Chapter six, second update. If I keep this up I might finish this chapter by the end of the week.

Disclaimer: If I owned Hamtaro, I'd actually be able to give Bijou a realistic French accent in my stories...

"Sorry I am late everyone!" Bijou exclaimed as she burst through the clubhouse door, a tad out of breath but smiling nonetheless. A chorus of greetings were sent back her way as she took a look around the large circular room.

Boss was sitting comfortably in his cherry hued armchair with Cappy and Oxnard standing close beside. The three boyhams were observing Howdy and Dexter, who were wrapped up in a far too competitive game of checkers. As usual, Maxwell sat nose-deep in a new tome. Meanwhile, Sandy hopped about, spinning her ribbon is every which direction in what appeared to be a very complicated and impressive sequence. Stan on the other hand was sprawled out at the top of the slide, occasionally giving his maraca a small shake. Pashmina and Penelope were occupied with the same building blocks from the night before, and although Panda wasn't around he had apparently left the hamster house blueprints behind for them to use.

As Bijou continued to glance around, she noticed another ham was missing. Huh? Zat iz odd…

"Where iz Hamtaro?" the French-ham voiced aloud.

"Dunno," Cappy responded. "We haven't seen him all day."

Zat iz very much unlike him, Bijou thought. Usually Hamtaro had arrived by now. "Perhaps we should go check on him?"

"Uh! Well… actually," Boss started. All eyes turned toward the field hamster. "He, uh, came by this morning to tell me he was sick. Yeah! He's real sick so he's back at his house."

All the Ham-Hams let out a gasp of concern.

"Wow man, that sucks!"

"Poor Hamtaro!"

"Oakwee!"

"Yes, zat is absolutely terrible!" Bijou agreed. "What should we do?"

Oxnard gave a shuffle as he swallowed a bite of his sunflower seed. "Do you guys think we should go visit him? I know if I was really sick I'd appreciate all my friends coming to visit me."

Bijou gave the large hamster an encouraging smile. "What a fantastic idea!"

"Wait!" Boss cut in, "You, uh… really shouldn't go to visit him. I-I mean, he's really sick and it'd be bad if all of you caught it too! Probably best to stay here. Yeah!"

Sandy glanced over at the field hamster. That's weird, she noticed. Boss is acting, like, really strange. Also, maybe it was just her imagination, but he seemed to be sitting up a little too straight. And was that a bead of sweat running down his forehead? The tiger-striped girlham narrowed her eyes. Something's up.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Boss." Pashmina spoke up. "We'll be extra careful. And Oxnard's right: Hamtaro would probably love to have some visitors."

"Very well, it iz settled zen!" Bijou piped up before Boss could argue any further. "Iz everybody ready to go?"

Maxwell gave his friends a disappointed look. "Sorry guys, but I'm with Boss on this one. I can't stand being sick. Give Hamtaro my best though."

"Ugh, for once I'm with you, Maxwell my man." Stan gave another shake of his maraca. "Count me out, Ham-Hams."

Bijou gave the two a reassuring smile. "Zat iz alright. We will be sure to give Hamtaro your best wishes." As the hamsters began filing out the door, the French girlham looked over at Sandy and couldn't help but notice she seemed a little distracted. "Sandy?"

The girlham seemed to snap back out of her thoughts before turning to her best friend. "Oh, sorry Bij." She took a quick glance at Boss. "I think I'll stay here to, like, keep a watch on the boys. Tell Hamtaro I hope he gets better though."

Bijou nodded while replying, "I will be sure to tell him." And with a quick smile the white-furred girlham followed the others out the clubhouse door.

Sandy waited a few moments after the door closed before taking a few steps closer toward the field hamster. "Boss…"

Maxwell and Stan exchanged quick glances; they had both heard that tone from Sandy before, and they were both very glad it was not directed at either of them.

"You're acting very suspicious…" the girlham contemplated.

"Huh?!" came Boss' reply. "W-What do you mean? I'm fine. Just normal ol' Boss."

Sandy had a gut feeling that everything certainly was not fine, and her gut was never wrong. Even worse, she had a hunch that this might end up hurting one of her best friends, and the tiger-striped girlham refused to allow that to happen.

"Boss. Tell us what's going on. Like, now."

The large field hamster recoiled at the fervor in her voice. She really was serious. Boss let out a lengthy sigh. Stan and Maxwell looked over, curious about what was going on.

"Alright, alright, Sandy. Sheesh… you can be really scary, ya know that?"

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Until the next update. And as always, thank you for reading.

~Macarov