OK guys. You love the cartoon chipmunks, right? Well, go to my profile and sign (or at least LOOK AT) my petition to save them and the morals they had. The live-action was funny and cute, but it WASN'T the Chipmunks I wanted to see. I want to see our Chipmunks, so help me tell Ross Jr. and Janice that Ross Sr. would NOT be proud of that movie (it goes against the morals that the Chipmunks were created on) and that the new Chipmunks, while they are up-to-date, are not the Chipmunks anymore. They're something unrecognizable and we can help show Ross and Janice how to make them up-to-date without killing who they are. And now, without further ranting, my one-shot:

The Doctor Visit

"Al-vin!" Dave shouted as the smallest of the chipmunks managed to smash a vase in the waiting room. He was taking the two-year-old chipmunks in for their first doctor's appointment. He'd had such a hard time finding a pediatrician that considered them children, not pets. Now, just over a year since he'd officially adopted the chipmunks, they were in their first doctor's office. And Alvin had already broken something.

"You need to be more careful," Simon whispered as he pulled his brother into the chair beside him. Dave had noticed the roles that were already in place when he'd found the triplets. Simon was responsible, caring, and always trying to make sure his brothers did the right thing. Theodore was sweet, cute, shy, and let his brothers look after him while he pursued his one true love in life: food. Then there was Alvin. The kid was wild, yet still loveable, and he always had some idea for how the boys could have fun. He was creative, in his own weird way, and even more talented with music than his brothers were (which was already amazingly talented). Alvin was a natural born leader. Too bad he was also a natural born trouble-maker.

"I don't even want to know," the secretary asked as she looked at the three chipmunks, then over to the broken vase that was surrounded by dirt. "Penny, could you clean that up?"

"Right away," a young filing assistant replied, dashing for a broom.

"Name?"

"Seville," Dave replied.

"Gee, I feel bad for you." She handed him one clipboard with three sets of papers. "Fill out as much as you can…I really hope you finish that before their appointments are through."

"Me too…"

"Hey." She motioned for him to move a little closer so she could whisper. "They're two, right? He'll grow out of it. The two's are always terrible."

"Heh. Just wait until he gets an idea for a game. Then all three of them will be up to no good."

"That's boys for ya. I got two of my own. Luckily for me they're three years apart…Triplets. And…chipmunks, right? This is going to be a trip…I've never seen chipmunks in a city environment, living like normal children. Amazing."

"They are normal children…Well, except for the fact that the learned to talk before they were one…at least, before I met them, and I think that was before they turned one. And they're singing…"

"I know. My youngest loves that one song of yours. Witch Doctor? You're so lucky, you know that?"

"Of course I do. I know I'm going to be especially lucky after this appointment when they'll all be sleepy and just want to eat dinner and go to bed." The secretary laughed as Dave turned to go fill out the papers.

"Oh! I'm sorry, but I have them all just written in here for this block…" Dave set the papers down by Simon and went back to answer her question. "What order?"

"Simon, Theodore, then Alvin. I think that's oldest to youngest…At least, judging by their size…"

"Don't get your hopes up. Just you wait. Alvin could be the oldest and Simon the youngest. They're triplets…Wait. If they knew how to talk before they were one, why don't they know who's the oldest?"

"They never asked and their mother never just told them. I get the feeling that she went by the same principles I do. It doesn't matter which one's the oldest, they're all three my kids so there's no playing favorites."

"No one's asking you to. Still, it helps. Especially with birth certificates and all other sorts of documents. Of course, judging by how wild and leaderly he already is, finding out he's the oldest could turn Alvin into a bit of a braggart."

"He knows better."

"He's two." She smiled and shooed Dave away so he could finally get a start on those papers. Of course, when he turned around he found that Simon was already reading through what he could of them. Things such as 'age' and 'height' and other words that Dave had taught him. While Alvin had even more musical talent than the other two, Simon was incredibly smarter. And that was a lot to say for kids that knew how to talk and read sheet music before they were one year old.

"I'll finish up those, alright?" Simon nodded, readjusting his over-sized glasses. "We have to get you some better fitting glasses."

"Maybe a stronger…pre-script-ton…" Sure, they could talk, but there were some words that they still had trouble forming. Prescription was one of them.

"Why do you think that?" Simon pointed at the sign beside the window where the secretary was.

"That's blurry." Dave looked up at it, wondering if it was just two-year-old eyes that couldn't handle the font and just the way it was written.

"Um…Let me try something first. Theodore, Alvin?"

"Yes Dave?" the two replied instantly.

"Can you two read that sign?"

"Brush after every meal for a healthy, bee-oo-tiff-full smile," they replied in unison.

"Is it at all blurry?"

"No!" Dave sighed.

"See?" Simon said, tugging at Dave's sleeve.

"Yeah." Dave laughed, pulling the kid over to his lap. "Wanna help me finish this?"

"Uh-huh!" Alvin and Theodore had busied themselves with the toys in the toy-box. It was a children's doctor's office after all. "Man this is dull…Do you know if you or your brothers have any allergies?"

"What's an al-er-gy?"

"It's something…Um…Well, like if you get stung by a bee and it makes you sick or if you feel like you have a head cold at the same time every year because of pollen or because of hay fever…Or…Like cat fur. I'm allergic to cat fur in particular, but not any other kind of fur. It's weird."

"I don't know…But when Theodore got stung once he broke out into a rash…But mama said that that was because he ran through poison ivy when he was running back to her because he got stung." Dave smiled, rubbing the fur on Simon's head. It was like normal hair on normal kids because it was longer than the rest of the fur on their bodies, but it was still the same color as the rest of their fur.

"How does 'unknown' sound then?"

"It sounds like the truth."

"Well, we can't lie on these papers."

"I know. Lying is always bad."

"Dave!" they heard Alvin whining as the two ran back over. "We're bored."

"With all those toys there, how can you be bored?" Dave asked.

"The toys are boring."

"I'm hungry!" Theodore chimed in.

"We can get dinner after we're done here," Dave tried to keep up.

"What are we doing here anyway? You already know how much we weigh and how tall we are!"

"You need to get your shots…"

"What's a shot?" Dave grimaced. How to tell three two-year-olds that they were going to have a painful needle stuck in their arms…?

"I'm still bored!" Alvin interrupted.

"You need to finish these," Simon tried to bring his attention back to the papers. There mothers in the room were staring in awe. The chipmunks were the size of normal one-year-old babies 

even though they were now two (at least they were bigger than the size of a hand, which was how big they had been when he'd adopted them) and they were talking perfectly, walking with no stumbling, and, if that wasn't cool enough, they were reading. And they were chipmunks. Few people had seen chipmunks in a city environment before.

"Dave!" Theodore called in his cute, loud voice. If it wasn't so loud, it would've reminded him of the cute little voices they used to wake him up in the morning. All three of them would be on his bed, right by his ear, cooing out "Dave" until he got up and made them breakfast.

"Dave!" Alvin demanded.

"Dave!" Simon echoed.

"Sevilles?" the nurse called from the door. "Whoever's first…"

"Alvin!" Dave decided on the spot. Dave clutched the papers in one arm while balancing Simon in the other. He was going to have to be there for all three of them, and since he was the only parent (or guardian) there they'd all have to stay close. But they could still only go one at a time. "Trust me, you won't be bored after this."

"Are you sure?" Alvin called as Dave gave him a little push.

"You'll be fine. I'd never let you get hurt." Alvin looked back with questioning eyes, but followed the nurse. She was a really pretty nurse.

"First doctor's appointment?" she crooned to him as she directed Dave and his brothers into a room so they could sit down (and so Dave could work on the papers).

"Y-yeah," Alvin replied.

"Alright cutie, hop up on this scale." She could have guessed is weight easily. It was less than twenty, hands down. She guess that he was about twelve inches tall and weighed maybe thirteen pounds.

"This is a weird scale…"

"It's the type of scale you'll see in every doctor's office or hospital. It's too big to be a home scale, and home scales aren't right for these offices. It's weird." She smiled down at him. "How much do you think you weigh?"

"Fourteen pounds!" He was so proud that she had to giggle.

"Close enough. Fourteen pounds, one ounce. But those home scales don't really tell ounces that well."

"What's an ounce?"

"Something that's a lot smaller than a pound. It's like the centimeters between inches, only in terms of weight instead of height. Which, by the way, how tall do you think you are?"

"One foot…um…three centimeters?" Now the nurse was laughing. She led him to the ruler that was on the wall.

"We don't measure centimeters. Just inches and feet."

"Then why do you measure ounces?"

"That's a question I can't answer. It's just how it's done."

"That's weird."

"That's weird?" She giggled, tugging on his over-sized hat. "You in this hat is weird."

"Nuh-uh! The hat looks cool!"

"Right now it makes you look like one cute little kid. When you're a little bigger it'll look cool. Come on kiddo." She led him into the room that she'd sent Dave into a few moments before. "Next? We can get this out of the way now all at once at least." Theodore was given a push this time as Alvin was told to change into the icky paper gown (regardless of his complaints).

"I'm bored." Dave groaned quietly, but not so quietly that Simon didn't hear. The tallest chipmunk darted over and jumped up beside his brother on the exam table.

"I agree," Simon said. "It's so dull in here…Everything is so plain. Except for the circus border up there…"

"That's so dull." Alvin crossed his arms in a bored pout. "Everything about this place is boring. Why did we have to come here?"

"For your health," Dave said.

"But I'm not sick."

"No, but this will help to make sure you don't get sick."

"How does seeing how tall I am prevent me from getting sick?"

"Um…Well, ok. It's only partly to keep you from getting sick. The rest, I guess, is just for the records to see how you grow over the years…"

"Who cares how I grow just so long as I grow?" Because of how advanced the chipmunks were, he often took them to the playground to play with other kids that were anywhere from one to seven years older than them. Just because they were little two-year-olds didn't mean they should stay secluded. He wanted to make sure they didn't become afraid of social situations. No matter how small they were in comparison to other kids. The kids were already comfortable with singing on stage, so he wanted to make sure they'd be ok when they were old enough to go to school.

"I care. And someday you might care, too. I'm sure the doctor will be in soon…"

"I'm a foot tall!" Theodore cheered as he ran back into the room, the nurse waiting for Simon to follow.

"Me too," Alvin exclaimed, jumping down. For the first time in a long time, the two brothers paid attention to their heights in comparison with each other. Simon was a good two inches taller than them, but Alvin had been an inch shorter than Theodore for as long as he could remember. Now they were the same height.

"I can't wait to see these kids when they're three feet tall," the nurse laughed. "I wonder how excited they'll be then…" Simon followed calmly after her as Alvin and Theodore chattered away about their heights.

"That means I'm catching up…Maybe I'll be as tall as Simon soon!" Dave couldn't help but snort. Alvin sounded like he was expecting to suddenly shoot up a couple feet and be as tall as a fourth or fifth grader.

"Don't get you hopes up," Theodore giggled back. "You're the youngest, so you'll probably be the smallest too."

"I hope not." And Alvin was back to pouting.

"One foot two," Simon said as he returned.

"How're those papers coming?" the nurse whispered to Dave.

"Almost done," he replied just as quietly.

"It'll be about five to ten more minutes. Do you think you'll be done by than?"

"I hope so. But if it's ten minutes, probably not."

"Why not?"

"Three bored chipmunk two-year-olds."

"Ah. The joys of parenthood." As soon as she left, the echoing started up again.

"Dave! I'm bored!" Alvin said.

"Dave! I'm hungry!" Theodore echoed.

"Dave!" Simon also echoed, for reasons he didn't state. Maybe it was just his two-year-old mind telling him to do what his brothers were doing. Sure, the kid was brilliantly smarter that, but he was still a two-year-old with the whole 'monkey-see-monkey-do' phase going on.

"Dave!" they all chorused together. But he merely glared up from his papers for a moment and then turned his attention away from them again. That didn't make them too happy. "Daaaave!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" he finally replied. "We can't do anything about it right now. Entertain each other. Sing a song or make up a story…but please, no more of this whining. I have these papers to fill…out…." He started pausing because their eyes were getting bigger and bigger and sadder and sadder. "Um…"

"Hello?" the doctor said, entering the room, much to Dave's relief.

"Theodore, Simon, come sit over here by me…Alvin, up there." Dave pointed back at the table and the kids did as they were told. Alvin stared at the doctor with interest. The guy had a miss-matched mustache, one side longer and curlier than the other. And his skin was an ugly yellow color. Well, not only his skin. His nails, his hair, his eyes…everything about him was ugly and yellow-ish. Not to mention that he didn't smell too good. Dave didn't seem to notice, but it was obvious in his brother's eyes that they had. Maybe it was just because they were chipmunks that they could smell the awfulness coming from this guy.

"Alvin, right?" the ugly, smelly guy asked. Alvin gulped back his disgust and nodded. "I'm Doctor Smeltba. How have you been?" He was extremely creeped out by this smelly guy (whose teeth were more jagged than a saw) asking him how he was doing. At least the guy had a fitting name when Alvin changed some letters around (Smeltba to Smells Bad).

"I haven't been sick i-in a whole year."

"That's good to hear." At least the guy was cheery-sounding. Alvin glanced around the guy to see Dave hard at work with the papers and his two brothers hanging onto each other for dear life. They didn't want to be examined by this doctor. Actually, he was staring to get the feeling that he didn't want to be examined by any doctor. "Well, no matter how great you feel, I still have to take your temperature."

"But I'm not sick."

"I know, but it's still useful for the records." Again with the records! What was so special about some stupid pieces of paper? If it didn't have music on it, Alvin was interested in it. He had already proven that to Dave with his piano music. He didn't mind reading stuff when asked, but he wouldn't read anything but sheet music without being asked. Not like Simon at all. That kid was always after a book. Theodore was content reading sheet music or regular books, but he was still on the really little kid books (at least Alvin was on the typical Kindergarten level and Simon was reading second grade level, and couldn't wait until he was reading college material). Theodore's kind of reading material was the every-day cookbook.

"What's that?" Alvin pointed at the thing the doctor was holding.

"A thermometer."

"That doesn't look like any thermometer I've ever seen."

"It's not like any thermometer you've ever seen. Now hold still." Alvin stared as the doctor stuck the thing under his arm. That was the strangest thing in the world. What could his arm tell 

them about how he felt? Dave caught his confused expression and smirked, confusing the poor kid even more. His brothers, at the very least, weren't holding onto each other anymore. They were now sitting on the edges of their seats, watching him as though he were the star of a new movie. A very dull movie, in his opinion. When the doctor finished fussing with his papers (everyone seemed to have papers here…), he came back over and took the little 'thermometer' away. "Normal."

"I could have told you that."

"Alvin," Dave warned.

"I could have." Now the doctor had a stick-thing in his hand.

"Stick out your tongue and say 'ah'," the doctor told him. Alvin did just as he was told, stuck his tongue out and mumbled 'ah' through his clenched lips. His brothers laughed. Dave and the doctor were not so easily amused. "With your mouth open."

"Why?"

"So I can check your throat."

"Why?"

"To make sure you're healthy."

"Why?" His brothers were still snickering, only encouraging his very two-year-oldish behavior. Dave knew they were two, but they were often very mature two-year-olds. But this was frustrating him even more than it was frustrating the doctor.

"Because it's important to be healthy."

"Why?"

"Do you want to be sick?"

"Why?"

"Al-vin!" Dave finally shouted. "Behave!" The chipmunk crossed his arms and pouted, but did as the doctor instructed this time. The little piece of wood tasted extremely bad.

"Now, follow my finger with your eyes," the doctor said sternly.

"Wh…" Alvin started, but cringed back from the glare Dave gave him. His brothers, on the other hand, were enjoying every minute of his torture. He trained both of his blue eyes on the finger and followed it in all directions.

"Now, look to the right for me…" He did so, and he was glad for this one. They guy was shining a flashlight at him. "Now to the left." Again with the stupid flashlight! "And now I'm going to look in your ears…"

"Simon's the one that gets ear-aches, not me!"

"It's necessary…"

"For the records?" Alvin was back to glaring at the doctor.

"Yes, for the records." Alvin wasn't too happy about it, but he cooperated. He was really starting to hate these stupid records. The light was warm in his ears, but it didn't really bother him. The thing that actually fascinated him was the doctor's stethoscope. It was an odd-shaped little thing.

"What's it do?"

"It lets me listen to you." 'Bad choice of words there, Doc,' Dave thought with a smirk. Sure, Alvin could get annoying. But he was actually finding this whole thing in general quite cute. He tried his best not to laugh out loud like the other two were, but he did smile.

"But you can hear me just fine!"

"It lets me listen to your heart." Alvin cocked his head, blinking a couple of times.

"May I listen too?" The doctor smiled a real smile. It made the guy look less ugly.

"In a minute. Let me listen first, then I'll let you listen. Alright?" Alvin nodded with a huge grin on his face. Maybe visiting the doctor weren't all bad after all. The doctor sure took his time though. Alvin grew very impatient. But, eventually, the doctor let Alvin listen to his own heart.

"That's so weird!"

"Me next!" Theodore cheered, jumping from his chair.

"You'll get to hear yours…"

"I want to hear Alvin's!" Theodore ran over to the doctor, quickly followed by Simon.

"Me too!" Simon surprisingly added. They jumped up and down until the doctor helped them up on the table, letting them listen to Alvin's heart too. "Wow, that is weird. Alvin, are you normal?" The doctor laughed, putting it up against Simon's chest.

"Hear for yourself," he said. Simon did, and his eyes grew so wide Dave could have sworn they were as big around as his glasses. Theodore got his turn, and, after they all three had listened to each other's hearts, they were satisfied that they were all three normal.

"Come on fellas," Dave finally called. "Come sit down so the doctor can finish with Alvin and get to you two." With a saddened sigh, the two jumped down and returned to their seats beside Dave.

"What now?" Alvin said, his blue eyes big and excited. Suddenly things weren't so boring.

"Now…" the doctor started, turning back and locking eyes with the chipmunk. They stopped him from continuing as he couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside that kid's head.

"Yes?"

"Um…reflexes. Now we test reflexes." As soon as Alvin saw the little hammer he started backing away. "Don't worry; I'm not going to whack you with this…" Dave knew Alvin was shying away because one of his schemes had included a hammer and that hammer had been the reason that the scheme had failed, and it had managed to somehow cause the three of them to get stuck to the ceiling for an afternoon. Dave had been quite content not asking how they'd managed that (he had spent the afternoon first at a conference and then at the grocery store). Alvin's two-year-old mind associated all things hammer-shaped with that memory.

"What's it for?"

"A light tap on the knees to see if your reflexes are working."

"What's a re-flex?" The doctor sighed, not knowing how to explain it to a two-year-old.

"Reaction time…"

"I react just fine."

"Alvin, you mouth-off just fine," Dave warned. "This reaction is how your body responds to certain things. In this instance, it's the little hammer tapping your knee." The doctor looked back over at the chipmunk's father. It seemed Dave was already prepared for some of these questions. Alvin cocked his head in wonder as the doctor did what he was supposed to do.

"I didn't do that!" he announced when his leg bounced without his permission.

"That's good," the doctor told him.

"That's…good?"

"It means your reflexes are just fine." That didn't help the confused kid at all, but the doctor was done with that. "Now lay down for me…"

"I'm not tired."

"Alvin…" Dave hissed.

"But I'm not!"

"It's not for you to take a nap," the doctor explained. "It's so I can check you out and make sure you're alright…"

"I'm fine! I mean…I have a few bruises, but other than that I'm fine." The doctor really wanted to bang his head on the wall.

"Alvin…Do this for me, so we can fill out the records…"

"The records are a stupid waste of time."

"ALVIN!" Dave reprimanded. The chipmunk glared defiantly, but the doctor just shook his head and turned to his papers, flipping through them and jotting some things down here and there.

"What was their age order again?" the doctor said, trying to take everyone's attention off Alvin for a minute. The kid just need to cool down. Maybe being ignored would get him to do as he was told. After all, he'd been center stage up until now so perhaps he was just putting on an act just for more attention (even if he was only doing it sub-consciously).

"We're not sure…They don't even know." The doctor glanced at the other two. "But we've always just guessed that Simon was the oldest, then Theodore, then Alvin."

"Hm?" The doctor looked up like he was surprised.

"Something wrong about that?"

"Well, I'm not one to say, but all of you assumed Alvin was the youngest?" The three of them nodded, ignoring whatever Alvin was up to (which was up to no good, but they were completely missing it).

"It's because Alvin's always been the smallest. Do you think you can figure out the actual order for us, to settle this once and for all?"

"That shouldn't be too hard." The doctor seemed to be lost in thought by this point when everyone's attention was diverted to something rolling onto the floor. Alvin had been trying to get to a higher position so he could see over the doctor's shoulder at the papers and had managed to slip and come tumbling to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Dave was on his feet, but Alvin's brothers were quicker. Alvin was grinning up at the two adults sheepishly as they pulled him to his feet.

"That's what you get," Simon hissed. "I told you to be more careful."

"Are you ready to finish this up so we can get to your brothers before ice cream parlor closes?" the doctor asked kindly. At the mention of ice cream, Alvin leaped back on the table (using Theodore's head as a stepping-stone to get there). The doctor rubbed Alvin's arms, sides, and legs because that's what doctors do, getting some giggles from Alvin as he tickled the kid. "Perfect. Now if you'll sit up we can finish this."

"That was…" Alvin cut the word 'pointless' off his sentence when he saw Dave's glare. With a sigh, he pushed himself up. He looked so calm Dave didn't even bother getting up. That'd probably alarm him as to what was coming.

"Now I'm gonna clean up your shoulder…"

"I just took a bath last night!"

"That's not why I'm cleaning your shoulder." Alvin stared in wonder as the doctor rubbed some really bad smelling stuff onto his shoulder…well, more into his fur than just on his shoulder. And the doctor seemed a little frustrated because of that, but it wasn't like he could just pull out a razor and shave the poor chipmunk's shoulder. It wasn't Alvin's fault he had a cute, soft covering of fur all over his body. That was one of the reasons the other doctors hadn't considered the brothers as real kids, and Dave knew he could never let them worry about being different. He just wondered if he'd ever get that question. 'Why are we the only animals at school?' or something like that. He'd hate to have to tell them that they're probably the only chipmunks that live in civilized society. At least they could feel normal…even though they probably wouldn't mind an exception with this bit of normal-ness.

Because they'd missed out on all the shots that babies were supposed to get and because they were woodland creatures (by classification only) they had a lot of shots to catch up on, on top of the usual shots to just get into school. "I don't see how that bad-smelling stuff is cleaning my shoulder…or how my shoulder is so dirty anyway," Alvin's voice busted through his thoughts. "H-hey…" Now Dave was scooting the other two out to keep them from finding out what shots were.

"What's wrong?" Theodore yelped as he tripped over Simon who had tripped on the way out.

"Nothing," Dave told him matter-of-factly. "I just think that since Alvin's spooked, and you know how he gets when he's spooked, you two would be safer out here until I calm him down." They stared up at the door as a nurse started talking to them, but they didn't hear her. They were straining to hear what Alvin was yelping about inside.

"It's alright, it's not going to hurt," the doctor told him.

"People always say that before they hurt someone!" Alvin shouted back. The little chipmunk had already managed to climb his way up to the highest point he could reach in the room.

"Alvin!" Dave demanded, but the chipmunk didn't budge. "Look, Alvin, I'm not going to lie. Shots at your age do tend to hurt quite a bit, not that they get better with time. We just learn to tolerate them better because they're unavoidable. But I promise, it'll only hurt for a few seconds and then it'll be over…" Alvin's big blue eyes were pretty close to breaking his heart. They looked like someone had taken away everything he held dear and were now threatening him with everything he was afraid of. "Come on, I'm right here…And you have to set a good example for Simon and Theodore, since you went first. You like being looked up to, right?"

"I don't care! Stupid records aren't worth this."

"This is for more than the records. This medicine will keep you from getting sick. What's worse, a few seconds of a little prick or days in bed with aches and pains and a fever?" Alvin turned a little less ridged, no longer gripping whatever it was he was clinging to quite as tightly. "And I promise we'll go get ice cream after this. I'll let you get more than you can eat, that way you can eat your fill of it." He reached his arms up to Alvin, giving the kid a few moments to consider the offer. Liking his second option, Alvin jumped down to Dave's arms. "Now remember, you can't spook 

Simon or Theodore with this." Dave was expecting calmness from Alvin from her on out, with a yelp or complaint in the middle. Simon would probably cringe and curl up into a ball. It was Theodore that Dave was thoroughly worried about. But then again, he'd have his two brothers to comfort him so maybe he wouldn't cry. But two-year-olds were incredibly unpredictable…so who knew.

Within moments Alvin's little ordeal was over and he was grumbling into Dave's shirt about how unfair it was and who knew what else. With a laugh, Dave set him down in a chair and went to let the other two back in.

… XXX …

Simon's reaction to the needle was a lot more...energetic than Dave had thought it would be. Instead of going up like Alvin's instincts had told him to do, Simon crawled down and hid under the chair Alvin was sitting in. He then proceeded to cling to the chair leg while yelling at his brother for not warning him (the doctor had gotten a nurse to take Theodore to go get a drink, saying he was sorry that Theodore's wait was so long). "It's not that awful," Alvin said, leaning over the edge as Dave tried to pry Simon out from under the chair. It was amazing how strong the kid's grip was.

"It's a needle! I've read about those..."

"Read what?" Simon, for the first time since the doctor had first pulled out the needled, was silent. "You always say that as an excuse to not like something. It's no fun, but it's better than getting sick. And we get all the ice cream we can eat after…"

"I don't care." Dave, by this point, had given up and was sitting on the floor, waiting for Simon's guard to go down. Simon had already lost his glasses in the dash for his hiding spot, so that could work either way. Because Simon couldn't see as well, maybe he'd keep his guard up higher, or maybe he'd relax.

"They gave me one." Alvin reached his hand under the seat, finding himself unable to reach his brother. "It's really not as bad as you think. And the ice cream is worth it." Simon looked over at his brother's blue eyes. If Alvin said it was, then was it? Deciding they weren't going to go anywhere so long as he was under the chair, Simon crawled out and into Dave's arms. After his shot, Simon was completely silent, just glaring a little at the smelly doctor. Alvin already looked a bit sleepy and decided to curl up against his brother, his head actually resting on Simon's shoulder (and Simon not really minding at all as he just let his head rest on the back of his own plastic chair). The whole scene made Theodore quite curious when he returned.

… XXX …

When Theodore's turn was drawing near, Alvin and Simon both ran over and jumped up beside their brother. "What's wrong?" Theodore asked curiously.

"This is the worst part," Alvin said with a sad shake of his head. "And we really don't want a repeat of Simon…"

"A repeat of Simon we can handle," Dave corrected. "It's you we don't want to see copied."

"What'd you do?" Theodore giggled.

"I went up," Alvin said, pointing to the place that had once been his safe-spot. "Simon went down." He then pointed underneath his chair. "But ice cream didn't convince him. And we are getting ice cream after this." He glared at Dave for emphasis. "More than we can eat so we can stuff ourselves with it." They'd managed to distract Theodore long enough to keep him from seeing the doctor pull out the needle. In fact, Theodore didn't realize what was going on until the doctor was about to give him the shot. Alvin and Simon wrapped their arms around their brother, keeping him from wiggling as the doctor did what he had to do. There wasn't much of a fuss. A little yelp, watery eyes, but over-all the best handled. And it wasn't hard to guess why. Alvin and Simon gave him a quick squeeze and cuddled their cheeks against his before scooting away.

The cheek rubbing thing was something Dave guessed their mother had done to soothe them because they only did it when they were upset. Whenever any of them had a nightmare, whenever any of them scraped their knee up bad enough, and especially whenever Theodore was unhappy. Simon and Alvin just seemed to be naturally over-protective of him. And who wouldn't be? Theodore was such and adorable sweet-heart that made everyone want to protect him. "Seville," the doctor whispered, "do you really want to stick with Alvin as the youngest? I mean, personalities aren't much to tell, and neither is genetics since these three are obviously not identical triplets. But, even in twins and triplets, it seems to be build into the oldest to be just like Alvin is with Simon and Theodore. No matter how wild or reserved they are, the oldest always seems to be built to look after his or her younger siblings."

"He certainly does act like he's the oldest," Dave agreed, watching the three. They were so cute right then, all three getting sleepier by the minute and all three giggling at some brotherly joke. "But like you said, personalities alone aren't enough to judge. I'd love to meet their mother. What they can tell me about her makes me wonder why she'd give them up. She sounds like the most wonderful mother anyone could ask for. Not that I'm upset she gave them up. I love them and I'd never let anything make me part with them. That is, unless they wanted to go back to her."

"Then you'd have to let them because you love them so much." The doctor smiled, turning back to look at them. "But, in my professional opinion, which doesn't mean that much at all, Alvin is definitely the oldest and Theodore is definitely the youngest. I bet their mother treated Alvin like he was the oldest and Theodore like he was the youngest and that's why their personalities are so set like this." Dave suddenly started laughing, making the whole room go silent.

"I can just imagine how much worse Alvin will get knowing that," he whispered to the doctor before going over to collect his kids. "Come on fellas, let's go get that ice cream."

"We don't have to do this again, do we?" Theodore asked before budging.

"Not for another year. But you do have eye doctor appointments next week, appointments with a dentist in three weeks…" The three of them ran for the door, not wanting to find out how many other kinds of doctors they'd have to see. Not that it really mattered, just so long as they didn't have to get any more shots.