Reconciliation?
Two hours later, Robin and Ramon walked into Hens Inn. They sat across from each other at a large round table and looked over the menus. Ramon glanced up to see Robin looking anxiously at the door.
"Your uncle will be here soon," he assured the young frog.
"But what if Hopper comes?" Robin said nervously.
"He'll have to go through me if he wants to lay a finger on you," Ramon said. He was determined, and Robin let himself relax.
A group of six penguins approached the table.
"Hi! May we take your orders?" one of them asked.
Ramon looked confused. "What happened to the chickens who worked here?"
"Oh, they're retired," a second penguin said.
"But we work just as hard as they did!" said a third.
"Yeah, we're good waiters!" said a fourth.
Ramon shook his head. "Are you? Because we've been talking for almost a whole minute now, and I still don't know what today's soup is."
"Today's soup is the Soup du Jour!" a fifth penguin shouted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As he drove, Junior kept glancing nervously at his father. Doc was rubbing his chest and his arm, coughing frequently.
"Are you alright, Papa?" Junior asked.
Doc nodded, forcing a smile on his face. "I'm just fine, Junior," he said. Then he pointed. "Let's go in here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ramon finished his meal quickly. He looked at Robin, who was still picking at the food on his plate.
"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" he asked.
"No," Robin said.
"I do," Ramon said. "So if Hopper comes while I'm gone, I want you to hide under the table, alright?"
"Okay," Robin said.
Ramon stood up and walked to the back of the restaurant. Robin wasn't worried. He was going to be with Uncle Kermit soon. He heard the door open and smiled. Maybe that was Uncle Kermit now. He looked up and saw a young couple walk in, hand in hand. Robin looked back down at his plate. Uncle Kermit would be there soon. He heard the door again and looked up.
This time it was Doc and Junior.
Robin felt himself drop to the floor beneath the table. All he had to do was stay there until Ramon got back. He could do that, right? It was easy enough.
He watched their feet walk through the restaurant until they reached the table right behind him. A chair scooter back, and Junior's boots took their place in front of it.
"Are you sure you're alright, Papa?" Junior was asking as he unrolled his napkin, dropping his silverware to the floor. He bent down to pick it up and something green caught his eye.
Robin turned to run but the hand was already around him, lifting him into the air.
"Look what I found, Papa," Junior said proudly.
Doc smiled at his son. "Let's go," he said.
A Cadillac, a banged up convertible, a brightly painted bus, and an old Volkswagon beetle pulled into the parking lot. Doc and Junior stood up and headed for the exit.
Kermit felt like he was walking on sunshine as he walked ahead of his friends towards Hens Inn. But he froze dead in his tracks when a man he immediately recognized as Doc Hopper came out. He heard a familiar little voice saying "Put me down!"
Before the Muppets even had time to react, Robin had been thrown in a cage in the back of the truck and Doc and Junior were putting on their seat belts.
Without even thinking, Kermit hopped into the truck bed right next to the cage.
"Robin!" he said.
"Uncle Kermit!" Robin said.
They hugged each other through the bars. Then the truck started to pull away.
"No!" Fozzie shouted.
"Everyone back in your cars!" Clifford said. "We'll follow them!"
Kermit and Robin clung to each other as they watched their friends run to their cars.
"Uncle Kermit?" Robin said, "What do we do now?"
Kermit looked grimly down at his petrified nephew. For a moment he really didn't know what to do. But he gave his nephew a reassuring squeeze. "Now we hope, Robin," he said. "Now we hope."
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