I shook my wings out as the flock and I descended towards our destination, a Burger King located by the outskirts of a small town. I was hoping it would be fairly enjoyable granted we were actually going to sit down and eat inside. That's right no dumpster diving for us, okay well at least not today. As we approached the Burger King we could all see it was deserted. Now we were close enough that I could make out the closed sign taped to the door. I peeked in through the windows, but couldn't really see well because the electricity was turned off. I turned to the flock to address them.

"I don't know how long they've been closed, so we could check the dumpster" I began to say before I was cut off by our resident blabber mouth.

"But Max you promised we could find a nice place to eat, that we could sit down, rest and have nice yummy food, and I really, really wanted one of those shake things, you know the ones that come in like a bunch of different flavors like chocolate and vanilla and I think maybe" Iggy then silenced Nudge as he clamped his hand over her mouth. Nudge still continued to produce incoherent babbling noises from behind Iggy's hand, but at least the volume had been lowered.

I had promised Nudge a sit down meal somewhere, but not without the influence of the bambi eyes. If you ask me those things should be outlawed. But a promise is a promise so I began scanning the surrounding area. After a few seconds of surveillance I spotted a sandwich shop down the block.

"They won't have those shakes or whatever it was you wanted, but will that do, Nudge?" I asked her gesturing towards the sandwich shop. Iggy peeled his fingers off Nudges still moving lips, to let her answer.

"And keep your answer short" I added abruptly before she could begin talking. Nudge nodded in understanding and gave me a surprisingly short answer of yes. Okay that's one thing to check off my list. Well actually two. We now had a place to get lunch and Nudge was happy, maybe she would be a little quieter than usual, I seriously doubted it. So with Nudge's consent we set off down the street towards the sand which shop or deli whatever you want to call it. A slight breeze was blowing and stirred up the crunchy orange and red leaves that were sitting in random little bunches along the street. The breeze picked up and I pulled my thin jacket closer around my body. I glanced around the flock; they all looked dirty and haggard. We would all need warmer jackets soon with fall leaving us and winter swiftly approaching. Angel and Nudge were talking quietly as were Gazzy and Iggy. Fang dragged his feet walking along silently and I led. The whole flock had been a little down lately due to the fact I wasn't the happiest camper. I didn't know where we were supposed to be going, I missed my mom and Ella and I was having some feeling towards a certain bird boy that I sometimes wished would just disappear. And it's not Iggy. And ewwwwwww most certainly not Gazzy. Then a very forceful gust of wind blew me out of my deep thoughts and blew up a pile of leaves close to where I was walking, right up into my already tangled mess of hair. I kept walking as I tried to pull the leaves out of my hair. I was failing miserably, I was pretty sure I was just making it worse not better. The hairs on the back of my neck then began to prickle and I was getting ready to turn on my pursuer when I heard a soft familiar voice.

"Wait"

Fang. I stood perfectly still as Fang gently picked the leaves out of my tangled hair.

"Thanks" I said blushing furiously.

"S' no problem" he replied.

We picked up our pace to catch up with the others and were soon at the entrance. I moved to the front of the flock and pulled the door open and was greeted with the jingle of a welcome bell and a cacophony of noise erupting in my ears. The source of the noise was from a large group of foreign tourists. Japanese to be specific. We all made our way to a large booth at the back of the room.

"I'll go order, what does every one want?" I said. Since none of us were well educated in the art of different types of sandwiches we all settled on the same thing, BLT's. As I was getting up to go order I was interrupted by a certain furry someone.

"What Total?"

"Max can I go make a phone call?"

Who the heck was the dog going to call? How does a dog use a pay phone? Dogs don't even have opposable thumbs!!!!

"Total are you serious I mean"

But I was cut off yet again.

"It's really important".

Even though I'm known for being obdurate, I let Total get his way just this once. Truth was I just wasn't in the mood to argue with a dog.

I was pleasantly surprised by Max's easy surrender, I really expected more of a fight from that girl, but then again she was sort of down lately. But not my problem.

I got Angel to put some money in the pay phone outside and place the receiver on the ground. She then courteously left so I could make my phone call in private.

After a few tries I finally got Akila on the phone, and I could feel my heart swell with joy. I thought it would swell so much my little doggy body might just combust.

"Akila"

I was greeted by a bark and a few short pants.

"My love, it is so enlightening to hear your. I miss the sound of your voice. I mean I miss the sound of your beautiful bark"

Feeling a little more confident I continued.

"Akila, I feel it every day, it's all the same"

I paused unsure if I wanted to continue.

"Total get your furry hid in here, you've been talking forever" Couldn't Max be polite for once? I decided to try ignoring her, but before I could even take another breath, she was screaming at me again.

"You hear me? I'm talking to you."

So much for playing dumb, I'd just have to cut this conversation a little short.

"I will not make the same mistakes that you did" I shouted at her. That was defentailly a good way to stall her. She froze and a look of confusion clouded her eyes. I turned my attention back to Akila. I could still hear her comforting panting on the other end of the phone.

"As I was saying love, I feel it every day, it's all the same, the feelings I feel for you, and I love you."

Akila barked in agreement to my proclamation of love for her. Now to make my grand goodbye and exit right stage, or in more normal words say bye, hang up the phone and go inside.

"It's just Akila" I paused for a second considering what to say next.

"Me and all my friends we're all misunderstood, people are always trying to kill us and if anything were to happen to you I would surely plunge a sword through my canine heart then live another day without you. That's why for now we must keep our love a secret and our contact limited, I hope you understand. I love you, so on that note I bid you adieu."

It would have been a very dramatic ending if only I could have been able to hang up the pay phone.

Max and Total came back inside together and Max quickly handed out the sandwiches scattered some napkins on the table and slid into the booth positioning herself in-between Gazzy and Angel. I was sitting across from them in-between Iggy and Fang. I much rather would have had a window seat but this was okay. I stared hungrily at my sandwich. The crunchy bacon, the plump slices of tomato and the crispy slice of lettuce. It's too bad bacon is made out of pigs I mean there so cute with their little curly tails and all. I had finally had enough of my own internal blabber and greedily picked up the sandwich.

"Hello my friend, we meet again" I said before taking a large bite of the sandwich. The rest of the meal passed with me filling the silence with my usual bubbly chatter. Then Max paid for the sandwiches got more for the road and we were on our way, wonder where we were going next? I should ask Max. Maybe there'd be cupcakes.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The sun had set and the clouds were a silver color in the sky. We were getting closer to a small cave where we were staying for the night. It had been a long flight filled with Nudge, Angel and Total singing Jonas Brothers songs while Iggy and Gazzy threw new bomb material ideas around. We had already eaten all the other sandwiches and now Total was trying to prove to all of us that it was easy to be Iggy by flying with his eyes shut.

"How long before I get in?" Total asked Max referring to when the opening of the cave was coming up.

"Now" Max replied, a second to late causing Total to crash into the side of the cliff. Max began laughing quietly to herself and then louder doing a little flip in the air causing the others to join in, even me. It was a relief to hear her laughter she seemed so troubled lately. Total just grumbled quietly to himself before righting himself and flying into the wide opening of the cave mouth. Total had learned his lesson.

As soon as we were all in we immediately slumped along the wall to catch our breath and rest our wings. I stretched them out so they'd cool off quicker.

"Come on" Gazzy whined.

"Wake up everyone. Let's do something. How about we play poker! I've always wanted to gamble!"

"Gazzy we don't have anything to gamble with, you don't know how to play poker, none of us do, and were tired we need to get some sleep." Max answered as calmly as possible with only a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

Thwarted by logic, Gazzy sulkily mumbled something incoherent and slumped down in a corner, turning his back to us. Max announced that she would take first watch and walked to the mouth of the cave to sit outside. But then I heard something that hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Oh Fang I have something important to tell you, I know I'm not perfect but you make me feel perfect. I close my eyes, and I smile, knowing that everything is alright. I can do this because I know I have you by my side, always. And I love, love, love you so much!!" I heard Max say.

I was so shocked I just sat there fully awake with my jaw gaping for a full minute.

"Gazzy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Max screeched.

Then the pieces of the puzzle all fell together. As my surprise melted away I felt a twinge of disappointment. But I pushed it away and grinned, chortling along with the rest of the flock minus Max. After a while I stopped laughing but my grin stayed where it was. I shot Max a sympathetic look but she was so fuming mad it went unnoticed.

"Gazzy" she shrieked again.

"Max"

"Gazzy"

"Nudge"

"Angel"

"Max"

"Gazzy"

"Max"

"Iggy"

"Fang"

With the combination of the darkening cave and Gazzy's voice throwing abilities we had no way of telling if it was the actually person talking or Gazzy mimicking their voice.

"Max"

"Gazzy"

"Max"

"Fang"

"Angel"

"Nudge"

"Iggy"

"Gazzy"

"Max"

"Gazzy"

"Total" Total yelped himself while jumping into Max's lap and slathering her face with doggy kisses.

"Total" we all yelled in synchronization.