Hi everyone. I once again have some 'splaining to do. It has been years since I have updated this story. The chipmunks Fandom has slowly been going through it's disintegration. Most of the people who once supported this story have probably logged off for the last time already and will never read the ending. This gives me an unrelenting feeling of being a let down.

For whoever out there happens to read this, you are a lucky individual, because you happened to be on this site at a time where this chapter actually exists. Please do me a favor and let me know what you think in a review.

Once again, I apologize for my very long absence.

When we last saw our five heroes, Brittany was going into labor…

Chapter 25: No Time for Caution

Eleanor's POV

Back to the infirmary I went. And I was more nervous than I had been at any other point in that room. Trailing only a bit behind me was Brittany, being tenderly guided along by Theodore and a very anxious Alvin. As soon as Brit floated into view, clutching her stomach and moaning from cramping pains as she went, I began giving orders. "Alvin, Theo, help her onto the bed and strap her in!"

Alvin paused from biting his nails and gave me a look that said he had just snapped back into reality, before taking a glance up at the massive human-sized infirmary bed that I had just referred to.

"Now!" I impatiently barked. "No time to lose."

Without wasting another second, him and Theodore sprung into action. Alvin put one hand on Brittany's shoulder and another around her back, pressed his feet into the floor of the infirmary and pushed upwards towards the top of the bed. The two of them zipped in that direction followed closely by Theodore, which gave me a chance to continue looking for everything I needed.

"Oh, I almost forgot," I muttered before turning my head back towards the other three. "Do not tighten that strap around her belly bulge! Do you hear me? It has to go around her chest!"

"So you're telling me I shouldn't suffocate my own baby?" Alvin yelled back down at me.

Ignoring him, I frantically flung open nearly every cabinet in the room, grabbing the occasional package of gauze, box of latex gloves, scissors, and tossing them lightly towards the top of the table where they gracefully floated towards. "Theo, catch!" I called up.

Theodore peeped over the side of the bed just in time to glimpse the medical supplies hurling towards him. His eyes widened but he was able to snag each one as they almost passed him.

What I was missing now was the pain meds. The ones I had given to Theodore for his stitches. "Theo," I called, "where's the the morphine? Where did I put it?"

"Uhh," Theodore's confused response came, "I don't remember."

I sighed as Brittany continued to groan in agony. I checked one last cabinet, took a quick look around the infirmary. Nothing. "Well, there's no time for this," I said to myself.

It was time to deliver this baby.

Brittany's POV

It felt like my stomach was going to implode on itself as I laid on my back, strapped to this bed covered with protective paper. Cramps originated in my lower abdomen and spread through my whole body. All I could let out of my lips was a low but constant whimper of pain.

"What the fu-" Jeanette suddenly appeared behind the infirmary door with a confused look on her face. "Oh god, is this really happening now?"

"Jean get over here," Eleanor ordered.

The chipette with glasses obeyed and floated up to Alvin's side.

I continued to take quick, panicky breaths through my discomfort while all Alvin could do was hold my hand. A single tear rolled down my cheek as I looked into his eyes, which were filled with almost as much fear as mine. "I don't think I can do this," I winced. "I can't. I just can't."

Alvin was at a loss for words.

Eleanor pulled herself up above the bed and floated over to my legs. "OK, ok. Let me see here."

I spread my legs, allowing her to use her flash light to peek up my vaginal canal.

"You're definitely dilated," she said to me. "I'm sorry but I don't have any pain meds for you."

I started crying for real now. "I can't do this," I whimpered.

"You don't have much choice at this point, Brit," Eleanor retorted as she rubbed sanitizer into her hands. "I need you to work with me here, and stay positive. Your baby needs you."

I sighed. "Ok."

Theodore's POV

I was never good around blood, but something about Brit's delivery gave me the adrenaline to stay ready to help. I had barely any idea what "contraction" or "dilation" actually meant, but at some point amidst speaking calmly to the oldest Chipette, Eleanor abruptly announced "it's time".

Eleanor stared up the makeshift skirt that I had made for Brittany out of paper towels, with a flashlight bigger than her clutched between her right shoulder and the side of her head. She coached her through pushes while Alvin held her hand through her winces and screams of pain. Alvin looked more nervous than he had seemed inside the red mountain.

Brittany remained strapped into her human-sized infirmary bed. The rest of the four of us clutched onto something to not float away.

"Come on, Brit," Eleanor encouraged her sister, "It can't be too many more."

"I… can't," Brittany gasped, clearly exhausted, with tears welling up in her eyes and floating around her face, "I-I-I need… more time."

"You've got no choice," Ellie pleaded. "I promise it wont't be much longer."

Brittany sighed and shoved the back of her head into her mattress. She gritted her teeth as she stared in frustration at the ceiling.

"Brit, I promise," Eleanor assured her.

Begrudgingly, Brittany restarted her pushes while Alvin watched her in obvious discomfort. I could tell her wanted to do something to help. He would literally do anything to help. But he was arrested by a feeling of perennial uselessness. He new very little about the birthing process, and he seemed to know even less about comforting women who are going through the birthing process.

"Just breathe, baby," he murmured to her. "Take it sl-"

"Shut up, Alvin!" Brittany snapped at him. "Shut the fuck…up! You- you did this to me!"

"Alvin, you're not helping," Eleanore chastised him.

Not that I would have done any better. I felt bad for him.

I could only see the top of Eleanore's head, to include her eyes, as she stared so intensely at Brittany's crotch. Suddenly, her eyes widened as the sound of a faint ripping sound could be heard by us all. This was immediately followed by a desperate scream of pain from Brittany.

"Oh God," Eleanore muttered.

"What was that?" Brit exclaimed.

"It wasn't really anything," Ellie assured her with a look of panic in her eyes.

This did nothing to calm Brittany down, and the thin string of blood that rose into her view from under her skirt followed by a steady number of drops did not help.

"What was it?" She demanded through hyperventilations.

"It was just a tiny little tear, that's all. I can fix it easy once we're done here."

The chipette strapped to the bed clinched her teeth and increased her rate of breathing. Seemingly unwillingly, she began to push again. Eleanore's eyes widened again.

"Oh my God, Brit! I can see the top of it's head! Keep going!"

Brittany took a deep breath and pushed again.

"Keep pushing! It's coming out!"

Suddenly, the pitiful wail of a newborn chipmunk filled our ears. We all gasped. Alvin trembled, having just heard his child cry for the first time.

"The head's all the way out now!" Ellie encouraged her sister. "Almost there!"

Brittany began another push.

"Keep going!" Eleanor then peaked her head up and looked at Alvin. "Mr. Dad, do you want to come over here and help me?"

Alvin looked at her nervously and seemed to ponder her offer. Finally, he pulled himself over Brittany's paper towel skirt. He looked over Eleanore's shoulder to get a glimpse of the baby. What he saw made him grimace, but he was unable to take his eyes away.

"One more push Brit," Eleanore said.

Brittany took a deep breath before she obliged. Jeanette and I watched in anticipation. Alvin and Eleanore both stuck their hands into the makeshift skirt. The newborn continued to cry.

Suddenly, we heard it slide out entirely.

Alvin's POV

I started to cry tears of joy as Eleanore took a giant pair of scissors and cut the umbilical cord. Brittany groaned and let the back of her head hit the bed as she wanted from exhaustion, looking like she was about to pass out. This was by far the happiest moment of my life.

Ellie began discarding the placenta while I was uncontrollably laughing, all the meanwhile my tears dribbled out of my eyes only to float aimlessly around the infirmary. Theodore and Jeanette hugged each other tightly from relief. I floated over next to my love, who looked overjoyed to see me carrying our new child to her.

She stretched out her arms at us, silently asking me to pass it to her.

"It's a boy," I chuckled.

She laughed as she also began to cry tears of joy. I gently handed the baby to her, as he was now calmly curled up with his eyes closed in blissful ignorance. "Great," she joked with me, "just what I need is another you around."

She stared at him in her arms with nothing but pure and genuine love.

"What should we call him?" She asked me.

I thought for a moment. "I honestly don't know. Do you have any ideas?"

She sighed, also obviously suffering from the fact that she had had little time to ponder this moment recently. "Russell," she finally said.

"Russell?" I said, asking both her and myself. She nodded at me. I thought deeply about this name while I stared at him. I was in awe of how much love I felt for this little chipmunk, despite the fact that he has only been alive about a single minute. I couldn't explain why, but it was wonderful.

Finally, I nodded along with Brittany in agreement as the other three members of our family watched us with giddy expressions on their faces.

"Russell."

There are two things that you can reasonably say about my profile on this site:

Firstly, my long history here has been fraught with inconsistency. I've had stretches of months or even years of both dedicated writing and of absence. Out of every single multi-chapter story I have ever posted, I have completed exactly one. For this reason, I feel as though my presence on this site has been more a let down than a lift up to the people who dedicated so much time to reading my work.

Secondly, and not to toot my own horn, but when I do post my work on here, I truly believe that it is dawned good. Not perfect, of course. I'm not Stephen King, nor comparable to any other great novelist. But I do believe I have contributed some top tier entertainment for AATC fans, when I actually decide to stick around.

But I did not get good at this without the help of feedback. So please, whether you have a positive, negative, or mixed opinion about this chapter or even this entire story, please take the time right now to let me know in a review or a PM.

For what it's worth, this chapter exists now thanks to people messaging me asking me to come back. And I plan on updating again soon.

Until next time…