Alright, I am incredibly sorry about the wait! I've had two French tests in the past week, a History assessment not long before that, and I keep getting dang homework! Hopefully won't happen again!
So, like I said, BuckxDiesel and MikaylaxOscar in this chappie! :) Diesel and Rebecca belong to Blumacaw13, Taz, Dex and Bronson belong to scoobs5601, you know the drill by now. Still taking place during the last few chapters, Rudy hasn't just been sitting there without causing commotion, lol.
Oh, and Money 100? Of course we're friends! :) Ah, I know how you feel, school is kinda like that with me too. I guess I have friends but they fight like fudge.
Diesel leaned against a tree, arms folded, watching Buck and Rudy. Buck was scampering around the dino, as Rudy tried to catch him, but they both kind of looked like they were kidding around. She was confused, but didn't question it. Every time she'd run into Rudy she had been convinced he was a killing machine, but now he was practically playing tag with a weasel, both looking like they'd inhaled too many fumes from the Chasm of Death.
"I'll never understand boys..." she sighed, sitting on one of the tree's roots.
"Oui," she looked up to see Silas on a branch overhead "But you mademoiselles have many confusing ways of your own."
Diesel raised an eyebrow. "Like?"
"W-well, u-uhm..." Silas struggled to speak under her intense glare "Ze way you can instantly make ze toughest guy in ze world crumble with one stare!"
Diesel chuckled, before picking a small flower out of the grass and pulling off the petals one by one. I'd have a chance, I'd never have a chance, I'd have a chance, I'd never have a chance, she repeated in her head as she pulled the petals off, letting them float to the ground. After a few minutes, she got to the last one. I'd have a chance.
She plucked the last petal off, cupped it in her paws, kissed it quickly and lightly for luck, then blew it into the wind. Grasping the bare stalk of the plant in one paw, Diesel got to her feet and cautiously padded closer to Rudy and Buck.
"YEE-HAW! I gotcha now, ya collosal fossil!" cried Buck, grabbing a vine and tying it around Rudy, but loosely, so that he could escape somewhat easily. Rudy stretched his arms, and the vine snapped. "Darn," muttered Buck jokingly.
"Need a hand?" asked Diesel, appearing beside him, sturdier vine in hand, already looped around Rudy's legs a few times. Buck seemed surprised, yet impressed.
"Alright, mate," he replied, offering his paw to Diesel, who took it gratefully. He pulled her up onto Rudy's head, where they high-pawed, before Diesel flung herself off, thrusting herself forwards to get enough momentum to wrap the vines tightly around the baryonyx. Since the same vine was wrapped around his feet, Rudy found himself falling towards the ground.
Buck leapt off fast, doing a flip in mid-air, sticking the landing on a nearby branch. Diesel, on the other hand, had her arm caught in the vine, and was unable to get free, so she had to go along for the ride. Buck, noticing this, felt his heart skip a beat. That fall could kill a weasel, he knew that much. And despite having just met her, he couldn't just let Diesel die. So he retrieved a vine from the tree, tied it around his waist, tightened his grip on his knife, and jumped.
He sailed through the air towards a very frightened Diesel, before grabbing her and pulling her close. To keep her safe, of course. He struggled to cut the knife connecting Diesel to the falling Rudy, but it was hard as he was doing it one-handed and anyway, they were suspended in mid-air! It's very hard to control a knife when you're plummeting to the ground!
Buck did manage to cut a vine... unfortunately it was the wrong one. He managed to disconnect the vine keeping him attached to the tree, leaving him and Diesel both falling. To make matters worse, the knife slipped and cut the vine tied to Diesel's arm, so they were free-falling, detached from anything that could've stopped the fall.
"We're gonna die!" screamed Diesel, clinging to Buck. She was normally cool and collected, but being in such a situation had really left her terrified.
Buck couldn't tell her they weren't, because he wasn't sure, but he could try and calm her down. "Shush, shush..." he soothed, holding her close, feeling her terror running through his own veins. He looked down at her, right as she looked up at him. They're eyes met, and Buck's heart leapt again. Suddenly, in a random burst of emotion, he squeezed her tighter.
"Don't you worry," he whispered sweetly in her ear "I won't let you get hurt."
As the ground approached, Buck flipped over, so that Diesel was above him, and he'd hit the ground first. Diesel, who had her eyes firmly shut, didn't notice, so didn't protest. Thinking he was about to die, Buck kissed her on the head, right before they hit the ground.
Diesel sat up groggily, holding a paw to her head, which was throbbing painfully.
"What's going on? What's happening?" she felt something beneath her "What am I sitting on?"
She looked down, and was horrified to see Buck below her, unconscious and battered.
"Buck!" she exclaimed, about to jump up, but she was stopped by Buck's arm, still wrapped loosely around her torso. Suddenly, she realised. "Oh my gosh... Buck, you- you... saved, me..."
She felt her whole body shaking with sobs as she slipped out of Buck's limp arms, before hurriedly checking for a pulse. Thankfully she found one, but it was weak. Leaning over and placing her ear near his mouth, Diesel discovered his breathing wasn't good either.
Pushing her hysteria down to the deepest corner of her mind, Diesel positioned her paws in the centre of Buck's chest, before performing thirty chest compressions. Once she was done, she tilted his head back, pinched his nose, and gave him two rescue breaths. It felt awkward having her mouth against his, but she knew it would be worth it when he woke up. And anyway, it's not like she didn't enjoy it...
She repeated this process several times, unwilling to let Buck die on her. When his breathing finally returned to normal, she folded him into the recovery position, and hurried to find things to heal his wounds.
Soon after, she returned with soft leaves, the ingredients for an anti-infection herbal concoction, Lotus berries to numb the pain, and a small hollow rock filled with sweet juice from a fruit of some sort, for when he woke up. Rudy had also been knocked out during the fall, but he was a baryonyx, he could handle himself.
Diesel set the stuff down, then proceeded to splash cool water from the nearby pond over his cuts. Next, she mixed the ingerdients together and created the herbal mix, which she rubbed into his injuries, after soaking them in Lotus berry juice. Finally, she wrapped him in the soft leaves, tearing strips from the half-destroyed vine next to her to fasten them in place.
Then, all she could do was sit beside him and make sure he stayed alive. Luckily, he didn't take long to awake, which was good, because Diesel's heart was hammering in her chest with the worry of not knowing whether he would be okay.
"Buck!" she gasped, joy flooding her system "You're okay!"
He smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am... wonder why..."
"Well..." Diesel blushed crimson "Uhm, I... uhm..."
"M'kay..." Buck suddenly remembered something "Hey, ya don't happen to remember anything before we hit, right?"
Diesel thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. Why?"
"Nothing," he answered quickly, before noticing the leaves he was covered in "What's with the leaves?"
"Oh, I just didn't want your cuts to get infected," explained Diesel, retrieving the hollow stone "Here, drink this."
Trusting her, Buck took the stone and sipped at the drink, before smiling. "Mm, not bad. What didja put in this?"
"Nothing," she shrugged "It's just fruit juice."
"No..." Buck put down the stone and licked his lips "I can taste... something cherry-ish..."
Diesel's eyes widened as she remembered how her and her sister, Emily, used to put cherry juice on their lips because they thought it would make them softer and prettier. Come to think of it, she breifly remembered putting some on back in Dinotopia not long before she met Shira and Silas... uh-oh.
As Buck looked up and saw Diesel blushing and covering her mouth with one paw, it hit him. They both blushed deeply, Diese standing awkwardly and Buck trying to avoid her gaze, until Rudy, now conscious, swung his tail and sent Diesel flying into Buck. Their lips touched, and neither pulled away.
"Mm, cherries," mumbled Buck, after they pulled apart, earning him a punch in the shoulder from Diesel.
"Now your just trying to embarress me!" she protested, causing Buck to laugh.
"Yeah, kinda. Almost as much fun as battling Rudy!"
Both of them laughed at that, before Diesel snuggled into Buck. Rudy, next to them, smiled slightly, glad that his one-eyed friend finally found someone to care for.
Mikayla sat in the long grass, watching Kate play, when Oscar walked up behind her.
"H-hey," he managed, trying to keep the nerves out of his voice. What is my problem?, he thought, Why am I getting so freaked out about talking to her? And how come I couldn't think of anything better to say than 'hey'?
"Hi," Mikayla snapped him out of his trance.
"So..." Oscar struggled to think of something decent to say. So...?, he mentally berated himself, That was your big line? You idiot!
"Uhm... what, er... do you, think of the, I mean, your, new home, then?" attempted Mikayla, blushing under her orange fur. For some reason she was just as nervous as him.
"It's, nice... prettier, than the old one..." he quickly added in his head, 'Specially coz you're here.
"Yeah... it's a really nice clearing," agreed Mikayla, looking over to Kate again. "She's such a cute kid..." she sighed gently, "Poor thing... all alone now..."
"What do you mean?" asked Oscar, who didn't stutter for once, but was too curious to notice.
"I overheard Izzy explaining Kate's story to Squint," sighed Mikayla "She lost her mother when she was pretty young, and Izzy was all she had left."
"Poor thing..." Oscar mused. Mikayla nodded.
"I just wish I could do something for her... give her a new home, maybe..."
"Yeah..."
Suddenly, they both had the same idea. "Adoption!" they exclaimed at the same time, before turning away and blushing deeply. There was a moment of awkward silence between the pair, as neither could think of anything to say, and frankly they were both incredibly embarressed.
"So..." Mikayla cringed at how stupid she sounded. She wanted to question Oscar about what he'd said when he was killing Gutt in revenge for making her cry, but she didn't want to make things too awkward between her and Oscar. "W-what did you mean earlier? When you were killing the monkey guy? Y'know, about making me cry..."
Mentally, Oscar slapped himself in the face. "Uhm, I, uhm..." he took a deep breath "Look, I haven't known you that long, Mikayla, but I think I, uhm, I think I might, er..."
"Oscar. Just spit it out," she commanded gently.
He steeled himself. "I think I might love you."
Mikayla thought she could actually hear her heart stop beating and her breath catch in her throat. She had to focus her eyes on little Kate to stay conscious. She'd never been loved by anyone before, especially not her old pack, which was why she was so desperate for Diego to like her. Because she figured that, as she'd saved him from drowning, he'd have to be nice and kind to her the way she had been to him when she rescued him.
"M-Mikayla?" Oscar tried to stop his fear and sadness from crawling up into his voice "Y'know what, j-just forget I said anything... I'll just get going then..."
"No," she stood up "I'm sorry it just... took me by surprise. I-I... think I might love you too," she admitted sheepishly. They both went red. Their moment was interrupted by a small mountain lion cub by the name of Kate.
"Aww! How cute! Mikayla and Ozzy-" Mikayla smirked at Kate's nickname for Oscar "-are in love!"
Mikayla rolled her eyes. "Y'know, for such a little kid, you sure are good at taunting."
"And eavesdropping," added Oscar. Kate smiled, then gestured to Izabella with one paw.
"I learned from the best," she explained, cheerily.
The trio all began to laugh gently, Mikayla pulling Kate in close and ruffling the fur on her head. For a second, it was as if they were one big family. Kate closed her eyes and smiled as wide as her little mouth would allow, finally glad to have mother and father figures in her life again. As she did this, Oscar quickly leaned in and licked Mikayla's ear.
In that moment, Mikayla felt something warm in her heart, something she would call love, and she realised just how wrong she had been when she chased after Diego so frantically. Shira truly loved him, the way she know felt about Oscar, and she decided she owed the silver sabre an apology.
Kate grinned. "I love you guys..." she whispered softly.
"We love you too, Katie," Mikayla and Oscar said in unison, when Kate yawned.
Oscar chuckled. "I think it might be time for a nap, kid-a-roo," he suggested, but she shook her head firmly.
"I'm not tired!"
"Yeah ya are, Kate, c'mon, you'll be falling asleep during the party later if you don't get some rest!" Mikayla tried to persuade her, with Oscar nodding along.
"She's right, little 'un."
"But Mom, Dad, I-" Kate started to whine, before cutting herself off when she realised what she'd said "Uhm, I, uhm..."
"No, don't worry," Mikayla kissed Kate's ears "Mom and Dad... I kinda like the sound of that..."
Oscar nodded. "So do I."
Mikayla looked up into Oscar's hazel eyes, as he glanced down into her slightly darker pair. He leaned in, but Mikayla quickly pressed a claw to his lips to stop him, covered Kate's eyes with one foreleg, before leaning in and touching her lips to his. Unknown to them both, Kate slipped away from Mikayla's paw, took one look at the couple... and dry-heaved.
So... what didja think? Good? Bad? Worth the wait? M'kay, so not really, but oh well.
I think there will only be about three chapters left, including the Epilogue, if it plays out like I've planned. If not, then I got no idea.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! Oh, and in case you didn't know (lol, love that song), I have a poll up on my profile page regarding what people want me to start/do after A Second Chance is finished, so I would be very grateful if you could please have a look and vote :)
