Title: Wind beneath My Wings

Written by: Somnion

Disclaimer: I do not own Alvin and the Chipmunks. They belong to Bagdasarian Productions.

By popular demand, this is the follow-up to 'Jeanette's Dare'. Bear in mind that since I had originally intended 'Jeanette's Dare' to be a one-shot, this story may be falling behind a little. I hope you guys enjoy this. Now, without further ado, the follow-up to 'Jeanette's Dare', 'Wind beneath My Wings'.

Sundays usually were days of relaxation for Simon, since his homework would always be done latest by Saturday, that meant he had the whole day to do things he enjoyed, like reading, working in his basement laboratory or simply watching a documentary of National Geographic. Today however, Simon hadn't the mood for any of those things; he just lay in bed that day, staring at the picture of Jeanette he had kept in the drawer of his bedside table. It was exactly like the night before, the night she had come to him and bestowed upon him what he would cherish as his most precious memory, their first kiss. The night before he had replayed the scene over and over again in his mind, keeping himself awake with the moment and only falling asleep after three hours had passed since Dave had turned off the lights. Many thoughts had run through his mind that night, for the events of that night seemed so surreal, that even now they still assailed him.

Why had she done it? Did she like me? Was it simply a joke? Was this all a dream? How should I approach her now?

He had some theories to the answers to some of the questions but sometimes he wished he could just he could just ask Jeanette what were her reasons for what she did that night. Now more than ever, he wished he had Alvin's confidence and charm. Simon was always praised for being a gentleman in front of the ladies but that was simply a front, a front with which to hide his fear from being seen as socially inept when speaking with the opposite gender as well as to keep a comfortable distance from engaging in intimate conversation; and whenever asked about the subject of girls he would always say his studies came first and there would be time for girls later in his life, when in truth it was just a farce to hide his shortcomings concerning women. Now with this situation put before him, how could he face Jeanette now that comfortable distance had been closed when she blessed him with her kiss?

"Simon, breakfast is ready," Dave called suddenly, his voice tearing the bespectacled Chipmunk away from his thoughts.

Thoughts would have to wait, he figured as he walked down to the breakfast table. He sat down and looked over his breakfast, cereal and French toast. Although he reminded himself on the way down to put his thoughts away for the moment, he found himself disobeying his own advice. He lazily stirred the milk in the cereal as images of Jeanette flooded his mind, her features and how they seemed to almost radiate that night, a lazy and goofy smile spreading on his lips.

Of course, Simon's wandering mind did not go unnoticed, both his brothers and Dave looked in confused astonishment at the usually collected and serious Chipmunk. Whispers were passed among them but Simon didn't notice until finally he was drawn out from his memories once again by the sound of Dave's voice.

"Simon," he called. "Are you feeling alright today? You seem a little lost in thought."

"I'm...I'm fine, Dave" he replied quickly. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Alvin said as he pointed his spoon to his brother, "we started to get worried when you continued stirring your cereal for five minutes straight. I like to stir my cereal too, so the milk turns chocolate with the cereal, but I think five minutes a little overdoing it."

Simon pushed aside his brother's witty remarks, assuring Dave that he was fine. Dave and the two Chipmunks didn't wish to argue and took his word for it. Simon felt that he might have avoided them from finding out the truth of the matter and would have stuck to his story too in order to keep them from finding out. However, he realised that things were not going to be as easy as he thought, for Theodore suddenly mentioned that they would meet the Chipettes later to discuss the songs Alvin and Dave were working on the night before.

"I can't meet her now! I'm not prepared or anything! I wouldn't know what to say or do! I have to get myself out of this!"

Finally, he decided he'd go for the lowest trick in the book; he'd pretend to be sick. There was no choice for he wouldn't dare meet Jeanette with his current state of mind and playing sick seemed to be the only option. So, he started the act, coughing violently as he turned his head away from the table.

"Simon?" Dave called out in worry "Are you alright?"

"I think I may be coming down with something," he lied. He hated doing this but he couldn't face Jeanette yet. He'd apologize to Dave later.

"I need to pretend I have a fever. I need the get the blood pumping faster to heat my body and so my face will turn red. Think of Jeanette! Think of how close she was to you, her hands, her eyes..."

Simon's gambit paid off, his body did start to warm up and his face turned red as the warm blood spread though. It was so very convincing that he had everyone fooled. Dave told him to get some rest but when Dave told Simon that he should give him some medicine, Simon began to worry that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea. He walked up to his room, thinking how he could avoid taking medicine given that he wasn't sick. Try as he might, Simon found that he could not wriggle his way out of this and when Dave came up some time later with a bowl of chicken soup he began to sweat with worry. He took the chicken soup and drank it down, thanking Dave when he finished. Dave took the bowl back but strangely made no attempt to give him medicine.

"What about the medicine?" Simon asked, despite his better knowledge.

"You shouldn't take medicine when you're not sick, Simon," Dave answered.

Beads of cold sweat dripped from Simon's forehead. He had been found out and now he waited for the inevitable, the lecture that was due to him for lying and pretending to be sick.

"It's not like you to lie, Simon," Dave said with a sigh. Simon was reluctant to look him in the eye but when he did, he saw that Dave had a sympathetic smile on his face. "Simon, I don't think I know entirely what's going on but if you're trying to hide it, I understand that it's something you want to keep secret. Also, I'll wait for you to tell me the truth about it when you're ready so I won't push the subject."

"Thanks Dave," Simon said, a look guilt present on his face for deceiving his foster father. "You won't tell Alvin and Theodore, will you?"

"Of course not," Dave said as he closed the room door and made his way back down to drop the boys off at the recording studio where they would meet the Chipettes. Just when Simon thought he was alone, Dave opened the door again causing Simon to divert his attention back to him.

"By the way," Dave said with a cheeky smile, "Miss Miller called earlier. Apparently, Jeanette has a 'fever' too."

With that he left, leaving in the room an astonished and extremely embarrassed Chipmunk. Just how much did Dave know, he thought to himself. Still, to hear that Jeanette had a fever and given the way Dave had said it, Simon knew that her fever was of similar nature to his, the faked type. Could it be that she too was anxious about meeting him? Was she avoiding him too over the scenario that had unveiled last night? If this were to continue, Simon summarized, we'd drift apart and it'd make our relationship very awkward. He took the picture of Jeanette, drinking in the image of her pretty face, when he was then overcome by a sudden overpowering urge that made him long to see her. Resolution came as he decided that he wasn't going to let things continue; the time to act was now.

Jeanette sat alone on her bed in her room, her sisters had left a while ago with Miss Miller for the recording studio. She was trying to read a book but she couldn't get her head on her shoulders, it still seemed to be in cloud nine at sometimes and at other times it was wallowing in worry. She had a sleepless night the night before, she couldn't stop thinking about how wonderful she had felt and at the same time she began to worry and fret over what Simon's reaction would be to her kiss that night.

"Does he think me simply as a friend? Does he think that the kiss had meant something more? Does he think that I have no morals?"

"What win I, if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week? Or sells eternity to get a toy? For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?" she whispered as she lay herself on her bed, quoting Shakespeare to herself. "Almost sounds like William Shakespeare wrote this about my current problem."

Suddenly, something caught her eye and surprised her; a paper airplane floated gently through the window and landed itself in the middle of the room. Jeanette had left the window of her room open to let in the summer breeze but from the looks of things, it let in more than that. She walked up to the paper origami plane and was astonished when she learned it was addressed to her, a simple 'To Jeanette' was written on one of the wings and written by a very familiar hand. She ran to the window, he must have climbed the old oak tree to send it through the window. However, the sender was long gone now for there was no one at the tree or in the backyard where the tree grew.

Jeanette, stared at the paper airplane, surprised that the Chipmunk who had sent this would use such a peculiar and almost romantic way to send the letter, given his personality. She opened it and read the letter; written in Simon's elegant handwriting, the note simply said, 'Meet me at the swings at the school playground'. With no idea what was going on, she hesitated for a moment. But then, she thought to herself, if Simon would go through the trouble of sending an invitation for her to meet him, it would only be fair that she should put her trust in him. Without wasting another second, she folded the letter into a neat little square and slipped into her pocket and left her house to meet with the sender of the letter.

Simon sat on the swing, his heart beating fast with anticipation and anxiety. This was probably the most random thing he had ever done in his entire life but it was too late to back out now. He then heard the sounds he had been waiting for; footsteps, soft footstep coming from behind him. He could tell they belonged to her, he knew her stride, the hesitant and soft stride which he knew was Jeanette's. He gulped silently, almost afraid to turn to meet her but then he heard her call him in the softest voice he'd ever heard her use.

"Hello, Simon."

"Hey, Jeanette," he replied with an equally soft tone.

The swing next to him was empty, they were the only ones in the school playground, and naturally she took that seat. No words were spoken for a while, they both sat next to each other in silence. Despite the awkward air around them, Jeanette found that she enjoyed it, just being next to him made her heart flutter. Yet, she remembered on the way to the playground, that when it came between girls and his studies, the girl always lost. Simon had his fair share of secret admirers but he'd always turn them down; so what made her, a plain girl who was clumsy and so unkempt, think that she may have a chance with him. No, she'd just be fooling herself; he would only be her friend, nothing else.

"Hey, Jeanette," he called suddenly.

"Y...Yes?" she replied nervously.

"Last night, did someone dare you to kiss me?"

Jeanette was dumbfounded. How could he have known? But then again, he was always that way, Simon just seemed to know these things. He resembled Sherlock Holmes in a way; he had a similar way of finding things out or 'deduction', as Holmes would like to put it. He'd deduce the facts and put everything together as the famous detective would.

"Was it that easy to figure out?" she asked with a soft humourless chuckle.

"Well, I had my theories."

Simon stared at the ground and then to the sky. So it was just a dare, he thought to himself. However, he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that he said it out loud.

"It wasn't just a dare," he heard her whisper, breaking him away from his thoughts and bringing his focus to her. "It...was more than that. It's true that Brittany dared me to do it, but...she would never have done it if I hadn't told her that...that I had always wanted my first kiss...to be with you. She was trying to push me in that direction."

Simon was flabbergasted, so much so that his mouth was hanging open. She wanted it to be with him, their first kiss to be shared together. Deciding that he should say something about, Simon tried to speak but was stopped short because Jeanette still had more to say.

"I know you aren't really interested in girls and that your studies are more important but I still felt I needed to. I won't use guilt as an excuse for you to like me back. I'm glad to simply be your friend and I will not interfere with your studies. After all, if you are to spread your wings there would be no place for me, I'd just slow you...down..."

That was when her tears began to fall. She put her hand to her mouth, to still the sound of the sobbing. Simon was shocked, did she really feel that strongly about him? It was just as he had thought, she only saw his act, his indifferent front and took it at face value. She didn't realize that it was not like that, that it was not that he didn't like her but that he indeed did harbour feelings for her. Now, seeing her this way, he just couldn't stand it, to see her hurt so much. There was only one thing he could do now and for her, he'd brave the storm. He left his swing and walked up to her, placing his arms around her in an awkward embrace.

"I never saw you as a burden, Jeanette," he said.

"S...Simon?" Jeanette eyes widened in astonishment and her heart pounded against her chest as he said those words. He was so close to her, embracing her and he had done it on his own volition.

"Jeanette, the only reason I can soar so high..." he said, as he pushed away to look her in the eye. Her tears had stilled and her cheeks were flushed. Finally, he breathed in deeply as he finished his declaration.

"...is because you, Jeanette, are the wind beneath my wings."

The End

I hope you guys found it enjoyable. Simon and Jeanette might be a little out of character but I hope it won't ruin your reading. Thanks again. Please leave a review, I like to hear what you guys thought so I can perform better next time.