I am really sorry for the really long wait! We both had been busy with some stuff! I ended up getting sick over Christmas break for seven days and getting caught on with school and homewworks and stuff. But I am passing all of my classes! Yay!

Enjoy!

On Monday morning, Gladys woke up in her room and look at the time. It was 6:30 A.M. Usually she wakes up at 6:00 A.M. She panicked at first but she remembered what Dwayne told her last night. She smiled at the thought. Having such strict rules can cause problems.

Getting up, she slipped on a pair of her bunny slippers and groggily went downstairs, barely awake.

Yawning, she filled her coffee in her cup and went back upstairs to get dressed, sipping her coffee. As she went, she was feeling more awake.

Setting down the coffee at her tableside in her room, she went to her wide closet and took out her usual outfit of the day; a maroon shirt, a black dress jacket, a pair of black dress pants and her high heeled black leather shoe.

After getting dressed, she made her bed. She left the house and locked the door. Walking toward her black Navigator, she opened the driver side door and hopped in.

Driving to work, she pulled up at her office and left the car.

Walking into the building, she went into her office and starts arranging for a meeting to change the rules, following Dwayne's advice. She scheduled it for 11:30am, giving her all the time she needs to edit her rules. Dwayne advised her to not be so obsessed with the strict rule and removed any rules that doesn't seem important.

11:30am came just as she was perfectly prepared and she called all of her co-workers to meet up at a big room with a long table. Everyone started walking into the room, not really looking forward to hear what's on Gladys' mind. But all of that changed when they saw a smile on her face. Not a rude one or anything like that, but the one that they see whenever someone is happy or proud. They knew something is going on according to that alone.

Gladys: "Have a seat, everyone."

They all did as they were told and sat down, prepping themselves. Gladys started speaking.

Gladys: "Hello, everyone. I gathered you all here today because I decided to change the rules."

Everyone was surprised by her sudden change in her pride. They thought she was going to get more hostile when they assumed that she'll change the rules.

Janis: "Why are you doing this? We've

been operating under your rule book for a few years now. We've memorized everything in it. But now you want to change it?"

Debbie: "And the rules are accepted as sound, if not a little excessive, on the Homeowners Association's local, state, and national level policy.

Gladys: "Well, to sum it all up in a nutshell, I met someone who taught me the importance of being more flexible when it comes to my daily schedule, and I intend to apply the same flexibility to my profession."

The workers thought about it, exchanging some conversations. After a few moments, they turned to Gladys. Another worker agrees.

Worker: "I believe that is right. Whoever that person is had never been more accurate."

Gladys: (smiling): I agree.

After the meeting was over, Gladys went back to her office. She thought about calling Dwayne, but she decides not to, in case he's out on the field and was busy. She decides to wait until 5:00pm when she gets off.

Upon reflection, she is happy with herself for becoming more lenient. It was a bit challenging at first, but she knew it's what Dwayne would have wanted for her… what the residents of El Rancho Camelot would want from her. She believed they and her fellow colleagues will appreciate her more now with some additional leeway in their lives. After all, everyone makes mistakes and forgets things every now and then, even when following the HOA's procedures, so there shouldn't be any strict punishments for being human.

At 5:00pm, she called Dwayne and told him she wanted him to come by her house at 6:30 or 7:00—whatever time would best fit his schedule rather than her schedule. He decided he will come over at 6:30, so that he will have more time to spend with her. As Gladys drove back to her house, she felt the heavy weight lift off her shoulder after getting over her obsessive behavior with her routine. It's like everything in her life is going better than usual.

She gets to her house, and just as she set down her briefcase on the kitchen table, she hears a knock on her front door. She instantly knew that it's Dwayne. Walking to the door, she opened it to reveal him, just as she predicted.

Gladys (smiling): "Hi, come in."

Dwayne: "My pleasure."

Gladys shuts the door behind him.

Gladys: "You're here earlier than I expected."

Dwayne: "Well, I was in the neighborhood and finished sooner than I thought. It turns out that the people who thought they had a wild animal living in their attic didn't have any vermin problem at all. It wasn't vermin fur they found in the insulation, but the fur of their pet dog who followed them into their attic when they brought things up there to store in the space."

Gladys gives a nod in affirmation and interest at the job her lover came back from. They sat on the couch together and Gladys spoke up.

Gladys: "You'll be happy to hear this. Today at work, I prepared myself to arrange a meeting where I edited my rules to an appropriate amount and I told my staff that I met someone who taught me the importance of being more flexible when it comes to my daily schedule, and I intend to apply the same flexibility to my profession."

Dwayne smiled and pulled her into a hug.

Dwayne: "I'm so proud of you."

Gladys (returning the gesture): "Thank you!"

Gladys: "Hey, I was just thinking. You speak Spanish well, right?"

Dwayne: "Yes, my level of the language is excellent."

Gladys: "Yeah, I can see that you said some Spanish words that week when I phoned you over here last year."

Dwayne: "Yeah, I learned Spanish when I was in middle and high school."

Gladys (smiling): "That's good."

Dwayne: "Do you know any certain languages?"

Gladys shook her head 'no'.

Dwayne: "You want to?"

She shook her head 'yes'.

Dwayne: Okay. Eres tan hermosa. Translation: you are so beautiful.

Gladys blushed a deep shade of red as Dwayne kissed her cheek.

Dwayne: "So, have you been able to throw your annual Welcome to the Neighborhood Party?"

Gladys: "I haven't have the chance to, thanks to those vermin. But now that you mentioned it, I think I should throw it. It is one of the rules of the Homeowners Association, after all. And I won't let a group of animals dictate whether I throw the party or not."

Dwayne: "That's the spirit, even though they've lived here for a year they won't be foolish enough to try anything with so many people. That reminds me, have they been causing any trouble for the neighborhood lately?"

Gladys: "No, they hadn't."

He nodded and Gladys continued.

Gladys: "I will schedule it, and I'm more than happy to invite you."

Dwayne (smiling): "Thank you."

As the two continue talking, as they walk down the sidewalk, they failed to notice the red squirrel on the tree branch hovering above them.

Behind the hedge RJ the raccoon, Verne the turtle, Stella the skunk, Ozzie and Heather the opossums, Lou, Penny, Bucky, Quillo, and Spike the porcupines, and Tiger the Persian cat are lingering around the forest and hanging out. Since the Depeltor Turbo incident, they had not been heisting at the neighborhood. They had been living off the nuts Hammy had found at the end of the first week of spring last year.

Verne: "How long has it been since Hammy went to find his nut stash that he hid in the suburbs?"

Heather: "About five minutes."

Verne: "Ok, then something's wrong. He said he was just going to check on one tree and then come right back, which is why I didn't ask anyone to keep an eye on him. Now we need to go find him."

RJ: "Relax, Verne, I'm sure he just got distracted looking at stuff. And I've taught all of you the things to watch out for in the humans' world that I know of."

Verne: "But what about the things you don't know of? And don't forget this is Hammy we're talking about, all bets are off when it comes to him."

Stella: "Then quit flappin' your lips and let's start doing somethin' about it."

As the sound of scampering feet and a wind gust became audible, the animals knew Hammy was approaching. The wind in his wake still managed to ruffle everyone's fur despite their preparation for it. Hammy wasted no time in talking after coming to a stop.

Hammy: "Hi everyone! Sorry I was late—"

Verne: "Where have you been? We were starting to get worried about you."

RJ: "Actually, only you were worried. I told you to relax and look what happened: everything worked out A-ok."

Verne rolled his eyes at RJ's snide tone.

Penny: "He has a point there, Verne."

Verne: "You too, Penny?"

RJ: "Anyway, what was holding you up, Hammy?"

Hammy: "A tree branch, of course."

RJ (sighs): "No, I mean what took you so long to come back?"

Hammy: "Oh yeah! Well, I was at the tree where one of my nut stores was stuffed in, when I heard Psycho Lady and The Sniffer talking about a party."

Everyone's ears shot up in interest and all eyes were facing the squirrel. His nicknames for Gladys and Dwayne did not come as a surprise for the group. Quite frankly, they thought it fit the two humans perfectly. What they really want to know more of was the last two words that left Hammy's mouth.

Bucky: "What kind of party?"

Hammy: "They said 'Welcome to the Neighborhood Party.' Or maybe it was 'We'll come to the Jaeger Hood Party, like Robin Hood except Jaeger. OR, maybe they said—"

Ozzie: "Speak no more, Hammy. I remember Gladys, erm, Psycho Lady saying something about a 'Welcome to the Neighborhood Party' when I gave my greatest performance ever last year."

Quillo: "But what does it mean?"

Verne: "It means lots of humans are going to come into the suburbs, so we better not—"

RJ: "—What it means is that we'll get so much food, it's gonna make the amount we got last spring look like a peanut. We are talking food up the wall of the Burj Khalifa being brought into our midst!"

Spike: "What's the Burj Khalifa?"

Tiger: "It the tallest building in the world: 828 meters."

Everyone lets out a "Huh?" in confusion.

Tiger: "That's 2,717 feet."

They not only understood what Tiger was saying now, they started yelling in excitement… except for Verne who has to raise his voice to get their attention.

Verne: "Hold on, people! If that's the case, then that means there's gonna be humans galore. There's no way we'll be able to steal food from them without being caught. And if Gladys and the Verminator are gonna be there, then they'll be looking for us to get revenge."

RJ: "You don't know if any of that is really true… At least not yet."

Verne: "And you don't know if everything I've said is not true."

RJ: "You're right, but we still don't know just yet."

Hammy: "I'm so confused…"

Lou: "Yeah, start making sense."

RJ saw the others give him blank stares, the kind of look that indicated elaboration is needed.

RJ: "All we have to work off of is Hammy's testimony that Gladys and Dwayne are here, and that a Welcome to the Neighborhood Party is going to take place. We need to start eavesdropping and spying on the humans, particularly the ones in charge of the party, so we'll know just how many people are coming and what they'll have set up. When we have this Intel, then we can decide how to pull the raid off without risk of getting caught… or verminated."

At the mention of verminated, Ozzie played possum.

Verne: "And if it turns out to be too risky…?"

RJ: "We'll still do a heist, but not get food up the wall of the Burj Khalifa."

Quillo: "No way! We need to get the mother load!"

Stella: "I'm with the kid, we can't let an opportunity like this pass up on us!"

Penny: "Jeepers, we could get enough to feed us for two years!"

Lou: "What's your tail say, Verne?"

His excitement of the others—and even himself (secretly)—convinced him to at least see where RJ's plan will go.

Verne: "So who's going to do what in your little plan, RJ?"

RJ smiles and tells the animal family what to do and how to do it. It seems that everyone is excited for the Welcome to the Neighborhood Party… Humans and animals alike.

Again I am sorry for the really long wait! D: I hope this long chapter made up for it! :D