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Only five people left in the house. Three wolves, a fox hybrid and a bear. Joe and Boomer spend their morning snuggled up to each other with Joe's brain going rapid. Scott's gone. Oh well, he thinks. He wasn't really going to make it far anyways. As for Boomer, though, he's going to have to work on his eating skills if he wants to get further in this game. On the other side of the house, Joe has planted the seed of doubt in Johnny's brain. A little nurturing and the seed grows into an apple tree. All he has to do is keep hinting that Alex and Sandy will not take him to the end.

Then there's the scenario where Joe gets nominated this week. It has yet to happen to either of the two. But as soon as he's nominated, the wolf trio are going to attack him like never before. The best case scenario is if Sandy is nominated and either him or Boomer win immunity. Either way, as long as they aren't up together, things will turn out ok this week. Besides, there's only a 10% chance that they'll end up being pinned against each other.

Seeing as they have some time alone, the bear and hybrid flirt around a little bit followed by a make-out session. One that leaves both of their sheathes warmed up and ready for some action after a few weeks of not having sex.

Meanwhile, the wolves sit out in the pool, which is pretty much their hangout spot. Alex has his arm wrapped around Sandy, giving him an occasional kiss. It doesn't help Johnny, who can't help but think of Joe's deal to him last week. Just seeing these two kiss before his eyes continues to water the seed that was implanted.

The little brown wolf takes a sip of a protein shake before clearing his throat to try to get their attention. "So, what do y'all make of Scott leaving the game this week?" he asks.

Sandy answers, "I think it's for the best. He seemed pretty down last week even after Alex had a little chat with him." The red wolf reaches over and rubs the larger wolf's stomach, which makes him murr.

"It is kinda of sad, though," Alex responds with flat ears. "All Scott wanted was to win the game for him and his friend. And now both of them are out of the house."

They continue on talking, but all Johnny can think is, Are these two actually loyal to me or are they covering it up with their small talk?

This, folks, is basically life right now for the Final Five.

***

The next day, Boomer wakes up to find nobody else in the room. The wolves have taken the habit of sleeping on the couches together, but Joe is usually here in the night. In fact, last night he snuggles up to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek, telling him he will see him in the morning.

As the bear gets up and frantically searches for his mate, Joe walks out into the living room with a blue envelope in paw. It says to conduct a house meeting for everyone there. When he enters the room, all three of them are either asleep or playing games. (Alex looks like he's doing both.)

The hybrid clears his throat to get their attention. "Hey, everyone. I need your attention for a few minutes." Alex, Sandy, and Johnny look up from what they were doing and they sit up, looking a little annoyed to see their worst enemy show up in the room. Boomer comes out then, running up to Joe and hugging him tight.

"Where were you?" he asks. "I woke up and you weren't there." He gives the little one a few kisses on the cheek and muzzle.

"I'm fine, big guy," Joe explains. "I just got an envelope in the bathroom and it says house meeting. Now." Boomer wipes his forehead, relieved and goes to join the others on the couch.

Joe walks up to the front of the room, facing the others, as he opens the envelope then reads it out loud. "'Attention remaining players: Big congratulations for making it to the bottom five in the competition. Right now, all of you have a twenty percent chance of walking home with the million dollars'." The four sitting down smile but Joe continues. "'This week, for making it past Day 65, we at the studio decided to set out a few tasks for you to participate in. The more you pass, the bigger the reward. Everyone head outside in their swimming trunks where today's fun will begin'."

After that, the five of them scramble to get out of bed and back into their respective rooms where they take a little while changing their clothes (well, except for Joe). Ten minutes later, everyone has on bright orange swimming gear as they head outside.

The door was purposely barricaded to keep the houseguests from seeing outside. Once Joe opens the door, what they see amazes them. The backyard has somehow expanded and there are things everywhere.

On the left appears to be a pool full of whipped cream with a little board sitting on the side. In the middle of the yard is a slip'n'slide with a giant honey jar next to it. All the way to the right, the pool has something towards the bottom with two columns sitting to the side.

Joe opens another envelope that was waiting for them as the others take a seat on the steps. "'Welcome to the Final Five Fun Fest! Today, all five of you will compete in three separate tasks. If you pass one of them, the whole house will win a movie night. Pass two and the house gets a free deep tissue massage from a local Swedish masseuse. If we get all three, however, we get the big behemoth:'..." The others leans forwards slightly in anticipation. "... 'a trip out of the house to Orlando for 48 hours where we will stay in a luxurious hotel and get to do whatever we want to!" The whole house cheered at that, all of them wanting the last prize.

Joe continues. "'The first task is called Creme de la Creme. For this, players must dive into the mini pool and search for separate letters to spell an eating proverb. The second one is called Bee-have. In that challenge, players must take turns to fill a jar with one gallon of organic honey. Last, but not least, we have Together Forever. Players must jump into the pool to collect one of twenty pucks at the bottom. Each one has the face of one houseguest that competed this season. Once collected, players must pair them together, coordinating the pairs from the start of the season.

"'One last thing: each task has a ten minute timer. If we fail to do each task in ten minutes, we have to move on to the next one. Also, to raise the steaks just a little, Toner has hidden a special surprise in one of the tasks. If a houseguest finds a little golden star in one of the challenges and they present it before the next weigh-in, that houseguest will automatically gain immunity from the vote. However, think twice about grabbing it, because it will also mean you're giving up your vote on elimination night. Good luck'."

The others had no idea what to say about that last news. Simply put, they can earn a guaranteed spot in the Final Four, but they can't vote. Alex thinks that this twist will definitely hurt his game as he need to know that Joe will go home. Johnny, however, thinks of this as a good thing. If he finds that star, he won't have to choose sides if Joe and Sandy end up on the block.

Once that news was out of the way, the five got up and prepared to begin the first challenge. Off to the side, a timer set for ten minutes is on display. An air horn goes off and the countdown begins.

Our five housemates dive right into the pool of whipped cream, some of them are taking a few bites, but a couple are focused on finding the letters. "Got one!" Joe says. In his paw is a blue card with the letter N on the side. He runs up and places it on the board. Boomer finds an E. Alex gets an O. Johnny scrambles when he finds an M.

The hard part of this challenge is that each player can only bring one letter back at a time. In the back of Joe's mind, he's mostly trying to find the star (he does bring letters back as well) because it's the only thing at the moment that can keep him in the house. He could feel 100% safe for once in the past few weeks ever since Walter ruined his game for him.

Letters continue to pile up on the board; a C, a couple more Ms, a few Ss, and even a P. When there are at least twenty letter card up, Boomer hops out of the cream and runs over to see if he can solve the phrase. Starting out with easy words isn't the best idea, so the bear tries out making larger words instead. When Sandy brings him an R, the bear can make out one word out of the blue. He sets the cards on the ground and spells out the word "person".

"I can't find any more," Alex claims.

Johnny pops out of the cream. "I've got a T and an A." He hands one to Alex to avoid breaking the rules and they run over to help Boomer spell out the phrase. Joe stays in the pool, acting like he's trying to find letters.

"'Eat'," Sandy points out. He takes a few leftover letters and arranges them into the word. A couple more words pop out from the cards such as "make" or "must".

The small brown wolf looks at it, confused. "This makes no sense," John says. "'A person must eat...' Eat what exactly? Plus we have the word 'make' leftover along with several other letters." A B, a C, an S, a U, and an M are still sitting on the side. The group only has two more minutes to figure this one out.

Something in Boomer's brain kicks at that moment. He moves the leftover letters around until he spells C_UMBS. "Guys, it's supposed to say 'crumbs'," the polar bear observes. "We're missing an R."

"Found it!" Joe exclaims a few second later. He holds the R card in his paw and he runs over to complete the word. The phrase "A person must eat crumbs" spells out. But they still have the word "make" on the side and it doesn't make sense.

"We have to be missing some," Sandy realizes. The five head back into the pool with eighty seconds left on the clock. The dig around frantically, forgetting about the golden star and focusing on the possible reward of going to Orlando. Soon, they find an I, an N, and a G.

Joe's brain clicks together the pieces of the puzzle. "Guys, the phrase is supposed to be 'A person eating must make crumbs'." He looks over at the clock. Fifteen seconds left. All five of them practically leap out of the cream pool and rush over to the incorrect puzzle. The hybrid hurries to get the letters in the right positions as he's handed the last three letters. The second he's done, he says, "Time!"

They look over at the clock. Two seconds to spare which means they are getting at least a movie night. Out of breath, the gang takes a few seconds to relax a little before the second task. Bee-have.

On one end of the Slip'n'slide, a large pool of honey sits with five little cups standing next to it. They form a line with Joe being at the front. He figures there's no way that the star can be hidden in this task unless they're under the cups. But it's too risky to look. It's better to just focus on the challenge at hand.

The next air horn blares. Joe grabs one cup and fills it to the brim with honey. On the ground, the slip'n'slide starts spitting out water to make it slippery. The fox/skunk however, takes a small running start and glides his way over easily and pours what he has into the jar. Then it's Boomer's turn. The bear slips up a few times, spilling some honey on the ground.

Joe thinks that is everyone managed to not slip, it would only take about 15 or 16 trips to fill the jar with no problem. The only factor that affects this is the ground which is wet and slick.

Some of the takes are actually pretty hilarious. By the time Alex goes again, he slips and falls straight onto his fat ass (which he gets help getting back on his feet afterwards). Johnny falls forward onto his stomach, uttering a large "Oof!" upon impact. Sandy slips a bit, but manages to stay on his feet. The only issue is that he only has a small dollop of honey whenever he makes it to the jar. Are all wolves like this? Joe thinks to himself.

Joe speeds by the task again, filling the jar up to the midway point. He looks over to the clock and thinks to himself that there's no way they're going to make it at this point. "Hey, listen. Let me take all the laps from here on out," he suggests.

"No way, we have to work together," Alex points out.

"We have been, we've all contributed together so far. If I take it from here, I can get the rest of it filled." Nobody seems to be budging, not even Boomer. "Look, we only three minutes left. I can get this done. Trust me." The wolves looked at each other and then reluctantly set their cups down. That was all Joe needed to see.

He scoops up a bunch of honey, one cup in each hand, and slides his way down the path to the jar. Upon emptying his paws, the jar line fills up dramatically, impressing some of his watchers. The clock his two minutes left. Joe continues his routine. Fill up. Slide. Empty. Fill up. Slide. Empty.

By the time there's only thirty seconds left, he starts his cycle again, he's ready to finish the task in no problem. Suddenly, he slips up, spilling all of the honey onto the ground. "Come on, Joe! You can do this!" Alex shouts. Joe didn't expect one of his worst enemies in the game to cheer him on. But he did and that's all that mattered.

The hybrid got onto his feet and spins around until he sees the clock. Ten seconds left. Nine. Eight. He grabs the cups and dips them back into the honey vat.

Seven. Six. Five. He sprints across the slip'n'slide again to make it to the jar.

Four. Three. Two. Joe pours all he can into the jar and it overflows.

One.

A bell dings, indicating that they passed the task. The others come around him and give him a group hug. A week ago, the five were split into two different factions in the house. Now, here they were, standing together as one. This is nice, he thinks. But we all know that it's about to get nasty here in the next few days.

Once again, they take a break before starting the next task. The star has to be in this one, is what the other players think. The group then moves to the right side of the yard for Together Forever. The clock resets to ten minutes. The familiar air horn rings and the five jump right into the pool, creating a backsplash so big, it empties nearly half the pool. At the bottom, a bunch of hockey pucks with the players' faces on them sit for them to grab. As part of the strategy this time, Joe hops out of the pool with one puck and sits at the edge to grab the others, that way they don't have to get out every single time and be out of breath.

Joe runs to the two columned board and places pucks on there based on the pairings that he can remember. He puts his own next to one of Boomer (that was almost too easy to figure out). But other people like Chris and Edward he has trouble remembering, and they were on his team at the beginning of the season. He puts them in their own rows to keep focused.

One by one, the faces of past players come up out of the pool for Joe to put on the board. There's Daniel, Albert, Joel, Monroe, and Tom. He puts them in their respective places as he waits for their partners to show up sometimes soon as well.

Alex has the ability to keep his eyes open and see clearly underwater. So when he lifts a puck and sees it has a different depth than the others, he turns it over and there it is. A little wooden star that's the color gold. Hoping nobody sees, he lifts his larger stomach and tucks the star away, secretly screaming at the back of his mind. He just won safety and a surefire spot in the bottom four. Which means better odds of sending Joe home.

To keep up appearances, he hands the puck he's holding off to Joe, secretly thinking, you're going home sucker and I'm going to the Final Four.

Joe keeps up his game. When he glances at the clock, he sees he has only six minutes left. No problem, he thinks. Plenty of time to finish the task. He only has four faces left he needs to put on the wall.

Boomer and Sandy hand him the faces off Anthony and Johnny. The younger wolf hands him Victor and Alex finds the last one: Walter. The hybrid quickly places them on the wall in the pairings (he hopes that were) from the beginning of the season.

A bell chimes and everyone cheers. Not only are they getting a movie night, but they get free massages and a trip to Orlando.

***

At the end of the week, right on cue, Toner appears on the TV, looking sharp and ready to send one of the people out of the game. Alex still has the star under his belly, feeling that that was the only safe place to put it for the last few days. Which is why he refrained from having sex with Sandy, something that he'll fix after this week. Boomer and Joe holds paws, feeling the same tension this week as they did last week. Johnny just gnaws on the tips of his fingers, hoping he doesn't have to make a decision that will affect his game. (He's still considering Joe's offer from last week.)

"Good evening, fellas," Toner greets with a fake vampire accent before returning to normal. "I'm glad you enjoyed this week. I think it's safe to say that it's special because we've never done something like that on the show before." The others murmur in agreement. "Ok. This week, before we start the weigh-in, I have questions for you people like I normally do. First off: Joe, you did an excellent job stepping up to help the house complete each task."

The hybrid blushes. "Well, I had to do what I had to do. I wanted those rewards no matter what it took. But I also likes the tasks because it let us come together as a house even though the pairs and teams are dissolved at this point. For me, I just didn't want to see us fail while we were together."

Toner nods. "An excellent way of putting it. Alex, I'm going to turn to you next." The larger wolf blushes a little at being put on the spot. "It's been about three weeks since Sandy came back into the house. How have things been for the two of you?"

"Things have been great," Alex says, resting a paw on the red wolf's shoulders. "We've pretty much been hanging out and talking nonstop and... I just love him to death. I really missed him those two weeks he was gone." He leans over and kisses Sandy on the cheek where a small glow of blush appears.

"Glad to hear you're back together." The host then turns to the polar bear. "Boomer. We haven't really seen much out of you lately. Have you been doing ok or...?"

Boomer chuckles, making his larger stomach bounce. "I've been doing fine," he says. "I'm just still kind of shocked that I'm still even in the house at all." Joe brings Boomer's paw up and kisses it. "Though I guess if it weren't for Joe, I'd probably wouldn't even have come onto this show at all. He's been pretty good at this game so far." Alex catches onto the words and thinks, buddy you have no idea.

"Well, I'm glad to hear your week went A-okay. Because guess what?" Toner teases. "It's time for another weigh-in." The five groan at that. "Oh well. Too bad. It's the name of the game. But before I do, there was a golden star hidden in one of the three tasks that you guys competed in earlier this week. If one of you has it, would the owner stand and reveal it to the rest of the group, please?"

At first, no one owns up to it. Then Alex puts a big smile on his muzzle and stands up (albeit slowly). He lifts his large gut and the golden star falls onto the table. No, Joe thinks. No! He can't have that star!

"Alex, I presume you were the one that found it?" Toner asks. The large wolf nods. "Alrighty then. Alex, you are officially safe from elimination this week. However, you will not be permitted to vote. I also will ask that you weigh yourself this week so we can keep track of your score. As for the rest of you, one of you is going home after 70 days of being locked in this house. Boomer, you're up first."

The polar bear gets out of his seat and goes into the hallway. Stepping on the scale, the numbers reads 584 pounds; a gain of eight. "Awesome," Boomer says. "That's the best I've done is a couple weeks."

He steps off and makes room for Joe. The two quickly kiss before the little fox hybrid gets on the scale. He now sits at 257 pounds; seven more than last week. The number satisfies him.

+4 pounds: Johnny

+2 pounds: Alex

-2 pounds: Sandy

After the five of them are weighed in, Toner comes back to announce the results. "I'm actually shocked at who won this time," he says. "Alex, you're excluded from the group since you're already safe. Between the other four, the winner of immunity, and takeout from Wendy's, is..." Boomer holds Joe close to him, feeling agony creep up on them. The wolf alliance feel a little nervous as well. "...Boomer!"

The polar bear smiles and hugs Joe so tight that the smaller creature can hardly breathe. This puts more pressure on the three wolves because it means one of them are going up and are more than likely going home.

Toner continues. "That leaves three people left to choose from. And this week's nominees are..." Joe closes his eyes and prays to high heavens that he's going to be safe. Johnny looks towards his brother for some sign that he'll be ok. Sandy does the same, but with more worrisome than reassurance. "... Johnny and Sandy."

Joe lets out his breath. By some great luck, him and his mate are perfectly safe. Not only that, but they have the sole choice in who goes home this week. Perfect scenario in Joe's mind.

"Alright. John, Sandy, one of you two has spent your last night in the Gainer's Paradise house. Boomer and Joe, one at a time, you will enter the kitchen and eat the slice of cake that corresponds with your vote. In this case, cake number one is for Johnny and number two is for Sandy. Good luck."

Boomer gets up and walks into the kitchen first. Joe already pep talked to him these week incase it ended up as the two of them deciding who votes. The bear picks up the number two slice of cake and munches on it, savoring the sweet, sugary flavor before he heads back into the living room.

***

When it's Joe's turn, he skips up to the counter, already knowing what he wants to do. Even that after this, the wolves will be inseparable, he needs to do this in order to keep Johnny's doubt seed alive. "You owe me for this one, pal," Joe mutters as he eats the 2 cake.

***

"Ok. We have the results of this week's voting," Toner says when he comes back. Everyone leans forward on the edge of their seat. "By a unanimous vote of two-nothing..." Alex to his brother and his boyfriend, truly unable to decide which case would be the worst in who leaves. All Joe thinks is, this is what you get for messing with us. "... Sandy; you're officially voted out of the game. Please gather your things and leave."

The red wolf sighs and stands up along with everyone else. He goes around to give everyone a large hug before he leaves. When it's Alex's turn, he hugs tight, gives him a little kiss and whispers to him, "Stay strong. You're going to do great." He goes around to the front door. As he opens it, the other four applaud to him. "Have fun you guys!"

He heads out and the door closes, leaving four left in the game.

***

A sense of deja vu washes over Sandy as he walks down the porch steps and across the yard to Toner. The two greet each other and shake paws. "It's so crazy to see you again," Sandy says.

"I know," Toner says. "And this time you're by yourself. Take a seat." And they do. "So, I'm guessing you were a little bit shocked after the viewers decided to send you back into the game." The wolf nods. "The moment that you walked back into the house, what were your first thoughts?"

"Well, I knew that Alex was still in the game so the second I reentered, I went straight to him and it was suddenly me, him, and his brother dead set for the Final Three. For a little while, there, it looked like it was golden; a path was paved for us to go through. But then this whole week went down and now... here I am."

"Yeah. I do have some bad news though: had Alex not received that immunity star, he would've been nominated against you." That piece of info takes Sandy aback for a second. "So, either way, that twist would not have worked out for your alliance. For the past two weeks, it seemed as if you guys were targeting Joe and his mate, Boomer. Why were you ganging up on him?"

"Alex and Johnny told me what happened after Walter was voted out of the game; that Joe was controlling the house and had everyone wrapped around his finger. His next targets would've been the two brothers. But somehow we managed to turn the tables slightly. It's sad that Blake and Scott got in the middle of it all, though, because I liked them. But now that they're gone, it seems that Joe has taken the first strike. Next thing you know, he's going to be in the finale."

"Do you have any personal grudges against Boomer? After all, he is Joe's greatest ally and boyfriend."

"I have nothing against Boomer personally," Sandy admits. "He has a target on his back, though, because he is associated with Joe and that really hurts his game. I love him; but I want to see those two fall."

"Who do you think will end up with the million at the end?"

"I'm hoping Alex, but if Joe keeps up this smart guy act then of course he's going to walk away with the money. If Johnny wins, I'll be happy, but if Joe wins, I'm probably going to spend a week or two throwing up."

Toner holds out his paw again. "It's been fun seeing you back in the game. However, this time you're leaving for good. But I'll see you at the finale when one of those boys will walk home a millionaire."

Sandy shakes paws again. "See you later, I guess." The red wolf takes one more glance at the house and walks away again for the last time.

Toner then returns to his host mode. "Well, sixteen are gone and four are left in the game. Which one will say goodbye in one of the most dramatic weigh-ins yet? Stay tuned for next week of... Gainer's Paradise."