Chapter Seven

Night time came over the park once again as everyone got ready to go to sleep after another long and exciting day. Noah was playing with Buddy and some of the younger animals as he showed them his new toy that Rose gave him before they parted ways. Outside of the mill, Surly and Andie were having a private conversation with each other. Surly was rubbing around some of the spots that he lost his fur when he got stuck in the glue trap.

"You know what hurts more then losing bits of your fur," Surly said in a grumpy voice.

"No, what?" Andie asked curiously.

"You're pride being ripped out of you." Surly answered as he sat down with a huff.

Andie let out a giggle before placing a hand of Surly's shoulder.

"Oh come on Surly, you're fur will grow back in to no time." Andie reassured with a smile.

"Yeah I know," Surly grumbled before he let out a sigh and looked up at the night sky with a serious look on his face.

Andie noticed this and became concerned "Surly... what's wrong?"

Surly didn't answer for a moment at he continued to look up at the sky for a while, but he soon let out a sigh before he turned his head to look at Andie.

"Taking care of Noah is a lot harder then we thought." Surly said as he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees "We take our eyes off him for one second and he wanders off to mingle with humans, thus breaking one of our rules to never go near strangers that we aren't sure would hurt him or not."

"It was just one little mistake Surly," Andie reasoned "Besides you can't blame him for wanting to find something to eat, while also having a little fun with kids his own age."

"I know but..." Surly let out another sigh before looking down at the tiles of the roof "I get the feeling that one day... Noah will want to go back to his own kind."

"What do you mean?" Andie asked with a worried look on her face.

"Andie... Noah maybe happy being with us now, but someday he might want to live with his own human kind again," Surly said as he looked at Andie with a serious look upon his face "I mean, who are we kidding? We may be able to teach him some of the things we know but he's still human."

"What are you trying to say Surly?" Andie asked fearfully.

Surly hesitated for a second as he through over the words he was going to say before finally speaking.

"What i'm saying is, that when the time comes for him to want to be around humans more then us animals, then we have to help him find the right humans for him to trust." Surly answered gently "I'm not saying right now or tomorrow, but when Noah's ready in his own time."

Andie frowned as she thought over what Surly had said and she quietly agreed. Noah may enjoy living with them now, but what would happen when he wants to seek the company of humans one day? The thought of Noah wanted to be with his own kind made Andie's heart ache a little but she would support Noah on whatever decision he makes. Surly noticed how sad Andie looked before he wrapped his arm around the female squirrel and brought her to his side and let her lean against him as he comforted Andie. Andie blushed under her fur for a moment before leaning a little more into Surly. Surly leaned the side of his head against Andie's as he comforted her while slowly remembering how he once had a crush on her when they first met as kids and he could honestly say that he still had a crush on her. Surly then began to think about Noah's future and prayed that Noah wouldn't leave him and the other animals too soon for they had all grown attached to the kid.

Meanwhile the cardinal flew for quite a while before it arrived to its destination, which was a dark alleyway, before it landed on an outstretched arm that came out of the shadows. The cardinal began to chirp as it told the being hidden in the shadows about what it had found out today. The being in the shadow listened instantly before it spoke.

"So... Surly has grown quite attached to that human boy, hmm?" asked the being before a smirk appeared on his face before he stepped out into the light to reveal his identity, Surly's old foe and former park leader turned villainous rouge Raccoon "His attachment to that boy will be his undoing."