Three hours.

Three long and downright painful hours.

They were fine at first, happily chatting away between them in their private room, joking around, or outside watching the rest of the show. And in Nico's case, curling up on a cushion in the corner and having a well-deserved nap.

But then things started to go downhill very quickly when boredom set in, the nervous atmosphere surrounding them making them all anxious to discover the results of the competition.

Rafael shook his head in amusement at the sight he walked in on. After taking his kids home and putting them to bed, he came back to find Pedro pacing nervously, Tony and Miyoko sat back to back, the former seemingly asleep, but tapping random beats with his foot, and the latter was talking with Tia, who was picking at the tiny stones on the dusty ground. Adriana was doing her best to reel in the twins, who were trying to cause havoc, only failing because of the small, yet loud Portuguese bird sitting on them. Ali was lying with a still sleeping Nico, her head tucked into the crook of his neck, her eyes partly open and watching the restless group with a half-amused, half-sleepy smile.

Cosette seemed the calmest, lying on a pillow with her legs propped up on the wall and wings interlinked on her stomach, humming softly to herself with a small smile.

The toucan rolled his eyes and made his way over to the sparrow quietly, keeping one eye on the fidgety group.

"Everything okay?" he asked the French bird, who cracked open one eye and looked up at him, a small smirk playing on her beak.

"Oh yes," she said, opening her other eye to see him properly as he sat down next to her, "only another hour to go."

This set off a collective groan, everyone stopping what they were doing to glare at the chuckling sparrow. Even Nico, apparently not so asleep, managed to crack one eye open to shoot her a dark look.

"We just need something else to think about," Miyoko said from the ground, dropping her head back onto Tony's shoulder and staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"We need something else to do!" Tony emphasized, "this is driving me insane."

Silence covered the room as they all tried to think of something, anything, that could take their minds off the impending results.

"How about a game of some sorts?" one of the twins suggested. Another chorus of groans struck up.

"Anything you two suggest will probably end up with someone getting hurt," Nico mumbled sleepily, eyes still closed. Ali snickered quietly, stretching out her legs, flexing her toes and humming a quiet and familiar tune to herself. "Are you humming what I think you're humming?" Nico asked her, opening his eyes and looking down as the rest of the group went back to chatting. Even Pedro had stopped pacing and was sat with Tony, Tia and Miyoko, talking aimlessly about whatever came into their heads. Even Adriana leant over and broke into the conversation when she could understand what they were saying and when she wasn't babysitting the twins.

"Nothing like a good old classic," Ali grinned up at him. She sat up, leaning over him and began to sing softly, "Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time, I feel ali-i-i-ive."

Nico couldn't help the wide grin that grew on his beak, and he could see Rafael and Cosette smirk over at them out of the corner of his eye, "and the world it's turning inside out, yeah! I'm floating around in ecstasy."

"So don't stop me now don't stop me," they sang together, both grinning as they heard the room fall silent, "'Cause I'm having a good time, having a good time!"

"I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies," Tony sang, slowly and a little timidly at first, like he wasn't sure if he should be, but the grins from the now sat up couple spurred him on, more confidently. "Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity, I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva I'm gonna go, go, go, There's no stopping me!"

Miyoko and Tia grinned at each other as Tony held the note, "I'm burning through the skies yeah!" they sang together, dancing to the silent beat, "Two hundred degrees! That's why they call me Missus Fahrenheit! I'm trav'ling at the speed of light, I wanna make a supersonic man of you!" They each pointed at their respective significant other dramatically, everyone laughing as the two boys were pulled into the dance.

Ali snickered, getting up and pulling a reluctant Nico to his feet along with her, taking both his wings in hers and trying to get the still tired bird to dance. "Don't stop me now," she sang, laughing as he smiled begrudgingly, singing along with her, "I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball! Don't stop me now, if you wanna have a good time just give me a call!"

Nico found himself waking up more and more as he sang, lifting his wing and spinning Ali before pulling her close and dancing together, singing with the rest of the group, laughing as they were pulled in with the four already on their feet, wings around each other. This may not be a permanent solution to their boredom and anxiety, unless they made it last the hour they had left, but it was enough for now.

"Don't stop me now!"

The time had come.

Nico shifted nervously from foot to foot, all tiredness vanished, quickly replaced with a sharp bout of adrenaline and fear shooting through his veins. This was the moment they had been waiting for. Ever since they had first heard of the prestigious competition.

And now it was time to find out just how well, or not, they had done.

He began to wonder if he even cared. Truth was, he was impressed they had even made it to the competition. They were picked, out of all the birds in the city, to perform. Out of the hundreds and thousands of birds, they were the ones deemed good enough to enter. And taking into consideration all that had happened over the previous week, Nico was amazed they were still happy and alive.

But someone was obviously watching over them.

And now they were stood on the stage once more with around 30 other groups and performers, anxiously awaiting the results.

Down in the front row stood their little group, cheering them on; their shouts ringing in the duo's ears, seemingly drowning out the noise of the rest of the crowd.

Everything went quiet as the show's presenter, Lucas, walked onto the stage, a tall white pelican with a loud voice and a rather charismatic attitude, if a little cheesy. He had the crowd in tears of laughter whenever he came onto the stage in between acts and opened his beak.

"Ladies and gentlebirds," he called out, holding up his wings to silence the stragglers, "we finally come to the moment you've all been waiting for! It's my turn to sing!" He took a pause as some of the crowd giggled lightly, and grinned wide as many rolled their eyes, "no, I'm kidding, obviously. You've heard my singing voice haven't you? It certainly wouldn't outshine a single one of these fantastic performers. Which brings us onto the final part of our competition! The results!"

The sound was deafening. Each country cheering for their own entry, supporting them in the only way they could.

"Each and every one of these acts were absolutely brilliant, I'm sure you'll agree," Lucas said once the cheers had died once more, "the amount of work that goes into these performances is astounding."

Nico had to force back a small snort at this, and he could have sworn he saw Lucas sneak a quick, knowing glance over at the smirking pair.

"The judges had a really difficult time picking out the top three places, but as you know, there can only be one winner. But first, just to add a little more torture to the evening for most of you, the runners up! In no particular order..."

Nico heard Pedro take a deep breath, the larger bird tapping his foot as Lucas began listing off all the cities that hadn't made it into the top three, the tapping increasing in speed with every name crossed off the list that wasn't theirs. By the time they had reached the top ten, Nico had stomped on the cardinals foot. Hard.

Needless to say he stopped tapping it.

There was a definite knot in Nico's stomach by the time they got down to the top five. They could still be knocked out now. Just two more. Two more out and they were in the top three.

Rome and Tokyo.

He was fairly sure he stopped breathing, the rest of the world blurred out as the news sunk in, and he could distantly feel Pedro's wings on his shoulders, shaking him as the older bird cheered.

The top three.

The worst they could do now was third place.

Down at the front it was all they could do to keep quiet while the presenter listed off the runners up. Even though they wanted to cheer and clap every time Nico and Pedro weren't called out, the performers walking dejectedly off the stage probably didn't want anyone to actually sound happy that they hadn't won.

Tia was finding it very difficult to keep Ali from standing still in one place, she kept hopping from foot to foot or bouncing on her toes. Both were unbelievably distracting. So as they got closer and closer to first place, Tia found herself with her wings on Ali's shoulders, practically forcing the girl to stand still for a moment.

Admittedly, she was pretty nervous herself.

The duo were amazing, probably the best performance she had seen. She couldn't help be a little jealous, both at Nico's lyrics and how well Pedro could improvise around them, but then, they had been singing together for nearly seven years. Pedro once said something about how well they moulded together when they first sang, and after so long, he just knew what to expect from the younger bird.

Most of the time.

The knot in her stomach got ever tighter as they reached the last runner up.

Then the next thing she knew she was screaming and jumping with the rest of them, laughing at the look of sheer shock and disbelief on Nico and Pedro's faces as most of the crowd, the Rio half and the supporters from Argentina and Ireland exploded in cheers and whistles.

For something that was done in less than half a day, even third place was damn impressive.

"I give you the three finalists!" Lucas called, calming the crowd with his strong voice, "But now, who came first, second and third?"

The audience went completely silent, expectantly awaiting the final results.

Nico bounced anxiously on his toes, grin threatening to split his face in two. From the audience, Ali caught his eye and winked, laughing at the ecstatic expression on his face.

'You can do this!' she mouthed enthusiastically, leaning heavily on the railing.

'I don't care!' Nico mouthed back, shrugging and laughing.

Six hours. They put their performance together in six hours. If third place was the best they could do, that was good enough for him. But even so, the butterflies in his stomach were still there. They could still get first place. They could still win this thing.

"In third place..." Lucas started, pausing for effect, and Nico heard Pedro take a deep breath to calm his nerves, "Argentina!"

The crowd exploded once more, and Nico found himself releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding, his grin growing so wide it began to hurt. The trio of Argentineans were handed a small bronze trophy, which they held high, happy with what they got.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for..."

Nico glanced over at Ireland's entry, a medium sized sparrow who sang the most hauntingly beautiful song. She was pitch-perfect, no flashing lights, no backup dancers, just plain and simple, easily one of the best acts of the night and had every right to win this competition.

"In second place..."

Nico placed his hat back on his head from where he had been playing with it, closing his eyes and just concentrating on breathing in and out. He felt a wing on his shoulder, trembling ever so slightly, and reminder that Pedro was just as anxious about this as he was.

"All the way from Dublin..."

That was it, that was all he heard, the moment the presenter mentioned Ireland he was gone. He didn't even notice glittering confetti fall from the ceiling and flutter down onto the stage.

Surely he must have misheard.

But then, if the screaming drifting up from the front was any indication, he can't have.

There was a moment of still, where he was just frozen to the spot, unable to move, his face still one of complete astonishment, before laughter bubbled up in his throat, spilling out his beak as he buried his face in his wings, grinning uncontrollably.

He had almost forgotten about Pedro, when suddenly two wings were wrapped around his body and he was actually lifted off the ground, bottle cap falling off in all the excitement, and Pedro's ecstatic laughter rang in his ears. It took quite a bit of wiggling and fidgeting to get the older bird to put him down, but soon enough his feet were back on the ground.

He pulled himself together for a moment, turning to the girl from Ireland, who seemed just as happy as they were, jumping up and down and clapping enthusiastically, waving to someone in the audience. She briefly glanced over, then took a longer look when she saw Nico smiling at her, the grin on her beak never once fading.

With a quick wave back to the crowd she fluttered to the centre of the stage. Nico glanced back to Pedro, who had been pretty much tackled to the ground by Tia, and was now being showered with kisses. With a roll of his eyes, the canary turned back to Irish girl (her name had escaped him in all the excitement), meeting her in the centre.

She held out a wing.

"You deserved it," she said with a thick accent, "really, you were wonderful."

Nico took the offered wing in his own and shook it, smiling warmly. "Thanks," he said, "you were too, seriously, your voice is amazing. Absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you."

They both nodded politely before she span around and flew offstage into her family's wings.

Nico closed his eyes feeling the overwhelming wave of achievement rush over him as he turned to the crowd, Pedro appearing at his side, Ali flying up and hugging him tightly.

After everything he had been through, all the troubles getting home from London, his accidental trip around the world, Vincent and Franco, this was it. This was what he was looking for that whole time, what he was fighting for.

Family, friends, music.

Home.

A/N: Ugh...Just a little chapter this time guys. You'll have to forgive me for the tardiness of this, and it's still a little choppy, but I started University this week, so I moved away from home to a completely new city. Which personally has been an absolutely terrifying experience for me, and all I've wanted to do all week is go home. I'm not particularly good at making friends either, which hasn't helped. Freshers week has been insanely busy, so I haven't had time to write much, but I thought I'd post what I've got now before I change my mind.

Song is, obviously, 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen. Thought I'd throw in a old classic :)

This is technically the final chapter, but there's still the epilogue to come, so watch out for that :) Please review, it would honestly make my week :)