All the Stars (Modern Ham AU / LAMS)

Chapter Three: Not Murderers

{AN: Wow, a very original scene in which John's turtle is missing. Sorry this chapter is so short!!! I'm running into writer's block because I have only planned scenes where Alex and John are already together! But I don't want it to move too fast, so we all must wait. Any suggestions? The picture further down is drawn by me! I'm not used to drawing guys from the side, so forgive the awkwardness...}

John's pov:

"She's gone," I say, the words settling in my stomach.

"What?"

"Frances isn't in her tank."

"How? You said she was only, like, four inches long."

"Yea, well, all four inches of her are missing!"

"How?" Alex asks, utterly perplexed.

"I don't fucking know!" I whisper scream. I'm internally panicking - Francis is tiny and even though she would probably be fine if she got stepped on, I don't want to have to find out. I'm practically hyperventilating, thinking of all the bad things that could happen to her. "Oh, no, what if she got into a dangerous spot, or if she ate something poisonous, or maybe she licked an electrical socket or crawled into a blender or-"

"John," Alex interrupts me, grabbing my shoulders. "Do you sincerely think that she could be in danger of being blended right now?"

"I don't knowww!"

"Okay, where are all the places she might have gone to?" He asks, his calm demeanor causing me to focus a little more.

"Umm, she likes to hide in small spaces I guess," I respond tentatively.

"Alright, let's look behind some small stuff!" Both of us turn to begin the search and are greeted by a living room cluttered with chairs, bookcases, guitars, pianos, and other things that make perfect hiding spots for small turtles.

"Great," Alex sounds annoyed. "Hey Herc-" he is interrupted by a loud snore from the very person he was trying to wake and heaves a sigh.

The two of us turn away, and begin checking behind and under anything bigger than a speck of dust, including a paper plate, a Barbie, and a spool of thread. After practically tearing the room apart, we have no luck and are forced to move on to the rest of the house. With each passing minute, I get more worried and don't even laugh when Alex trips over the top step and falls on his face. Okay, I may have actually laughed a little. Or maybe more. Maybe I laughed so hard that I tried to sit down on the stairs and ended up falling down the entire flight. Maybe. Probably not, though.

Eventually, we have exhausted every room except for the bedrooms, which there are a lot of (Hercules apparently has a lot of siblings). We have double and triple-checked every place we can think of to no avail and both know what we have to do. I just really hope they are all heavy sleepers who won't notice two complete strangers maniacally searching through their room in the middle of the night. We look at each other and take a deep breath before easing open the door. We check the rooms of three kids, and each time, I get more nervous. I'm worried about getting caught, accidentally terrifying one of the kids, and being banned forever from Hercules's house. And my turtle. I'm very worried about my turtle.

I have almost lost all hope when we check the last room (aside from Hercules's parents). Inside lies a small girl with very poufy hair clutching a stuffed dolphin to her chest. We try to be quiet, peeking behind a desk, a dresser, a bin of stuffed animals, and inside a giant dollhouse, all of which is made more difficult by the fact that Alex refuses to let me use an actual flashlight.

After a very tense few minutes, we have gone through everything in her bedroom several times and I'm ready to give up when a tiny movement catches my eye. Is it- yes it is! Alex looks up at my sharp inhale and I point frantically toward the tiny turtle... crawling up the girl's belly. She hasn't noticed it yet, but when Francis gets to the part of her chest not covered by blankets, trust me, ice cold claws do not feel very nice when you're not expecting them.