Flying Home Chapter 10: The City, a rio fanfic

A/N: Just a quick disclaimer: I own nothing in this story save my original Characters and the plot line. None of the songs in this chapter are owned by me, they are both owned by their respective owners.

It was the beginning of June by the time Nico had flown the five hundred miles from Nagasaki to Tokyo. The weather had improved vastly and the late afternoon sun was shining warmly down on him as the Metropolis came into view. Fluttering to a stop he landed on top of a tall building and took in the sight. Vast skyscrapers lined the horizon from his viewpoint, and when he turned around, Mount Fuji rising higher than all of them. He had flown over more houses than he could possibly count, and he was now heading for the central city. If anyone could help him, they would be there.

It had been just over a month since he had sent the message from Paris, and he remembered rumours of a club in downtown Rio that had connections with various cities and countries around the world, Barcelona, Ibiza, Jamaica, and he vaguely remembered someone mentioning Tokyo. So if he could, he was going to find it, and hopefully see if he could get another message out, let them know he was okay, that he'd had a small hiccup in his plans (Namely being sent to China of all places) and that it might take a bit longer than expected to get back. And that he would, without a doubt, do his absolute best to get home as soon as he possibly could.

But there was one problem.

Tokyo was huge.

The biggest city in the world. How in the world was he going to find one little bird club? He didn't even know where to start.

There was only one thing to do. He gave himself a time limit of two days, and asked everywhere, looking around every street, hoping he might come across some clue. He found out that it did exist, and there were connections to Rio. But the problem was it moved every few weeks, and no one he had talked to knew where the current location was.

The name of the place was 'Rumours', named as unless you were connected in some way to the owners, that's all it ever was, a rumour. Everyone knew about it, but no one knew where it was, and the one or two who did refused to say where it was, no matter how desperate the canary sounded. It was a totally exclusive scene.

By the end of the second day, he was exhausted. He slumped, hat falling over his eyes, against the trunk of a tree in a park somewhere near Shinjuku. He looked up, sliding down to sit on the branch, through the leaves at the tall skyscrapers lining the sky, the setting sun reflecting off the glass.

So, getting a message home was hopeless, now what?

"Time to move on I guess," he muttered glumly to himself, moving his gaze down to the people walking below him. Families, children, friends, couples walking hand-in-hand. It was all very familiar, yet so, so different. Back in Rio he enjoyed watching the humans, watching how similar they were to them, and yet so diverse. While you often found lots of birds who looked exactly the same, it was nearly impossible to find the same in humans. And here was no different. Maybe even more so. People in Rio tended to stick to a similar fashion trend, in Japan there were so many different styles, and Nico couldn't help but be amazed at the diversity of it all.

"Are you Nico?" A melodic female voice suddenly sounded, drawing him out of his thoughts. He snapped his head up to see an extremely colourful bird. She wasn't that much bigger than him, most of her feathers were a purple-y blue, with a red chest and streak down her back. The tips of her wing feathers and tail were a shiny blue-black. But what stuck out the most about her was the bright purple eyes and the collection of brightly coloured feathers strung with equally bright beads attached to several feathers on top of her head so they hung down one side of her face.

"Yes?" the canary replied, looking at her curiously, eyes narrowed.

"You don't sound so sure about that," the bird smirked, tilting her head.

"Yes," he said with more confidence, nodding slowly, "how do you know who I am?"

"I hear things," her smirk grew bigger, shrugging. Nico stood, not once taking his eyes off her, a suspicious look passing over his face.

"What sort of things?" He asked.

"You're looking for 'Rumours'," she said, taking a step closer.

Nico tried to take a step back, but found he couldn't, he was pressed against the bark of the tree trunk. "Maybe," he replied, looking around for a way out of what was threatening to become a rather challenging situation. Especially if she got any closer.

Which she did.

"How do you know about 'Rumours'?" She asked, taking a few more steps closer.

"I hear things," Nico couldn't help but smirk as her eyebrows raised and she stepped back. She grinned, eyes lighting up as a laugh escaped her beak.

"My name's Miyoko, I own the Tokyo branch of 'Rumours' and I hear you want to establish a connection with our dear friends in Rio," she told him, trying to hold in her laughter as his expression went from suspicious to shocked and wide-eyed. "It's a long story, perhaps you'd better come with me, I'll explain everything there."

Nico nodded dumbly, trying to stop his beak from dropping open as they took off, and she led him through the city north, until they reached The University of Tokyo. They flew round the back of one of the buildings, the auditorium according to Miyoko, and through a metal door that led to a flight of stairs leading down. At the bottom was what appeared to be a locked door. They landed and pushed through a flap at the bottom of the door. Inside was what looked like a recording studio, but one that hadn't been in use for what seemed to be years. Nico could see lights and several birds flying inside the recording room, but could hear no sound.

"The humans haven't been down here in years," Miyoko explained, "and that room is big enough and completely soundproof, all that stuff you may have heard about us moving around? Yeah, total lies," she grinned, leading him not towards the party but to a small laptop on a table at the back of the room. Once landed, she turned to face him.

"Okay, so here's the thing," she started, and Nico turned his full attention on her, "I can get a connection with the club in Rio, but I have a few conditions."

"What? Oh, come on," Nico cut her off, sounding exasperated.

"Hang on, it's not much," Miyoko laughed, holding up her wings, "I've heard a lot about you little Nico," she smirked at the confused expression on her face, "and one of those things is that you are a damn good singer, so one of my conditions is that you sing with me, tomorrow night, and the other is you tell me your story."

"What?"

"Since you were taken," she explained, "I'm curious as to what you've been through."

"Hold on, hold on," Nico held up a wing, shaking his head in confusion, "how do you know all this?"

"Do you accept?"

Nico opened his beak to argue, but the words stopped in his throat at the look on her face. "Alright, I accept." It was the only way to get a message home. And the conditions weren't exactly steep.

Miyoko grinned, spinning around and pushing up the lid of the computer, before jumping on the start button. The computer whirred into life, the screen lighting up instantly, revealing a window that had a box with what appeared to be a live video feed showing a very familiar scene.

"Hey, that's..." Nico trailed off, staring at the Alley, empty, but still the club he used to perform at almost every night.

"Hey Martin, you there?" Miyoko called, her grin growing ever wider at the look on Nico's face as he peered over her shoulder. She mover her foot over the touchpad, and the video became full screen.

The face of a red-masked green parakeet suddenly filled the screen, scaring both birds on the other end so much they both fell backwards. Although, Nico still claims it was Miyoko who jumped back, and he just happened to be right behind her.

"Miyoko-chan?" the familiar face asked, taking some steps back after he adjusted the camera, "and wow, is that you Nico?"

The canary was frozen, wide-eyed and open-beaked. He couldn't find the words to say. There was a chance. A chance of actually seeing his family, of letting them know directly that he was okay, and not just sending a message and hoping it got there. This time it was certain. That and he was face to face with Martin, an old friend of Rafael's. He briefly wondered if the Toucan knew anything about the secret club.

"Yeah, it is," Miyoko replied for him, chuckling at the canary's reaction, "found him wondering the city earlier."

"Martin?" Nico asked, finding his voice at last, "you...you..."

"Own Rio's 'Rumours'? Yes, yes I do," the parakeet grinned, mock bowing, "No, Rafael doesn't know anything about it, nor does he know that as soon as I heard his oldest son had gone missing I sent out a message to all clubs around the world to keep an eye out for a little yellow canary with a bottle cap."

"And guess what? We found you!" Miyoko smiled, "I heard you were in the city this morning and quickly let Martin know, before going out to find you."

"So I set up a webcam here in the Alley, which will be mainly hidden, since I hear rumours of your family working on a song, just for you."

"What?" Nico exclaimed, taking a step forward past Miyoko.

"They're meant to be the last act tonight, and since it's Tuesday will be around six, since you know we close early on Tuesday's."

Ah yes, Tuesday. Universal Rio 'family night'. The one night a week he usually spent trying to deal with seventeen younger siblings, all of which were bigger than him. And something he missed a lot. Despite there being a lot of them, and it being so incredibly manic, being surrounded by family, especially family who loved him more than anything, despite his differences, was the most amazing feeling in the world.

"Wait a minute," Nico cut him off, a thought suddenly coming to the front of his mind, "What's the time difference between here and there?" He asked, suddenly rather anxious.

"Um, twelve hours," Miyoko replied, looking to Martin for confirmation.

"We're twelve hours behind you," he said, "it's seven in the morning here."

"So in order to watch this performance, I'm going to have to be up before six o'clock in the morning?" Nico asked. If he could, Martin would have paled as realisation hit. He heard stories, rumours of what he was like in the mornings.

"What's wrong with that?" Miyoko asked, looking between one shocked face and one distraught face.

"Let's just say I'm not a morning person," Nico replied, a grim smile appearing on his beak.

"Have copious amounts of coffee on standby," Martin suggested, "and be gentle, no sudden movements."

Nico turned to glare at the camera, crossing his wings over his chest.

"Roger that," Miyoko grinned, saluting, "you probably will be wanting an early night then," she said, turning to the canary, "we can discuss your 'conditions' in the morning."

"Alright," Nico agreed.

"See that hole up there," Miyoko pointed to a smallish hole in the top corner of the room, "Go through there, that's where me and my sisters live. There's always several spare nests for guests, I would go for the one in the far right hand corner, and I'll make sure they're quiet when they come in."

"Thanks," Nico smiled, both at her and Martin, who was gesturing wildly to someone off screen, before fluttering up to the hole and slipping through.

Within ten minutes of settling in the nest, he was fast asleep.

"Do we have to do this? It's not like he's going to see it."

"Yes sweetie, and it's not who sees it, it's the thought and the feelings behind it."

"But I-"

"Go on, we're up in five minutes," Jewel shooed the cardinal backstage, where Rafael, Blu and kids from both families were waiting, talking in hushed tones. They stopped when the two birds stepped into the area, looking over. Rafael gave them a soft smile and gestured to the stage.

"It's our show now," he said, putting a wing around the smaller bird.

"Let's show 'em we're not giving up," Jewel added, stepping to his other side, Blu next to her.

"Never."

"I hate you all," Nico complained, sitting on an empty stage in the recording room. It was sort of eerie, seeing all the lighting and sound equipment, but no one else around but him, Miyoko and Martin on the screen. This time, the video was split into two screens, Martin on one, and the crowded alley on the other. Some performance or other was happening on the latter, the camera at a perfect angle, showing all of the stage. But there was no sound.

"I know you do sweetie," Miyoko cooed from her position in front of the computer.

"It's five thirty in the morning," Nico carried on, ignoring her completely, "there's a reason everyone else is still asleep, it's practically the middle of the night."

"I know hun, now shush a minute," Miyoko said, shaking her head. Even she looked rather dazed, not having had time to smooth down her feathers or untangle her headpiece. Nico shut up, yawning widely and pulling his blanket tighter around him.

"Is everything okay?" the parakeet on the screen asked, looking concerned.

"I can't seem to get any sound for the other video," Miyoko explained, fiddling around with the touchpad and keys, "I've got you fine, but the other one is just silence."

"Have you tried actually clicking on the video, some versions will only allow sound for one at a time," Martin suggested, "that does mean you can't talk to me while that screen is up though."

"I'll give it a go," Miyoko said, moving the cursor and hitting a few buttons while Nico looked on curiously. Almost instantly music blared out of the speakers, along with the background chatter of the crowds. "Alright Nico, we are live," she called back, and instantly Nico was at her side, still looking sleepy but slightly more alert than before. "Loving your enthusiasm there boy, but I need to talk to Martin quickly, but don't worry, we won't be missing the performance."

Nico nodded, flopping back on the ground where he was.

Miyoko and Martin quickly went over some details, the laptop at The Alley was hidden for now, and Martin was going to head over there at the end to make sure they stick around until everyone had gone home, so Nico could talk to them in private.

This went on for about ten minutes, and Miyoko switched screens just as Rafael fluttered up to the stage.

Nico breath caught in his throat.

"Everyone," The toucan called, catching the crowd's attention easily, "I have something to say." The crowd went silent, and Nico couldn't take his eyes off the screen. He felt a wing on his back and faintly heard Miyoko telling him to breathe.

"As most of you probably know by now, nearly three months ago several hundred birds were taken and flown halfway round the world. Within weeks they were all back or accounted for, save one. No one really knows what happened to Nico, but we received word that he was in Paris about a month ago, but nothing has been heard since. This little number was Pedro's idea, and just a little something to say that we won't lose hope. Nico, wherever you are," he seemed to look right at the camera, and Nico thought for a moment he knew it was there, but the older birds eyes were slightly glazed over, and the canary knew he was simply staring into space. "Wherever you are, we will always be here for you, and we believe in you."

A lump had appeared in Nico's throat about halfway through his speech, and by the end he was close to crying, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Miyoko put a comforting wing around his shoulders, and he unconsciously leaned into her as Pedro, Jewel, Blu, and the kids, both the macaws and a few of Rafael's came onto the stage.

Jewel's voice was the first to sing, the younger birds harmonising behind her.

"You're not alone, together we stand, I'll be by your side you know I'll take your hand," her sweet yet powerful voice rang clear over the silent audience. Blu stepped up next to her, and began to sing the next part.

"And when it gets cold, and it feels like the end, there's no place to go you know I won't give in," despite the differences in their voices, they complimented each other as they sang together.

"No I won't give in."

As they reached the chorus, everyone joined in, including Pedro and Rafael.

"Keep holding on, 'cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through, just stay strong, 'cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you. There's nothing you could say, nothing you could do, there's no other way when it comes to the truth. So keep holding on, 'cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through."

This time Pedro stepped forward, the macaws taking a step back.

"So far away, I wish you were here, before it's too late this could all disappear," he sang, a slight wobble in his voice, but he caught himself just in time. Rafael stepped forward and they sang the next part together.

"Before the doors close, and it comes to an end, with you by my side I will fight and defend. I'll fight and defend."

"Yeah, yeah," Jewel sang, and they launched into the chorus once more.

"Hear me when I say, when I say I believe," Jewel and Pedro sang together, "nothings gonna change, nothings gonna change destiny," They all seemed to be really getting into the song, belting out the lyrics like they thought if they sung loud enough it would reach him. They didn't know it did. "Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Jewel belted out, before the music dropped, slower and quieter, with the kids 'la-ing' in the background.

"Keep holding on," Nico couldn't remember that last time he had heard Pedro really sing, really go at it, he always sang with him in the choruses but whenever there was a solo he would always be rapping. Here though was like they were seeing what his voice could really do. "Keep holding on," once again, they all joined in and Nico could even hear some of the crowd joining in as they all stepped forward to form a line.

"There's nothing you could say, nothing you could do, there's no other way when it comes to the truth. So keep holding on, 'cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through."

The music faded, their voices seconds later, and all was silent.

About halfway through the song Nico's will had given out, and tears were streaming down his face as silent sobs shook his body, still unable to take his eyes off the screen.

"You alright hun?" Miyoko's soft voice broke through his shock, and he nodded slowly. She gave him a tight hug, "do you want to be alone for a bit?" He nodded again, trying to choke back the sobs. She gave him one final squeeze before standing. "I'll talk to Martin on the other computer, see if he can stall them long enough for you to calm down a little okay? Just let it out, however you feel best," and with that she flew out the room, making sure the door was firmly shut behind her.

The moment that door clicked shut Nico broke down, putting his face in his wings and opening crying, wracking sobs shaking his whole body. At the back of his memory, a song he had heard the day before came to mind, some of the lyrics were a bit out of place, but it fit everything he was feeling almost perfectly.

"If anyone asks, I'll tell them we both just moved on," he started, his usually strong voice quiet and wavering, "when people all stare, I'll pretend I don't hear them talk, whenever I see you, I'll swallow my pride and bite my tongue, pretend I'm okay with it all, act like there's nothing wrong." It all came spilling out. All his pain, his fear, everything he had felt over the past few months that he had simply bottled inside like he always did instead of letting it out when he first felt it.

"Is it over yet?" Despite the fact he was still crying, his voice was stronger as he sang out his sadness and home sickness, "Can I open my eyes? Is this as hard as it gets? Is this what it feels like to really cry?" On the last line he stood up, really belting out the words. "Cry."

Outside, Miyoko was trying to get a hold of Martin but no one seemed to be there. She assumed he was heading for the Alley, and really hoped she could get his attention before he talked to Nico's family.

"Miyoko? You there?" the hushed tones of Martin drew her attention. She jumped.

"Yes, you have to wait, Nico needs a moment, he's a little hysterical," she said quickly, seeing the emptying club in the background, but the group who had sung were hanging around on the stage, talking, though she could faintly see tears in some of their eyes.

"I know, he's using an age-old method of getting his feeling out; singing. But I think they need to see this."

"What?" Miyoko asked, flipping the video to show the one from inside the recording room. What she saw absolutely broke her heart, but she could see where he was coming from. His family needed to see this. Maybe they could give him some comfort, even from so many thousands of miles away. "Alright, get their attention."

On the other end of the line, Martin nodded, turning around to the now nearly empty club. Approaching the hugging family on the stage he cleared his throat, attracting their attention.

"Martin?" Rafael asked, a small smile appearing on his face. A smile that quickly disappeared at the parakeet's expression."What's wrong?"

"Um, how do I put this?" Martin started, avoiding eye contact at first, "I have something to show you, and I'm sorry for not telling you before now, but I know where Nico is."

"What?" several voices cried at once, and both Rafael and Pedro shot from the stage, alert and eager.

"Where?" Pedro asked, looking like all he wanted to do was shake the bird, but restraining himself.

Martin turned around and walked to the laptop, uncovering it completely and taking a step back. "We've had him and Miyoko on webcam since the beginning of your performance. He saw the whole thing. We're sorry for not telling you, but we felt it was something he had to see. Just like we feel you should probably see this." And with one flick of a feather, the volume turned up, the canary's voice drifting into the room halfway through what sounded like another verse as they crowded round the screen.

"Whenever I feel your memory is breaking my heart, I'll pretend that I'm okay with it all, act like there's nothing wrong."

Pedro, Rafael and Jewel all had tears in their eyes the instant they heard his voice, and when Martin sorted the video so that it was working, it was like the room had stopped breathing. Yes it was only on a screen, only a video, but there, in front of them, was solid proof that he was okay. Right now. Not several weeks ago. Now.

"Is it over yet?" Even Blu was close to tears by this point, and some of the kids were crying as the group watched their uncle, brother, son and friend break down, singing through his tears, singing like it would save his life. "Can I open my eyes? Is this as hard as it gets? Is this what it feels like to really cry?"

Pedro was in tears, torn between being happy that his best friend was alive, or sad at the pain he seemed to be going through. Rafael put a wing around him, and he looked up to see the Toucan smiling, but crying too.

"I'm talking in circles, I'm lying they know it, why won't this all go away?" They watched, broken hearted as the canary dropped to the ground, sobbing. A blue and red bird suddenly appeared from the right side, pulling the small bird into a tight hug, rubbing circles on his back and whispering soothing words.

"Let it out," the colourful bird soothed, pushing his head into her shoulder and taking his hat of his head as he broke down, "let it all out."

"Is it over yet?" Nico sang, barely more than a whisper into Miyoko's shoulder, and she couldn't help but smile a little. He was a true performer, through and through, using the song to get his emotions out. "Can I open my eyes? Is this as hard as it gets?"

Oh she hoped so, watching this was hard enough, she did not want to see any worse.

"Is this...is this..." he trailed off, unable to continue. Miyoko stroked the feathers on his head and neck as he continued to cry into her shoulder. It wasn't too long before they began to die out, leaving him with the hiccups, but no more tears to cry. Miyoko pulled away, smiling softly.

"You alright now sweetheart?" she asked, gripping his shoulders as he swayed slightly, eyes still closed and hiccupping ever so often. He nodded, taking a deep breath. "Good, because look who came to see you," she grinned, turning his head to the screen, where his entire family was watching, tears in their eyes.

He was shocked for a moment, beak opening and closing as he tried to find the words to say.

"Oh bloody hell did you just see all that?" was the first thing that came to his head, and apparently the first thing that escaped his beak.

"Most of it," Jewel said, smiling as she wiped away her tears.

"Martin!" Nico scolded, "I know you're there."

The parakeet poked his head onto the screen. "It had to be done, sorry," He grinned, quickly darting away as he saw the glare aimed in his direction.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you guys!" Nico exclaimed once the green bird was out of view.

"And you have no idea how worried we've been about you," Pedro shot back, wiping his eyes but grinning wide. Nico laughed, a hiccup cutting it off, eliciting chuckles from both ends. "Where are you?"

"Tokyo," the canary replied, laughing a little at their reactions.

"How on earth did you end up there?" Rafael, who couldn't stop grinning, asked.

"It's a long story," Nico smiled, not particularly wanting to relive his journey just yet, "and you will hear it eventually, but first I want to hear all about you, and those other birds, did they get back okay?" he asked, suddenly thinking of Rita and Felix.

"Most of them were home within a few weeks, and all others are accounted for, which is why we were so worried about you. There was one Parakeet, Rita, who came straight to us as soon as she got home, asking about you. She tried to look for you after you escaped, what happened there?" Rafael explained.

"I tried to help a trapped bird," Nico shrugged, "he got out okay, but the door shut in my face."

"Wait a minute," Pedro suddenly said, "I've never heard about this, who's Rita?"

Rafael and Blu shared guilty looks as Nico and Jewel both watched with raised eyebrows and a small smirk.

"Well, we knew you were having a bit of a hard time, and you probably didn't want any more bad news, so we kinda figured it was best not to tell you," Rafael explained, putting a wing on the smaller bird's shoulder. Pedro looked up at him with an unreadable expression, and both Rafael and Blu waited with baited breath for the probably well-deserved anger. But neither expected him to simply shrug his shoulders and turn back to the screen.

"Fair enough I guess," he said, and the two birds let out a deep sigh of relief, "and honestly, I couldn't care less right now." He grinned at Nico, who laughed in return.

"Seriously though guys, are you lot okay? Coping well without me? Tell me Pedro hasn't fallen back into his bad eating habits," Nico asked, smirking as said cardinal spluttered, glaring.

"He moved in with us not that long after you disappeared," Jewel explained, "Don't worry, we've been looking after him well," she grinned.

"As for the how we've been doing," Rafael started, smile dropping a little, "well, it hasn't exactly been easy, we all miss you a lot, and we've been extremely worried about you. I think what scared me most," he said, looking solemn, "is knowing that if something happened to you, we would never know."

Nico looked away, fiddling with his bottle cap, which had somehow found its way back into his wings. He took a deep breath, looking back up at the camera. "One thing I can guarantee you," he said, "is that nothing will stop me from getting home. No matter what happens, I will make it." He stopped, thought for a moment, then added, "Just not by plane, never by plane." He shuddered.

"Why?" Pedro asked, tilting his head a little.

"Apparently I get airsick," Nico explained, a grim smile finding its way to his beak, "badly. Who knew birds could even get airsick," he trailed off to a mutter, glaring at the floor. Pedro snorted, and the glare quickly found its way to him.

"Sorry, that's just too funny," the cardinal giggled. Everyone else just watched on with amusement.

Nico rolled his eyes, too happy about seeing his family to care.

"Okay, story time," Rafael grinned, changing the subject, "you have to tell us how you ended up in Japan of all places."

Nico smiled, watching as they all moved to get comfortable, the kids, who were grinning but had been surprisingly quiet sat in the front with Pedro, the larger birds behind. "Alright, alright, I'll start from the beginning."

"Wait!" the clear voice of Miyoko rang out from across the room. "Remember my condition? I have to hear this too," she called, quickly crossing the room, landing and sitting in one fluid movement, settling down to hear the story.

And so he began, telling them of Alistair and the palace in London, his accident in Paris (of which he was still rather embarrassed about (Pedro sniggered)), about Cosette and Marius, purposely leaving out Vincent for another time (No need to worry them further he thought), then down to Rome, with the twins and Adriana, how they put him on the wrong plane and he ended up in China. Hong-Xian got a mention, before the flight across Japan, and searching for Rumours, until finally Miyoko finding him and seeing them perform.

They listened with rapt attention as he retold his past three months, and when he reached the end there was absolute silence. No one said a word as they stared with wide eyes.

"Wow," one of the kids, he wasn't quite sure which one, broke the silence, and suddenly they were all talking at once, not that Nico could understand a word of what they were saying.

"Slow down," he laughed, "one at a time."

The group looked around at each other, then all looked to Rafael, silently agreeing that he was the best choice to express their feelings in words. The bird in question rolled his eyes before looking back at the camera. "Alright," he said, smiling, "you're forgiven for taking as long as you have. But no more pit stops if you can help it, I- we want you home."

"Yeah," Pedro agreed, though a long yawn. On the other end of the camera, Nico mirrored the action.

"I'll do my best," the canary grinned, "I can't promise though, looking at my track record."

"Well, if you can, keep us updated," Rafael said, "I know that isn't always easy, but try."

"I will," Nico nodded, smiling, "I think it's time for the kids to go to bed," he chucked, gesturing to some of the younger ones already asleep, "And that include you Pedro."

"I'm older than you," the cardinal shot back, "isn't it your bedtime before mine?"

"Pedro, I'm in Tokyo, I only got up a few hours ago, it's half eight in the morning here," Nico explained slowly, like he was speaking to a child, but the grin was on his face the whole time, growing wider as Pedro looked confused for a moment, then 'ooh'-ed as realisation hit.

"We're going to take the kids home," Jewel said, turning to Rafael, "want us to take yours? Give you a few minutes longer here?" She asked. The toucan smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, can you just watch them outside, it'll be better if I took them back, but if you can give me few minutes that would be great."

"Before you go, we've got a performance tonight, or tomorrow morning for you, I'll get Miyoko to talk to Martin, see if you can watch us."

Jewel nodded, "it was great seeing you Nico, and I'm so glad you're okay, get home safe okay?"

Nico nodded, watching in amusement she shooed all the kids and Blu out of the club, leaving Pedro and Rafael standing alone in front of the camera.

"We'll talk to Martin about that performance," Rafael said, "any excuse to see you again."

"Uh-huh," Pedro agreed nodding, smile slowly dropping, "but seriously though Nico," he said, looking at the ground, "We miss you," he looked up, "I miss you. You scared me a lot, and I honestly don't know what I would do without you," he sniffed, giving a small watery smile, "so hurry the hell up and get your ass home."

Nico laughed, tears springing up in his eyes once more, but he managed to stop them from spilling over. "I will," he said, rubbing his eyes with his wings, "now stop it with the mushy stuff before I start crying again. I have a reputation to keep you know."

"There's no one here but us you know," Rafael grinned, "I agree with Pedro through, we've missed you like hell, and he pulled a you, with the whole bottling up thing," he said, pointing down at the cardinal. Nico winced, eyes widening.

"And how did that one end?"

"We got to him just in time, thankfully," Rafael said as Pedro scowled.

"Good, because what you saw earlier, that was a result, and it's not good," Nico warned his friend, smiling, "but I guess this time I've had an excuse, I've been busy, it's just been pushed to the back of my mind, and then you did that song and I realised just how much I miss all of you." His eyes were beginning to get watery again, and he fanned himself with a wing. "Now, I don't want to keep the kids waiting, so you better go, and I have a number to work on." He grinned, shooing them with his wings.

"Alright," Rafael smiled, starting to lead Pedro away, "We'll see you soon, and if not, then when you get back."

"Yeah, see you." Pedro echoed, waving as they turned to leave.

"And thank you," Nico called, causing them to turn around, looking at the screen expectantly, "for believing in me." The pair grinned, nodded, and turned back to the exit, taking off as they got close.

Nico stood and watched until they were out of sight before turning to Miyoko, who enveloped him his a huge hug.

"You feeling better now hun?" She asked. Nico simply nodded, wrapping his wings around her in return. "Now," she continued, pulling back and grinning, "I believe you said we have a song number to work on."

"Rafael!"

The toucan flinched at the accusing tone in his wife's voice. But relaxed as he remembered his excuse.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for you all night!"

"He's safe Eva," Rafael cut her off just as she was about to launch into another rant, "he's in Tokyo, but he's okay, and coming home."

"What?" Eva looked shell-shocked, "Nico's safe? Our baby's okay?" Rafael nodded, grinning as she practically launched herself at him, laughing as she wrapped her wings around him in a tight hug.

"Everything's going to be okay."

A/N: Emotion, that's all this chapter is I swear, just 7,000 words of pure solid emotion. I nearly cried, I'll admit, and it was such a hard chapter to write, I'm still struggling to believe it only took me three days!

So a lot of you (I'm pretty sure all of you actually) have expressed many times how you're looking forward to Nico being home and seeing his family again. Unfortunately, I have a plan and that plan goes on for at least another ten chapters, so there is no chance of that just yet, so I've compromised :) The glorious joys of webcam XD This idea actually stemmed from a review by Witch08, so a huge thank you to you :) And of course, a huge thank you to all my reviewers for keeping me going :D I hope you all continue to follow this story and support me.

I'm thinking of putting a few more songs in as the story progresses, so if you have any requests or suggestions I would love to hear them. I may not be able to fit them in, since I have a ever growing list at the bottom of the document on my computer (And you will probably learn that I am a bit of a Gleek, since most of them are from Glee .), but I may be inspired and use it :)

As usual, all reviews are welcome, I love hearing whatever you think, good or bad :)