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 Fourteen – Life is a Highway
Beary let out a pained yelp when someone suddenly jumped on him. He sniffed the air and came to the conclusion that it was Jewel that was on top of him. He opened his eyes, growled, and covered his head with a pillow. "Go 'way!"
"Nope! Time to get up, Beary!" she laughed, jumping on top of him again. "Up, up, up, up!"
"Nuuuuuuu! You can't make me!"
"I'll kiss you again, mister!" Knowing he didn't believe her, she lifted up the pillow and kissed him full on the lips. It wasn't a romantic kiss, just a playful one that she knew would get him riled up.
Beary let out a startled screech and scrambled backwards in shock, falling off the bed, hitting his head on the wall, and getting stuck between the bedframe and the bathroom wall, his arms and legs at awkward angles.
Jewel, meanwhile, fell over on the bed laughing. Her laughter, of course, was joined by the rest of the adults, who had been gathered in the room for breakfast.
Trixie grinned and shook her head. "You get your mischievousness from me, that's for sure, o daughter of mine." She went over and scooped her daughter off the bed and hugged her. "You're a little stinker, Jewel. Why couldn't you have been more like your father? You're going to give that poor boy a complex!" Trixie nuzzled her golden daughter and carried her over to Tennessee, depositing the troublemaker into her boyfriend's arms. "Here. She's your daughter now."
Zeb snorted. "Just don't give her your fashion sense."
Tennessee glared at his old friend, while Trixie smacked Zeb's ear with her paw.
Jewel laughed and snuggled with her father, but still felt a bit awkward about the whole thing. Her father was a crybaby and very sensitive. Even more than Beary. 'But he's my sensitive crybaby father,' she told herself and smiled brightly, kissing his cheek. 'I finally have a Dad. A real Dad. Not an uncle-dad.'
Trixie smiled and went over to Beary, helping him out of his trap. "Ya know, kiddo, when a girl kisses you, it's probably bad to react like that."
"Yeah, especially when you're sleeping with her!" Zeb called out.
"ZEB!" the others yelled, while Jewel looked confused.
Beary blushed and tried to stammer out a reply, but just fumbled over his words. He glanced over at the others, thoroughly embarrassed.
Henry shook his head. "All right, guys. Finish your meals. Roadie's gone to get gassed up, and when he gets back, we need to get going."
Fred glanced at him. "Are going to get Ted?"
"Yeah... I'm just not sure where to look for him. I'll give him a call."
Trixie shook her head. "Definitely not. You do that, and he'll be on guard," she warned. "I know where he is. Exactly where he is and when he'll be there." Noticing that everyone was staring at her, she elaborated. "Unlike the rest of you, Ted and I had no issues between each other. We got along and still do. In fact, Jewel's met him a few times."
Jewel nodded. "Not within the last couple years, though," she pointed out.
"Very true."
"Last time I saw him was when Helen and I named him the godfather for our youngest," Henry went on. "He held up to that for a year or two, and then went AWOL."
Trixie nodded. "That was when his stupid Countrisco failed."
"That was him?!" Zeb exclaimed, shocked. "That was the worst thing I'd ever heard!"
"Indeed," the golden bear responded. "Henry, he's the godfather of your cub, too?"
Tennessee blinked. "Too? You don't mean..."
Trixie laughed. "Yes, Ted is Jewel's godfather, too."
Zeb pouted. "Why didn't you ask me or Fred?"
"For one, Zeb, you're a pervert and a drunk. As for Fred, when Jewel was born, he was unreachable. West coast, wasn't it, Fred?"
Fred nodded somberly. "Married for a few years out there, then she left and took the cubs." He sighed and shook his head. "Don't get to see them often, but I try."
"Wow..." Zeb was surprised, and then shook his head. "Anyway, you said you knew where the jackass is?"
"Swear jar!" Jewel chorused.
"Shut it."
Tennessee glared at him.
"Yes, anyway, Ted and I have been hired to sing at a wedding at a country club in Atlanta. I have the invitation and everything. I was going to drive, but..." She grinned. "We can take the bus, and I can get all of you on the property as my backup band. However, when we get there, you must be on your best behavior. I don't want a bad review, which could jeopardize future gigs. They're paying me a small fortune. I was going to come back after the wedding and take you on a trip before the schoolyear started, Jewel. Ack! That reminds me, I better go call your aunt and let her know I have you!"
"No need. We sorta bumped into Uncle James after we escaped the cops by hiding in the car wash," Jewel piped up. "And after that, we ate some of Fred's brownies, and they were good!"
Trixie, who had been reaching into her handbag for her phone, paused. "Hiding... in the car wash... from the cops?" she repeated slowly. "Fred's brownies?!"
As one, the older male bears backed away, all knowing of Trixie's wrath when she gets mad.
Trixie, however, simply turned and lifted Jewel out of her father's arms and asked her and Beary to go to hers and Tennessee's room to get ready for the day. She made sure they had their backpacks before sending them out the door.
As the door closed behind the confused cubs, they both jumped when they heard Trixie yelling in rage at the other bears.
"What was all that about?" Beary asked Jewel, keeping a good distance between them. He didn't want her kissing him again.
"No idea, but they really made her angry, it would seem," his friend responded. "Why are you walking so far away? Was it because of that kiss? I didn't mean anything by it. I was just playing!"
"I know you were, but it's still... weird. Couples kiss. We're not a couple, so why'd you kiss me?"
"Because I knew it'd get a reaction out of you, you tart." She glanced at him. "I didn't mean to upset you, if I did."
"So we're not dating then?"
"What? No! Gross! That's grown up stuff!" She started laughing again as they reached the room door and opened it, frowning at the odd scent in the room. She noticed ripped up bedsheets and the bed being broken. "What on earth happened in here?"
Beary looked around at the devastation, and then at the claw marks on the wall, along with a smeared lipstick kiss. "I don't know. Yeesh. Looks like they had a rough night." He sniffed the air again. "Last time I smelled this scent, a few months later, Mom, I mean, Mrs. Barrington was pregnant."
"Huh. Maybe it has something to do with the scent! I remember Uncle James and Aunt Tasha's room smelling funny a few times like this, and then I got a cousin, and now she's going to have another baby! Maybe they made a baby!"
"But how?" Beary asked as he wandered into the bathroom to get dressed.
Jewel thought while she waited for him, and shrugged. Once he had finished, she did the same, and upon returning, she packed up her stuff in her bag. "I'll ask Mama about it."
They went back outside in time to see Roadie pulling into the parking lot, and went over to him. "Hi, Roadie!" Jewel called as the human parked the bus and got off.
"Hey, kids. How'd you sleep?"
"Perfectly. Beary's very cuddly," Jewel responded.
"I had a weird dream last night," Beary mentioned. "I don't know why, but I dreamed that Henry said I was his son."
Roadie paused and looked at him oddly. "Is that so?" he asked slowly. "Well, uh... You two get loaded up, okay?" Roadie didn't wait to hear if they had anything to add, and instead left to go find the others.
Beary and Jewel shrugged and boarded the bus. They spent the next thirty minutes, while waiting for payment to be made – apparently there was a problem with Tennessee and Trixie's room – playing their guitars or just talking.
By the time everyone got on board and they pulled out of the parking lot, it was nine in the morning.
After about an hour of traveling, Beary threw open a side window and leaned out of it, feeling the breeze in his fur.
Zeb snorted. "I wouldn't do that too much, kid. Last time I did that, I was drunker than all get out and I fell out of the bus. The guys didn't even realize it because they were too high to, and Henry and Helen were asleep, and Roadie wasn't paying attention, and three hours passed before anyone came looking. Man, we used to parteh!"
Jewel frowned, while her mother shot Zeb a glare. "Party? Fell out of the bus? High?" Jewel looked at Beary in confusion.
Beary shared in her confusion, but didn't care as much at the moment as he pulled himself back inside. "Henry...?"
The older bear looked up from where he had been reading a book in his chair with his reading glasses. "Yes?"
"What was Helen like?"
Henry blinked a few times, eyeing him curiously. "What brought this on?"
"I'm just curious, that's all. Did you have any other cubs?" Beary didn't want to tell him about his weird dream from the night before. What if he laughed at him?
"Yes, actually. Two others. Boy and a girl. Trista is our firstborn, and she has beautiful deep brown fur that reminded me of milk chocolate. Her eyes an emerald green. She's thin and athletic. She loves animals, and it felt like she could speak to them. She's become a vet up in the Yukon with a private practice and works with various animals, including some wild. Currently dating an Andean bear named Kai. They might be engaged by now, I'm not sure.
"Jacob, on the other hand, was a handful growing up. He's daring, also athletic, a great swimmer, and crazy. He thinks jumping out of airplanes is fun! Crazy cub of mine. He's twenty-two now and stationed up in Alaska as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. He makes me proud, as I, too, once served the people. I was in Vietnam." Henry smiled, thinking about his oldest cubs.
"What about your last one? What was his name?" Jewel asked. "The one that went missing."
Henry froze. "I... Well..." He glanced around at the others, but they were staring at him expectantly. Henry frowned and shook his head. "His name was... is... I..."
Beary looked at him hopefully. Maybe he'd say his name! Maybe he'd tell him that his missing son was named Beary! Maybe he'd say that he was his father! Maybe his dream was true!
Jewel glanced at her friend, and then spoke to Henry. "Is it Beary? Is Beary your missing son? Dex told him that he was kidnapped sometime after a crash involving his birth mother, and you told us your wife was in a car crash! It adds up!"
Trixie frowned and took a closer look at Beary. "Of course... Why didn't I see it before? Of course he is. He looks just like Helen's fur pattern, but he has your facial structure."
"He acts like the shy cat you used to be, Henry, when talking in front of crowds!" Zeb remembered.
"He's as inquisitive as Helen," Fred mused.
"And as emotional as me!" Tennessee put in, earning odd looks. "Wait, no. That's not what I meant!" He started bawling.
"Stop being a crybaby!" Jewel scolded her father, who looked at her in surprise and stopped crying, earning a laugh from Trixie and Roadie.
Beary, however, took no part in it and simply looked at Henry with hope in his eyes.
Henry bit his lip and sighed. "Yes... Yes, Beary, I'm fairly certain you're my missing son." He held up his paw before the cub could react. "However, despite how sure I am, we won't know for sure unless a paternity test is done. I didn't want to say anything to you because I didn't want to get your hopes up only to have them crushed by reality. I have bad luck that way... things not going my way. I..." He glanced away. "As much as I want it to be true and believe it to be true, fate has a cruel way of proving me wrong."
Beary's ears slowly flattened as Henry spoke, and he sighed softly, not listening totally. It would be just his luck to be rejected by his birth family. Abandoned. Rejected. Unwanted. "It's okay... I understand, Henry. Sorry for bothering you..." Beary got up and moved to the back of the bus, taking his backpack with him and pulling out a sketchpad and some pencils, and began to draw.
Jewel frowned, but didn't go to him, knowing he needed to be alone.
Henry, however, was surprised by the reaction. Had he said something wrong? His own ears flattened, and he turned to look out a window unhappily.
Zeb frowned, picking up on the unhappiness between the duo, and glanced at the others uncertainly. "Should we do something?" he asked Fred, who shrugged in response. "Fat lot of help you are."
"Did you just call me fat?!" Fred looked at him, shocked.
Zeb's eyes widened. "No! I didn't mean it like that!" It was too late. Fred tackled him.
Trixie calmly pulled Jewel out of the line of fire and moved to the back of the bus as Tennessee somehow got involved in the brawl.
Up at the front, Henry didn't even notice, too preoccupied in his thoughts. In the back, Beary looked up from his sketchbook, only to stare out the back window, his mind clouded by sorrow and sadness and wonder as to why he couldn't have a family.
