"What happened to Dave?" Alvin said immediately.

"I'm sure he's down there…somewhere," Zoe smirked. "The lights got turned off by mistake, so I'm not really sure what I hit with this." She waggled the gun teasingly.

Simon held Jeanette close to his chest protectively, and she stared up at Zoe, frightened.

"Simon, keep me in front of you," Jeanette whispered. "She needs me. She won't shoot me. I don't want you to get hit."

Alvin instantly stepped in front of Brittany, shielding her. She held her head, which was bleeding now.

Eleanor leaned closer to Theodore and whispered in his ear, "We have to get the gun away from her."

"Why?" he whispered back.

"Police are on their way. If we can just disarm her, we're home free all."

"Where's the lasso?" Theodore breathed, an idea springing into his head.

Eleanor brightened and touched it. It was still coiled onto her belt.

"Get her to turn away from us so that if the gun goes off, it won't hit anyone," Eleanor breathed, curling her hand around the lasso.

"Let go of Adam!" Zoe barked.

Eleanor and Theodore quickly dropped Adam's arms.

Adam stepped toward Simon. "Now, give me Jeanette," he smirked, "if you please."

"Never," Simon hissed.

Jeanette was swaying in and out of consciousness. She was fairly sure that her arm and her leg were broken, and she had gotten hit on the head very hard as well.

"Simon," she gasped. "Just…do…it."

"No," he whispered.

"Don't…want…you…to get…hurt," she breathed.

"I'm not going to let you go just like that," he hissed.

Just then, Theodore blinked.

Zoe instantly focused the gun on him, but he was peering over her shoulder.

"That's a funny place to put a piano," he frowned.

"What?" Zoe whirled around, and Eleanor flung the lasso.

It fell over the barrel of the gun, and she gave it a hard yank. The gun flew out of Zoe's hand, and she let out a gasp.

The gun went off.

Everyone screamed and ducked.

Theodore looked around. "Who got hit?" he asked in a small voice.

"Um…I don't think anyone did, unless there was someone directly on the side of the house," Alvin said finally, pointing to the siding in the house. A bullet hole had been punched into it.

Eleanor dragged the gun close to her and quickly flicked the safety on it.

Simon smiled triumphantly at Adam, whose fists were clenched.

"Fine," Adam hissed. "I'll take her myself."

"Not likely," Simon snarled, backing away and clutching Jeanette protectively closer.

Then there was a loud fist that hammered on the door.

"THIS IS THE POLICE!" a voice bellowed. "OPEN THE DOOR, NOW!"

Eleanor moved the gun so that it was in the middle of the floor.

Then, Dave ran up from the basement, looking just fine except for a bruise on his forehead.

"Dave!" all the chipmunks cried in happiness.

He ran to throw open the door, and several policemen entered, holding their guns up.

"Put your hands in the air," the policeman in front bellowed.

Zoe and Adam quickly threw their hands up.

Jeanette saw all of this through a dizzy haze.

"Simon," she gasped.

He looked down at her and then looked concerned. "Jeanette, your head…" He just realized that she was bleeding. Badly.

"I…love…you," she gasped.

And then everything went black.

Colors. Lights. Memories. Everything was swirling around Jeanette in a dizzy haze. There was a tiny pinprick of purple in the distance, and she stared at it, squinting. It grew larger and larger and larger…

WHAM!

Sounds and lights flooded her vision, and she instantly snapped her eyes shut again with a low moan.

A muffled gasp sounded from above. "Jeanette?" She heard a voice that sounded like an angel's voice. She knew that voice…

She squinted her eyes halfway open again and saw Simon's worried face peering over her.

"Jeanette!" he cried. "You're okay! Oh, Jeanette!"

And then he was hugging her as tightly as he possibly could.

"Simon—can't—breathe!" she choked, and he quickly released her. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"What…what happened?" Jeanette asked dizzily.

Simon's face darkened, but he kept his tone under control. "Adam hurt you. Your leg is broken, and your arm. You actually had some internal bleeding in your head, which is very, very dangerous. They managed to fix it, though. You went into a temporary coma, Jeanette. You've been unconscious for almost a month."

Jeanette's eyes bugged out. "A month?" she cried. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope," Simon said, shaking his head.

"Wow," Jeanette murmured. "Am I okay?"

"You should be," Simon told her, rubbing her shoulder. She looked around and saw that she was in a hospital bed. She was on one side, and Simon was lying next to her on the other side.

"Simon, how long have you been here?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

He ducked his head. "Haven't left," he said bashfully.

She stared at him in astonishment. "For a MONTH?" she cried.

"Well…sometimes I leave once in a while," Simon admitted.

"Oh, Simon, you didn't have to do that for me," Jeanette told him.

"Jeanette, I would do anything for you," he told her, his blue eyes solemn.

She felt herself leaning in, farther and farther…

Several minutes later, they finally stopped kissing.

"So," Jeanette said at last, "what happened to Zoe and Adam and them?"

"Zoe got put in jail, for a number of things that included kidnapping, impersonation, and threatening with a gun," Simon explained. "Adam should have been put in jail for hurting you like he did, but…" Fury reared up in his eyes again. "He escaped before the police could catch him. We don't know where he is now."

Jeanette sighed. "He'll be back, I'm sure."

"Yes," Simon agreed grimly. "And we'll be waiting for him."

Jeanette smiled and reached up to give him another kiss.

Simon, secretly, was troubled. He was thinking about what had happened that night just after Jeanette had fallen unconscious…

Jeanette slumped down into his arms, limp.

"Jeanette!" Simon screamed. "JEANETTE!"

"What's wrong with her?" Brittany cried, frightened. She tried to get up, but she swayed slightly and Alvin pulled her back down.

"I don't know!" Simon said frantically.

In the chaos, Adam dove for the gun and snatched it up. He aimed it directly at Alvin.

"No!" Brittany cried.

"Nobody move, or I'll pull the trigger!" Adam yelled, flicking the safety back off.

The police all had their guns trained on him, but they couldn't shoot without risking hurting or killing Alvin.

Adam cackled, threw the gun in the air, and dove out the front door.

"No!" Simon cried. He gently set Jeanette down on the floor and whispered, "I'll be right back," in her ear, not knowing whether or not she could hear him. Then he wheeled and dashed out the door after Adam.

Adam and Simon faced off underneath a streetlight.

"This isn't over, Simon Seville," Adam snarled. "You've taken her away from me. I will get her back."

"She's not yours," Simon replied. "She never was. Callie might have been. But Callie's GONE." He enjoyed the pain that flickered across Adam's face.

Adam laughed humorlessly. "And did you see Jeanette? She's probably dead already."

Simon snarled at him. "She's not going to die," he hissed. "She's NOT."

"No," Adam agreed, suddenly serious. "She's stronger than that. Callie is stronger than that."

"JEANETTE IS NOT CALLIE!" Simon yelled.

Adam glared. "I'm leaving now," he snarled. "But I'll be back, and sooner than you think. I will get revenge on you, Simon Seville, for taking away everything that I loved. And I'll get revenge on your precious Jeanette, too. And when I do come back, you will wish that you had never taken Callie away from me."

With those menacing words, Adam turned tail and disappeared into the night. Simon thought that he faintly heard an engine in the distance. He tried to chase after Adam, but it was too late.

Adam was gone.

Simon shook his head and brought himself back into the present.

He looked down at Jeanette, who had fallen asleep again, but he wasn't panicked like he had been before. She would wake up again. She would recover. She would be all right.

And Simon would not let her out of his sight until Adam had been taken care of.

Uh-oh! Duh duh DUUUUUUUUUHH… *dramatic music* Thanks so much for reading my story! Don't worry, I won't leave ya hangin'. I've already got a sequel planned out, and it should be up soon. Please review! I'd like to see what you thought of it. Until the sequel, Hostfanatic out!