Author's note: So the song in this chapter is Lullaby by Nickelback. I'm not completely happy with this chapter but it'll have to do cause I don't think I can fix it up anymore.

Apple-chan: Thanks (as much as I don't want you to panic) I'm glad that my story is good enough that you're worried about what going to happen :) (I figured as much, being 'anon' is pretty cool.).

Enjoy :)

Rafael was woken up early the next morning by a couple of his chicks.

"Daddy?"

Rafael blurrily opened his eyes, "Yes Sophia?"

"Where are you going every day?" The young chick asked him.

Rafael, waking up a little more fully turned to her, "Why, of all times, do you need to know that this early?"

Sophia turned to her brother beside her, "Because Carlos had a nightmare where you didn't come back."

Rafael looked at the two of them, noting the forlorn and slightly fearful expressions on their faces, before pulling them into a hug. "Don't worry, I promise I'll always come back to you. You're my family and nothing could keep me away."

"Are you going out again today?" Carlos asked, the worry still evident in his voice.

Rafael sighed, "No. Today I'm staying home with you all and your mother." He'd decided that yesterday, after yet another dead end. Truthfully, as much as it hurt him, he didn't have the heart to search for Nico and Pedro today. There was just no way he could face another failure. And so, he'd decided to spend the day with his family.

"Really?" The two chicks looked at him eagerly.

"Really."

They were so excited that they could no longer keep quiet and before long, the whole lot of them were up and running rampant.

After spending a good portion of the next hour trying to feed and get them outside, Rafael and Eva had finally settled down when Blu and Jewel flew into the clearing. Dodging several of the excited feather-ball torpedoes, Blu and Jewel made their way to Rafael.

"You ready to go?" Jewel asked.

Rafael shook his head, "I'm not coming today."

Blu's jaw dropped, "What? Why not?"

"Because I'm spending today with my family," Rafael said simply.

"What about Nico and Pedro?" Jewel exploded. "They need you."

"So does my family," Rafael retorted, "especially since I haven't been able to spend time with them for over three days."

"But Nico and Pedro may not have much time left," Jewel told him.

"Or they could be gone already and there's nothing we can do," Rafael told her gruffly.

Jewel shook her head, "No. There have still been sightings of the talent scout, even if we haven't been able to catch up with him yet. So they're still here. But every minute we waste is a minute less they have. That's why we need you."

Rafael's face softened, "I'm sorry guys, but I can't. Not today."

"But-" Blu started.

"Fine," Jewel cut him off. "We don't need you anyway. Come on Blu." She took off. Blu glanced back at Rafael sadly, before he too left and Rafael turned back to his family.

Pedro stared blankly at his surroundings as tiredness swept over him. It had been a long night.

When Nico and Pedro had made it back to the storage room, Pedro had been in a hysterical state of panic and it had taken the combined efforts of Isobelle and Ming to calm him down. Once they finally had him in a functional state, Ming had given him precise instructions to check Nico. A brief feel of his forehead had immediately revealed that Nico was burning hot. Fever, Ming had told him; most likely to try and fight off infection in the body. Ming had had his suspicions about Nico's wing early on, but until the Canary had wanted help, there was nothing he could do.

Still trying to keep Pedro calm, Ming had told him there were three things he could do to help Nico. Firstly, he needed to try and bring the fever down. Taking initiative from his suggestion, Pedro had torn a piece of the cloth in his cage (Giving him something to sleep on) and had dunked it in his water bowl. Pushing his wing through the bars, Pedro had managed to place the wet cloth on Nico's forehead.

Secondly, Ming had told him that he needed to keep all his wounds clean. It wouldn't stop the infection he already had, but it would go a long way to preventing any other infections Nico could get. After Pedro had cleaned the wounds with another piece of wet cloth, he had resoaked the one on his forehead.

Thirdly, the last thing Pedro could do was make sure Nico ate and drank something when he woke up. Something that had not happened yet. And so, Pedro had spent the rest of the night trying to break Nico's fever and hoping he was going to be alright.

He was brought out of his musings by a small groan beside him, and Pedro quickly turned to it. Nico shifted a little before opening his eyes. They were still a bit glassy and he was a little pale, but nowhere near as bad as last night.

"Hey, how're you feeling buddy?" Pedro asked softly.

Nico shifted his gaze to Pedro. "Tired. Hot," his expression became slightly confused, "and yet cold. Just awful all round." He closed his eyes. "What happened?"

"You collapsed after our performance," Pedro deadpanned.

"Our performance," Nico realised sitting up slightly. "We did good didn't we?"

Pedro smirked, "Got the biggest applause of all."

Nico smiled back, "Don't we always?" His smile turned into a grimace as he moved.

"You okay?" Pedro asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Nico gasped back. "I'll be fine. Ugh, why do I feel like this?"

"You got an infection from the cut in your wing," Ming told him. "Your body's trying to fight it off."

"Speaking of which," Pedro became serious. "You need to eat." Moving to his food bowl, he scooped a wingful of bird food out before walking back and dumping it in Nico's lap. "Eat."

Nico shook his head. "I'm not feeling that hungry."

"You need to eat it anyway," Pedro told him. "It'll help you fight the infection. Just try eating some of it."

Sighing, Nico gingerly picked at the food. He managed to finish half of it, before dumping the rest on the ground. "I can't eat anymore."

Pedro just nodded, "You should probably drink something too."

"Yeah, I feel quite thirsty," Nico agreed. Pulling himself up with the cage, he wobbled over to his water bowl. Falling beside it, he scooped up several mouthfuls of water before something struck him as odd. He paused, a frown forming on his face before it turned into a look of panic. "Pedro!"

Pedro turned to see Nico on the verge of a panic attack.

"I can't feel my wing! Why can't I feel my wing?"

Pedro glanced at his left wing, which was indeed hanging limply by his side, and a small pit of worry again settled in his stomach.

"Calm down," Ming told them. "It's perfectly normal for this stage of infection. In fact, I'm surprised you were even able to use it so well yesterday in your performance."

"Am I ever going to be able to use it again?" Nico asked worriedly.

"At this stage: yes," Ming's words caused both Nico and Pedro to relax slightly, "However, it will need to be looked at properly soon. Otherwise, you could indeed lose the wing, or worse."

"Can you fix it?" Pedro asked hopefully.

Ming shook his head, "Unfortunately not. I don't have the supplies to help him out. You'll have to go to our captors for that one."

Pedro turned to see Nico starting to panic again, "Hey, it's alright. Calm down. Panicking won't solve anything."

"I wish he'd come to that conclusion last night," Isobelle mumbled.

Pedro shot her a glare before turning back to Nico. "We'll talk to Martin at practise. They'll help us out. After all, they still want us to be able to perform."

Nico nodded.

"In the meantime, just take it easy. It's not like much can happen in between then."

"Morning birdies." Pedro instantly regretted his words as Shadow approached them. "Did you miss me?"

At the sight of her, Nico's eyes widened and he shuffled as far away from her as his cage would allow him.

"No," Pedro muttered, "we really didn't."

"Pity," Shadow purred, "because I've been looking forward to seeing you again." She turned her eyes on Nico. "I'm actually quite glad we were interrupted yesterday. It gave me time to think of some nice, painful ways to achieve my revenge."

Nico tried to move further back, despite the fact that his back was already against the bars.

"Not so tough now, are we?" Shadow grinned.

"Hey!" Pedro shouted. "Leave him alone!"

Shadow only spared him a disdainful glance, "Nice try feathers but that won't work this time."

Pedro simply grinned at her unfazed. "Why not? You're a stupid enough fur ball to fall for it twice."

Shadow hissed at him, sending a claw out towards him. Unable to dodge it in time, Pedro was knocked breathless to the ground. He struggled to sit up or to call something else out as Shadow approached Nico again, but couldn't get his breath back in time.

Thankfully, however, it seemed like he didn't need to. "Shadow!" Martin called from the doorway. "Leave them alone! Your job is to stop birds escaping, not harassing them in their cages."

"How do you know they weren't trying to escape?" Shadow spat back.

Martin's hard expression didn't waver, "Because I know you. Now get out! Before I get someone to remove you."

Shadow made a hissing noise in the back of throat, "This isn't over." Then she left.

"Thank you," Pedro gasped.

Martin gave a small nod of acknowledgment before he said, "Now. Time for practise."

"Wait," Pedro called desperately. "My friend is hurt bad," he gestured to Nico. "Infection. Please, he needs medical help."

Martin looked at them critically before saying in a quieter voice, "Medical supplies are on the plane. Until then there's nothing I can do. I'll get him medical help when we leave Rio. In the meantime, you don't need to practise and I'll keep an eye on Shadow. You still need to perform though."

They both nodded.

"Thank you," Nico said.

Martin's expression hardened, "Don't thank me. I'm only doing this because of how much you're worth."

Rafael sighed sadly, his gaze staring blankly ahead. Behind him were the sounds of Eva settling the chicks in the hollow for lunch, but Rafael hardly paid them any mind.

"Alright," Eva approached him with a no nonsense voice, having finally settled the last of their chicks inside with food. "Now what's really wrong?"

Rafael looked at her confused, "I don't know what you mean."

"Uh uh," Eva placed her wings on her hips, "Don't 'I don't know what you mean' me. Why aren't you searching for Nico and Pedro?"

"Can't I want to spend a day with my family?" Rafael shrugged.

"Not when something is so important." She moved closer to him, "I know you Rafael: you're always helping others. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with you." He smiled at her. "So why aren't you today?"

Rafael sighed, "I'm just scared. Everyone else thinks I can do so much. Rafael knows everybody. Rafael can find anything. Rafael can help you in your time of need. But what if I can't? What if, in the time they need it the most, I can't even help two of my best friends? So I'm not looking for them today because I can't stand finding nothing again. I can't fail them again," he trailed off.

Eva pulled him into a hug, "You won't. And you know why? Because you and Blu and Jewel are not the type of birds to quit. No matter how bad the situation seems you never give up." She paused. "But, if you get scared or the pressure feels too great, just remember: your family will always be here to support you. Because we believe in you, and we always will."

Rafael smiled at her, "What did I ever do to get such a beautiful, smart, kind and amazing bird like you."

Eva smiled back, "You were you."

Rafael dipped her and kissed her deeply.

"Eeeewww!"

Eva looked at her husband. "Looks like they're finished lunch."

"Evidently," Rafael smirked.

The rest of the day, Rafael spent with his family. However, he also used the time to think about how to find Nico and Pedro the next day.

When evening came, Blu and Jewel fluttered to his hollow dejectedly.

"Did you find anything?" Rafael asked.

Blu shook his head, "Nothing more than yesterday."

"Maybe they are gone," Jewel said.

Rafael shook his head. "No. They're here still, and tomorrow, we're going to find them."

Soon after Martin had left Nico succumbed to sleep again, drifting in and out of it all day. During that time, Pedro had tried to cool his fever, cleaned his wounds and had forced him to eat and drink when he'd wake.

Unfortunately, he'd also had to keep the cat away from Nico several times during the day. Man, when that cat wanted revenge, it wanted revenge. Thankfully, Pedro's sharp tongue had been enough to distract Shadow when she came around, and he'd found that he was actually quite good at dodging claws, though he had gotten several scratches perfecting the technique.

There had been a couple of times when he hadn't been quite quick enough to keep Shadow away from Nico but thankfully Martin, had kept his word and had stopped Shadow before she'd been in for too long. Pedro could see, however, that all her thraughted attempts were making her all the more angry and he really hoped she never got an opportunity to spend a long period of time alone with them.

He glanced next to him at Nico worriedly. He had, once again, collapsed after their performance, and Pedro didn't know how much more he could take.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly. It had been a long day.

"You okay?" Ming asked softly.

Pedro just shrugged, "I don't know." He looked at Ming pleadingly. "Are you sure there's nothing more I can do for him?"

Ming shook his head, "The only thing you can do now is to get some rest."

"I'm not tired," Pedro lied automatically, right before yawning.

Ming just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can't sleep anyway, I've got to take care of Nico," Pedro persisted.

Ming wasn't convinced, "I can reach him tonight, I'll take care of him. You need to rest or you're going to collapse from exhaustion. Then what use will you be?" He smirked, "If you're having trouble sleeping, I can always sing you a lullaby."

Pedro just scowled, "I'm not a chick anymore."

"Hmm," Ming shrugged. "You could have fooled me. You're acting like one."

Pedro's scowl deepened and he turned away from Ming.

"I'd like to hear a song," Isobelle piped up. She shrugged, "I think it will do us all some good to hear some music. You know, proper music: the spontaneous, from the heart music we used to sing. Not the choreographed melodies we do every night." She turned to Ming. "Will you sing for us please?"

Ming just shrugged, "If that's want you want." He paused, contemplating, before he began to sing; his deep, gruff voice resonating throughout the room, "Well I know the feeling, of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge.

And there ain't no healing, from cutting yourself with the jagged edge."

His eyes turned to Pedro, "I'm telling you now, it's never that bad.

Take it from someone who's been where you're at.

Laid out on the floor and you're not sure you can take this anymore.

So just give it one more try, a lullaby." Pedro smirked at his word choice.

"And turn this up on the radio.

If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out,

To let you know that you're not alone.

And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell

Cause I can't get you on the telephone.

So just close your eyes,

Oh here comes a lullaby, you're very own lullaby."

He turned to Nico, hoping to make it through his subconscious as well, "Well please let me take you,

Out of the darkness and into the light.

Cause I have faith in you, that you're going to make it through another night.

Stop thinking about, the easy way out.

There's no need to go and blow the candle out.

Because you're not done, you're far too young,

And the best is yet to come."

Lifting his head he sang louder,

"So just give it one more try, a lullaby.

And turn this upon the radio.

If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out

To let you know that you're not alone.

And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell

Cause I can't get you on the telephone.

So just close your eyes,

Well here comes a lullaby, your very own lullaby."

He paused, looking at Pedro, "Well everybody's hit the bottom.

Everybody's been forgotten,

When everybody's tired of being alone."

He glanced at Nico, "Everybody's been abandoned.

Left a little empty handed,

So if you're out there barely hanging on."

His expression hardened and he sang loudly, "Just give it one more try, a lullaby.

And turn this up on the radio.

If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out,

To let you know that you're not alone.

And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell

Cause I can't get you on the telephone.

So just close your eyes,

Well here comes a lullaby, your very own lullaby." He finished softly.

Pedro felt the energy and worry drain out of him and his eye lids became heavy.

"Sleep now Pedro," Ming said. "Tonight I'll take care of your brother."

Pedro nodded and finally stopped fighting the sleepiness. And, for the first time in four days he slept.

Tad-da :). Congratulations AlaskaForever, you were right: Nico does have an infection. Oh and I know that the wing thing (not being able to feel it) is not completely correct but I thought it was a cool twist anyway. So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :). Please review :).