WARNING - tissues needed ahead!! 
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He had left the condo in silence, his hand curled around the ring. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Why did they always have to fight instead of just talking? It seemed to always culminate in either her slamming a door in his face or him raising his voice to her, saying things he didn’t really mean.
This time it seemed to cost him his future.
The cold metal of the band in his hand reminded him of that fact. There would be no future for them together now.
He had to pass the theater in order to get to his small apartment, and he wasn’t looking forward to facing any of his friends at the moment. He kept his head down as he walked on by, letting his feet just carry him.
It just happened to be his bad luck that most of the muppets were outside carrying on as the theater closed for the night.
“Hey, Kermit,” Gonzo was the first one to notice him passing. “Didya find Piggy?”
Kermit didn’t reply, but just kept on walking.
“Uh-oh.” Rowlf said slowly as the meaning dawned on him. “Trouble in paradise again.”
“Wait,” said Fozzie. “It can’t be all that bad, Kermit.”
Kermit stopped for a moment and looked back at all his friends. “Thanks, guys, but I’m really not in the mood to discuss it.”
“We’ll be here when you are.” Rowlf assured him.
Kermit just bowed his head and left.
“That is one sad frog,” Floyd observed and looked over to Janice. “One really sad frog.”
“Rully. Like, I’ll go over to Piggy’s in a bit and see if I can get her to tell me what’s going on.” She said while tossing her blond hair out of her face.
Robin was sitting on the stairs, halfway to the bottom one and sighed. “Poor Uncle Kermit. All he wants is to be happy.”
They all nodded and watched as Kermit disappeared from view.
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(Three weeks later)
Kermit stood on the cluster of rocks that served to break the waves at high tide on the beach. He gazed out at the open sea as the sun finished setting in front of him. He had come to sit out on the rocks and clear his mind hours ago, and he was still here.
Everything was falling apart. The ratings on the show had dropped, due to his lack of interest in it. The other muppets were trying hard, but it just wasn’t good enough to keep the show up. He hadn’t seen Piggy since that night, and he felt even more depressed as time went on.
It was Rowlf who had suggested that he come out here. It was the dog’s favorite spot for sitting and composing tunes, so he thought it might help Kermit to come by.
It was still a bit nippy, especially at night, but Kermit went anyway, taking along one of his overcoats with him. As the evening turned dusky, he realized that it had been a wise choice, and had tossed it on.
The waves did have a somewhat calming effect, he tried to let his troubles roll off him and out to sea, but they wouldn’t go completely away. He knew why, too.
In one pocket of the coat his hand wrapped around the ring.
In order for him to move on, he was going to have to sever all his emotional ties to his past. Which meant letting Piggy go, in his mind and in his heart.
He took out the ring and looked at it again. What had once represented his joy, now filled him with sorrow. “I should never have done it,” he said to the darkening sky. “I should never have opened myself that way.”
A single tear welled up in his eye and broke free, slowly sliding down his green cheek and stopping at his chin for a moment before breaking free to drop onto the rock below.
It was followed shortly by another, and then another as he wept for his lost love. He had never cried like this before, but once he started, he found it very hard to stop. He found out too late that he wanted and needed someone to comfort him. Oh how he longed for a shoulder to cry on at this moment.
All he had was the waves, and they weren’t much comfort. They splashed up and crashed against the high rocks, making him feel even sadder. All alone and miserable, he felt like a total failure.
After a while, in which the sun finally disappeared from view to be replaced by the moon and a few stars, Kermit’s tears eventually stopped and he was able to take a cleansing breath.
“Goodbye, Miss Piggy,” he said solemnly as he prepared to toss the ring into the ocean.
He was just about to release it, when he heard a sound from the beach below. There was someone else here, and he had wanted this to be a private moment for him.
He was certain that the person hadn’t been there when he had arrived, for he had examined the beach.
Curious who would brave this nippy weather in the evening he climbed down from the rocks and tucked the ring safely away into one of the pockets on the inside of the coat.
Once he reached the beach, he realized that the other person was crying as well. Low and miserable sobs reached his ears. He was torn from going any further, or just leaving the person to their own privacy, but then he remembered how much he had needed a shoulder to cry on himself.
The least he could do was offer his shoulder. As he got closer he recognized who it was.
Piggy.
She was sitting in the sand, her head upon her bent knees and she was shaking. Both from the sobs and apparently from the biting wind which had nothing to break it this close to the shoreline. At least the rocks had offered that bit of protection.
He couldn’t just leave her there, not this late, and not like this, no matter how he felt personally. He removed his coat, glad that he had grabbed his oversized one and walked up quietly behind her.
With a grace he really didn’t feel, he slipped the still-warm fabric over her shoulders and said simply, “You looked cold.”
Startled she looked up at him and he could see the tear-tracks on her cheeks. “I’m fine.” She said and tried to remove the coat.
“No, you’re not. You’re shaking like a leaf.” He pointed out.
“I’m fine,” she insisted and then had to turn away from him to sneeze as the wind blew right at her, therefore proving Kermit right. “Heh-heTshh!”
“Bless you,” he said quietly and kneeled next to her.
“Thanks,” she said and gave up the fight over the coat. “Won’t you be cold?”
“Nah, I’m okay.” He reached over and into one of the pockets of the coat and withdrew a handkerchief. He shook it out and offered it to her. “You look like you could use this as well.”
“Oh, Kermie,” she said and started to cry again. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He felt his heart tear into a million pieces as he watched her. “Well,” he said as he used one hand to wipe the tears still coming out of her eyes. “It could be because I hate to see pretty women sitting on the beach at night, sobbing their hearts out.”
She continued to cry, and he had to fight himself not to give in to the temptation and comfort her fully. He held out the handkerchief again and this time she took it and blew her nose gently.
“Or it could be because I still care,” he admitted to her. She looked up at him now, her nose red from the crying and the cold wind. “I was doing just this same thing, Piggy. I know how miserable you are feeling and I want to help.”
“That- that is so thoughtful of you,” she said and had to take a deep breath so she wouldn’t start crying again.
“That’s me, I guess. Mr. Nice Guy.” He shrugged his slim shoulders.
The waves continued to crash onshore, lapping at the beach and coming pretty close to where they were sitting. Kermit watched one break and then turned back to where Piggy was idly wringing the handkerchief in her hands.
“I didn’t mean it.” She said suddenly.
“Mean what?” he asked.
“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. I still love you too much to hate you.” She said then let loose a new flood of tears and buried her face into the handkerchief.
Kermit shivered slightly, as a breeze blew over him. He covered the motion by shifting his weight until he was sitting and no longer kneeling. “I know you do, Piggy.”
That stopped her again. “Y-You do?”
He nodded. “Well, I wasn’t sure, but now I am,” he said and reached over to her. “Why else would you be out here, risking pneumonia just to sob at the beach?”
“Oh, Kermie!” she wailed. “I don’t want to lose you. Please tell me it’s not too late to save our relationship.”
He looked at her and had to keep from shivering again. The last thing he wanted was for her to start to worry about him. “I think that we’ve tried too many times already,” his voice dropped really low. “I don’t want to keep going through this with you every time we disagree. I’m so tired of fighting, Piggy.”
She sighed, knowing inside that he was right. Every time they had a disagreement, it turned into a major fight. “Give me one more chance, Kermie,” she pleaded.
He bowed his head low, hating himself for saying the next words. “I can’t, Piggy.”
“Do you not love me?” He heard her voice start to break again and knew more tears were coming.
“Piggy, I never stopped loving you, but this has to end. You hurt me badly this time.” He still remembered how torn he felt when she had taken his ring and thrown it at him like it was from a bubblegum machine and not a token of his love for her. It was as if she had torn his heart right from his chest and stomped on it.
She nodded and had to swallow the lump that was rising in her throat. “Then I guess this is it, right? I can’t see you anymore after tonight.”
He nodded, then shivered and this time she caught the movement. “Why, Kermie, you’re cold!”
He had to admit this time, she was right. He was cold, freezing in fact. “I think we should move this talk to a warmer location.” His body betrayed him and shivered again.
She stood up and helped him to his feet, but his legs were partially numb from the cold and sitting for so long. She caught him as he fell.
It took two tries for his legs to grow steady and she insisted that he let her support him. This time it was his turn to twist his face from her and sneeze. “EhhKessh! Ehh-aeshhh!”
“Oh Bless you, Kermie!” she said as she led him away from the cold water and colder air.
He nodded his thanks and let her practically carry him back to her condo, which was much closer than his apartment. Truth was, he was not feeling very well anymore. His weeks of depression had weakened his immune system and his own personal release of pent up emotions earlier had drained him. Combined with the cold, he was now sure he was coming down with something, and that very fact was confirmed when Piggy let go of him to turn on the lights in her room and he hit the carpeted floor, unable to bear his own weight.
She had gasped at the sight, and quickly picked him up and placed him on her sofa. He had one conscious thought before blacking out completely. He was glad she had finally cleaned up the feathers before laying him down. Then he passed out completely, leaving her there very worried.
~To be continued in part 12
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