Comfort after the storm

The day after the storm was a bit of a hectic one. The storm had done some serious damage over the neighborhood. At least one tree had fallen down on some poor family's home. But the damage was not that serious. The most damage came from fallen trees, collapsed poles and more of that. Dave, and some other people of the neighborhood were busy the whole day with fixing things, calling people and more so. Meanwhile, the chipmunks and Chipettes stayed at home, still talking about the storm last night. Or in Alvin's case …

"And I say you have cheated." Alvin said, still talking about that game of Marco Polo/hide and seek they played during the storm.

"Alvin, it was dark in most of the room and I just hid in places you didn't search in." Simon said, turning a page of the book he was reading.

"And still, you have cheated." Alvin continued.

"You were the one who gave up after 10 minutes, Alvin." Brittany said, looking outside the window to the people walking around, helping everywhere where the storm had done some damage.

"But …he …cheat …" Alvin stuttered. "I give up …again."

They all laughed. Simon noticed that Jeanette wasn't in the room. And considering what she and Simon went through tonight, he found it strange she wasn't spending every minute of the day around him.

"Anyone seen Jen?" Simon asked.

Alvin took a cheese ball out of the bowl that still stood there from last night. "In our room."

"What is she doing there?" Simon asked.

"Probably a bit embarrassed about last night." Brittany said. "Happens every time after a storm. She gets all ashamed about her reaction."

"Why?" Simon thought. "We talked about it last night. There's no need to be ashamed."

"Why IS she so afraid of lightning storms anyway?" Alvin asked.

"Something that happened before we knew you. But that will be a story for another time." Brittany said.

Simon walked to the stairs and hopped upstairs, one step with a time. Once upstairs, Simon took some time to catch his breath. "One of these days … really could us an elevator." He huffed. He ran on four paws to their room. He walked inside, and saw Jeanette looking out the window.

"Observing the damage, Jen?" Simon asked.

Jeanette hadn't heard Simon coming in. She screamed, lost her balance and fell of the sill plate. She fell hard on the floor.

"Jeanette!" Simon yelled as he ran to her. Jeanette sat up and shook her head. She picked her glasses of her nose to look for any damage. Simon approached her with a concerned look on his face.

"Everything okay?" Simon asked.

Jeanette smiled as she saw him, remembering last night. "yes, I'm fine. Just …don't sneak up on me like that." She tried getting up, but seemed to have a bit trouble doing it.


"A-are you sure you're alright?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." Jeanette said, getting up. She gave a squeal of pain and grabbed her ankle. "No, I'm not."

Simon lend her his shoulder to lean on as he guided her to a thick book to sit on. Once seated, Simon took a look at her ankle. The touch of his soft, yet firm hands on her ankle made Jeanette shiver. A good kind of shiver.

"Hmm, nothing bad." Simon said. "Just sit still for half an hour and don't put to much pressure on it after that. In two hours you'll be fine."

She kissed him on the cheek as a way to thank him. Simon blushed underneath his fur and guided Jeanette to the stairs. When Brittany saw that Simon was holding Jeanette, her first reaction was joy, but when she saw that her sister was in pain, she panicked.

"Jeanette?!" Brittany asked. "What happened? Are you alright? What happened, Simon?"

"Easy, easy, Brit." Jeanette said. "I just sprained my ankle a bit. Nothing much."

"She'll be eh, …back on her feet in a couple of hours." Simon said. "But don't let her run a marathon."

Jeanette gave Simon a soft push, which almost made her trip, which made Brittany give a squeal. She helped Simon with Jeanette for the last few steps.

"So, what happened?" Brittany asked as they walked to the living room.

"Nothing bad." Jeanette said. "I was staring outside the window, lost in my thoughts. I didn't hear Simon coming in and when he said something, he scared me, I fell off the window frame and fell on the ground a bit harder than I thought."

"So, same old clumsiness?" Brittany asked.

"Pretty much." Jeanette said.

Simon chuckled. Like he said, a couple of hours later Jeanette was already hopping around in the house, playing tag with everybody. The evening came and Jeanette decided to go to bed early, to catch up with some sleep she missed because of the night before. As she entered her room, she was already putting of some clothes, but she hadn't noticed Simon sitting on her bed.

"Lookin' good, Jen." Simon said, looking away.

Jeanette squealed and quickly put on her night dress. "Simon, are you crazy." She asked. "I could have no clothes on."

"Well, considering we all once walked around without clothes and that our fur coat covers everything, I think that would not be a problem."

Jeanette had to admit that Simon had a point. "Is there a reason you're sitting on my bed, watching me undress?"

"Well, how about some stargazing?" Simon asked. "The skies are filled with them after a storm. You can see ALL of them."

"Watching the stars?" Jeanette asked. "Sounds …romantic."

"Besides that, it's also fascinating." Simon said. "How about it?"

"Okay." Jeanette said, walking to the door.

"Wrong way, Jen." Simon said, walking to the window, jumping from the night stand to the window frame. "I have reserved a great spot on the roof."

"The roof." Jeanette asked. "I'm not very good with heights."

"We're chipmunks, Jeanette." Simon said, heights are a occupational risk."

"Still don't like it." She said, but she followed Simon to the roof anyway. They climbed to top of the roof and took a seat.

"Close your eyes." Simon said.

"Why …o-okay." Jeanette said, closing her eyes. She tried not to gasp when Simon gently raised her head. She loved how his paws felt on her cheeks.

"Open them up." Simon said.

Jeanette opened them and gasped when she saw millions of tiny lights on a dark ceiling. Simon was right, it was fascinating.

"Simon, …this, this is so…" Jeanette began.

"Romantic." He filled in, wrapping his arm around Jeanette's shoulder.

"Truly;" She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder, and putting her hand on his'. Their tails entwined each other as they watched the stars.

Jeanette shivered. "It's starting to get cold and I'm getting a but uncomfortable up here." She said. "Can we go a bit …lower?"

"sure." Simon said. They climbed down and took place near the window. Jeanette placed her head on Simon's shoulder again.

"Jen, about last night …" Simon began.

"Yes?" She answered, beginning to fear that he might have regretted it.

"I'm just want to make sure that it really happened." Simon said. "Did it?"

"It did." Jeanette said, looking in Simon's eyes, as he stared in hers'. "D-do you r-regret it?"

"Regret it? Never." Simon said, making Jeanette outing a sigh of love and relief. She wrapped her arms around Simon, who planted a kiss on her forehead. Jeanette blushed underneath her fur coat, thanking any Chipmunk-God out there that Simon couldn't see it.

"Last night was the best night of my life, other than the night you moved in with us." Simon said.

"Mine too." Jeanette whispered. "What does this mean, you know, for us?"

"I don't know." Simon said. He tilted Jeanette head up a bit, so they looked each other directly in the eyes. "But I really want to find out." His head started to lean forward, his lips nearing Jeanette's.

"Me too." Jeanette said, leaning forward also. Their lips were an inch apart, when Alvin loudly entered the chamber.

"And the crowd goes crazy! Alvin Seville has entered the stage! He's gonna …Oh, hey Simon, Jeanette." He said. "Did I …interrupt something?"

"You kinda have." Jeanette said. "Can you come back later …much later?"

"You know, I think I hear Brittany call my name." Alvin said, walking backwards to the door. "Better not let her wait." He ran outside, chuckling.

Simon shook his head. "I think that we're going to hear this from you're sister tomorrow."

"No problem." Jeanette said. "Then I'll tell Alvin she likes him."

"And I tell Brittany Alvin likes her." Simon said, chuckling. "Payback."

"Like they don't know it from each other." Jeanette said, leaning forward. "Where were we?"

"We were about to kiss, I think." Simon smiled, also leaning forward.

"That's right." Jeanette whispered. "We probably should …"

Jeanette's words were cut off by Simon planting his lips on Jeanette's. Jeanette threw her arms around his neck and both deepened the kiss. After a minute or two, they parted, both out of breath.

"That. Was. …" Simon said, panting.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Jeanette said, equally out of breath.

"Ready for round two?" Simon asked, pulling Jeanette closer.

"Always." Jeanette whispered.

And so it went for another half an hour, before Alvin and Brittany stormed in the room, arguing about something silly. Simon and Jeanette watched their sibling argue, before Theodore and Eleanor walked in the room, followed by Dave, who made sure that they all went to bed. From the darkness from the room, two Chipmunk-in-love stared in each other's eyes, even thou they were a few meters apart and they couldn't see each other. But they felt it. This was true love they felt.