#nashvillianous

Bashful poked his head out from behind Grumpy's chair and squeaked, "Grumpy, come help! I think something's wrong with Sleepy!"

When he had recovered from his premature heart attack, Grumpy sighed, "First of all, do that again and I will hurt you. Secondly, what'sa matter with Sleepy?"

"He hasn't moved in, like, forever!!"

Grumpy stared at him for a few very long moments before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing dramatically. "Bashful, I want you to silently repeat that sentence to yourself until you realize exactly what's wrong with it."

Bashful paused, narrowing his eyes and staring at the wall for a few moments. "But, what's wrong with it?"

"EVERYTHING. It's SLEEPY. He ain't gonna be movin' much because he's SLEEPING!" Grumpy hollered.

Bashful's voice rose to new heights as he whined, "B-B-But what about when he sleepwalks and sleeptalks and all that?"

Grumpy waved a hand dismissively, turning back to his book. "He never moves around during his afternoon pre-warm-up naps, trust me!"

"Oh, no, this is different! He hasn't moved since this morning! It doesn't even look like he's breathing!" Bashful determinedly tugged on his friend's arm.

As he pulled, Grumpy allowed his arm to go limp, and he glared out the window as he counted to ten in his head. When he had reached ten for the second time and found that his small friend was still pulling, he stomped up, snarling "FINE, okay, you win, I'm comin'!" Bashful led him up the stairs to the bedroom where, in his bed, Sleepy's form lay curled up beneath several blankets. Grumpy strode up to him and poked him in the back. "Yo, Sleepy, wake up!" Getting no response, he poked again. "Sleepy?" Still no response. Grumpy moved to the other side of the bed- was it his imagination, or did Sleepy look rather pale?- and snapped his fingers in front of the snoozing dwarf's face. "Sleeeeepyyyyyyy, wake uuh-uuuuppp!"

He snapped. He clapped. He shook the bed. He hooted and hollered. There was no response to any of it.

"You see?" Bashful whispered. "What's wrong with him?"

Grumpy spoke quickly as he ushered Bashful out of the room. "Wow, he's really out of it, huh? Tell ya what, how about you go get those drums, maybe that'll wake him up?"

Bashful dragged his feet on purpose. "Grumpy, what are you not telling me?"

"Just go get the thing!" Grumpy snapped, quickly catching himself and adding "Please?" with a strained smile. Bashful finally went off to find his drums, muttering something inaudible along the way, while Grumpy dashed off to find Doc.

Bursting into the workroom without knocking, Grumpy grabbed Doc's wrist, ignoring his startled protesting, and dragged him up the stairs, stopping just outside the bedroom. "Doc, I don't wanna startle you, but I think there might be somethin' wrong with Sleepy."

The scientist adjusted his glasses. "Are you sure? It is about time for his afternoon pre-warm-up nap."

"No, this is different, just-" Grumpy swallowed hard to quell the rising panic.

Doc's eyes widened; wordlessly, he entered the room and moved in front of Sleepy's form, Grumpy standing on the other side of the bed. The hatch in his hat opened and a mechanical hand holding a small mirror came out. It briefly held the mirror in front of the sleeping dwarf's mouth and nose, then pulled back for Doc to examine.

"What's that for?" Grumpy asked.

"If he's breathing, the glass will fog up-" He paused.

Grumpy's heart sank; he already knew the answer, but he still asked, "What is it?"

The glass hadn't fogged up. Doc hastily put the mirror away and reached for Sleepy's neck to feel a pulse.

Without warning, Sleepy's hands shot up and gripped Doc's shoulders tightly. Mechanical hands shot out to cover both Grumpy and Doc's mouths before they could scream. They stood there staring wide-eyed at each other, breathing heavily through their noses until the hands finally moved away to allow them to laugh in relief.

"He has a really strong grip, please help me!" Doc whispered between giggles, trying to extricate himself. Grumpy snorted as he gently pulled the dreamer's arms away.

"Phew, well, at least everything's okay," Grumpy muttered.

Bashful finally reentered the room, dragging the large drums behind him. "I got them, Grumpy, are you sure this is gonna work?"

Sleepy stirred, opened an eye and mumbled, "Nah, better just leave 'em with the penguins, they like to mambo."

"Sleepy!!" The younger dwarf bolted across the room and jumped into the bed, hugging his friend tight. "You're okay!"