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SUGAR COATED POISON

BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

Amour Amour
Alle wollen nur dich zähmen
Amour Amour am Ende
gefangen zwischen deinen Zähnen

(Amour Amour
Everyone just wants to tame you
Amour Amour in the end
caught between your teeth)

-Amour by Rammstein

CHAPTER SIX: WINTER WEATHER

Keep running, keep running, city to city
Even if you're innocent
You can cause too much embarrassment
And though your heart is aching,
And you know there's no mistaking

-Just a Job to Do by Genesis

The sun beat through the glass of the window as Giggles stared down at the small frame in her paws. She looked up toward Mime, Handy, Toothy, Flaky, and Petunia and they all nodded as one to her. She sighed a shaky sigh, her heart was beating quickly and sweat was in her fur. She reached forward and dialed the phone, then put it on speaker. They could hear the solemn rings as no one answered. Finally the answering machine:

"Hey, you know who it is. If I'm not at the phone, I'm either about to prank you with my good buddy Toothy or getting luckier than you with my girlfriend Giggles…"

Giggles cut off the call.

"He kept it…" She whispered.

"You were supposed to talk to him." Petunia sighed.

"He kept the ring we made…" She said, remembering the last half of it was her talking about her "baby" Cuddles.

"Giggles!" Petunia shouted, snapping in front of the chipmunk's face.

She snapped out of it and looked at Petunia with teary eyes. She was shaking and wasn't sure what to do. She felt that she might forgive Cuddles, but she also felt she owed him a very small apology for the accusation.

"I got cold feet." She sighed.

"He's going to leave you behind. Do you want him to?"

"No, but…"

"Giggles," Toothy said. "You need to choose your battles. Standing on your principles now may feel right, but when he's gone, he's never coming back and you'll regret that for the rest of your life. All it takes is a small apology."

"But he needs to apologize!" Giggles shouted, but received a stern look from Petunia and sighed, looking down at her feet. "He needs to apologize, too."

"Whatever the case," Toothy sighed. "We need to fix this."

"Why are all of you here with me?" She asked. "Couldn't you persuade Cuddles to call me?"

"You need to apologize before he does." Petunia said.

"Why do I have to?" Giggles shouted.

"Because he won't say it unless you do."

The skunk could already tell that this was hopeless, as could Toothy, Handy, and Flaky. The chipmunk refused to budge, despite the fact that it did not matter who apologized first. Of course, it could also be Cuddles, but he was the same way.

"I can see why these two make such a great pair," Handy whispered to Toothy. "They're both too damn stubborn."

Toothy snickered a little but silenced himself.

"Then this is never going to be fixed and he'll leave you behind." Petunia said.

"No, no, no," Giggles said. "I'm leaving him behind. If he wants to give up on someone like me, then he can, but he's the one giving up, not me. I'll stand here and turn my back if he doesn't do as he should."

"Forcing someone to submit to you, and trying to control them is a disorder, Giggles." Toothy said. "You would be known as a sociopath."

When replied to by blank stares, Toothy blushed a little and scratched the back of his head.

"I've been having Sniffles educate me on these sorts of things."

"I'm not a socio… whatever… I'm merely trying to take my half of the relationship." Giggles said, defiantly.

"By controlling his half?" Flaky spoke up.

Giggles thought for a moment, but had no retort to this. Instead she just crossed her arms and shut her eyes.

"He's apologizing first." She said.

Petunia palmed her face, and sighed. She turned to her friends and led them into the other room.

"So she's obliviously not going to go first. Toothy? Any chance Cuddles would?"

"Not a one," He said. "He has to much pride for that."

"They'd both have a lot more if they just apologized." Flaky said.

"Do you think we could trick the other into the thinking they had apologized?" Toothy asked.

"Hmmm…" Petunia mused. "You may be on to something, Toothy."

Petunia knocked on the door twice before stepping back and waiting for a reply. The door opened quickly and there stood the yellow rabbit, rubbing his eyes and looking around blearily.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Three in the afternoon." Handy reported.

"Damn, that stuff makes me sleepy." He said, moving aside for them to come in.

"You're not taking the drug again, are you?" Petunia asked.

"No but I got a depression medication." He said.

"A depression med?" They all asked in slight surprise.

"Yeah," He said. "I'm going to miss it around here."

"Petunia hasn't filled us in on the details," Toothy said, sitting beside his best friend. "Why are you leaving, where are you going, and when are you coming back?"

"For the time being, it will be safe to say no to all your questions."

"Why?"

"Because it is something I would rather not talk about."

"Then how will we come to visit?" Toothy asked.

"You won't," Cuddles said, solemnly. "So what do you guys need?"

"Well… we came to give you this." Petunia said, handing him a tape recorder.

"Gee… thanks?" He said, looking up in confusion.

"Giggles was too embarrassed by her actions to tell you in person what this tape recorder says."

Cuddles looked down at it for a moment, and suddenly he seemed more alert and a little happier. He taped the play button.

"Cuddles… I know we had this whole big fight and everything, but I hope this will end it. I want to apologize for calling you a thief, and for continually accusing you of cheating. I know now that his love is worth more than anything else in the world."

Cuddles seemed as though he was about to cry for a moment and then dropped the tape recorder and stood up. They looked at him hopefully and he looked back for a moment then crossed his arms.

"Look guys, I appreciate that you want to get me back together with Giggles, but for one thing you're going to have to do better than that." He said.

"What do you mean?" Toothy asked.

"You recorded that from different bits of things Giggles said. While it may sound like she's apologizing, you just pieced together her talking. It was almost perfect but "I know now that his love" was your slip up."

"We-…" Petunia began but fell silent.

They were all speechless as they stared at the rabbit. They weren't sure if he was clever, stubborn, or some combination of the two.

"Second of all, has it occurred to you guys that I may have already arranged my leave, and that I may not want to love Giggles anymore?"

He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Now, I must ask you guys to leave." He said.

Toothy sat with his paws clasped so tightly together, they were aching and sweating. He stared down at the picture everyone was looking at in a sort of farewell. A yellow rabbit smiled at them as they stared at him.

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