The next morning Wendy woke up early, sensing
something pleasant. It made her smile, even though she had no idea what it was.
She started daydreaming a bit about what it would be like to see Justin again.
She quietly hoped he would come and pick her up today, but she knew that wasn't
possible. She knew she had to wait at least one more week before she could see
him again. She wondered what it would be like. Would she embrace him? Would he
embrace her? Or would it be cool and distant, nah she didn't think so, not even
now, when he's the Leader of the Rats of NIMH. Many things had happened,
especially since that horrible night. Mr. Fitzgibbon had been working in the
garden again. He had to plant a new rosebush for Mrs. Fitzgibbon. She really
didn't like it when the rosebush was removed from the garden. She was even more
furious when she found out that there were no rats there at all, so that
removing her rosebush was for nothing. None... that scared Wendy a
bit. Mrs. Brisby had told her that the rats undressed Jenner but put him near
the rosebush. She still had bad dreams, even during the day, about a dark rat
who was screaming for revenge. She didn't have them today, she had a much
better feeling about today, like something nice was going to happen.

She carefully got up and noticed that the dizziness
was gone. She felt a lot more strong than she did yesterday. Perhaps Mr. Ages'
overdose did the trick. She decided to go outside, where the children already
were. It was a nice morning.

She sat down in the chair which was placed right in
front of the Brisby home. She watched the children who were drawing pictures.
She enjoyed watching them. She never thought about having children of her own,
mainly because she already had to care for eighteen children when she was
living in the orphanage. She didn't like doing it back then, she was afraid of
taking the responsibility, but now she thought differently about having
children. In fact, she wanted to have children! She felt like having them straight
away! ‘What would Justin's children look like? And what would they look like if
I was their mother? They'd have brown fur, that's for sure. They'll grow tall,
have a long tail... will they have my eyes?' Wendy smiled and she closed her
eyes. She suddenly saw the most beautiful place on earth, filled with flowers,
trees and crystal clear water. The water was lighting up because the sun was
shining through the leaves of all the trees that surrounded the lake. She saw
Justin and herself, they were enjoying the beauty of the place... and each other.
Wendy opened her eyes again. ‘Wow...that was a beautiful dream...I wish dreams
could come true....'

 

Justin had been walking all night. He didn't sleep at
all, his adrenaline simply hadn't let him. He sat down for a little snack, but
he didn't want to eat, he just wanted to move on. His injury was healing very
well, although he was still wearing his sling. After a brief moment he decided
to walk on. The sun was already climbing up the hills. He was determent to
reach the Brisby home before nightfall.

 

Wendy Elisabeth decided to help Mrs. Brisby with
finding food. It wasn't hard to find food this time of year. The farmer's
garden was full of peas, wheat, corn and carrots. Wendy's arms were covered in
all kinds of vegetables. Mrs. Brisby also carried as much as she could carry,
although that was a lot less than Wendy could handle. When the rat and the
mouse entered the block they heard the voice of the shrew. She had been
visiting the Brisby home a lot more often since Wendy lived there. Wendy knew
how to handle the shrew. She knew the shrew meant well, she was concerned about
the mice, but she had a strange way of showing it. Wendy just loved teasing the
shrew and she was becoming very good at it. Wendy entered the block as softly
as she could. The shrew was asking the children if they feared the presents of
the female rat. The children said that they loved Wendy, and that they didn't
want her to leave, ever again. Wendy melted when she heard these words. She
loved them, too... but she also knew she wasn't going to stay much longer
anymore.

When she heard the shrew muttering some words, partly
to herself, partly to the children, she decided to end the conversation by
stepping into the room.

‘Aunty Shrew! What a nice surprise! You just came at
the right moment! It is time to prepare dinner, and we've brought everything
except for a nice big piece of shrewmeat.' Wendy said, and she gave the
children a wink. Theresa, Martin, Timothy and Cynthia softly started to laugh.
The shrew stepped back in complete terror. ‘Wha... what did you mean by that?'

‘Oh, didn't you know? Rats just love eating shrewmeat,
in fact, it's one of our favorites. The children are very curious to the taste
of it, aren't you?' Wendy gave the children another wink and they started to
nod. ‘Mmmmm... Can't wait, Wendy! But, how do you prepare Shrew?' Martin asked,
playing the game along.

‘Let me see... well, it's been a while, but... well, we
should get rid of the skin first...'

The Shrew gasped, ‘the... the skin?'

‘Yes, the skin. And we should peel it off while it's
still alive, you know, to prevent the meat from drying out.' Wendy looked at
the shrew. Her grin grew as she saw the terror in Aunty Shrew's now very big
eyes. ‘But, I guess your mother likes Aunty Shrew, so we won't eat her... yet.'
Wendy said.

‘Aw, Wendy! What should we eat then?' Martin asked,
thinking he won't get any supper that night. ‘Well, your mother and I found
lots of food, vegetarian food, so we could use some extra pairs of hands
over here.' Wendy said smiling and she added; ‘Perhaps you'd like to stay for
dinner Aunty Shrew?' But when she turned around to hear the answer she noticed
that the shrew already had left the building.

Theresa and Martin decided to help out in the kitchen.
Timothy promised his sister Cynthia to teach her to write some words he had
learned from Wendy.

Wendy gave Mrs. Brisby a hand in the kitchen. She
always enjoyed cooking, she used to help Nanny a lot. She really missed Nanny.

 

After dinner, Wendy decided to spend some more time
outside. She felt the urge to spend some time on her own, although it had been
a very pleasant day. She has had a lovely time with the kids and dinner had
been wonderful. After she helped cleaning the dishes, she brought Cynthia and
Timothy to bed. She read them a bed-time story. She really enjoyed it when the
two children listened to her stories carefully, with half-open mouths. She also
loved it to kiss them good-night and to tuck them in so that they would stay
warm. Theresa and Martin were older and were able to stay up longer and they
were playing a little more in the living-room. Suddenly she heard footsteps
right behind her. She turned to see who they belonged to. To her surprise she
saw that Martin was outside and he watched Wendy from a small distance.

‘Hey, Martin... Why don't you come over here?' Wendy
asked, because she could see behind the tip of his nose that he wanted to ask
her something.

‘I... I didn't want to disturb you, but... Did you know my
father well?' He stumbled as he came closer. ‘Yes, I did know your father. We
were friends. So I guess I knew him pretty well.'

‘Did he really safe the rats from NIMH? Why did he
never tell us about you? Why didn't he even tell my Mom? I really don't
understand!'

‘I suppose it is quite a shock to find out that your
father was keeping secrets from you and your mother, but he didn't have a
choice. It wouldn't have done any good to tell you about us. Not yet that is.
There were a lot of things we didn't even understand. I mean... Those injections
back at NIMH, they kind of kept us young. We didn't age anymore. Your father
had the same kind of injections we had. You see... Your mother would grow older
and he would stay young. We don't even know what kind of effect the injections
have on children, who's father, mother or both of them, had been injected. I
guess Nicodemus wanted to wait until we knew more.' Wendy explained, although
she had trouble understanding the secret-keeping herself. She always thought
the Brisby's needed to know the truth.

‘But why did he marry my mother then, even though he
didn't know what was going to happen?' Martin asked, trying to understand any
of this.

‘I guess your father fell in love. There's not a lot
you can do about that, I'm afraid. You know, I remember when your father met your
mother. He came to me right after they kissed for the very first time.'

‘Kissed! Yuk! Did my father actually kiss my mother?'

‘Hahaha, yes Martin! Of course he kissed your mother!
You will understand when you get older and find a mate yourself. And you know
what? That's when Jonathan decided to leave us and live with your mother
instead.' Wendy smiled at Martin. She knew he had reached the so-called
‘girls-are-stupid'-age.

‘He also came to me when your mother was pregnant with
you. He told me he had never been more happy in his entire life. He couldn't
wait to hold you in his arms. He already had a name for you, even before you
were born. He didn't even know if you were going to be a boy or a girl!' She
paused for a moment when she saw tears in Martin's eyes. She placed her hand on
his tiny shoulder and said: ‘You might not understand why your father has been
keeping all this from you, and you must think that it's very unfair, but
remember that he did it to protect you, your brother, sisters and your mother.'
Martin looked up at Wendy and smiled at her.

‘Please, don't be angry with your father, he didn't
know what to do either.' Wendy added, and Martin embraced her firmly. ‘You
know, you look so much like your father. You should be proud about that. Your
father was a hero, please never forget that.' Wendy said and the poor boy
softly started to cry.

 

A while later he let go of Wendy and he looked at her
with his large, slightly watery eyes. ‘I am proud of my daddy, I just wish he
could stay with us a little while longer.'

‘So do I, Martin, so do I.' Wendy said as she stroke
Martin's cheek.

‘Martin, where were you? Do I really have to finish
the drawing alone? I need a little help here!' Theresa shouted.

‘I'll be right there!' Martin shouted back. He briefly
embraced Wendy for the last time and ran back into the house to finish the
drawing where all four of the children had worked on that afternoon.

Wendy sat back and sighed. ‘Poor kid, he's really been
through a lot.'

‘Well, I must be really mistaken if you hadn't had
your share of bad luck as well.' A voice said. Wendy froze for a moment; where
did that voice come from. Who said that?

‘Is somebody out there?' She asked, hoping she wasn't
hearing things that weren't there.

‘I'm amazed! How long has it been? Two weeks, and you
don't even recognize my voice anymore?' Spoke the voice again, this time he was
softly laughing.

Then, as the words finally sunk in, she realized that
there was only one person who could say those words.

‘Justin! You're here already!' She shouted and she got
up from the chair.

Now she saw Justin standing a little further away. He
was wearing a dark-brown uniform and his left arm was in a sling. He was
smiling.

‘But you are much too early!' Wendy said, while she
was walking towards him.

‘Well, I could leave again and come back next week, if
that is what your want?' Justin said with a naughty, boyish smile on his face.

‘No way, you'd better not leave!' Wendy said and she
started running.

She didn't hesitate one second when she arrived at the
spot where Justin stood and she jumped right into his arms. Because Justin was
only able to catch her with his right arm, they both stumbled and nearly fell,
but Justin was, once again, able to keep them in their feet.

‘Silly girl, you really must be careful!'

‘Oh, sorry... Did I hurt your arm?' She asked, when she
realized she bumped directly against it. ‘Hahaha, no! I was talking about that
head of yours!' He smiled and he gazed deeply into her eyes. Wendy gazed back,
and noticed something different about Justin. It was the same twinkle in them,
the one she had seen before, but there was something else; Justin had grown up.
‘Whaaaat... what is that look in your eyes, Sweetness?'

‘You've... you've grown up. What did they do to you?'

‘Ah... let's say... it's been a rough learning-school.
I'll tell you all about that later, because I see we have company.'

Wendy turned around and saw four tiny, blinking eyes
staring at them from afar.

‘Theresa? Martin? You can come out now.' She said with
a smile.

She took Justin by his good arm and pulled him in the
children's direction.

‘Theresa, Martin... I would love to introduce you to
Justin, the cap... eh, Leader of the Rats of NIMH.'

‘Whoa... The leader?' Martin asked and he carefully
stepped forward.

‘Martin! Stop gazing like that!' Theresa said and she
bowed deeply with a huge blush on her face. ‘I'm very pleased to meet you sir.'
She said, as the blush started spreading even further. Wendy smiled when she
saw the blush. Justin was a very handsome, charming young man. She wasn't at
all surprised that the young girl fell hard for him. The blush grew even bigger
when Justin kneeled down right in front of poor little Theresa, took her hand
and kissed it. Martin started making soft ‘throw-up sounds' when he realized
Theresa was falling in love with Justin. Wendy gave the boy a glance and shook
her head.

Mrs. Brisby came out because of the noises she heard.
She was surprised when she saw Justin standing outside her house, but she was
very glad that he was. She knew that Wendy still had to recover, but she also
knew that it would be a lot better for her rat-friend that she would get out of
these surroundings. The nightmares about Jenner might come to an end when she
was away from the Rosebush. She admitted that seeing Justin and Wendy together
made her smile. They looked wonderful together.

‘Justin! It's so wonderful to see you! Are you hungry?
We have plenty of food left!' Mrs. Brisby said, and she embraced the much
larger male.

‘Well, thank you. I guess I could use a little fuel,
hehe, I walked all night to get here before ya'll were sound asleep.'

Mrs. Brisby nodded and went back inside to heat the
stove again. The kids followed her because she needed a little help. Of course
she only wanted to get the children away from the two rats who needed to catch
up.

‘Well, you met at least two already. The smallest two
are already asleep.' Wendy softly said. She suddenly felt a bit uneasy now she
was so close to Justin.

He stepped closer until he was right behind her. He
pulled his injured arm out of the sling, placed his both hands on her shoulders
and gently pushed his nose in her neck-fur. ‘I've missed you so terribly much,
Wendy Elisabeth.'

Wendy smiled and closed her eyes a bit so she could
enjoy the way he touched her.

‘I missed you, too... more than you can ever imagine.'

‘May I try to imagine how much exactly?' Justin asked,
with his nose still in her fur. She could feel his warm breath, his strong
hands and the warmth of his body.

‘Yes, you may.' She replied and she finally turned
around.

‘I... I think I love you, Justin.' She softly said while
she placed her head on his chest.

‘Hey, those are my words!' Justin said, but she knew
he was smiling.

He stepped back a bit, touched her chin gently, closed
his eyes... and he finally kissed her. He kissed her like she had never been
before; he kissed her passionately, sweeping her completely off her feet,
forgetting where she was, almost fainting because of the impact of it, losing
the notion of time. The kiss lasted and lasted, but was brutally interrupted by
Martin. ‘Yuk! Wendy what you doing! That's disgusting!'

Justin and Wendy quickly ended the kiss, but started
laughing at each other.

‘You are wrong, my little friend, that's delicious.'
Justin answered, without taking his eyes off Wendy.

‘It sure looks disgusting! Mom's got dinner ready for
Justin. At least if he hasn't lost his appetite.' Martin continued and he went
back into the house.

‘On the contrary; I only want more of that.' He took
the heavily blushing Wendy by the hand and took her into the Brisby home.