This story, due to being set during their twenties, will have a few more adult scenes to it, so be forewarned. Not NC-17 or anything, but come on, a bunch of twenty-somethings definitely won't be stuck in the holding hands stage…just FYI!

Justifying the Means

"Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil."

-Niccolo Machiavelli

"The end justifies the means."

-Niccolo Machiavelli

Chapter11

"Do you think we should let them out now?"

"No."

"But they haven't made any noise for fifteen minutes." Isabelle said, putting her ear up against the door. This was easy, because she was sitting right next to it. Gavin's uncle hadn't been too pleased when they had dragged their table in front of the salon entrance, but couldn't really come up with a good reason for them not to. The private salons were down in a secluded part of the restaurant, and the regular patrons couldn't see them anyways. So after a grumbled, "It just isn't done," he had given up and simply sent them a waiter. Now Belle just listened at the door, an anxious look on her face. "I think Theodore killed her." She finally said.

"Oh, Belle, don't be overdramatic." Gavin said, rolling his eyes. Isabelle narrowed her own eyes at him.

"Overdramatic, now, too? Bloody hell, it's bloomin' amazing you can find anything to like about me at all."

"Don't start that again, Belle!" Gavin nearly groaned. "I can't say I'm sorry any more than I already have! And it's not like you didn't have a few choice things to say about me to Eleanor, either. I seem to remember being compared to a 'new-born kitten without a spine' and - what was it? 'as chicken as your home-made soup?' Not to mention the 'Alvin Seville wannabe who's too much of a baby to stop hiding behind his friends.'" His tone turned angry. "I don't hide behind Alvin, Isabelle. And I don't like you comparing me to him."

Isabelle blushed. She knew she had gone too far with that one. "All right, all right. I'm sorry too. Even?"

Gavin smiled at her, his mild irritation evaporating before her eyes. "Even." He leaned over the table, carefully avoiding the baked salmon he had ordered as he tried to kiss his girlfriend. Isabelle silently thanked the gods that she had such a tolerant boyfriend. After all this time, she saw why her and Alvin together would have been disastrous – they would have killed each other a few months into the relationship. Both of them were too stubborn, too proud to admit when they were wrong…Gavin was not afraid to show he was mortal, and confident enough to let her hide in her need to be dominant even when it frustrated him – which, she knew, it did often.

"Gavin?" She said after they kissed, nuzzling his cheek softly.

"Yes, Belle?"

"I love you."

"You'd better." Gavin winced as she slapped him on the arm. "You know, Belle, I've never kissed you when you didn't have blue hair. It's strange. My eyes open and its like 'hey! Who's this?'"

"I don't look that different-" Isabelle began protesting, and was cut off by a sharp noise inside the salon. It sounded as if someone were almost in pain…"Gavin? Is that Theodore?"

Gavin nodded, his face suddenly worried. "I think he's crying."

Another catch of breath, this one female, caught their attention. "Eleanor." Isabelle said, her frown deepening. "She's crying too…Gavin, we can't leave them in there if its making them so unhappy…"

"Belle..."

There was a near-scream from the room. It was definitely female.

Isabelle and Gavin jumped in unison at Eleanor's yell. "Gavin, we have no right…"

But Gavin was already moving the table. They pulled the table away, both of them standing in front of the door as it was unblocked as if the hordes of hell were waiting on the other side. "Well?" Gavin said after a moment.

"Well what?" Isabelle asked. "Open the bloody door, Gavin!"

He did so without hesitation. Eleanor and Theodore both sat facing the door, their faces tight with emotion, and Isabelle at first almost stumbled over her words trying to apologize. They probably couldn't hear her, because Gavin was doing the same thing.

"I'm sorry, Eleanor, I just-"

"Theodore, you know I was just-"

Eleanor made a shriek again…of …laughter? "Now, Theodore!"

Isabelle screamed herself as a clotted gob of lobster bisque struck her square between the eyes. Beside her, Gavin threw up his arms to ward himself against the pieces of neatly cut up prime rib that were pelting him with unerring accuracy from the tip of Theodore's fork. "Hey!" He screamed, ducking from the beef attack.

"You think you're getting away with this?" Eleanor laughed, and Isabelle realized that what she had taken for crying had been Eleanor beset with a terminal case of the giggles. "I don't think so!"

"I don't even like caramel!" Theodore said, punctuating his words with several pieces of caramel cheesecake flying at them and exploding like sugary-sweet grenades over their bodies. "You guys should know that by now!"

"Theod-oof!" Gavin was rocked back by the remainder of Theodore's prime rib landing squarely on his chest. The meat stuck there for a moment, as Gavin looked down on it in surprise, then slowly oozed down his chest until it slipped off with an audible pop! and fell to the ground.

Isabelle stood firmly, her mouth agape for only a moment before she faced the two food missile-wielding chipmunks with a scolding expression on her face. "Really, children, do you think-"

"Bloody hell, shut up, Isabelle!" Eleanor cried, her hand drawn back for only a moment before letting something large, white, and spattered with a light brown glaze fly at her. Isabelle just stood for a moment, as the remainder of the caramel cheesecake began to drip off her face. She blinked her eyes several times, the lids feeling heavy due to the cream-cheese mascara Eleanor had made her wear, and it took her nearly five seconds to realize what had happened. "What on earth?" she tried to say, but got a mouthful of cheesecake instead. She spat it out on the floor…though it was actually pretty good.

"Lock us up?" Theodore grabbed something off the table behind him. "Trick us into coming here…"

"Belle…." Gavin's voice held a warning, but Isabelle was too busy trying to get the cheesecake off of her eyes to pay attention "Isabelle!"

"Lie to us, make us feel sorry for you…" Eleanor held several shrimp scampi in one hand, the other gripping one shrimp as if it were some sort of medieval throwing dagger. Despite her inability to see them well, Isabelle felt the urge to back away from that crustacean weapon. Beside her, she began to realize that Theodore was shaking some sort of bottle up and down in his hands.

"Belle…"

"What is it, Gavin?" Isabelle exploded, turning slightly to her boyfriend but keeping most of her attention on the two traitorous chipmunks in front of him. It turned out her precaution was ill-aimed, and she should have turned to Gavin fully instead of merely glancing at him. This became clear as Theodore released his thumb from the bottle of champagne, letting loose a shower of aromatic alcoholic bubbles from the neck of the bottle. She gasped and sputtered as the champagne bubbles fought with her lungs for breath. Finally the explosive liquid rush abated.

Isabelle blinked through the champagne haze, her mouth working but too angry to say anything. "You…you…" She finally managed, but Theodore and Eleanor's droll smiles killed her words efficiently… she had no way to defend herself. With a cry of rage, she grabbed Gavin's salmon remains and flung them at Theodore.

Theodore wasn't expecting the fishy attack. He dropped the spurting bottle, the pink of the salmon very bright against his fur as his mouth opened in a comical 'o' of surprise, then closed and spat when a mouthful of salmon fell into it. Beside him, Eleanor just laughed and spun, gaining speed before she whipped the remainder of the soup in the bowl at Isabelle.

Eleanor missed her target, striking Gavin instead, covering the dark haired chipmunk in the slightly congealed lobster bisque. Gavin spluttered, spitting out bisque, and then his eyes narrowed at the blonde chipmunk. "Okay, Eleanor, you're going down." He said, spearing his fork with a piece of soft candied carrot before aiming it menacingly at Eleanor. "I'm gonna get you for that…"

"Gavin!" The commotion had finally gotten someone's attention – Gavin's uncle. Uh – oh. "You stop that right now!"

Isabelle saw Gavin hesitate, dropping the fork, but then his eyes narrowed. Isabelle grinned. He was already in it, and no matter what would probably be barred from the restaurant indefinitely…and she knew that if Gavin was going to get in trouble, he would rather have fun doing it. He ignored the frantic man and scooped up a handful of mashed potatoes and gravy. "Catch!" He said, tossing the potatoes underhand towards Eleanor. They landed with a wet splash directly onto Eleanor's chest, and Isabelle cheered loudly.

"Gotcha!"

"Gavin Vincent Pettigrew!" Gavin's uncle was nearly on them now. Gavin began grabbing items off the table rapidly, obviously knowing that he'd need to hurry if he wanted to get a good offensive strike in. Eleanor raised her arms to keep off the worst of the attack, but Theodore just threw back at him as quickly as he could. By the time his uncle grabbed Gavin's arm and physically stopped him, there was very little food left on the tables and very much on the chipmunks in front of him.

"Just what in the world do you think you're doing?"

Gavin smiled, a look of false innocence on his face. "Nothing, Uncle Harold."

Harold just looked at him, his face going from consternation to anger several times before settling on anger. "This is it, boy, you are gone! And don't you dare-"

"I know, I know. Don't come back or call you for any favors." Gavin said.

"Don't you get sassy with me-"

"We're sorry, Harold." Isabelle said, flashing her most charming smile at him. She wondered how effective it was through a mask of food. "We're leaving, I promise. This was childish of us."

"Extremely childish." Harold looked sharply at Eleanor when she couldn't control a giggle. Eleanor just looked back at him, regaining composure.

"Sorry, sir." She said.

"Just…leave, okay? I've got to clean this up."

"Okay, no problem. We're already gone.

Harold turned on his heel and stomped off down the corridor. The four managed to keep sober until he had turned the corner, and then all four fell into hysterical laughter. Isabelle tried to catch her breath several times, but each time would glance at one of the others and it would set her off into gales again.

"Okay, okay!" Gavin finally said, being the first one to get a hold of himself. "We'd really better leave. I don't think Uncle Harold was kidding."

Isabelle looked down at herself. "Bugger it, you know we're going to have to walk through the dining room looking like this?" This caused another round of giggles to go through them.

"Well, at least they won't be able to recognize us." Eleanor said after a moment, walking around the table. Her feet made squishing noises as they trod over the spilled food. "And on that subject…Belle?"

"Yes?"

"I like your hair."

OoooOoooO

"What on Earth do you suppose all that commotion was about?"

Simon held the door for Jeannette and Sabrina, then stepped outside and shrugged. "I have no idea." He said honestly in response to Sabrina's question. "Sounded like a bunch of kids goofing off."

"Or a college cafeteria." Pryce said, chuckling. "Whatever it was, I'm glad-"

"Simon?"

Simon turned around at hearing Theodore's voice. "Theodore? What happened to you?"

He watched in amazement as Gavin, Isabelle, and Eleanor all filed out of the restaurant, all of them dripping with various foods. Theodore ran his eyes over the others before looking back at Simon helplessly. "It's kind of a long story."

"I guess so." Suddenly Simon remembered who he was with, and groaned inwardly. Of course this would happen when he was out with Dr. Pryce. "Uh, Theodore, this is Dr. Quentin Pryce and his wife, Sabrina. Dr. Pryce, this is…well, uh, my brother Theodore." Simon shook his head in consternation. "And our friends Gavin, Belle, and Eleanor."

"Charmed." Dr. Pryce held out his hand. Theodore automatically reached for it, but seemed to realize that he would smear what looked to be mashed potatoes on the doctor if he did.

"Uh, hi. Nice to meet you." Theodore shrugged a little and settled on waving.

"We were just wondering about the noise in there." Pryce said, an amused smile on his face. "I suppose I can see what it was."

"Yeah, like I said, long story." Theodore blushed. "We're on our way home. I'm sorry for interrupting you."

"Don't think anything of it." Pryce waved his hand nonchalantly. "Simon rarely speaks of his family. Its good to see he's not all work." He glanced at Simon and the chipmunk felt a wave of heat in his face.

"Can we get a ride with you?" Jeannette said suddenly from beside him. "I mean, do you have room?"

Simon looked at his wife in surprise. She had been quiet during dinner, but no more than usual, and all in all he had thought things had gone fairly well. But her voice held a note of desperation in it.

"Sure we do." Belle nodded. "We took two cars."

"Jeannette, we don't mind giving you two a ride, really." Sabrina said with a warm smile.

"That's okay. They live really close to us anyways, and it will save you a trip." Jeanette said quickly. Simon stared at her.

"Jeannette-"

"I'll meet you by the car, okay, Simon?" Jeannette smiled briefly at Sabrina and Dr. Pryce. "Thank you for dinner."

Simon watched in astonishment as she hurried away to the parking lot. His friends waved embarrassed good-byes before following her. "See you in a minute, Simon." Theodore said before wheeling himself around, oblivious to the mess he was making of the pavement with his dripping chair.

"I'm sorry." Simon said, turning to the Pryces and putting his hands up in the air. "I really don't know what got into them." He didn't know whether he meant the food-encrusted chipmunks or Jeannette. "I had a very good time, though. Thank you."

"Thank you for coming." Dr. Pryce said. "It was good to meet your family. They seem like very interesting people.

Simon winced. "Interesting" did not necessarily mean good. "Thank you."

"I hope we can do this again." Sabrina said, taking his hand warmly. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"You, too." Simon said sincerely.

"I'll let you get to your friends then, Simon." Pryce shook his hand briefly. "I'll see you in a few days…you'll be back after your brother's wedding, right?"

"Yes."

"Have a good mini-vacation, then."

"I'll try." He hadn't had a day off since his honeymoon, so Simon knew he very much needed some time off…but six days seemed a bit excessive. Alvin had insisted, however. The bachelor party alone spanned two days, and then the wedding itself was being held in a northern Californian resort called Heaven's Gate. That was to last three days…rehearsals the first day, nuptials the next, and finally the third day was a brunch and informal goodbye party before Alvin and Brittany went to Europe on their honeymoon.

Simon hurried over to where he could see Gavin still struggling with folding up Theodore's wheelchair. "Where's Jeannette?" He asked, realizing that none of the girls were there.

"She went with Eleanor and Belle." Gavin said, his attention slipping and dropping one end of the wheelchair on his foot. "Ouch!"

Simon grabbed the dropped end and helped Gavin get the messy chair into his trunk. "She did?"

"Yeah." Gavin slammed the trunk shut. "Thanks for the help. Anyways, she said to tell you that she was going to spend the night at Miss Miller's to see her sisters before Brittany's gone for a month. She'll be home tomorrow morning."

Simon stopped in shock. Jeannette hadn't even waited to speak to him? That wasn't like her. "Oh…ok."

"Gavin, can we get going? Everything's starting to dry and I'm starting to itch." Theodore called from the front seat.

"Sure, Theodore." Gavin went to the front of the car. "Hop in, Simon."

Simon was distracted during the ride to his house, barely noticing that Theodore's mood seem to be improved – still not his old self, but the desperate edge to his anger seemed to be gone. He waved to them as he unlocked the door to his empty house, walking the stairs to his room slowly. He didn't think he could sleep without Jeannette there, but he had forgotten how long he had been up and despite his beliefs, fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost immediately.

Jeannette still wasn't home the next morning, and no one answered when he called over to Miss Miller's. Maybe the girls had gone shopping – Brittany would of course have some last minute detail to take care of. After puttering around the house for an hour or so, Simon decided he wasn't going to sit and wait forever – he was going to be gone for six days, and Jeannette and he didn't have to catch the plane for the resort until six p.m. There was too much to do. So he scribbled a brief note and stuck it under a magnet on the refrigerator before leaving the house.

Jeannette and him would just meet up later.

He could spend a little time at the research center before they had to leave.

End of Part 11

Reviews, as always, desired, appreciated, and I will try to reciprocate by reading/reviewing your fics!