Part 127

Back at the beach, Hobbes sat on a blanket, keeping his eyes scanning the water while the children played and swam.

A few of the piglets chose to build a sandcastle with Miss. Crawly. Caspar played swim tag with Sarah in the shallows until he saw their rowboat. "Wanna go out on the boat, Sarah? I wanna show you something."

"Sure," she said. "Mommy and me used to ride the swan boats at the park." She and Caspar ran to the wooden boat, unnoticed by their penguin minder as one of the babies started crying at that precise moment.

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Throughout the morning, Jerry took Gerhardt to as many tourist spots he could think of. Until it was close to noon and they were on top of the observation tower, overlooking the entire city.

"Wow! This view is amazing!" The hog exclaimed.

Jerry nodded. "It's one of my favorite spots. I like to come here just to think sometimes."

Curiously, Gerhardt leaned against the thick glass. "And what sort of things do you think about, hübsches Kätzchen?"

The cat tilted his head at the nickname. "Well, just things… like… Nana… and… and Mr. Crystal. Wondering what to really do with my life. I mean, I promised Nana that I'd look out for Eddie and stay with the troupe. I know she was just worried about me. Because of what I told you about." He leaned back against the glass as the hog did.

Gerhardt nodded. "What was this Mr. Crystal like?" he asked.

"Well, he was very sure of himself. The man radiated confidence, power and strength," he pulled out his phone and opened up his photo app. "His fur was so long, such a brilliant white and his eyes, a pair of blue diamonds glistening in the sunlight. But… what I thought was confidence and strength was really just arrogance, vanity, and a lot of insecurity. He needed people to believe that he was the most powerful man, the best at everything. And when I think about him and the kind of man he was, I think about the man I want to be." He looked into the pig's green eyes. "I don't want to be so afraid of what people think of me that I have to resort to… murder… I want to be secure in who I am. As a man, as a tomcat. I want to live honestly, according to my own principles."

Gerhardt smiled at him. "That's a very admirable goal. To thine ownself be true. You are very wise. My brother must be grateful for your wisdom." He reached out to pet Jerry's head. He found himself blushing despite himself. "You know, it's too bad he's attached to this Eddie. You'd be perfect for him."

The feline put a hand on his hip. "I thought you said you would withhold judgment."

"I am but I can still recognize that you and my brother would be a good couple," he teased.

Jerry laughed, choosing not to tell him about the other aspects of their relationship. "No, no, as much as I care about your brother, Eddie is the only one who is absolutely right for him." He felt himself start shivering a little as Gerhardt started playing with his tail. He particularly enjoyed it when the boys played with his tail. Gunter always did it in private. He pulled away. "Hey, let's go to the art museum." He said quickly. He did not want to be attracted to this guy. He couldn't be. This guy had hurt someone he cared about and he had so few boundaries. He definitely wasn't someone Jerry wanted to be with.

But he couldn't deny how the hog made him feel. He listened to him, took a real interest in him at breakfast. He'd asked about his stories about growing up with his grandmother and how he'd ended up working for Crystal. When talking about Nana made him sad, the boar squeezed his hand. Despite all of his flaws, he was a nice guy. But then his flaws were pretty big and Jerry wasn't sure that he wasn't as toxic as Crystal had been. He needed to be careful. He had to protect himself. He looked up at the sky. Clouds were starting to come in. "Yeah, the art museum seems to be the best option. I think we're going to get some rain. We can take the cable cars." He led the way to the elevator.

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The two adventuring piglets rowed themselves out.

"Caspar, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Sarah asked as she looked around. "We're getting pretty far from shore."

He nodded. "It's fine. I'm 11 now and I can protect us. We won't go too far. It's just over this way." He navigated the boat around the bay until a cave came into view. "Eddie showed it to me. He said he and Mr. Moon used to play there when they were kids." He rowed until they came up to the shore just inside the cave. He jumped out and led her up the bank and into the depths of the cave, forgetting to tie the boat to the post sticking up out of the sand.

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Porsha held her tablet in her hand as she went around the three bedroom apartment. "Now, big brother, is there anything you don't want us doing to the apartment?" She asked while Glenn walked around the open-concept living room and kitchen.

Johnny thought about the answer. "Hey, anything you do can be undone later if needed. Your comfort is the most important thing. Or Glenn's comfort is, in this case." He chuckled.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, go nuts. Just stick to the boundaries of the apartment and the balcony and you're good."

"You should totally make the living room into a game room!" Neo said emphatically. Everyone laughed.

Glenn shook his head. "I do have an XBox if I can get the guts to go home and get it but I'll need the room mostly for my computer and my keyboard. But when I get my Xbox, you're welcome to come up and play it occasionally. As long as your dads say it's okay."

Porsha smiled. "So, I'm seeing your favorite shade of green in the living room. We'll remove this carpet and replace it with hardwood. Oak herringbone… Don't worry, I'm paying for everything." She promised. "But we'll get a nice fluffy area rug for the middle of the floor. Oh! We'll use the rug from my house in Redshore City. It's the perfect size and the color will go perfectly. We'll pick it up when we go for the show. Oh, this is going to be so much fun." She can began typing and swiping and dragging on the tablet.

Glenn watched her in her flurry of creativity, chuckling. He wanted to protest but she was having so much fun.

He soon became someone watching him intently. He turned to look into Johnny's brown eyes. "I hope you're alright. Porsha told me what happened and I'm sorry for your loss."

Johnny nodded. "Thank you. Same to you. I know it's not easy. But… I want to ask… where are you seeing yourself… in say five years?"

The dog thought about it. "Well, I'll be going to college for music theory and creative writing. I've got a full ride. And I'll be working with the theater."

"And…" he continued. "How do you imagine my sister will fit in?"

"Well, I really like her. I love her and I see a future with her," the other male said. "I have no intention of taking it further yet. I can't make any kind of decisions while I'm in such a vulnerable situation. I owe Porsha better than a future built on shifting sands. Especially when I bring so little to the equation by comparison."

"You mean…" Johnny pressed.

"I mean, she already has a massively successful company. She'll never have to worry about money," Glenn explained. "And I want to at least be able to give her stability. I want to give her the comfort of knowing that I can take care of her and a family."

The gorilla nodded, processing his explanation. "Do you love her?"

"I do… I knew that when she was gone and I missed her so much. But now things have changed. For both of us. For Airlia and me," Glenn sighed. "Airlia is going to need me to make her my highest priority. She's nine." He looked at Noelle in her father's arms. "Thank you both, for adopting. There are so many kids without families to love them."

Johnny smiled and lifted Noelle into a better position. "We were ready to be dads. What about you? You're only 18. You're practically still a kid yourself."

He nodded, his expression steely. "I know. I know I'm not ready but that means I have to get ready. Because she can't lose me. I can't let her lose me." He turned his eyes back to Porsha. "But I know Porsha isn't ready to be a parent."

"Probably not but… that should be up to her. As long as you intend to be good to her, I'm okay with this. And if you need anything, we're in apartment 3B. Warning, you and your sister might want to stay with my dad a while longer. We are still working on this baby thing."

Glenn laughed. "You seem to be doing fine." He reached out a hand to tickle her chin. "Sounds like it'll be awhile before we move in anyway. Porshie's planning almost a full reno." He said teasingly.

Johnny nodded. "We were thinking of doing a full reno. An apartment at a time. Get things updated. This is a good start. And maybe we've found our designer." He said loudly enough to break Porsha out of her zone with a chuckle.

The gray wolf smiled. "Really? You want me to design the renovations?"

Ryan laughed. "You can start with Glenn's and we'll see how you do, little sis."

Porsha bounced. "Whoo! This'll be so much fun!"

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Into the cavern, Caspar led Sarah until they came to a small fireplace. On the wall, Sarah could see etchings, rudimentary drawings someone must have made with any of the rocks at their trotters. There were two tunnels going to the right and to the left. But in the middle, on the back wall was a collection of flat rocks arranged into a small stage.

"Eddie told me that he and Mr. Moon would play here… When they were kids. Mr. Moon would pretend this was his theater and Eddie was the audience," he relayed what Eddie had told him. "Eddie said I could have it. Now it's my theater and someday, I'm going to run the real theater and I'm going to put on the shows. And you can be my star." He promised.

She giggled. "If I ever feel like singing again. We should get back. The grownups will be wondering where we are."

He nodded and they ran back to the shore. His face fell as he realized he couldn't see the boat. "Oh no…" He and his friend looked out at the sea in horror at their boat floating away.

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Eventually, Frederick's tears subsided, and he calmed himself. "You've been very kind to hear me out and give me food and clothes. I suppose I should go. I'm still supposed to keep my distance."

Norman shook his head. "That was only while you were a threat to Eddie. Should I still be worried about that?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry for all of that. I will never harm Eddie again. I'm sorry I let my greed overcome my good sense," the ram looked down. "Thank you for being the father he needed. I know I've been a terrible father. That's not how I pictured myself the first time I held him. But Adelaide… felt threatened by Eddie. All of the attention that was hers while she was pregnant went to Eddie or so she perceived. Anytime anyone paid more attention to him than to her, she grew so jealous. But I was blind to it because I loved her. Everyone warned me about her. They told me she didn't love me. She only had dollar signs in her eyes."

The father pig studied him intently. He knew Rosita wanted to let him stay in the guest room but first, he owed it to Eddie to be sure. He looked up and out the window, frowning. The clear, blue skies had quickly turned to gray and the gently, swaying trees were starting to move more frantically.

He went outside. Hobbes and Crawly was already starting to gather the children. "I'm here to help. Whom don't we have yet?"

He shook his head. "Only Caspar and Sarah are unaccounted for, sir, but I don't see them anywhere."

Norman's face drained of color and he looked around, shouting. "Caspar! Sarah!" He ran down to the water's edge. "Caspar! Sarah! If you can hear me, please come out of hiding! This isn't funny!" With horror, he noticed something was missing.

AN: Caspar and Sarah are in a bit of a pickle. How will they get out of this one?