Keep in mind, this is an AU of the main stuff, and in no way affects it. Nothing from the Main Storyline will make an appearance here, other than some characters.

I will be uploading two chapters per week [Tuesday/Thursday], since the chapters are so short.

Thank you for clicking this story, and I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review!


Part Three - Tour

"So, where are you two from? In town? I didn't realize there were still young families here." Henry looked at the cubs curiously.

"Nope! We're from Nashville," Jewel jumped in, grinning ear to ear.

"Nashville, huh?" Henry blinked. "What are you doing all the way out here? Where are your parents? How old are you?"

"Beary's looking for his higher purpose," she responded again, earning a glare from the white-faced cub. "What? That's what you told me. I just tagged along. We're also both ten-years-old."

Henry frowned. "You are runaways?" He was ready to go call their parents right then and there.

"I… I don't…" Beary responded, looking away. "Please, don't turn us in!"

Henry stared at him. "No family, huh? And you, you said you were Trixie's daughter?"

Jewel nodded. "Mhm. Is my mother here? She said she was in the area. Well, somewhere in Tennessee. Last month she was in New York, and the month before that, she was in California."

"I see… Does she at least know you're here?"

"Nope!"

Henry groaned, shaking his head. "Well, I'm fairly certain she won't kill me, so, all right. You two can stay until I can get ahold of her. Anyway, this tour. Follow me. Go ahead and set your bags down by the door. Sorry, it's a bit dusty, but it won't kill you." He waited until the cubs put down their items. "Are you guys hungry?"

"Starving!" Jewel exclaimed at the same time Beary gave a small nod.

The older bear's ears perked, and he made them sit on a bench while he disappeared through a door, returning a few minutes later with a couple of apples. "Here. Eat this." He sat down as well, eating his own apple, making sure they at least ate and knew where to throw away the core. "Better? I wish I had more to offer you guys, but…" He shrugged. "Now you can follow me."

He led them up to the main balcony, showing the many pictures of bands that had played at the grand music hall. "This place would fill up every weekend night. Lotta great music on that stage," he explained. "But nobody, and I mean nobody was like The Country Bears."

Jewel nodded appreciatively at the information, carefully writing down these facts for her own scrapbooks. Beary watched her neat handwriting, slightly jealous, but also listened.

Henry leaned against the branch railing, looking over at the music hall and sighing dreamily, recalling the gold ol' days. "Place'd be packed. People sitting everywhere. Even in the rafters. Sometimes I'd climb up there to hear the notes."

"What notes?" Beary asked.

"The music," Henry explained. "The millions of notes that floated up there. Some of the best darn notes ever."

"Well, why don'tcha stop them from tearing this place down?" Beary suggested. "You sound so sad."

"Why?" Henry asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Twenty thousand dollars, that's why. You don't get it, I don't got it. Goodbye, Country Bear Hall. I can't raise that kind of money, no matter how much I want to."

Jewel frowned. "Why not? Just have a fundraiser!"

"You think I haven't been trying? No one cares anymore. No one but us here." Henry led them down from the balcony and the stage, showing them the instruments on their stands, sadly gathering dust from disuse.

Beary looked at the instruments sadly, disappointed in how they looked. It was so sad! He knelt down, gently running his paws over Ted's Gibson guitar, flinching at the out-of-tune notes. He glanced over at Jewel, who was running her paws along her mother's old keyboard which needed some serious fixing up.

Henry watched them, ears lowering slightly. "Well, uh, come on. Let's get out of this dump and go outside again. There's more to this tour. We'll have to ride in the golf cart, and I can show you their cabins. A lot of their old stuff is still there."

Beary and Jewel glanced at each other excitedly, following him down the stairs that lead to the stage, and out the door, bringing their bags and setting them outside on the porch.

Beary glanced around while Henry dug around in his office for some keys, and his eyes fell on the sign above the porch. He stepped off the porch, getting a better look at it. 'Country Bear Hall… Wait, that's it!´ He waited until Henry returned, and pointed at it. "What about that?"

Henry glanced up at the sign. "No one wants that old sign."

"No, not the sign! I mean Country Bear!"

Jewel glanced at him. "Huh?"

"The band! The band could raise that money! They love Country Bear Hall!" Beary said, remembering a quote from Zeb saying that he'd do anything for the place.

"That was a long time ago," Henry replied with a sigh. "They don't care anymore. Nobody does."

"We do!" the cubs exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's time you two moved on to some more current group like… like… you know, current," Henry mumbled, getting annoyed.

"Wait a minute, I got it!" Beary grinned, glancing at Jewel. "I've always heard that people have a higher purpose in life, and I think I just found mine. I belong here. I belong here, helping you save this place, and we can do it with a concert to raise the money!"

Jewel's eyes widened, and she jumped in with a little hop. "We can get the band back together!" she shouted eagerly with Beary.

For a moment, Henry seemed thrilled at the prospect, but then reality gobbled up his happiness. "Get the band back together? Get the... Get the..."

"Uh-huh!"

Why that is just the stupidest thing I ever… Never in a million years!" he protested.

Beary grinned. Now that he had figured out his higher purpose, it would take a lot to talk him out of it. Just the thought of the band back together excited him! "This place is historic! I know they'll do it. They can play a show!"

"Now stop it," Henry instructed. "Forget it. Just stop it!"

"But-" Jewel began.

"Now I said stop it! It's over!" Henry turned away, trying to go back to his office, but Beary stepped in front of him.

"You don't care."

"What?" Henry blinked.

"You don't care. Now I get why they dumped you as their manager all those years ago," the cub said, looking up at Henry.

"Now–Now that's just mean," Henry said, looking hurt. Of course this cub wouldn't fully understand what had happened, that the band had been swayed by the prospect of more money and fame, which had ultimately been a lie, which had lead to more fights, which had lead to them coming back to Henry, and finally to the grand breakup. "Know what, kids? Tour's over. Forget going to the cabins. Why don't you just go back to your families!" Henry turned on his heel and marched back into his office.

"Now you're being mean," Beary murmured, ears flattening as he stood there alone with Jewel. "I don't have a family."

"Oh, Beary," Jewel murmured, wrapping her arms around him, giving him a hug. "It's all right. He's just upset, that's all. Come on. Let's go sit by the lake. I see an apple tree over there. Maybe we can have some more apples. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. We can go play our guitars, too!" She smiled when his ears lifted a bit and he gave a nod.

.~*~.

Al had been in his adjoined home that he shared with Henry when he had heard Henry shout angrily before appearing in the doorway a few moments later.

"What happened?" he questioned.

"Dumb kids! Stupid idea! 'Get the band back together'. Bah," the Taylor growled as he threw his hat on the table.

"You could do that," Al stated.

"Ah, look. Even if we found them, a-a-a concert…!" Henry was pacing back and forth, pulling off his golden necktie and throwing it in the chair. "You need tickets and promotions and everything! I don't know… We haven't done that in years! No one comes to play here anymore. Too out of the way."

"I could do that."

"Oh, Al… Look. Let's face it. In a week from now, some teenager's gonna be teaching us how to operate a deep fryer. I'll never pay off the hospital bills." Henry looked down, his shoulders hung in defeat. He had given up on everything a long time ago. He turned and looked at Al with a sad expression.

"We could do that," Al answered.

Henry just looked at him incredulously. "Have you listened to a thing I've said?" he questioned.

"Huh?"

"Just what are you thinking about?"

The elder gray bear didn't answer for a long moment. He looked out the window towards the pond, where he saw one of the cubs climbing the apple tree and taking some apples. He sighed before speaking. "What do you see when you look at 'im?" he asked, glancing back at his brother-in-law.

Henry avoided Al's piercing blue-gray eyes, shifting his own hazel ones towards the floor. With a soft sigh, he answered. "I see a runaway cub that has no business being here. He should just go home where he belongs and take his ideas with him before… before he gets hurt." He glanced at the older bear, who was frowning at him with a hint of anger in his eyes. "Why? What do you see?"

"I see a cub with amazin' for'tude and who also is quite d'mure." Al glanced back out the window at the young cub and smiled softly. "In other words, I see Helen," he articulated. He glanced at Henry again, watching his response.

The pepper furred bear stiffened at the mention of his comatose wife. His eyes closed and his breathing hitched. When he spoke again a few minutes later, his voice was of forced calmness. "Don't even go there, Al. You know as well as I that-"

"Your son may not have died, Henry!" Al angrily stated, stomping his foot on the floor. "Helen may be in a coma and unreachable, but not your son! You know that! They never found his body!"

"And you know that I can't admit… I…" He sighed. "It's too late to do anything about it now, anyway. It's been too long… he's got a new family and friends. If I spoke up, it would just cause trouble for him. Plus, how would I take care of him? We can barely feed ourselves right now."

The gray bear walked towards him and placed a gray paw on his shoulder. "It's never too late to reconnect with a child," he said slowly, his speech slurring slightly. "But if you never try, you'll never know."

"But what if that's not even him?" Henry whispered, glancing out the window at the cubs. He knew what he said was a lie.

Al laughed. "If you can't see that that's him, then you are blind, my friend."

This got a small smile out of the pepper furred before he frowned again. "But-"

"If my cousin-y adoptive sister could see you now, Henry Dixon Taylor, she would be very disappointed. What are you gonna tell her when she wakes up and finds out that you wouldn't even take back your own cub? She'd clock you."

Henry looked down, sadness clouding his eyes. He knew what the older bear said was true.

"You know there is only one way, Hen. Do you really want this 'portunity to pass you by?" Al removed his paw from the younger bear's shoulder and walked back to his room. "Think about it."

Henry sighed and nodded, disappearing into the Hall through another door, heading up to the third-story platform, where he opened the swinging rafter doors. He leaned against the doorframe, looking out through the tree branches at the world, deep in thought. Big Al was right. He shouldn't let this opportunity pass him by. Had Helen led their son home to him? Or had it merely been coincidence?

He turned back to the Hall, going back down to the main balcony, and looking out at the stage. In his mind's eye, he could see the band up with their instruments, playing to a roaring crowd. He could hear them singing Where Nobody Knows My Name, a popular song and one of their hit singles.

Sadly, the crowds faded, and the band vanished, yet Henry could still hear singing. A male and female duet. He followed the sounds of the music down the stairs, out through the main doors, and out on the front lawn by the lake under the apple tree.

Sitting on a log, facing the lake, with about ten apple cores lying around them were Beary and Jewel, singing with their hearts the very song Henry had been thinking about. Their voices were clearer and crisper than any other young bear's voice he'd heard. In fact, he hadn't heard such a young voice with that talent since Zeb!

Already, his mind was flowing into that of a talent scout, and he had found his quarry: Two talented bear cubs who could very well make it as big, if not bigger, than The Country Bears themselves! Henry had to let out a soft snort as he realized that these two cubs were actually the second generation of the band. Well, one of them was. The other was his lost son.

Beary and Jewel, seemingly unaware of his presence, strummed the last few chords on their guitars and sighed, looking out at the gentle water of the pond.

"Do you really think he's mad at us?" Jewel asked, not moving her eyes from the water.

"Yeah, I do. He basically told us to get out. I… I guess I have enough money to get a bus ticket to, oh, I don't know Memphis, maybe. I hadn't realized how much tickets cost when we left. Maybe I can start looking for one of the band members there. Maybe Ted! He grew up in Memphis, remember? Maybe he's there!" Beary smiled weakly.

Jewel rested her head on his shoulder. "Hey, you're not going without me. If I can get ahold of Mama, she can help us find the others, too!"

Beary nodded. "Yeah, that'll be great. I remember Trixie, but just barely. I always seemed to be out of town when she came to visit you. It's been years."

"Yeah. Mama liked you. She always asks how you're doing."

"Heh, that's nice." Beary sighed again. "Well, let's load up on apples and go catch that bus."

Jewel nodded and straightened.

Henry frowned, having listened to their conversation. Had he really upset them that much? And yet, they still wanted to try to get the band back together? He hadn't meant to upset them, just dash their unrealistic dreams of the band getting back together. Yet, maybe they were right. After all, it had been ten years. Maybe it was time to track down the boys.

He cleared his throat, amused to see that he had startled both cubs, who looked back at him in confusion. "Listen, I'm sorry about my, uh, outburst earlier. It's been an emotional day for me. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"It's okay," Beary responded with a smile. "I forgive you."

"Same here," Jewel echoed, also smiling.

"You two play and sing very well. What are your hopes for the future?"

The cubs glanced at each other and grinned before turning back to him. "We want to be singers!" they both responded.

Henry grinned. "Maybe someday you will be." He clapped his paws together. "Now then, if we're going to get the band back together, we're going to need some transportation!"

Beary and Jewel shared another look, trying to figure out what he meant. Realization dawned on them, and they let out excited shouts.