Starcross

Part 3

When Tenderheart had caught up with them, both Claire and Oopsy were laying on their back, staring at the sky with their feet dipped in the brook. The Care Bear took a step back, hiding behind a tree just within earshot of the two.

"Claire...?" Oopsy started to say, "I have a secret. Promise to keep it from Tenderheart or Grams?"

A small sound indicated that a nod had been the cub's answer.

"I... I ran away. I ran away because all the others bears don't like me. I.. I'm too different..."

Claire turned her head to look Oopsy in the eye. "No..." she informed him with a tone that detailed faint skepticism. It was the first sense of emotion Tenderheart had heard in the girl since he'd known her.

"I am different Claire." Oopsy went on, coming close to tears. "All the other Care Bears have their tummy symbols already and I don't. Even worse, I have... oopsies. My oopsies make everyone mad- even Grams. I can't help it and it makes me more mad than everyone else. I don't wanna be an oopsy, but I am anyway. I don't like it Claire, I don't!"

"You're not." Claire's little voice insisted. That made Oopsy spring up to look her in the eye.

"Then what am I?!" the cub thundered, not meaning to have gotten so loud. Claire only blinked before she started to get up- a bit difficult with her arm in the sling, but not impossible. The girl then looked the young Care Bear in the eye before saying, in a sure tone,

"My friend."

Hearing those words instantly made Oopsy diffuse his bitterness. His mind and heart were racing at the speed of sound in realizing that she was serious. This was when Tenderheart decided it was time for him to come out.

"There you two are!" he declared as if he hadn't been listening to them. Shortly after, both Claire and Oopsy jumped in surprise- they looked away from each other with blushing faces as if they had been doing something else.

"Are you still hungry for some snacks?" the older Care Bear happily suggested. Without looking at each other, the young duo nodded.

. . .

"Hey Claire! Look at this!"

Completely attempting to show off to his new friend, Oopsy threw three pieces of peanuts into the air. The first one bounced off his cheek and into Claire's glass of milk, the second one bounced off his nose and behind his head, and the last one actually made it into his mouth.

"Ta-da!" the cub announced happily as he chewed on the one peanut that made it into his mouth. He was quick to notice that Claire was giving her milk a wary side glance due to the peanut. Oopsy then sheepishly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Heh... oopsy... Please don't be mad at me Claire. It was an accident, honest!"

Carefully, Claire picked out the peanut from her milk and prepared to flick it back at Oopsy. Hit with an idea, the cub opened his mouth and pointed to it.

"Ge' i' in!" he encouraged. With a shrug, Claire took a bit more aim before flicking the peanut directly into Oopsy's mouth.

"Score!" the cub cheered, throwing his arms up in the air. He had moved too quickly and threw his balance behind him, effectively making him fall backwards out of the chair. Claire reacted almost immediately, jumping out of her chair to Oopsy's side.

"Oopsy..." the cub chuckled before realizing that Claire was beside him, looking awfully concerned. To ease her concern, Oopsy then bashfully informed her, "I'm fine Claire. Really! This stuff happens to me all the time and I never get hurt! Well... not badly, anyway."

Still not sure at his insistence, Claire helped Oopsy up regardless.

"Claire," Oopsy started to say, maybe the tiniest bit distracted by her concerned look, "Can we be friends... forever? Usually when I make an oopsy, every either tries to ignore me or gets really, really mad. But you cared enough to make sure I was alright. Can you... can you always do that? And always be with me when I make an oopsy? Please?"

Claire looked at him for a moment, thinking the idea through. As she started to open her mouth to reply, Tenderheart came back into the room with an announcement.

"Well Oopsy, I've told Grams where you are and she said that someone from the care nursery will come to pick you up shortly." Tenderheart gave the two a gentle smile. "And once you're safe going home, Claire will go back home too."

"Claire can't go!" Oopsy suddenly shouted. "She... she's my only friend..."

Tenderheart gave a frown at the cub's change of behavior. "Oopsy, I'm that isn't true."

"It is!" the cub affirmed as he stomped his foot on the ground. "No one likes me! I'm just one big... oopsy to everyone and they hate me for it! They hate me for being me! They do!"

It took Tenderheart a moment to process it, but he finally realized that he had accidentally stumbled upon two caring crises. One was with a Care Bear too, of all things. Then Tenderheart had an idea.

"How about you two follow me?" he suggested. "I think I have something that could benefit both of you."

The younger two gave each other a confused glance before giving a shrug and following the older Care Bear. He led them to the top of the lighthouse and got a box off a shelf near the back. Claire and Oopsy watched as Tenderheart pulled two star shaped charms out of the box, and presented them to the duo.

"These amulets were created to test a new system of bring kids to Care-a-lot that need caring help," he went on the explain, "But something about them makes them even more special."

"What's that Tenderheart?" Oopsy questioned as he and Claire took the charms.

"Unlike the other Care and Share amulets, these two are connected to each other, and only each other. They aren't of much use to us now, so I want you two to have them. And yes Oopsy, they are oopsy-proof."

"So this means....?"

"That when one of you wants to visit the other, all you have to do is wish on the charm and you'll be taken to them instantly."

Hearing this, Oopsy looked at Claire.

"You hear that Claire? This means we can be friends forever!"

Claire looked up at Oopsy. It took her a moment, but she started to smile.

"I like that." she agreed.

Tenderheart looked over the two with a smile of his own before the doorbell downstairs announced the arrival of someone new. Motioning for the younger duo to follow him, Tenderheart went back downstairs to answer the door.

"Noble Heart!" Tenderheart declared in surprise at seeing the visitor. "This truly is a surprise!"

"Nothing of the sort." the purple horse on the other side humored. "True Heart and I were planning to take Oopsy in ourselves, but we didn't mean to do it this soon."

The Care Bear Cousin then looked around Tenderheart to look Oopsy in the eye, and gave a smart little wink. The cub quickly looked away and shrunk a little in an apparent shame. Noble Heart let out a laugh as Tenderheart let the Cousin in his home. That was when Noble Heart noticed Claire.

"My, what a sweet little girl you are!" Noble Heart gushed, getting down to Claire's height. After noticing Claire's sling, he started to say, "Say, do you mind telling how you-" (the horse happened to look up at Tenderheart at this point, who was silently sending signals for a subject change) "Got such adorable freckles! They're just as unique as the sky's own stars- it's a very good look, I recommend you keep them."

Claire blushed, looking away from the Cousin in embarrassment. Letting out a chuckle, Noble Heart got back up again.

"Well, I promised True Heart that I'd be back as soon as I could." Noble Heart then told everyone. "So let's go Oopsy."

"Can I say goodbye to Claire first?" the cub quickly asked.

"Of course." both Noble Heart and Tenderheart agreed at the same time. Beaming, Oopsy didn't waste a second more to give Claire a tight hug in goodbye. The girl openly embraced it, and there the two stood as if that hug would be their last.