[A/N] A funny thing happened while I was writing this chapter. I had the tv radio on and an instrumental version of "Yesterday" (Beatles) started playing. Yesterday happens to be the title of the first Storm Hawks fanfic I wrote, and it also happens to be Aerrow/Piper.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Will It Ever Be The Same?

They were on the Condor together, sailing the carrier ship towards Terra Glockenheime to gather information from the time mechanics and their Time Pulse. From there they would head to Terra Klockstopia, the home of their friend, Her Highness Princess Peregrine, and ask the heiress if there were any more nocturnal disturbances to her land's crystal mines. It was important to know.

In addition to random Cyclonians being abducted, which turned out not to be so random at all, there had been an attempted raid on one of Piper's laboratories. Initially, the thieves had taken nothing of value and the crystal stores were undisturbed, but he or she had caused quite a lot of damage to commercial property. Interestingly, the target was the building newly dedicated towards synthetic crystal manufacture, which confused Pepper but not the Dark Ace.

This had Lenore written all over it. Only Piper's employees knew what they were working on, and were under oath not to reveal to anyone outside the steel doors about their experiments. Not until they had manufactured at least one, successful artificial crystal and tested its properties safely could anyone know. It was for their security.

All had been informed they had a rival, not a competing association but a murderer. A very dangerous, unpredictable enemy. One whom would not take kindly to someone else supposedly copying her work. Their scientific experiments were needed, this technology could prove useful under certain applications, it could help them all.

But this enemy helped no one, only sought to advance her own mysterious machinations.

The skies ahead were clear, a highly saturated shade of true blue, and the silence in the cockpit was deafening to Aerrow's ears. His hands gripped the wheel tight, his head throbbing with tension as the man tried to stop watching his companion.

Piper was hunched over the large round table, ignoring him. Pouring her fingers over the curled navigational charts, she scribbled illegible numbers and equations onto a lined pad of paper, positioned perfectly underneath her right hand for maximum efficiency. From his position at the wheel, Aerrow could not stop watching her.

Her high ponytail, once secured tight at the top of her head, now askew, slipped to the side of her scalp. The few hours they spend together (but not talking) charting the ship's course made her restless, or something else was on her mind. Oval fingernails kept scratching her head in mild frustration, each movement loosening the elastic band around her hair a little more. Piper yawned, rubbed her eyes, and sighed deeply.

With a small smile, she turned towards her Sky Knight, a silly joke played about her lips when she caught his unbreakable stare and stopped. For a moment she forgot whom she was with, whom she was about to talk to.

Closing her lips, the female Storm Hawk turned the other way, casting Aerrow out of her sight, and sighed audibly in pain. This was so hard. Being around him, trying to act as if things were the same. Of course they weren't. She couldn't even be in the same room without having her attention distracted by his stoic presence. Every word he spoke, even if it wasn't addressed to her, struck through her clothes and seeped into her chest like a glowing star.

She remembered the way he looked at her, could recall the feel of his lips the first time they truly kissed. It had tingled, and she had shuddered, and she had let him into her home.

Piper had hurt him irrevocably, and now she didn't know if Aerrow would ever forgive her.

What the woman had to do was focus. Really focus. Pick up that pencil in her right hand, the edge of her palm smeared a silvery grey from skin rubbing against the pressed lead on paper, and speak in numbers. Fill her head with science and equations, and don't think about crystals or children or the Condor-

"Piper?"

Aerrow's voice, so close to her ear, shocked her out of her wits. The woman looked up and he was there, a head's width away from her. Amber eyes flickered over his left shoulder towards the steering wheel, and realized he must have put the ship into auto-pilot. And now he was here, so close to her, asking her name.

"I think we need to talk."

Oh god, not that. Anything but that. She wasn't ready for this, nowhere near ready. She couldn't face his anger again. He was a Sky Knight, her superior, and needed to stay far, far away from her. If he didn't, she would be lost. Piper's left hand gripped the edge of the rounded table, her knuckles turning white with the pressure. She couldn't meet his gaze, not when he was so close, and the fingers of her other hand stumbled over the curled papers and grasped the pencil blindly. The sharpened lead tip pierced the pad of her thumb.

She replied okay, but in a long, drawn-out manner that indicated everything was certainly not okay with her. It didn't help when Aerrow inched forward, so much that the line of his pelvis lay parallel to the edge of the table, exactly where her clenched left hand was. Mere inches from touching her.

Why do this on purpose? It certainly had to be. This was the first time they were in a room together since her return from absence, and it had been a miraculous three and a half hours since the start of their shift. He hadn't even greeted her when she entered the cockpit, just nodded in her general direction and looked away.

The rejection hurt.

(More than you know.)

Then, in an impossible and terrible gesture, Aerrow gently placed his hand over hers, the left one, and without a word, drew her beautiful eyes up to his. He smiled, a sad little one, and Piper felt the soft brush of his thumb against the heightened nerves of her skin. She should pull away, but the warmth of his touch reached inside her, stroked an empty place where their friendship used to be.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"It's okay," Aerrow sighed, finding it easier to lie than speak the truth. Closer, he leaned towards Piper until his forehead touched hers. He could feel the heat in her breath now, see the rise and fall of her quickening pulse through the thin column of her neck. "I'm sorry too."

She should have remained silent.

"For what?"

Aerrow chuckled pitifully at his sorry state of affairs. Here was the woman of his dreams, the love of his life, with another man's ring on her finger and he was apologizing to her. "I'm sorry, Piper. I still love you."

And then before she could regret it, she kissed him.

His perfect woman, so dear to his heart she was the reason it still beat, lifted her soft, pliable lips and pressed it against his. There was a brief stumble of her hips as she bumped into the round table, but her body found a way to lean against him. And how her pencil-marked hands were cradling his face, her breath stealing his, and how Piper was kissing him of her own accord. Willingly.

The Sky Knight hadn't shaved this morning, the patches of red stubble on his chin scratched her palms in contrast to the gentle sweep of his tongue inside her mouth. Aerrow eyes fluttered open, utterly disbelieving, but Piper's remained shut. Delicate pink lips swollen, she leaned back upon her heels to catch her breath, her hands still caressing his face.

He had to kiss her. Not once, not twice – until all the breath had left their bodies and he was left utterly senseless to everything but her touch. Then when that happened, he would kiss her some more.

"Sorry - I'm so sorry. But I love you." he apologized between kisses, not knowing what else to do. He couldn't help it, he loved her so much but wasn't man enough to let her go. He couldn't, not after knowing what it felt to be with her. Not just in her bed, but in her life. More than a Storm Hawk, more than her best friend. He would even admit to crying over her loss if she dared to ask.

Smooth fingers slipped underneath the hem of his shirt, stroked the hard planes of his stomach and Aerrow groaned, immediately felt himself grow hard in the groin. If only he could love her, if only they were alone. They could be like this, kissing each other without interruption. If she wanted, she could lead him out of the cockpit and into his bed. Anywhere.

And Piper murmured, confused, "I think I love you."

Aerrow broke the kiss but did not move away. Gasping for air, her brow creased in agitation, the woman wondered what she was doing. But then his arms came around her, pulled her close and kissed the top of her blue hair. Whispered tenderly against her scalp.

"Your ponytail's coming undone."

She laughed a little hysterically.

"What am I doing, Aerrow? I love my husband, but I have feelings for you. I can't forget what we had, how much I try. Maybe I don't want to. I'm sorry, I sound so mean. But it's true. I did love you, and I still do. I wanted to call you every day, but I didn't. It's bad. I miss being around you, hearing your voice, seeing you smile. And I'm pregnant now, I don't know what to do."

Aerrow wondered how many times a man could die in a lifetime. Squeezing his eyes shut, he was glad Piper couldn't see the horror on his face as he crushed her body against his. An embrace strong enough to choke a horse.

"...Pregnant? You're... carrying his child?"

The woman had been strong up until now, through Aerrow's declaration, through her own speech. But hearing the dreaded word from his lips solidified the rising terror inside. Piper was crying now. Yes, she was pregnant. And yes, this time she was going to carry this child to term. She was healthy now. It was going to be a girl, she just knew it. And she was in love with the two most important men in her world.

An otherworldly possessiveness soared up in the Sky Knight, and he gripped the sides of Piper's tear-streaked face. She could hardly see through her tears; fat, clear drops clung to her clumped lashes and the woman fought against her sobs. How long had she felt this way? How long had she known?

"Listen to me carefully, Piper. I love you. I don't care whose child you're carrying. You're all that matters to me now. Are you listening, Piper? I'll take care of you. You tell me what to do."

Aerrow - the Sky Knight, leader of the Storm Hawks – woke up alone.

At first he didn't understand his surroundings, why he was lying half-naked on his bed, in his room, and not on the Condor. Where was Piper? She was crying, and she was upset. He needed to be there for her. She didn't say it, but she was scared. Terrified, even. She was afraid of something... bad. Even he didn't understand, but he could feel it.

The man struggled to breathe, the terrible clarity of his dream pressed down on his chest as the rest of his body slowly and painstakingly woke. Then in unbelievable betrayal, both body and mind came to the conclusion what he perceived as reality was just a dream. It had felt so real, he could even feel the softness of her lips. His heart had soared with love, but it was false. All false.

Aerrow turned to his side, inwardly broken, and stared at the bedroom wall.

It was white. Off-colour.

Eggshell?

Snow?

Who cared. There was one thing on his mind, and she was far, far away.

She was on the Condor with him. Them, together. Sailing the carrier ship towards Terra Glockenheime to gather information from the mechanics and their Time Pulse. From there they would head to Terra Klockstopia, the home of their friend Princess Perry, and ask Piper's doppelganger if her crystal mines had been broken into. Looted. It was important to know.

This mission was important to Piper, almost personal. Someone had broken into one of her three laboratories the other night, and the woman was not pleased. Initially, the thief or thieves had not taken anything of value and strangely, the crystal vault was left untouched, but there had been a lot of damage to commercial property.

Aerrow didn't say anything but judging from her tight lips, something else had been stolen. Or if not stolen, Piper had moved the treasure someplace else. It was no random attack, this had been preordained. Just like the abducted Cyclonians, the Sky Knight suspected these two events held something in common, information he was not privy to.

The skies ahead were clear, a highly saturated shade of a perfect sky blue, and the silence was deafening. Aerrow was shaking from the inside, echoes of his dream reverberated through muscle and bone until he gripped the ship's wheel tight just to stop his fingers from trembling. Did she know? Did she feel?

A headache from trying to concentrate too much. Silently, the Sky Knight watched his companion.

Piper was hunched over the round table as before, chewing on her lower lip in consternation. Pouring her fingers over the heavy navigational charts, she scribbled on a pad of paper beside her. A perfect imitation of his dream.

He watched her.

And he wondered.

The sole female of the Storm Hawks. Brilliant, kind, and beautiful. With his keen green eyes, Aerrow watched in voyeuristic amusement as Piper scratched her head with the blunt end of the pencil and worked away on her equations. If she noticed his surveillance, she was doing a damn excellent job ignoring him. The elastic of her high ponytail was slipping to the side, the tilt of her head causing the weight of her hair to sway loosely in response. Messy.

Aerrow shifted gears, locked the ship into auto-pilot, then made his way down the platform and towards her. He had a small, rueful smile on his lips as his steel-tipped boots clunked against the floor noisily. Stopped inches away from her left hand gripping the table.

She looked up at him, a little teary-eyed he noted. Fearful. There were a hundred different problems going on her her mind, and he was just one of them. Maybe she was afraid he would going to get mad again, and hated to see him in pain. Once, they were best friends. Lovers, even.

And he said, "You're pregnant, aren't you?"