to the smurflings' bunkhouse. "This isn't going to work," I muttered to Vanity, "She isn't going to want to come with!"

"Oh, fiddlesmurfs, Smurfette!" Vanity said, dismissing me with a wave of his hand, "Think positive!"

"Alright," I said, "I'm positive this isn't going to work."

Hefty chuckled a little and nudged Vanity. Vanity rolled his eyes a little and knocked on the smurflings' door with the handle of his mirror. "Comin'!" Nat said from inside.

He opened the door. "Smurfaroo! What a surprise!" he said, rehashing the rehersed script we'd put together, "Sassette, lookit!"

Sassette was sitting up on her bunk, playing with her Smurfy Lou doll. She looked down at us and smiled a little. "Jumpin' June-bugs, hi, Smurfette! Hi Vanity! Hi Hefty! What're you all doin here?"

"We wanted to know if you wanted to get ready for the Christmas party with us." Vanity said, turning so he could watch her through his mirror, "even though the thought that this face needs any improvement is simply unsmurfable."

Sassette crossed her arms. "I'm not goin' to th' party, r'member?" she said, frowning, "You'd jus' be wasting your time."

"Aw, c'mon, Sassy," Hefty climbed up the ladder and nudged her a little, "It'll be fun!"

Sassette pouted and shook her head, still crossing her arms. "Well, then just a dress-up get ready game," I suggested, "You love playing dress up."

Sassette kept pouting. "Tch! Well if that's the case…" Vanity said, looking over to Hefty with a sly smile.

Hefty smiled and nodded. In one swift motion he scooped her up from off the bed and held her in a firesmurf's carry down the ladder, careful not to pull out the needle in her chest. Sassette was giggling and squealing a lot, coughing lightly, and kicking her legs, trying to get Hefty to put her down. "Heftyyyyy! What're you doin'!" She asked, "Pu' me down!"

"We're smurfopolizing you for the day, darling!" Vanity practically sang, opening the door for Hefty.

She looked at him confused, "We're smurfnapping you for some fun," I said, laughing and giving Vanity a smug smile.

Vanity almost stuck his tongue out at me in mock-annoyance. Hefty carried Sassette, still giggling, coughing, and fighting, all the way to my house. I opened the door for them, and Hefty carried her up the stairs, and to my bedroom. "Alright, Hefty, lemme go now!" Sassette said, her face turning a little red from being upsidown.

"Are ya suuure y' want me to let you go, Sassy?" Hefty said, smiling ear to ear.

"Yes! Lemme go!" She said.

"Oh-kaay…" He said, walking backwards toward an open window, jokingly of course, "I'm gonna let you go now!"

Sassette squealed a little again and squirmed a little in his arms, "EEP! No! No! Not out there, Silly smurf!" she shrieked. "Over there!"

"Are ya sure?" Hefty said, laughing a little.

"YES I'm sure! Pu' me down!" she giggled.

"Oh-kaay…" Hefty said walking over to my bed and carefully letting her go so that she bounced right on the bed.

Sassette laid like that on the bed for a minute, smiling the biggest smile I've seen in awhile now. "Hehe! You silly smurf!" she said, swatting Hefty's leg.

"Oh, I'm Silly?" he said, "I thought I was Hefty smurf!"

"Well yeah, but you're actin' silly!" she said, swatting him more.

"Well if I'm acting silly, then maybe that makes me "Crazy smurf!" he said, hanging his tongue out and hollering an "AWOOOO!"

Sassette laughed more. "Nooo, smarty!" she said, "You're HEFTY!"

"Smarty, now, huh?" he said, "Maybe that makes me Brainy smurf" he assumed a classic Brainy pose, one hand on his hip, the other pointing in condescension. "Papa smurf aalllways says to-"

Sassette laughed and swatted him again " No, no, no, you're HEFTY! Smurf it with me, HEF-TY"

"Smurf-ette?" he said, then stood more feminine like, and made his voice high pitched, "I'm Smurfette! Ooh, I just looove my flower garden!"

"It's a little scary how well you do that," I joked, then started pushing him towards the door, "Alright, Hefty, or Crazy, or Brainy, or whoever you are! You go get ready for the Christmas party!"

"Alright!" he said, still maintaining his "Smurfette voice", "Ta-ta, Sassy!"

He slipped out the door and left Sassette giggling on the bed. Vanity and I shared an amused glance. Hefty really knows how to make smurfs smile. Vanity took a seat on the stool in front of my vanity. "Alright, Sassette, come right over here and siddown." He said, patting the stool next to him and casting a glance in the mirror.

Sassette slowly stood up from the bed, holding her sides from all the laughing she'd been doing, and sat right down next to Vanity. Vanity dug right into his travel-size beauty products bag and gave her a special mud masque "put this all over your face, I swear, your skin will simply radiate later." He said, putting some on his own cheeks.

Sassette got some out of the little container and slathered it all over her face, leaving openings for her eyes and mouth. I pulled up a chair and copied her, then opened one of the drawers in the vanity. "What color nail smurfer, Sassette?"

Sassette studied the little bottles of nail paint I had. "Mmmm…. That one!" she said, her eyes resting on an inky blue, a few shades darker than her skin. "Or, no…" she changed her mind, "THAT one." She pointed to a metallic silver colored paint. "Oh, I can't choose!"

"Here's an idea," Vanity said, using his mirror to fan his face and make the mud dry faster, "what if you smurfed your nails dark blue, then had silver tips?"

"I like that idea." Sassette said.

"Naturally," Vanity smiled smugly, glancing at himself in the mirror then recoiling when he remembered he had the mud masque.

I painted our fingernails and toes, being especially careful of Sassette's delicate nails. Then, while we waited the mud masque and nail polish to dry, Vanity told us some of the latest village gossip. "You're kidding!" I laughed a little once his anecdote was complete.

Vanity shook his head with his same, coy smile. "Would this face lie to you?" he said, gesturing to himself, "I heard from Clumsy just yesterday that Greedy ate nearly half the silo's smurfberries in one midnight snack. And that's why he had to make double the sarsaparilla cider last week- because Papa smurf found out!"

"Rompin' rhinos!" Sassette exclaimed, "That's a lotta smurfberries!"

"Ooh, I'll say. My poor tummy hurts just thinking about it!" Vanity said rolling his eyes and holding his stomach. "Oh! I think the masques are dry by now."

He peeled off the masque and ran a wet towel over his face. "Ahh, rejuvismurfing!" he sighed a little.

Sassette and I both peeled off our masques and wiped out faces, careful not to damage our nails. "Smurfaroo! My skin sure feels soft now." Sassette said cheerily, rubbing her cheeks with the palms of her hands.

Vanity shrugged, a self-assured smile on his face, "What did I tell you?" he said plainly.

I turned Sassette more towards me and took my make up bag from the edge of the vanity. "Make up, Smurfette?" She said widening her eyes a little and looking up at me. "Bu' you said it's only for grown ups."

I smiled a little and looked right at her. "On special days, everyone's a grown up." I said, "And I think today is a very special day."

She smiled excitedly then froze her face and sat perfectly still. As gently and quickly as I knew how, I penciled on a little eyeliner underneath both her eyes. "Ooh, this blush would look positively smurfy on you," Vanity said, swooping in with a palate and a brush.

I swatted him away a little, teasingly. "Hey! Hey! You had her for skin care! Now it's my turn!" I said, taking the brush and palate from his hands.

"Tch! Well excuuuse me, but who did Hefty's make up when he went smurfing around as you for the day?" he cast a haughty look into his mirror.

"I saw him after the day was over, Vanity," I said, then made an only somewhat fake shudder, "Never, EVER again!"

Vanity crossed his legs and rolled his eyes. "Tch! You act like it's my fault Hefty makes a terrible girl," he joked.

I smiled at him, then went through my make up bag for something I only use for special occasions. Then realized I'd need to eat crow to get them to work. "Oh, Vanity?" I said sweetly as I could, "Could you please help me with these false eyelashes? I mean you are such the style expert, and I am merely a-"

"Say no more, I am already there." He practically sang.

He put his mirror down on the desk of the vanity and moved next to me. He used tweezers and a steady hand to put glue on the lashes. "Okay, now look right towards Smurfette," he instructed her as he put the lashes where her real eyelashes ought to have been. "There we go. Now don't blink for a few more seconds."

She held her eyes open for a few moments, until the glue was dry. Vanity did my blush, and eyeshadow, and I did my own eye liner. I looked in the mirror. As much as I hate to admit it, the smurf sure has an eye for make up… There was a loud knock at my door. "I wonder who that could be?" I thought out loud.

Sassette followed me down the stairs, and I opened the door. "Tailor!" I said with a smile, "Hello!"

"Good evenin' bubbeleh," he said, giving me a friendly hug, "I smoifed up a fabulous dress fu' you, as well as lil' fehgeleh."

"Fe-what?" Sassette said, looking at him puzzled.

"Fehgeleh… it's a compliment, bubbeleh." Tailor put a hand to his face, "Oy, these smoifs!"

He handed me two dress bags. "Thank you, Tailor," I said with a smile.

"Think nothin' of it, bubbeleh." He said with a smile.

I brought the dress bags upstairs, then tossed them over the changing screen. "Eep! Somesmurf's back here!" Vanity said.

I looked at the clock. Around a half-past 5. Handy said to have her ready by 6 o'clock. "Well, hurry up, Vanity!" I said, "We have to change too!"

"Tuh! Beauty can't be rushed, Smurfette!" he said indignantly.

Sassette and I shared an eye roll. Vanity came out from behind the scrim in his formal dress pants and a festive green tie. He posed for a moment, showing himself off. "Very smurfy, Vanity," I said. "Sassette, you should go put your dress on."

"Aw, maybe you shou' go first, Smurfette," she said, "I can wait."

I went back behind the changing scrim and changed into the bigger of the two dresses. It was a more spring-green knee-legnth dress that hugged my small waist in all the right ways. Ah, Tailor knows me so well. I stepped back out and modeled my new dress for Vanity and Sassette. "Pretty parakeets, Smurfette!" Sassette exclaimed, "You look so smurfy!"

"Thanks, Sassette." I said, then handed her her dress. "Now careful not to get make up all over it."

"I won't!" she said, ducking back behind the scrim.

When she came back out, I was immediately stunned. Tailor had made her a claret red, nearly floor-lengh dress, shiny in color, and decorated with small green beads, with straps that tied in the back, and a style that perfectly hugged her waist so that it gave her just the right amount of curve, but not so much that it looked improper, or inappropriate for her age. She looked down, her cheeks blushing, and wrung her hands. "I- I don't normally wear stuff this girly…." She admitted. "I feel kinda silly…"

"Nonsense!" Vanity dismissed her nervousness, and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "the most beautiful thing in anysmurf is their confidence. You should be confident. You ARE the second most beautiful smurf in the room, after all."

Sassette looked up at him with a certain stinkeye look. "Okay, the most." He rolled his eyes and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.

I knew he wasn't exactly lying when he expressed his opinion before. But it was really nice of him to add that anyway. "Ok! It was fun playin' dress up an' all, bu' I'm prolly gonna go back now." She said, stepping back behind the changing scrim.

Vanity and I both looked at eachother. It was nearly six, we just had to stall for another few more minutes! "Wait!" I said, "No dress-up would be complete without—um… without…"

I looked to Vanity to help me out. "Without… Jewelry!" he said, trying to improvise.

"Yes! Exactly!" I said, agreeing with him, and sitting her down on the bed.

For another fifteen minutes or so, we stalled her, going in circles with jewelry combinations and shoes, until finally there was a loud knock on the door. "Vanity, would you get that for me?" I asked, finally deciding on some small clip-on hoop earrings for Sassette.

Vanity nodded and went downstairs. A few minutes later, Vanity called from down the stairs. "Oh, girls! There's somesmurfs here to see you!" he almost sang.

Sassette and I walked from my room down the stairs. When we finally saw our visitors, Sassette stopped walking and her jaw dropped.

Standing at the foot of the stairs was Farmer, Handy, Nat, and Slouchy all dressed in formal clothes.

And not a single one of them was wearing their hat.

Sassette stood for a minute, stunned. "Slitherin'-! Err, Hoppin'-! No, gallopin-!" she stuttered, for once unable to come up with one of her action-and-animal alliterations. "W—What is this?" she said at last.

I shrugged my shoulders, feeling a bit stunned myself. Handy spoke up. "We wanted to let you know that we love you, no matter how you look right now, and that you're not the only one that doesn't like not having their hair" he said, "And to prove it, we're not wearing our hats. Smurfing completely natural tonight!"

"Tha' way if somesmurfs DO stare, they'll stare at all of us. Not jus' you." Nat said with a smile.

I noticed someone was missing from the smurfling boys trio. "Aw, gee wiz, Slouchy!" I heard Snappy's voice from outside. "I do'wan anysmurf seein' me like this!"

"C'mon, Snappy, you promised!" Slouchy replied.

"C'mon, shugah, don'cha wan' show Sassette how much y' care?" Farmer called, subconsciously putting his hand on Vanity's waist.

Snappy pushed his way through the little group, his hat still on his head. "Snappyyy…" Nat glared at him a little bit.

"Okay, okay!" he muttered, "But if anysmurf laughs…!"

The smurflings, and everyone else in the room promised they wouldn't laugh. Snappy pouted a little bit, then took his hat off and stuffed it in his pocket. Everyone in the room was speechless. Sassette started giggling a little bit. "You-! You have a birthmark on your head!" she said trying to keep herself from laughing, "how could I've never seen that before!"

Snappy's pout turned even more sour and his cheeks were bright red. "I tol' you not t' laugh!" he said, crossing his arms. "Hmmph! See if I ever smurf somethin' nice for you 'gain!"

Sassette walked down the rest of the stairs, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed Snappy on the forehead. "This's the smurfiest thing anysmurf's ever done for me." She said, her voice sounding broken with happy tears.

She hugged all three of them and one at a time gave them all a kiss where his hat had been. I don't think I've ever seen such a heartwarming sight as what these smurflings had done for their friend. It brought tears to my eyes just seeing it. ", what're we waitin' for!" Sassette said, "We can't just keep the whole party waitin'!"

We all started walking out the door, on our way to the party. I managed to catch up with Handy. "This's some plan, Handy." I said, still blinking back tears.

Handy shrugged. "It was Slouchy's idea," he said, "I just put it all together."

I gave him a little hug as we walked. "Still… It was really sweet of you to do this for her." I said, "I've never seen a smurfling so happy before."

Handy smiled and shrugged a little more. "I figured it was the least I could do," he said modestly, "I wasn't there before, so I had to make it up to her somehow."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I think you've made it up to her, and then some." I said, "I noticed you're unaccompanied?"

He chuckled a little. "No other females, remember?"

I looped my arm around his. "Well, I simply can't let somesmurf who put together something so gallant and gentlesmurfly go to the Christmas party on his own," I said with a smile, "Handy, will you be my escort?"

Handy smiled and blushed a little. "I'd be honored, Smurfette."

(Slouchy)

At the party, some of the other smurfs were surprised to see us without our hats. Everysmurf, including Papa smurf, muttered amongst themselves for a minute or two. But when they saw Sassette smiling confidently and standing with us, they seemed to understand, so they clapped for us. Some of the smurfs in the crowd even took their hats off to show sympathy. The party itself was just like any other Christmas party, lots of cookies, and cakes and stuff. The music was festive and happy. Some of the older smurfs had big glasses of smurfberrynog-the grownup's kind- and were saying some pretty odd stuff. I just stayed away from them and stood over by the cider spigot. On the rare times the music did slow down, most of the smurfs who had been dancing just turned to eachother and talked casually, but some of them paired off and danced together. Handy and Smurfette, to name a couple. Huh. When did that happen? I asked myself.

I got myself some more cider and looked for Sassette. She was sitting down on the other side of the room, catching her breath or something. She sure looked pretty in her dress… Hair or no hair. Greedy kinda stumbled over from the other side of the table, a large nearly-empty glass of smurfberrynog in his hand. "H-heya, Slouchy." He said, a slight slur in his words.

"Hiya, Greedy." I said, not looking back.

He steadied himself against the table and grabbed a big handful of cookies. He looked in the direction I was looking in. "Ahhh…." He said, smirking and nodding a little. "I see wha's goin' on here."

"I dunno what you're smurfin' about." I said, taking a drink from my cider cup.

"You gonna ask'er t' dance?" Greedy straighted up a little and nudged me.

"Naah…" I said, drinking more cider.

"Aw, come on, Slouchy," he said, "If you don' someone sure as smurf will."

"She wouldn' wanna, Greedy," I said, watching as he took a big drink from his glass. "B'sides, I'm no good at dancin'."

"Who said you had t' be good?" he said, giggling a little bit, "An' you'll never know if she doesn' wanna dance til she says so."

I watched as Nat walked over to her and talked to her. Was he…? "See?" Greedy said, gesturing towards her, "Whad' I tell ya?"

Nat talked to her a little bit. She looked right at me and smiled really big. She talked to Nat a little bit more, and then he walked away. I looked up at Greedy, who was taking another big gulp of smurfberrynog, nearly finishing his glass. "See?" I said smugly.

Greedy shrugged. "All I see is tha' you mighta jus' missed your chance." He said, "C'mon, go ask her."

"Noooo…" I said, kicking the floor a little.

"C'mon… just walk right up to her and say 'Sassette, may I have this dance?'" he said, extending his hand, kinda acting out his little situation, "Girls flip for stuff like that!"

"You know this because…?" I asked, sarcastically.

"I've had my fair share of lady-friends" he said smugly, "The way to a girls heart is through her stomach, y'know."

I rolled my eyes a little. "I'm pretty sure that's not the quote." I muttered.

"So I'm a little off, smurf me. Come onnnn… Smurf me a break here!" he said, nudging me. "I'll let'cha try some smurfberrynog."

Well… I did wonder what it tasted like… "Ok…." I said, "But if she says no, I'm blamin' you."

He put his hands up almost defensively. Greedy gave me the edge of the glass he hadn't drank from, then tilted it up a little bit. Once I actually got a taste of the stuff, I almost wanted to spit it right back in the cup. But I swallowed it anyways, just so I wouldn't be rude. "Aaack!" I said, sticking my tongue out in disgust, "How do you grownups drink this awful stuff?"

Greedy shrugged a little, and chuckled to himself. "I guess it smurfs more sense when you get older," he said, "Now you gotta smurf up YOUR end of the bargain!"

I watched as he started walking away. "Don't forget!" he practically sang, then walked headlong into a table. "SMURFIT who put that table there…?"

I laughed a little at Greedy's table-related silliness. Then, the music started to slow down a little, and smurfs that had been dancing before either paired off or turned to eachother and started talking. I guess it's now or never. I put my glass of cider down and walked across the room to where Sassette was standing. "Hi, Sassette." I said.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Hi, Slouchy." She said happily.

I scratched the back of my bare head. This was—well- kinda hard, actually. "So… um… May I- uh… M-may I…."Why can't I just say it? "May I have this dance?"

She slowly stood up. "I'd like that, Slouchy." She said.

She took my hand, and we walked out to the dance floor together. I looked over at Smurfette and Handy to see how to stand. Sassette put her hand on my shoulder. I put mine on her waist. As the music played slowly, we just kinda swayed a little in time. My cheeks felt really warm. Sassette's looked real pink. "I- Thought you should know," I said, hoping I didn't start babbling, "You look real smurfy tonight."

She smiled and looked away, looking a little embarrassed by my compliment. "Thanks…" she said, "so d'you."

We were quiet for a minute or two, just kinda swaying side to side in time with the music. "I know, by the way," she said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I know that it was your idea." She said smiling really big at me. "Nat told me."

So that's what he was telling her… "Yeah…" I shrugged a little, "Bu' Handy put it all t'gether."

"Still…" she said, then put her head on my shoulder. "Thank you… that's the nicest, smurfiest thing anysmurf's ever done for me…"

I blushed a lot, then used the hand I had on her waist to pat her back. "Y-you're welcome, Sassette…" I said.

It was quiet again for a few moments. Then I spoke up. Now or never! "Sassette…?" I said, "I… I like you… like- like-like…"

She moved her head from my shoulder and looked at me. She smiled. "Good." She said, "Cause I like- like you too."

Then she giggled a little and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled a little, then kissed her cheek too. I looked around a little at the other smurfs on the dance floor. I caught sight of Vanity and Farmer watching us. Farmer rose his eyebrow and gave me a serious look. Vanity laughed a little and swatted him. I looked away to Smurfette and Handy, who seemed to be in their own world, dancing in little circles. I wonder if that meant they were smurffriends now? "Hey, Slouchy?" Sassette brought me back. "Does this mean we're like… Smurffiends or somethin' now?"

I shrugged a little. "I guess we could be, if y'wanted to…" I said.

"I think I'd like that, then." She said, hugging me. "It's funny… Lately… I've been so scared 'bout this whole cancer thing… Bu' right now… I don' feel so scared anymore…"

"I promised it'd be ok, didn't I…?"

(Smurfette)

Only a couple short weeks passed before Sassette had a break in her chemo cycles and she had to go back to Miragua for a check-up. She went through the basic check-up she did when we first found out about the cancer, nearly three months ago now. In the meantime, not a lot had changed. Sassette never had another night like she did when she nearly died. Her new little smurffriend, Slouchy, was at her side during all her treatments, as well as Nat and Snappy, of course. And, ultimately, things seemed pretty-what we'd come to know as- normal.

The doctors had performed another test like the one they did to find out whether or not she had cancer. This time, they were running it to see how many more chemo cycles it would take before the cancer was gone for good. Sassette was sitting on Papa smurf's knee again, nervously holding onto Slouchy's hand for support. Snappy was pacing impatiently, getting more irritable by the second. Nat was sitting with his knees to his chest, waiting for some kind of news. Farmer sat in between Nat and where Snappy was pacing, offering quiet reassurance to the small smurfling.

Dr. Nava soon entered the scene, carrying a small dossier. Snappy noticed her presence and sat down on the chair. "Yes?" Papa smurf said, anxiously, "how many more?"

Dr. Nava adjusted her glasses and opened the file. "Well… See for yourself…"she said.

We all leaned over to look at the file. She showed us a picture of a pair of lungs with a deformity in the left one. "This is a picture of Sassette's lungs a little over three months ago," she said, then showed us a picture of what looked like the same pair of lungs, but without the deformity. "This is a picture of Sassette's lungs a little over an hour ago."

I couldn't help but stare at the two pictures for a minute. "S-so does that mean-?" Sassette looked up at her hopefully.

Dr. Nava nodded her head happily. "Yes, Sassette. By some medical miracle, your cancer is cured. And in a third of the time anyone ever would've guessed."

I'm not ashamed. I cried. I had big, bubbly tears running down my face. So did Sassette. She was hugging Papa smurf with all the strength her small smurfling stature could muster. Then once her grip loosened on Papa smurf, she immediately went right over to Farmer and gave him a great big hug. The sensitive farmhand had tears running down his cheeks as he squeezed the little pink-overalled bundle. Nat, Snappy and Slouchy all joined in the hug too, all of them so happy to have their friend be okay. Then she broke from the hug and hugged me like there was no tomorrow. "I'm gon' be okay, Smurfette," she said, her voice quiet with tears, "I'm gon' be okay."

Some time later, on the return trip home, Sassette sat with Farmer. "Tenacious termites, Farmer… I've been thinkin' 'bout somethin'…" she said.

"Wha's tha', shugah?" He replied.

"I don' think it was all the medicine tha' made me get better so quick." She said with a wide smile.

"Oh?" Farmer said, raising his eyebrows a little in surprise.

"Nope." She said, shaking her head, "I think it was 'cause I had you an' Pappy, an' Smurfette, an' most 'mportantly Nat, Snappy an' Slouchy. Cause, you guys never let me give up. An' maybe tha's wha's real important."

She turned back around to Snappy, Slouchy and Nat. "An' I think that soon as we're all big 'nough, we're all goin' on tha' trip t'gether. Jus' us four."

The boys all nodded in agreement. "That might not be for quite awhile, my little smurflings," Papa smurf chuckled a little, "You're all still a bit young."

"Tha's okay, Papa smurf." Slouchy said. "We've got all th' time in th' world now."

Yes.

Sassette won.

They had all the time in the world now.

Give up? It's "Skin" by Rascal Flatts: youtube/watch?v=JhnU9IYTD9c (Gadd... that song makes me cry :,) )