FanFic: The Bonds of Family

[ReneeLouvier]

Chapter Sixteen

The house was filled with rattles and crashs and bangs, when Scooter woke up. He wondered why Chef was up this early. He turned over and saw the silvery black clock sitting on a dark mahagony table. That wasn't his table. He blinked, and sat up. Putting on his glasses he backed up in the bed. This wasn't his room!!

"Oh...where am I??" He asked himself softly, then he stepped out of the bed, and saw he was still halfway dressed. He still had his jeans on, but no shirt or shoes. He saw himself in the large mirror across the room. Then it hit him where he had been for the night.

He felt like his heart was going to stop just then. "I'm never going to live this down." He said to himself once more. Someone knocked on the door. "Uh, yeah?"

"Comeon, get decent. Breakfast." Sara stated from outside the door. She walked back into the kitchen, just in time to pull the toast out before it burned. "Ah..ah...crap...good...it's okay." She sat the hot pan of toast on the sink, letting it cool off before plating it up. It was eggs, toast, sausage, and coffee.

Scooter yawned and walked inside the kitchen, still without a shirt and shoes, and Sara snickered. "Feeling already natural in here, huh?" She smirked at him, then sat down. "It's not a whole lot, but it's something."

"Looks great." Scooter said smiling. He sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee, and just looked over at her. She was wearing a long yellow shirt, over a pair of black pants, and wasn't wearing shoes right now. Her hair was a mess, she looked like she just rolled out of bed and made breakfast.

"After breakfast, I'll drop you off at the boarding house, okay?" Sara said, as they were eating.

"Why can't I just spend the day with you?" He then asked her.

"I don't really have the time today. I've got to get these articles done for the paper, hun. And I've gotta go get pictures of the new grocery store, and also help break ground for new park. Got a lot on my plate today, Scoot." She said, frowning for a moment. "I really wish you could tag along, but as I'm already in their way enough, having someone else hanging on me would just infuriate them more."

"Them?"

"Yes. The people who funded the new park and grocery store. Some new company called 'Denays'. Sounds like some high power company and all." Sara shook her head, taking another sip of her coffee, and frowning into it. "I wish they'd get out of Hensonville. They've threatened Kim with eviction twice."

"They've threatened Kim!? That's the bookstore though, she and Lisa live there..." Scooter said, quite astonished.

"I know. And I used to live there myself. And can't believe what they're trying to do to my sisters. I've told them, if they couldn't win the fight with them, they could come and stay with me. Don't have much room, but they are my sisters." She nodded, and frowned a little bit.

"That's just horrible. What do you intend to do about it?"

Sara nearly coughed on her coffee then. "Me!? I'm just one person, I can't do anything about it, hon. I've heard horror stories about people who try to go against them. They sue them within an inch of their lives, and they end up homeless and an outcast!"

"You can live with me, at the boarding house then." Scooter said, with a finality she had never really heard before in his voice.

"...Really?"

"Really. I mean...I would never want to see you, or your sisters out on the streets. All of you can come and live at the boarding house. We've always got rooms open." He said, trying to hide the fact that he really loved her, and that he would do anything for her.

Sara smiled, nodding. "Thanks....before I try to do anything with them though...I'd want to be a bit more finachally secure then I am now. I'm barely making ends meet as it is. Kim is taking care of Lisa, and I'm watching out for them both as well."

"Kinda tough being the middle sister, huh?" He said, smiling.

"Sorta. Kim's hardly ever there though, she's usually off somewhere getting more books for the store, or she's holed away in her room, doing research. Last time I saw her actually, was when I was moving my last stuff out of the bookstore, a couple of months ago."

"What about Lisa?"

"She's usually asleep. Poor thing wears herself out all the time. She's usually asleep, snoring into her Jewish studies book, or into one of her own books or notebooks. Either that or she's so deep into a book, you can't pull her out of it." Sara laughed a little, remembering this one time Lisa was just raving over one of her articles. "Or she's yelling in happiness over some book or article she's reading. I know she's reading something she loves when I started hearing 'Holy Mosqutioes!' all over that old libary!"

Scooter started laughing a little bit, then he sighed, looking at his watch. "I guess you need to get going huh? It's nearly 9 am."

"Huh?" Sara turned around and saw the clock on the wall, and she gasped. "Oh no! I was supposed to be there at 8:55am!!!"

Sara jumped up, and ran to her bedroom, to get dressed in a flash. She took a quick shower, washed her hair, brushed her teeth, got dressed in a stylish pantsuit, and grabbed her Press Badge. She bolted back outside to the kitchen, and gulped down the rest of her coffee. She saw Scooter standing by the door, completely dressed now, ready to go.

"Let's get going, Scoot! You are coming with me today, cause I don't have time now to drop you off at the boarding house or the theatre!" Sara said, as the two ran out the door to her car, and they nearly sped off towards the new grocery store.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Chapter Seventeen

They pulled up to the new grocery store, and Sara stepped out from her car, and checked her watch. She was only 5 minutes late, good. Back in the car, Scooter was still tightly gripping the door handle, he felt like his eyes were gonna bug out of his head.

'I'm never letting her drive again with me in her car....' He thought over and over, but after a few minutes of not moving period, he got a bit more relaxed. He looked over to where Sara was now arguing with a thin man, who was bald.

"I have told you Ms. Vines. Late again, and you're fired." The thin man spat at her, she glared back at him, her own temper flaring now.

"Mr. Wonkins!! I was only late by 5 minutes! For that matter, no one else is here yet! What would it matter anyways! I would have been standing around in the lot, just waiting for someone to show up!" She said quite forcefully back at him.

"I'm sorry Ms. Vines. You are fired. Give me your press badge, and I do not expect to see you at the opening of the new park today either. Understand?" Mr. Wonkins said icily, his hand extended to take Sara's press badge.

"FINE!" She slammed the badge down into his hands, frowning deeply. "I'd like to see you find someone who can replace me, you old disagreeing skinflint!"

Sara stormed back to her car, in tears now. She opened the car door and sat down heavily, staring at the steering wheel. Without a word, she got back out of her car, and walked over to the passenger's seat, and looked down at Scooter for a moment.

"Can you drive?" She barely managed to whisper. He nodded and got out of the car, then walked around to the driver's seat, and got in. He didn't start the car though, but he looked over at her for a moment.

"What happened? I saw the fight...but I couldn't hear what happened.." He said softly.

"I got fired." She said, trying her hardest not to cry. She looked over at Scooter, her eyes stinging, her cheeks hot. "...I got fired from the state newspaper..." She then broke down in the car. She didn't have a job now.

Scooter reached over, and then shimmied over to where she was, and she leaned against his shoulder, crying. He gave her a tight hug, and comforted her. Usually when people lost their job, it really wasn't a huge thing most times. But for her, she had had this job, ever since she was out of high school. She had crawled and clawed her way, honestly, up to Senior Reporter status.

Another, shorter man walked over to Mr. Wontkins and looked towards the car for a moment. He saw that she was crying, and he frowned. "Why did you fire our best reporter, Wonkins?"

"She had too many ideas in her head." He said, simply, looking over the new grocery store. He was looking over some papers, trying to find another reporter who could come in for her. "Wilkins...she was a changer. She went against the grain of how we do things here at The State."

"She was our top reporter, Wonkins! Now who will we find to replace her!?" Wilkins said incredously. Wonkins expression got a bit horrifed then.

"I have no clue, Wilkins." Wonkins said, frowning. Wilkins poured himself a cup of coffee, then handed one to Wonkins, who waved it away. "Don't drink the stuff, Wilkins, too much caffienee."

"Well, you should. It's really good." Wilkins said, walking back to the truck.

----------------------

Scooter pulled the dark car up into the driveway of the boarding house, and they just sat there for a moment. Sara had stopped crying a long time ago, but the memory was still fresh and painful.

"Let's just go inside, okay? Relax some, and then we'll figure out how to deal with this later today." He said softly, as the two of them opened the doors to the car.

Kermit was sitting in the windowseat, watching them. A small smile was across his face. He looked out to the living room for a moment. Nearly everyone was sitting in the living room, waiting for Scooter to come home. Most of them didn't notice that Sara was with him. "Oh, good." Kermit said softly, when she saw both of them walk out from the car. "They're safe."

"Who's safe, green stuff?" Floyd asked, from his perch on the couch.

"Like, who's in the driveway?" Janice then asked, curious, as she couldn't see out the window properly from her vantage point.

"Scooter's back, with Sara. They're both safe...but something's wrong." Kermit said finally, when he got a good look at Sara's face. He saw that she had been crying for sometime now.

"Go Scooter!" Clifford yelled, as the front door opened, and the two of them walked inside. It also didnt' help that Scooter had his arm around Sara's waist as well.

"When are you two getting hitched?" Dr. Teeth asked, to which Scooter did a double take.

"Married!? What?? No!!" He said, as the two then slowly made their way into the kitchen. "Can we please have some privacy please!"

"Sure, the bedroom's up there, gofer!" Floyd said laughing.

Scooter frowned. "Not THAT type of privacy...geez, guys! We're not going to get married, yes she's my girlfriend, quit bugging me about it please! She's had a really rough day, and I when I said privacy, I just mean I don't want everyone following us into the kitchen!! We just want to talk alone!!" He yelled out, over the clamor that had already started in the living room.

"Oh." Janice said finally, through the silence that had fallen over the entire group just then. "Well...uh....like I guess we'd honor that. Rully, just wanting some time alone with your gurlfriend ain't that bad, right?" She said softly, knowing the many times she and Floyd had wanted privacy from the rest of the band, just to talk.

Everyone agreed with Janice, and with that, Sara and Scooter made their way into the kitchen. They sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen, and Sara frowned softly. She laid her head down in her hands, and sighed.

"I can't believe Mr. Wonkins fired me, Scooter!" Sara said, exhausted.

"She got fired, guys!" Robin said, his head pressed to the door, while telling Janice who told Clifford, who told Gonzo, who told Fozzie, and Fozzie told everyone else in the room.

"It can't be that bad you know. I mean, you're a really great reporter honey...you're bound to find another job somewhere." Scooter said, smiling taking her hands in his.

"Scooter just said she's a great reporter, and she could probably get another job somewhere. He called her honey!" Robin relayed yet again, down the telegraph line of muppets that were crowded around the kitchen door.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Fozzie said softly, smiling.

"Yeah...I guess so. I mean...I just..." Sara paused for a moment, and looked at him, smiling. Then she frowned for a moment. "You're not looking too good, Scooter."

"She just stammered...and...I think she just said that Scooter wasn't looking good." Robin said once more.

"It was probably just so much time in the swamps. I don't really like it when Kermit just up and decides in the middle of shooting to go and visit his family..." Scooter said, a slight frown playing across his face.

"Scooter said he dosnt' like when Uncle Kermit decides to go to the swamp in the middle of shooting." Robin said, frowning slightly. He loved it when they went to the swamp, and hearing his friend say that made him a little bit sad.

Sara perked up a little bit, and heard Robin talking outside the kitchen door, and she smirked a little. Scooter didn't notice it at all. "Yeah, I guess so. But, I mean...what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Sara. Um...I do have something to...to ask you though..." Scooter said, smiling quite widely then.

"Sara just asked him, 'What are we going to do?' then Scooter said he had something to ask her." Robin said, straining to hear them. The dishwasher that Chef had loaded, just started up in it's rinsing cycle, so it was harder to hear through the door now.

Scooter got up from the table, and walked over to sit beside Sara. He reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a small box. Then he took a couple of large breaths, and looked her straight in the eyes. "S-Sara?" He then opened the box, inside was a small diamond ring, beautifully set in a silver band, settled on a small bit of crushed red velvet. The velvet was heavy, and somewhat old. It looked like it had been taken from the velvet curtains of the theatre in fact.

He gulped deeply, and looked at her, he was sweating bullets just then. "Would you...marry me?"

Robin started hopping up and down just then, forgetting that he was supposed to stay quiet then. "He just popped the question to her, guys!! He just popped the question!!!"

Janice started yelling happily, as did everyone else. As they were right outside the door, the sudden noise of cheering and yelling caught Scooter in suprise, and he fell off of the chair he was balancing on. He coughed a bit, and got back up, then was leaning on one knee, looking up at her. Before he was just sitting on the seat itself. Everyone crowded into the kitchen, awaiting Sara's response. They were waiting with bated breath.

"Wow." She was as pale as a sheet then, staring at Scooter, trying to not see all the other muppets that crowded around her. "Um...uh...."

Scooter smiled up at her. He focused on her, and he didn't see anyone else but her just then. It was the only thing keeping him from fainting. Sara then nodded, smiling sweetly.

"Yes...I will." She said softly, as the was silent room erupted into cheers and celebration. Scooter placed the ring gently on her left ring finger, and gave her a huge hug, then a kiss on the lips. Sara laughed happily, and then leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"After the Winter Splendor show, of course, right?" She said softly.

"Right. You need to get everything ready anyways, right?" He whispered back into her ear. They pulled away from each other, and gave each other another kiss, and smiled. Everyone was congratulating them on their to-be marriage. Sara was laughing and smiling, as was Scooter. As they were able to walk out of the kitchen, Sara turned to Scooter, and smiled again.

"I don't want to miss a moment of this, honey. I'll be writing everything down that happens to us." She said smiling.

"Sounds great, Sara. I can't wait to read it when we're finished with it." He said, nodding his head in agreement. "But...when will it be finished?"

"On our wedding day. That will be my last entry." Sara said, as they walked back outside to go and sit on the porch.

"Great. Anything you write is a real treat." Scooter said as he settled down onto the porch.

After a few hours, everyone finally stopped bothering them. They finally had real peace out on that porch, slowly swinging together, while chatting away. Little did they know, that their lives would be changed drastically so soon....

~-~The End~-~

 

[redBoobergurl]

Wow! What a great ending! The foreshadowing is great! It ties into the other stories really well! Awesome!

 

[ReneeLouvier]

YAY finally a comment. I've just been finangling about with the story. Wondering if I should add more, or take away anything, and MC forums has just been dead lately, today at least.

So in my spare time I've been building a website!!

http://www.geocities.com/reneelouvier/startpage.html

Check it out! My stories are slowly being hosted there!

(Slowly because I have to wait for each story to get loaded into it, I'm still waiting for Bonds of Family to show up. It's because they are SO huge, it's taking awhile for each one.)

 

[The Count]

You know... Got a bit of mixed feelings about these last two chapters.
The foreshadowing was great... And Scooter's proposal, with the telegraph line of Muppets outside the kitchen door was superb.
When you were talking about Wilkins and "Wonkins", were those references to the classic Muppets from Sam and Friends? If so, his name's spelled "W-o-n-t-k-i-n-s".
Sara getting fired from the State Newspaper is another good touch that ties the stories into each other.

My only botherance is bringing the evil Denays Corporation... Don't get me wrong, I know they'll play a part in the story we now have as #6, A Grand Adventure in Life... But I kinda liked/thought it better that they were only present or started to make their presence felt in the future of whatever year it is that Doc Brown and Marty McFly traveled to after meeting the Muppets at the boarding house. Heh, you're rully gonna to have to read that one closely before making timeline/chronological corrections to it.
Also, reason I kinda prefer the Denays Corporation set in that future is cause that leaves us to live our lives with whatever normal changes may take place steming from the panoramic view of Hensonville we've built up. How you had me running the flower shop in Is That A Song There?, and how I then ran with that in One Little Star, and how Beth or Lisa or Ryan if he gets back can run with that from there.

Other than that... Well, maybe the grocery opening could be the Hensonville branch of Hooper's Store, run or managed by Bryan?
And the line about Lisa always falling asleep in her Jewish studies book or whatever other book she has handy... To coin a term from her herself, that stabbed me in the heart about oh, here.
Good stuff, and I'm rully glad that you've continued this extremely popular series of stories. Look forward to whatever's next and have a good day.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

You know... Got a bit of mixed feelings about these last two chapters.
The foreshadowing was great... And Scooter's proposal, with the telegraph line of Muppets outside the kitchen door was superb.
When you were talking about Wilkins and "Wonkins", were those references to the classic Muppets from Sam and Friends? If so, his name's spelled "W-o-n-t-k-i-n-s".

Yes they are. I originally had it spelled "Wontkins" but I thought that didn't sound right. Should have gone with my gut feeling with that one.

Sara getting fired from the State Newspaper is another good touch that ties the stories into each other.

Yeah, just felt like that would make sense.

My only botherance is bringing the evil Denays Corporation... Don't get me wrong, I know they'll play a part in the story we now have as #6, A Grand Adventure in Life... But I kinda liked/thought it better that they were only present or started to make their presence felt in the future of whatever year it is that Doc Brown and Marty McFly traveled to after meeting the Muppets at the boarding house. Heh, you're rully gonna to have to read that one closely before making timeline/chronological corrections to it.
Also, reason I kinda prefer the Denays Corporation set in that future is cause that leaves us to live our lives with whatever normal changes may take place steming from the panoramic view of Hensonville we've built up. How you had me running the flower shop in Is That A Song There?, and how I then ran with that in One Little Star, and how Beth or Lisa or Ryan if he gets back can run with that from there.

Welll...in my mind. They're not particularly evil yet. As this story would be read WAY before the 6th (A Grand Adventure In Life!) You would just barely remember that company. They're just starting out, as a coporation, and their first thing was that grocery store. It's just a plain grocery store, with Denays minor finhacal support. They're not evil yet. That usually takes about 20 or so years. *hint hint*

Other than that... Well, maybe the grocery opening could be the Hensonville branch of Hooper's Store, run or managed by Bryan?

I'd say it would be a Hensonville Branch of Hooper's Store, that is run by Bryan.

And the line about Lisa always falling asleep in her Jewish studies book or whatever other book she has handy... To coin a term from her herself, that stabbed me in the heart about oh, here.

Yeah, I thought you guys would like that. Because thinking about it, me, Kim, and Lisa are kinda like sisters in the fanfiction world so to speak. And I'm the middle sister, younger then Kim; and older then Lisa. So, that's a tiny backstory.

Good stuff, and I'm rully glad that you've continued this extremely popular series of stories. Look forward to whatever's next and have a good day.

Yep.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Okay, I contradicted myself there. They are starting to become evil. And yes they did threaten Kim with eviction....but I felt like giving a tease to it. I'm keeping it the way I had it. XD

I may slightly alter the other stories to make it make sense.

 

[The Count]

OK... Gotcha then. Just so long as they're all shaped up, they'll end up being great. Take care, gotta catch up on some other reading.

 

[froggiegirl18]

AWWW!! YAYAY! A happy ending. Great story...oooo so which story follows this story?

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Remembering the Good Times We Had! *laughs out loud, then sighs.* I'm so stupid I made a prequel after everything else was through.