A Heart of Gold

[The Count]

Um... Could we get more story please? Intrigued to see where this goes next, besides where it's currently stuck. Just wondering if there's something else this story's driving towards, some sort of final resolution or something. Oh well, post more please.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Ask, and you shall receive.

But do be warned. Teddy Bear Alert.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The hallway was unusually empty. There was no one there to question him, to give him a mischievous look, to fight for his attention in one way or another. And yet...

And yet, he felt bombarded.

All of a sudden, the things that haunted him seemed to stare at him, preparing to pounce.

He hurried to his room, hoping to reach the safety of his own bed before the attack.

He pulled his blankets up and curled into a tiny ball. He was home now, he was safe, and it was time to sleep. It had been a long day. It was very tiring, the excitement of having both his arms again...

Yes, both of his arms, a niggling little voice taunted. Now why didn't he put them to good use? There was more that he could do for them- why didn't he do it?

He rolled over.

As if he deserved to have both of his arms, a second little voice sneered. Didn't he remember how he had gotten hurt to begin with?

He rolled over.

The Eyes.

He rolled over.

There was more that he could do. Why didn't he do it?

"Do WHAT?" he snapped at the voice. So what if he was talking to himself. "What else can I do? They're over there and I'm here!"

There was a wrong he could right.

"How?" he demanded. "I don't know HOW!"

Yes. He did.

"No I don't!" he argued. "I... I can't. There's nothing I can DO now!"

Well now that was a lie.

"No… I..." He folded his arms around his head. "Leave me alone!"

The Eyes.

He bolted out of bed, out of the room, out of the house. He stumbled to the porch and snatched at the railing, gasping for his breath.

There. …There. Fresh air. He was a frog. He needed fresh air. That was all. Just... fresh air... clear the mind...

He sank down on the top step. He looked up at the stars. He looked down at his hands.

"If I could undo it," he whispered, "I would."

He looked up at the stars.

"If I had any chance to make it right..."

He could hear a persistent ringing that probably wasn't really there. He rubbed his head but... but wait... No, that was the phone!

He ran inside and snatched it. "Hello?"

"...Sir?"

"Rivers!"

"Am I wakin' you, sir?"

"No- no. I was up." Kermit sank down and sat on the floor. "It's good to hear from you, Craig."

"It's good t'hear your voice, sir. ...Sir? Do you ever… Ever wanna jest get away from everybody?"

Kermit thought about it. "Well no… not really," he said. "Tell me what's wrong, Craig. It's not something with Sally, is it? Or Betty Sue?"

"Naw, the girls are fine… It… It's Pa."

Kermit pulled his knees in to his chest. "Rivers?" he said. "Do you want me to come down there? It might help..."

"Maybe I should come there. …Aw, heck. He'll just say I'm runnin' again."

Kermit frowned. "Running from what?"

There was a sigh.

"I dunno, sir... He ain't said anythin' outright. ...Oh, maybe I'm just dreamin' it all up. I can't quite keep it straight sometimes."

"Yeah... Neither can I," Kermit sighed. "It's a fine line sometimes."

"...Have you heard from Geraldson, sir?"

"Yeah," Kermit said. "He said he's staying with his mom now."

"Yeah. That's good... that's good. I hoped that'd... work out."

Kermit nodded. "Me too," he said. He was quiet for a moment.

"And how 'bout you, sir? How's Robin?"

"He's pretty good," Kermit said.

They were quiet for a long moment.

"Sir? I- I can hear Betty Sue up. She probably heard me- I'm gonna go talk to her."

Kermit nodded. "Okay, Rivers. You say hi to her from me."

"Yes, sir! ...And, sir? ...Thanks for talking."

"Anytime, Rivers," Kermit said. "We'll talk soon, won't we?"

"Absolutely, sir!"

Kermit smiled weakly. "Good," he said. "Night, Rivers."

"Night, sir."

There was a click.

Kermit looked at the phone and shook his head. "Stop calling me sir," he whispered.

He stood up, hung up the phone, and slowly slid back down to the floor, deep in thought.

He had known Craig was having a rough time of it... But if his father was making it harder... or even just making it seem harder...

He sighed and set his head back against the wall.

They had done things... seen things... But the things they had done had needed to be done, to stop the things they had seen.

But the things they had seen were still happening, weren't they? Just because they couldn't see the things, didn't mean they had stopped. And what... what could they do now?

He hands spread flat and pressed against the floor.

You're home, Kermit. It's good here. Just listen…

He listened. He listened very closely to the darkness.

There was the bathroom door opening and closing. There was someone snoring... probably Sweetums. There was the faint sound of footsteps, coming closer... stopping...

He looked.

There at the corner, a cheek pressed against the wall, a soft robe wrapped around a body, a pair of concerned eyes watching him. Blonde hair framed her face, and a silky glove was set against the wall. "Why on earth are still awake?" she whispered.

Miss Piggy.

He silently reached his arms out to her.

She sat beside him and held him close. "Kermie," she sighed.

He snuggled his head closer. "Nights are hard sometimes," he explained. "It all comes back then..."

She pressed a soft kiss on the top of his head.

He looked down.

She frowned. "That bad?" she whispered.

"Sometimes," he said softly. He squeezed her hand.

She cuddled him closer.

"Craig was on the phone," he whispered. "We talked some."

“That's good," she whispered.

He burrowed into her arms. "Sometimes the worst part is not being there," he whispered. "I can't do anything for them anymore."

She sighed and hugged him tight. "Kermie," she whispered.

"It won't go away," he sighed. "That feeling that I owe them something... It won't go away."

She lightly rubbed his back. "Then do what we did," she whispered, hoping he wouldn't notice the lump in her throat.

He looked up at her, hopeful, desperate... asking. Just asking. Needing to know, but... just asking.

She lightly stroked his cheek. "We helped," she whispered. "We can't fight, but... but we can help. There's fundraisers everywhere, Kermie. You should see all the useless trinkets we've gotten, just for..." She gazed into his eyes. "We tried," she whispered.

He set his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead. He wrapped his arms around her neck and settled his head on her shoulder.

She sighed and hugged him snugly. "Mon Capitan," she murmured. "Maybe moi should tuck vous in."

He sighed and gripped her robe. "Maybe," he mumbled. After a moment, he lifted his head and looked her over with feigned suspicion. "Who changed your clothes?"

"Moi." She kissed him firmly. Then she scooped him up in her arms and carried him to the stairs. "Silly Kermie. You need your sleep."

"Piggy..." He squirmed. "I can walk..."

"So?" She kissed him again.

Before long, she was setting him down on his bed, but she did not see any reason at all to stop kissing him. Her arms slid around his neck. His grip tightened on her robe.

She settled him onto his pillow and stroked his cheek, smiling down at him. "Better?" she whispered.

He looked up at her, feeling a certain eeriness that he felt in his room. He clung to her robe and pulled back into her arms. "No," he said miserably, burying his face into her shoulder. "Not yet."

She wrapped her arms around him. "Kermie..." She rocked him gently from side to side.

He lifted his head slightly and saw a pair of big round eyes. He instinctively looked away, but- wait! He looked again. Those weren't The Eyes- they were Robin's eyes.

"Robin?" Kermit whispered.

The young frog's eyes darted between the two figures on the bed. "I- had a nightmare..."

Kermit nodded slightly. "Me too," he said. He pried one hand off of Miss Piggy's robe and reached out to his nephew.

Robin crawled onto the bed and curled into Kermit's arm. "What was yours about?" he whispered.

Kermit just shook his head. He hugged his nephew close and rocked him, much the way he had just been rocked.

In turn, Miss Piggy wrapped her arm around Kermit and kissed his cheek. "It's all right," she whispered under her breath. She examined the dark corners of his room, searching for the things that haunted him and wishing she could chase them away.

Kermit watched as, like so many times before, Robin fell asleep in his arms.

Then he settled against Miss Piggy's chest, and slowly drifted towards sleep. Occasionally, he would press into her more firmly, and pull Robin a little closer, trying to hide from something that he couldn't escape.

She held him protectively. When he was asleep, when he wasn't shuddering, his room seemed harmless. If anything, it was an asylum. She rocked him softly. If only she could take the pain away...

But before long, she had fallen asleep as well.

 

[The Count]

Yep... That's kind of what I was waiting for. Thanks Lisa... I'm just gonna go over here quietly and wait for more story, whenever you've decided on where to take this... And maybe I can decide myself on what to do about, eh, never mind. Just thanks.

 

[theprawncracker]

Oh Lisa... Ouch. Painful, but moving. I loved it. Especially Robin at the end. Poor thing, walking in on those two. But very, very good chapter Lisa, more please.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Oh Kermit....like Ed I had a feeling this was coming. It's one step forward and two steps back isn't it? But at least he has his friends, he's going to get through this. More when you have the chance please.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Chapter Thirty

It was early September now. Robin had started school again, and the show was progressing well. Kermit was generous in his support of the soldiers at every opportunity.

Now he was standing just behind the couch, watching the news with everyone else.

"Another attempt to disband the Child's Corps this week failed..."

Kermit shook his head and turned to leave.

"...When one military unit decided to charge the base in Baghdad. Casualties were high on both sides-"

"Robin, go upstairs." Kermit whirled around to stare at the screen. He gripped the couch.

"We don't know exact numbers yet, but the event has all ready been called a suicidal massacre. Officials worry at the effect this latest event will have on support for a war that some say has all ready gone on for much too long."

The screen flashed images of tiny bodies sprawled over distant ground before quickly moving on to the next story.

Kermit glared at the screen, his lower lip trembling. "And of course, they don't show our soldiers," he said. "They don't show our sacrifices. And they can’t show..." He squeezed the couch.

Fozzie put his hand on Kermit's shoulder. "Kermit..."

Kermit took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He pulled his hands off of the couch.

It was dented slightly where he had gripped it.

He walked towards the phone as it began to ring.

He picked it up. "Hi-ho."

"Frog?"

"Geraldson? Did you see the news?"

"Yeah. Hang on, I'll get Rivers on, too."

"Okay," Kermit said hesitantly.

There was a beep or two.

"We all here now?"

"Well, I'm here," Kermit said.

"I'm here, too," Craig's voice said.

"Well that's all of us, then," Bob said. "And we've all seen the news..."

Kermit sighed. "Anyone else notice that they didn't show our side at all?"

"Sure did, sir," Craig sighed. "And everybody's gonna notice what they DID show."

"Stop calling me sir," Kermit mumbled.

"Old habit, sir."

"Boys... you DO know what's gonna happen now, don't you?" Bob said. "I mean... I don't know how much they covered it where either of you two are, but they're making a big fuss of it here. It's all over everything."

"Well, I haven't seen it too much yet," Kermit said. "But-"

"KERMIT!" an alarmed voice called from the family room.

He hesitated. "Hang on, guys..." He stretched the cord as far as it would go and straightened his arm to get a peek at the television screen.

They were channel surfing. Every channel was showing one of two things- either a commercial or the Child's Corps Charge.

Kermit walked back to the phone and away from the television. "Scratch that," he said. "It's on every channel."

Craig sighed. "Why?" he said. "What's so appealing about seeing... seeing that?"

"There's nothing appealing about it," Kermit said. "I- well hopefully people will just be disgusted by it, turn it off, and not think about it too much."

"You've got an awful lot of hope, Frog," Bob sighed.

"To a flaw," Kermit sighed. "But... but maybe people will at least think about... I mean... We lost people too, you know?"

"Of course," Bob said. "But they just sort of brush right over that. Who wants to think about what we lost. All that matters is what we DID, and we..."

"…Yeah." Kermit set his back against the wall. "We."

The line was silent for a moment.

"But we done the right thing, right?" Craig burst slightly.

Kermit sighed. "Yeah," he said quietly.

"We just gotta show everybody else that," Bob said. "Before they start calling us... whatever they're going to call us."

"Yeah," Kermit said. "...Yeah."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

It was mid-rehearsal one day when Miss Piggy heard a knock on her dressing room door.

"Entres vous!" she called.

A cheerful green head poked in. "Hi-ho."

She smiled at his reflection in the mirror and rose from her vanity to greet him. "Oui, Mon Capitan?"

He smiled and reached out for her hand. "We got a call from New York today," he said.

"Oh?" she said, touching her free hand to his shoulder. "And what does that city want?"

"Who said it was that city? Maybe it was that state," he said.

She measured the look in his eyes. "It was that city," she said. "Now what did they want?"

"To see us," he said. "They said they want a frog and a pig, and I don't think they meant Robin and Link."

"Not Link, anyway," she said. She stepped a little closer. "And just when do they expect to see us?"

"Three weeks from today," he said. "There's a party, and then a show the next day. I was thinking we could make a little trip out of it... if you're interested, that is."

She slid her arm around his neck. "Vous may tell New York that moi will be there," she said quietly.

"Oh, good," he said, fiddling with her fingers a little. "And ah- the rest of the trip?"

She smiled as she pressed her forehead against his. "Would I miss it?" she murmured.

He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Terrific," he murmured.

She made a move to kiss him.

He dodged it to give her a peck on the cheek. "Piggy?" he said, almost apologetically.

"Hm?"

He took a deep breath. "Well uh- it just so happens that uh, Bob lives in New York..."

"Is that so?" She pulled him all the way into her dressing room and closed the door. She gave him a playful glare. "And is that the only reason for this... little trip?"

He gulped and looked her over. "It's an added bonus," he said steadily.

She held him close. "Good answer," she whispered.

"You don't mind, then?" he smiled.

"Not at all," she assured him.

"Thank you." He kissed her cheek. "There was something else I was supposed to tell you, too, um..." He thought.

She waited impatiently.

He made a face. "Oh yeah," he said. "Scooter wants me to tell you that you're on in five minutes. But to be honest, don't worry about it, because the act that's on now is gonna make a big mess of the stage and have to run it fifty times. ...I guess I should supervise."

She giggled and kissed his cheek. "You should." She giggled as she watched him turn towards the door with a sigh. "Speaking of Scooter," she said, "Vous may want to have him make whatever reservations we need for that... little trip."

He smiled at her from the door. "Oh that's okay," he said. "I can take care of that."

She smiled. "Not Scooter?"

He snatched her wrist and pulled her close for one long, sweet kiss. "Not Scooter," he murmured. He released her and turned to go. "I'll see you when the stage is intact again," he said.

She leaned against the doorpost and watched him scat his way down the stairs. "Of course," she murmured under her breath. "And I'll see you in New York..." She sighed. "I hope these three weeks go quickly!"

 

[redBoobergurl]

Ooh, this chapter was two fold. First the horror of the Child Corps massacre and Kermit on the phone with his solider friends...but then the ushy gushyness of Piggy and Kermit preparing to go to New York. You're so good at toying with several different emotions at one time! More good stuff as usual, can't wait to read more!

 

[The Count]

This was the kind of chapter I like. The main drama gets a bit more action/exposition... And the UG isn't too overdone. Rully got hit hard by the conversation between Kermit and his war buddies, good thing Robin was sent to his room before then. And I rully rully like the action at the theater, makes it seem like home away fromhome.
More please... When you can of course. And don't think you can fool us young kittens... A warm bath's all you need and then off to more story.

 

[Leyla]

"Robin, go upstairs." Kermit whirled around to stare at the screen. He gripped the couch.

<shivers> Oh, that's not any easier to read the second time through... just chilling Lisa... gosh... how very awful. I like the detail of Kermit's grip leaving a dent, and the fact that Bob called him right away. They certainly understand each other... and Kermit really needs that... someone who understands completely.

"Stop calling me sir," Kermit mumbled.

"Old habit, sir."

<grins>

"You've got an awful lot of hope, Frog," Bob sighed.

"To a flaw," Kermit sighed. "But... but maybe people will at least think about... I mean... We lost people too, you know?"

Yes. He does. If only we were all so flawed. Gosh, I love that frog.

SQUEAL!! THE TRIP!!!! AAHHHH!!!!

<cough> I mean... very good, Lisa.