CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT: MATCHMAKERS (PT.3)

Not long after Roberto and Liz spoke, Alex and the rest of the family made it to Minnesota. It was still late at night but everybody was wide awake as Linda and Tulio got out of the plane and took the others after they were shifted out of the cargo hold. Once they all made it to the inside of the airport, Blu and the kids became happy to be in one of their homes again, Jewel just smiled at them and looked forward to the holidays again, and Alex…he just became awed by everything he saw. Never once has he left the jungle and seen so many amazing things that were clearly built by humans.

Author's Note: I tried looking for an airport that's near Moose-Lake Minnesota on Google Maps but after getting the result, I'm just gonna pretend (that for the sake of this story's universe) the town does have its own international airport.

The airport they were in was very big, bright, and full of colorful decorations. "Wooooaahhh." Said Alex, feeling like he was about drool. "Yeah, I kinda predicated your reaction to be like that." Blu chuckled. "So what else do you think of Minnesota?" "It's awesome. I know you gave certain details of the human world time and time again but this is beautiful. Does Minnesota look like this everyday?" "No. My friend, what you are looking at, is the airport. And it's covered all these Christmas decorations." "These are Christmas decorations?" Jewel smiled at him and said "Yep. But don't get distracted by that. Because once you see Ivory, these decorations are gonna look obsolete to you." "Right…Ivory. (Gulp)…Gosh, I know I said I would be confident about this but still I can't believe how nervous I am." Then Blu said to him, "Hey it's natural to feel this way. All I can tell you is to just stay calm, be confident, relax, and if she ever asks 'are you ready?' then keep in mind that doesn't mean she wants you to kiss her. I speak from personal experience." The kids laughed and Jewel just smiled and rolled her eyes before putting a wing around him.

"Thanks for bringing' that up." Jewel laughed.

"Sorry."

Alex chuckled seeing them together. Seeing Blu and Jewel, his two best friends, being happy to be in each other's wings and showing so much determination to stay together? It made him both very envious and nervous. But it also made him hope more that he and Ivory will hit it off great together. Which also lead him to asking Blu a new question.

"Blu?"

"Yeah?"

"It just occurred to me now, when you guys first told me about Ivory, you said we became a couple because she originally came to the Amazon, right?"

"Yeah. Why?" Jewel answered/asked him.

"Why did she come?"

Blu said to him, "I don't know. What I do remember is that when we asked her, she just told us it was because a while ago she had the interest in traveling so she went with it until she wanted come and see us."

"Really? Then…(eyes open up in shock)…originally, before the restart, did you guys ever talk to her about me before she came to the jungle?"

"Actually we did. Even after we met you for the second time, moved back to the jungle, and took our vacations, we did talk about you to her sometimes. The same as before."

Blu was speaking truthfully, and from hearing that, Alex blushed and felt he couldn't stand anymore because he felt like Ivory was a fan girl or something. Not only that, he finally realized why Ivory came to the jungle in the previous timeline. With whatever Blu and Jewel told Ivory, she must've eventually fallen in love with him and decided to meet him in the jungle. She already wanted to be his girlfriend. Next he was beginning to feel if she felt like that in his present. No one noticed that look on him until he sat down. Carla patted his shoulder and Bia smirked. "Uncle Alex? Are you implying that she came because she was already in love with you?" Alex looked at the kids, felt very embarrassed but slowly nodded. Carla and Bia gave a gasping smile, Tiago covered his beak so he wouldn't laugh so rudely, and Blu and Jewel made an increasing smile. The girls then hugged him.

"Oh-oh, this is gonna be great." Carla said excitedly. "If she's already in love with you now then being set up with her is gonna be easy."

"Whoa, it's just a thought, and though I don't have any experience with dating I know very well that there's a little more to it then what you're thinking."

"Okay, okay. But keep in mind, my sibs and I have been dating our lovers for months so I think we know what we're doing."

"Whatever you say, girls. And thanks."

"No problem." Said Bia.

"We're gonna be with you through and through." Tiago pridefully told Alex.

Alex was proud to hear them like that. Two best friends and three loving kids that treated him the way all good uncles should be treated so he hugged all three of them. Blu and Jewel smiled from their cage. Seeing him like that made them feel proud too. So Jewel hugged Blu and whispered to him, "And we'll be there to make sure he gets professional advice." Blu chuckled from that and hugged back. The six birds were feeling happy together. Then during another hour, the family walked around the airport some more, to Alex's amazement. Then after finally leaving the place, they all took a cab to Linda's house, and on the way, the birds were out of their cages so they could look at the Christmas lights. Alex, out of everyone, was mesmerized by the look of everything. The decorations were so bright and colorful, the snow of the ground and buildings were so white and clean, and the buildings themselves were amazing, nothing like the mountain or falls back at the tribes.

After reaching Linda's house, it was very much late at night. So once everyone left the cab and got in, they quickly unpacked their things and Linda and Tulio quickly decided to settle in (due to the exhaustion from having to walk around, stay awake during the plane ride, and sit in the cab). So they got into bed. Blu gave Alex a small tour around the house while Jewel tuckered in her kids.

Alex still loved the way everything looked. The entire place was wooden and clean, not too much like his home but still it was impressive. So once they were done, Alex stood by the window to look at the view of the town more.

"Glad to see that you like my old humble home." Blu said tiredly.

"Yeah. It's great. Gosh, if my whole tribe was here then I'd never wanna leave. These human things are amazing. And Blu? Why exactly did you leave this town in the first place?" He looked pretty excited, but then Jewel glared at him. "Uh, excuse me." "Oh. Sorry, Jewel." Jewel smiled and rolled her eyes at him again. "I'm just kidding. Look, we're gonna hit the nest now. If you want we could give you a blan-" "No, no. It's okay. With how things are looking now, I think I'm gonna stay up just a little longer." "You sure?" Blu asked him. "Totally. You guys get some rest, I'll just be sitting and savoring the moment. And at least get prepared to meet you know who in the morning." "Well okay then. Goodnight, Alex." "Night. Sleep tight, you two." He waved bye to them and Blu and Jewel flew to their cage and peacefully began to sleep after saying to each other, "Oh I can't wait for this." They were thrilled about their kids finding their lovebirds again and then they were glad to see that they've succeeded again with Roberto and Liz, but knew that things would only get better with Alex and his girlfriend Ivory.

One hour later…

It was still late at night, and Alex was still sitting by the front window. He felt awfully tired but didn't wanna shut even one of his eyes. He said to his friends that he wanted to look at the sites more, and he did want to, but really he kept staring at the cold snowy black sky. He kept looking up there because he was hoping to see the bird he's been wanting to see for a while. Though it seemed hopeless. "(sigh)...I think I'm just rushing things." He said to himself. "I guess all I can do is wait a little longer. Being Mr. Patient never hurt anyone." He then laid from where he was sitting and turned his back to the window. By shutting his eyes he was ready to sleep, until he heard a splat noise from outside. "Ah!" He yelled from the sudden sound. He got up and looked out the window to see there was a bird unconscious on the snowy ground. "Oh no." He began to panic, feeling so scared that he quickly opened the door, shut it, and flew down outside to the bird. He didn't bother to tell Blu and the others. So once he made it out to the bird, he tried to see what was wrong with it.

"Hello? Hello, are you okay?" He asked, trying to be gentle around it. It didn't seem hurt or hostile but it was white, just a little bigger than him, and it was definitely a bird. So Alex gently put his wings around it and slowly turned it so it could lay on its back. "Uhhh...a little help please." Said the bird, and when Alex saw its face, he noticed that it was a female. And a very beautiful one too. "Oh my gosh. Are you okay? Ma'am, can you hear me?" The female could but hardly. It didn't take long for her hearing and vision to clear up. So she responded, "Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. I'm tired, can you-?" "Yes, yes. It's okay, I got you." Alex let go of her and then took her by his talons before carrying her to the inside of the house. "Where to put you? Where to put you?" He kept telling himself. Until he thought about the sink in the upstairs kitchen. He carried her all the way up to there and laid her down near the edge of it when they made it.

"Okay, ma'am. Just stay still, I'm gonna getting the water running." He calmly told her. She did what he said as Alex went to the sink handles and turned on the water to low heat (thanks to Blu's teachings). Then when the water almost filled just enough, Alex carried the girl again and slowly placed her in the warm water. "Ahhh." It woke her up better and she relaxed. "Thank you." She softly said.

"No problem. Are you feeling okay?"

"Not exactly. But this warm water you put me in is helping me greatly. It's kinda funny though, don't you think?"

"What is?"

"I'm a snow owl who doesn't always like being in the snow." The moment she said snow owl, it made Alex freeze thinking about something involving the bird.

"You're a snow owl? And hang on; what exactly happened to you out there?"

"Hmm? Oh I was told by my friends that they would be coming to visit here for Christmas. So I went to the roof of their house and waited for him. But now I can see that that wasn't a smart thing to do since no animal's safe if she's exposed in a weather like this."

"I'm sorry about that. And-wait, wait. You said that friends of yours told you they were coming here to visit?"

"Yeah. Now here's my question; who the heck are you? I feel like I've seen you before but I can't properly remember."

"Iv-(gulp)...my name is Alex. And I'm friends with your friends. Blu and Jewel...Ivory."

"Alex? Oh my gosh." She stood up from the water and stared at Alex. She remembered that the last times Blu and Jewel visited her, they told her about the friends they've made in the amazon and Rio. They even showed her photos of them, and Alex was in some of them. Ever since Ivory saw those photos of him she felt like she's never seen a bird more charming than him, and secretly began to have a crush on him, and seeing that she was meeting him for the first time, felt amazing. Alex felt just the same way. Meeting the lovely snow owl that Blu and Jewel described as beautiful and compassionate. So they just continued staring at each other until Ivory finally cleared throat with blushes.

"Wow. Alex, it's so great to finally meet you. Blu and Jewel have told me a lot about you."

"(chuckling and blushing)...I'll bet they have. And they've done the same with me. Talking about you to me, I mean. And I-I-It's actually nice to finally meet you too." He took out his wing for Ivory to shake and she took it with a nervous smile.

"Thanks. You know, they never told me they were bringing you here. And if I had known I would've made a much more appealing first impression." She said that with embarrassment and felt her face feeling more warm. Alex blushed more and ignored it. "No, no, it's fine. No matter how things look I'm always happy to meet new friends." "Thanks." "Now just wait here, I'm gonna find you something to dry off with."

He flew away before Ivory could answer back. She felt her feathers freezing up again while thinking about what just happened. Alex was in the house and she was in the house. It felt like a mighty collision of different characters in a story. And she felt like it might be a love story. The feeling was mutual for Alex, and the only problem was that they both weren't aware of each other's feelings.

Ivory told herself, "Wow…Blu said he was nice but suddenly this feels like something else." Then Alex came back with a small towel. "Here you go, Ivory." "Thanks, Alex." She took it and quickly dried herself off. She also made a secret smile for how much of a gentlebird Alex was being.

After drying off, Ivory suggested, "Hey Alex, if you're not too tired right now, do you wanna try something?"

"Sure."

She smiled and she and Alex flew from the kitchen and into the living room's desk where Alex saw a big tree. "Whoa. I didn't know humans allow trees in their homes." He said. Ivory laughed a little. "They don't. This tree is fake. You see, before Blu and the others would come here, I would sometimes see Linda's parents come here and set this thing up. It's called a Christmas tree, and watch what it can do." She flew to an outlet on the wall, where she plugged the tree in. From there, the entire thing just lit up with lights, colors, and more beautiful decorations, and even pictures of the family on it.

It was a masterpiece. It was the El Dorado to Alex's Tulio and Miguel (Road to El Dorado reference, by the way). "Woah. It's…I…huh…"

"You're speechless, huh?"

"Yeah. No way do we have anything like this in the jungle."

Ivory flew back back to where he was and said, "Well, just stick with me a little longer and you'll see the benefit of what humans can do. And…uh oh." She looked up and saw something shocking.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked before looking up and saw it. It was a small green plant being hanged on the ceiling with a red ribbon. It was a mistletoe, but it was something new to Alex. "What is that?"

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Let's just go somewhere else." Ivory's cheeks were really turning red.

"Hey. (Chuckling)…Come on, Ivory. I can telling you're hiding something. Just tell me what it is."

Ivory couldn't see a way past the situation so she just gave in. "Okay fine. That right there is what people call a mistletoe. It's another Christmas decoration but it's also something else special."

"How so?"

"It's the tradition to it. You see…when two people, or even two animals, are under it, they…have to…(gulp)…kiss." She felt like she was about to die but stood her ground with even brighter red cheeks, and Alex's cheeks became more red than his own feathers. He gulped too, and they both just stood there feeling embarrassed. So Alex backed up a little, saying, "You know, Ivory. I understand if this moment right now feels too embarrassing, so if you don't want to, then we don't have to…maybe…you know…follow this tradi-"

Before he could answer, Ivory launched onto him and gave him a great passionate kiss. She couldn't control herself and Alex felt like he made a total fool of himself. But after a moment, he started to enjoy the taste of having Ivory's beak pressing to his. So he gave in. He kissed her back and they continued. They had their first passionate on their first meeting, while under the mistletoe. So as it went on, they put their wings around each other and they became so lost that Alex fell back while they were still holding each other.

After that, they still continued kissing. And very soon after, they released to breathe the air more. And they began to chuckle while staring into each other's eyes. Their feelings for each other began to grow more and both wondered if that kiss actually meant these three words…I love you.

Alright! Alex and Ivory is now just beginning. And to Alex, I hope you liked it and that you're okay with how that last part kinda referenced your story "A Christmas Date."

Either way, everyone enjoy and have a good time with this new school year that has officially started. BTW, sorry for not including Fernando. he could've been slipped from my mind for awhile but he could still be in Rio trying to help with some things, and might be living with Tulio's relatives until the family would go back.

And one more thing, Alex…you once told me that you'd like it if Andrew Francis did the voice of your OC. So how would you and Alpha feel if Britt McKillip (the voice of Cadence) did Ivory's?