Chapter 10: Home Again
A few hours later and much closer to their common destination, Chip woke up on the passenger's seat of Geegaw's plane. He figured he had managed to fall asleep in the quietness of the flight. He remembered parts of a wonderful dream he had involving Gadget. He was unable to recall the whole dream, but it was enough to make him want even more to finally tell her how he felt.
The next thing he realized was that Gadget was still asleep, and that her head was lying on his shoulder. It was a good sign for him. She had most certainly put it there while sleeping, but nonetheless it was there, and it was there for a reason. But he knew he had to wake her up. New York City was coming closer, and it was her who sat on the side of the plane with the controls necessary for landing. Besides, the clouds which used to be there at the beginning of the night had moved on, and a beautiful sunrise was about to begin over the Atlantic Ocean.
He gently caressed her cheek and whispered, "Gadget! Wake up!"
Waking her up was easy. She opened her eyes, lifted up her head, and saw two amazing sights to her right. One was a marvelous sunrise. And the other one was Chip whom she had dreamt of. Now she was awake, but he was still there. A part of her felt like enjoying the sunrise while snuggling up to Chip once more. Or forgetting the sunrise for some seconds and trying once more to kiss him. But somehow, she couldn't. Something kept her from revealing all her feelings to him. Instead, she prepared for the approach to the Headquarters.
The last few miles passed without any speaking. Chip and Gadget exchanged a glance or a smile every now and then, but they didn't say a word. They were tired, but they were happy about how the case went along, how Gadget had her family back, and how they had been able to enjoy another few hours just with each other. However, both still felt awkward about what had happened immediately before Beatrice dropped into the turbulences, as if someone had caught them in an attempt to express their mutual love.
The plane reached the park, and the Headquarters came into sight. 'Now comes the tough part', Gadget thought. 'I hope our runway is long enough for this plane.' She slowed it down as much as she could, touched down on the very end of the runway, and immediately applied the wheel brakes. She did it well—Beatrice stopped easily before the hangar door.
"Dad will need some place to land," Gadget said as she and Chip got out of the aircraft. "Can you help me push Beatrice back?" She was of course able to do that on her own, but she felt like doing it together with Chip. By now, she was getting used to the plane's name.
"Sure I can." They pushed the plane a bit back, so that the Rangerwing could land in front of the door and get into the hangar to recharge.
Gadget gazed up into the morning sky. "I hope the others are okay. They're not here yet." Lots of thoughts filled her mind. Will Jenny survive, and will she be healed? Did they find the hospital? Or did Geegaw fry the motors on the long journey with the booster on all the time? Or did they even crash for another reason? Has she lost her parents again, this time forever and, to make it even worse, in an aircraft she had invented herself?
Chip noticed the worried expression in Gadget's face. He walked over to her and laid his arm around her. "They will come. I promise you that they will come." He wasn't all sure either, but he trusted in Geegaw's skills as a pilot as well as in the rest of the Rangerwing's crew. That included his old friend Dale who had proved more than useful many times since the Rangers were founded.
The two of them stood at the end of the platform and waited. Standing quite close, they felt each other's warmth in the chilly morning air. Soon, there was something far more interesting to look at than the direction from which the Rangerwing was expected to come, namely each other. Their sleep-deprived minds went down almost to idle, and emotions took control again like they had done on the flight back. Chip couldn't help but stare up into the pair of blue eyes in Gadget's face as it came nearer and nearer until she closed them. Not being distracted that much anymore, the working rest of Chip's mind somehow managed to make his view lock onto an object moving in the morning sky. When he turned his head around to see if this object was what he supposed it to be, Gadget was so close that her nose touched his cheek and she almost gave him a peck.
However, Chip's abrupt change of mind confused her, so she turned her head into the same direction as his to find the reason. And she found it. It was the Rangerwing.
They both felt disturbed. They both wished that their friends would be delayed a little more. But none of them said a word. Again, they didn't want to talk about it. That is, they did want to talk about it, but they didn't dare. By now, they had become fully aware about their mutual feelings. But they refused to accept them until they heard each other say the three certain words. And they agreed that now was not the right time for love confessions. Although they didn't know they agreed.
"It's the Rangerwing, Chip," Gadget almost whispered. The tender mood was not over yet, they were still holding each other more or less tight, and their cheeks were touching while they watched the aircraft approach.
"Yes, it is, Gadget."
"Daddy is still flying it. I hope he enjoys it. After all, he's one of the greatest pilots ever."
"And soon you will see him land it." Chip's words made Gadget so proud that she wanted to kiss him right away. Her own father, the ace pilot, going through the Rangerwing's vertical landing procedure. That would make her early day.
There it was, the Rangerwing, piloted by Geegaw Hackwrench. Chip and Gadget could already hear the noise of the air around the reversed propellers. Soon, they were able to look right into Geegaw's face. He looked back and gave them a smile. As the plane flew over their heads, the motors had moved to their upright position, and they felt the downwash. Geegaw lowered the landing gears and set the aircraft onto the landing platform—carefully as if he was piloting a raw egg. Now Chip and Gadget could see that everyone else on board was sleeping and had not waken up until the motors' buzzing died down. In other words, they had only one witness.
Except Geegaw, everybody aboard the Rangerwing rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and got off. For a moment, Chip stood and watched Gadget run to her father and hug him, then he slowly followed her. Geegaw had seen him and Gadget in their tender moment. They hadn't kissed. They still hadn't kissed. They would still have been kissing under the flying Rangerwing if Chip hadn't noticed it, but they hadn't. Nevertheless, the way they had held each other tight had left no doubt. A good father would be upset in the first place if he saw his daughter in the arms of a guy he barely knew. But why did Geegaw smile when he saw them?
Gadget and Monty led Stephanie into the Headquarters, and Dale and Zipper accompanied them. Geegaw was about to go, too, when Chip stopped him.
"Geegaw, may I ask you something?"
Geegaw closed the door so the others couldn't hear their conversation. "Let me guess. Does it have something to do with you and Gadget?"
"You've seen us, right?"
"And you should have seen me smile. Take it easy, Chip. I don't mind you being together with Gadget." Geegaw put a hand onto Chip's shoulder. "I'd even say that I don't know anyone who I'd rather like to see as the guy at her side than you."
"Geegaw, you must know a million guys out there. And we've met less than a day ago."
"That's true, Chip, but Gadget knows you since I don't know when. And when you make her happy—and I can see that you do make her happy—, it's okay. And as far as I know you, Gadget will be in very good company with you, something I can't say about many boys I've met throughout my life. And I'd like to apologize if I've interrupted your kiss."
Chip's jaw dropped. "What... you've seen..."
"I may not be the youngest anymore, but I've still got the same eagle eyes as when I was young. You can't be a good pilot when you can't see where you're flying and what's happening around you."
"And you don't mind..."
"Of course not, Chip!" Geegaw smiled. "Seeing Gadget stay alone for all her life would be much worse for me. Especially when it leaves two hearts broken. But now that you and Gadget are—"
"We're nothing yet. Nothing but good friends."
"You mean she doesn't know yet..."
"Neither her nor me. I wish I had told her... and she had told me if there was something to tell." He still hadn't defeated his doubts yet.
"Chip. Gadget was about to kiss you. Do you really think she doesn't feel anything for you?"
"No... well, I'd like to hear her say it." 'Despite the fact, yes, the fact that she has tried to kiss me twice in the last few hours. Chip, you're talking romantic non-sense.'
It was then when Chip noticed that Gadget's head had been peeking out of the slightly opened door for some seconds now. "Say what, Chip?"
"Er... say that breakfast's ready."
"Well, Monty's still busy making us some breakfast. Shall I come back and say it when he's done?"
"No, we're coming in in a few minutes anyway, right, Geegaw?"
"Right, Chip."
"Okay," Gadget said with a smile, "we'll wait for you." She went back inside and closed the door.
"Wow, that was one heck of a timing." Chip realized that she would have heard far more private words if she had come just one or two seconds earlier.
"Chip. Sooner or later you'll have to tell her."
"I know, Geegaw. Dale has been telling me just that for sixteen years now."
"You mean you've been in love with her for sixteen years?"
"Eighteen. It was love at first sight when we met for the first time. But I was too busy competing for her with Dale until he met Foxglove."
"Foxglove?"
A bat came flying out of the upper branches of the tree and landed in front of the two guys. "Have I heard you say my name?"
"You have, Foxy. Geegaw, this is Foxglove, Dale's girl-friend. Foxy, this is Geegaw, Gadget's father."
Geegaw carefully shook Foxglove's wing. "I'm pleased to meet you, Foxglove."
"Geegaw? I thought you were dead."
"That's what we all thought 'til yesterday," Chip explained. "But in fact, he was on a secret mission to retrieve his wife. A mission so secret that he even had to make his own daughter believe in his passing."
"And," Foxglove asked Geegaw, "have you been successful?"
"Sure, Stephanie's back, safe and sound," the mouse replied. "Would you like to meet her and have breakfast with us?"
"Oh yes, I'd love to."
Chip was amazed. Geegaw had so gotten used to being with the Rangers that it was him who invited Foxglove to the Rangers' breakfast although he had met her the same minute. "Well, then let's go. The others are waiting."
The moment when Foxglove stepped through the door, she looked around the room to find Dale. She found him sitting on the couch and waiting for breakfast. As they hadn't met the evening before, she was so happy to see him again that she flew through the room right upon him instead of just walking.
Unfortunately, nobody had told Stephanie that the Rangers had a bat as a friend, so she jumped up from her chair and yelled, "Hah! A bat! What's that bat doing in here?"
Geegaw smiled. "Well, Steph, what does it look like what Foxy's doing?"
"Foxy? Well, um... she's... hugging and kissing Dale?"
"Oh, Steph..." Dale tried hard to rise from the couch with Foxglove around him. "This is Foxglove. I hope she hasn't scared you too much. Foxy, this is Stephanie Hackwrench, Gadget's mom. It took Geegaw the last 20 years to find her."
"Aw, how wonderful," Foxglove said as she snuggled up to Dale again, "Gadget has her parents back." She looked her chipmunk into his eyes. "You would search for me forever, too, if I got lost, right, cute stuff?"
Chip stood up in the middle of the room. "Okay, listen, everybody, I've got something to say. Since we've been up and busy almost all night, I say that we'll take today off and have a bit of sleep after breakfast. Alright?"
Foxglove was totally confused. "You're working all night, and now you're gonna sleep during the day? Is it that what I've turned diurnal for, to spend my time with the Rescue Rangers who spontaneously go nocturnal?"