‘Everybody out of the way! We need
a doctor, NOW!' Brutus yelled as he dragged Jenner's heavily damaged body
inside.

‘Daddy? Is that my father?' Wendy
asked while she squeezed Justin's hand because of a new contraction. They
followed each other rapidly.

‘You want me to check?' Justin
asked.

‘No, you stay here. I have to
check on him. I'm the only doctor around.' Gabriel said and he took off.

‘Now remember what the doctor
said, you need to stay calm and focus on your breathing. That's it. You're
doing a great job.' Justin said, while nervous ran through his body.

After a short moment, Gabriel
returned. ‘Justin, I'll have to ask Nanny to take over. Jenner's condition is
serious.'

‘Serious? What does he mean?'
Wendy asked as she looked at Justin with large eyes.

‘I don't know, Wendy. But you have
to focus on the baby.' Justin said, while he gently placed his lips on her
forehead. He didn't know what to think. Somewhere, deep from within he hoped
that Jenner would live, just for Wendy's sake. He knew how important having a
father was to her, even though he was the last person she had hoped for. He
took care of her, though, even when things got tough back in the old tree. He
made sure she escaped without injuries. But a much bigger part of him just
wanted him to die.

‘I'm here, I'm here! Everything
will be just fine, Wendy.' Nanny said while she padded Wendy's face.

‘But he's too early, he might die.
And Jenner might die, too!' She cried.

‘Wendy come on, relax. Don't worry
about things that might not happen.' Nanny said. She looked at Justin and their
eyes met. Justin knew Nanny had never delivered a baby before.

‘Nanny, you'll be ok.' He softly
said and Nanny gave him a small, forced smile.

‘Guys? Jenner needs surgery right
now. Call for me when the baby is born, ok?'

‘What about Ages? Can't he help us
with the baby?' Justin stumbled.

‘I'm sorry, I need him in the
operating-room. And I need Isabella, too, although she's just an intern. I need
all the hands I can get.'

‘He'll die....' Wendy whispered.

‘Don't lose hope, Wendy.' Nanny
said while she kissed her forehead.

‘Oh God, I have to push!' Wendy
yelled, squeezing Justin's hand completely by now.

‘Already?' He asked. His face was
pale and he was sweating.

‘Yeah, I have to. I can't stop it
anymore!'

So she pushed. Taking deep
breaths, totally ignoring the pain. As if ancient powers worked their ways into
her body, making it stronger. She pushed again, this time a little deeper. She
was aware that Nanny and Justin were talking to her, giving her support, but
she didn't hear them. It was like she was all locked up in her own body. She
took a deep breath and pushed again. A painful burning sensation made her gasp,
but she realized that there was no way back. So she took a deep breath again
and pushed as hard as she could. She fell back into the pillows. She was exhausted,
but a small sound brought her back to her senses again. Joshua was born.

He was very small but his skin
looked healthy pink through his wet, brown fur. 
His eyes were still closed, which is normal for a newborn baby-rat. And
he started crying straight away.
‘Is he okay?' Wendy asked.

Nanny nodded her head. ‘Judging
from the way it screams, it's doing just great! Oh and it's a BOY!' Nanny
shouted with tears in her eyes.

Justin looked at his wife and son
with pride. Tears appeared in his eyes as well.

‘Wow, this is beautiful.' He
stumbled.

‘Congratulations Mom and Dad! And
have you thought about a name yet?'

Wendy and Justin looked at each
other and smiled.

‘Oh yeah, he's got a name
alright.' Justin said. ‘His name is Joshua Ethan King.'

‘That's a beautiful name.' Nanny
said and she quickly pulled the blankets over mother and child. ‘I'll try to
see if Gabriel can help you with the rest.'

And she took off, leaving two
extremely happy rats behind.

 

Gabriel was closing blood vessel
after blood vessel. He couldn't believe that anyone could have survived these
kinds of injuries. He had been able to close all the main blood vessels and now
moved over to the less life threatening ones. Mr. Ages was working on Jenner's
tail; it was partly amputated. There were also huge cuts on his arms, legs,
over his chest, everywhere. Not to mention the huge amount of bite-injuries.

‘Man, they must have hated him!
Look at him! He looks like as if someone placed him underneath the farmer's
plough!' Gabriel said. This was actually the first time he spoke in a long
time. He seemed a little more relaxed now.

Mr. Ages looked up and nodded. He
couldn't agree more. ‘So how's the status?' Ages asked.

‘Well, he's lost his right eye,
his ear is cut in two, but I can fix that. He's got deep cuts in both arms,
cuts all over his torso, though not very deep ones. He's got internal bleedings
in his stomach, but I was able to close the most sincere ones. I still have to
take another look later, for I couldn't see a thing because of all the blood.
So how about you?'

‘Well, I've cleaned and closed the
amputated tail, treated his ankle, although I fear that he'll never be able to
walk without a limp again. I've closed the great leg-blood-vessel, what a mess
what that, and I'm now moving over to the smaller cuts. Do you think he'll make
it?'

‘I'm optimistic, though time will
tell.' Gabriel said.

‘How about you, Isabella?' Gabriel
asked.

‘Oh, I'm just trying not to throw
up.' She said casually. The mouse and the doctor laughed.

 

‘Sorry to interrupt, but can
anyone look at Wendy for a while. Her baby is born and appears to be healthy.
He's just a bit small, but seems to be doing great.'

‘I'll be right there.' Gabriel
said. ‘Can you keep an eye on Jenner for me, Mr. Ages?'

Mr. Ages nodded and Gabriel left
the operating-room. He moved over to the sink to wash his hands. He took off
his operation shirt because all the blood could upset Wendy. He looked over his
shoulder to the operating-room and thought to himself: ‘Perhaps it would be better
for everyone if you just died.' He shook those thoughts away immediately, for
he was a doctor, and a doctor should help everyone, even someone like Jenner.
As he came closer to Wendy's bed, he heard soft baby-noises. A smile appeared
on his face. ‘Thank goodness they're alright.' And he opened the curtains to
cut the baby lose from it's mother and give him a very brief first check. He
needed to get back to Jenner as soon as possible.

 

The Brisby family didn't notice
anything of the commotion earlier that night. They were sound asleep in their
comfortable bed. Mrs. Brisby stretched herself and woke up, though still a bit
weary. She sat up to check on the kids. They were all sound asleep. She got up,
carefully, and went outside to the hallway. The pancakes had made her thirsty.
As she looked over the field which lead to the old tree the image made her
gasp. There were rats lying on the field, at least twenty of them! Some of them
were lying in some kind of dark fluid. ‘Oh my God! That's blood! They're all dead!'
Her eyes moved across the field. Suddenly her attention was drawn to a small
figure. It moved. As she looked closer she could clearly see it was a mouse!

‘Perhaps that's the mouse I saw
this afternoon! The one with the spots!' Her throat was painfully dry as she
saw the mouse coming closer and closer. He was limping a bit. She didn't notice
that this afternoon, but it was a clear limp now. ‘What shall I do? Warn the
rats? Or should I go downstairs myself? Perhaps he's dangerous! And what
happened to Wendy? Was she part in all this? What if she's dead!' She
hesitated, but decided to go downstairs anyway. She wasn't sure what to do
next, but she had to do something. She shivered and shook her head. ‘What on
earth am I doing? I must be crazy!' She walked downstairs, slowly, hoping she
would run into a rat who could come with her. But when she reached the ground
floor, she hadn't come across a living soul yet. She carefully walked over to
the ground-level window. The spotted mouse was still on the field. He was
moving slowly, still limping. As far as she could tell he seemed injured. ‘If
he's injured, I'd easily outrun him.' She thought and she placed her hand on
the door-latch. She pushed the latch down and opened the door, taking a deep
breath. She felt the cool air on her fur and tasted the smell of blood on her
fur. It made her choke for a moment, but she regained herself quickly. The
mouse's silhouette came closer and closer. ‘Ma'am? Can you please help me? I
had an accident.' Spoke the spotted mouse. Mrs. Brisby froze as she heard the
voice. ‘That voice! Those spots! This can't be! It can't be Jonathan! He's
dead!' ‘Please ma'am! I don't mean any harm, please help me. I'm a friend of
Justin's. My name is Jonathan Brisby, please help me.'

 

Mrs. Brisby felt as if she was
going to pass out. ‘Did that mouse really say ‘Jonathan Brisby'? But that's
impossible! He's been gone for over a year!' Mrs. Brisby's brain worked
overtime. There was only one way to find out if it really was Jonathan who was
standing a few feet away from her. She pushed the door open a bit more and
stepped outside.

‘Caroline? Is that really you?'

Mrs. Brisby froze when she heard
her name. It had been so long since anyone called her that. She was mostly
known as Brisby, even the shrew didn't call her anything else.

‘Jo... Jonathan?' She stumbled.

‘Yes, it's me! I'm so glad to see
you! I've missed you so much!' Jonathan said as he limped closer to where Mrs.
Brisby was standing, with open arms. When he realized that Caroline didn't move
a muscle, he lowered his arms, approaching her more careful. ‘She must be in
shock! Well, I can relate to that. I feel pretty overwhelmed myself'. Jonathan
thought.

‘It is you... You're back!'
Mrs. Brisby slowly said, tears filled her heard, both with happiness, but also
with pain. ‘Where were you all this time! You left me and the children all by
ourselves! If you only knew how hard it has been for us! Timothy almost died a
few months ago! I had to risk my own to safe Timmy's life! I didn't know
anything about your life with the rats! Why didn't you ever tell me? I'm your
wife! Why did you leave us?!' She yelled, but her voice broke and she started
to cry. She felt just as helpless as she did on the day she found out that
Jonathan had died. She never cried this way before, letting all anger,
frustration, bitterness and fear come out.

Jonathan embraced his heavily
protesting wife. She tried to push him away but he was determent to hold her,
to tell her everything that had occurred this past year. And all the time
before that, too. She deserved to know the truth, the whole truth, even though
the rats had always opposed to that plan. She knew about the rats anyway, so
the biggest secret was already revealed.

‘Caroline, please let me explain.'
Jonathan softly whispered as his wife stopped to push him away. She was
exhausted, simply too tired to fight. She didn't understand any of this.

‘Let's go inside, okay?' He
whispered. Caroline softly nodded. The hysterical crying had turned into soft
weeping when they reached an empty room on the ground floor.

‘There, let me explain everything
to you. I owe it to you.' Jonathan said and gently placed his hands onto hers.