Notes & Disclaimers:

• Rio is Blue Sky Studios IP.

(Please leave a comment and enjoy!)

Chapter Twelve: The Feeling of Love and Freedom

Moments after Rafi and Eva appeared and disturbed Blu and Jewel...they stood up, looking away from each other, pretending nothing happened, despite them still blushing. The two toucans just laughed, and Blu changed the subject. "Uh...hello again. Rafael, right?"

"Yeah, and I see you're having a good time." Rafael laughed, and Eva with him. Blu and Jewel felt mondo embarrassed, but then Jewel turned her back in annoyance, and placed her wing around Blu, gesturing him to just ignore them, and he did the same.

"Oh lighten up, amigos." Rafi said, and the two just walked away ignoring them. "Are they always like this?"

"They'll get over it. But in the meantime, what do you wanna do now?" Eva held his wings, and Rafael felt heat going up since his first crush was standing close to him. But Rafi had any idea. "How do you feel about tag again?"

"I love it, which means...tag your it!" Eva got him, and it was Rafael's turn to start catching her. So they played away while Blu and Jewel were finally at a spot where they could have some privacy. Then when they watched the toucans together, they just chuckled.

"What were they teasing us for?" Blu rhetorically asked. Jewel agreed since she knew what he was talking about, and sat down still watching them.

So for the rest of the day, the four birds eventually stopped teasing each other, and enjoyed their time playing, and soon Linda and Tulio came in to check on Blu and Jewel but noticed Rafael.

"Hey little buddy, what are you doing out? Come on." Tulio was about to gently pick him up since he still had his wound (which made others wonder why he could still fly), but Eva got in front of Rafael. Linda noticed and smiled, "Aw, I think we got another pair of lovebirds." Hearing that made Rafi and Eva know how Blu and Jewel felt when they were teased. To which they chuckled. Rafael and Eva both had feelings for each other, but they knew that even though the rules worked differently, they couldn't reveal it on the day they first met.

"Cute. Tulio, is there something wrong with letting him stay in here, just for the day?" Linda asked.

"Oh I don't know, my dad might not-" Tulio was unsure until Linda took his hand and begged, and from that Tulio seemed nervous, giving the four birds the chance to chuckle and see what was going on. "W-Well, maybe this once."

"Great, and…oh. Guys, I have some bad news. For you and the birds."

"What's wrong?"

"Today...is the last day of my field trip. So tonight I'm going back home to Minnesota."

"Oh."

Blu and Jewel were indeed shocked. Aside from Tulio and his dad, Linda was the nicest human the two have met, and were sad to hear that she was leaving. Blu walked up, and cuddled his head to Linda's knee (since she and Tulio always knelt when they interacted with the birds). She felt touched seeing that Blu was going to miss her, and soon Jewel did the same thing. "Aw, I'm gonna miss you guys too." She stroked their heads to their enjoyment. "And that's why I wanna make this day as fun as I can with you guys." They all agreed, and enjoyed their day together.

Eva and Rafi played tag with Linda and Tulio, which was mostly enjoyed by the toucans since they had the advantage of flying.

Blu played Tic-Tac-Toe with Tulio in the room's sand.

Blu and Jewel played a tickle challenge with Linda and Tulio, and Jewel won.

It was all nothing but fun for the six lovable characters. Later, Tulio thought it would be best to return Rafael to his cage.

"Are you sure?" Linda asked. Tulio nodded, and Eva said one last thing, "It was great meeting you, Rafi."

"You too. I hope to see you all again." Then Tulio picked him up and exited the artificial jungle with Linda, and Eva thought, "Ooh, I hope so too, you little juicy papaya." She then turned to see Jewel smiling at her. "What?"

"That's cute you know. Seeing you and 'Rafi' together. I hope this'll make you stop teasing me and Blu." Jewel said, and Eva protested, "What? Oh no, come on, we just met, and you think I have a crush on him? I mean sure he's nice, and...very encouraging, and very strong, and handsome, and...so what?"

"I rest my case."

Linda headed for another room to relax, and Tulio soon brought Rafael to his cage, standing next to it with a sigh of grief. Rafael noticed his disappointed look, and signaled, "What's wrong, pal?" Tulio thought he was just trying to play, and smiled as he said, "Hmm. I wonder how you animals are so lucky. Always getting to the girl you want, and to think I've only known this girl for a week and already I...like her."

Rafael smiled hearing that, and what the two didn't know was that Linda was around the corner, and she heard Tulio's words. Hearing him made her blush since she never heard a boy fall for her before. Tulio was the first (human) friend she made in Rio, and hearing what he said about her just made her wish she could stay longer. But knew she didn't have a choice…yet.

So eventually, Eva left (by teasing her friends again to their funny annoyance) back to her parents safely, and then Blu and Jewel were back to their time. Playing, relaxing, and having the fun they could have in the room.

While they were still enjoying each other's company, Jewel decided to bring up something.

"Hey Blu?"

"Yeah Jewel?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Absolutely...but not as much as I love you."

She giggled red over that. "I'm glad. You know, the night when we first met, was really the greatest of my life. We instantly fell in love with each other, we danced, and talked about each other's past. The time I lost my family and friends, I never let myself hope if they're alive, but..." She looked to Blu's face. "...Thanks to you, I have hope, I know how to survive, I have fun, I have a new family and a great friend to call sister, and I-I...have you to love. Thank you so much." She cried tears of joy, and cuddled her face to Blu's.

"Aw Jewel, come on." Blu said, embracing her. "No thank you's are necessary. You don't owe me anything but your love. That night when you told me so much of what you went through, made me feel sorry and made me wanna make you happy as much as I can. I was grateful to have met you, and to have spent the greatest year of my life since I lost my parents. I love you, Jewel, and I am more than completely grateful when I'm with you."

Every time Jewel heard her boyfriend speaking so passionately, she felt blessed knowing that everyday she got to hear so much music like that coming to her ears. So she lifted her head, wiped her eyes, and smiled seductively at him. "So you think I can't really repay you, huh?"

"Yeah? Nothing more than your love."

"In that case…" She brought her wings to his cheeks, beginning to feel the heat from his blushes, and then brought her beak to every part of his face, trying to kiss him repeatedly. Blu was about to move but couldn't since his girlfriend's kisses felt good, and then he did the same thing to her. And for the rest of the day, they have been enjoying each other's company more and more.

Tulio noticed the whole thing from the watch room, and smiled. "I wish me and Linda were birds like you two." From there, an idea came to him and he went through it with his dad, and eventually Blu and Jewel, and they all liked it.

Six hours later…

Linda, Mrs. Swift, and all the classmates that came for the field trip were at the airport. They were all in line for the seats near the gate, and Linda just sat in grief thinking how good it would have been to stay. So she thought, "Goodbye guys. I'll miss you, and Tulio...I hope you can take care of the two for me." Just then, she heard her name, "Linda! Linda! Linda!" She turned and saw Tulio and his dad running to her with a cage. "Tulio, guys, what are you doing here?" She smiled, and Tulio explained, "We came here to give you a proper goodbye."

She was confused until she bent down and saw that Blu and Jewel were in the cage. "Aw, hey guys. You guys really came all the way here for me?"

"Absolutely."

She felt touched and asked her teacher, "Mrs. Swift, since we're not gonna leave for another hour, can I walk around with my friends here?"

Mrs. Swift looked, and trusted Dr.M to look after them, so it was alright with her, and the five of them were off to walk around the airport.

Through the walk they had a fun chat, talking about what to do later, and remembered all the fun they had with the birds. Even though they didn't know that Blu and Jewel were pretty weirded out with their surroundings the whole time.

Jewel, "Where are we, Blu?"

"Through my time learning from humans, I think they called this a place...an airport. A place where people get to ride on these flying machines called planes, and they use them to go to far off places."

"Wow. Blu, is there anything that you don't know?"

Linda and Tulio were watching them chirping to each other and suggested it might be time to eat and settle down before it was time to go. So they did, and spoke as they were eating. The problem was where they were sitting, which was a dining table, near the edge of the stairs to the floor level below. "So what are you gonna do when you get back?" Tulio asked.

"I don't know. Probably just do what I normally do, go to school, work. My usual things." Linda sighed.

"Well, I hope you have a good time."

"You too. Also, you and your dad will take care of the birds for me, will you?"

"Of course. But hey, we've never even established what to name them."

"Good point, but how about we don't name them? Since we know the boy can write, I think he's smart enough to name himself."

Tulio thought that could work, so he gently opened the cage, and gave Blu a pencil and a piece of paper. Blu heard them and began to write.

My name is Blu, and my girlfriend's name is Jewel. He wrote, and secretly Jewel smiled, feeling embarrassed at what Blu said while writing, and thought, "Yeah just tell the whole world that we're a couple while you're at it."

Linda and Tulio got the note, and were still blown away that Blu could write, and Linda said, "Aw, how cute. If I named you the night I found you guys, I would've named you Blu as well. As for you," She stroked Jewel's head. "You certainly seem like a Jewel to this handsome treasure hunter, don't you?" Jewel liked the compliment and decided to embarrass Blu more by hugging him and making Linda and Tulio chuckle. So the four just enjoyed themselves as Dr.M was sitting by another table, seeing them having a great time. But it didn't last.

As the four continued eating, Tulio decided to bring up his feelings. "Hey Linda?"

"Yeah?" She noticed him looking nervous and felt excited since she knew what he was about to say.

"Since you're leaving soon, I thought it would be best if I told you something important."

"Okay." She took his hands, accidentally making him feel more nervous. Blu and Jewel smiled as they knew what was happening. "Linda, I..." He looked into her eyes. "I have a cru-"

"LOOK OUT!" The four turned and noticed a runaway roller filled with heavy suitcases coming straight towards them. Linda and Tulio moved out of the way, and Blu dragged himself and Jewel into the cage that was on the table, hoping they would be safe. The roller came up, and hit the table, pushing the cage over, Blu held onto Jewel tightly, and the cage was about to plummet to the floor level below. Until Tulio ran and grabbed the end of the cage before it could fall. Doing that Blu and Jewel fell, but Blu held onto the door of the cage and failed trying to reach Jewel, who officially fell with nothing to hold onto.

The floor below was 25ft away, and Jewel was about to head there. "NO!" Blu squawked, fearing that his girlfriend was going to get severely hurt or worse from falling that deep. Jewel saw the floor getting closer and closer to her, but however, she wasn't scared because the only thing that came to her mind was everything that Blu taught her, and from that, she closed her eyes, and felt the world moving slowly. Then...she opened her wings wide, and she flew!

Tulio brought the cage up, and was happy to see that Blu was alright, and everyone was mesmerized to see Jewel flying, especially Blu. All she could feel was the excitement and the fact that her love for Blu was the reason why she started flying for the first time ever. She then stopped soaring and saw Linda, Tulio, Dr.M smiling at her, but Blu had a different impression. She thought it was because he was afraid that she could've gotten hurt, so she flew to him, dragging herself and him into the cage, then she brought him to the floor and kissed him just like from the morning.

Blu was grateful to see that she was alright and that she wasn't mad at him for failing to catch her, but after seeing that dramatic moment, he wanted to bring up something for the sake of his girlfriend. Before choosing to save it for later as he kissed Jewel back. "She flew. We actually saw her fly for the first time." Linda said. "Yeah!" The three humans were excited and glad that the lovebirds were safe. Later, they walked back to the gate since it was almost time, and were ready to say goodbye.

Dr. Monteiro said, "It was great meeting you, my dear."

Linda, "It was great meeting you too, Dr.M."

Tulio, "Will we ever see you again?"

"Maybe, you remember what to do for me when you release Blu and Jewel, right Tulio?"

"Yep. We email you and your teacher. Goodbye Linda."

"Goodbye Tulio."

She then hugged him, and after he hugged her back, she whispered to him, "And by the way, I kind of have a crush on you too. Bye." Tulio was shocked, but after Blu and Jewel gave their goodbyes to Linda as well, they smiled as they thought of the possibilities of "TxL." They all said goodbye, and stood as they watched Linda go off in the plane. Tulio hoped to see her again one day, as did Blu and Jewel.

From there, the four were on a ride back to the aviary and home.

"I'm gonna miss her." Said Jewel as she and Blu were sitting down together in the cage.

"Me too. Um...Jewel?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to do? You know…when we're ready to leave the aviary?"

"Oh I don't know. I know that I'll be going back to Eva's, you'll be back at your nest again. But since we're boyfriend and girlfriend we could do more than last year." She moved her cheek to cuddle with Blu's, and continued speaking. "And the best part is that soon I'll be ready to leave the nest and I can move close to you if you want. It'll be just you and me. Waking up every morning watching the sunrise and sunset. We'll hug each other every night, kiss every day, eat together, play, dance at Nico and Pedro's, and we can enjoy the rest of our lives together. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I would never agree with anything else more than that." He said seriously to her. After that, Jewel fell asleep near him, and they still weren't at the aviary yet. So Blu said to himself, "Jewel, you are an amazing girl, and ever since I lost my parents, I thought I would have to live and survive alone...until I met you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but after what happened tonight, maybe...you're just not safe when you're around me."

More Notes and Disclaimers:

• "floor level below": I don't know what else to call it except for maybe a balcony of some sorts.

• "opened the cage": Since the two have taken care of Blu and Jewel for the week, they knew that they wouldn't escape.

• "email": Again, this is still 1996, and I don't know how adequate or common those things were back then.

What do you think? I'm sorry if it took too long, and if it was a little repetitive, but I hope it's good so far. Oh, and about the last part, don't worry, yes there'll be some drama in the rest of this story but it won't end with Blu and Jewel being apart from each other. I'm the kind of fan who hates seeing break-ups.

Also, I know in the last chapter I said Blu and Jewel would be released, so I'm sorry that I didn't put that there. But in the next chapter, it will happen. And I still hope this and my future stories will go on amazingly. And let me know if I've made any mistakes here.