‘Good morning Jenner, how was your
night?' Gabriel asked while he opened Jenner's curtains.

‘Is it morning already?' Jenner
muttered.

‘Yes it is, and we are going to
take off your bandages. Wendy is here, too.'

‘Hi dad.' She softly said.

Jenner only tried to smile. He
looked tense.

Gabriel started unwrapping the
bandages around Jenner's head carefully.

‘Is it painful?' Gabriel asked.
Jenner shook his head.

The blind eye was uncovered first.
There was a stitched scar over his right eye.

His other eye was covered with a
piece of bandage which Gabriel removed.

‘Well, Jenner, open your left eye
for me.' Gabriel said.

Jenner tried to open his eye and
winked a couple of times. ‘I see nothing.'

‘Try to get used to the light.'
Gabriel said again.

‘It's all blurry.' Jenner said
again, still winking. A small tear fell onto his left cheek. Wendy Elisabeth
padded it away with a tissue. 

‘That's quite normal. Can you
recognize something? A silhouette?'

Now Jenner started smiling. ‘I can
see my daughter! Still a bit blurry, but I can see again!'

Wendy smiled at Gabriel and
Gabriel smiled back. ‘I'll leave you two alone.' He said.

‘Dad, that's great news!' Wendy
said. She had to admit that she had been quite nervous.

Jenner smiled as well and started
crying.

‘Oh dad, you're getting all
emotional.'

‘I am not!' Jenner said, but he
smiled. ‘And don't you dare tell anyone, young lady.'

 

Mrs. Brisby experienced the best
night of her life. She woke up in Jonathan's arms after a long night together.
Without children. Nanny was so friendly to let the Brisby children stay over
for the night. She was thrilled with happiness when she found out that Jonathan
Brisby was still alive. Waking up nicely was still not an option as they were
brutally interrupted by a knock on the door.

‘Come on you guys, get up!'
Justin's voice said from behind the door.

‘Justin, go away!' Jonathan
yelled.

‘No can't do. I've scheduled a
meeting in less than five minutes. A meeting to announce that you are back.'
Justin yelled.

‘Five minutes?' Jonathan yelled,
and he grabbed his far-too-big bathrobe.

He opened the door and gazed into
Justin's amused face.

‘What have you done? There's a
scratch on your face.' Jonathan said.

‘That's none of your business, get
dressed! Now!'

‘Did Wendy do that to you?' Jonathan
asked in a naughty way.

‘Jonathan, really. She needs to
heal remember? No naughty nights in our bedroom for at least six weeks!
Something I cannot say about the two you, guys. I guess you have a lot of
catching up to do.' Justin teased.

‘Will you get going? I need to get
dressed.' Jonathan said with a huge smile on his face.

Justin closed the door and started
walking towards the Main Hall, whistling, which he hadn't done in over two
months.

 

Right before Justin entered the
Main Hall he was stopped by Nicodemus. Justin hadn't really spoken to Nicodemus
since the day that he said he hated him. Well, at least not on a personal
level. He was ashamed of his emotional outburst and didn't really dare to face
Nicodemus.

‘Nicodemus, I didn't expect you
here.' Justin stumbled.

‘I wanted to congratulate you on
your victory.' Nicodemus said calmly.

‘Oh, thanks. About, you know, my
eh temporarily loss of sanity... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things
to you.' Justin said.

‘I know that, you don't have to apologize.
I understand your fears. However, I do feel that you need to rely a bit more on
the powers of the Stone, my boy.'

‘I know about the powers of the
Stone. I saw it bringing Wendy back to life.'

‘Yes, it did. But it can do far
more than just that. You see, it saved my life once, too. The day I lost my eye
was supposedly my last day on earth, however, the Stone kept me alive. It gave
me a gift, a gift to see in the future. To sense certain things, to know what's
wrong or right. Your wife has been given that gift as well.'

‘Oh, so that's what she meant when
she said that the Stone made her see that she carried a boy.' Justin said,
though he was still a bit puzzled.

‘Precisely.' Nicodemus said. ‘I
think you'd better go. The crowd is getting impatient.'

Justin smiled and nodded. He
entered the Main Hall where all the rats had gathered. Justin cleared his
voice, as usual, before speaking. ‘Dear rats of NIMH. I'm very pleased to give
you good news today, though I have some bad news as well. Yesterday we managed
to defeat the barn-rats in the old tree. Unfortunately four of our respected
members have died during that operation. My memory goes out to these brave men,
who'll be buried under the old Oak in the courtyard. My condolences go out to
their parents, families and friends. These four brave men gave their lives for
our freedom and safety, which we had lost for a while. All barn-rats are
killed, so there's nothing to worry about anymore.' He took a deep breath. ‘I
know Jenner's presence is a problem for you, but I can assure you that he's
willing to change. He's given us the information we needed to eliminate the
enemy. He is permanently disabled because of the loss of an eye and a limping
leg. I've spoken to Nicodemus about this situation and he would like Jenner to
remain. I too, would like him to stay. Everybody needs a second chance, and
he's certainly not going to waste his, simply because he has no-one else to
turn to. Let me remind you of the fact that it was Jenner who found out how to
escape from NIMH. Give him that second chance, the way you've given Sullivan a
second chance, too.'

 

Justin paused and took a few sips
of his water. He gazed at his right and saw Jonathan standing in the dim light.
He was waving.

 

‘I have some more good news,
something which will sweep you off your feet. I couldn't believe it myself when
I saw him. I thought is was the medicine Gabriel gave me, but he was for real.
Jonathan, would you please join me?'

 

The crowd started to mutter all at
once when Jonathan Brisby entered the stage.

‘Man, you talk a lot!' Jonathan
said as he climbed up the podium.

‘Shut up, Jonathan.' Justin said.
‘It's my job to talk that much.' The crowd started to laugh.

‘Hello dear rats of NIMH, long
time no see.' Jonathan started a little uncomfortably.

‘I'm sorry about my disappearing
act. The farmer's cat caught me while I was messing with his food. But for some
reason I survived. I was in a coma and I lost my memory. ‘Amnesia' said my five
year old son to me yesterday. It made me realize that I missed out on so much.
It's like I have to get to know everybody all over again, including my own
family. But it's so good to be back!' The entire crowd started to shout and
applaud.

‘See? I managed to keep it short.'
Jonathan said and Justin glanced at him, though he didn't mean it, of course.

 

‘I told you I had good news.'
Justin said and the entire crowd stood up from their chairs.

‘Three hooray's for the leader! Hooray, hooray, hooray!'

Justin felt a lump in his throat.
He was finally excepted by his people. He smiled and waved at the crowd.

‘Justin, you always need to have
the last word, don't you.' Jonathan said. He just loved teasing his old, dear
friend.

Justin looked down at the mouse
and shook his head. ‘Shut up, Jonathan.' He said and gave the mouse a small
push. Jonathan started laughing and so did Justin. Nothing had changed between
the two of them.

 

The crowd celebrated and talked to
Jonathan Brisby as Justin managed to sneak away. He had one more thing to do....

 

‘Wow, you see that? That ugly rat
over there? That's your grandfather.'

Jenner opened his eyes to see who
made the insult, but seeing his grandson for the first time, made him forget
about it in an instant.

‘You must be Joshua.' Jenner said.

Justin smiled and pushed the
baby-boy into Jenner's arms.

‘What if he starts crying?' Jenner
said, he had no idea what to do with the little baby.

‘Then you should rock him, gently
that is.' Justin said. ‘You'll get used to it.'

‘What do you mean like that?'
Jenner said.

‘Well, Wendy and I are still
looking for a baby-sitter.' Justin chuckled.

‘What! You mean me?' Jenner said
and he laughed. ‘He looks a lot like you and Wendy.'

‘Yeah, thank goodness he doesn't
have your looks!' Justin said, and Jenner started to laugh.

‘You're right on that one.' He
said.

‘I see they've been unwrapping the
mummy.' Justin continued.

‘Yes, they have. I'm glad I didn't
lose my sight completely, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see my
beautiful grandson.'

‘Yeah, I'm glad you haven't,
either.' Justin said and he meant it.

‘How come you're so friendly
towards me?' Jenner wondered.

‘Because I'm a friendly person, I
don't know.' Justin said while he shrugged.

‘It's because of Wendy, isn't it?'
Jenner said.

‘Of course it's because of her,
too. But I've been thinking about all the times we had together and I kind of
miss it. I want it back, Jenner. Let's forget about all the shit that
happened.'

Jenner looked at Justin with his
good eye.

‘I've been thinking about the past
a lot myself, and to tell you the truth... I want it back, too.'

‘Then we have a deal?'

‘We have a deal.' Jenner said and
he offered Justin his free hand. Justin shook his hand firmly and smiled.