Their next meeting.

Tobias was flying. He wasn't going anywhere, he had no where to go. He wasn't hungry, having already made a good meal of an elderly mole, no, he was flying for the pure joy of it; it was irresistible on a day like this. The river shimmered beneath him. Though it was hard to fly over water because of the lack of thermals, and although he was still a little scared of actually being in water, he had found he loved flying over this river. When he got high enough it was like a beautiful ribbon, wild and free, separating the grueling city he still wasn't really used to. He missed flying free over the mountains and forests and dry lands of California. He missed his friends. But, whatever, better not to think about them. He still had his wings. He tilted them downwards into a slow decent, spiraling softly down into Central Park. He liked it here. There was great hunting in it, and it was almost big enough for him to forget completely the city around it. And he had to admit, the human in him didn't mind the attention he got. One good thing to say about this city, they had a great appreciation for wild things. That was one reason he didn't come here too often, actually, there was another hawk, a red-tail, a famous one, who controlled this territory. He was quite beloved, apparently his name was Pale Male and he'd been here for years, he'd learned from the newspapers. Even if Tobias thought he could win in a territorial battle against him, he certainly wouldn't be liked by the public f he scared away their hawk. Not that he would. He didn't like messing with real hawks. He knew perfectly well he had nothing on a pure hawk in a hawk fight, no matter how much human intellect he might have.

He perched on a tree, overlooking Sheep Valley. There was a large stage set up at the end of the field, which was peppered with families on blankets, laughing and picnicking. He watches them, wondering what was going on. He hopped into the air, opening his wings and soaring low over them, noticing, with a start, Jordan. He was lying on a blanket near the front of the clearing. Tobias circled over him in a wide arc, pondering. Tobias had spent hours going over their conversation in his head. It had perplexed him immensely. He knew it was unusual to obsess over it, but hey, it was his only human contact for years and years. He'd decided he'd been much too hard on the guy, he supposed he was just trying to talk to him…making a decision, he flew off, out of the meadow, before landing behind a small building to morph.

Jordan lay on his stomach on a blanket covering the grass. The sun beamed down on his, its head seeping into his black jeans. His ferret lay beside him, a red collar and leash extending from his neck, the other end secured under a coke can. He lay on his back, fast asleep, furry belly exposed to the sun. Jordan watched his Elliot and smiled. He was in Central Park, waiting. There was a concert tonight, one of the free classical music things the city had sometimes in the summer. It was going to start pretty soon, when the sun set, but Jordan had been there for hours. You had to get there early if you wanted a good seat, and Jordan liked being right up front. He loved being out in the park, so it didn't bother him, and Elliot loved it too. When they had first arrived in New York, they had spent their first night in this very meadow, listening to Bach, and Beethoven.

"Can I join you?"

Jordan rolled over, propping himself up on an elbow and looking up. Tobias. Oh, man. He could feel his face trying to blush and grin at the same time. "Sure!" He scrabbled, scooting over to make room for Tobias, grabbing Elliot up with a protesting yawn. Tobias sat down, curling his legs under him. A morphing suit, Jordan told himself. He must have just been flying over, and saw me.

"What's that?" Tobias asked, cocking his head toward Elliot.

Jordan held him out for Tobias to pet, which he did tentatively. "He's a ferret! He's my buddy, my Elliot."
"Cute. I wouldn't even try for any prey that big. Looks tasty though." Jordan looked shocked, pulling Elliot back slightly, but Tobias laughed. "I'm kidding! I didn't even notice him when I was flying over; he's no prey of mine. He's a very cute little guy. Hey, what is this anyway? So many people."

Jordan nestled Elliot against his chest, relaxing back in the now twilight, his head drifting off of the blanket so that the green grass mingled with his long black hair. "It's a concert in the park. Classical music. I come whenever they have them, I love it. Haven't you noticed them before? They happen a couple times every summer."

Tobias shook his head, a human habit he retained ever now as he could use it as a hawk, even if it did look a bit strange. "I don't leave Jersey too much. But it was such a gorgeous day today that I wanted to come to the park,"

"Well, you are welcome to stay if you like," Jordan told him, hoping he was able to keep the slight pleading note out of his voice. "I know I wasn't so sane with you before, but I promise…"

Tobias cut him off with a wave of his hand. "No, don't worry about it. It was mostly my fault. I really am not used to being around people. I hadn't spoken to anyone before that for years, you know." Tobias eased back so that he too lay on the blanket, beside Jordan. "I haven't spoken to anyone since I left California. Why are you so interested in me, anyway? I'm really the least interesting of us Animorphs, you know. I thought everyone must have given up on me after those crazy reporters finished stomping my meadow to dust looking for me. Everyone seemed to have centered in on Marco. How many books does he have now, six?"

"Seven. But, I know this is going to sound really weird, I always felt the most drawn to you. You were an orphan for most of your life, you longed to fly… my parents were Yeerks, you know. They almost made me one, but… I ran away. I've been living on my own since then. 'Sept for my buddy Elliot here, of course. And, well… I've always wanted to fly. I'm sure it's amazing…"

Tobias opened his mouth to speak, but as that moment the orchestra struck up, and for a long time there were no more words from either of them.

Mozart played. It was dark, and the stars blazed down through the smog of the city.

"It's been almost two hours…" Tobias whispered into Jordan's ear. He'd fallen asleep sometime, his head somehow finding its way into Tobias's lap. Tobias his been listening to the music, but mostly he'd been watching Jordan. He hadn't noticed it before, really, but he was he was very handsome. His black hair pooled about his shoulders like moon-infested night, and his green eyes shone, Tobias thought. He did feel a bit strange though, lying here amongst so many people with the head of a very pretty near-stranger in his lap… "Hey! Jordan! I have to go!" He whispered again.

This time Jordan stirred, looking up at Tobias with those shining eyes. "Huh…? Oh! It's late. You need to…" he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Demorph?" Tobias nodded. He edged off the blanket, careful not to squish Elliot who still slept soundly, and stood up, preparing to walk away. As he turned, a hand caught his arm gently, and he turned back to Jordan "I want to see you again." He told him, even in the dark the pink tinge of a blush evident on his cheeks. He shoved a piece of paper into Tobias's hand, and with that sat back down, his back to Tobias, his face to the stage where music still played.

Tobias walked away, swiftly demorphing and soaring back, over the water, to his make-shift meadow. It wasn't until he was back in his roost that he looked at the paper, which he had held tightly crumpled in his talon as he flew. A phone number. Smiling internally, he quickly memorized it, then let the paper drift gently down to the ground, and went to sleep. It had been a good day.

Jordan sat on the subway, clutching his ferret to his chest and grinning widely. It was the middle of the night, and the only ones sharing the car with him were a pair of Andalites thoughtspeaking excitedly to one another. He didn't live in a wonderful neighborhood, but the Andalites, of course, had nothing to fear, and Jordan was far to elated to.

The world was very much a changed place. Everything, even the subway car he was sitting in, had been adapted for Andalite use. There were still seats for humans, but a good half of the car was now open space with hoof holds, for Andalite hands were far too weak to make use of the poles. Not that the Andalites had by any means taken over the world, no, they were just frequent visitors, and quite a few lived here now, although many more out in the west, and in other, less urban areas. There were farms all over to grow Andalite grass. There were even some Yeerks still living on earth. After they had been defeated, the vast number of those still on earth had died in their hosts, but the members of the Peace Movement had been allowed to live, in willing hosts of course. A teacher from the Animorph's old school was in charge of that, Jordan thought, a Mr. Tibbler, Tidwell, something like that. It was a huge stigma to be infested, though, even a peaceful one, so it wasn't talked about much. Each carrier was given a portable kandrona, so there was no need for any Yeerk pools. Jordan knew that those Yeerks were good, and that they should, of course, not be killed, but still… he would never have a yeerk in him. He hated them deeply, for good reason. But Jordan wasn't thinking about any of that at the moment. He was too happy. He had never really thought he'd meet Tobias, let alone have an, almost, sort of date with him. Jordan had known he was gay since he was, like, 12. It wasn't a big thing to him; really, it wasn't such a big thing in the world anymore. It was hard to dislike fellow humans when you had blue deer and big slugs walking around on the streets. Even if there were a few nutcases sometimes, there always would be. He had always been gay, and he had idolized Tobias, as he had so embarrassingly almost told him. But still, he had never really thought that Tobias might be… might…But he was in love with Rachel, Jordan told himself, stomach sinking. Even if he was, I don't know, bi or something, could he even ever be with anyone else? He couldn't think of anything more horrendous that losing someone like that. Tobias was… a deeply hurt guy. Better to tread carefully. But Tobias will call me, Jordan decided, his smile creeping back onto his face. I can feel it, he will. I know he enjoyed today like I did. He clicked open his apartment door and went inside, clicking the bolt back into place behind them. Yes, it had been a good day.