A/N As usual, this is my story, Animorphs are not my property. Not until I discover time travel anyway. Anyway, I had wanted to add another chapter to this section but I was having trouble with it, and, eh, this'll suffice for now. I'll just roll the next one up with a few more in the next section I toss up. Enjoy! And please feel free to review.

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Chapter 20

Rachel:

Marco grinned as he hit the door release and we stepped out into the sunlight. The roar that hit us was like a physical blow as a few thousand reporters shouted questions at us they had to know we couldn't hear. That was reporters for you. I should know, my dad was one. Is one. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt. I hadn't been able to get my dad to the Hork-Bajir valley. He'd been across the country, too far away. I had just hoped distance had kept him safe. Was he out there watching this right now?

"People, people please!" Marco stepped forward with his arms raised. Knowing they couldn't hear him either but talking all the same. That's Marco for you. "I'll be here all week!"

What was it I had said to Tobias? Media storm? Try media blizzard. Media cyclone. I saw more bright lights go off in twenty seconds than if I had been staring at a strobe light. You know how if you ever watch a football game you just see lights going off constantly around the stadium, sixty thousand people all taking pictures in rapid succession? It was like that but focused in an area maybe a hundred meters across and a mile long. These reporters cameras were going to run out of batteries before we were even down the ramp and onto solid ground. I guess it was sort of hard to warn the government 'expect some alien ship in Washington' without a few reporters getting wind.

I glanced at the others. Marco was smiling, waving and just generally having the time of his life. He'd be fine. Jake was smiling but it looked half-hearted. He was still in a funk and probably would be for a while. We'd have to do something to get that resolved, or at least support him until he could figure things out for himself. Make sure he didn't keep blaming himself for what happened. I certainly didn't and even Tobias had calmed down once I helped him realize what it must've cost Jake to do it in the first place.

He still wasn't happy about it. Just...accepting.

Cassie was alternating between looking at the roaring crowd and at Jake. She slipped her arm around his waist and gave a little squeeze. He looked down at her and leaned in so their forheads touched briefly. I wondered about those two. And if I was being honest with myself, I didn't see it happening. They'd come in liking each other, and gone strong for so much of it but things had changed. Cassie had made sacrifices, gone against things she believed but had still maintained those beliefs.

Jake? Jake had done what was necessary, even if it hurt him to do it.

And a lot of what became necessary at the end, went against what Cassie believed. I'd talk to Cassie when I had the chance. But I knew that a lot of what I had done had gone against her beliefs too. And I wasn't very optimistic about swaying her. I felt a gentle pressure on my hand and looked up. Tobias was looking out at the crowd with a sheen of sweat on his pale face, looking like he wanted nothing more than to grow wings and make his escape. I understood. He had always been a bit of a loner type and he'd just spent the last three years living as a hawk in a meadow. He got fidgety when I took him to the mall and here we were in front of thousands with their attention focused solely on us. I squeezed his hand back.

{I suddenly wish I was back on a Yeerk ship facing down Andalites who looked like they wanted my head,} he said in nervous thoughtspeech.

I squeezed tighter and grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure Marco will take care of most of the questions. Or, you know, all of them. The guy acts like he's got a microphone held to his mouth 24/7 anyway, now he's got three thousand."

Tobias smiled but went even paler at the number. I winced. "Sorry. But they are seeing an alien ship in person for the first time."

{I saw an alien ship for the first time three years ago,} he muttered grimly, {I didn't take forty thousand pictures of it.}

I smiled. I would've pointed out our lack of a camera at the time but I knew he was just being unreasonable on account of the nerves.

I looked back at Ax who hadn't stepped out.

"Ax, come on guy," I said, "This is your moment too. You're one of us."

{That is all right Rachel,} he said, sounding somewhat uneasy himself. {These humans are taking enough pictures without seeing me as well. I will return to the 'Elfangor',} I heard pride enter his voice at that, {and await further instructions from High Command. I will see you all again soon, I am sure.}

We all turned and gave him a little wave before descending the ramp so his ship could lift off. We walked slowly up to small makeshift stage that had been set up for us behind the police cordon, set up to allow the best view of us for the crowd that stretched the entire length of the Mall.

Marco answered about ninety percent of the questions with the remaining ten percent spread between the rest of us. We were about twenty minutes in when I looked over at Tobias, who still looked like he would've been happy to faint if it meant someone carrying him away from this. He caught my eye and I winked.

{Ya know,} he said, a mischevious grin appearing across his face, {I believe I promised you some fine dining at a local Burger King.}

I smiled back as a feather pattern etched itself onto my skin. "I believe you did."

It took a few moments but the crowd quieted down as those in front bore witness to the sight of Tobias and I melting into a red-tailed hawk and bald eagle respectively.

Marco looked over, confused about the sudden lessening of the questions being hurled at our group and sighed as he saw us.

{Shall we?} Tobias asked. Sounding much happier even with all the attention now focused squarely on us two.

{After you, Red Baron.}

We flapped and gained altitude. Soaring over the heads of reporters and security alike as they turned to watch us fly away.

"And there goes Xena and Bird-boy," I heard Marco mutter, "hogging all the attention."

{Ha HA!} Tobias crowed, thrilled to be in the air and away from the crowd again. {I think we just learned what it's like to witness three thousand minds getting simultaneously blown.}

I smiled inwardly. I admit, that in the back of my mind, I was wondering how we were going to get some burgers without any money but I'd worry about it when we got there cause at that moment then and there, I didn't care.

It was sunny. It was warm. And I was with Tobias.

I was happy.

Chapter 21

Tobias:

Two years later

I was back. Back in that corridor of death. Walking down a hallway of blood. The Blade Ship. I knew what was coming. I'd lived it once and relived it many times more. My favourite nightmare it seemed.

"I just work at a pharmacy." WHAM! A middle-aged woman, maybe forty-five, swatted down and crumpled straight into the ground.

"My mother's very sick. I'm all she has." CRUNCH! A sickening sound as my jaws closed over over the head of a young man in his thirties. More cracks followed as I twisted my jaws and snapped his neck to an angle that could never be mistaken for natural.

"My son just turned three." I grabbed the shoulder of a young woman in my gaping maw and hurled her against the wall with enough force to dent it. With enough force to kill.

I knew the rest. Twenty more would follow. A pilot. A loan officer. A former corporal. A clerk from the grocery in my hometown. A nurse. A secretary. A fitness trainer. More.

They're people. They need to be saved.

She needs to be saved.

They're people. They need to be saved.

They're obstacles. They need to be moved.

"Please."

CRUNCH!

"I want to be free."

WHAM!

"I want to live."

CRUNCH!

"Please."

WHAM!

And then I got to the end. A tall, slender blond girl. Facing away from me. It didn't matter. I had to save Rachel. I rose to my full nine feet and raised one frying pan-sized paw.

Someone loves this girl. Someone, somewhere is about to have their life ruined. Forever. Because of you.

She matters.

She's loved.

She's in the way.

My paw came down as she began to turn.

NOOOOOO!

Tobias!

RACHEL!

"TOBIAS! WAKE! UP!"

My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring into the two most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever known. I sat bolt upright. I was shivering. It was a warm night but the sweat that coated me was cooling quickly. Though temperature didn't have much to do with my reaction.

Rachel wrapped her arms around me then grabbed an edge of the blanket and began to towel off my back. "Oh, Tobias," she whispered, "the Blade Ship?"

I nodded and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Put my head in my hands and took a few steadying breaths.

"The Blade Ship."

"For me, Tobias. That was for me." She always reassured me with that and though it worked as a salve to my conscience, it was far from a cure. Another month or two, and I'd be back there.

I leaned back in and kissed her. "I know." I smiled. "But I don't think there's much more sleep on the books for me at the moment. Think I'll just go watch some T.V."

"Want me to join you?"

"No, that's ok. I'll be fine. Go back to sleep. Who knows, maybe if I'm feeling useful you'll even wake up to breakfast." I winked.

She smiled. She understood. I wasn't the only one with a nightmare unique to me. Her's was about David. We seemed to take turns shaking each other awake but luckily it wasn't as common as it had been. I'd never asked her about David's final fate, and I never would. If she ever wanted to tell me, she knew where to find me. She rolled over facing away from me, to let me think she wasn't too upset, but I knew by the time I was walking out the door she'd have rolled back over and be staring at my retreating back. Still, it wasn't something she'd worry too much about I knew.

I sighed and levered myself off the bed. Threw on a robe and my moccasins and headed out the door. I heard a rustle as Rachel rolled over in time to see me closing the door. Poor girl. I hated to see her worry let alone because of me. Part of it was my own damn fault and I knew that. She'd warned me against it, but it was something I just couldn't let go. Humans had died in our fights before, but never so many, so fast, from just one of us.

And so it was something I had to do; I found out.

With the war over, all the people who had died as controllers in the war could finally be searched for, and found. It took months but the families of almost all of them were contacted. Not all were found of course. Sometimes people just go missing. Sometimes families didn't want to believe that their loved one may have been one of the ones killed by an alien warlord and fed to other aliens. But after the revelation of the invasion and the war, a lot knew that the unthinkable was no longer unthinkable. The fact that the bodies of the ones I killed could be retrieved from the Blade Ship made identifying them easier but believe me, it was still hard. The families had been warned, of the state of their loved ones, but most wanted a final confirmation. I hadn't been present for that. I had waited until a week after the last ones were confirmed. Then I visited the families.

A lot were shocked. They knew who I was. Everyone in the world did by that point. We weren't just national heroes, we were international heroes. The kids who'd saved the planet. The families were just shocked that I'd bothered to find them. To come explain actions that had taken place in a war. But I did. I found out about the controllers in that hallway. The people who had never asked to be there and never stood a chance. And the one emotion that was universal amongst their families and that I hadn't expected, was forgiveness. A couple were mad, most were grief-stricken, but not one said, "It's your fault."

It was a father, whose daughter had been one I'd killed in that hallway, whose grandson's third birthday had just come to pass, who explained it best. The world knew what the Yeerks were, what they did to people, and when I told him I killed her, he replied simply, "You freed her."

"She died."

"She lived."

You'd think that would've taken care of the nightmares. Nothing except time ever does that, it turns out.

I wandered through the house towards the kitchen. I glanced at the microwave. 4:57 a.m. Sigh. Well I got a little sleep at least. And now I was hungry. Maybe that was the hawk side of me, nightmares didn't do much to diminish my appetite. Gotta eat to live right? Can't have a little bad dream scare me off of that. All right, human food. Gotta have some human food. If you think that sounds like a stupid thought to have at five in the morning, don't. I spent the first thirteen years of my life growing up in households where 'keep Tobias fed' was not exactly near the top of the to-do list, and the next few hunting rodents. Now that I was human again, permanently, I had every intention on trying to eat as proper as I could manage.

I let my eyes wander through the fridge. Steak. People ate steak and eggs for breakfast right? I wasn't big on eggs, but steak solved most things. I grabbed an eye-of-round and heated up the frying pan. I hoped the smell wouldn't wake Rachel up, but I knew it probably would and if it did I'd at least have made good on my promise of breakfast. I thought about it for a second, grabbed a second steak, tossed them both in the pan. I flipped on the television and started flipping channels. Got through seventeen channels and only saw the word 'Animorphs' on four of them. Things were calming down. Kept flipping. Stopped. Ah, Animal Planet my old friend. And showing Blue Planet at that. A show about nothing but underwater animals, everything that terrified me, and I loved it more than most. That'd do.

I looked outside. It was still dark out, pre-dawn. I could see through the windows that made up most of the outer walls. We lived in a very open concept house, large glass windows made up a lot of the walls, both inner and outer, though we didn't have many inner walls. I'd spent three years as a hawk in a meadow. I wanted as few walls and ceilings as structurally possible. It was, I'll admit, a little more...posh...than either of us had intended, certainly not something I'd ever dreamed of walking through let alone living in while I was growing up in the shack my uncle lived in, but the government of almost every nation on Earth had thrown money at all of us to the point where we had to just give in. Take some as a sign of good faith and hope they'd get the hint that we didn't do it for fame and fortune.

All five of us were millionaires in our own right, though aside from Marco we didn't really revel in it. Our house was on the beach, as far from any others as we'd been able to manage. It gave us maybe a mile of clear beach on either side of us which was nice. Even with all the frenzy about us I still liked my privacy and I knew Rachel did too. It was a little more upscale than either Jake's or Cassie's who had both opted for houses in a more suburban setting. Rich suburban but still. Marco had a beach house too but he also had two others that I knew of so that wasn't saying much. The truth was Rachel and I would've been fine in a one-room cabin in the woods but I wanted as much view of the sky as possible so Rachel had compromised with me and we'd found this. If I'm being honest I wasn't really a fan. I had always lived small before the war and completely open during it. This was the closest we could get to a middle-ground but it still felt excessive. We had a cleaning lady in once a week. It wasn't that we were too good to do it ourselves but it wasn't exactly something that got Rachel's heart racing and although I had done most of the cleaning growing up with my aunt and uncle, their places usually got dirty faster than I could clean so the prospect of just some light dusting and not picking beer cans up off the kitchen floor caught me off-guard. We each owned our own car, mine was a Cadillac, her's was a Mercedes. Nice but reasonable. Plenty of people who'd never saved the world owned nicer vehicles than us. And I think that of the five of us still on Earth, we were the happiest.

Cassie was happy enough as it was but wouldn't achieve our level, that much I knew from Rachel. I still talked to her occasionally, even when Rachel wasn't around, we had been closest in our ideals during the war after all, and from the sounds of it she was doing well, but she didn't have Jake. And probably never would. They had tried, once the war ended. They had given it an honest-to-God shot, I knew that much at least. They'd even come on a couple double dates with Rachel and I. But it had lasted two months, three tops, and they'd just continued to drift apart, as they had for the last bit of the war. Now she was with some Ron, or Ronnie fellow, a government agency type which suited her perfectly seeing as she now worked for the EPA. She'd helped carve out a preserve for the Hork-Bajir in Yellowstone, got Arbron's Taxxons morphs suitable to their needs and helped relocate them around the jungles of the world. She had turned down endorsements that I'm pretty sure left Marco weeping when we weren't around and just continued on strong with her environmental stuff. She'd gotten her dad's Wildlife Rehabilitation farm government funding and now it housed about three or four times the animals it did when we used to use it as a base. She was every tree hugger's hero and she was happy, doing what she had always envisioned herself as being meant to do, but I could still hear a catch in her voice whenever we spoke. One that spoke of what she had lost with Jake.

Marco on the other hand was the only one who might've had us beat on the happiness factor but even then it would have been close. This was a dream come true for him. We chatted occasionally and from what I'd heard last time we spoke he'd been with his fourth girlfriend in as many months, owned numerous cars worth more than both mine and Rachel's put together and had a condo to match his beach house and at least one villa somewhere. Even people who love the fame need to escape every once in a while I guess. He had become, more or less, our unofficial spokesman. He was the only one of us really interested in the showbiz act. He'd always been a natural performer and now he had the audience to go with it. I'd seen him give more interviews in the first three months than the rest of us gave in the first year. Combined. He had a regular acting gig and was acting as the liaison between a few Hollywood producers and the rest of us for an Animorphs movie. We had all figured it was bound to happen and while we were interested in the idea, we weren't interested in the details, so we were happy to let him take care of those. The only thing preventing Marco from true glory though, was a slight change in tone whenever we talked about the others. I knew he still worried about Jake. He knew as well as I that Jake and Cassie had tried but failed, and it seemed as though Jake hadn't tried with anyone else since.

It was, in fact, Jake who worried us most. Well, perhaps worried was a strong word. Concerned maybe? He tried his best to seem okay whenever we were around but there was something in his eyes. A haunting of sorts. He lived well enough, that was no doubt. The government had seen to that, but he was still often times in his own little world. He was matched only by Cassie in his lack of enthusiasm for interviews, and I never thought I'd ever say I wanted to give an interview more than anyone. I didn't. They made me uncomfortable as all hell. But Jake didn't either and everyone who ever saw it knew it right off the bat. We'd tried hard enough. His own parents had thanked him for doing everything he could, and freeing their eldest son in the end. If a former controller says thank you for freeing someone, you know they mean it. But he still beat himself up for what he saw as a failure, even though he had stood almost zero chance of success. But still, when we saw him next we would try again.

I flipped the steaks, pressed down. I preferred my own blue rare; I'm sure you can take a guess as to why that was. But Rachel was more of a medium-rare gal. I smiled at the thought. A girl like that was rare, for sure, but there was nothing-

I felt slim arms slide around my waist and a pressure on my back as Rachel leaned her head against it.

"Steak at a quarter after 5 in the morning?" She moaned. "You're cruel."

I smiled. "Still more appetizing than mouse at 7," I answered. "Besides, I have one frying up for you." I pulled my own off onto a plate and flipped hers over in the pan.

She groaned again and put her chin up on my shoulder. She took one hand off my waist and reached forward to toy with the ring on my left ring finger. It featured two tiger's-eye gemstone birds set into a platinum surface. One with a unique diamond and topaz cut for a head, the other with a a slanted rectangle ruby for a tail. Only one of two in existence.

She sighed happily. "I knew I wouldn't regret this."

Chapter 22

Rachel:

I rolled over and sniffed. I could smell meat cooking. I'd smelled enough cooking meat fighting aliens that carried Dracon beams that you'd think it might bother me, but good God I loved steak. Tobias probably hadn't meant to wake me again, but he had. And I'd let him know exactly how upset I was about it once I stopped telling him how much I loved him for breakfast. I knew he would've made two. I made my way downstairs and snuck up behind him. He had never liked being freaked out as a hawk but he'd gotten more used to the occasional, playful fright over the last two years.

"I knew I wouldn't regret this."

He leaned back and gave me a quick kiss.

"Go have a seat on the couch. I'll be over with breakfast momentarily." He smiled. " Soon as I'm done cooking all the flavour out of yours." He winked.

I smiled back at him as I made my way over to the couch. I knew he'd spent years hunting rodents for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but still, I shuddered at just how little he cooked his steak. Seared was an overstatement. Flame-kissed, maybe.

I sat down and grinned at what he'd put on. Blue Planet. A guy who's greatest fears revolved around mostly water, and he was watching footage from thousands of feet underneath it. He always had been a meaningful type of guy.

I guess I couldn't blame him. As far as the media was concerned, Jake was the sacrificial hero who'd led a war to save his brother. Cassie, the morally righteous tree hugger. Marco was the complex comedian who'd fought for his mother.

And me and Tobias? We weren't just the couple. We were the couple. Brad Pitt married who? Who cares? For most of the last year and more, no couple outside of Tobias and I mattered in the least. I was the blond who looked like the one you might whistle at in the mall only to find your lips torn off. I was the model who'd became a warrior. Who could've had an easy life but chose to fight. I was the fearless cousin, the one who'd accepted a suicide mission to save a family member from a fate worse than death.

Tobias was the one who'd come from a broken home. Who'd been nothing but beaten down until he found something worth standing up for. The one that had been trapped but chose to fight, knowing every mission could be his last as the only one unable to heal himself. The one that had been given the chance to escape as a human but continued the fight to keep his love safe.

Even the final hurrah on the Blade Ship had been twisted to the point where it was Tobias taking on an entire ship to save me. Ax wasn't even involved in most versions of the story anymore.

But that was only because they hadn't heard. Because we tried to keep things to ourselves, as best we could, given the frenzy. We had the occasional argument same as any other couple for sure. You show me a couple that says they don't fight and I'll show you a pair of liars. But there was one. One fight that had been a little more heated than most. It had been just a little more than a year after the war.

Chapter 23

Tobias and I had moved in together, with our parents blessing of course, and things had been getting progressively more tense. I hated to admit it but I missed the fight. I wasn't wanting people to be in trouble again, to have their lives ruined, but I had wanted a fight. It was getting to the point where any fight would do. And poor Tobias was the closest. We were celebrating my eighteenth birthday, we'd had a get-together the week before so it was just Tobias and I, and he said he'd be right back, just had to demorph and remorph. I hadn't asked him to stay human. And I'd promised myself I never would; if he wanted to stay human he'd do it of his own accord. But right then and there I snapped. I don't even remember what was said but, well, I've been called a particular unkind word before and I think that it was a pretty good descriptor for me at that moment. Words were exchanged, heatedly, for the better part of an hour, during which Tobias demorphed and remorphed right there in front of me. That did not help the situation. I hadn't even noticed myself doing it but at one point he stopped yelling and stared at me. I had looked down at my arm to see fur growing there. I had been so mad I was going grizzly without intending to.

Suffice to say he spent that night in a hotel. And the next few. And then a couple weeks.

It was maybe two and half weeks later and I was calmer, but not calm, if that makes sense. Though for the life of me I couldn't understand why I was so mad. He hadn't even done anything.

But...Damn it! He was human! Be a human! It wasn't like we were in a war anymore. We didn't need another warrior. I needed my boyfriend. I needed the guy I loved to be a guy. I knew it was selfish of me but anger had never been much of a catalyst for logic.

I sighed. I wouldn't ask him. I wouldn't make him. I just wished he wanted to.

I had grabbed a bucket of Ben and Jerry's and plopped down on the couch. Had ignored a call from Tobias earlier that day. And the day before. He didn't really do anything wrong but I wasn't in a terribly reasonable mood. I'd flipped on the T.V. and prepared to veg. Forget Disneyland; ice cream and T.V., the happiest place on Earth. I had every intention of watching trash T.V. but it was still relatively early after the win and every channel I flipped to had the same thing. Animorphs. Animorphs. Animorphs parody on the Simpsons. Animorphs. Marco in an interview. About the Animorphs.

Damn it.

Kept flipping. Ah, Animal Planet. Well if I had to see something animal related, and it seems I did, I may as well see if the pros can teach me something I don't already know. What do we have here? Blue Planet: The Deep. Cool. Been there, done that, let's see if they get it right. Goblin shark. Weird. Lanternfish. Weird. Vampire squid. Cool, but even weirder.

Wait? Squid? Damn.

I'd sighed again and forced myself to look at it from another angle, despite one hell of an unwillingness to do so. I remembered that day all too well. The day we'd gone down to turn off the signal from the Pemalite ship. The only thing we knew of that could go as deep as we needed was a giant squid. And the only way to get ahold of a giant squid was to go down as sperm whales and fight one. Fight a giant squid, three miles straight down, in the crushing blackness, and it was Tobias and I who had done it. I'd made Tobias help me, to cheat, to make sure I was one of the ones going and he did. Then he cheated to make sure he was the second one. A boy who'd spent so much time looking up at the freedom of the sky and dreaming, who'd been trapped as a creature of that freedom, and he followed me. He fought through an absolutely crippling fear of his because he knew he'd go to lengths to save me that the others might have shied away from. The Blade Ship, though it still gave him nightmares, was proof of that.

I looked at the phone. Two more missed calls since I'd last looked. Local Sheraton hotel. I picked up the receiver and hit redial. Three rings. Four. Was he out or just demorphing? Fi-

"Hi. Rachel?"

"Uh, hey Tobias. How's it going?" Are you seriously that stupid, Rachel? I could've happily smacked myself upside the head at that.

"Been better. Been worse too," he admitted. I smiled at that. No doubt we'd both been worse before.

Remembered the time he'd spent in a torture cube. Stopped smiling.

"Uh, hey, look, maybe you wanna come on back home tonight? I'm watching some scary stuff, I guess uh, I guess I wouldn't mind some company."

"Sure. I think I'd really like that."

A momentary pause. I went first.

"...I love you."

I could practically hear him smile. "I love you too."

He was home twenty minutes later.

He came in through the front door and saw me sitting on the couch, bowl of popcorn in my lap, glass of wine in hand, and an identical glass sitting on the side table for him. While technically we were't old enough to drink alcohol, we'd been sent so many different thank you baskets from so many people, governments, and countries that some had slipped though. Moreover the law was, shall we say, somewhat more forgiving towards us. After what we'd been through, someone was going to give us hell for the occasional beer or glass of wine? No one wanted to be the constable who arrested a global hero for a misdemeanour. Not that that was a common event for us.

Tobias sat down on the couch, grabbed his glass of wine, and sidled up next to me. "So just what was so scary you needed little ol' me around?" He asked with good humour.

He grinned when I nodded towards the T.V. "Nothing much. Just some old memories. The sort you were involved in." I risked a glance up. "The sort I wanted you around for." I hesitated. "I'm sorry by the way, for what happened, I shouldn't have-"

"Rach, neither apologies nor explanations needed. Let's just watch some T.V."

"I know, I just wanted to-"

"Hey Rach." He glanced at the T.V. Looked at me. Grinned. "Remember that time I saved you from a giant squid?"

I looked up at him. He winked.

We made it through one glass of wine each before he was carrying me to the bedroom.

I'll leave it at that.

The next morning I woke up with a smile on my face, expecting to see him crouched on his perch in the corner. Instead I rolled over and found my face buried in a very human chest.

What?! I'd jolted up and out of our bed like it had shocked me. "Tobias! Tobias, what are you doing?! Demorph!"

He just rolled over, eyes still closed. {Ugh, please Rachel, it is very early, it is the weekend, I spent the last two weeks in a hotel bed and I wouldn't mind another couple hours in my own.}

"Tobias! This isn't funny! Demorph!"

{Uh, yeah, Rach...about that...}

"Tobias!"

He rolled back over. Opened one eye. {You never asked.}

"I...I never...what?!" This had to be a mistake. He had to grow wings again. He had to. I had wanted him human but this was beginning to feel too real, too quick. He'd choose of his own accord, when things were calm and it'd be the most romantic thing ever but he wouldn't do it when things were heated, not after we'd just fought. I wouldn't be the reason.

"You never asked." He swung human legs out and sat up on the edge of the bed. Wiped the sleep out of his eyes with human fingers. Used his human voice. "A year, more, and you never asked. Yeah we had that last fight, but even though I knew the driving reason, we both did, you didn't ask." He smiled. "Remember during the war? You wanted me human so bad. So bad. But since it ended, you never asked me to change. Never asked me to give it up, knowing what it meant to me. Well - I know what this means to you."

He stood up and came over to me. Took my hand in his as I felt tears threaten. I couldn't imagine what this took of him.

"Rach, I was okay being a hawk because it kept me in the fight. It kept me with you and the others. It kept me from a life that held no future apart from more hurt. With you? I have a future. A real one. A happy one. I don't need an escape anymore. I'm happy when you are...and I thought this would make you happy..." He paused. "This is who I am remember? That's what you always said. Now I'm me again." He gave a weak grin. {With added features.}

He looked at me with hope in his eyes. A hesitant smile on his face. He'd given up his greatest freedom just to see me smile. I wasn't about to let him down.

I smiled back. Hugged him so tight I must have cut off blood to everything below his chest.

"If all it took was not asking...why'd you wait so long?"

"Why does an addict say 'just one more'?" He responded shyly. Winced. Probably remembered his familial tendencies. "I enjoyed it, I'm not denying it but...but a day spent with you is worth every day I spent flying. Flying's a joy, but this is paradise. And I figured, push come to shove, I'd take you over a pair of wings any day of the week." His features sagged slightly. "Please don't be mad. I thought that if I tried to do it in front of you, you'd only feel bad and stop me at the last minute or two. I didn't want that on your shoulders."

I looked up at him, a smile on my face and tears in my eyes.

He smiled. "This is the happiest I've ever been as a human. Please don't be upset."

"Upset? Tobias...I'm anything but." I squeezed him again. "Thank you."I hesitated. "I just didn't want to be the reason...the reason you gave up your wings."

"Rachel...you're the reason I don't need them."

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Possible fluff? Sure, to a degree I guess. But...They Deserve To Be Happy Damn It! Seriously. I can't convey my hatred for #54 properly without swearing and loud sounds. So just understand, it's bad. Hope you enjoyed! Please review! It's motivation people!