A/N: Here's chapter 3 for you… and yep that's all I got, except, Read, Enjoy, And Review!
April 12, 2012
Simon woke up feeling warm rays of sunlight on his face, smiling to himself leaving his eyes closed he rolled over onto his side and took in a deep breath before sitting up and stretching his arms. The chipmunk yawned and stole a glance to his right and saw his younger brother but not his older brother and nor was his part of the bed slept in either. Although not worried about him, he was curious about where his brother was.
Silently without waking his other brother Simon hopped down and walked out of the bedroom and straight for the front door to the room. As the chipmunk hopped up to pull down the handle something caught his eye over to his right. Dropping back down he walked over and hopped up onto the couch where he thought he saw something. The chipmunk shook his head at the sight of his brother and Brittany using each other's stomach as a pillow. They looked so peaceful while they were sleeping and seeing no reason to wake them Simon jumped down and continued out into the hall and onto the deck.
The air was cold and brisk but it sure was fresh, the chipmunk took in several deep breaths of the fresh air and continued on his way walking along the deck. He didn't know why he was walking and he had no set destination it was just a spur of the moment thing but he continued anyway. Stopping along the way he walked over to the railing and found the vast waste land known as the ocean to be very fascinating. He stood there for some time in utter silence until that silence was broken by two men walking down the deck, they were the captain and his first mate.
"We just got word that there's an ice warning for an area we'll be passing through in a few days and it's supposed to only get worse" the first mate said to the captain "is there any precautions you wish for me to take?"
The captain nodded "make sure our systems are online and keep a technician watching the radars at all time". The first mate nodded then hurried off as the captain followed at a more slower relaxed pace.
After listening to the conversation Simon headed back to his room and quickly forgot about what he heard because it was of no relevance to him what so ever. As he opened the door he was greeted by Jeanette who appeared to be going out, "Simon? What are you doing out this early?" she asked curiously
"Just walking" he replied shyly looking down at his feet
"Oh..." Jeanette replied playing with her fingers nervously, "I was just heading out on a walk" she said stepping out into the hallway, Simon shrugged thinking 'what the heck', "mind if I join you?" he asked shyly.
Jeanette blushed slightly as she grinned, "it's a free ship"
The two chipmunks walked up the deck then up the stairs until they were on the top deck of the ship, "this truly is a magnificent ship" Jeanette commented looking over the side at the water far below. Simon couldn't argue that point, it was truly great, "not to mention it's making history as well" he replied, Jeanette nodded "that it definitely is as well".
Simon nodded as he breathed out a heavy sigh, Jeanette who was standing next to him noticed, "what's wrong Simon?"
The chipmunk shrugged "I was just thinking about all six of us"
Jeanette was confused, "what do you mean?"
"There isn't a lot for talking chipmunks to do…. I was just thinking what would happen if for some reason we suddenly became not so popular... what would we do?" Simon said with deep thought and concern.
Jeanette shrugged "we would probably continue living with Dave like we are now… I don't think anything would really change between any of us… why do you ask?"
The chipmunk shrugged "I don't know… sometimes I feel this whole music business thing is such a worthless drag".
"Don't you enjoy yourself when we preform?" she asked curiously
Simon nodded "I do but I don't feel the crowd really appreciates us… to them were just objects… something they pay to hear… I don't know maybe I'm going crazy".
Jeanette shook her head as she wrapped an arm around Simon's shoulder "I've gotten the same feeling… and it can hurt, I've noticed it when we do those interviews and they ask you those personal questions, the ones that you don't want the answers of to get all over".
Simon nodded "you mean like that last interview when the guy asked Brittany if her and Alvin had mated?"
Jeanette nodded as a smile crossed her face "yeah questions like that… it's really none of their business, that's her personal life and they shouldn't be snooping around it like that… but the expression on her face was priceless… and Alvin his reaction was downright hilarious".
Simon chucked "that was pretty funny… at least those dumb obvious questions give us a good laugh"
Jeanette nodded "how about we grab some breakfast" the chipette suggested, Simon nodded as his stomach began to growl, "that sounds like a great idea" he replied.
In the meantime Brittany had woken up and was lying next to the sleeping Alvin letting him continue to use her stomach as a pillow. As the chipette laid there she began to feel hungry and her stomach started to growl softly but it slowly got louder until Alvin's ear which was pressed against her belly started twitching, Brittany giggled softly as stomach grumbled again causing the chipmunk's sensitive ear to twitch again. Finally after a few more minutes he stirred and slowly woke up, he sat up and shook his head as he stretched his arms and yawned, "I'm hungry… how about we get something to eat?" she suggested sitting up as well.
He shrugged "sure… lets head down to the dining room" he said sleepily getting to his feet. As they both hopped down off the couch they spotted Theodore and Eleanor leaving the room as well, "Theo… wait up a second" the chipmunk shouted at the short chipmunk as him and Brittany picked up their pace to catch up to their siblings that were only a few yards away.
"Where are you going?" Alvin asked, "did you tell Dave where you're going?" the chipmunk drilled.
Theodore shook his head "we're just going to get breakfast" he answered innocently, Alvin chuckled, he liked teasing his brother, "Dave said, he doesn't want us leaving the room unless we tell him where we're going".
"Alvin, stop it" Brittany scolded slapping his arm "he never said that"
Alvin chuckled as Theodore glared at him, "let's go to breakfast" the red clad chipmunk said then began walking. Theodore and Eleanor shook their heads as they rolled their eyes before they followed behind their older family members.
"Dave's sleeping in pretty late" Alvin commented hoping to hear something about his unofficial 'date'
"He was out late" Theodore replied
"Yeah… but not quite as late as you two though" Eleanor replied trying to bait out either of the two chipmunks as to their whereabouts during the previous night. "We were walking" Brittany replied quickly, "just walking?" Eleanor asked.
"And we talked" Alvin retorted
"About what?" Simon asked as if out of nowhere
"Gees!... where did you come from?" Alvin asked startled by his brother's sudden appearance
"The top deck… it's an awesome view from up there" Jeanette replied
"And what were you doing up there this early in the morning?" Brittany asked raising a fake suspicious eyebrow.
"Just taking an early morning walk" Simon replied
"Is that all you did, was walk?" Theodore asked curiously
"We talked" Jeanette replied
"About what?" Alvin quizzed
"Nothing really" Simon replied
"You only talked about nothing?" Eleanor asked
"Well we looked around as well" Simon replied
"At what?" Alvin asked casting a glance at Jeanette.
"Anything" Jeanette replied
Alvin nodded, "and what were you doing last night?" he asked Theodore and Eleanor
"We slept" Theodore replied
"Is that it?" Jeanette asked
"We got hungry so we went to the dining room and shared an ice cream" Eleanor replied
Alvin nodded approvingly "what favor?"
"Chocolate" Theodore replied timidly
"What did you have on it?" Brittany asked
"Sprinkles, hot fudge, whipped cream, melted peanut butter, caramel and two cherries" Eleanor replied
Brittany then turned towards Simon and Jeanette "what were you doing last night?"
"Yeah what were you doing last night?" Alvin asked repeating the question
"Sleeping" Simon replied
"Just sleeping?" Eleanor asked
"We read a book about the dimension of time" Jeanette offered
"Is that it you did, was read and sleep?" Theodore asked
"We did go for a short walk out onto the deck to do some star gazing" Simon replied
Alvin nodded "ok gang let's put it together…"
"Theodore and Eleanor?" Brittany asked
"They slept for a while got hungry in the middle of the night so they went down to the dining room where they had an ice cream together, then this morning they woke up and started to head for breakfast" Alvin replied.
"Simon and Jeanette?" Eleanor asked
"They read a book for a while then went out star gazing before going to bed, early this morning they went for a walk where they talked about 'nothing' and looked around at the view before meeting us on our way to breakfast" Theodore replied.
"Alvin and Brittany?" Jeanette asked
"They stayed up late, and went for a walk, then returned to the room and went to bed, this morning they woke up and started to head over to the dining room for breakfast where we met up with them" Simon replied.
"And Dave?" Brittany asked
"He went to dinner with his quote "girlfriend" unquote, then stayed out late before returning to the room, this morning he slept in and is currently still sleeping" Alvin replied.
The six chipmunks nodded very satisfied until Alvin brought up a good point "so we know what each other did last night and this morning but we don't know what Dave did?"
"Let's eat breakfast then we'll get to the bottom of it" Simon suggested as they entered the dining room. The six chipmunks finished eating breakfast and started walking back towards their room when they passed Dave out on the deck as he walked towards the dining room with Claire. "Hey Dave" Alvin called as they passed, "Alvin…" Dave said stopping the group, "yes Dave" the chipmunk replied.
"Where are you fellas going?" he asked
"Back to the room for now" Simon replied
"Ok… just don't burn down the ship" the man replied
"Dave that's theoretically impossible… the ship is made of metal" Simon replied
"If I know you six you could burn down a metal ship somehow" Dave replied causing Alvin to groan "thanks for the vote of confidence Dave" he retorted.
Dave rolled his eyes and continued on his way, Alvin then turned back to the group and said in a low enough voice to go unnoticed by Dave "huddle". The six chipmunks gathered into a huddle, "ok here's the game plan… we split up and find out what's goin' on with Dave and Claire… Simon, Jeanette you two check out Dave's room see what you can find… Theodore, Eleanor, you two spy on Dave and warn us if he gets to close, Brittany, you and I will check out Claire's room and see what's going on in that section of the ship… ok gang we all know our assignments right?" Alvin said taking charge of the investigation, after receiving nods from the others he said "ok… meet back in the cabin at noon… if you encounter a problem … you better be able to deal with it yourself because we have no way of contacting each other… ok, break!" Alvin said. After this was said the six chipmunks split up into their little groups and took off in different directions to begin their investigation.
Theodore and Eleanor ran off back to the dining room to spy on their father, they ran into the dining room and scurried under Dave's table to avoid being spotted. They sat silently and listened as the two humans at the table spoke about anything from their childhoods to what they wanted to do in the future.
"I can remember when I first found the boys" Dave started to say "I was really mad… I thought I had a rodent problem or something".
Theodore gasped quietly, "should we be offended?" he whispered
"Shh!" Eleanor hissed shushing him
"I was sweeping up my floor of the mess they made thinking to myself that I should call the exterminator but thank goodness I didn't… I would never be able to forgive myself if I would have" the man said thoughtfully, "it was a little rough starting out but it got smoother as the time passed and before long after a mishap in Paris Alvin told me he offered three chipmunk girls a place to stay until they got back on their feet, I was a little upset about that because I made them promise that they wouldn't bring any of their other animal friends into the house but no more than a week after they came to stay with us I realized how attached my boys were to them and I didn't have the heart to even think about separating them so I ended up adopting them as well".
Claire nodded "your family has a unique history of how it was formed… a lot like my family kinda… I was adopted and so were my brothers and sisters".
"Really" Dave replied intrigued by this
"Yeah… my adoptive parents were young and rich because they inherited my father's, father's fortune and they wanted kids but they couldn't have any naturally so they turned to adoption… but instead of going to an orphanage they searched the streets for children that were struggling to survive by themselves and that's how they found me and my 9 siblings. Since I never knew my real parents I have always loved them as if they were my blood parents" the girl said with an almost sad smile.
"It sounds like you had a pretty rough childhood" Dave replied, the girl nodded sadly, "but I'm fine now".
Simon and Jeanette bounded into Dave's room and began searching everything, draws, pants pockets cabinets, everything in sight. "Nothing" Jeanette said sliding a draw closed, "have you found anything?" she asked her counterpart who was on the man's nightstand looking at his personal calendar, "maybe" Simon replied.
"What do you mean?" Jeanette asked as she ran over to where he was
"Tomorrow night he's having a planned dinner date with her" Simon said pointing to the 13th, Jeanette nodded "I guess that's something but we're supposed to be looking for clues about what he did last night" the chipette replied. Simon nodded then hopped down onto the floor followed by Jeanette, both chipmunks were walking across the room when Jeanette saw something "Simon his cell phone!" she exclaimed seeing the device hanging out of his one pocket in his pants he was wearing yesterday.
Simon slid the phone out and began inspecting it, "let's see…" he murmured as he pressed the menu button. "Look at all these text messages from her… I didn't even know they exchanged phone numbers" the blue clad chipmunk said scrolling through the numerous messages. "Let's read some of them" Jeanette suggested, Simon nodded then hopped up onto the bed with the phone with Jeanette right behind him.
"The first one is from yesterday afternoon" Simon said "looks like about 6:00"
The chipmunk hit the 'open' button, "taking a shower right now, talk to you in a few" Simon said reading the message from Claire. He then scrolled down and read his response "ok... see you then".
"So when she 'dropped by' last night that was planned" Jeanette said "read the next one".
The two chipmunks sat on the bed for next 10 minutes just reading the list of almost endless messages between the two humans. "They sure were busy last night weren't they" Jeanette commented.
Alvin and Brittany carefully crept into Claire's cabin and into her bedroom, "she sure doesn't clean up does she" Brittany commented walking around a worn sock that was laying on the floor. Alvin would have replied but he was too busy looking for anything to tell him what his father was up to last night.
Brittany hopped up onto her nightstand and began reading her notes "Alvin check this out" the chipette called. Alvin promptly hopped up onto the nightstand and looked over her shoulder at the note that read 'dinner with 'associates' (Dave)'.
"What does the mean?" Alvin asked, Brittany shook her head as she rolled her eyes, "does it really take a girl to read a girls note?" she asked as a rhetorical question. "She's obviously got money… her 'associates' as she puts it are her friends but she's really going because of Dave who is in the parentheses… get it now?" the chipette said looking over her own shoulder at Alvin who was nodding.
"Now that you put it that way it makes perfect sense" he said as he began reading the other notes and her calendar that was hanging on the wall over the nightstand. After breezing over the calendar and not seeing anything out of the ordinary he moved to the draws of the nightstand which contained only in Alvin's opinion pointless things that only girls waste their time with, like hair brushes and hair appliances like straightening rods and blow driers. Finding nothing both chipmunks hopped down onto the floor and began to walk around the room in search of more clues.
Alvin walked over to the dresser, hopped up on top and opened one of the top draws; "look what I found" he called out to his counterpart who was looking under the bed. "What is it?" Brittany asked curiously walking over to the dresser, she hopped up onto the dresser and looked into the open draw as Alvin pulled out the book that was bigger than he was.
"You can't read that" Brittany protested "that's her private diary… nobody but her can read that"
"Oh please Brittany… this is the key to everything we want to know about her because people put everything into these books, bad or good… because nobody else reads them" Alvin replied with a smirk as he unfastened the leather strap that held it closed.
"Being a diary keeper myself I refuse to read another girl's diary" Brittany said, Alvin quickly turned to face the chipette "you keep a diary?" he asked surprised as a mischievous smirk formed on his lips.
"Don't even think about it Alvin… besides you'll never find it" Brittany replied with a smile that said, 'I win'.
Alvin shook his head then turned back to the large book that was sitting in front of him, as he opened the cover Brittany turned around and covered her eyes. Alvin shook his head as he chuckled and rolled his eyes. "That's ok… I'll read it out loud" he said knowing that she wouldn't like that either, "no" she replied closing her eyes and pressing her small hands against her ears. Alvin chuckled as he began to silently began to leaf through the book, after several minutes he found an entry that was written the day she met Dave and it read 'today I met the handsomest man I think I have ever seen, tall, dark hair and brown eyes, maybe he'll ask me out to dinner he seems interested in me too'.
Alvin nodded then scanned through several other entries, "this is very interesting…" he said turning to Brittany. "How?" she asked uncovering one of her ears, "she came on with a guy she calls her boyfriend and suddenly she meets Dave and she dumps this other guy… no offence to Dave but he's not that good looking for girls to be dumping their boyfriends to go out with him" the red clad chipmunk said crossing his arms.
"You know Alvin… when it comes to love looks aren't everything… maybe she saw something shining from within… with Dave that's completely possible" Brittany said. Alvin nodded but wasn't completely convinced of this. "He's a nice guy and all but I really doubt that's it… girls only care about a guy's good looks anymore" the chipmunk replied thoughtfully, suddenly he snapped his fingers "I've got it… she's after his money".
"Alvin we just came to the assumption that she's wealthy… why would she be after his money… it's not like Dave even has a lot of money to go after in the first place". Brittany retorted.
"Why else would she be so attracted to Dave?" Alvin asked turning away from her
"True love?" Brittany replied as he began to walk away seeing him continue to walk away prompted her to continue "that's why I'm so attracted to you, let's face it you're not the easiest person to get along with but true love over comes all of that". Alvin immediately stopped and slowly turned around then walked closer to her, "you really mean that?" he asked, she nodded "I've always been in love with you Alvin".
The chipmunk nodded happily "I love you too" he replied warmly
"Let's get back to work" Brittany said trying to hide her cheeks as they began to turn a bright shade of red.
Alvin nodded as he shut the diary, "find out if she has a cell phone" the red clad chipmunk said putting the book back into the draw. Brittany hopped down and began searching the clothing lying on the floor but then it hit her, she quickly ran out into the dining room area and hopped up onto the counter where she found the girl's purse.
Having seen his counterpart and partner in crime run out of the bedroom Alvin quickly followed, "did you find anything?" Alvin asked looking up at the counter where he could see her routing through the purse, "I found an address book… and… her cell phone" she said with a smile as she pulled the device out and dropped it onto the counter next to the little black book she had just got done removing as well.
"Great… toss me the phone" Alvin called up, Brittany nodded and picked up the phone then dropped it down to where Alvin was waiting. Grabbing the black book the chipette hopped down off the counter and ran over to the couch where Alvin had went with the phone.
"Let's check the book first" Brittany suggested, Alvin nodded and set down the phone as she cracked open the book that was as tall as they were. Brittany then carefully started scanning each name and address, "just go right to 'S' already" Alvin said impatiently.
"Do you want to find out what's going on or not?" Brittany asked shooting him a glance,
"I do… but at least tell me what your logic is so we're both on the same page" Alvin said
Brittany nodded "look here, this John fellow, he has an X'ed out heart next to his name… and so does Edward…".
Alvin stared at her as if she was nuts "and what's your point?"
"These guys are all ex-boyfriends… now we jump to Dave…" she said quickly flipping through the book until she found the 'S' section "there that proves my point…" Brittany said taping the uncrossed out heart next to Dave's name.
"So to her he's a boyfriend… but is she a girlfriend to Dave?" Alvin asked
"We'll have to go snoop around his room to find that out" Brittany replied
"Jeanette and Simon should be doing that as we speak" Alvin said leaning back against the couch back to relax.
Simon and Jeanette stood in the living area of their cabin tight in each other's embrace with their lips locked together in a passionate kiss. Jeanette slowly pulled away her cheeks a dark red shade, Simon looked into the chipettes soft lavender eyes as she stared into his dark blue sapphire like eyes.
"Jeanette… I…I…" the chipmunk took a deep breath as he ran over the simple phrase he so wanted to say in his mind. "Jeanette… I… love you" he finally said after a short pause.
The chipette breathed a sigh of relief; she had fallen in love with the tall chipmunk when she first saw him in the school for the first. She had always known he felt the same way but they were both too shy to say anything to each other. "Somehow I've always known" she said continuing to stare into his eyes "I love you too".
Simon nodded as a relieved breath escaped him "yeah… I uh… yeah… we should… keep looking for… clues" the chipmunk said as his thoughts kept getting disrupted the longer he continued to look into her beautiful eyes.
Jeanette nodded as a small grin spread across her face, 'he's so cute when he's nervous' she thought watching Simon nervously readjust his glasses. "You coming Jeanette?" Simon asked from Dave's bedroom doorway breaking her out of her thoughts, "coming" she called out sweetly then ran over to his side.
"Ok… so we have his cell phone with all his text messages to her but most importantly we have the message asking her to meet him somewhere" Simon said, "Where?" Jeanette asked
"The ball room" Simon replied
"They went dancing… that was sweet of him" Jeanette replied
Simon nodded his agreement "now we just wait until noon when the others get back we'll put everything together and find out where Dave was all last night".
Theodore and Eleanor sat under the table board half to sleep by listening to the couple talk about everything from careers to their favorite colors. Eleanor yawned and flopped back against the center leg of the table very tied and board, Theodore was about to yawn as well when Alvin dashed in under the table cloth. "Shh!" he warned "meeting in the cabin" he whispered, the two youngest were quite relieved to hear this.
When they got back to the room the others were already gathered around on the couch "ok team… what did we find?... Simon, Jeanette?"
"Well it appears after they went to dinner last night they parted for a while and were texting, and that's when Dave asked her if she wanted to go dancing in the ballroom" Simon said.
"And she said yes" Jeanette continued on for her counterpart "after that they parted again, it appears Dave came back to the room for a while without us knowing about it then she texted him and asked if he wanted to go for a walk."
"And he said yes" Simon said picking back up into the conversation "it appears looking at the times the messages were sent they walked for a while then Dave returned to the room and she returned to hers…. And that's about it."
Alvin nodded "we… Brittany mostly, discovered that she is very into him and by what you've been saying it sounds like he's very into her as well".
"That's what the evidence would suggest" Simon replied
"And last but probably the most important information… Theodore and Eleanor?" Alvin asked
"Well… she was adopted into a wealthy family… she has nine siblings too which she has no blood ties what so ever" Theodore replied thoughtfully as he remembered overhearing the conversation.
"She wants to become an actress in Hollywood, she lives around LA and her favorite color is sky blue" Eleanor put in remembering the excruciatingly boring conversation the two had to listen to.
Alvin nodded "after hearing everything… our course of action is very clear" the chipmunk said
"I'm almost afraid to ask… but what is our course of action?" Simon asked even though he really didn't want to know.
"We should get to know her better" Alvin replied, Simon was both surprised and relieved, "ok… not quite what I was expecting but it'll do" the blue clad chipmunk said.
Suddenly without warning the front door to the cabin opened and Dave walked in with Claire, "act natural" Alvin instructed. "Dave!" they all called out leaping onto him in a hug like fashion causing Claire to giggle.
"Hey fellas…" the man greeted looking down at the chipmunks that were clinging to the chest portion of his shirt, "Claire I hate to do this but…. I need to talk to them alone for a second" Dave said turning his gaze towards the young woman.
"No it's alright… I'll just wait right outside, take your time" she said with a smile just before she exited the room. The six chipmunks quickly hopped back up onto the couch while Dave stood in front and talked, "I know I haven't been spending a lot of time with you guys since I met Claire…" he said letting his voice trail off.
"It's fine Dave" Simon said "you have to live your life as well" the chipmunk said with a smile. Dave sighed and crouched down in front of them "look… I can tell the lack of attention I've been giving you guys has been taking an emotional toll on you fellas and this afternoon after I take Claire out to lunch the seven of us will spend it together… the whole afternoon, just the family… is that ok?"
The six nodded happily, causing Dave to smile, "I'll be back by 1:00, I promise" he said then straightened up and left the room leaving the chipmunks and the chipettes alone.
"That's a relief to know he hasn't completely forgotten about us" Alvin replied.
"Can we go get some lunch too?" Theodore asked rubbing his hungry tummy, Simon nodded "sure… lets go" he said leading the way to the front door. The six chipmunks left the room and walked down the hall with Simon and Jeanette taking the lead with Alvin and Brittany trailing in the back.
As they reached the deck Alvin stopped and grabbed Brittany's arm stopping her as well, as he put a finger to his lips in a sign of silence. Alvin gave the others a few moments to turn right and get ahead some ways before the two chipmunks dropped to all fours and began running in the opposite direction laughing to themselves for absolutely no reason.
Neither Alvin nor Brittany stopped until they both ran out of breath, both chipmunks collapsed onto the deck breathing heavily as they continued to laugh. "What are we doing?" Brittany asked.
"I don't know… I was bored" the chipmunk replied taking in deep breaths to slow his heart rate down, after they caught their breath the chipmunks continued to walk through the brisk cool air of the April afternoon. "I can't wait until we get back home" Brittany said with a sigh, as Alvin gently wrapped his hand around hers.
"I can wait… this ship is awesome, I'm having more fun now than when we're preforming" Alvin replied looking over at her. "I miss being home… I guess I'm a little home sick" she replied, Alvin nodded "I used to get home sick".
"Did you get used to it?" Brittany asked hoping for some helpful advice
Alvin shook his head "home started coming with me"
Brittany looked at him her face an expression of confusion "what do you mean?" she asked curiously
"Before when me and my brothers would go on tour I would find myself feeling the same way, all I could think about was getting home, but since you girls started touring with us everything from home that I love is always right there with me" he said letting go of her hand and moving his arm around her waist to pull her closer.
The chipette smiled, "you're sweet" she said then gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Alvin grinned happily "you're cute and sweet" he replied kissing her forehead tenderly
"Come on let's get lunch" she said blushing slightly as she grabbed his hand. The chipmunk couple went down to the dining room where they located the others and had lunch with them, "what happened to you two?" Jeanette asked referring to their disappearance. Alvin shrugged "nothing… we just fell behind a little".
Excepting his flimsy excuse Jeanette dropped the subject letting the group eat their meal in silence.
After the meal they headed back to their cabin to await Dave's arrival, Simon glanced at the clock that read 1:10 and sighed "I guess he's running a little late". Just than as if on cue Dave hurried into the cabin tossing his coat aside "I'm sorry fellas, I got distracted".
"It's alright Dave" Jeanette said soothingly making the man release a long breath, "ok… so what do you fellas want to do today?" he asked sitting down in the chair across from the couch they were all sitting on.
Silence befell the seven occupants of the cabin as they all thought, the only noise to be heard was the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall. After several minutes of deliberation Dave concluded that it would be best to go for a walk around the massive ship and see what there was to do on board. Since everybody agreed they departed on their walk around the huge cruise ship to find something to do.
As they walked Brittany slowly pulled her sisters to the back of the group where she could talk to them without Dave or the chipmunks overhearing. "Jeanette… do you think this thing between Dave and Claire has a chance to go anywhere?" Brittany asked
"I actually think they're pretty serious… we might get a mother pretty soon" Jeanette replied
"That's what I'm afraid of…" Brittany said letting her voice trail off.
"What do you mean?" Eleanor asked curiously
"Think about it Ellie" Brittany said, "we're the new kids, if Dave does end up having real children of his own and he just can't afford all of us, we're the first one's out the door".
"Oh…" Eleanor sighed sadly
"Brittany" Jeanette said almost in a scolding tone of voice, "he just had this discussion with Alvin"
"Yeah that was with Alvin… he's been with Dave longer, I'm worried about us" she replied
Jeanette nodded as if she saw a point to what her sister was saying, "if it makes you feel better you could talk to Dave tonight some time and clear this up before it completely overloads your brain".
Brittany nodded, "I'll do that tonight after everybody else is sleeping" she said as Alvin came bounding back towards them. "What're you guys doing all the way back here?" he asked grabbing Brittany's hand, before any of them could answer Alvin took off with Brittany back up to the front of the group.
Jeanette chuckled and shook her head, "she worries too much"
"But she does have a point" Eleanor put in, "Dave really didn't want to take us in at first"
Jeanette had to agree with that because it was true but she still believed Dave would never do that to any of them.
The afternoon passed quickly with the various activities that the various chipmunks wanted to embark upon, but as darkness set in and the hour became late Dave and the six chipmunks found themselves in the dining room ordering dinner.
Dinner came and went and before long the group was back in there room and getting ready for bed, five tiered chipmunks went off and collapsed in their beds but one chipette stood out in the living room waiting for Dave to emerge from the boys' room.
As Dave exited the room he saw Brittany standing there as if waiting for him, "I was just coming in to say good night to you girls" he said with a smile as he stooped to pick her up, Brittany let Dave pick her up but as he turned to enter her room she said, "Dave can I speak to you a minute?"
"Sure… you can talk to me any time" he said walking over to the couch instead and settling in, Brittany hopped down onto his lap and looked up at him as he looked down at her. "Dave I've become concerned for my sisters welfare" she started slowly.
The man looked at her curiously, "what do you mean?"
"let me finish" she said "you have the right to live your own life the way you want… nobodies denying that, but I'm concerned that if something where to happen where you get married and have children and if something else were to happen and you couldn't afford to keep all of us me and my sisters would be the first out the door because were the newest expendable members of the family".
Dave nodded his understanding as he let out a long thoughtful breath, "it is truly a valid concern, but I'm going to tell you this right now and I want you to listen, you are not expendable, not to me, none of you are, not Simon, not Alvin, not Theodore, not Jeanette, not Eleanor and neither are you" Dave said reassuringly, "we're all a family, thick or thin we stand by one another no matter the odds".
Brittany nodded with a small smile, "thanks Dave… I always knew that but I needed to hear it from you" she said jumping up and clinging to the man's shirt in a hug like gesture. "I understand" he said gently stroking her back. After a few more minutes of the quality father chipette time they were sharing Dave brought the chipette to her room and put her to bed.
A/N: Hope you're enjoying the story so far, I would update earlier in the day but between high school and work, the middle of the night is like the only time I have to write/post FanFiction. So again I'm sorry for the inconvenient time. And to MASSIVECHIPMUNKFAN, I know you're reading this :) I finished the first draft, I don't know if you want to see it or wait until I perfect it, let me know.
To all… again I hope you are enjoying this story and please leave a review.