Chapter 11

Kicked Out

I woke the next morning not totally remembering where I was. I looked around and saw, well first off, I saw the floor. My hollow was always cluttered and Sonny would tease Pedro and I relentlessly; telling us that there was no floor in our hollow at all. Then I noticed that there were all sorts of flowers, whose scent was very fresh and gave the room an enchanted feel. This accompanied by a little vanity, and that drawing of the Kingdom Paradise palace Tadeo had shown us. A little window that was framed by more flowering vines was just behind me and I could hear the sounds of the waking jungle as they floated through.

All of the sudden there was a soft, feminine snore that came from my right, and I realized that my wing was wrapped around something. Looking down I saw the top of Sonny's head resting on my chest. Her face was serine, still asleep, and a dreamy smile played on her beak. Right! I spent the night. I remembered, mentally face palming and smiling. She stirred a little bit, nestled closer under my wing, and sighed contentedly.

I couldn't help but quietly chuckle. She's so loveable! I mean what's not to love about the perfect girl snuggled up next to you first thing in the morning? I sat there for a little while longer, just living in the quiet moment. This was what I wanted to wake up to every day for the rest of my life.

I pulled my bottle cap over my eyes, and was about to drift back to sleep, when Sonny opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times to help them adjust. I pretended not to notice as she looked around and yawned. Then she looked up to me and beamed. "He stayed all night." She murmured to herself and half laughed. Gently she nuzzled her head up under my chin, making my stomach tie itself in knots, and I grumbled a few inaudible words.

"Niiii-co." She spoke in a sing-song way that made my heart feel warm.

"Hmm?" I hummed and opened my eyes. Sonny pushed the bottle cap back and I fell into those sparkling green gems with a sleepy smile.

"You stayed all night." With that she kissed me affectionately, causing my heart to pound against my rib cage.

"Well if this is what I get to wake up to, I'm moving in." I shot her a wink and she giggled. Leaning her head back on my chest she sighed. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No. Nothing could be wrong about this." She replied, and we both laughed. "I was just thinking…"

"Oh boy! Here we go." I squeezed her shoulders and chuckled. She rolled her eyes and smirked at me.

"Haha. Very funny." Was she trying to change the subject?

"So what were you thinking about?"

"Well, Tadeo just mentioned something last night and it just kinda stuck in my mind."

"What?" She took a deep breath, as though working up the courage to voice her thoughts.

"Have you ever thought about having a family?" *Que ton of bricks dropping on my head* My eyes got really wide and I looked at her in a funny way. Then she blushed madly and her eyes got wide. "No! Not right now! I mean…In the future?"

"Oh." I rubbed the back of my neck with my free wing. "Well, I guess a little bit…" That caught me completely by surprise. A family? Sure we all knew that we would find a mate and have chicks, but it never occurred to me that I was actually going to have to do that someday.

"I'm sorry. I just ruined everything." Sonora looked down and scooted away. I softened my gaze and pulled her back.

"You couldn't ruin anything if you tried." I kissed her cheek. "It just caught me by surprise is all."

"Yeah. But now you think I'm some sort of cuckoo." She grumbled.

"Sure, but you're my cuckoo." This earned me a smile and a quick little kiss.

"I'm sorry. I should have thought about it more before saying anything."

"No apology necessary." I replied. "I have thought about it… But we'll talk about it again later. Kay?"

"Ok." Sonny smiled and stood. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Well…" I shrugged and followed her into the kitchen. "How about…" I looked around and spotted a jar full to the brim with bird seed. "How did you get this much seed?" I picked it up and my jaw dropped open.

"There's a store in the rich part of town that always has this stuff. I just take my jar and fill it up when it runs low. You want some?" She grabbed a few leaf bowls and handed me one.

"YES!" I exclaimed and she laughed, which made me falter. Just as she turned sunlight filtering through the window glinted off her golden feathers and she flipped a few stray feathers behind her head. That added together with her laugh made my knees feel weak.

"What?" She smiled and I didn't realize that I was staring.

"Nothing." I smirked and sidled over to the table with a bowl full of grain.

"You can't keep secrets from me Nico," She said with a smile in her lyrical voice.

"Oh sure I can." I waved a wing and flopped down in a chair, with a playful glare on my face. Sonora put on a vixen grin and walked over to sit beside me.

"So you're saying you'd keep a secret from me?" Sonny's face didn't change, and instead of sitting on a chair, she came and sat on my lap. With a wing wrapped around my neck, and hooded green eyes, she again made my heart pound and I was beginning to feel a little hot.

"Umm… no. I…I just was trying t…to play around and you see." And out walked his brain; never to return. I thought. I never stuttered. EVER. This girl sure was special if she could make my entire brain shut down just by giving me a little look.

"Oh really?" Now her face was inches away from mine and I still had no words. I opened my beak, but nothing came out except a little squeak. "Well how about we make it even?" I swore she was going to lean in and kiss me, so I leaned forward and closed my eyes. But what I got was a face full of Canary Corner floor, and a riot of laughter from Sonny. "Got you!" She giggled as I picked myself up and dusted my feathers off.

"Oh now you're gonna get it!" I roared and chased her around and around the counter, until she took off flying through the front door. I followed and called after her, "Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" Then pumped my wings in the direction of the sugar sand and pounding waves.

"Cheater!" I cawed and flapped my wings hard to catch him. He changed course, to make me have to turn around, thus making me slow down. Soon I had regained my momentum, and shot through the jungle, barely missing a few slow morning flyers as I did. "Typical east-sider!" I screamed at his fleeing form.

"Typical Hot Wing," He called back. "You started it and now you can't finish it!"

"We shall see about that." I grumbled and tried to fly even faster. We were getting closer to our finish line, and I watched Nico duck behind a tall palm tree and peek back to see if I was following him. I tilted my wings, and spiraled upwards to soar behind him. He didn't see me and a silly devilish look came to his face as he crouched to wait.

As silently as I could I landed behind him. Nico took no notice. Carefully I reached over and snatched the teal-green bottle cap off his head. With a whirl of yellow feathers he spun around, and before he could identify who I was, I kissed him full on and took to the sky, slapping the cap on my head.

"Darn you Sonny! Give me my hat back!" Nico called, false anger in his tone. He stabbed a pointer feather at the ground next to him, pointing to where he wanted me to land. I just smiled.

"Come and get it!" I crowed and turned tail, with a panicked squeal, and zoomed towards the beach.

"I'm gonna get you!" He cried and I heard him take off. Soon it was just us, two drops of sunshine, fighting over the much loved bottle cap. We soared over the waves and through the clouds trying to, either, catch or evade the other. I kept away with insane, complicated, and last-second, lightning fast maneuvers, but, to my great shock, Nico couldn't seem to keep up.

After a while I noticed Nico had disappeared, I couldn't hear his wings beating, or his taunts. Pausing, I looked around. I couldn't find my little speck of sunshine anywhere. Hovering high over the waves I tipped the stolen hat back and looked up. Coming at me, in a full out dive, was a self-satisfied looking Nico. I screamed and struggled to flap out of the way.

Unfortunately I was too slow, and Nico crashed into me. "Are you out of your mind?" I shrieked as we spun around, and started falling; our wings wrapped around each other.

"Maybe," He crooned as we fell. "I'm in love with you after all." My heart fluttered and he kissed me ardently, pulling me closer to his feathered body. For a moment we seemed to stop falling, and were floating. It felt like our two hearts were beating as one.

When we pulled back we both had a drunken smile on our faces. "I love you." We whispered together. Just then we snapped out of the smitten coma as the sound of the waves rushed into our ears. With a wink Nico gently, but forcefully, tossed me to the side with a spin. I rolled over and double checked that the bottle cap was still on my head. At the same moment we opened our wings, caught a warm updraft, and spiraled upwards. Higher and higher we soared, and through the rushing wind I caught the melodic voice of my Nico singing, "It's taking me higher, higher, higher off the ground!" I laughed and let his voice sink in. It was so rich, so sweet. It almost made me dizzy.

"I hope you never stop singing!" I tell him as we leveled off.

"As you wish!" Nico replied in a sing-song voice. I rolled my meadow green eyes and smiled. "Here we go." He began and lead me to a little ledge. "Come with me. There's a world out there we need to see. Take my wing. Close your eyes. With you right here I'm a rocketeer! Let's flyiiiiii!" He harmonized. This was one of his favorite songs to sing, and he hit every note perfectly.

I landed on the cliff and closed my eyes. Nico continued to sing and lead me around in a slow dance. His wings stayed in mine, but occasionally moved to my hips or back to accomplish moves. "You're very light on your feet senhorita (miss {Portuguese})." My sunbeam crooned placing my wing, face up, against his. I flutter my eyes back open and see an ornery, flirtatious look in his warm amber ones.

"Why thank you senhor (sir {Portuguese}). You're not too bad yourself." I giggled in my wing, and batted my eyes.

"Obrigado (thank you {Portuguese}). I try my best."

"You succeed." Then I gave him a quick kiss. The little scamp shot off the ledge and performed a bunch of loops, dives, and body rolls. All of this while hooping and hollering like he had just won the lottery.

"Hey Rio!" He screamed to the ocean and hovered by the ledge as I blushed at his display. "The most amazing girl in the world just kissed me! And she's standing right there!" He spun around and gestured to me with his wings. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"Ok ok." I chided. "They get it." With a bright smile Nico landed by me again, his bottle cap bouncing off the top of his head as he touched down.

"No, they'll never get it," He took my wings in his, "Because they'll never have you." My eyes stung at the sincerity of his tone.

"Stop, you're gonna make me cry." I fanned my face with my wing to keep the tears from falling.

"I'm afraid I just can't do that." Again Nico was dead-serious. I smiled and blinked a few times to keep the tears away. "Eu te amo mais do que qualquer coisa que eu já amei na minha vida (I love you more than anything I've ever loved in my life {Portuguese})." Our native tongue floated in his voice making his words sound profound, never to be taken back.

"Eu te amo tambem." I replied quietly and hugged him tightly. We stayed there on the ledge, slowly dancing around for a while longer in the morning sunshine.

"You understand what's going on?" Phillip asked the parakeet he had held by the throat in a dark alley.

"It's wrong! The Three Amigos are the best we've got! I can't tell them they can't perform here, nobody will come to the club!" He gasped as the macaw tightened his grip.

"You have no choice I'm afraid." Ana said as she hopped up next to her partner. "You don't do exactly what we say, you're going to end up like Antonio." Her voice was sweet, but her words stung at the little green bird's ears.

"I've done nothing to anyone! I'm not going to get soda dumped on my head!"

"How naïve," Phillip rolled his eyes and threw the owner of The Branch, Raymond, on the ground, "Said bird is deeper than, a cup of soda dumped on his head by a fiery little canary, in trouble." Indigo wings were spread wide and they blocked out what little sun shone in the alley.

"He has been replaced." The rainbow lorikeet smiled in a devilish way and she and Phillip laughed. A huge shadow came up behind them. "It's my pleasure to introduce to you, Luís. He's been brought here from a long way away to help us out." Ana explained.

"He'll be acting as a bouncer for you tonight, and he will make sure that you follow through on our little conversation. Otherwise…" Phillip drew a claw across his throat and the 20 inch tall Spotted Owl chuckled at the parakeet's pale face.

"I'd like a job application señor Raymond." Luís extended a gleaming talon to shake and Raymond fainted.

"So sorry, these birds aren't used to you yet." Ana crooned and proceeded to drag a tarp over the unconscious parakeet, with help from Phillip.

"Don't worry dear, I'm used to it." Luís replied and he and Phillip shared an evil look.

WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT? Kicked out of The Branch? oh you'll see! This is all part of my plan! XD