Author's Note: Congratulations to the Chipmunks who just won their third award for Favourite Movie at The Kids Choice Awards!

What It Means To Be In Love

Saturday dawned with hope in the air as the Seville's slept comfortably. Even Brittany snoozed thanks to the painkillers that made her extremely drowsy. She wasn't supposed to be home just yet, but thanks to the paparazzi storming the animal clinic and disturbing other animals, Dolores was more than obligated to drive her home safely. Jeanette and Eleanor were relieved to have her home and had appointed themselves her nurses. Perhaps that made Alvin her doctor in that sense.

Seeing as this was an incredibly large house, everybody had their own room. Alvin's was painted red and yellow (no duh!) and was covered with posters of his favourite rock bands, along with a whole wall covered with musical instruments. Simon's room was like a second laboratory apart from his study area, which contained a desk and everything you would need to study Science. Jeanette's was very much the same, except hers looked more like a library. Theodore's was a typical teenager's room, coloured green and had many sheets pinned to his wall of recipes. Eleanor's best feature of her room was the tiny drum kit made just for her.

Alone in the kitchen, Dave sipped his chipmunk sized cup of coffee and stood on top of the newspaper observing the front page. Splashed across the top was the heading, Brittany Miller Hospitalized in High school Attack. He rolled his eyes as he read the false report; not a bit of it was true. Stupid reporters. Not even checking to see if their facts are straight. Dave was now glad he chose to pursue a career in song writing rather than journalism.

Speaking of song writing, Dave hadn't finished the song he wrote for the Ball yet. With that thought in mind, Dave chugged the rest of his coffee, abandoned the paper and jumped off the table, heading out of the kitchen and down a lengthy hallway to the music room and Dave's favourite part of his massive house.

Shoving the door open, Dave wandered in and smiled at the sight in front of him. 50 different types of instruments lined the walls, whether traditional, rare or a little bit weird: a trumpet, bugle, flute, piccolo, trombone, bassoon, saxophone, electric guitar, bass guitar, double bass, violin, cello, clarinet, French horn, drum kit and keyboard. You know, just to name a few. Sunlight shone through the tall pane windows and illuminated the black pearl pain on Dave's piano and the red pearl paint on Alvin's.

Dave sat in front of Alvin's piano, where the manuscript of his new song was still sitting. He took a breath and began to play, imagining in his mind, and the voices of his kids singing.

Walkin' down this dusty old track.

Too early to look forward,

But too late to turn back.

Don't worry about every little thing.

I know it's all crazy,

When you feel Love's sting.

"DAVE! Where are you?"

Dave's fingers slipped and he hit a few dud notes in the piano, swirling his head around to see Toby bursting through the door, "Dave, I need to go home. Julie wasn't expecting me to stay overnight and apparently she's pissed that I never called!"

Dave smirked. "Toby, Toby, Toby, you'd reckon that you might've learned from past mistakes," he teased lightly, "You've never learned from your old cousin have you?"

"Learned what?" Toby teased back, "How to lose a woman in 30 seconds? How to non-discreetly embarrass myself in front of the female persuasion?

"Oh, shut up. What do you know?"

Toby chuckled heartily, walking over to the mini piano and plucking Dave off the seat."That's an awful amount of attitude coming from such a little ball of fluff like you," Toby said as if talking to a 5 year old. The evil and bemused look on the chipmunk's face said it all. Toby laughed it off and put Dave back on the ground.

"The second I'm human again, I'm going to pound you into the ground," Dave growled, only supplementing Toby's laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you are. Ooh, I'm so scared. Help, somebody save me from the evil chipmunk! Save me, sav-OW!" Toby yelped, jumping in shock and clutching his right hand. He snapped his head in Dave's direction, who was now standing at Toby's feet, the evil look still present, "What the hell? Did you just bite me?"

Sure enough, teeth marks were present across Toby's middle and index fingers.

"You were asking for it!" Dave yelled in defence,"Didn't the snapping turtle incident teach you anything?"

Suddenly, the door opened again and in came Simon and Theodore still in their pyjamas and yawning. Simon didn't look impressed at the wake up call. "What's going on in here?" he asked warily, rubbing his ocean blue eyes.

"I bit Toby," said Dave shortly, ignoring Toby's glare.

Simon snorted and tried not to laugh at the innocent look on Dave's face. He remembered when Dave ended up with several bite marks on his rear end because he nearly sat on Alvin late one night. It was a bit awkward to explain to the concert producers why Dave had to stay standing for the majority of the meeting the next day.

"Why though?"Asked Theodore, who was also trying not to laugh.

"Cause he deserved it," replied Dave as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Toby started to back towards the door, still fuming at his cousin, "I did not! That's it, I'm outta here!" He stormed out of the room. The moment he was out of sight, the three chipmunks burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, Jeanette, Eleanor and Alvin were in Brittany's room. The walls were hot pink and plastered with many signed posters of her fellow pop stars, such as Lady Gaga and Adele. There was even a photo of a charity concert the Chipettes did with The Black Eyed Peas. Brittany herself was lying comfortably in her bed, propped up with various pillows while she ate her breakfast.

Her sisters and her crush had made the toaster waffles just the way she liked it. Alvin and Eleanor sat either side of her while Jeanette sat at her feet. There was silence for a while until Alvin spoke up, "So, Britt, apparently Dr. Ruben called last night."

Brittany raised an eye ridge and looked at him in interest. Alvin blushed under her gaze. "Really? What did she say? Was it about Marni?" she asked. Brittany had been hankering to know what sort of action had been taken against her ex-best friend. "Conniving Bitch," thought Brittany savagely.

Alvin caught the evil look on his counterparts face and smiled, "I'm quite pleased to say it was. Not only has Marni been expelled, but she has been banned from any school in the LA district for as long as you live here. Ryan and Xander only have one last chance before they get chucked out too. They've been subjected to interschool suspension for the rest of the year! How awesome is that?"

The Chipettes grinned at one another. Jeanette and Eleanor already knew all this, but seeing Brittany grin made them join in. Finally the school would be an almost no-bully zone. Alvin was already hoping one of the friendlier students would plan a party to celebrate. Finally, the chipmunks could wander down the hallways with no chance of someone calling them a rat and ruining their day. This was too good to be true.

"That's great news!" Eleanor chirped. Brittany took a deep breath, ignoring the painful twinge of her ribcage and leaned back into her pillow. Her plate was empty now the she'd finished her breakfast. She was still very tired thanks to the pills, but she needn't worry about having trouble sleeping. Alvin had barely left her side and was always there when she wanted something to snuggle into. She had been hoping that he would stay in her room overnight, but with Dave's increasingly watchful eye, he had to sleep in his own room.

Brittany was confused about where she and Alvin's friendship stood. After waking up next to him in the hospital, it was quite clear that he was really fond of his counterpart. Not to mention the way he had held her before the ambulance arrived. When Brittany first got home yesterday afternoon, Alvin had held her paw in his. All of this couldn't have been because of friendship. There had to be something more...

They spent the next few minutes discussing what was going to happen now that Brittany couldn't perform at the ball. She was still upset about it. She had had a feeling that Alvin was going to ask her to be his date. They couldn't do that now. It kind of broke her heart.

"This really sucks," mumbled Eleanor, "I hate it when one of us gets left out. It just doesn't seem fair."

Jeanette wrapped an arm around her little sister's shoulder comfortingly and said, "We know how you feel Ellie." She then turned to Brittany, "We could stay home if you want us to. It wouldn't be the same if you weren't running around like a maniac, trying to get everything perfect."

Alvin snickered. Brittany subconsciously run her paw over her messy hair, which everybody was grateful she couldn't see. She gave a heavy sigh and said, "No, I wouldn't dream of depriving my own sisters of their first dances. I'd feel a lot better knowing that you two are having the time of your lives."

The other two Chipettes smiled and gently embraced their injured sister. "Aw, Britt, you're so sweet!" sighed Jeanette gratefully. While she would have given the night up for her sister, she would've been devastated to miss the chance of slow dancing with her Mate. Simon had been teaching her how to waltz between homework sessions and...well...other kinds of sessions...

Anyway, while the girls were having their little sister moment, Alvin watched on with a grin plastered on his face. He liked the fact that they were just as close as he was to his brothers. He was even happier when he realised that he could get some alone time with his crush for the first time since they had both been in detention for starting a flapjack fight in the school cafeteria. Totally worth it! Dave had been furious with the both of them.

Speaking of Dave, he poked his head around the door curiously. Four heads turned in his direction. "Brittany, have you finished your breakfast?" he asked politely with a hint of concern.

Brittany nodded, "Yes, I have. It was delicious."

"We'll take your plate to the kitchen," said Eleanor. She and Jeanette stood up, picking up the plate as she went. They both jumped off the bed and followed Dave out of the room. Alvin and Brittany watched them go before turning to each other.

"So," started Brittany, stifling a yawn, "What are you getting up to today?"

Alvin smiled happily and sat in his knees, "I'm already doing it."

"What? Staying here with me, bored out of your brain?" Brittany joked, "There's got to be something better than that."

"What's better than hanging out with your best friend?" Alvin asked. Brittany frowned. 'Best friend' a word that had betrayed her to the point that she ended up in hospital. Alvin noticed her grimace and gently took her paw in his. She looked into his eyes, noticing just how gold they really were. It's often said that a person's eyes are the windows into their heart and soul: they must be gold too.

"What's wrong Brittany?" Alvin asked caringly.

Brittany sighed again. "I still can't believe Marni did this to me. Why, how?" she whispered. She could feel a lump form in her throat. Alvin still looked concerned.

"I don't know why," Alvin whispered back, beginning to stroke her cheek again. Being as close to Brittany as he was, Alvin knew when she was trying not to cry. He could see the concentration on her face. He knew she wanted to be strong, but it's not healthy to bottle up emotions like that. It could easily turn nasty.

"We were such good friends," Brittany continued quietly, "We've been shopping together, training, and sharing gossip...She seemed so nice, even if she was friends with Duffy. This has to be Ryan's doing, it has to!" A tear dripped and the dam burst all at once. Alvin pulled her to his chest as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Again, anger bubbled inside Alvin like a boiling pot of water. He'd get his revenge on Ryan eventually. Hurting his baby brother was bad enough, but hurting his beloved Chipette was just too much to take. Alvin couldn't take it anymore. There was no room left for excuses. He had to let her know how he felt. Once he did, if she accepted his affection, he could finally protect her like he should've started doing a long time ago.

As gently as he could, he pulled himself away from the pink pyjama-clad Chipette and gazed into her eyes once more. He laid her properly back into the pillows while she gave him a questioning look through all the tears. He brushed her auburn fringe out of her eyes, causing a shiver to go down her spine.

"Brittany, I know you feel so alone right now," He started. Brittany gave another heaving sob, "But I assure you that you aren't and will never be again."

Brittany's breath caught as she gasped. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? "What are you trying to say?" she wheezed, just in case she was wrong.

"I'm saying that I love you." There. He said it. Out loud. Just like that. It felt good, "I love you more than anything and there's nothing I want more than to be by your side. You're the sun that brightens my whole day and the stars I love to gaze at night. You're everything to me."

Shock waved over Brittany like a tsunami. So he did love her? This was too good to be true. She immediately felt her breathing lighten up. The tears stopped falling and what she hoped was a relieved smile graced her gorgeous features. "Do you really?" she asked timidly.

Alvin nodded, knowing that an insult on his part was about to be set up, "Would I make a speech like that if I was joking?"

And here comes the punch line. "Well, with you I never know til I see proof," Brittany teased lightly.

Told you.

Proof; Alvin decided to give her just that. Ears flicked back, he nervously leaned in closer to her, wondering if she might reject him at the last moment. This was one of the examples about how chipmunk courtship was different to humans. Going from friends to lovers was more common than two people who hardly know each other going on a blind date or something. The first step was for the male to make the first move and let the female have control of the decision.

Luckily for Alvin, Brittany had no intentions whatsoever to reject his affection. In fact, she had already closed her eyes. She felt joy bubbling in her heart. Alvin's honey flavoured scent could be smelt as they bumped noses. He was probably trying to figure out where to start. Brittany was expecting a kiss on the lips, like on all those romantic movies she'd seen. But what actually happened surprised her.

Alvin moved his muzzle off hers, nerves still running a million miles an hour. He leaned in again, deciding what he should do: very gently and gradually, he grazed against her neck and up to her soft cheek. Brittany gave a squeal of excitement and immediately returned the movement. Their paws found each other as they nuzzled lovingly for the first time. Mid-nuzzle, Alvin planted a kiss on the sore bump on her head before continuing.

This felt so right, they thought simultaneously. It was like a part of them had just been filled up that they didn't even realise was missing. No wonder Simon and Jeanette looked deliriously happy every time they were together, which was all the time. They agreed that they were both idiots for letting this take it's time. Brittany had never been happier. Alvin actually had something worthwhile to brag about for a change.

Unknown to the new couple, there were a few spectators to this event. Their brothers and sisters had crept in during Alvin's love confession and now watched in awe at the new love being discovered. Jeanette and Eleanor were positively beaming. Simon wore a smug look while Theodore just wore a knowing smile. It's about bloody time! With a silent agreement formed between them, they all snuck back out.

Gradually, the two eldest chipmunks pulled apart. All nervousness had disappeared and all tears now dry and forgotten. Brittany cupped Alvin's cheek and kissed it. They couldn't stop smiling!

"Alvin."

"Yeah?"

"I love you too. Ya big softie!"

A/N: Do you have any idea how hard it is to write about affection between two characters when it's not kissing?