Papa's Big Crush/Part 4

About a half-hour passed. Smurfette noticed that Empath was getting weaker as he continued to expend his mental energy trying to keep her shielded. Smurfette helped Empath to a seat where they both sat down as she continued to monitor him.

"It's...getting...difficult...to...keep...this...up..." Empath managed to say.

"Please hold on just a little bit more, Empath," Smurfette pleaded.

Then the two of them saw Brainy rush out of Papa Smurf's lab with two vials. "No need to fear, Brainy the genius is here," he announced proudly as he doused Smurfette with the contents of one vial.

Smurfette noticed that she couldn't smell herself anymore. "Thanks, Brainy," she said with mixed levels of relief. "You've saved me as well as Empath."

"Think nothing of it, Smurfette," Brainy replied, all full of himself again. "Just trying to smurf that I can be useful to all you Smurfs when Papa Smurf's not here."

Empath, who was just starting to recover from his protecting Smurfette with his minds-eye, noticed the other vial. "You've created the recreation of Smurfette's scent?" he asked Brainy.

"Yes, I did, Empath," Brainy answered with some disgust, "and believe me, I've smelled better scents from Smurfette than this!" Smurfette just looked at him, trying to keep herself from lashing out at him.

Then Tailor showed up with the completed Smurfette doll. "Gee, Tailor, that doll looks just like me!" Smurfette noted.

"Well, I had to make her life-like, Smurfette," Tailor answered with some pride at his accomplishment. "I don't know what Empath had in mind with this doll, but at the very least it was the best job I could smurf in such a short time."

Clumsy, who was also present, looked at the two items. "Uh, Empath, what're gonna do with the doll and Smurfette's scent?" he asked.

"This smurf knows what to do," Empath replied. "We must go to the forest and put this smurf's plan into motion as soon as possible." - Empath, Smurfette, and a few other Smurfs went back into the forest with the Smurfette doll and a vial of Smurfette's scent. They found a tunnel just wide enough for the giant Papa Smurf to fit into that was a good distance away from the village.

"Place the doll as far in the tunnel as you can see," Empath instructed the other Smurfs. "Then pour the vial of her scent onto the doll itself."

They did just that. As the liquid scent began to dry, they could smell her scent as being a bit more pronounced than usual. So did Smurfette, who didn't like the idea of smelling herself, even though her own real scent had been blocked.

"Uggh!" Smurfette groaned, holding her nose. "Why was my scent smurfed a bit stronger, Empath?"

"We need the scent to be stronger, Smurfette, so that when Papa Smurf's nose picks up on it, he will come over here into that tunnel and start mating with that doll instead of you," Empath answered.

"Well, just don't ask me to smurf a bath," Smurfette hissed, directing her comment more toward Brainy than at Empath.

As soon as the three other Smurfs joined Empath and Smurfette outside the tunnel, completing their task, Empath suggested, "Let's wait in the bushes and see if Papa Smurf is attracted to the scent!" - Papa Smurf had finished punching down another tree that he had been senselessly pummeling when he stopped what he was doing and sniffed the air again. His mouth began to salivate when he recognized the smell. "Smurfette!" he said in a primitive growl.

Ripping through the forest, Papa Smurf headed straight for where the smell came from. He knew his prey was nearby, and nothing was going to stop him from getting to it.

He entered the tunnel where Empath had the Smurfette doll placed and he saw it propped up in the middle of the tunnel, waiting for him silently only because Papa Smurf's mind at that point could not recognize the difference between that and the real Smurfette.

Right now, that doll was the real Smurfette. And that was all that he needed.

"Smurfette!" he growled with delight. - Meanwhile, outside the tunnel, Empath and other Smurfs could hear the faint sounds of Papa Smurf having his way with the Smurfette doll, muffled only by the loud thumps of his oversized body banging against the tunnel's walls. Smurfette held her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear what Papa Smurf was doing in there for she had a pretty good idea of what that might be.

"Boy, is Papa Smurf so possessed or what?" Hefty exclaimed.

"Well, he's actually answering the call to nature, Hefty," Brainy started to explain, "for if the bees do it and the birds do it, then it's pretty obvious that Smurfs do it, too!"

"Golly, Papa Smurf must be even dumber than me to think that doll is actually you, Smurfette," Clumsy commented.

"Empath, do we have to smurf here and listen to this?" Smurfette asked, annoyed that she had to be among a group of Smurfs listening in on Papa Smurf's activity.

"This smurf agrees with you, Smurfette," Empath answered. "Let's go back to the village where we could give Papa Smurf some privacy!" He and Smurfette started heading back when he noticed that Hefty, Clumsy, and Brainy were still standing there listening in. “This means you three as well!” he prompted. - All three of them groaned as they followed Empath and Smurfette. Back in the village, as the other Smurfs did their best to keep busy while waiting for Empath to sense anything of Papa Smurf, the Smurflings were arguing over how babies were made. Empath kept them company, trying to answer their questions as sensitively and as honestly as possible, when he suddenly stopped and looked toward the forest.

"What is it, Empath?" Sassette asked. "Is somebody in danger out there?"

Empath sensed that it wasn't. "No, Sassette...just that Papa Smurf may be back to normal," he answered. "This smurf will return as soon as possible." He left the Smurflings to their debate as he flew quickly into the forest. - Returning to the tunnel, Empath could see that Papa Smurf had physically returned to normal. He was slumped over the now slightly torn-up Smurfette doll, still clutching it as if it were Smurfette herself.

Empath could sense that the energy that had been built up inside Papa Smurf when he was under the influence of the pheromone cologne mixture was expended, along with a bit of Papa Smurf's own physical energy, for he was asleep when he found him. As far as Empath could tell, Papa Smurf was back to normal.

Wrapping his leader up in a robe, Empath flew Papa Smurf back to the village and placed him in his own bed to recover. - The next thing Papa Smurf knew, he woke up in his own bed with Empath sitting by his bedside. Besides his hat, Papa Smurf found out he wasn't wearing much else. But that wasn't the only thing that concerned him.

"Uh...what happened to me, Empath?" he groaned, holding his head. "I feel so incredibly drained, like I've just given smurf to something...!"

Empath smiled. "This smurf would be happy to tell you what had transpired!"

After Empath had finished telling about all the events, Papa Smurf looked totally dumbfounded with a good dose of guilt. "You mean that I have been...smurfically overstimulated by that 'pheromone cologne' that I had smurfed on myself in the lab...that it increased my desire for Smurfette?" he asked.

"Actually, the fumes of your other chemicals and the 'pheromone cologne' caused the change in you, Papa Smurf," Empath answered. "We had to create a life-size female Smurf doll with Smurfette's scent to trick you into thinking it was her, so all that mating energy would expend itself. It was fortunate enough for all of us that the plan worked."

"Well, I still feel too exhausted to carry on my duties, and a bit too embarrassed to tell Smurfette about how I felt toward her," Papa Smurf groaned. "It just isn't right — I'm not even the same age as her! What would she smurf of me now that she knows that about me?"

"Whatever she feels toward you, Papa Smurf, this smurf is certain that the both of you will work it out," Empath replied.

Before Papa Smurf could say anything more, Smurfette came in, smiling. "Hello, Papa Smurf," she announced. "I just smurfed in to see how you are feeling!"

Papa Smurf took a while just to look her in the eye. He felt embarrassed to say what was on his mind, but he had to tell her. "Smurfette, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how I acted around you," he managed to say.

"Papa Smurf, I already know how you feel towards me," Smurfette gently responded. "Personally, I'm a little flattered to get the attention from you, but I have to let you know — I could only love you as a father. I couldn't fall in love with you like I would any other Smurf; for even if I could, it just wouldn't work. But no matter what you are to me, I will always love you!" With that, Smurfette kissed Papa Smurf on his forehead.

"Are you feeling better already?" Empath asked Papa Smurf as he noticed a big sigh of relief coming from the bedridden leader.

"Much better now," Papa Smurf answered, sounding a bit more relaxed. "Thanks for smurfing out for me, Empath and Smurfette!"

"Try to get some rest, Papa Smurf," Empath added. "We'll take care of the village while you recuperate!"

Papa Smurf smiled as he drifted back to sleep again. He may have been over his crush with Smurfette, but hearing that she still loved him made him feel happy. - As Empath and Smurfette left Papa Smurf's house, Smurfette looked at Empath with a bit of wonder. "Now that this whole crush smurfness is over, I want to know just one little thing," she stated.

"Oh?" Empath wondered. "What is it that you want to know?"

"Just how lifelike did Tailor smurf that life-sized doll of me for Papa Smurf," Smurfette replied.

THE END