Another Tobias and Rachel story! I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself… T.T I'll stop writing them now… well, for a while anyway. :D I want to write an Erek one-shot next for Skyflight Erek's Loyalty but I can't think of a plot D: If you have any ideas please message! XD

ANYWAY this story is based just after when they all move to the Hork-Bajir valley. Hope you like! Chu~!

Disclaimer: O.o I don't own anything. Tell them Mia!

Mia: Um… What she said. :D


Tobias

My name is Tobias.

I'm part of a resistance trying to save Earth from a race of merciless creatures called the Yeerks. I've fought, killed and almost been killed by deadly Hork-Bajir controllers that can easily slice you up like a stick of salami with a single blade and disgusting cannibalistic Taxxons that don't care who they kill or eat.

They are being led to take over and enslave the human race by the worst evil of them all; the newly promoted Visser One, the only Yeerk with the power to morph and who does everything in his power to get mine and my friend's heads on a platter.

And he usually gets what he wants.

Such as when he ordered for my father to be brutally murdered. In fact, he saw to that himself.

But you know what was worrying me the most right then?

Keeping in mind that millions of aliens wanted to kill me? You know what was going through my mind?

Gee, I hope no bird watchers saw us.

I and Rachel were sitting together on a fallen log in a tiny meadow, wild flowers dotted around like bouquets. As everyone had just recently gone into hiding in the Hork-bajir valley, we hadn't had a moment together for a while so after risking flying next to each other as birds of prey, we had morphed in a close meadow to steal a while together.

I had fretted slightly over the fact we were flying closely as anyone looking would find it kind of strange that a bald eagle was letting a red-tailed hawk fly with it and had not attacked it already. But Rachel had pointed out that we were only going a short way and you never really saw anyone out here anyway.

"Screw security!" She had laughed. "We're only going over the forest. What are the chances they'll be a group of hard-core bird watcher controllers nearby? Chill, Tobias!"

We had talked for ages and had finally lapsed into a comfortable silence. Although I wouldn't have noticed if it was an uncomfortable silence, seeing as I was having a fired debate in my head.

See, I wanted to put my arm round Rachel, but… would it kill the mood? Maybe she was happy just sitting there?

You have been going out for… what? A year now? And you can't even put your arm round her?! I scolded myself.

But…

Pathetic… My inner self sighed. Two points, Tobias.

Go on.

One. Put your arm round her and stop being an idiot.

Hey!

Two. You do know you're talking to yourself, don't you?

I sulked slightly. Oh, shut up.

"Hey, look!" Rachel suddenly said, pointing upwards, eyes sparkling blue.

I looked and saw a large bird of prey circling the meadow from a hundred or so yards up. Late sunlight shone through a red-ish tail.

A red-tailed hawk.

Like me.

I glanced at my human hand.

Sort of.

"This is probably its territory." I told her. "I don't think it'll come down with us here."

Rachel seemed to find that funny and laughed, showing off all her pearly white teeth. "And you didn't know a bird lived here before we came? I thought you knew the forest inside out." she teased, nudging me. "Tut tut."

I smirked, the expression unused and strange. "You know, it never occurred to me to know every territory in the whole national park. I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow then."

Her smile suddenly turned rueful and slightly exited. "We're going look-out tomorrow, remember? Find out what the Yeerks are doing."

"Oh yeah…"

To be honest, I had totally forgotten about that, too worried about my darn arm to think about suicidal missions. Trust Rachel to remind me.

She sat up a bit straighter, letting the light breeze play with her golden hair and closing her eyes, as though it was a perfect day in the Caribbean. After a few seconds, her eyes flicked open and she looked at me.

"How long do you have left?"

Did I mention I have a time limit? Long story short, I can now only be human for two hours at a time.

I can only be human with Rachel for two hours at a time.

I looked over at a small wrist watch we had carried with us; another reason why we really didn't want birdwatchers.

"Forty minutes." I answered, unable to resist squinting for a second with these lame human eyes.

I hesitated, and then put my arm round her clumsily. She smiled and leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. I smiled back and hugged her close, feeling so… well… happy.

"Do you ever get scared?" I asked thinking about tomorrow. "What do you mean?"

What made me say that? I was practically butchering the mood.

"Never mind."

She looked up at me, bemused. "No, go on."

I fidgeted slightly. "You know, when we go out on look-out or on a kamikaze mission that we've done a hundred times before. Do you still get scared? I know I do."

Rachel settled back, as though she was thinking. "Well, yeah. I mean I'd be crazy not to be. But I just deal with it; do what I have to do."

If I had told her what I had been thinking right then - that she was the bravest person I had ever met - it probably would have been too corny. Sure she can be a bit enthusiastic, but there was no denying how brave she was.

And anyway, I can't really judge; I eat mice.

"We haven't done anything for a while though…" Rachel continued, grinning her devil-may-care grin. "I feel like we have to do something, make sure the Yeerks know we're as much trouble as always."

Like I said, maybe a tiny bit enthusiastic.

If Marco was here, he would have made some wise-guy crack about Rachel being Xena; warrior princess. (Then again if Marco was here Rachel would be biting his head off and I doubt I would be holding her this close.)

But what was going through my mind was how strong she was; sure she was brave, but she also had this strength running through her that really made her who she was.

There were lots of things I could have said then, but they all sounded too cheesy, even in my head.

So I just settled on muttering; "You're amazing…"

She laughed in surprise and turned to kiss me gently. "So are you." She grinned.

I smiled back and… I wanted to tell her I loved her.

I mean, she knows that I love her and I know she loves me but we hadn't ever actually said it… But something was screaming at me to tell her before… before what?

Rachel looked up at me again.

"Are you okay, Tobias?"

"Yeah…" I moved a lock of hair out of her eyes so I could look into them. Her eyes are ocean blue and you could see the strength hiding behind them.

"I love you, Rachel." I told her, trying to put everything into the words. "I love you so much."

For a second, her eyes widened and I thought; Well done Tobias. You just screwed everything up. Then she slung her arms around my neck, eyes suddenly sparkling.

"I love you too." She whispered.

Then she kissed me again.

Rachel

Tobias seemed in shock for a second and then responded, closing his eyes. He had one arm wrapped around my lower back and the other softly supporting my head as I kissed him. I tangled my fingers in his hair, fireworks going off in my ears.

"I love you, Rachel. I love you so much."

Was 16 too young to fall in love?

Nah, I don't think so.

Then again, I think I've loved him for a while. I think I've liked him almost since that night in the construction site, but then when Taylor captured him, when he came so close to death… The moment I saw his broken body in that glass cube, I realised I couldn't live without him.

I wanted to kill Taylor because I realised I loved him.

And she had almost killed him.

We moved apart slightly and I rested my head on his chest; Tobias was still holding me close, as though I was precious.

Red, afternoon sun was just shining through a tree that was giving us a bit of shade, causing speckled dots of light to dance over us. It was like one of those perfect moments that you read about or watch, but that never happen to you; they never happen in real life, surely?

Yet, here we were.

Geeze, I'm not usually the lovey-dovey type, but here I am sounding like a wannabe Mills & Boon writer.

"We should probably get back soon…" Tobias muttered reluctantly.

"Five more minutes…" I answered, dreamily.

Not the lovey-dovey type, huh? I thought to myself.

Tobias smiled and threaded his finger though my hair. I raised my face to him and-

"Hey!"

He suddenly sat up straight and looked around, face as blank as normal.

"What is it?" I asked, frowning.

"Listen." He said. "Can't you hear that?"

I sat up and listened hard; I could just make out a wailing siren, as faint as if it was from miles and miles away. But we knew better.

It wasn't miles and miles away, in fact it was pretty close; it was just muffled by the Ellimist's work.

"The alarm!" I cried, jumping up.

"But… but the Yeerks couldn't have attacked could they?"

"If they sounded the alarm, then they must have! We've got to go and help!" I felt the usual buzz of fear and guilty excitement with the prospect of a battle; but I also felt a tiny bit of resentment. If only the Yeerks had waited five more minutes…

Tobias was still sitting on the log, then when he saw I had already began to morph to bald eagle, jumped up clumsily and started to demorph.

"But we've been here for almost two hours." He pointed out. "Surely we would have heard an attack coming."

For a second, I frowned, doubt creeping into my mind. "Good poi-" But I was cut of by my mouth suddenly dissolving into a beak.

A few minutes later, I spread my wings to catch the breeze, lifting into the air. My heart was pounding with anticipation… and yet I kept getting distracted, looking over at Tobias, who was flying a few feet in front of me.

Back to the meadow where he told me… Damn it!

It wasn't like me to get distracted when I'm faced with the prospect of a battle!

But still…

I glanced over to him again, using the thermals to help his powerful mottled brown wings glide through the air, and grinned to myself.

We powered though over the valley, no longer fazed by the Ellimist's tricks. I focused by razor sharp vision down and saw… and saw…

Um.

Nothing much really.

The rest of the Animorphs and a few other Hork-Bajir were crowded near the entrance but apart from that, life was going on as normal. Well, as normal as Hork-Bajir get anyway.

Um…Bit of a weird attack, isn't it? I said to Tobias.

I noticed Ax a way off, messing around with something on his computer; not exactly oh-my-god-there's-an-attack-battle-stations behaviour.

We titled our wings and spilled air, swooping down to meet them. Cassie, who was already searching the skies, saw us and waved.

What's going on? I demanded, demorphing before I hit the ground. Why did the alarm sound?

Tobias landed in a nearby tree and, after pausing and looking round at us all, dropped down to morph to his human self.

"What have you two been up to?" Marco smirked at Tobias.

Shut up, Marco. I snapped fluently, still more bird than human.

"False alarm." Jake told me, looking to the entrance. "One of our parents tried to escape. A Hork-Bajir saw them and sounded the alarm; they're bringing them back now."

Who? Tobias asked, staring at Jake's back.

I knew what Tobias was thinking; was it Loren? But I don't think his newly found mother would do something like that; she's too much like Tobias to try to escape. In fact, with her restored sight, I think she's happier living here than the run-down council house she used to be in.

In fact, if anyone would try to escape, I would say it would be-

I heard her before I saw her.

"Get your hands off me!" My mom screeched while being dragged into view by two confused Hork-Bajir.

"Mom!" I yelled, suddenly angry. "What do you think you were doing?"

She yanked her arm away from the guards and looked down at me incredulously; shocked that her kid would dare shout at her.

"I'm not staying here, Rachel!" She told me, trying to keep her voice level. "It's some kind of paranoid cult. It's ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous? Ridiculous?" I couldn't believe it. "Mom, we're trying not get you killed! It's not one of your bogus lawsuits! This is war."

She looked at me like I'd slapped her.

"Listen…" Cassie tried to step in but we both glared at her.

"This place is a prison; it's outrageous! I don't know what's gotten into you, Rachel!" Mom looked like she wanted to start shaking me. "You never used to be like this! What-"

"War's what happened, Mom. All those times I almost got killed and now I'm trying to keep you safe; you need to start getting what's going on!"

O.K., so maybe I was getting a tiny bit harsh.

But it was true.

Mom had been helping, sure; but she kept this total bad attitude and now she had tried to run off! Probably to run to some authorities and end up handing us all over to the Yeerks. I had a right to be angry.

Plus, she had disturbed me and Tobias… not that she needed to know about that.

She had to go pulling stupid stunts like this, so it wasn't exactly the right mood to tell her that that boy who's trapped in a morph just happens to be my boyfriend.

I noticed Jake walk off; he had gotten so depressed lately, he just didn't want to bother with anything.

Marco on the other hand was looking at my fuming mother and trying not to smirk. His parents are the only ones who are really involved in the whole Anti-Yeerk movement, so he finds any rebellion from other parents very funny.

I glanced at my Mom; yeah, real amusing.

"Rachel-" She started to shout but I was already stalking off before I totally lost it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie turn to me, then pause and start going after Jake instead. I had just reached the cover of some trees when I felt someone grab my arm. I span round furiously to face… Tobias.

"Chill, Rachel, It's just me." He said, looking at me worriedly. "Are you O.K.? Sorry, stupid question…"

"I can't believe she would try to run off! She can't just be like any other parent and get that we're trying to save her life, can she?" I fumed, trying to keep my voice low; the trees might block us from view but they weren't totally soundproof.

"She just needs time to adjust." He muttered. "They've all just been dropped into this; they don't really understand."

"Loren seems to be doing fine." I countered.

"Yeah well, she's happy just playing ball with her dog, isn't she?" Tobias smiled, happy I had calmed down somewhat. "Hey, maybe we should get your mom a dog."

I laughed. "We'd need a greyhound to keep up with her!"

I don't usually go round wanting a hug, but I suddenly wrapped my arms round Tobias, letting him hold me.

"Plus, she just had to interrupt, didn't she?" I laughed by his ear.

"Just typical…" He answered, laughing slightly.

It wasn't like we were going to do anything, except perhaps kiss a bit more, but you get my point, right? It's either the Yeerks or my own mother; someone has to interrupt.

I looked into his eyes; you know, we all talk about his molten gold hawk eyes, and how amazing they are, but his human eyes are pretty amazing too. There were incredibly dreamy, as though he was in his own little world and looking at something amazing; although the war had strengthened them.

They were a mist grey-green one second then rimmed with a soft caramel brown the next.

You could get lost in them.

"Let's just fly again." I told him suddenly. "Back to that meadow or just riding the thermals. I don't care. You choose."

"You know, there's probably something in camp we need to do. Cooking. Or cleaning. They probably would want us to help build the shelter."

"What's your point?"

"You're such a rebel, Rachel."

I moved my head back so I could wink at him.

He smiled with his eyes (yes, I have concluded that Tobias can do that too. When ever he forgets to use expressions, you can almost always read his eyes… well, I can anyway.) Then paused, suddenly looking serious and slightly nervous.

"You know… I … I meant what I said. Back in that meadow." He looked straight at me. "I really-"

I put a finger over his lips to silence him; I knew what he was going to say and my heart swelled just thinking back to it.

"I know," I told him. "I do, too."

I leant to kiss him again and-

There was a far-off wolf whistle and a horrified shriek of: "Rachel!"

I whipped my head round see that, through a gap and still standing by the entrance to the valley, Marco and my Mom could just see us. Marco was sporting his most evil smirk while my Mom looked somewhere between an angry teacher and a goldfish.

I gulped. Sure, I was still angry at her but she was still my Mom; my Mom who had just seen me about to kiss a boy who she didn't know I was going out with.

"Crap." I laughed nervously.

XD You all know what happens next. Marco eating popcorn and watching Tobias ("AHHHH!") get chased by Rachel's Mom ("Stay away from my daughter!") getting chased by Rachel ("Mom! Wait! I can explain!") XD Mwahaha… I'm so evil to my favourite characters.

Please review!