[Sad ending, don't you think? But don't worry; I won't leave you people with broken hearts. So, here's an alternate ending to my alternate ending.]

ALTERNATE ENDING: I DREAM OF THE NEW RANGER

The rodent had unfortunately made up his mind. Looking at the sky again, he whispered, "Foxy, please. I am askin' you to take a break from danger…from me…and try your life, even for a little bit. Please, you gave me a chance, you believed in me…and I failed you, as I have the others over and over…it has always been my fault, I know that now. With all the love I have for you…I am now givin' you a chance, I am now believin' in you. Please, give yourself a chance now. Find out what you have missed. You may like it better over there…you may like them better…better than me."

Dale suddenly embraced her, looked into her eyes with pain and passion, and was about to kiss her, but she tore herself from his grasp, much to his surprise.

She stood and cried, "No, Dale, you're not going to kiss me good-bye!" Looking at him, also with passion and torment, she pleaded, "Oh, Dale…Dale…my Dale…my handsome…great-sounding Dale…I want so much to marry you, to make love to you, to have you make love to me, to have your cubs, to grow old with you and see our grandkids, don't…don't you want that?"

He stood and replied, "Foxy, I've…I've wanted to marry you and make love to you since October. But…" he looked down, "…it can't happen. Not if I put you in danger because of that."

She trembled with rage, "Then if you refuse…then you have failed me! You may be the best crime-fighter in the world, but if you dump me because of this, then you have failed and Fat Cat has won! He got what he wanted! He wanted to make us miserable and he has done it!"

Dale looked at her and reeled at her last statement. His comeback was, "You just don't get it, do you? It's not only Fat Cat, it's Rat Capone, Professor Nimnul, and a hundred other bad guys! Tonight was just a taste of what I would give you! Is that the life you want? Being with a klutz and in danger for the rest of your life?"

"If I have to be in danger for the rest of my life…then…then so be it, if that's what I have to take in order to be with you! It's an 'all-or-nothing' deal; did you think I didn't know that? And…I'd rather take it all…all of you—danger included—than have nothing. Not even in trade for the other bats."

She paused with a sigh, and explained, "Dale, you're not a klutz. As much as I've searched, I simply cannot find more clumsiness in you than in any of the other Rangers, including me. Everybody is clumsy at one point or another; it's just that Chip points it out every time it happens to you! But if you dump me now, then you will be a klutz because you will have wasted the biggest chance of your life to be with someone who is willing to let you do it with her anytime you want. And…and if you still say you're a klutz, then…then so am I! If you failed me, then I have failed you, the Rangers…the whole universe! If it was your fault, then it was mine, too! If you're cod liver oil, then I'm also from Norway! If you're a clown, then give me a rainbow wig!"

Calming down, she held his paws in her wings, and concluded softly, "Dale, my dear, sweet Dale, I want be one with you, not just physically, but in every way."

They looked at each other with exhausted silence, with the torment of eternal separation fading away, to their relief. Their eyes now displayed true love, and an immense yearning for passion.

They both wanted more, all right.

It was all making sense now.

It was all adding up.

"Dale, I love you, and I want you, and everything that comes with you, be it good or bad, for better or for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health, with you, together, forever."

Dale looked at his almost ex-girlfriend with an expression of awe. "Foxy, do you really love me that much?"

"Well, if you love me so much that you're willing to let me go so I that may be safe from harm, then I guess I can love you to the point that I am willing to be in danger, if it is with you."

Dale smiled at last, much to Foxglove's relief, "Gosh, Foxy, if that's the way you really feel…if you really do love me that much…then I say, let's go for it! And whatever danger either of us finds himself in, we'll have each other and we'll face it together!"

With that declaration, Foxy's tears ceased and her face glowed. Feeling too full of emotion to say anything, she grabbed Dale and gave him a hug such as she never had done before. Dale was only too happy to return it, seeing as how Foxy and he had separated themselves during the weeks of the engagement.

After an indeterminate time, though, Dale released her, and looked down, sadly again.

"Foxy, there's one more thing," he whispered with grief rising within him once more.

Foxglove looked at his handsome face one more time and whimpered, getting scared also once more. "What?"

"Foxy, I…I…have to apologize. When I read Fat Cat's note, I fainted on you and the Rangers. I…I should have been stronger than that. I should have gone with the others immediately. I'll…I'll try not to let it happen again. I—"

"Dale," she interrupted, touching his lips with her wingtip, "You never fainted on me."

Dale looked at her beautiful eyes with confusion for a moment, and insisted, "No, I did, really. You can ask the others. I didn't mean to, you know, it just happened—"

"Dale, you never fainted on me." And she gave him a light kiss on his furry lips.

With his mind getting more confused by her latest statement and action, Dale tried once again to let her know his regret, "No, Foxy, really! I mean, I didn't want to faint, I didn't even know I fainted until I woke up, and…and…you don't know how awful I feel about—"

"Dale [kiss], my Dale [kiss], my…husband…Dale [kiss], YOU NEVER [kiss] ever [kiss] fainted on me. You never have [kiss], and never will [kiss], not on me, not on the Rangers, not on our cubs, not on our grandcubs, nobody, never [kiss]." Her voice was full of forgiveness, with just a slight touch of annoyance.

Dale looked at her for a while, and then, after seeing the expression on her eyes, her face, the way she held him, the way she kissed him—

—he finally understood.

With that, there was nothing left for him to argue. So, all he could do now was hold her tight, and never let go.

He then considered that here, holding him, was a female who would love him regardless of anything, with the only request that he love her in return, and her only, forever. That she had chosen him, and chosen so quickly, and fought for him, and suffered because of him, and was willing to spend the rest of her life with him, and to become one with him, and him only, was way beyond his scope of comprehension. Thus, all that was left for him to do was to return her love, as freely and powerfully as she gave it to him.

He would never understand how.

He would never understand why.

He would never understand love.

But it sure felt good.

And that he understood more than perfectly.

Tears flowed freely once more, only this time, they were tears of relief, tears of joy, tears of forgiveness, tears of acceptance, tears of peace, tears of love—

—of true love.

And there was but one thing left to say:

"I love you, Miss Foxglove." That was the second time he called her "Miss", and it would most probably be the last.

"I love you, Mr. Oakmont." She nuzzled him softly.

After hugging and rubbing cheeks, they sat and cuddled silently in the joy of each other's company.

"So," she asked, as a new day was beginning, in more ways than one. "Is the wedding still on?"

"Is it still on?" he responded, much to her relief, "Hot d—!"

"Daaaaaaale?"

"Oops! Sorry, Foxy! I mean, that is a certitude!"

With that decision reached, they once again cuddled and quietly enjoyed the disappearing stars and the lightning bugs…