"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Hearing RJ of everyone asking that pretty much answered that question, Heather thought, as she followed the gang and Norbert through the woods. She had to admit, she, like RJ and Tiger, were cautious about this new group. She knew that owls had the ability to be dangerous, and while Norbert didn't seem like the brightest bulb, that still didn't change the fact he was an owl. Her mind however wasn't on Norbert or this new group for the most part however.

No, instead, it was on RJ.

Heather had officially come to terms that she was pretty much head over tail for the raccoon ever since last year when RJ first arrived. She wouldn't exactly call it what humans say "love at first sight" however, since she was more curious upon his first arrival. There was however, one day that cemented her crush on him.

It was the third day that RJ was with them, and Heather just happened to mention to Ozzie that she was getting older. She wasn't sure how old, but she just knew she was. Ozzie had once more been getting overprotective, which in retrospect, she should've seen coming due to the sudden change in environment, and Heather, as much as she loved her dad, she needed her space and that she wasn't going to be his little girl any longer.

She had very little concept of birthdays before meeting RJ, and once she was handed a pair of headphones and a CD player, she had no idea what this meant. RJ explained that this was a birthday present, to celebrate an early birthday, and yet, she still didn't get it. Mostly because…well, animals.

According to RJ, birthdays were something humans celebrated once a year, and it was to celebrate them getting closer and closer to their deaths. Morbid, Heather thought, and she made a mental note not to tell Ozzie was a birthday was. Regardless, that birthday gift, and her grooving out to some jams along with the raccoon made her realize something.

RJ was really cool…and she really liked cool.

Despite her crush on him however, that didn't stop her from being reasonable. She stayed back from heisting whenever she could so she could spend time with RJ, and it wasn't just because she liked him. She couldn't even imagine what his life was like before meeting them, and she still considered RJ a friend overall.

"Oh, don't you worry, my friends are absolutely delightful, let me tell you!" Norbert replied, which prompted Heather to slow her pace to avoid yet another Norbert ramble. As she did so, she found herself next to Stella, who had taken the headphones that RJ had given her a year ago and was using them to drown out the owl. She had to admit it was weird seeing Stella without Tiger by her side considering how close they were, but Tiger elected to stay back for two reasons.

The first reason was that if there were more groups, then what would stop a more unscrupulous and opportunistic group from coming by taking their stuff. Since they lived pretty close to a neighborhood, they were pretty much guaranteed to get some really good stuff. Stuff that other groups had no access to. Tiger would be the guardian of the log, since not only was he the biggest of the Hedgies, but he was a cat.

The second reason was because if he heard Norbert ramble one more time, he would silence him like how a cat usually does to intruders.

"So, what do you think of this idea?" Heather asked Stella, who ignored her, seemingly happy in her headphone heaven. While she could relate, she was up for some conversation, especially since everyone else was relatively close to Norbert, including RJ. "Stella?" She asked once more, pulling the headphones a bit to get her attention.

"Heather, I'm tryna tune out the wall of blather over there." Stella replied in a rather annoyed tone. "What is it?"

"Sorry Stella, I just wanted to know if you thought this plan would work." Heather spoke. Immediately, Stella's previously annoyed tone evaporated, and she let out a sigh. "I honestly don't know Heather." Stella replied. "At this point however, I'm willing to do anything to help RJ."

It was at this point however that the two realized just how far back they were. They were currently all the way at the back of the pack, which left them with stuff to talk about that was personal. Everyone else was busy at the front, and Norbert's rambling would likely drown out whatever they wanted to talk about.

Of course, there was one thing Heather wanted to talk about.

"I'm wondering when I should tell him." Heather spoke, prompting Stella to give her a quizzical look.

"I'm talking about RJ-"

"Yeah, I know you're talking about him, but do you really think now is the best time?" Stella asked.

"I'm not planning on telling him now!" Heather nearly shouted, prompting Stella to cover her mouth and Ozzie and RJ, who was the closest to them, to look back in curiosity. Of course, the two who cannot know this secret the most would be the ones who overheard this, although based on their reaction it was Heather shouting that drew their attention.

"We were just talking about getting rid of that old stuffed animal that Heather's been sleeping with." Stella quickly replied. "The moths might be getting into it."

That prompted Heather to give Stella a borderline mortified look. "Stella, I-" Heather stammered out, only for Ozzie to speak up. "I'm actually okay with that." He spoke. "Having a stuffed animal to sleep with is a bit strange."

"What makes it strange?" Heather asked. "It's just a stuffed animal, and it's not like I'm sleeping with one that's supposed to look like us."

"Sleeping with a raccoon stuffed animal gives off some vibes however." Stella replied. Quickly, she realized what she had just said, and stepped in front of a shocked Heather to shield her from Ozzie's gaze. Ozzie may be eccentric, but he was not stupid by any stretch of the imagination.

Thankfully Ozzie's attention was quickly drawn back to Verne asking him something, which allowed for Stella to step out from in front of Heather. Judging by her posture of holding her snout, it was clear she was embarrassed. Stella felt bad of course, but she did make a promise to Heather, and it was a promise she was going to keep.

Even if it meant throwing her stuffed animal under the bus.

"Sorry." Stella quietly mumbled to Heather. Heather on the other hand didn't say a word, instead focusing on moving along with the group. The skunk let out a sigh that was not of annoyance, but rather one of sheer exasperation. While yes, crushes were messy, that didn't mean she didn't want Heather and RJ to work out. She was fully behind the idea of the two together, and after that late night conversation with Verne, she thought about who could theoretically be on her side when it came to the two.

Tiger logically seemed like a shoe-in, if for one of two reasons; either he understood Heather's plight of liking someone who was of a different species, or he just simply didn't care. Stella was mostly leaning towards the latter, considering his often laidback and aloof demeanor. Lou and Penny seemed possible, mainly because they were legitimately nice and were more than willing to overlook RJ's problems for the sake of Heather. Hammy and the kids could also be in the same boat, but it was only because they didn't really understand the implications, or at least, that's what Stella thought.

Then came the potential outliers in RJ, Ozzie, and the aforementioned Verne. While she knew that Verne was aware of Heather's crush, the fact he didn't seem to either confirm or deny he was okay with this put him in a sort of gray territory. Of course, the fact that Verne also agreed not to tell anyone did put Stella at ease, if only a little bit. Maybe he was okay, Stella couldn't really tell.

As for RJ and Ozzie, they were off limits. RJ was out for obvious reasons, that of course being the crush and her having no idea what his mindset was when it came to these kinds of things. When it came to Ozzie on the other hand, Stella was all but certain his overprotectiveness would drive a huge wedge in that crush.

All in all, only two outliers, which was actually better than what Stella expected. Sure, she wished the outliers could've at least not involved the raccoon, but alas, things don't work out that way.

She had been thinking about who would be okay with this so much that she failed to realize that the gang had stopped moving, and it took Heather tugging on her tail a bit to get her attention. Usually Stella would be snippy, but one, she didn't want to snap in front of Norbert and screw over the gang, and two, she didn't want to snap at Heather. That would just set a bad example of her, and she knew she was more than a skunk with a temper.

"Everyone, these are my friends!" The owl crowed.

Craning her head a bit to see past the gang, she took note of movement coming from in front. Four shapes made their appearance, with one of them being noticeably smaller than the other. As for the other three shapes, they seemed to be relatively around their size. Stella wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing though, although she pushed that thought out her mind as she overheard Verne talking to the shapes.

"Verne, nice to meet you." The turtle spoke.

"Eddie, this is my mate, Diana." A voice spoke up. Stella could barely manage to get a peak at them, and quickly realized by the massive ears that they were cottontail rabbits. Surprisingly they hadn't come across any of them earlier, she thought, although she was more surprised at the fact they were "mates" and yet there wasn't a sea of kids around them.

Stella did her own research on her freetime after the debacle with the Sandusky's, and she had to admit, she was happy she wasn't dating a rabbit.

On the other hand, it put her off having kids for at least...a while.

"So, you're the leader of this group?" Diana asked, moving closer.

"Sort of." Verne replied. "I'm the second in command of sorts…and one of the smart ones."

Way to be humble Verne.

"That's amazing!" Eddie replied. "You mean like smart in logical sense, or smart in-"

"Hey, motor mouth, why not give someone else a turn." Another voice spoke up, this one sounding rather bored and unamused. This one sounded like a real charmer.

"Sorry Jasper." Eddie spoke.

"Besides, who's to say he's the smart one at all just by looking at him?" The voice croaked out once more. Yup, truly a charmer up there with the likes of Tiger and RJ.

"Jasper, enough." A new voice spoke out, this one feminine, which caught Stella's attention. The only girl she knew of in this group so far was Diana rabbit, and now there was a second one? Interesting, Stella thought.

"Sorry about him, Jasper's always been kind of a jerk." The voice spoke, and Stella craned her neck to try and get a good look at the figure this voice was coming from. Unfortunately for her, before she could see her, Lou moved in front of her.

Oh how she wished she could take one of his quills and prick him with it.

"I'm Luby by the way." The voice spoke, and from what Stella could tell from last time, it was likely she was talking to Verne.

"Nice to meet you too…" Verne responded. The strange thing however was the way he trailed off. That was odd, Verne always was excited to meet others, but here he sounded almost reluctant and or even surprised at this mystery critter. As Stella wondered about the mystery of this voice, she did her best to continue listening in.

"Second in command, right?" Luby asked. "Who's the leader of your little gang?"

"He's in the back, let me grab him." Verne replied.

Upon hearing that, Stella looked to her side to see she was standing next to the raccoon, who seemed to be trying to put on a confident smirk. However, she knew from the look in his eyes and the fact they were bouncing around that RJ was nervous as heck. While this would prompt Stella to think that maybe this wasn't a good idea, she knew this had to be done.

"RJ, up here." Verne spoke as he reached through the crowd and gently pulled RJ through. He didn't go ahead, instead staying back and gesturing towards Stella.

"We may have a problem." Verne spoke.

"What's going on?" Stella asked. "Are they bad or something?"

"No...but it has more to do with that little…thing." Verne spoke.

"You do realize this story would be rated M under any other context."

Verne would shake his head in exasperation, and motioned to Heather, who was trying to get a good look at the new group by climbing on Penny's back.

While usually Stella would stifle a laugh at how terrible the idea of climbing on a porcupine's back was, the skunk didn't get what Verne meant by a problem with Heather. She felt like she should, she should be connecting the dots together, but she wasn't for some inexplicable reason. That was unless he was talking about her crush on RJ?

"...hi." Luby spoke.

"...hi." RJ replied in a tone that Stella was shocked to hear coming from RJ. It wasn't that RJ no longer sounded weary and worn out, and now he sounded like he just saw the biggest can of Spuddies in the world.

No, it was the fact he was clearly speaking in that tone to someone else.

"You might want to front."

Stella, clearly now curious on just what the heck was going on, did what Verne asked, unaware that now Heather had now turned her attention to what was going on and was following her. She nudged her way past Hammy and Ozzie, only to finally see just who exactly this Luby fellow was.

It was another raccoon.

We're back again and about time too, now introducing a few new characters into the mix.

We have Eddie and Diana Rabbit who have so far managed not to have a boat load of kids, we have Jasper the Frog who's clearly not the biggest fan of people, and finally we have Luby, the leader of the group and clearly RJ's current love interest...and Heather isn't going to be happy.

I'm really hoping to finish this in under a month, because I want to get more than twelve stories out this year.

Also, to answer Chicky's question, at the moment Heather is 17 and about a few days away from 18, while RJ is around 20-21. However, the Heather and RJ stuff is more one-sided at the moment, and it will be for a good while just to avoid implications. Trust me, I am not going down that route.

Anyways, see you soon!