Disclaimer: I do not own Alvin and the chipmunks, the Chipettes or any other related character. I own the story.
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Movie (CGI) version of the Chipmunks and Chipettes.
This One-Shot is called 'Legacy'.
Days in the Seville Residence normally followed a certain pattern. Well, as normal as it can be in a home where a man's kids are three singing chipmunks with their girlfriends living with them. Four out of six chipmunks, two boys, two girls, got up when the alarm clock rang and went straight to the kitchen for breakfast. The remaining boy and girl remained in bed for half an hour later, got up together, argued for a while and THEN went to the kitchen.
Breakfast was as usual. Toaster Waffles with whipped cream, extra cream for Theodore, none for Brittany, a few sliced strawberries for Eleanor, chocolate sauce for Alvin and slices banana for Simon and Jeanette. And after that, getting dressed for school, which was no problem for the boys, but sometimes hell for the girls, especially one girl.
The boys slipped right into their iconic sweaters and that was that. The girls …spent each fifteen minutes to pick their outfit, with Brittany sometimes adding ten more minutes, and got dressed. By that time, the boys had taken the remote of the TV and had switched to a channel.
After ten more minutes of TV time, Dave placed them in the car and drove them to school, sometimes needed to rush, if Brittany …or Alvin had trouble to decide what to wear. After he had dropped them of, Dave went back home, took an hour and a half for himself and then worked on songs for the Chipmunks and the Chipettes apart, and also ones they all sang together. After that, he went to the store to buy some stuff and, as usual, had to answer questions about his sons and their girlfriends. like, 'is he really going to marry her?', 'What's this I hear about Alvin changing his name?', but mostly the questions were 'How are they?', 'Are they getting enough rest and exercise?' and 'Are those six getting along?'.
After groceries, Dave went to get the boys and girls and went straight home. There, the 'munks and Chipettes got to their individual hobbies, usual overlapping hobbies. Alvin practiced his guitar and Brittany sang with him. Theodore drew and colored and got really good at it. Eleanor practiced sports in the back yard, usually gymnastics. And Simon and Jeanette were doing homework and did some science …stuff. Although Dave suspected that they didn't do very much science these days. Usually as Dave walked in the room, both chipmunks quickly pushed the one of the other and acted very, VERY embarrassed. Although situations like that situated with the two other couples too. Dave didn't mind, he was happy that they found love with each other.
This day was a bit different. The day went as usual until the moment that Dave got home from bringing the boys to school. It all began when a black car drove on the drive way. A man, wearing a fancy suit got out, got a notebook out, checked something, got a briefcase out of the trunk and went straight to the front door.
Dave went to the door, a kitchen towel over his shoulder, to open it. He gave the man a strange look.
"Dave Seville?" The man asked. "Adoptive father and manager of The Chipmunks?"
"Did Alvin called the White House again?" Dave asked. "I thought the president loved to talked with them?"
"I'm not from the government, mate." The man said, with an Australian accent. "And as you might have noticed, I'm not from around. I came all they way from Australia."
"The accent gave it away." Dave said, shaking hands with the man. "But then who are you? And why are you here, in America and not …home."
"I'm Paul Bowers, Private Detective." The man said. "Someone in Australia hired me to find …" he took his notebook and checked something. "Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette Mil … Chipette, I mean."
"You're not going to take them away from here, do you?" Dave said, starting to feel panicky.
"No, mate, no." Paul Bowers said. "I'm hired to give them something. Are they home, sir?"
"No, they are at school, with my boys." Dave said. "Do you need the address of the school?"
"Nope, mate." Paul said, getting a package out of the briefcase. "It was hired to find them, or the one who they lived with, and give the package." He gave the package to Dave.
"From who is it?" Dave asked. "Can I reach him?"
"You can open the package if you want, mate." Paul said. "And no, you can't reach my employer. She died last week. Old age. All will be explained in the package."
"I think I'll wait until they are back home." Dave said.
"Okay, mate. G'day." Paul said, walking back to his car. "Oh, and by the way, my sons are great fans of your sons. Me too."
"Too bad you couldn't meet them, isn't it?" Dave said.
"It is." Paul said, opening the door of his car. "But it is great to have met you, mate."
He stepped back in his car and drove off, leaving a confused Dave behind.
"I wonder why Dave didn't came to pick us up?" Alvin asked. Dave indeed hadn't picked them up, like usual. Luckily, Dave had prepared them for situations like this, so they knew where they needed to get off the bus.
"I thought we agreed about this, Alvin." Brittany said. "He just forgot it."
"Or he was captured by angry cowboys." Alvin added. Brittany rolled her eyes and smiled at Alvin, who smiled back.
"He'll explain when we get back home." Jeanette said, cleaning her glasses. Simon stared at her. He thought she was beautiful with her glasses, but looked astonishing without them. She noticed this, giggled and quickly put her glasses back on. Theodore was exhausted and just rested in the chair, daydreaming. Eleanor had closed her eyes and leaning against him.
The bus stopped at the place where Alvin, Brittany and the rest needed to get off. The six chipmunks walked the rest of the way home. When they arrived at their house, Alvin realized something.
"How are we going to ring the bell?" he asked.
Just at that moment Dave opened the door, car keys in his hand. He noticed the others.
"Guys?" he asked. "Guys, I'm sorry that I didn't pick you up. I didn't notice the time."
"No problem, Dave." Brittany said. "We knew that one of these days we had to use your 'In-case-I-can't-pick-you-up-scenarios' to get home."
"Well, I'm glad that you did." Dave said. "Girls, there's a package for you."
"For us?" the three Chipettes said in unison.
"Nope, for us." Alvin said, rolling his eyes. "Off course for you."
"No need to get snappy, Alvin Seville." Brittany said.
"No need to get snappy too, Brittany Hawke."
Brittany's faced showed a hurt expression. Alvin realized what he just had said.
"B-B-Brittany, I'm sorry." Alvin apologized. "I didn't mean to…"
Brittany held up her hand. "I know." She said, giving Alvin a smile, a rather sad one. "I wish we could erase that name of our records."
Jeanette sighed. When Ian had sent them to school, he had given his last name as their last name. first, they didn't mind. But after Alvin had saved them from Ian, they couldn't stand it. Dave couldn't adopt them, at the girls' request, but he acted as a foster father. But every time someone called them by their given last name, they felt hurt, very hurt.
"Okay, if you two are done bickering, aren't you girls curious about your package." Dave asked.
"I thought the mailman didn't bring packages on Wednesdays?" Simon said, while the six chipmunks ran inside, straight to the living room.
"The mailman didn't bring this." Dave said, showing the girls their rather large package. "A private detective from Australia did."
"Australia?" Eleanor asked. "Does it say who and where it's from?"
Dave checked the address. "Beatrice Miller, Marysville."
The three girls gasped and started whispering against each other. Suddenly, Jeanette looked like she was going to faint, she was already started to wobble on her feet. Simon quickly grabbed Jeanette's shoulders.
"Jen?" Simon asked. "Everything okay?"
"I …I don't know." Jeanette said, staring to nothing. "I-I-I can't believe it."
"What? That a fan from Down Under sent you a package." Alvin asked.
"MISS MILLER IS NOT JUST A FAN!" Brittany suddenly yelled.
"Easy, easy, Brittany." Dave soothed. "Who's this Miss Miller?"
"Maybe we should tell the whole story." Eleanor said. The Chipettes ran towards the couch, jumped on it and took a seat. The chipmunks and Dave took a seat too.
"First of all, the package comes from our home town." Jeanette said. "We were born in Australia and lived in Marysville. Like all chipmunks, our parents left us after a few weeks, so we have little memories of them. A day after they left us, a huge thunderstorm broke out and a stroke of lightning hit our tree. There was fire everywhere. Luckily we were out of the tree that moment. That's why I'm so afraid of storms." She gave a emberassed smile.
"Sure explains a lot." Alvin said. "Go on."
Eleanor continued. "We don't know why or how, but we were saved. An old woman, who somehow liked to take walks during great storms found us and brought us to her home. She had a lovely little house on the edge of our forest. That woman was Beatrice Miller. She protected us from the storm. Boy, was she surprised when we thanked her. She didn't suspect three talking Chipettes."
"I know how that feels." Dave said, remembering the day he met his sons.
Brittany continued. "She was impressed by our ability to speak and when she found out we could sing, she was very amazed." Brittany stopped talking for a minute. Tears welled up in her eyes. "She gave us our names."
"And my glasses." Jeanette added, lifting them up a bit. "She wanted to adopt us, but we didn't want to, but we wanted to live close to her, so we could visit her. We were grateful of course, but we didn't want to be a burden. She knew of this old treehouse not far from her home. No-one used it anymore, so we moved in there. It was the biggest home we ever had, back then. For a few years it went like this. We survived in the woods and visited Miss Miller every day or so. Then, one day, we were watching the television with her and then we saw …you."
"Us?" the three chipmunks asked.
"We saw a concert of you and …" Jeanette stopped and looked at Eleanor.
"Just say it like it was, Jen. We fell in love. We saw the three of you and fell in love. We wanted to meet you, hang out with you, sing with you. But we figured that every fan girl would want that, thus why would you hang out with us. Besides, we didn't know how to get to America at the time. Two months after we had seen you, we visited Miss Miller and boy, had she a surprise for us. She had made up this plan to send us in a large box, to America, to an old friend of her, who, on her turn, would send us to Jett Records."
"So that's how we got here." Brittany said. "After Miss Miller had made sure we had enough food and drinks in our ...means of transportation, she gave us a great hug and told us she knew that we were going to be big. She had given us information about Jett Records, Ian Hawke and you guys. We got in our box, she sealed it and send us of to America. And you know the rest of the story."
The girls wiped their tears. All this talking brought back pleasant memories. Each Chipmunk went to his girlfriend to comfort her.
"Wow." Theodore said, caressing Eleanor's shoulder. "And now she sends you a package?"
"I wonder what it is." Simon asked, softly wrapping his arms around Jeanette, who kissed his arm.
"Probably letters she wrote us, but couldn't send us because she didn't know our address." Brittany said, tightening her hug around Alvin.
"Well, Let's find out." Dave said, opening the package. He spread the content over the table. A lot were letters, like Brittany said. But also a few large envelopes and a DVD. The Chipettes jumped on the table and searched around, figuring out what to open first. Eleanor took a small card of the pile, looked at it for a few seconds and let it go witch a scream. Her sisters ran to her, saw the card and gasped.
"No." Brittany whispered.
"It can't be." Jeanette said.
"It is." Eleanor said.
The three boys gasped when they saw the card. It was a black-and-white photo of an old, happily smiling woman. The text under the photo said: Beatrice Miller, died June 12th, with a smile on her face. 'We can all be stars, if we believe. Remember that, my dears.'"
"That quotation." Dave asked. "What does it mean."
"I-i-i-it was the thing that M-Miss Miller said to us, right before we left." Brittany stuttered, as tears welled up in her eyes. "I-I-I Can't believe she's …she's …" Alvin ran to her and grabbed her in a hug. Brittany cried on his shoulder.
"She died?" Jeanette asked herself. Simon also grabbed her in a hug. Tears ran over her face as she hugged her boyfriend. "We never got to say goodbye."
"It isn't fair." Eleanor cried as Theodore rubbed her back softly. "She did everything for us and we didn't have the change to do something back."
Dave picked up the DVD and read what was written on it. 'My Will'. "Girls, I think she has sent you a copy of her will." Dave said to the grieving girls. "I think she left you something."
"She left us something?" Jeanette asked. "She did so much for us and still she left us something?"
"Want to see it?" Dave asked.
The girls looked at each other, nodded and looked at Dave, who got the message. He put the DVD in the player and pressed play. The screen remained black for a moment, but sound could be heard.
"I think you need to put the cap of it, dear." An old woman's voice said. It was a soft, caring voice.
"Miss Miller." Brittany whispered as an old lady appeared in the screen. She had white, curly hair and a face that beamed with love and care.
"Much better. Can I talk now?" Miss miller asked. "Hello, my dears. If you're watching this, I have died, but I ask you not to be sad. I have lead a wonderful life, but I'm old, very old. I feel my time has come. Every day it's getting harder to do the things I loved to do. Walking in the forest during rainy days, wandering around the city or just getting up the stairs." She chuckled. "Old age, I guess."
Eleanor giggled silently and the two other sister gave a small smile.
"I don't have any relatives anymore to show this to, so I'm sending this to you, Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor." Miss Miller said with a soft smile.
The three girls gasped.
"First of all, I want to tell you my story. I'm sorry to say that I have lied a little when I talked about my past with you. I, indeed, had a loving family and a dog, but my family also owned five horses, three yachts and much more. I come from a very rich family."
"Knew it." Brittany whispered. Her sisters shushed her.
"I see you wondering, 'why is she so rich and does she live in a small house on the edge of the forest. The answer is simple, my dears. I didn't like that life, never did. As soon both my parents were dead, I sold all our property and married our butler's son, who I had grown up with."
"Romantic." Eleanor whispered.
"I put all the money we owned on the bank and never looked back to it. Charles, my husband, and I took a job and earned our money. One day we had enough money to build us our dream house, at the edge of the forest. For a while we were the happiest persons on the earth. But then came the day that makes every couple even more happier. The day I knew I was pregnant." Miss Miller smiled.
"I must say, I was thrilled to be a mother. And Charles was busy building everything for our baby. I hoped it to be a girl. I had picked out three names, my favorite names in the whole world. Can you guess which ones?" Miss Miller smiled.
"Brittany." Brittany said.
"Jeanette." Jeanette said.
"And Eleanor." Eleanor said.
"I think you have guessed it, my dears." Miss Miller's expression became sad. "But sometimes life isn't fair, my dears. Three months before I normally would have my baby, I became very sick, so sick, that …my baby died."
"Oh no." the three girls said.
"I received the news that I never could have a baby anymore, that it wouldn't survive. I was devastated, and so was Charles." Miss miller sighed. "It took a very long time, but we healed and became happy again."
Miss Miller went silent for a moment, just smiling at the camera. "Time is something you can't stop and each life has an end. As the years passed by we lost friends, relatives and fifteen years ago, I lost my Charles. I was sad, off course, but I knew he was happy where he was and that I would join him soon." Miss Miller sighed. "A few years ago, during a stormy night, I decided to take a walk in the forest. When the lightning suddenly hit a tree, I rushed over there to see the damage. Guess what, or who I found there?"
"Us." Jeanette said.
"I found three little Chipmunk girls, getting soaked in the rain, afraid for their lives. Anybody else would have left them, but somehow I decided to take them in. After they had warmed up a bit, one looked me directly in the eyes and thanked me."
Eleanor giggled.
"I must say, I was surprised and the thing I thought was fear immediately turned into love. I felt a spark in my heart, a spark I thought had died with my baby. I named the one who first talked to me Eleanor and gave the two other names to her sisters."
The girls wiped their tears. Even Alvin had trouble keeping his eyes dry.
"I wanted to adopt you, but you didn't want to be a burden. I respected that choice, but insisted that you took shelter in a treehouse not far from my home. And so the years passed. You came visiting me and sang the songs that played on my radio. I was proud hearing you sing. And then came that one TV show that changed your lives. When you first saw Alvin and his brothers singing. I saw sparks in your eyes I've seen blinking in many young girls' eyes when they saw their true love."
The boys gave their girlfriends a big smile.
"You wanted to be with them, but you thought that would be impossible. Nothing is impossible when love is involved. So I did everything in my power to send you to America. I guess you got to Jett Records, because I saw you on youtube, singing and then that awful Ian Hawke came on screen. I immediately noticed that that man was no good. I was glad to read in the magazines that you now live with Alvin and his brothers. Dave Seville is a good man, even thou I've never met him. But I see it in his eyes when he appears on screen, I hear it in his voice when I read the articles. You will be happy with him. And if he's listening to this, please take good care off my girls, David. And if Alvin and his brothers are listening, I have the following message for them."
Miss miller remained silent for a moment and stared into the camera. "You make my girls happy. If you dare to break their hearts, I swear, I'll come back from heaven and haunt you for the rest of your lives." She began laughing. "Sorry, couldn't resist it. Just make them happy, give them a home, a family. I'm sad that I won't be able to see my girls' children. I always wanted to be a grandmother."
"That was my past and my present. Now I will tell you about your future. Since I don't have any relatives to leave my fortune behind, I decided something radical. That one thing you didn't want me to do. I adopted you."
The girls gasped again and tears welled up in their eyes.
"Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor, I used my fortune, and all the pictures I have of us together to convince the bureau that I raised you. Today, all the paper work is done. You are now my daughters. That means that you have access to my fortune, but the most important thing of all, you get my last name."
The girls took each other's hands and watched the video.
"From this day on, you three are Brittany Miller, Jeanette Miller and Eleanor Miller, my daughters."
Tears started to run over their faces, as the girls saw their smiling mother.
"Not much is left of my fortune. I donated much of it to charity and other good causes. But after I'm gone, the bank will send everything that I own to a bank in the vicinity where you live. I leave everything I own to you, and the man who is taking care of you. Find a good use for it, don't spend it all."
Miss miller smiled in the camera. "I want to end this will with the words I told you before you left for America. We can all be stars, if we believe. Remember that, my dears. Remember that. Goodbye, my daughters."
Miss Miller smiled in the camera, until it turned off.
It remained silent for a moment, then the girls started sobbing. The boys went to their girlfriends.
"Britt, are you okay?" Alvin asked worried.
Brittany smiled with tears in her eyes. "I'm fine. I-I-I'm more than fine." She said. "I'm B-B-Brittany Miller." She laughed that went over in sobbing and then she started crying. Alvin took her in his arms.
The same thing went with the other girls.
"S-S-Simon." Jeanette sobbed. "I need to go outside. I really have to"
"Take her outside, Simon." Dave said. "Boys, I think it's better that the girls need to be alone for a while. Alvin, bring Brittany to your room and Theodore bring Eleanor to the bathroom."
They boys did what Dave asked them to do. Alvin brought Brittany to their room, where she jumped on her bed, hid her face in her pillow and cried. Alvin slowly walked over to her and took a seat next to her. He carefully placed his hand on her shoulder. She calmed down a bit.
"A lot of emotions in a short time, wasn't it, Miller?" Alvin said.
Brittany said up, and dried her tears. "I have a real last name. Given to me by a person who loved us very much. And we never got the change to thank her."
"I think she knew you would be grateful, Britt." Alvin said.
Her lower lip began to quiver and she threw herself on Alvin. She gave him a long, romantic kiss. When the kiss ended she look in the eyes of a happily smiling Alvin. "Miss Miller was right, you are going to make me happy, Alvin."
"As will you to me." Alvin said, pulling her closer for another kiss.
When Theodore and Eleanor had arrived in the bathroom, Eleanor had to splash some water in her face. Theodore handed over a towel, so she could dry up.
"El, are you alright?" Theo asked.
"I am, Theo." Eleanor smiled. "I really am. We didn't want to be a burden, but she still adopted us. She is the kindest person I've ever met, except for you, Dave and your brothers."
"You know, even thou you weren't really related, you really look like her." Theodore said. "I know I've never met her, but I've seen how she smiled when she talked. She looked like a very kind person, and so are you."
"Oh, Theodore!" Eleanor cried as she threw herself in Theodore's arms. "Can I really be so lucky to have met a guy like you?"
"Good things happen to good person." Theodore said. Eleanor placed her lips on his', for a long, romantic kiss."
After the kiss ended, Theodore shook his head, like he was waking up from a dream. "I think that means I've been a very good person, then."
Eleanor giggled and kissed him again.
Outside, Jeanette let her tears run loose, while Simon stayed close. He just sat there, watching her looking to the sky. After a while, Jeanette stopped crying and turned to Simon with a great smile on her face.
"Feeling better, Jen?" Simon asked as Jeanette walked over him.
"Much." She said, as she threw herself on Simon's lap and looked him deep in the eyes. Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him.
"I remember the day I said to Miss Miller I felt attracted to you, even thou I've never met you. She said that true love can do that to you." Jeanette said. "I didn't really believe her. You were rock stars, how could you ever notice us?"
"Maybe we are rock stars, but we don't act like it." Simon said, stroking Jeanette's cheek. "Dave made sure we live …relative normal lives. Even if we weren't rock stars, we would have noticed you."
"That's not true." Jeanette said, looking away from her blue-clad boyfriend. "It's only because Ian wanted us to compete against each other that …"
"Now THAT's not true." Simon interrupted. "Don't forget, we saw each other in the hallway, way before we knew you guys were with Ian. And I know that dear ol' cupid had hit us with love arrows right there and then. I don't know if I ever said that to you, but I found you glasses very …fetching."
Jeanette blushed underneath her fur. "Y-you liked my glasses?"
"Still do." He said, kissing her on the nose. "You look beautiful with them."
Jeanette giggled. "So do you with yours."
They looked each deep in each other's eyes and shared a kiss. And another. And another, before going over in a long, romantic kiss.
After the girls had calmed down, they all went back to the living room, where Dave just laid down the phone.
"I've called Dr. Rubin and let them know about the change of your last name. She wants to see that part of the will, but she has already changed it in the computer." Dave said. "So now you are officially the Miller Sisters."
"We couldn't be happier." The girls said in unison, holding their boyfriends.
For the rest of the day, the girls shared memories of their time with Miss Miller. It was a very emotional evening and by the end of it, the girls had fallen asleep in the arms of their boyfriends, who were also fast asleep. Carefully he brought them to their room. Dave stood in the doorway, looking at his sons and the girls, who were smiling in their sleep.
"Legacy." Dave whispered to himself as he closed the door.
And from Heaven, Miss Miller, holding hands with her husband, smiled brightly at her daughters, happy to know that they were save, healthy and happy. It was the life she wanted for them.
Longest ...One-Shot ...I've ...ever ...wrote.
Review After reading.