Note: Anyone who already read this, I'm sorry for the random squares. I tried to get rid of them, if they're still there I'm really sorry...I didn't put anything there that should have caused those squares to appear. Talk about a weird glitch. Oh, and if you want to hear the songs, check out my profile for links.

Please, if you haven't read my other stories, listen up: On my page there is a link to my petition to save our cartoon Chipmunks and Chipettes. Not only to bring back the old cartoon, but to tell them that we liked the cartoon better than the perverted live-action movie (I'm not talking perverted in the you-know-what way, I'm talking that they were taken from what Ross Sr. created and turned into something completely unrecognizable..and when Ross Jr. updated them to the 80s, at least they were still the same Chipmunks, just living in the 80s instead of the 60s where as the live-action Chipmunks were completely different). I'm calling to get quality cartoons back on our TVs, something we can be unashamed to share with the kids of today. Something that has the power to shape young minds in a good way.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. My friends, I give you my latest one-shot:

After-Adventure

"I can drive you girls home," Miss Miller offered, waiting for the Chipettes to shut the car door so they could take off. The old lady figured it would be best for Dave and his boys to sit and talk the whole thing out alone. But the girls weren't about to tell anyone but the boys that they lived in a tree house, so they fumbled for an excuse. "I'm sure your family is very worried…Although they probably don't know…"

"No, they know," Jeanette blurted out, getting a jab from Brittany. "They…em…Well, they were more than willing to accept this actually." That wasn't a lie. Her sisters had know because they'd all gone together, and Brittany had been more than ecstatic to go on the adventure.

"I find that hard to believe," Simon hissed at the girls as he leaned on the car door. Dave had already dragged Alvin inside, letting the other two linger for a little longer. Seeing as Alvin had been the master mind behind the whole thing, he was bound to get the worst punishment when all was said and done. He'd be lucky to be allowed to leave the house before high school graduation. Of course, they were a singing band so Dave couldn't be that harsh…

"Well they were," Brittany stepped up, knowing that the lack of confidence in Jeanette's voice would give them away. "And they weren't expecting us back for another week." Another truth. The whole thing was set to end a week later. The boys were glad it ended when it did. Dave came home early, so if they hadn't been kidnapped they'd probably have gotten away with it.

"Then they'll be happy to see you home," Miss Miller cut back in, but the girls jumped out.

"We really want to help explain what happened," Eleanor interjected. "Especially if Dave asks to hear our new music. I mean, that one we sang in Athens just can't be done right without us." The girls latched onto Simon and Theodore and raced into the Seville house.

"Nice cover," Brittany giggled.

"Do you even have parents?" Theodore asked shyly.

"No," Eleanor told him. "We've never had parents, and if anyone besides you three knew that then we'd be sunk."

"Girls?" Dave asked in surprise as the five chipmunks walked into the den where he was sitting in his favorite chair, Alvin on the couch with a blanket wrapped around him. None of them had changed clothes yet, not that the girls had to. Just Alvin and Simon (Theodore's was at least covering while Alvin and Simon just had a single brown cloth wrapped around them).

"We wanted to help explain before going home," Jeanette said as Brittany dragged them over to the couch. The six of them were still small enough to all fit on the couch. Dave caught Simon before he jumped up, wrapping a blanket around him for decency's sake. After they'd managed to all but stitch Alvin's lips shut in the car, Dave had started to calm down and had at least agreed to let them explain everything that happened before issuing the punishments, which were going to be the same no matter what had happened.

"Alright, you're all here, so start from the beginning." For once, no one spoke. They all just kind of looked at each other. "Alright…Simon, how did this start?"

"M-me?" Simon managed to whisper. Dave nodded. "Well…" He felt a jab in his side from Alvin on one side, Brittany on the other…Wait, Brittany? He glanced down the line and wondered how that had happened. They had to be conspiring to keep him from telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"The flat out truth, and don't skimp on the details." Simon gulped, pointing his face down while still looking up over the rim of his glasses. Dave sure was blurry, and that made him feel more comfortable. Blurry images were less threatening.

"Well, Alvin and Brittany…" The jabs again, and this time he pushed his elbows back so that theirs collided with his. It hurt him too, but at least they got the idea. "They were play ing the arcade game down at the little café we always go to, you know, Around the World in 30 Days. Brittany won…They got into a fight about who would win a real race…and that's when Clause bet a million dollars on the Chipettes and Claudia bet a million on us…"

"I thought you said 100,000?" Dave asked, looking at Alvin.

"That's the winner's prize," Alvin told him. "Which we won!"

"Alvin! We're not discussing that now. Actually, we're not discussing that every…Do you even realize how lucky you are for…" Dave stopped, taking in a deep breath before continuing. He was planning on saying 'for Miss Miller's reckless driving,' but that would take the edge out of the air and turn everything funny. "We're starting from the beginning. I think we know what happened over here…Calling me at three in the morning…"

"It was nine here."

"Three in the morning to put together a fake tape to trick Miss Miller…But what did you girls do?"

"We asked," Brittany spat out flatly. Alvin, who had missed what Eleanor said to Theodore, leaned forward so he could see around Simon. His eyes locked with hers and Brittany gave him the meanest 'not a word' glare she could manage.

"Your parents let you go…"

"Pretty much." Dave stared, dumb-founded. The other two girls just kept their mouths shut, knowing it was for the best that they didn't say anything. Sure, they trusted Dave, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to 'do something helpful' because they were orphans living in a tree house.

"After we packed we managed to convince Miss Miller that there was talk of a thief hanging around here so she shouldn't leave the house when we could just catch a taxi," Simon butted back in, having heard what Eleanor said. The girls were right about keeping it a secret, especially if they didn't want to go to an orphanage. Dave was great, but he would try to help and they didn't need that until they found someone to take care of them. Just now he'd be actively thinking about it instead of just wondering who their family was. "Which wasn't all that far from the truth…there were three break-ins before you left…"

"But they caught the guy," Dave reminded.

"I know…But Miss Miller didn't so that's what we told her." Alvin couldn't help but grin, this time elbowing his brother jokingly.

"What's with that smile, Alvin?"

"Simon kept saying the whole time how wrong it was, but he came up with that." Simon cringed a little, knowing good and well that, while he'd said it was wrong and he was just following to keep Alvin out of trouble, he'd wanted to go so badly. "He'll probably never admit it, but he had the time of his life." Simon didn't bother looking up. He wouldn't be able to manage a 'that's not true' glare because of how true it actually was.

"We were an hour late," Theodore recalled. "And Simon didn't get in the basket right away so when Sophie pulled the rope he had to run and catch on before we left him behind."

"And he got squished between our balloons," Jeanette added, then curled into a ball of shyness because she hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Mexico was so fun," Alvin butted in. "That was our first stop. Oh! We wrote a song on the way over there…Do you want to hear it?" Dave raised an eyebrow, silently debating.

"No," he said sternly after a minute. "We're here so you can tell me what you've been up to since I've been gone…"

"That's what we were up to though. It was really fun…"

"Alvin got kissed," Theodore giggled, getting the girls to yelp a big, loud 'what?' as they all turned to stare at Alvin.

"I didn't ask her to kiss me!" Alvin yelped in defense. "We were singing and she just kind of…Well…Leaped at me, actually…"

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it," Simon hissed quietly into his brother's ear. "I saw the look on your face…After you got over the shock."

"Yeah, and I saw the look on your face when you got stuck dancing with that maniac," Alvin hissed back.

"No whispering," Dave told them. "Tell me what else happened."

"We left," Simon stated…glancing at the girls, suddenly remembering they had gone to Bermuda. "Was there a hurricane?"

"Yep," Jeanette and Eleanor answered together. "It took forever to clean up the mess from our balloon."

"I'm sorry!" Brittany declared. "But that was the fastest way and I really thought he wanted to win as badly as Alvin did…"

"You only thought that because you were blinded by greed for the money," Eleanor spat at her.

"Girls!" Dave intervened. "If you're going to fight, you're going home. What happened after that?"

"A lot," Simon tried to get back on track.

"Alvin wrote two more songs while we were on our way to all the stops before Athens!"

"And they were actually really good. He learned a lot from you." Everyone turned to stare at Simon. Did he just compliment Alvin? "We had a lot of fun singing all our songs, plus Alvin's, when we were bored. It helped keep Theodore's mind off food."

"Which reminds me…" Theodore tried.

"Are you sure you don't want to hear any of them?" Alvin butted back in. "They are really, really fun…"

"No!" Dave tried, but Alvin didn't give up. He started singing 'Off to See the World,' and soon Simon and Theodore couldn't resist adding their voices to it. Dave just sighed, pacing around until they'd finished. The song did sound wonderful…But he had to focus on what they'd done.

"What about my song?" Brittany complained when the boys had finished. "You boys completely ruined it with your part!"

"Ruined it?" Alvin fought back. "We made it fun!"

"Oh yeah?" So then she started singing, and her sisters couldn't resist singing along. Right now, Dave looked like he was losing his anger completely as he listened to them. Even Simon was all for that.

"You're living in a man's world, they tell us,

But we ain't gonna buy it!

The things they're trying to sell us now!"

Dave went over and settled down at the piano, finally letting himself give in as he tried to follow the notes. Alvin jumped up beside him and whispered that they'd help later, even if this was Brittany's song.

"'Cause we're the girls of rock and roll!"

"Whooo-ooo!"

"Yeah we're the girls of rock and roll!"

"Ro-o-ock and ro-ro-ro-roll-a."

Alvin leaped over to the couch, him and his brothers once again finding the rush of adrenaline telling them to try to out-do the girls.

"Wo-o-oah, yeah!"

"The curtains up and I'm ready to go,

My guitar is in my hand.

There's nothing more that I'd rather do

Than play in a rock and roll band.

What we have is what we will be given.

Heading for the top…"

"Don't'cha'know?"

"We'll never stop believing now!"

Dave tried to cut in and stop the mayhem, but the kids were having way too much fun. He found himself running around while they insisted on singing. Finally, though, he had to put his foot down. He waited for them to run around, planning where they'd be. He latched his arms around Alvin and Simon's waists, holding them close. "Calm. Down."

"Yes Dave," Simon replied instantly. Alvin wouldn't stop squirming though. At least everyone had stopped singing.

"Everyone, sit back down. We're not done."

"We went to Cairo next," Eleanor told Dave as everyone headed back for their seats. "But the Sheik captured us and tried to marry Brittany. Then he gave us a baby penguin…"

"So while we tried to get our dolls back, Eleanor went and got the penguin," Brittany explained.

"We?" Jeanette said. "It was more like me. Do you know how scary that was, singing to those snakes?"

"Do you know how much fun you looked like you were having dancing with those snakes?" The battle could have gone on forever if they hadn't heard Dave clear his throat. "Well, anyway, then we all climbed out the window and on our way to our next drop-off, I asked for food and that's when we found out Eleanor got the penguin."

"Ellie wrote the cutest song for that little guy!" Eleanor blushed a little, smiling shyly. She'd never written a song before, but it had turned out beautiful. "And he was so happy to be home…But that's where we found out about the diamonds."

"Again with the attacking! Those people just never let up. But the penguins pelted them. Then we went to find the boys only to find that…" Jeanette leaped at her sister, wrapping both hands around Brittany's mouth.

"What happened then?" Dave insisted.

"I think the boys should tell you that part," Jeanette said through the best smile she could muster. "They know it better than we do, seeing as we just met up as they were leaving."

"That's where we ended up like this," Simon started.

"Yeah!" Theodore interrupted, hoping that he could work having Dave get dinner into his story. "We landed to sleep in the jungle and I was afraid, but they promised everything was alright…But these guys kidnapped me and just when I thought I was a goner, they gave me all sorts of food and started bowing to me! Apparently they thought I was their long lost prince!" Alvin and Simon's eyes were wide as they wanted to shut their brother up. Dave didn't need to know all the details. "But I forgot to go back and tell Alvin and Simon what happened, so they came looking for me and the people made them my slaves…"

"Yeah! And you made us get you food at all odd hours of the night too!" Alvin scolded his baby brother.

"Sorry…I was just so hungry. They really didn't give us enough food for the trip…And splitting the girls' food between the six of us was even worse! I'm so hungry!"

"We'll have dinner as soon as we're done here," Dave promised. "What happened next?"

"Well…"

"We sang Wooly Bully for them," Alvin interrupted. "And believe me, they can really party for being natives. But the Chipettes came and got us, telling us about the diamond smuggling that Clause and Claudia were doing, so we went back and got what we could put on the Chipettes balloon and left…Our balloon was trashed because we'd been there for over a week and all sorts of animals had ruined it."

"So we flew over Asia, stopping when we needed to," Simon added in. "And at the last stop in Japan we filled the balloon almost so full we couldn't fit in it so we would have enough to get us to Hawaii, and then to the airport where you flew in to…And when we landed Alvin made the mistake of holding up a ruined spear to try to hold off Clause and Claudia after telling them we knew what was going on."

"Brittany helped!" Alvin declared.

"Why did you have a spear?" Dave asked, stunning them.

"Um…The natives stuck it in the Chipettes balloon because we were stealing their Prince of Plenty?"

"Nice try. What's the truth?"

"The natives tried to sacrifice them," Brittany giggled.

"What?" Dave shouted, jolting as he looked over his three boys.

"Brittany!" the boys hissed, but it was no good.

"Eyes before eats, except after teeth," Simon mumbled. "It's an ancient tradition there, to sacrifice their Prince of Plenty so he can bless their land until he has to return. And we tried to stop them and got tied up too…"

"So we sang Wooly Bully to try to convince them not to sacrifice us," Alvin finished. "Or at least to slow them down until we found a way out." The two jumped as they felt two arms around them. They'd been looking at their feet, not noticing what was going on. Dave had been so stunned by the 'natives tried to sacrifice them' that he hadn't heard a word. He scooped them into his arms and went over and pulled Theodore close as well. "Eh…Dave?"

"You guys…are so lucky…"

"We know," Theodore said.

"You tried to thank them!" Brittany reminded him. "After they tried to sacrifice you!" But the girls were out of the picture completely. Not even the Chipmunks were hearing what Brittany was saying. They were just surprised how happy they felt to be so close to Dave right then. For the first time since they'd leaped out of the car, they were completely happy to be in his arms. They hadn't really realized how much they needed that hug until he scooped them all up.

"We'll never do that again," Alvin swore quietly, just loud enough for Dave and Simon to hear (Theodore was too far away even). "But it was fun…I was just so mad that we couldn't go with you…that you were leaving us and that…" He glanced at his brothers. Theodore was crying, Simon had tears in his eyes…Alvin wanted to cry a little too.

"Why don't I start dinner now?" Dave whispered back, only his whisper was loud enough for the girls to catch. He stood up, not letting go of them at first, but then setting them back down on the couch. "Girls, you're welcome to stay and eat with us if you'd like. Maybe you should call home and tell them that you're back."

"We will," Jeanette said quietly. Her sisters were too entranced by the fact that the boys all had tears in their eyes, even Alvin now. "Just, after dinner. I'm sure they'd be excited and want us home right away." Jeanette was trying hard not to cry herself. She wanted a hug from a parent, someone to say 'welcome home, even if what you did was wrong.' It rarely hurt her, watching other kids with their parents, but this time it really made her long for a father like Dave. Eleanor seemed to be thinking the same thing. Brittany appeared to just be wondering why Alvin was crying.

"Why didn't you tell him that you live alone?" Alvin whispered after Dave had gone to the kitchen.

"Because we don't want him to help and maybe end up in an orphanage where we can be split up," Brittany told him.

"We weren't as lucky as you three," Eleanor added. "Our mom didn't give us to someone that would take care of us…She just disappeared." The three boys went over to their respective Chipette and gave them the most comforting hug they could muster. "That's…That's how I was able to write my song…"

"Sing it for us," Theodore pleaded, hoping it'd make her feel better.

"It's hard to remember a summer or winter…"

Eleanor paused, thinking for a few seconds as she wiped away her tears. With a little, sly smile, she changed the words to her song.

"…that he hasn't been there for you.

A friend and companion

You can always depend on…"

She smiled up at the three boys.

"Your father, that's who you need."

Brittany smirked, poking Alvin's chest.

"You've taken for granted

The seeds that he's planted,

He's always behind everything."

Jeanette smiled sweetly at Simon, wrapping her arms around him because she needed another hug.

"A teacher, a seeker,

A both arms outreacher.

Your father, that's who we mean."

Eleanor wrapped her arms around Theodore as he burst into another round of tears. It was all she could do to hold back her own tears.

"Wish we could slow down the hand of time,

Keep things the way they are.

If he said so, you'd give him the world.

If you could…you would…"

Dave leaned against the doorframe as he listened to the girls. The kids really did have a lot of talents, talents that had been further developed because of this trip. Maybe it was for the better, for their personalities…But all this was really making him feel worse and worse about having to ground the boys. But they had to be punished because everything was wrong. Tricking Miss Miller, talking to strangers, making a deal with strangers, going to the house of strangers, trusting that the strangers would give them a safe means of transportation…Then there was the fact that it was obviously more Alvin's idea than anyone else's, but he had to be fair because they all went ahead with the plan…As Eleanor went into the next verse, the idea hit him. The perfect punishment and the perfect 'welcome home' present.

"Your love and your laughter, from here ever after,

Is all that he says that he needs."

The rest of the girls joined in, happy to show the boys what they could do.

"A friend and companion you can always depend on,

Your father, that's who you need.

Your father, that's who we mean.

That's who you need."

Alvin rubbed his eyes until they hurt. He was trying to catch his tears before they soaked his fur. Running around like they had been, having all that fun and all those bad times…He'd grown much closer to his brothers than he had been before. They'd found out things about themselves they hadn't expected…And now he was home. At first he'd been happy just because they weren't kidnapped, then he'd been afraid because they'd been caught…Now he didn't mind being grounded for who knew how long. He was home. He glanced at his brothers. They weren't even bothering trying to keep their fur dry. Simon's tears weren't as bad as Theodore's, but their cheeks were wet from the tears. Suddenly the whole thing felt like it had just been a dream that had only happened in his mind.

"How bad do you think the punishment is going to be?" he tried to steer them away from crying.

"Probably until we're in middle school," Simon said reasonably. "That's only fair, considering all we did and all the trouble we got into."

"Maybe he won't ground us," Theodore whispered. "There's other things we could do…"

"What's worse than being stuck in this house with no TV, computer or…or whatever else?" Alvin hissed. "Like…Simon, to you, what would be worse than taking away your science stuff in the basement?" Simon's eyes got so wide when Alvin said that that Alvin just nodded and turned to Theodore. "What about if he put you on a diet or something and didn't let you cook?"

"No!" Theodore yelled loud enough to get Dave to run into the room. "Sorry…Just…" They grinned up at him, trying to convince Dave that nothing was going on.

"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes," he announced, turning around and leaving.

"Remember that we're not in an air balloon where it's just the three of us anymore," Alvin warned. "We can't be as loud as we want anymore." That was one of the things they'd found out about Theodore. He could be loud. They'd also discovered Simon had nightmares more often than he'd ever admit (one of the things that brought them closer was waking up at odd hours of the night to comfort each other). Between Simon and Theodore, Alvin was surprised he was considered the loud one.

"I'm bored," Brittany said, examining her nails. "This is so dull, just waiting around and doing nothing."

"You never did anything in the balloon either," Eleanor scolded. "How's this any different?"

"We're home again, not sailing who-knows-how-high over the land and water…Dave didn't let us finish the story either, did he?"

"I'm pretty sure he knows how it ends," Simon said, a bit annoyed. Alvin sighed, jumping up on the piano bench and started plunking out the notes to one of his songs. "Look at the space that surrounds us..." Simon shook his head, shutting up, not wanting to ruin their surprise for Dave. They had agreed to save this song so they could sing it to him at a more special time than…well, actually they'd been planning on singing it to him right after Miss Miller left, but that was when they'd predicted they'd be home before Dave.

"Alright everyone," Dave called. "Come get washed up…no, wait. You two go get dressed, then wash up." Simon and Alvin couldn't help but snicker that Dave had forgotten what they were wearing. They hurried up the stairs, digging through their drawers for any clothes they hadn't taken.

"Aren't you glad I convinced you to pack light?"

"You convinced us?" Alvin laughed. "We took one bag! We fit what we could into it and nothing else." Simon glared at his brother for a second as he pulled his sweater on. It felt so good to 

be putting regular clothes on again. Even with their fur, they'd gotten extremely cold at times. Probably just because they were so used to wearing sweaters every day of their lives. "You tried to convince us not to go."

"None of that would have happened if we'd stayed here."

"Exactly! You can't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself. I saw you smiling, and when we were singing downstairs…" Simon tried his hardest to glare, but he couldn't. He couldn't keep himself from laughing, and that scared Alvin because Alvin was positive his brother was going nuts.

"You're right! I had the time of my life…Alvin, you did the stupidest thing ever, but I'd never have it any other way." Alvin backed up a few steps before realizing that his brother wasn't going nuts. Simon was being completely serious.

"You're welcome." Alvin smiled, pulling his pants on before glancing to the door. "Last one downstairs does the other's laundry."

"Deal." They raced, banging into each other in the doorway before tumbling out and flying down the stairs…Well, more like slipping and tumbling. Dave caught them at the bottom, and both of them broke out into a laughing fit.

"I think we missed something," Brittany whispered, staring, stunned, at the two brothers as they laughed in Dave's arms.

"I won!" Alvin declared.

"That was a tie!" Simon scolded. "And you know it."

"Yeah, I do. But it was worth a shot!"

"What were you two up to?" Dave asked, setting them down on the bottom step.

"Just racing." Alvin grinned; Simon rubbed the wrinkles out of his clothes.

"I can see that. Why?"

"Just for the fun of it."

"Simon, for the fun of it?" Brittany cut in.

"I know how to have fun," Simon announced, holding his head high in a sophisticated manner, looking at Alvin out of the corner of his eye.

"Believe it or not," Alvin said, walking past Dave and Brittany and heading for the kitchen to wash his hands for dinner. Simon smiled as he followed, the two of them leaving everyone else baffled as to what had just happened.

"Are you alright?" Eleanor snapped them out of it. Theodore was scratching his arm so fiercely that she grabbed onto his hand.

"Mosquito bite," he said, using his other hand to scratch his shoulder. "Many of them."

"You three were in an African jungle too," Jeanette announced, glancing up as Dave kneeled down to check some of those bites. "We got a few ourselves, but none that look that painful."

"Spider bites then?"

"Alvin, Simon, come here a minute," Dave called when he heard the water shut off.

"Yes?" Alvin said sweetly, peeking out of the kitchen.

"Did you get bite like these?"

"Em…yeah…" Alvin scratched at his neck. That one had been bothering him for a while, but he'd avoided it because he'd actually understood Simon talking about how dangerous those bites could be because of all the other diseases around the world that they weren't immune to.

"Me too," Simon said. He'd just forgotten to tell Dave because of all the excitement. Dave nodded, seemingly off in his own world. "Dave?"

"We have to get these checked out…" The three gulped, backing away.

"Doctor visit?" Alvin spoke for them.

"Exactly." Dave caught the three of them as they tried to run. "There are…"

"Many diseases that we aren't immune to." Everyone stared at Alvin, impressed. "I pay attention when I want to."

"So you know why you three have to see a doctor soon. I don't want you getting sick."

"We don't have to go tonight, do we?" Theodore asked.

"Of course not." They let out a sigh of relief. "I'll call and set up the appointment for tomorrow. It's too late to go tonight, and besides, we're all just about to sit down for dinner." They started squirming again. They hated doctors. Especially if Dave was going to take them to an actual hospital instead of just an office, which was more likely because of where they'd been. Those doctors always complained, and they noticed even though the doctors and nurses didn't think they did. The doctors seemed to be set that they were pets, not kids. But they'd never tell Dave that…he was doing it for their own good after all.

"Let's eat," Eleanor said, grabbing Theodore's hand as Dave set them down. "You're the one that so hungry, remember?"

"I think I lost my appetite," Theodore whispered.

…X…

"It could have been worse," Simon said as he found his 'Stress: How to Cope' book. With a smile, he put it on the far corner of the shelf, on the side with the books that he never read. The only thing that had been stressful was trying to keep Alvin from going in the first place. Once he'd accepted that they were on their way, the stress had slipped away.

"The rest of the summer…" Theodore said sadly. "No going to the ice cream parlor."

"Forget the ice cream parlor!" Alvin said. "He told us we'd have to carry all our junk to our end-of-the summer concert, set up and pack up by ourselves, and clean up after the fans!" Simon couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Would you rather have been grounded until high school?" his brother asked. "That's probably the alternative." Alvin glanced over as he hung his hat on his bedpost.

"Good point."

"Aren't they always?"

"Huh?"

"Aren't all my points good?" Simon looked over, his brother not comprehending. "Never mind." With a yawn, Simon set his glasses on the stand. The girls had left for home right after dinner, turning down Dave's offer to drive them. Then the boys had been sent straight to bed. Dave had been in about ten minutes earlier to bid them goodnight, and to promise to listen to their songs after breakfast.

"Goodnight," Theodore said as he curled up in his bed, leaving Alvin to flip the light between their beds off.

"Goodnight," Alvin replied as he curled up too, letting Simon flip off the other light.

"Goodnight," Simon finished, snuggling down into his bed. The beds were so comfortable, so warm, so welcoming. A big difference from the bottom of a hot air balloon basket, and definitely better than the rocky, bug infested ground. Alvin scratched at one of his multiple bites.

…X…

About three hours later, Alvin gave up on trying getting to sleep. He sat up in his bed, glancing at the beds of his brothers around him. There were lumps in the beds, so he didn't even bother checking to see if they were there. He jumped out of bed as quietly as he could, slinking down the hall and peeking into Dave's room. He took a deep breath, knowing that this was strange for him to be going to Dave for comfort, but he needed his dad. There was no way around it. He had missed Dave so much, and he knew he'd never be able to sleep if he didn't talk to Dave and apologize and…and just talk.

He quietly snuck up to the foot of the bed, peeking up over the edge. Something was off. It looked like there were three people there. "We hear you," he heard Dave say. "We're still up too." Alvin started to back down when he saw that his brothers had had the same idea as him. "Come on." 

Dave reached out his free hand (Simon was snuggled up against Dave's right side with Theodore snuggled up against him). Alvin leaped for it, closing his eyes as Dave hugged him close.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I know you are. So…was it fun?" Alvin peeked up, his blue eyes catching Simon's. He wondered how long ago his brothers had left and why he hadn't noticed. He hadn't slept a wink all night.

"A ton. We did so much…I wish we'd thought to take a camera. Brittany kept rubbing it in that she had taken enough film to last almost the entire trip. They'd run out just before going to Cairo. Of course, that wasn't supposed to be their last stop. They had four to go. We had three. That's why we won."

"Don't even start that. Money isn't everything and you know it."

"Yeah." Alvin snuggled closer. "I don't know what I'd have done if anyone got hurt because of that…I just didn't think of it that way until…well, until those creepy tribe-people attacked." He heard Simon laughing.

"It was your bright idea to try shouting for Theodore," Simon said. "But since we're talking about that…three in the morning? Theodore, what were you thinking?"

"I was hungry!" the youngest giggled.

"Hungry for mushrooms," Alvin laughed. Dave even had a little snicker from that. "I really hope it wasn't what I said that jinxed us."

"What'd you say?"

"You don't want to know," Simon told their little brother.

"What?" Dave insisted.

"He said 'I hope he chokes on them.' But that's just because he was grouchy because he'd been woken up to gather mushrooms."

"I took it back!" Alvin said. "I just spoke without thinking."

"Again."

"How do you think that jinxed you?" Dave asked, trying to keep a fight from erupting.

"Because right after I said it…" Alvin started, trailing off.

"I found a cave that told us that they were going to sacrifice the Prince of Plenty," Simon finished for him. "But we'd have found that anyway, and it's probably better that we did."

"Why? The only thing that happened was that we all got tied up instead of just Theodore. If we hadn't all been tied up maybe we'd have had a better chance."

"Because you're so impulsive that you tried to just jump in and kidnap Theodore back."

"How was I supposed to know they wouldn't buy the story that we were getting him ready?"

"Because they have tradition…"

"That's enough of that," Dave declared, squeezing the two closer. "Just be grateful the Chipettes got there in time. I know I am." Alvin snuggled closer. All three chipmunks yawned at the same time, so Dave started humming the best lullaby he knew. It was a bit girly, but it comforted the three. Dave had used to hum it to them when they had a nightmare and couldn't sleep. It worked better than a glass of milk. But what surprised him was that the three half-asleep Chipmunks started singing along.

"…You'll never know, dear,

How much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,

I dreamed I held you here in my arms.

When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken,

So I hung my head and I cried.

You are my sun…shine…

My only sunshine…"

Their words were broken by yawns, so they just gave up, content to let Dave hum it to them. While Dave didn't know why it was so effective, they knew perfectly well. It was the other lullaby their mother had sang to them when they were really little. They remembered both the lullabies perfectly, even though their mother had only reminded them about the one. And they had to admit, this one was more comforting when Dave hummed it.