"Come on, make it snappy L'Orange! Before more hunter drones show up." Mallory rushed. It was only a few seconds later when the doors slid open. Anna stared for a second at the room within.

"Hey…" Duke stopped, turning back. He snapped his fingers in front of her face and she blinked.

"Yeah?" she asked quickly.

"come on. Let's get to work." He ushered her, Mallory following close behind.


"There's just one thing puzzling me…" Viper delayed his assault on Tanya and Wildwing. "How did you ducks get here from Puckworld?"

"Puckworld?" Tanya questioned.

"Dragaunus sent you there with a teleporter ten years ago." Viper explained further.

"But Phil said-"

"Phil said he wasn't sure." Wildwing finished for Tanya. "which means…"

"All of this happened because of me!" Tanya realized, her eyes going wide. "I casted the deciding vote. Suddenly I wish I would have kept my beak shut about being homesick." She said, grabbing her head.

"No matter." The viper interjected, "you won't be on this planet for very much longer. Meet… my enforcer!" on cue, the ground shook as a giant snake burst through, hissing all the way.

"Giant snake!" Tanya exclaimed before realizing what she'd said. "oh, should have seen that one coming!"

"You know, actually I kind of did." Wildwing muttered as they both parted ways, attempting to avoid the snake.

The two ducks put up a good fight, but the pucks they fired were doing little to no damage against the giant reptile.

"Our pucks aren't harming it! What are we going to do?" Tanya exclaimed as they took off running from the snake as it lunged at them. Wildwing opened his com as they ran.

"Phil! We're in trouble!"


The mutated Thrash and Mookie led Nosedive and Grin down a long tunnel deep underground.

"So, where'd you get the berserk-o face lifts?" Nosedive asked.

"Nosedive!" Jess hissed under her breath, finding his comment slightly insensitive. Nosedive cringed at his name, but Thrash and Mookie didn't seem to catch it or care about Dive's question.

"Dragaunus zapped half the planet with DNA accelerators. Everyone's genes like totally freaked out. Now, we're warriors of the wasteland, man!"

"Yeah, we scavenge for food. Make hit and runs against the hunter drones…" Mookie trailed off as they reached the entrance to a slightly smaller tunnel.

"Oh, there it is!" she exclaimed, "the master tower. It's right at the end of the tunnel, you can't miss it."

"Yeah, but you gotta watch out for the giant snakes." Thrash warned, shuddering as some type of roar was heard in the distance.

"I didn't know snakes roared." Jess commented, a hint of skepticism and worry coming across her face.

"Apparently giant ones do." Dive shot back at her.

"I'll handle it." Grin said, picking up a rope and moving towards the entrance.

"Grin! That thing is gonna swallow you whole!" Mookie warned.

"Stay mellow. Animals like me." He promised, taking off down the tunnel.

The others hung back for a second.

"So… do we follow him?" Nosedive asked sheepishly.

"Ha, be my guest." Jess said sarcastically, waving him down the tunnel.

"Come on!" Thrash beckoned them, finally following Grin. The rest followed, although they all stayed a tiny bit behind Grin as he went hunting for a giant snake.


"Alright, that's it!" Mallory announced.

"Good, let's skedaddle out of here. I don't like the looks of this place." Anna murmured. The other two nodded in agreement as they took off for the exit. They made it out to where the migrator was parked in record time, except there was one problem. There was no migrator.

"Where's the migrator?" Mallory asked the question that was on all their minds. A hunter drone vehicle suddenly poked its front end over the hill, instantly firing.

"Take cover!" Mallory ordered.

She took off for a giant rock that sat to the side of the entrance. Duke grabbed Anna's hand, jerking her in that direction. They got behind the rock, glancing around the corners.

"No way. We don't have enough firepower for that." Anna said, pointing in that direction with her thumb.

"The migrator does." Duke murmured.

"yes, well if you haven't noticed…" she waved her hand around as if to show the empty space where the migrator should be.


The migrator pulled up on Wildwing and Tanya, both being duck handled by the giant serpent.

"The cavalry's here!" Phil announced as he pulled to a stop.

"Freeze pucks Phil!" Tanya instantly ordered, "the cold is lethal to snakes."

"Uh, got it!" Phil said, pulling a lever. Instantly, the migrator started moving up and down on it's axels.

"No! The red button! The red button!" Wildwing ordered hastily.

"Whoops." Phil said, setting the migrator back down. He instantly found the red button, opening fire on the snake. The snake hissed as the cold hit its scales. The pain caused it to lose its grip on Wildwing and Tanya.

"Let's get out of here!" Wildwing ordered as they both raced into the migrator.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Tanya said behind him.


Duke, Mallory and Anna were doing their best firing on the hunter drones. Bits of stone flew around them as the blasters from the hunter drones hit the rock.

"I don't know how much longer this rock can hold out." Anna worried.

"Oh, come on. She can still take a few more-" Duke was cut off as a blast from the vehicle exploded the rock into pieces around them. "hits…" he said sheepishly, trailing off.

"Great! We're sitting ducks!" Anna exclaimed. Duke and Mallory both shot her an irritated glare. She looked taken aback. "well we are!"

At that moment, the ground shook as what looked like a gopher trail formed from out of the master tower. A snake shot out of the ground, Nosedive Grin and Jess on it's back.

"Whoo! Ride em, Grinster!" Nosedive exclaimed. The snake lunged for the hunter drone's vehicle, almost instantly destroying it and getting the other three ducks out of danger.

"Grin! How did you ever tame that thing?" Mallory asked as they regrouped.

"Animals REALLY like him." Nosedive explained.

"Where are the others? The bomb's about to go off!" Duke exclaimed, bringing them back to the situation at hand.

"There they are." Mal pointed as the migrator was seen coming out of the master tower.

The ducks climbed aboard and Wildwing swiveled around to see Nosedive, Grin and Jess.

"Where'd you guys come from?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I guess you could say we… slithered over." Nosedive smirked, taking a seat.

In a matter of seconds, the master tower was exploding as the migrator drove safely away.

The ducks and Phil stood on a street corner as Phil handed Wildwing the staff.

"It'll take you back 5 minutes after you left your time." Phil explained.

"we'll only have 24 hours to prevent this future from happening. You sure you set it right!" Wildwing growled back at Phil.

"Hey, when have I ever let you down?" Phil asked.

"Phil… please. Please! Don't say that." Duke murmured.

The ducks held onto the staff, sending them back to a present-time Anaheim.

Mallory glanced up at the clock. "It's exactly five minutes after we left!" she exclaimed.

"Question…" Anna trailed off as she got everybody's attention.

"Why, when Phil of the Future decided to kidnap us, didn't we just flip right around and come right back to this time?" she asked.

"Well, because we had to help that future. We had to help them blow up the master tower." Wildwing explained.

"Ok, understandable. But hear me out… Imagine if we would have spent five minutes hanging out with future Phil, and then flipped right back around and came back and prevented Dragaunus from ever taking over the planet. I mean, then technically that master tower wouldn't even exist because Dragaunus would never have built it."

"Oy, time travel hurts my head." Nosedive muttered, rubbing his head at Anna's words.

"You're telling me." Jason muttered.

"You know… she's kind of got a point. I mean, this episode was kind of pointless…" Tanya trailed off.

"It doesn't matter now. We're back in the present and we've gotta stop that future from happening." Wildwing huffed.

"Uh, guys… today's Friday, right?" Nosedive asked.

"that's right." Duke muttered.

"Well, according to this…" Nosedive nodded to the paper he had picked up off the bench, "it's Saturday!" he exclaimed.

"Phil's settings were a whole day off!" Tanya slapped her forehead.

"Which means we don't have 24 hours to stop Dragaunus!" Duke exclaimed.

"More like 24 seconds." Mallory agreed. They all piled into the migrator, heading back to the pond. Wildwing knew they needed the aerowing for this mission.

Once in the aerowing, almost everyone had the same question on their mind. Duke was the one to voice it.

"How is Dragaunus going to conquer the world on such short notice?"

"he and Viper built a super weapon." Wildwing explained what he and Tanya had found in the future, "and it's about to launch."

"What super weapon?" Mallory asked as they reached Viper's headquarters.

"See for yourself." Wilding motioned ahead of them. Two cargo like doors opened and a saurian warship rose out from below.

"Whoa! It's a mega jumbo super raptor!" Dive exclaimed.

"And this one doesn't need Balerium crystals for power!" Wildwing added.

Wildwing could see Dragaunus was getting in position to conquer the world and veered the aerowing in front of the raptor, grabbing the lizard's attention.

"We're never going to be able to stop that thing!" Nosedive exclaimed.

"Oh yes we will." They all turned back to see Tanya already had a jetpack on. "I saw the plans for that thing in the future. I know it's weak spot."

"Now, we've gotta distract them." Wildwing informed them, before turning back to raise an eyebrow at Anna. "Still think this episode was pointless?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waved him off but stuck out her tongue at him after he'd turned back around.

"I saw that." He murmured, flying low and just barely missing a shot from Dragaunus. He couldn't see where Tanya had gone, but in a matter of seconds, the new raptor was smoking and soon it was losing air.

Tanya reentered the ship shortly after, just in time to see the raptor go crashing down on Viper's fortress.

"Huh. I've never seen karma work so fast." Jason muttered.

"I can see the headlines now… Viper fortress destroyed by own creation…" Jess started, "there'll be a little excerpt of Viper saying, 'I don't know what happened… something must have malfunctioned'"

Anna rolled her eyes but laughed with her friend none the less.

"I love that though," Nosedive piped up, "we put that snake out of business twice in one episode." He looked proud, leaning back with his hands behind his head.


Once back at the pond, Tanya had a thought as they entered the elevator.

"Do you really think we stopped that future from happening?" she asked.

"Maybe. But as long as Dragaunus is loose, the future is always in doubt." Wildwing answered as the doors to the elevator opened to the rec room.

"that was slightly dramatic." Anna whispered to Jess, who snickered at the comment.

"You know of all the things we encountered in the future, the one that amazes me most is Phil!" Duke piped up.

"Yeah. Leading the resistance, and actually showing some courage." Mallory agreed.

"Yeah, guess there's hope for that guy yet." Nosedive agreed as they all walked up on Phil who sat hunched over the keyboard of Drake 1.

"Where have you been?!" Phil exclaimed, standing up once he realized the ducks were there, "do you realize you missed a photoshoot? I got you a spread in Duck Hunters Quarterly, and you blew it!"

Everyone sighed in annoyance as Wildwing crossed his arms.

"Well, give him another ten years." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

Anna turned, walking away from the group in that moment. The mission was over, and she wasn't quite feeling like herself.

Duke noticed her walking away and cocked his head. What was going on with Anna? Wildwing seemed to read his mind as he came to stand by Duke, looking down the hallway.

"She uh, she tends to get like this sometimes. Especially this time of year." Wildwing explained.

"What do you mean? She's acted like this before? And this time of year?"

Wildwing sighed, "we're coming up on the anniversary of her dad's death. Since she was twelve, she sometimes does this. And it doesn't happen all the time. If she has a bad year… that year she broke her leg, she resorted back into this sort of behavior. The year she was varsity for hockey… senior year… this didn't happen at all."

"What happens?" Duke asked.

"I don't really understand it, but it's almost the same thing every time. She blanks out. Stares at nothing. Teacher's would get worried and call Chloe all the time. It's like, I don't know, some form of PTSD."

"How do you snap her out of it?" Duke asked.

"You don't. She'll do this for about a week. Maybe two. And then near the end of the second week, she stops staring off into space and she's back to almost normal."

Duke stayed silent for a moment. Wildwing heaved another sigh, "her father's death took a lot from everybody. Dive and I considered him a second father. Canard was devastated. Stayed out of school for three weeks. Nobody saw him. But Anna… she changed that day."


March 26th, 1991

Anna practically skipped into the house, smiling all the way.

"You're cheery." Canard muttered, pulling a couple of plates out of the cupboard. Her dad was sitting at the kitchen table looking over a newspaper while her mom hovered over the stove. She could smell whatever was cooking.

"I just got invited to a slumber party." She announced, giddily.

"When exactly is this party?" Pochard asked, glancing over his paper.

"Tomorrow night." She slightly hesitated.

"Now, kiddo, you know tomorrow is family night." He tried.

"please, daddy? I mean what's the harm of me missing one family night?" she tried.

"Who's throwing the party?" Chloe asked, turning around.

"Becky Terrine." Anna informed.

"Becky?" Canard perked his head up. "She's like fifteen. How'd you get invited to that party?" Canard wasn't being mean, he was just pointing out how close in age he was to Becky compared to his baby sister.

"Canard?" Chloe asked, waiting for him to explain. He cleared his throat, glancing at Anna.

"The Terrine sisters have always thrown the hottest slumber parties the school has ever seen. Becky is fifteen. She has a younger sister, and two older sisters. One is eighteen, the other is 23, and the youngest is…" he trailed off, glancing at Anna, "Twelve." He cocked his head at his baby sister.

"Are you friends with Barbara?" he asked her.

"Kind of. We just started hanging out a couple of weeks ago. But she told me about Becky's party and asked if I wanted to go." Anna explained.

"I don't think it's a good idea." Canard muttered.

"Neither do I." Pochard said, setting the paper down and walking over to his daughter.

"But daddy, I-"

"No buts, Anna. You belong here on Family night anyways, not at some slumber party with a bunch of girls we don't even know." He tried.

"Dad, it's not a big deal." She tried, shrugging it off.

"It is to me, Anna!" Pochard raised his voice. "Who knows what's going to be happening at this party?"

"It's just a party. We'll probably paint our toenails, watch movies, and talk about boys." Anna tried.

"Anna, I don't care. I don't know these girls or their parents. Are their parents going to be home tomorrow night?" he asked.

"I didn't ask, but I'm sure they will be." Anna tried.

"That's not a for sure answer. You're not going Anna."

"God, why can't you just let me go!" she suddenly shot at him. Canard and Chloe's eyes bulged and Pochard looked genuinely shocked as he turned around to meet her gaze. She and Pochard never fought like this. Usually, she was good about respecting his decision.

"Because I'm the parent, and I said no!" he spat, narrowing his eyes.

"Dad, loosen the grip. I am not your little girl anymore!" she never once budged.

His eyes went wide, and he almost looked hurt.

"Anna, I don't know where this attitude came from, but it had better stop now." He growled.

"Or what?" she pushed.

"Anna, don't do that…" canard warned off to the side quietly.

"That's it! Anna, you're grounded!"

"You can't do that!"

"The hell I can't!" he growled, "you're going to go up to your room and think about the tone you just took with me!"

"Why don't you make me!" she shot at him.

"Anna Marie, go to your room! Now!"

She glared at him as tears entered her eyes. "I hate you." She growled, stomping towards the stairs.

Pochard sighed out, looking down. Chloe finally moved from her spot, going towards her husband. She tilted his head up to meet his gaze.

"What did I do wrong?" he whispered to her.

"Nothing, sweetie. She'll come around." She tried. Pochard nodded, but Chloe could see how hurt he was.

"I'm… I'm going to go for a walk." He said, reaching behind to grab his jacket.

"But honey, dinner's almost ready." She tried, motioning to the stove.

"I won't be long. I just need to get out. Clear my head." He promised. She nodded, reaching up and kissing his cheek. He gave her a big hug.

Canard watched his dad walk out the door before his mom turned back to look at him.

"That was a beautiful mess." She muttered, going back over to the oven.

Canard sighed out, climbing the stairs. He stopped outside Anna's bedroom, knocking.

"Go away!" came the angry retort.

"Come on, kiddo. It's me, your favorite brother ever!" he called. Nothing was said until Anna opened the door. There were tear streaks going down her face. She glared at him as she turned back around, leaving the door open and laying stomach first back on her bed. She grabbed her pillow, burrowing half of her face in it.

"You're my only brother, fathead." Anna muttered, rolling her eyes at him. He chuckled, taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, what happened down there?" he asked.

"You know, I'm not really sure." She admitted. "I just… I really want to go to that party tomorrow night." She explained.

"Why? There'll be other parties." Canard tried. Anna sighed out.

"If I tell you something, you promise you won't tell mom or dad?"

"Sibling honor." He said, raising his hand.

"Jensen Rayburgh is going to be there tomorrow night." She explained.

"At a girl slumber party?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She sat up, shaking her head.

"It's not an all girl slumber party. It's just a High School Party. Anybody who's anybody is going to be there. Including Jensen."

"Anna, you can't get all worked up over some boy. Especially at your age." He tried.

"You get worked up over Becky." Anna shot at him.

"That's besides the point." He muttered. Then a look crossed his face. "Wait a second, why the hell wasn't I invited if it's not really a slumber party?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I'm obviously cooler than you." She said, smiling at him. He shook his head, pulling her into a hug.

"Listen, kiddo. Take it from me, it's just a party. And honestly, how good could it be if your awesome big brother isn't even attending?" he tried. She sighed.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going now anyways. So, I guess I'll agree with you. How good could it be?" she asked.

"That's the spirit. Now come on. Dinner's about ready." He said, standing up. She hesitated.

"What?" he asked.

"Dad's probably pissed at me." She murmured. His eyebrows creased.

"He's hurt." He said, "he left to go on a walk after your little spat." He explained. She sighed out, looking down.

"I shouldn't have said what I did. I didn't mean it." She revealed.

"I know you didn't, kiddo. I know." Canard said, pulling her into a hug. "Come on, let's go downstairs."

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Anna found herself glancing at the door.

"Anna?" Chloe walked over, placing a hand on her daughter's back. "Come eat, sweetie."

"But, what about dad?" she asked.

"He'll be back soon. He just needed to cool down." Chloe tried. Chloe turned to walk towards the kitchen, hoping her daughter would follow.

"No. I gotta go find him. I've gotta apologize." She said, grabbing her jacket and taking off out the door.

"Anna!" Chloe called, rushing towards the door. Canard ran up behind her.

"Don't worry, mama. I'll go get her." He said, starting to take off. Chloe put a hand on his shoulder.

"No. She knows her father's route. If she catches up to him, this will be a conversation they need to have." Canard looked like he wanted to protest but sighed out.

"Yeah, alright mama."

"come on, no reason for our food to get cold before those two get back."

"Dad!" Anna called, walking down the streets. He couldn't have gotten that far ahead of her, "Dad!" she cupped her hands, around her beak, attempting to make her voice louder.

"Marco!" she tried, referring to a game they would play. Still no response.

"Pochard Thunderbeak!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. The wind was slightly picking up as a drop of water hit her beak. It was beginning to rain.

"Come on, dad! Dinner's ready!" She paused, listening for any responses. The only thing she heard was the rain as it began to fall harder around her. She pulled her hood on, pressing forward.

"Come on, dad. Where are you?" she whispered to herself, looking everywhere for her dad. Up ahead, she heard something clatter in a nearby alleyway. A figure stepped from the shadows, probably fifteen feet away. He was hooded, wore boots and faced away from her.

"Hey!" she yelled. The figure tensed. He never turned around as he took off running. "Hey, wait!" she yelled, taking off after him. She came to the entrance of the alleyway the figure had run out of and stopped, glancing in.

"no." the whispered word escaped her beak without her even realizing she'd spoke. She rushed forward into the alley, forgetting about the figure. Laying on the ground was none other than her father.

"dad!" she rushed, kneeling down next to his left side. His chest rose beneath a pool of blood, and tears brimmed her eyes. His eyes met hers as he reached his hand towards her. She grabbed it, squeezing it. Her eyes were wide. She didn't know what to do. What was she supposed to do?

"Daddy, what happened! Who was that!"

"Anna." He tried, his breath coming hard. His voice was weak. He was fading, and there was nothing she could do. "Anna, I love you so much." He spit out before a cough wracked his whole body. Blood shot out of his beak and Anna saw red.

"That mother fucker."

"Anna." Pochard partially scolded, even in his current state. She ignored him.

"I'll kill him!" she promised, "Even if it kills me, I'll make sure he pays for this!" she growled.

"Anna, no." he said, putting his hand on her cheek. She felt warm liquid and wasn't sure if his hand was bloody or if her tears were coming hotter now. Probably both.

"No?" she asked incredulously.

"Forgive him."

"For this? No way!" she growled, "he must pay. He doesn't deserve forgiveness."

"Forgive him. Not because he deserves it, but because you deserve peace."

Anna was silent. She didn't know how to respond. He partially smiled up at her, running his thumb under her eye where he collected a tear. She closed her eyes at the touch, willing the rest of her tears not to fall.

"daddy, I can't do this. I'm not strong enough for this." She insisted. He seemed to chuckle lightly.

"Oh, my brave daughter. You're stronger than you realize." He choked a little, more blood pooling around them. A sob escaped Anna's beak as she fought to hide the tears.

"Daddy, I can't lose you. I love you." She tried, emotion evident in her words. The tears flowed freely, whether she wanted them to or not.

"You'll never lose me, Anna. I love you. I'll always be with you." With those last words, his chest stopped rising, and his hand went limp in hers.

"Daddy?" when he didn't respond, her eyes went wide as she openly allowed herself to sob. She hugged herself around him, not caring about the blood. Not caring about anything else. That murderer could return to the scene of the crime and she wouldn't care. She'd happily let him finish her off as well if it meant she could go with her dad. She hugged around him, and it seemed like she laid there forever. The tears wouldn't stop.

"Who's back there?" a vaguely familiar voice pulled her away from the situation, looking down the alleyway at a flashlight. She hadn't even noticed how dark it had gotten. Her clothes were soaked with blood and rain water.

"Oh god." The flashlight moved out of her eyes, and a face came into view. A grey duck with piercing blue eyes.

"Greg?" she asked, or rather croaked as her throat was sore from sobbing.

"Anna. Anna, baby girl, come here." The officer had another officer hand him a blanket as she unwillingly let go of her dad and entered the blanket. He grabbed her up in the blanket, hugging her. She had calmed down in a single second and when he hugged her, she found herself sobbing again.

"Your mom called us. Said you and your dad had been gone for a while." Greg explained why and how Morton had found her.

"Anna, what happened?" Greg asked.

"I don't know. I came out to try and find him, and when I did he was…" she couldn't get the words out as she started crying again, turning her face into the officer's shoulder.

Greg had been her dad's first partner back when they'd first started. The guy standing behind them was also a friend of her dad's; Morton. But Greg was closer with her dad than Morton was, just because they'd known each other longer.

"Shh. It's alright, Anna. We're gonna get you home." Greg promised, picking her up bridal style and carrying her towards the police car. He turned briefly towards Morton.

"Get a team down here. Somebody murdered a cop. Somebody's going to get an ass beating." Greg's voice was dark and laced with malice. Morton nodded, and Greg continued toward the car.

"Anna, did you see the guy? Anything you saw could help." Greg tried.

"I saw somebody leaving the alleyway right before…" she trailed off, "he was taller than mom. Maybe the same height as dad? I don't know." She felt helpless.

"Did you see his face. What he was wearing?" Greg pushed.

"He never looked at me. But he wore a black cloak and black leather boots." Greg wrote down the description in his notebook, sighing out.

"Any features you could see?" he asked. Anna shook her head.

"I was back there when I saw him." She said, pointing back towards the beginning of the block. Greg sighed out.

"It's ok, Anna. We'll find him." Greg promised, though he had little info to go on. He leaned out and shut the door to the backseat. She heard his muffled voice as he and Morton tried to figure things out on their own, investigating the alleyway for anything that would give them a lead. She blanked out on their voices, staring at the rain that ran down the windows. She shivered, finally realizing her feathers were drenched. She looked down, seeing the blood on her hands. She started breathing hard, screaming at her hands.

Greg heard her, pulling open the door. As he did so, she suddenly puked out the side of the door. She leaned out as he pulled her hair back out of her face. She stayed hurled over after, just in case. He patted her back, sighing out again.

"Morton, I think she's having a little bit of shock." He tried.

"I don't blame her. Let's get her to a hospital."


Anna shot up in bed, breathing hard. She didn't even remember falling asleep, but she must have passed out just after the mission.

"Anna!" there was a worried voice outside her door. She heard the code being punched in and soon, in her doorway, appeared Duke.

Once he saw she was ok, he seemed to relax.

"You alright, sweetheart?" he asked, walking in and sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" she asked.

"I um…" he looked away sheepishly, "I heard you scream." He finally spit out.

"I screamed?" she asked. He nodded.

"Anna, talk to me. What's going on?" he asked. She looked down, escaping his gaze.

"I know it's been a few years, but it's still just fresh in my mind. Every time the anniversary comes around, I just suddenly feel low."

"Anna, that's going to happen. You lost your father. This is a natural feeling."

"Even after six years?" she asked.

"Of course, even after six years. He was a big part of your life." Duke tried. She smiled lightly.

"Yes, he was."

"Anna, I don't know exactly what happened… I didn't know you then. And I don't expect you to tell me. What I do know is you're probably one of the strongest people I know. You've been through so much and yet somehow, you still manage to rise and keep going. That's more than what can be said for a lot of people."

"Duke, I… thanks." She didn't know what else to say. He smiled, leaning over the blanket to pull her into a hug.

"I know it's hard. I watched the life leave my brother's eyes. I still have nightmares." He whispered into her hair. She leaned closer into him. They sat like that for what seemed like forever until Duke cleared his throat.

"Well, it's late. I'll uh, I'll let you get back to sleep." He said, moving towards the door.

"Hey, Duke?" she asked. He stopped in his tracks, turning around. She wanted to ask him to stay. She didn't want to be alone. Instead, she smiled.

"good night." She murmured, pulling the sheets up and rolling over. He smiled back at her.

"Good night, sweetheart." He said, pushing a button that shut the door behind him.