Hello Readers and Writers, I must apologize for the looooong delay, I've been really sick (not just your common cold) and it turns out that rather than writing, you need to rest when you're sick. Enjoy this chapter!

Jeanette's Point of View

At first I had no clue what was going on; one minute I was singing with Simon, a duet for the very first time (one that was going so perfectly) and the next I was being pushed towards the road, apart from Simon with the rest of the crowd as construction workers set up little fences at the edge. Beyond the noise of the bulldozer, I could hear the immediate destruction of the stage, I heard the crumble of the dry soil as the large vehicle reached the fifteen acres that would soon be it's next meal. I could hear the crowd panicking, scared of the quick change. I began to smell exhaust fuel. The bulldozer was ready.

"Jeanette!" Simon called and welcomed me in an embrace. We reunited with our family who was trying to calm some of the more frantic crowd members, telling them to go home and stay safe. "Jeanette, we have to do something." He sounded desperate, and the sheer desperation was enough to wrench my heart from it's position, it's once calm position. What could I do? Tell him that everything was going to be okay? That we'd have another chance? No, this was our last chance and it was blown by the disruption of workers along with my singing fun with Simon.

"What can we do?" I whispered. Despite all the noise he somehow heard me. His eyes lowered, but his ears perked. Sometimes perked ears meant a particular noise was heard, at other times it meant happiness; with Simon, perked ears meant an idea. He always seemed to have an idea.

"One last stand," He said, "We fight and we give it our all for this place." I hadn't considered this, I always wanted to solve problems in a more civil manner, never to fight. Reading my mind, Simon spoke, "There's no other way we'll get our message across." This was our final option, our cards were on the table but it all depended on what the dealer played. I couldn't say anything, I wasn't strong enough to. With a nod I followed him, past Dave, who was going psycho on helping everyone at once, past the tape and fences and past the bigger population of workers, straight towards the bulldozer.

"This is crazy," I thought, "We can't take down an almost twenty-thousand pound bulldozer!" We were to light-weight chipmunks that could barely lift a coconut with both arms. This was going to be hard and that was IF we figured out what we were doing. We had no plan, we were just desperate.

After making it about half-way across The Gardens to where the bulldozer was ready to start, four workers stood in front of us, aware that we were up to something.

"Where you little fellers think yer goin'?" A worker dressed in an orange jacket and yellow hard hat teased through his patchy beard.

"Oh, um, you know, just over to…" Simon stopped mid-sentence and, quicker than I've ever seen him, he jumped up onto the patchy beardo and clawed at his face. I fell backwards, shocked at how rough and forceful Simon could be; I then smirked with a glimmer of hope and without remorse I jumped up on another, clean shaven, worker, bit his nose, and hopped shoulder to shoulder as he tried to grab me.

"Aah, get it, Lou!" The worker screamed as I nipped the side of his neck. I was swiftly ripped from the workers shoulder by my tail and thrown forcefully. Before I could close my eyes to embrace the upcoming pain it was already here. Hitting the ground, I gasped for breath with the wind knocked out of me. My head spun and echoed Simon's voice.

"Don't touch my flower!" Through my blurred vision I saw Simon bite down on the strong worker with a good throwing arm's hand, spurting blood.

"My flower…" Is that what he said? Did he mean me? Am I a flower to him? "S-Simon?" I whispered knowing full well that he couldn't hear me. It was cold on the ground, but I was too weak to move, little air flowed through my lungs. Throughout this… this… war, I've wanted nothing more than to cuddle up to Simon, hug him, kiss him. That was heaven, a paradise compared to my current position, and he was so passionate in everything he did, was it like that with a real kiss?

"Ack! Hey, lemme go!" The worker with the bloody hand now had Simon by the tail; he helplessly swung his fists and chomped his teeth. He seemed a little pathetic just hanging there, I needed to help. As I staggered to my feet, I noticed Simon's brothers and my sisters approach the four workers from behind.

"Any last words, you stupid squirrel?" The worker threatened.

"That's Chipmunk!" Me and each member of my family screamed and jumped the workers, biting and clawing anything within reach. High-pitched screaming rang above the buzzing and beeping bulldozer, the screams of the workers. I bit Simon free and like a mother I checked him for wounds and he did the same with me.

"Are you okay?" We asked each other simultaneously. We both nodded but were breathless yet again as we were swooped up by our tails by Beardo. His patchy face blocked my vision of everything else.

"Ugh, again with the tail?!" Simon complained through panted breath. Everything seemed to slow down like the tempo of a song right after the chorus.

"Enough, ya foolish whatevers!" Beardo bellowed, "This'll be good, never had squirrel before."

"Chipmunk." Simon corrected, a little drowsily from hanging upside-down.

"Put them down." Eleanor begged angrily. By now the workers had everyone except me and Simon in a bunch on the ground. Brittany had to hold Eleanor back… I think it was Brittany. I was starting to lose my sense of sight, gaining tunnel vision as my boiling blood rushed to my head. The noise of the bulldozer was beginning to fade when something happened. We fell. Simon and I found the ground quickly and were dragged to the side by our siblings.

"W-What's going on?" I stuttered harshly and regained most of my sight back.

"Take a look." Alvin said, looking very amused. I turned to where everyone was looking to see Beardo cowering at Dave's feet.

"S-S-Sorry fer worryin' ya, sir." He bawled, "Won't happen again, they're fine by me." He ran off holding his eye with his fellow workers without looking back once. I saw Brittany stick out her tongue and flip her hair.

"Well, well, David." Alvin mused.

"Not now, Alvin." Dave said, his eyebrows furrowed, making him look scarier than the workers, "Are you kids crazy? Get to the car right now!"

"But Dave-" I tried to argue, but was interrupted forthwith.

"No buts! You're going to get hurt out here, we're going home and I don't want to hear another word about it!" No, I wasn't done fighting, I wasn't going to let a worried parent ruin my last chance of saving what was left of The Gardens. I looked around and let the new setting trap itself within my mind; they smokey sky, four acres of deserted rubble courtesy of the moving bulldozer, the stench of sweat, smoke, and dirt filled my nostrils. I wasn't about to let the rest of this once amazing place die. I had a clear view of the violet, slightly hung over from the smog and moving ground and dead in the path of the dozer.

"No, Dave." I yelled loud enough for him to hear me.

"Jeanette, it's not up for debate; your safety is what matters most." I turned to Simon for support and he gave me an unsettling look; he was done. After we'd gotten so far he was about to give up?! I turned numb, how could he give up just like that?

"Simon…?" I muttered.

"Your safety is what I care about." He whispered to me, "Go with Dave." I wanted to protest, to argue and turn and run further, fight until I dropped, but instead I took tiny steps without argument right behind Dave like everyone else. Me, Brittany, Eleanor, Alvin, and Theodore. It took me minutes to realize Simon wasn't even following us!

"Where's Simon?" I asked; close to breaking down, I looked frantically every direction for him. My sisters started looking, making a chain reaction for the Chipmunks.

"There he is!" said Brittany after what felt like hours. I hoped Dave didn't hear her, she wasn't the most careful.

"Where?" I panicked and shook her by her shoulders. She pointed in the direction from which we came. I squinted and there he stood, clear as day, the only one in front of the bulldozer waiting for it to reach him. I didn't think, couldn't think. I reacted completely on impulse, "Get to that brave and stubborn chipmunk!" Dashing away from Dave and pushing past my sisters, I rushed to Simon and tackled him to the ground. "Are you crazy!" I scolded and cried in his chest.

"Jeanette, you shouldn't be here." He replied, "It isn't safe."

"Exactly why you shouldn't be here!" I retorted.

"I have to save our special place."

"It isn't worth losing you…" We both sat up and looked the other in the eyes. Simon's eyes were as hard and as fragile as glass. I could see my own eyes in his, violet mixed in with his blue. It was a pretty color. Nothing I've ever seen before. "You're not doing this alone." I stated.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't." I didn't sound very convincing, not to me and certainly not to Simon. The dozer was getting ever and feigned no interest in stopping, but neither did Simon and neither did I. "I'm not leaving you, I never have and I never will." We stood side by side, and I was having no luck in convincing him. He cared about me, he was doing everything he could for me and all I really wanted was to be with him, remain by his side. He cared about me and the place that I love. "Maybe he does like me." I thought, "Maybe he's doing all this to show it."

I wrapped my arms around Simon's neck and moved in closer.

"I may not get another chance." I whispered to him and pressed our lips and bodies together. This kiss wasn't like our first. This one was real; not because it was lasting longer than the last (much longer) but because it felt real. It had real passion, real love, and real meaning. This could be the last thing I do and I was proud of it. I had courage and I kissed (still kissing) Simon Seville! I felt his heart beat against my chest and my own heart beat against his.

I lifted my lips slowly, took Simon's hand, and smiled weakly. "Did I just do that…?" I whispered quietly. In his eyes, at first I saw confusion though he didn't pull away from the kiss, then he smiled and his eyes shone through the oncoming exhaust smoke. We linked hands tightly in an unbreakable grasp. I never thought that waiting to go on a suicide mission to stop a bulldozer would be one of the best moments of my life.

The mould blade approached our close bodies and together we jumped.

Hope you enjoyed, sorry if it sucked, I suck at action scenes! Tell me what you thought, more to come very soon!