Buster could hardly sleep the last few nights as his brain was constantly giving him ideas on what kind of a concert he should put on for Nana Noodleman. Fortunately, he had no been alone in the brainstorming. Even after the impromptu meeting, Rosita had kept in touch with him and had e-mailed a few more ideas. Not only that, but Johnny had texted him and let him know Ash changed her mind about the duet. Buster grinned happily as he scribbled down a few more song ideas for the performance.

"Hey, Buster!"

The koala looked up to see Eddie running towards him with a grin even bigger than his own. "Morning, Eddie! What's the good word?"

"Oh, I got a bunch of good words for you, man!" said the sheep as he plopped himself down next to Buster on the wooden crate he was sitting upon. "I think I just found a solid performer for the concert."

Buster was surpised. Normally, Eddie didn't have any creative ideas, let alone musical theater. "Ok…shoot."

"Right! So, I was at the laundromat this morning…"

"Meaning the laundry room in your parents house."

"Hey, it's not my fault the pool house has lousy plumbing!" snapped Eddie. "Anyway, I sort of told mom about your idea and, well, she wanted help."

Buster held up his hands before Eddie could continue. "Whoa whoa whoa, wait. Your mother wants to help with the concert? I figured she'd be on your dad's side."

"Yeah, normally she would, but here's the thing. Nana and my mom…well, they've had a lot of static between them. I mean, Nana's like that with everyone, but it took forever for her to warm up to my mother when she was dating my dad. It had something to do with mom's bell bottoms and taste in music. Nana didn't even smile in their wedding photos. My mom never misses a chance to stay on Nana's good side, so she called a friend who knows a guy who's the brother of the assistant of - get this - Pierre Goosdon! And he agreed to help with the concert!"

If Eddie was expecting an exuberant response from Buster, he was sorely mistaken. "And that is…" Buster asked.

"You know, Goosdon! THE Pierre Goosdon?"

"PIERRE GOOSDON!"

Buster was so startled that he leapt up into Eddie's equally alarmed arms. They turned to see Gunter standing behind them, bouncing on his feet like a child at Christmas.

"Sheesh, Gunter!" cried Eddie. "Little warning next time?"

"Oh em gee! Theese is like totally AH-MAY-ZING!' the pig continued. "I can't believe your mama knows Herr Goosdon!"

"Well, technically she knows the friend of a guy who's…"

"Ok, can we stop, please?" demanded Buster, climbling down from Eddie's arms. "Who the heck is this goose down guy?"

"Vat, are you joking me?" cried Gunter. "He's only like the most famous ballet dancer en zee whole vorld! Look look look!" Gunter then pulled out his phone to the MeTube app and played a video of a Canadian goose in a leotard doing pirouettes and spirals and all sorts of other dance moves that Buster barely knew anything about. Though he lacked any knowledge of ballet, he admitted that the goose had grace and talent.

"Oh, I remember vatching him when I vas just a vee little piggie," sighed Gunter as he watched the video. "It vas zat moment I knew I vanted to dance! To meet him face to face vould be a dream come true!"

"Uh, wow, Gunter," said Eddie. "I knew you liked dancing, but I didn't take you to be a connoisseur of ballet."

"I am never picky about my tastes, Herr Noodleman. I love all kinds of danzing! Except for that Macaroni dance from zee nineties. Like, seriously! Vat vas zat?"

"Ok, back on topic!" Buster interrupted. "Pierre Goose Down…"

"GoosDON," corrected Eddie.

"Yeah, him. He's agreed to perform for Nana?"

Eddie scratched the back of his neck. "Well, kinda sorta. You see, he retired awhile ago, but he does have this new protege named Sophia and she's pretty popular in the ballet world. They're already touring the states and had to cancel last minute due to an incident at the white house, so they should be here by Friday."

"You think your Nana will settle for a dancing student?"

"Oh yeah, Nana loves ballet and if this Sophia is as popular as mom says she is, it's a solid win for sure!"

"Oh oh, Herr Moon?" asked Gunter who was raising his hand like a small child in class. "Could I possibly help with zee ballerina's choreography? I have like so many ideas my brain is popping!"

Buster thought about this for a moment. Gunter was indeed a talented dancer and had enough energy to be his own power plant, but ballet might seem a bit too sophisticated for him to take on. Then again, Nana seemed to enjoy his performance with Rosita, so what was the harm?

"I think that all depends on what Monsieur Goosdon would want, but I will definitely put in a good word for you. Besides, if this Sophia is his equal, then we just found our final act!"

"And then he just ran off! I went looking for him, but he was a lot faster than I thought…"

"Uh huh…"

"I still couldn't believe it, Johnny. I mean, I knew Mike wasn't rich, but homeless?"

"Uh, Meena?"

"Could you imagine having to go to a soup kitchen to eat? And Pastor Lawrence says he's been going there for the last few months, so…"

"MEENA!"

"What?!"

"Look, I will gladly finish this conversation with you, but can we PLEASE get this bloody thing to the rehearsal room first?"

Meena realized that in the process of relocating the piano from Ms. Crawley's office, she had let Johnny do most of the lifting while telling her "homeless Mike" story. Even for an elephant and a gorilla, moving a piano down stairs was not easy. Readjusting her grip, she helped the gorilla get the piano on level ground before he took over pushing it to the rehearsal room.

"Sorry, Johnny," she said walking beside him. "I just can't stop thinking about poor Mike. I didn't realize things had gotten so hard for him."

"Yeah, well it's no surprise if you ask me," grumbled Johnny as Meena held the door to the rehearsal room open.

Meena gave her friend a sideways glance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Johnny sighed and, once he had the piano in place, faced her. "Meena, think about it. Mike pretty much brought this on himself. He was spending money he didn't have, treating everyone - especially you - like garbage, and honestly? It was more or less his fault the original theater collapsed. He told those bears about the money, remember? I mean, I was angry at Mr. Moon for lying to us, but I had an easier time forgiving him than Mike who didn't even try to help us rebuild the stage. Bottom line: Mike was a regular tosser."

Meena tilted her head to the in confusion. "He tossed what now?"

"Nonono, a tosser. You know, a plonker? A Git? A lazy sod?" Johnny could tell his British slang was confusing his friend. "He. Was. A. Jerk!"

"Ok, ok, I get it," sighed Meena. "Still, it doesn't seem right to kick him while he's down. Don't you feel just a little bad for him?"

"Kinda hard to feel bad for someone who verbally abused you on a regular basis." That made Meena wince and Johnny realized he had gone a tad too far. Of all the theater group, Meena was the one who suffered the most from Mike's insults. Johnny put a comforting hand on Meena's shoulder. "Meena, look. You've got a beautiful heart and a loving soul, so I get why you feel bad for Mike, but I wouldn't waste your time on a bloke like him. Like me dad always says: he made his bed, now he's gotta sleep in it."

"Ironically, I don't think he even has a bed, let alone a roof over his…." Meena then stopped. Johnny could tell from the glint in her eye that she just got an idea. "That's it! Thank you, Johnny!"

Meena gave the gorilla a huge hug before running off to do who knows what. Johnny just stood there, dumbfounded. "Uh…you're welcome?"

"Hey Johnny…"

Johnny jumped slightly and turned to find Ash standing behind him, guitar case in hand. "Ash! Hey. How's it going?"

"I'm…good." Ash wasn't sure that was a true answer. She still couldn't believe how she acted when she saw Johnny washing his truck and she knows he didn't forget. "Look, I wanted to apologize about running off like that. I-I just remembered I had to be somewhere but I wanted to patch things up with you because singing with you is a little new for me and I wanted to talk to you but…"

"Whoa, whoa! Ash!" The porcupine's rambling immediately halted when Johnny placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, really. I'm just glad you reconsidered. I always thought it'd be neat if we sang together."

"Yeah, I guess…" Ash looked down at her feet, trying to hide her fur turning red. It's just one song, no big deal, she told herself. We're just friends, nothing else

"Ash?" Johnny asked softly. "Are you…?"

"It's cool," she said, quickly snapping out of her thoughts. She went over to the piano and started opening up her case. "Let's get started. I take it you already told Moon about this."

"Uh, yeah, I did," said Johnny, pulling a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "He gave us a list of song recommendations, so we can start there."

Ash rolled her eyes, remembering the last time Mr. Moon suggested what songs she should sing. "This should be good. Ok, what are they?"

Johnny cleared his throat before reading off the list. "Um, 'Up Where We Belong'?"

"Nope. Next,"

"'I Got You Babe'?"

"Not happening."

"'You're the One That I Want'?"

"Not big on show tunes."

"Um… 'Barbie Girl?'"

Ash answered with a hard glare. "Not even if our lives depended on it!"

Johnny let out a heavy (if not agitated) sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. He admitted that he was necessarily crazy about the list either, but he knew they had to pick something by the end of the week. He skimmed through the other song choices to see if any of them possibly appealed to a rocker like Ash. "Oh! How about this one?" he said, showing her the paper.

As soon as Ash read it, she snapped "NO!" a bit too loudly.

"Wha? Why not? I thought you liked Alanis Marmosette?"

"No, I do! But…I just can't do that one. Not anymore…"

"I don't follow…"

Ash sighed and slumped down against the back of the piano, her fiddling with the strings on her guitar. Johnny figured this was going to be a heavy story, so he sat next to her, waiting to hear it.

"It…it was our song," said Ash softly.

"Our?" John asked quizzically. "Wait, you mean you and…?"

"Lance, yes." Ash placed her guitar on the floor and started pacing as she explained. "It was during our first date. We were at this weird coffee shop on the other end of town and it was playing on the jukebox. Once we heard it, we both went 'I love this song!' at the same time. Lance looked at me and then held my hand and said… 'From now on, babe, it's our song.' Ever since we broke up, I just can't listen to it without thinking about that day. That moment. Pretty pathetic, huh?"

Johnny didn't say anything at first as he ran her story again through his mind. "But…you liked it before you dated him, right?" Ash just nodded. "Well, then…take it back."

Ash looked up at Johnny, confused. "Take what back?"

"The song! It was your favorite song before it became 'our', um 'your', — Just think of when you heard it for the first time. Make it yours again."

Ash twisted on of her quills nervously. She appreciated what Johnny was trying to do, but she wasn't sure she could pull it off. There was too much emotional baggage. "I…I don't know…"

"Come on," said Johnny, picking up her guitar and offering it to her with both hands. "What have you got to lose?"

Ash looked into Johnny's eyes. He was being so sweet and supportive. No pressure, no badgering. Just a simple request to help her get over her pain. Giving in, she took the guitar and placed the strap over her neck.

"Ok, but just the first verse…"

Johnny held up his hands. "Fair enough," he said, then went to sit at the piano. "Whenever you're ready."

Ash took a deep breath, then started to play:

I had no choice but to hear you
You stated your case time and again
I thought about it…

You treat me like I'm a princess
I'm not used to liking that
You ask how my day was

You've already won me over in spite of me
And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet
And don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are
I couldn't help it
It's all your fault

It was hard for her at first. She kept having her mind go back to the coffee shop and seeing Lance across from her, giving her that deceiving smile. She was about to stop when she heard Johnny playing along on the piano. She couldn't remember if the original version even had a piano part, but the way Johnny was playing, it was like it was there the whole time. She kept her eyes on Johnny whenever her Lance memory tried to creep in, giving her the courage to go to the next verse. She felt her confidence growing, her voice getting stronger with each word and when Johnny joined in on the repeat of the chorus, her heart raced. Their voices sounded amazing together! Harmonized and flowing together as one instead of struggling to be heard like how she sang with Lance. They carried each other, supported each other. It was so equal, so fitting. She loved it!

Before she knew it, the song was over. "All right!" cried Johnny, clapping his hands. "That was great!"

"Yeah…" admitted Ash, feeling the giddiness subside. "Yeah, it was."

Johnny smiled and knelt down to Ash's level. "How do you feel?"

"I feel…like a weight was lifted. I forgot how much I loved that song. And, am I crazy or did you just play that all by ear?"

Johnny shrugged with a slight wave of embarrassment. "Well, Ms. Crawley said I was natural. I guess all those lessons sunk in, 'ey?"

"I'll say," Ash chuckled. "Maybe this will work. Us singing together, I mean. Sorry if I was…uh…"

But Johnny raised his hand, gently silencing her. "Hey, it's cool. I'm just glad you got your song back."

Ash blinked in surprise. "What? Don't you want to perform this for Noodleman?"

"Only if you do. I don't care what we sing so long as you're okay with it."

Ash was speechless. She never had this sort of treatment from Lance. Every gig they were able to land had to be his call. He would choose what they sang and when she was allowed to sing (if at all). She never had a say in anything they did. She was glad she never developed that trait with Brandy and Olive and she wasn't about to start with Johnny.

"We'll…put this on the back burner for now." She then took Buster's song suggestions, crumpled it up in a ball, and tossed it into the nearby wastebasket. "And I think we should brainstorm what to sing for Nana. Is that okay with you, partner?"

Ash offered Johnny her paw, which he eagerly accepted. "Ready when you are, mate!"

And the deal was made: Ash and Johnny were going to perform a duet!