Hey! Here's the third chapter everyone! Sorry again that this is sort of out of season and all, but hey, I'm determined to get it done! xD
I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.
Chapter 3
The tree lights up,
A brilliant angel atop,
Shouts echo down the halls as the children awake –
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"It's Christmas!" came the shouts of Finn and Junko came through my closed door as I heard their footsteps running up and down the hall as they began to knock our doors down.
I really wouldn't be all that surprised if Junko did knock a door down; Stork's door had been the victim of their excitement last year after all.
---
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Oh happy day!"
---
Smiling as I finished the final line of the short poem I had been writing in my journal, I couldn't help but giggle as I heard Finn and Junko run away from what I presumed was a very mad Merb, as I overheard Stork yell after them, "Don't you dare hurt my door! It took weeks to fix the airtight seal last year!"
Getting up from where I had been sitting on my bed, I walked over to the stool by my desk. Grabbing it, I dragged it to the corner of the room nearest the door.
Making sure the stool was sturdy, I quickly climbed up onto it, and as I stood on the seat with one hand holding my journal, I used the other to loosen the ceiling tile above my head.
Sliding the tile over just a bit, I slipped my journal back into its hiding place away from the guys' prying eyes. Satisfied that it was hidden, I returned the tile to its usual position before I jumped off of the stool and returned it to its proper place as well.
Looking at the clock next to my bed, I saw that it was only 6:45 in the morning. 'Christmas has to be the only day in the whole year that Finn gets up before eight!' I thought to myself, shaking my head as I left my room and headed into the hallway.
Going in the opposite direction as I would to get to the bridge, I walked through a doorway at the end of the hallway closest to my room. This particular doorway led to the kitchen, and much to my surprise, it was pretty empty for a Christmas morning.
"Where is everybody?" I mumbled to myself as I got a couple of frying pans out of the cupboard and set them on the nearby stove.
'Junko and Finn must still be having fun getting chased by Stork,' I thought as I rooted around in the fridge to find something to cook up for the squad for breakfast. 'And I would say that Aerrow and Radarr are still sleeping, but I really doubt it with all the noise the rest of the guys were making this morning!'
Smiling to myself, I took some eggs and a package of bacon out of the fridge before I shut the door, shaking my head at Finn's cartooned drawing of the Dark Ace which had several purple stains on it due to the guys enjoying using it as a target so much.
After the food had been cooking for a few minutes, I guess the smell must have gotten strong enough to lure one of my team-mates into the kitchen as someone behind me said, "Smells good, Piper!"
Startled that someone had suddenly appeared behind me, in an automatic reaction of self-defence, I raised the spatula I had been stirring the eggs came up near my face to be a makeshift weapon if needed. Unfortunately this action only caused the left side of my face to be splattered with half-cooked scrambled eggs.
Turning around slowly, spatula still in hand, I soon realized that it had been Aerrow who had surprised me. It turns out the Radarr had been on his shoulder, and had been unfortunate enough to get some of the scrambled eggs on his face as well, but it looked like Aerrow had it worse than his furry friend did.
Feeling bad, my hands flew to my mouth in shock, but unfortunately I had forgotten about the spatula that was still in my hand, and even more eggs were soon stuck to my face.
Setting the spatula down on the counter, I grabbed a paper towel and blindly wiped as much egg off of my face as possible before I turned back around, new paper towel in hand, as I said, "Sorry Aerrow, Radarr, I didn't mean to get egg on you guys or anything, you just kind of startled me is all."
Aerrow gave me a grin as a piece of egg fell off of his face and unto the floor before he grabbed the paper towel from my outstretched hand. As he began to wipe his and Radarr's face clean of the yellow mess, I walked over to the garbage and threw out the dirty paper towel I had used.
As I walked back towards the stove where Aerrow was standing, he told me, "Don't worry about it Piper, I should've made some noise on the way in or something, that way you would've known I was here."
I shrugged my shoulders before I looked at my friend and giggled, "Do you know how silly you two looked with scrambled eggs on your face?"
Aerrow chuckled for a moment before he questioned with a grin, "Do you know how silly you still look with egg on your face?"
He began to laugh as I raised one of my hands to my face only to realize that he was right after all, I did still have egg on my face! I began to laugh a bit as well as I took the paper towel his co-pilot offered me before I tried to rid myself of the rest of the eggs.
After a few moments, I stopped and asked Aerrow and Radarr, "Any better?"
Not missing a chance to have a little fun, Aerrow pretended to scrutinize me before he replied, "I think you missed a piece."
Rolling my eyes, I said, "Alright wise guy, where is it?" Aerrow just shrugged his shoulders in response to my question which caused me to exclaim, "You're just going to let me walk around all day with egg on my face then?"
Shaking his head no in reply, I was about to speak again when Aerrow licked his thumb before cupping my face in his hands, and wiped the last piece off of my face.
Beginning to feel my cheeks flush a bit from my Sky Knight's gesture, I gave him a small smile and a mumbled 'thanks' as he let go of my face, although we both seemed to be unable to pry our gaze from each other's eyes.
Finally realizing what I was doing when I heard footsteps in the hallway, I blinked a few times and turned around to continue cooking breakfast, but I didn't miss the slightly surprised and confused face Radarr was currently sporting.
After a bit of an awkward moment, I heard Aerrow clear his throat before he asked, "So… do you need any help with breakfast or anything Piper?"
"You could set the table if you want." I replied with a shrug, my back still facing my friend.
"You want to help me set the table buddy?" Aerrow said before I heard a positive sounding chirp come from Radarr who I guessed was still on his friend's shoulders.
Hearing the cupboards to my right squeak as they opened, I glanced over only to see that Aerrow was looking my way as well. I turned away quickly once our eyes met, and I could feel my face begin to heat up again, but thankfully before either of us could say anything the door to the kitchen opened.
Putting the cooked eggs and bacon on a couple of plates I had gotten out of the cupboard earlier, I turned around and put them on the table, and looking up, I saw Stork sit down in his usual spot at the table. The thing is I noticed something really weird.
Stork was... smiling?
Moving away slowly from the green merb, I tapped Aerrow gently on the back which caused him to turn around and look at me.
Seeing the light shade of pink on his cheeks that I guessed looked much like mine, I subtly pointed out Stork to Aerrow before I whispered, "Why do you think he's smiling?"
Glancing between me and Stork and back again, Aerrow replied, "I'm not really sure, but its sure beginning to creep me out a bit."
I nodded my head in agreement before I turned to Stork and commented casually, "You seem pretty happy this morning Stork, you know, despite Finn and Junko almost knocking down your door… again."
Stork shrugged nonchalantly before he replied with a slightly sinister look adorning his features, "Don't worry about them, they got what was coming to 'em."
Exchanging a worried glance with my redheaded friend, I said to Aerrow, "I'll set the table-"
"If I check up on Finn and Junko?" Aerrow finished for me. Nodding my head, Aerrow and Radarr quickly went off in a search to find a certain sharpshooter and wallop. I knew he'd discipline them if need be if they had done something bad, but I had a feeling that Stork had already gone and taken matters into his own hands….
About five or ten minutes after I had finished setting the table, I was beginning to wonder even more than before what Stork had done to Junko and Finn that it would be taking so long for Aerrow to go and find them. Not to mention the fact that those two never missed a meal on purpose.
I was tempted to ask Stork about it, especially when the sound of a muted thud came down the corridor and into the kitchen. As I stood up from my seat to go to the doorway and see if anyone was coming yet, I took a wild guess that the noise had come from the bridge.
Standing in the doorway that led into the kitchen, I crossed my arms loosely as I saw Aerrow walking down the hallway with the destructive duo in tow. "It's about time." I muttered to myself before I turned around and sat down at my place at the table again.
A few moments later, Finn, Junko, Aerrow and Radarr all walked into the kitchen without even a word of explanation.
Soon everyone was seated in their usual spots, and once Aerrow sat down next to me like normal, he leaned over and his breath began to tickle my ear as he whispered, "I'll tell you later, okay?"
I gave a slight nod of my head to show Aerrow I had heard him as everyone else began to dig into breakfast.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed this addition to the story, and just a heads up, we're only about halfway through the story ;)
Crimson Fox4
PS. I have a new poll up on my profile. I know you'll think it's kind of random and doesn't pertain to anything, but check it out anyways if you please!
