Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters from Rio. The characters belong to their respective owners in Blue Sky studios and I own nothing, nada, zilch!

Flying dreams.

Jewel groaned softly as she was greeted to an eternal darkness, her heartbeat was slow and her head was swimming as she took her very first inhales to breathe in the many scents that had flowed through the area she was in.

She could pick up some disinfectants and alcohol and she could have swore that there was something disgustingly sterile about the smells that attacked her senses.

She had no clue as to what was going on nor where she was and the last thing she could recall was having some sharp poke into her sternum and her losing complete consciousness. But she could also vaguely recollect some other things like her and a male blue macaw, named Blu, free falling from a smugglers plane as they shared their first kiss.

She couldn't remember much else yet.

But she started to become aware of a throbbing pain in her wing, she tried to move it to try and rotate the stiffness away but she found that it was completely and utterly immobilised by some odd force that she couldn't even hope to explain or contemplate upon. With curiosity driving her alone, Jewel finally opened her eyes and quickly winced when a sudden headache came on at full force and nausea started to drown her senses as she felt a acidic bubbling sensation arising in her throat. It felt like boiling magma about to spout out from a volcano.

She felt horrid.

Groaning, the female spix macaw laid her head back down and closed her eyes in hopes to rid herself of the strong wave of sickness that overrode her system. Her stomach flipped and her chest bubbled with an uncomfortable acidic sensation that she couldn't describe, she shuddered with disgust and she felt as weak as a newborn kitten. She clicked her tongue to get the disgusting taste out of her mouth and she screwed her eyes closed.

She felt as though coldness wrapped all around her and there was a disgusting metallic taste slivering down her throat.

But, through the emptiness of space, Jewel heard a familiar voice tunnel through her fading sense of hearing. It made her want to open her stinging eyes and look around for the voice, but her terrible throbbing migraine prevented her from doing just that right away. Maybe she would be coaxed into opening her eyes if she just had some reassurance or something, anything to pull her from this looming darkness that was her subconsciousness.

Jewel normally wasn't one to ask for assistance unless she was in a desperate circumstance and being as weak as a newborn kitten as well as being only barely conscious may just had to qualify this situation as such.

She got her wish almost instantly.

When she finally mustered the strength to open her eyes, ignoring the pain shooting straight through them when she did, she lain her week eyes on a familiar blue blur standing over her. She squinted her eyes a bit to try and discern who this blurred form was but alas her vision continued to distort in and out like a broken camera lens and a very soft whimper somehow managed to slip straight from her vocal chords. She had no idea why but she felt as though she needed to try and express her discomfort despite her mind being clouded with fatigue and disorientation.

The female spix macaw coughed abruptly although it made her throat and head hurt.

Then she heard that same familiar voice gently call out to her and took her good wing into his own "J-Jewel, it's okay, I'm h-here..."

Jewel blinked multiple times to try and clear her eyesight and enable herself to actually see the mysterious figure standing -or maybe sitting- over her.

It turned out that it was her new lover, Blu, who had been speaking to her and he also seemed quite drowsy as he had some massive dark circles spreading over the cyan blue rims circling each of his nervous and anxious warm brown eyes. The azure blue male spix macaw was sitting right beside the disoriented female and gently burrowed his head beneath Jewel's head to assist her in sitting upright.

She looked around blearily and started to notice that they were both in some sort of enclosure which had a plethora of leaves and plant life. Rivers and artificial gentle streams flowed through the spacious room and there was a huge tree that stood as the epicentre of the whole entire thing, the tree was some sort of palm tree with several colourful leaves and small insects fluttering around the area. There was also some dim spotlights shining overhead.

After getting some good obsveration of her surroundings, it was time to try speaking.

Jewel didn't know how she could do this, however. Her tongue felt numb and each time she tried to open her beak to acknowledge Blu's presence her words just came out in slurred and blurred mumbling that could hardly be interpreted as actual words but that was probably because she was just coming off the anaesthetic that had been used to make her drift off to sleep. She knew that her tongue must have become very floppy while she was asleep, temporarily disabling her ability to speak.

Blu seemed to understand the independent female's slurring and held a tender but firm wing to her back.

"Try not to move..." He murmured in a hushed tone, rubbing her back soothingly with his wing "...your wing is still recovering!"

When she heard the pet blue macaw say this, Jewel's brows creased with confusion. Why shouldn't she try moving? Why shouldn't she be able to stretch her wings and try and get some much-needed exercise? When she groggily lifted and turned her head to gaze down at her wings —her beautiful, healthy cerulean wings— she was aghast.

Jewel felt sick to her stomach with shock as she looked to the damaged wing that had been splinted and bandaged up. She flinched out of pure fear and her chest rattled when her emotions hit her with the force rivalling that of a hammer to the face, her teal eyes were as wide as bowling balls and were glossy with worry.

It was then she recalled how she had a cage fall on it.

Oh, how she could remember that cage falling from a shelf on the smugglers plane. She had lunged to push the ugly and vengeful cockatiel, Nigel, off of Blu when he tried to choke him in a last-ditch attempt to get him for releasing the birds whom had been illegally captured from their natural habitat. When she tried to get the ugly bird off of Blu, Nigel threw her off and tossed her against a wall which dislodged one of the cages and caused it to plummet on top of her right wing.

The memory made the cerulean macaw start to look around worriedly, eyes wide. Her throat was raw and her voice was hoarse and scratchy as she tried to move her wing in a fit of panic.

"What!? Why can't I move it, what happened!?" She spun around as she attempted to pry her wing away from its glued position and she appeared awfully fearful.

Blu spoke in a sharp tone as he snapped her from her worried state "Jewel! Stay calm!"

Within an instant, the spix macaw had froze in place as she refocused her attention on the nerd bird standing by her side. Her eyes were wide and unblinking as she looked the cobalt human-raised macaw square in the face with her mind filled to the brim with a multitude of distressing thoughts. She could see the fear etched in Blu's warm chocolate brown irises and seeing that cool focus melted a big portion of her anxiety away, her tense posture melted away like butter in a microwave and the beautiful gem of the jungle cooled down.

Blu calmed himself down too and looked the female in the eye with tons of patience, despite there being a big collection of discomfort present in his voice and eyes. He folded one of his wings against his back while he extended the other to wrap comfortingly around his lover, hoping to calm her nerves, and in an attempt to prevent any outbursts that would stress her out.

Jewel's teal eyes begun to water and a weak whimper slipped from her vocal once more. She had never shown to be such a worry wart before, she had always been strong and fearless although this was more than she could possibly cope with as she hadn't had to deal with all of this before now.

"What if...I never fly again, Blu? What if-"

Her words of concern trailed off as a sudden wave of dizziness and exhaustion clasped her. Despite the pain throbbing in her bandaged splinted wing, Jewel felt herself become increasingly tired. She supposed that her sudden freakout just after her operation to repair her broken wing had taken a lot out of her and made her become a mess of emotions that she couldn't help but feel tired from. She wanted to just slip away into a distant loss of consciousness that wanted to claim her and succumb to the need to close her eyes.

"You will. It's just a broken wing, you'll be up in the air again in no time." Blu promised as he tenderly soothed the female blue macaw.

That was all Jewel needed to hear.

She snuggled against the pet macaw, burrowing her head against the soft down and plumage covering Blu's chest. She just collapsed against his skinny form as she threw herself at him and surrendered to the overwhelming need to let her eyelids drop and slip into the comforting darkness of slumber.

A gentle grin graced Blu's beak and he furled his other wing around Jewel so he could embrace her as gently as possible. She felt so surprisingly frail in his hold despite having a spirit and soul made of stuff stronger than boulders. He could feel her heart gently pound in its steady slow rhythm and he could hear Jewel's previous sobs slowly diminish as she breathed softly with her head leaning against his shoulder.

She had fallen asleep.

Blu may have switched roles with Jewel for now —with her being flightless and him being perfectly capable of flight— but he was going to take care of her no matter what he had to do, he guessed that it was what couples did. He gingerly craned his neck down and landed a kiss on Jewel's forehead, making sure not to arouse her.

He lovingly caressed her face and whispered to her.

"Don't worry, Jewel, you won't be alone anymore."

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, guys. I'm sorry it's a bit late and stuff but I managed to get it out.

It takes place just after Blu learns to fly and saves Jewel but I realise it's been awhile since I put the last Rio fanfiction up and I hope you can all forgive me for the wait. But it's out now and I hope this day was full of nice and fluffy times that you spend with those you love.

Please review and fave.

-Chloemcg