Hey everyone, back again. Before starting, a big thanks to those who have read and reviewed. You guys are awesome~

Never thought one of the first things I'd publish on this site would be a chapter focusing on Margaret and Eileen, two characters I know barely fudge all about when it comes to writing. But one caffeine fueled night later, this is the result. In my current state there is a high possibility that I've gone completely off the rails with their characterizations, but haven't you always wanted to read an inaccurate portrayal of two side characters from a children's cartoon by some random person on the internet? Welp, here it is anyway, hope you enjoy! =)

-GonkhNation

CHAPTER ONE

(Five Days Earlier)

"What's with the face? You didn't forget me already did you?" the red robin flashed a thousand watt grin at Eileen, who, upon checking her front entrance expecting a Jehovah's Witness or something, did an amusing double take and immediately flung the doors wide open.

"Margaret? What are you doing here!?"

After getting over the initial shock of seeing someone she thought was still interstate turn up randomly at her doorstep, the ecstatic mole's smile was practically glowing. The long time friends shrieked like six-year olds, throwing their arms up and embracing fondly at the entrance of the latter's humble abode. Due to the height difference, Eileen found herself literally being lifted off her feet for a few seconds as her slightly overzealous friend proceeded to unintentionally suffocate her with her wings.

"Man, I've missed you girl!" the robin declares, holding out the frazzled mole so she could get a good look at her.

"When did you get back? You should have called, I would have picked you up." Eileen gushed despite herself. After being settled safely back to the ground, she eagerly ushered her friend through.

"Well it was a late flight and I know how hectic it gets back at the shop. Besides, my dad wanted to do it." Margaret brushed it off. She took off her jacket, which was specked with raindrops and left it on the coat hanger of her old residence. The rooms still had that new package smell, probably from the various materials Eileen's purchased for her latest creative endeavors. The now-college-student guessed that with the recent downpours the artistic mole mustn't have had a chance to air the place out. "Anyway, it's only a one week stay, nothing to be fussed over."

"Still, you should have sent a message. If I had known you were coming I would have at least had something out to eat. Oh, mind the fabric rolls here will you, I didn't get a chance to stack them yet." Eileen expertly hopped over the gigantic rolls of cloth that donned the walkway like some obscure obstacle course.

"But then I'd miss the look on your face when I surprised you." the robin poked childishly at her friend's arm while stepping over the forewarned items, "Besides, you don't need to do something like that. I get one short holiday to hang out with my best friend, I just want it to be like old times."

"Old times? You were only gone for one semester and already you're talking like a nostalgic old bag." Eileen quipped good-naturedly. She walked them to the lounge area before it hit her that now would be a great time to make some drinks.

"Hang on, I'll be right back." she added, moving with the practiced efficiency of a waitress at rush hour.

Margaret was in no hurry to stop her. Let Eileen do her thing, she just wanted to enjoy the familiar space while she could. Back when they were roommates this lounge was the be all and end all of their shared down time together. She still had memories of them watching twelve-hour Game of Thrones marathons, sitting side by side while bathed in the light of the television set. Good times.

"It's weird isn't it." she thought out loud as Eileen opened cupboards and jingled utensils in the kitchen, "Things haven't really changed much around here but it still feels like it's been an age."

"I guess I can understand." The small mammal returns, a tray of two steaming cups in hand. One coffee with skimmed milk, hold the sugar, the way she remembered the robin liked it. "It's a whole different world here compared to on campus. You gotta keep up with time schedules, all those big old buildings, being on your toes all the time. Must be hectic stuff."

"Yeah, it is. But I always knew that going in." Margaret signed, "I dunno, maybe I was just a little homesick for this place."

"You? The same girl I backpacked with for three whole months at Yellowstone and still didn't want to see the end of it? Who are you and what have you done with Margaret?" Eileen handed the robin her drink, expecting a quirky comeback or at least for her friend to laugh it off with her. Instead her old roommate simply took on a slightly melancholy aura as she stared silently into the swirling froth of her beverage. The mole's expression softened.

"Hey, you know there's always gonna be a place for you here right? . . . Margaret?"

"Pfft, I'm just messing with you!" the avian's impish smile sprang back as she nudged her friend playfully. It spoke volumes of Eileen's waitresssing skills that she didn't spill her own drink right there and then, "Geez Eileen, sometimes you can be too nice for your own good."

"Hmph, well aren't you the comedian." the mole turns up her head in mocked anger.

"Come on," she continues encouragingly as she nestled down with her cup beside the robin, "I wanna hear all about what you've been up to. New college, new place, new people, you must have a lot going on."

From there, after some further prompting the college student began detailing the highlights of the past few months of her life. What her new dorm looks like, the people she shared it with, what an average day on campus entailed. It was all the mole could do to take everything in, but she did it with the same level of patience and natural inquisitiveness she always had, cutting in here and there to give her own input once in a while. And Margaret enjoyed every moment of it. It felt nice to be able to talk like this with an old friend like this again. The two women chatted well into the night as the outside deluge continues unnoticed.

XOXOXOX

"And there we were, surrounded on all sides." Eileen paused, drawing air sharply through her nostrils for dramatic effect. "I was barely able to fend off a few of them, but those Tants Co soldiers were relentless!"

"So what happened?" Margaret urged, wide-eyed and hanging on every word, "Did you manage to save your Tants?"

"No, they got burned in the end." The mole visibly deflated, "But get this, right at the last moment, Pops of all people shows up out of nowhere and they actually managed to convince the CEO of Tants Co to give us two legit pairs free of charge!"

"Seriously? Even after what happened?" Margaret took a big swig of her cup.

"Yeah, it must have been that whole moving speech Mordecai gave about why we made the Tants in the first place. If that guy wasn't already a groundskeeper he could probably take up a career in public speaking."

All it took was a name. Like a flipped switch the robin's expression instantly dropped from being fully invested in the Tants story to something much more solemn.

"Oh, Mordecai was there too?"

"Yeah, didn't I mention that?" Wait, didn't she mention that? Eileen did a quick mental replay of the story in her head. It's not like she purposefully omitted that little detail from her recount. But for a long while after Margaret moved interstate, Mordecai had become somewhat of a taboo subject when it came to their phone conversations. Bringing him up just brought about too many long sighs and awkward pauses for either of them's liking. Maybe she just did it unconsciously. Eileen had no problems with Mordecai, she still considered him a good friend, just probably not the best person to bring up with Margaret after that particular night.

"You don't have to do that you know."

"Hmm?" Eileen blinks, wow, she really zoned out for a bit there didn't she? She found her friend meeting her eyes with an expression that was uncharacteristically serious.

"About Mordecai." Margaret clarifies, "I know you're keeping him out of our conversations because of what happened, but you don't have to do that. I don't want my friend feeling like she has to walk on eggshells around me because of a choice I made." she smiled wryly.

It was the same smile Eileen remembered seeing that slate grey morning all those months ago, right before her friend disappeared behind the boarding gates. She'd spent the previous night holed up with her in this very apartment as the devastated robin tearfully recounted her last meeting with a certain blue jay. Eileen recalled sitting by her friend as she spent a good chunk of the evening crying her eyes out while proclaiming what a horrible person she was. They must have set the world record for the number of tissue boxes gone through in one sitting that night.

Well, the elephant was already in the room, might as well address it.

"So," she asked, gingerly bringing the coco to her lips, "are you going to talk to him?"

"What!? No!"

Margaret's knee-jerk reaction was so sudden that it caused a large proportion of the beverage to go down Eileen's windpipe, which the bespeckled woman automatically dispelled in a coughing fit.

"Margaret!"

The robin falls back on the couch in exasperation, "I know, I know! It's petty and I'm running away from my problems. But I just don't think I can face him right now. I mean, what would I even say? Hey Mordecai, sorry about treading all over your feelings and rejecting you to your face like that. Well, going back to college now, see you never!" she finished in a mockery of her own voice.

Eileen raised her brows at this. She's hadn't known Margaret to have such an overbearing guilt complex before. Then again, Margaret was never there to gain something akin to closer after the whole Amadeus incident. While the former had gone off to college interstate, she still saw Mordecai almost weekly as a customer in the coffee shop. Sure, the breakup hit the poor guy hard, but days passed into weeks and he had eventually moved on from that. And from their phone conversations, Eileen's always assumed Margaret must have too. She forms a thoughtful frown,

"Well, maybe you guys need more time. Still, are you sure you want something like this hanging over you for who knows how long? I mean your family lives like, two streets away from the park. What if you run into him or something?"

"Then I'll just have to be extra vigilant. It's only one week, so as long as no one tells him I'm here this should blow over in no time." the robin crosses her wings stubbornly.

She was met with silence.

"Eileen," Margaret snaps around to her friend, "You are not going to tell him I'm here."

It was a statement, not a request.

"I never said I would." Eileen purposely looks away, twiddling her thumbs.

"I'm serious!" Margaret couldn't help the hint of panic that was rising in her voice, "I told you, I'm not ready. You gotta promise me that if you meet him at work or anywhere, you won't tell him about this."

Well, that settles it, she really wasn't over the breakup. "Okay, okay!" Eileen puts up her hands in a placating gesture, "What happened between you two is your business and you gotta move at your own pace, I get it. I won't tell him if you don't want me to. You know I wouldn't do something like that."

Confirming the truth of this in her friend's eyes, Margaret settles back into her seat, "Yeah I know, sorry, I just get so worked up over stuff like this. Ugh, I hate it!" She throws up her wings as though to strangle some invisible object before letting them fall to her side.

Eileen offers a sympathetic smile as she lays a hand on her friend's shoulders. Some fun and fresh air was what they needed, she decides with a mental nod. Yep, the coffee shop waitress decided at that moment that she would make it her week's goal to cheer her friend up and get her mind off whatever was troubling her.

"Hey, try not to get so down. You're on break remember? Tell you what, it's my day off tomorrow, so why don't we go to Cheezers and catch a movie or something? My treat."

The robin seems to muse over this idea for a minute. It was all for show of course, inside she was jumping at the idea of just letting loose and hanging out with her best friend.

"Sure, let's do it."

There, exposition done! Guh, that was harder to get out than I thought. Thanks for reading guys~