AN: Sorry about the switching POVs, hope you enjoy anyway :)

Goanna thanked Crysta for her help before saying goodbye as he carried a few more eggs back to the female's nest.

When he got there, he almost dropped them when he saw she wasn't in the nest, he set the eggs down & looked around before spotting her limp form laying beside the creek again. He sighed & shook his head as he walked over to her, the poor thing must've woken up while he was gone & tried to get a drink, but he also noticed that the eggs he'd left earlier were gone, so that was a good sign at least.

He gently carried her back to the nest & laid down beside her, curling his tail around her protectively before studying her silently for a moment, to others she might be considered ugly, but he thought she was beautiful, scars & all.

He briefly wondered if she knew how to speak, considering her former situation, probably not. But if she decided to stick around, he wouldn't mind teaching her.

He smiled slightly & laid his head down beside her before deciding to rest for a bit.

Joanna:

"Joanna! Joanna! You stupid lizard, get off of me you idiot!"

Somehow I was back in the water at croc falls. I saw the crocs heading our way and turned to try & swim to the side when I suddenly felt something grab ahold of my tail, I turned to see that my master had grabbed me & was giving me an evil glare.

"Oh no you don't! If I'm dyin' I'm taking you with me!"

I began to struggle, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get loose! I saw the edge of the falls getting closer & began to panic.

'NO! No please! I don't wanna die!'

I heard my master let out an evil laugh that sounded completely demonic as I struggled harder & began to cry when I felt the pull of the rapids getting stronger.

'No, no! Please! NO!'

I cried out as I went over the falls.

My eyes shot open & I gasped for air before sighing in relief when I realized it had been only a dream.

I froze when I noticed a blue & red tail with black stripes curled around me, I followed the length of the tail to find a huge blue body with orange legs, a red underbelly, and a mess of black spots & stripes covering it.

I began shaking in fear before turning to find an enormous red & blue head laying right in front of my face, I gasped & shook in fear at the massive male goanna curled around me before I decided to try & sneak away while he was still asleep, but as I tried stepping over his tail, it suddenly wrapped around my middle, preventing any chance I had of escaping. I froze, thinking he'd woken up, but when I turned to look, I found him still asleep, so either he was faking, or it'd been a reflex.

I gulped before surrendering myself & laying back down beside him, albeit as far away from him as his tail would allow.

Goanna had opened one eye when he felt the female trying to sneak away & saw her trying to step over his tail. He wasn't about to let her wander off on her own, so he wrapped his tail around her middle, making sure she couldn't get away before pretending to be asleep.

He felt her stiffen before trying (and failing) to pull away, after a minute she finally gave up & he felt her move to lay down as far away as she could with his tail wrapped around her.

He bit back a triumphant smirk and opened one eye to see her curled up & staring off into the distance, he watched as she sighed before a variety of painful emotions went across her face, anger, sadness, and finally shame.

Joanna:

I wasn't tired anymore so I began to think about everything that had led up to this point.

If only my master hadn't gotten so obsessed with that stupid eagle, then I wouldn't be in this mess!

But then I began to think about all the innocent lives that I'd helped destroy.

All those innocent animals that never did anything to anyone, kidnapping that little boy who was friends with the eagle, heck, I tried eating her unborn chicks for crying out loud! And all for what? So that McLeach could get rich while I got nothing but a few eggs, another beating & a gun pointed in my face if-and-when I messed up?!

Sure, McLeach wasn't always cruel, he'd reward me whenever I did my job right, but if I ever messed up or failed, he was sure to let me know.

Usually in the most painful way possible.

Like, for example; when I attacked that human boy & accidentally knocked my master into the pitfall trap that had caught the kid by accident, I knew that he really would have shot me if the kid hadn't happened to have that eagle feather sticking out of his backpack.

Or when I'd stolen all his eggs while he was ranting about how to find the eagle (I admit that I had been thinking with my stomach instead of my brain since he hadn't fed me at all that day) He would've beaten me within an inch of my life with that metal egg tin if he hadn't thought about the eagle's eggs!

I hung my head in shame and bit back bitter tears before deciding that I didn't wanna think about it anymore and turned to study the male beside me.

He was about the same body length as me, but a bit longer in the tail, although when it came to body mass, he was about twice my size.

I could easily see the solid muscle laying beneath his multi-colored skin, which was understandable since I'm sure you'd have to be tough to survive out here.

I had to admit, he was very handsome.

Goanna silently watched as the female studied him & bit back a smirk when he noticed that she was staring at his muscles and didn't see him looking at her. He couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the fact that she'd been staring for a good 5 minutes and her eyes shot up to meet his own. He felt her trembling in fear as she stared at him completely wide-eyed.

He knew it may sound wrong, but she looked cute when she was scared.

"It's alright little one, I'm not gonna hurt you."

He tried to reassure her and to his surprise, he actually felt her relax in his grip and decided to try to get her to speak.

"I'm Goanna, do you have a name?"

Joanna hadn't spoken in so long, she wasn't sure if she could even say her own name!

She decided to try anyway and breathed deeply before attempting to speak for the first time since she was a month old.

"J-j-jo...a-an-n-na."

She waited for him to laugh at her pathetic attempt at speech, but to her surprise, he didn't, in fact he just smiled at her.

"It's ok, try again."

She looked at him in shock as he continued to encourage her.

"Try again, you can do it. Just take it slowly."

She gulped before trying again.

"J-Jo...ann...na...Jo...ann...na... jo...anna... Joanna!"

He grinned when she finally managed to say it without stuttering.

Joanna the goanna... it suited her.

"See? I told you you could do it."