The day after the singing contest, which didn't really have a winner, Nana Noodleman agreed to buy the property from the bank. Buster, overjoyed, rushes to hug her. Eddie joins in after noticing that she doesn't reel back. A construction crew immediately went to work on starting the rebuilding process, with some ideas from Buster and the cast; who all agreed to go and work for him.

After work one day, about a month into reconstruction, Karla stops her dad as he was loading up the truck. "Do you have a little time to spare? Johnny and I want to meet someone." Allen nods his head, slowly wondering what his daughter and her boyfriend are up to. "Ok, Johnny can drive us over there." Karla runs over to the truck. Allen and Johnny look at each other before chuckling at the female pup;s enthusiasm.

"Are you going to tell me who we are going to see?" Allen asks as he gets in the passenger seat.

"Nope, it's a surprise." His daughter replies through the cabin's back window, startling him.

"And you are sitting in the bed, why?"

"She always sits back there when we pick up anyone else. I've honestly stopped trying to convince her to sit up here." Johnny gets into the driver's seat. "You already know how stubborn she is." He adds, looking at his girlfriend through the rearview mirror. She replies back by sticking her tongue out and her eyes closed.

"Yes, I do. She got that from her mother." Allen answers.

"Sure, just gang up on me, why don't you?" Karla sits up straight, crossing her arms and pouts. Johnny smirks and turns on the engine and gives a sideways glance at Allen. Knowing that smirk means something mischievous, Allen grabs hold of the seatbelt just before the gorilla puts the truck in drive and gives the accelerator a quick nudge. The entire truck jerks and Karla almost hits the back of the cabin. "Johnny! That was a cruel trick."She complains as the two males laugh at her expense. "Can we just go, please?" She pouts again. They both chuckle as Johnny drives off.

The drive over was silent, but not awkward. Allen didn't question anything until they arrived at the prison. As they get out, Allen looks to his daughter. "Do I even need to ask?"

The couple looks at each other. "Nope." They answer before walking in. When they reach the guard, they remove everything like normal. Allen follows them with hesitance.

"Hey Marx, we're here to see Barry again." Karla says with a smile.

"Sure, go on ahead." The guard answers, smiling back. Johnny walks through the metal detector first. "Alright, you're all good to go. Are you going to your usual cubical?"

"If it's not too much to ask, can we have a private room this time?" Karla asks, passing through the detector as well.

"Yeah, no problem. We'll bring him to room 3."

"Thanks, Marx." Allen follows his daughter's lead, thoughts filling his brain as to why they visit a prison to the point of being on first name basis with the guards.

"Come on Dad, in here. Barry's on his way to see us." Karla leads him inside. The door closing behind them with a loud clang. On the other side of the wall of glass sits a large gorilla. Unlike before when Karla first visited, her expression is of joy.

"Hey, how's my favorite couple?" Barry asks, not noticing Allen.

"We're fine, Uncle Barry." Johnny answers.

Karla looks behind her shoulder. "Hey Dad, stop lurking in the shadows like a creep." Allen slowly pads forward so the prisoner can see him. "Dad this is Barry, he was the driver." The two male's eyes widen.

"Mr. Klein, I am so sorry about your wife. I regret every day for hitting her." Barry explains.

"But you still took her away from us!" Allen growls out. His paws clinched at his side, shaking in anger.

"Daddy, calm down."

"It's ok, little pup. I deserve everything that he has to say." Barry waves his hand.

"At least hear him out, please, dad." Karla says, gripping on his arm.

"Fine, you have two minutes."

"After we got back to our hideout, I was a mess. Johnny found me in the training room blubbering like a baby. He had already visited the hospital and told me about Karla's injuries. At that moment I didn't care what happened to me, all I wanted to do was find you and apologize. I know it won't bring your wife back, but it will hopefully give you closure."

"You really are sorry, aren't you?" Allen asks after a moment of silence.

"Yes, I wish I could go back in time to prevent me from ever hitting you and your family."

"I would too but then I don't know if these two would have ever met." Allen admits.

"Mom always did believe in fate. She would tell me that the world works in mysterious ways." (Yes, I meant to type 'world')

"She did." Allen looks at Barry. "I won't lie and say I'll forget what you did, but I do believe you deserve a second chance to do better."

"Your daughter said almost the exact same thing."

"I bet she did," Allen looks to his daughter who is being hugged by Johnny from behind, watching the scene in front of them. "She always wants to see the good in everyone. Now that we have slightly figured that out, do I want to know why you call him 'Uncle Barry'." Karla looks up at Johnny with a knowing grin. They both chuckle and begin to explain to her dad about the relationship she has with the gang of gorillas.

Finally, the day comes for the theater's grand opening. Buster, Judith, Nana, Miss Crawly and the entire cast with their families gather to cut the ribbon. "Everybody ready? All creatures great and small, welcome to the New Moon Theater!" And with that the ribbon was cut and a newspaper photographer took their picture.

Buster is standing front and center with Eddie and Nana standing behind him on both sides, like proud parents in a portrait. Rosita, Gunter and Norman are on one side next to Buster. Ash and Miss. Crawly are on his other side. Meena and her mother are standing behind the porcupine while Johnny is standing behind the pigs, Karla on his back leaning over his shoulder.

Once the flash went off and the cast got the clear that the photo was good, Karla jumps off Johnny's back and pulls him towards the doors. "Come on, we gotta get ready for the opening show." She comments.

"Right," Johnny replies. They rush off to their shared rehearsal room.

~~~~~~

Buster looks out at the filled auditorium. "Thank you all animals great and small for joining us for the first show of the New Moon theater. Our last performance tonight is probably the cutest couple you will ever meet. Give it up for Karla and Johnny." He jogs off stage as the crowd claps, some whistling and others cheering. The curtain raises, only the silhouettes of the animals can really be seens against the collage of pinks, yellows and oranges on the backdrop. The new stage hand, who was trained by both Eddie and Meena, cues up the music.

Johnny Karla Both

The music starts as the curtain rises. Johnny is in a suit and tie, against his best wishes, and Karla is wearing a gold glitter long romper. Johnny snaps to the beat as he starts singing.

"See the girl with the diamonds in her shoes?
Yeah she walks around like she's got nothing to lose
Ya she's a go-getter, she's everybody's type
She's a queen of the city but she don't believe the hype"

Karla struts around Johnny ending up right in front of him, her back facing him. She places her paws behind her head and bangs her hips side to side. Johnny grazes his hands along the fur of her curves. She lightly slaps his hands and starts to walk away.

"She's got her own elevation, holy motivation
So I wrote some letter out in big bold type"

Johnny grabs her paw, spinning her back over to him. He drops to his knees, showing her praise. She smiles and pulls him back to his feet. The couple raise their left paw/hand, then their right one, then they flip their pads up and slide it across the air. (Like you are underlining a word in midair. Sorry I can't exactly describe dance moves perfectly yet.) Johnny places his hand in his partner's paw.

"I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been sucha, sucha good friend to me
Know the I love you somehow
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith"

They hold hands, leaning out to arms length before jumping to switch sides and repeating the dance move with the other arm. Johnny pulls his partner's arm and Karla spins into his embrace. She looks up and kisses him on the cheek, pulling away from him as he is distracted. She raises her paws in the air, wiggling the toes, then faces forward with paws, pads down out a bit at hip level. Johnny doing the same. As the beat hits, Karla hops over to the right of Johnny, popping her paws side to side.

"See the boy with the Stevie Wonder swag?
Ain't got a clue, all the magic that he has
He's a go-getter, he's everybody's type
Gonna make it my mission, make him feel alright
He's a twelve on a ten point, rockin' out to his joint
Just say the word cause I could sing all night"

Karla looks at Johnny, leans back a bit and fans herself with her paw. She taps her temple with the same paw and rotates her paws in the air toward the floor. She bumps her hip to his before turning to face him. The hair on his arms raises as his partner runs her paws down them. He smiles at her and they line up back to back.

"I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been sucha, sucha, good friend to me
Know that I love you somehow (love you somehow)
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith
Faith,~
Yes I do, mmm
I get around ya and my mind goes crazy
I think about you mornin', noon, night, and day
I get around ya and my mind goes crazy
I think about you mornin', noon, night, and day
I got faith in you honey (I get around ya and my mind goes crazy)
I got faith in you girl (I think about you mornin', noon, night, and day)
I got faith in you honey, I got faith in you girl
I met you, hallelujah

They look at one another over the one shoulder then switch to the other, looking out at the audience, grabbing each other's paw/hand as they do. Johnny takes the lead by moving their connecting limbs to cross over Karla's chest. They sway side to side for a moment in their own little world before Karla's voice snaps them back to reality. They jump away from each other, Johnny holding out his hands again, Karla slaps them and places them out for Johnny to do the same. She grips his hands tightly and spins them around. (Like that scene in every romance movie) Johnny lets go of his partner's paws, and begins to circle her this time. Bopping his head to the beat, he lifts his hand to his temple and twirls his pointer finger to them. Karla smiles at this action and gets into the fun. They circle each other, Karla now mimicking Johnny's actions. He tries to grab her arm, so he can bring her closer, but she dodges the attempts. Finally, Johnny slides into her, only bumping her slightly off balance. She gives him a shocked expression before it turns to a smirk and she repeats the action on him. They both throw their paws/hands to the side ,look up to the rafters and scream out the last word of the line to the heavens.

I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been sucha, sucha good friend to me
Know that I love you somehow (love you somehow)
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith~
I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been sucha, sucha good friend to me
Know that I love you somehow (yes, I do)
I met you, hallelujah, I met you hallelujah,
I met you, hallelujah, I got
faith~"

The dance partners move their back side to side against each other looking at each other over their shoulder. They move to fully face the audience, lifting their paws/hands up to shoulder level, their arms bent at the elbow, and rub their hips together, while moving their now closed paws/hands side to side at the same level. Karla repeats the paw position from before and turns around in a circle to line up with Johnny's back as he had done the same. They have their arms out like they are surfing and lean against each other before jumping and turning to face each other, their arms still out. Karla bangs her hips to the beat and runs the toes of her paws through her fur. She looks up at Johnny and shakes her paws in the air. They twirls around each other, looking directly into each other's eyes

Johnny pulls Karla toward him, her back almost level with the stage floor, she looks up into his eyes, kissing him quickly. As they finish, the entire auditorium is quiet, even the crickets were silent for a moment. Karla pulls up from the backbend she was in and looks out to the crowd, who erupt in applause. The pup looks to her dance and life partner and smirks, making the first move, kissing him directly on the lips. The crowd's chers get loud as Johnny melts into the kiss. It only lasts for a moment before they move away from each other and turn to face the audience and bow.

Buster walks on stage with a microphone."Thank you all for coming to the grand reopening of the Moon Theater." He waves to the wings for the whole cast to join the couple on stage. Allen joins them from the crowd. "Even though this was a free concert, we had asked for donations." Miss. Crawly passes by two special guests, telling them to wait for their cue, and scuttles onstage with 'Moon's Car Wash' bucket. "Honestly how we kept the whole thing a secret for this here pup, is beyond me, but I would like to announce that we have managed to raise enough money to help out Karla and her father with their hospital bills." Karla looks at her family and then to Buster and then back to Johnny, while the crowd cheers in front of them.

"You knew?!"

Johnny rubs his nape. "Of course I did. I was the one who set it up. Buster thought it would be a great idea, and the rest of the cast even put their own donations in."

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Karla jumps into his arms and kisses him again. She pulls away and turns to the rest of the cast. "Thank you all so much. You don't know how much this means to us."

"Sweetie, we will always be here to help you." Rosita says, placing her trotter on the pup's shoulder. "But we also have one more surprise for you. You can come out here now." The two dogs on stage look over to the wing where Miss. Crawly came from, to see Leon and Julia.

"No way!" Karla yells out with glee. She rushes over to her niece and hugs her tightly. Allen walks up to his step-son and hugs him as well. The crowd cheers once again.

Long after the audience clears out, the entire cast gathers backstage. Julia looks at her aunt, "I saw you on Klip Klop."

"You did?! When?" Karla asks in shock.

"During your performance, for the singing contest." Julia answers, pulling out her phone and looking up the video she liked. "Here," She holds out the phone so her aunt could watch. As the video continues, comments flood the screen. One username pops out at Karla.

Jules529
THAT'S MY AUNT!!!!!!!!

"Really, Jules?" Karla smirks, looking at her niece.

"What? I love when you would call me that."

Karla laughs and pulls her niece into a side hug. "No, well yes that but I'm talking about the comment."

"I'm a proud niece, what can I say?" Julia shrugs.

"And I'm a proud brother. You know how long I've wished that you would give up your promise to Mom." Leon adds padding up to them. "I don't know if you heard or not, but when you made that promise, Mom's heartbeat sped up but just for a second."

"You heard that too, I thought it was my imagination." Karla clutches the charm, slightly asking for forgiveness. Leon hugs his sister as she cries into his fur. He whispers comforting words into her ear. Johnny watches the scene with a smile on his face. Leon looks over his sister's shoulder and gives the 'I'm watching you' look to the gorilla.

'I would never hurt her.' Johnny mouths. The glare of Leon's face doesn't leave until Karla pulls back from the hug.

"Now that we've got that sorted, why don't you introduce the one that Allen told us you call a family." Leon says.

"Ok."

A/N: I hope that writing out dance scenes gets better because I am so bad at this. I have been working on the dance scene for 'Faith' since before I finished writing the theater collapse, which was back in May. Technically I finished this up about 8 hours ago.

So while listening to the playlist I have created for the book, I came across another song that would be perfect for Karla and Johnny, so, of course, I had to write it out. There is one more chapter that I will post for this book. I don't think I will go into the second one just yet, I have three other stories that are ahead in the writing process and one more that I have multiple full written scenes already created. Man, I hate having ADHD.