Here we are. Flora's race back home! Will she be able to get through the obstacles and without Diego seeing her? We shall find out!
"No, no, no, no, no!" cried Flora in distress.
"What's the matter?" asked Sam concerned.
"I was suppose to be home by now! I stayed past curfew! My parents are gonna kill me!"
"Flora, calm down. It's okay. I know a short cut."
"You do?"
"Yeah just follow me."
Flora and Sam ran as fast as they could, trying to beat time. They did run into some misfortunes. While crawling through the bushes, Flora caught sight of one person who she hoped did not see her.
"Get down, get down!" she hissed to Sam.
"What? Your Dad's here?" asked Sam.
"No my uncle. If he sees us, he's definitely gonna tell on us!"
Sam obeyed Flora and they both ducked down, low enough not to get spotted by Manny. Once they were sure that they were hidden, they tip-toed out. Unfortunately, Flora missed a step while walking, and as a consequence, rolled down a hill, falling on a pile of leaves.
…
Manny swore he heard some rustling over near the bushes. He knew that Diego heard it too, but the tiger completely ignored it.
"Diego, I know that I wasn't the only one who heard the rustling. You can't say that you're not gonna check it out."
"Manny, it was probably just the wind messing with the leaves. You're being way paranoid." said Diego, not interested in talking about it with Manny.
Manny sighed. He knew he heard something. He started getting a feeling that it had something to do with Flora.
…
"Flora, you okay?" asked Sam.
"I'm fine." replied Flora with a little bit of a wail. Sam saw some brown stuff on her.
"What did you fall in?"
"You don't want to know!"
Sam shuttered in disgust knowing what Flora meant.
"On the bright side, if you look up ahead, you're almost home." Sam made the unfortunate situation sound positive. Flora looked up the hill, seeing that she was almost home.
"You're right. Thanks for the help Sam. I'll see you tomorrow!" Flora bid her friend farewell.
"I'll remember!" replied Sam.
As Flora towards, she had one thing on her mind. A quick trip to the stream to wash the muck off of her.
Again, Flora wasn't looking on what she just stepped on. As her paw rolled the acorn, a crazy, squirrel-like creature ran up and clung onto her head.
"Ahh!" screamed Flora. "Get it off, get it off!" her pleas were answered when she saw a paw swatting the squirrel off her face. Flora saw that it was Cash, who didn't look happy.
"Where were you?!" he sternly asked. "You realize that you're back way later than you're supposed to be, you lucked out with the fact that Dad is not here to notice this, and what the heck did you step in?!" Cash's eyes popped and his nose scrunched at the scent.
"I'm sorry! I meant to stay just a few minutes longer at Sam's place to watch the sunset, then the stars came out, so we started talking about the pictures they formed, and it just made me forget everything! When I noticed, Sam told me he knows a short cut, so we took it and I rolled down a hill, fell into something that pretty much answers that last question you asked me, which is best that I didn't tell you and got jumped on by some weird, squirrel-rat thing, so the least you could do is berate me gently and show me some empathy!" Flora half explained and half begged, nervous at the tone her brother used. "I'm just taking a small trip to the stream to wash the you-know-what off me so when you see Dad or Mom or anyone else from the herd, please stall them for a while!"
"Ohh Flora, you're in SO much trouble!" Crash snickered as he and Eddie popped out from the bushes.
"Yeah! We're telling your Dad!" grinned Eddie evilly.
"No!" cried Flora. "You wouldn't!"
Crash and Eddie let out a malicious chuckle that said, "Oh we would".
Just as Crash and Eddie were about to run off, Cash grabbed them by the tails and hung them upside down.
"Listen you idiots," he growled dangerously. Flora went through a rough way into coming back here undetected, and you don't need to make it anymore harder for her by being tattletales, so I suggest that you do what I tell you to if you don't want to be roadkill!"
Crash and Eddie nodded with fear, nervous at their nephew's threat.
"Good. Now go stall my Dad until Flora cleans herself off."
The possum did as they were told.
"Don't you think that you were way too mean and disrespectful to them?" asked Flora. She appreciated her brother's sticking up for her, but she thought he went too far.
"Drastic times call for drastic measures," replied Cash. "Now come on."
…
"Hey Diego! Diego!" the possums called. They had to keep Diego from coming home. He was immune to their spitballs by now, so they had to think of something else to get him to chase them.
"What?" Diego swung his head towards Crash and Eddie.
"Shira's got a big butt!" mocked Eddie.
"Yeah! It's as big as the whole world!" added in Crash
Diego growled at the possums' insult of his wife and chased after them once they ran off.
"YOU IDIOTS TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!" he growled.
Cash and Eddie ran away in fear as fast as they could. This better be worth it. They told themselves.
…
"Flora!" Bobby ran up to her. "What took you so long to get home?"
"Starry night, rushing, accidents, you know the rest." answered Flora, not wanting to go into detail.
"Listen, Mom, Ellie and Peaches are home talking, so you're gonna have to be really sneaky when coming back."
"Thanks for letting me know."
Bobby took a whiff of Flora and cringed his face. "No offense Flora, but you really smell like cr-"
"I get it, don't finish it!" snapped Flora as she dived into the stream to clean herself up. After a few seconds, she swam out, shook her fur dry, and rolled in flowers as a bonus.
"Good." nodded Cash. "And I just noticed that we're all still out when we're not supposed to, so... BACK TO THE CAVE!"
The three of them ran with all their might back to where they're supposed to be, all looking out for stuff that would be a dead giveaway.
"Almost there." pointed out Flora.
…
After Diego finally calmed down from his chase, he walked back home with Manny and Sid. He was still having the debate with Manny about Flora.
"I'm not pointing my trunk at her Diego, I'm just saying I suspect that something is up with her." said Manny
"Manny, I know my daughter inside and out, and I know that she would never do anything bad." said Diego.
"What if Flora is seeing that kid that you chased away a few days ago?"
"I specifically told her not to see him until I say so, and Flora would never defy me."
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Shira.
"Shira, our kids would never do anything they're not supposed to and keep it from us, would they?" asked Diego to get Manny to shut up.
"Of course not!"
"Ha! See?"
Manny rolled his eyes. He knew that he was annoying Diego with his opinion, but he had one more question about Flora.
"Yeah. Shira, have you even seen Flora come in?" Manny arched his eyebrow.
Shira gulped. She actually didn't as a matter of fact.
"Manny will you stop that?" Diego asked getting impatient. "Can't you see you're pressuring Shira?"
"I am not trying to pressure her!" protested Manny. "I'm just asking her a question."
"I agree Manny, you're going way to far with that now." agreed Ellie with Diego.
"Just show me Flora sleeping like a baby in the cave and I'll shut up." said Manny.
"Okay. Let's go." said Diego as the rest of the herd followed them.
…
"Flora?" Diego poked his head into the cave and whispered quietly. Everyone else did the same, and they all saw the same thing.
Flora was curled up, muttering in her sleep as Cash and Bobby were doing the same thing.
"Sleeping like a baby." grinned Diego to Manny. The mammoth saw the "I told you so" gleam in the tiger's eyes.
"Well, I'm sorry Diego." apologized Manny, walking off, feeling awkward.
"Don't sweat it Manfred." said Diego.
"Okay everybody, let's go." Ellie motioned everybody else to follow. Everyone but Shira, who stayed outside the cave, looking at Flora.
She decided that tomorrow, she and her daughter are gonna have a little talk.
Phew! Flora is home-free! But is Manny getting suspicious? And what does Shira want to talk to Flora about? Find out soon next weekend. Until then my fellow FanFic-ers.
And to Flora X Sam XD: I am so honored that you named your screen name after my OC's. And I am glad you love my FanFics. I'm glad you all do! :D Thank you!
