Princess' grin widened as she pulled up in front of Jill's and parked Mark's car.

She walked in to see Keyop arguing with Jill about having to do the dishes.

"There you are!" Keyop stormed up to Princess with his eyebrows knit together.

"What's going on?" Princess questioned him.

"Here!" Keyop tossed a dishrag at her and scowled. Some Swallow had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Jill leaned over the bar and propped her hands under her chin. "So the Princess decides to finally grace us with her presence. That certainly was a long date you had with Mr. Wonderful last night!"

She pointed to the nearest barstool. "Do tell."

Princess beamed as she sat down inn the seat. "I'll be happy to do the dishes for you, Keyop! Just let me take my RING off first!" She waved her left hand in the air joyfully.

"RING!" Jill squealed. "Oh my god, Princess, are you ENGAGED?"

Princess nodded. She could hardly contain herself. She held her hand out to display the sparkling symbol of her love.

"I don't believe it! Tell me all the details!" Jill shrieked. Her voice became shriller with every word she spoke.

Keyop covered his ears as he walked over to see the ring.

"Finally!" He smiled and hugged her around the waist. "Congratulations!"

At that moment, Tiny and Jason walked through the front door, for their daily ritual of begging for free breakfast.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Tiny questioned.

Jason leaned against the door frame with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I'll bet I know…"

"Princess…engaged!" Keyop burbled happily.

She responded by flashing her new ring at Tiny.

"No kidding?" Tiny chuckled as he walked over to give Princess a bear hug. "Ol' Mark finally got the guts…"

"You shoulda seen him at the jeweler's…he was really sweating it…" Jason quipped.

Tiny turned on his heels and gazed at Jason. "You knew about this?"

Keyop folded his arms over his chest. "Coulda told us…"

Jason sauntered over to the bar and tousled the little Swallow's hair. "Sorry squirt. Top secret…Commander's orders…"

He walked up to Princess and hugged her warmly. "Congrats, Prin. You deserve it. I hope it's the one you wanted."

"It's beautiful…" She gushed. "I'm so happy…"

Jason grinned. "Are you happy enough to get us some free breakfast?"

Tiny chimed in. "Yeah…"

"Free breakfast coming up!" Jill announced. "We have to celebrate!"

888888888888888

Mark soared above the clouds, deep in thought about the previous night. It felt so good to have his fiancée sleeping next to him. He wanted that feeling to last forever.

He stretched and yawned, and then took another sip of coffee.

He could hardly stay awake, but he pressed on, eager to get his delivery over with so he could return to his beloved Swan.

He had a picture of her propped up on the gauges, giving him something to focus on when he was working. It helped a little to see her face there, smiling back at him, wishing him home safely.

The weather was suddenly beginning to get a little rough.

That's funny, I don't rememer a storm in the forecast... Mark thought to himself. He held on tightly to the controls and hoped for the best.

However, the storm didn't get better.

The darkness spread over his plane like a blanket. The wind whipped the small plane around as rain and hail pelted the windows.

Suddenly, a brilliant white flash encompassed Mark, follwed by a huge crash of thunder. Mark realized his plane had been hit. His engine fell silent, smoke began to fill the cockpit, and he was now gliding through the air.

The next thing he knew, he was plummeting down to the ground. Losing more and more altitude every second, he made a quick decision to land in a very small clearing among the thick rainforest below. It wasn't much of a landing strip, but it was all he had.

He gripped the controls tightly and braced for the landing. The plane bounced hard on the ground several times, quickly tumbling out of the clearing and then slammed into some trees at the edge of the rainforest .

He lay there unconscious for a few moments, slumped over in the cockpit.

After a few moments he regained his senses, quickly crawling out of the cockpit, and pulling his battered body as far away from the plane as possible. His body was partially covered by the dense forest undergrowth.

After catching one last glimpse of his beloved plane, which was wrapped around the trees and engulfed in flames, he lost consciousness once more.