Hi everyone!

So, I have finally finished the piece that started this whole descent into the MD fandom, One and Only, it mostly deals with Wildwing and my OC Ella, but it was where I accidently placed my OC Roxie, who seemed to take over everything.

Here is more of her tumultuous relationship with Duke. Please remember this is an M rated story and there is a reason for that!

TFG

And I'll be waking up, feeling satisfied but guilty as hell.

Since her last failed date with another student from her cohort, Roxie decided to take a break from the dating scene for a little while. This way she could work through her confusing feelings and sexual desires without having any further complications.

It also didn't help that Henry had told everyone in their department what a cock-tease she was. Most of the other students and some of the professors knew of her alter-ego as Rainbow Bright, burlesque aerial dancer. But as other students also moonlighted as various types of dancers to make ends meet, no one really said anything negative about it. It was when they added the burlesque dancing to the tales of her being a cock-tease that she begun to have a problem with the other male students in her cohort.

"So, how many cases blue-balls syndrome do you think you could cause in one cohort, huh Rainbow?" asked one of her colleagues as Roxie left a symposium about dark matter principles.

"A lot more than you could," Roxie replied with a smile, causing several other students around her to giggle.

"You know, I think I know what the problem was. I think Moore here prefers duck sauce to anything else," the same male colleague said snippily after everyone had stopped giggling. This caused several intakes of breath due to the scandalous nature of the statement.

"Oh come off it, that is just some tabloid trash, no one actually believes that!" a female colleague replied instantly with a scoff that could have resounded around the emptying lecture theatre.

Since Roxie had started her friendship with Nosedive almost two years ago, there was not a week that went by that a tabloid didn't run a story about her with him. There would be photos of them surfing together, having dinner together, going to movies together, and when Nosedive had decided to take part in a celebrity dance competition for charity, there were several photos of them dancing together. It didn't help that during that time she had been wearing her practice clothes with the poor drake had sweated through his own clothes so was often without a shirt.

Every few weeks, someone would get up the courage to ask her about the photos and the accompanying story. Phil had been very adamant about them telling the truth about hers and Nosedive's relationship as it would be a public relations nightmare for the team. The portly manager would have at least a monthly argument with Wildwing about it.

And, she would often get phone calls from a member of her family lecturing her about how she was a disgrace to her family. That she was bringing shame to everyone if she and Nosedive were carrying on together. That she would never find anyone to marry her and that her parents couldn't go to mass without someone making a snide comment.

During these phone calls, Roxie found it was best to let whoever was talking rant and rave at her without interruption and just carry on with what she had been doing. She would often put these calls on speaker phone so that she could listen for when they were done. Then, when they had run out of steam, she would defend herself or tell her family member that she would go to confession that weekend and take whatever admonishment that was required of her. As a result Tanya often got to overhear these phone calls.

"Your mother is quite jud-judge-judgmental," Tanya stuttered out after a three hour rant from Mrs. Moore.

"She's catholic. That's a requirement of the religion," Roxie answered from where she was sitting. She had not even looked up, concentrating on the delicate soldering work she was doing on a circuit board that was unlike anything she had ever worked on before.

"Let's hope no one manages to publish a photo of you and Duke together," Tanya said from her place across from Roxie where she was also soldering the same type of circuit board.

Now that caused Roxie to look up and stare at her companion, who stared right back. As far as Roxie knew the only Ducks that knew about her and Duke's whatever were Wildwing and Grin because they had walked in on them. And, possibly Mallory. She had assumed that those three would be discreet and not gossip about it, certainly not to Tanya who didn't really care for gossip.

"I don't know what you mean," Roxie replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as she possibly could despite the mild heart attack she was having.

"Okay, if that's the way you want to pl-pl-play it, so be it. Just, try not to not do anything in my lab," Tanya said with a sigh, going back to her soldering.

It was becoming a nightmare to Roxie, one that she didn't seem to be able to escape. More people seemed to know about what she was doing with Duke. And the more people knew the more dangerous it became for her.

She was always able to deny the rumours about her and Nosedive, as they just weren't true, they were only friends. And luckily no one put her and Duke together, even though they had been snapped going in and out of the theatre or the ballet together. It seemed their age difference was enough for people to think they were just friends.

If her family or friends really did ask her about her relationship with duke, she would have no idea how to answer. She was currently just denying everything, even though the people who asked her about her and Duke obviously knew there was something going on.

Roxie couldn't think what she would say if Nosedive asked her. She couldn't lie to him anymore, and all the lies by omission were weighing her down. She had even gone back to church recently to have confessional. This was the only way she could think of talking out her problem with someone who couldn't possibly tell anyone else.

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," Roxie began, crossing herself as she knelt in the darkened confessional box once more that month, "My last confession was two weeks ago."

The hidden priest accepted her, and began his passage. He then asked Roxie for her sin, which made her take a deep breath. She always had trouble verbalising what she had done.

"Forgive me Father, for I have committed the sin of lust. Again. So many times. And, it was with someone who I shouldn't have."

"It is not, um, with a child is it?" the Priest asked, his discomforting and nervousness evident through the grate.

"No Father, but, it's just as wrong. This person, well, they aren't like others. They are, not from here."

"My Child, love is love. Yes, God would prefer you to be married before you lay with someone, but He doesn't not care about differences in race or nationality. And neither should you."

"That's not it, Father. He is not from this planet. I know it sounds crazy, but he isn't even human. And yet, I found myself in his bed more times than I can now count. I tried to be with another man, another human man, and that felt wrong. Like I was cheating on him or something. And I keep on lying about it, to my best friend. I don't seem to be able to stop, Father. I am lost."

All the Hail Mary's and Our Father's couldn't help her though. She was still committing an egregious sin that she seemed unable to stop. If anyone outside of those who knew found out, they would think she was sick and depraved.

But, every time she was held in Duke's arms, she just felt right. She had never felt anything like that before and it utterly terrified her. As there was no way in the universe it could last. They were two entirely different species, and their relationship would be so taboo that it would most likely be criminalised if any law maker even considered it.

Plus, they could never have children. She couldn't have children either way, not since her accident. But there was no feasible way to get a child, though IVF, surrogacy, adoption, anything. And, how could you hope to ask someone if they could love you enough that you wouldn't be able to have children.

There was also the problem of what would happen if they ever managed to get a hold of Dragaunus's dimensional gateway. There was no way she could ask Duke to stay in a dimension that wasn't his. And there was no way she could leave Earth to be with him.

Any way she looked at it, an actual relationship was completely doomed to failure. So why couldn't she stop? She had many options, she could have any man she wanted. So why did she only seem to want Duke?

It was maddening. Roxie hated the situation and hated herself most days. The only reprieve she felt from the horrendous weight of her lies and depravity was when she was basking in the afterglow of what she did with Duke.

That was why, after confessing her sins and accepting her penance, she still found herself arse up and face down on Duke's bed, as he thrusted firmly and slowly into her. Her screams of pleasure were barely silenced by the pillows, as he slowly brought her to the third orgasm of the night.

He was holding her down firmly, as he slowly and firmly circled her clitoris. She could feel almost the entirety of his sweaty, feathery torso, as he moved against her. It sent her entire naked body to ecstasy.

As she toppled form the precipice, she could feel Duke speed up, obviously letting himself lose control. And it just helped to send her over more quickly. He so rarely lost control and it was a bigger turn on to know that what they did together caused the fastidious, meticulous drake to let everything go.

"Fuck, that, fuck," Duke muttered out as he finally came and collapsed on top of his lover. His beak lovingly stroking her hair as he caught his breath.

Roxie reached weakly up, and began to stroke the side of his beak with her fingers. She knew that stroking was what ducks did instead of kissing, and would often do that instead of trying.

"You keep doing that, Angel, then we're not going to get any sleep tonight," Duke muttered as he began to untangle himself from her naked body.

She didn't stop though, and they didn't have sex again. They both basked in the afterglow next to each other, in silence, before they feel into a contented sleep with each other.

-OMN-

It was an entirely normal practice, one that the Ducks had taken part in many times. They didn't have any of their new human players on the ice with them, or have their human coach, Ian Duncan trying to push them. It was only the six of them on the ice.

The only difference now from what it used to be was Roxie sitting in the players' box, running some sort of algorithm on her laptop. She would occasionally look up, or get up and adjust a small sensor on the side of the rink, but otherwise she worked rather quietly while the Ducks' played.

That was why when Roxie stood up and yelled as if she'd seen a ghost, all the assembled Ducks instantly stopped what they were doing. They only managed to glimpse their human friend darting across from the player's box and diving into the locker room.

"What in the woolly universe got her so spooked?" asked Wildwing from his place tending the goal.

"No idea," replied Duke, who was closest to Wildwing.

"Excuse me, sorry, this is, wow, I'm actually talking to aliens," came a new voice from the side of the rink. Looking over, the Ducks saw a young man, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties standing next to the boards.

He was quite a tall man, possibly about six and half foot. He had very thick brown hair and brown eyes. He also seemed quite muscular, not with bulging muscles, just broad and lean. He could be described as handsome, but the Ducks had a little trouble judging human men that way, but he was quite pleasing on the eyes. Almost as if he was the exact opposite of Phil, which was how some of the Ducks did judge male beauty on Earth.

"It's okay, we get that a lot. How can we help you?" Wildwing asked, always the example of politeness and interspecies cooperation.

"I'm looking for someone, um, Roxanne Moore. Her mother told that she was working as the equipment manager here," the young man answered a little uncertainly.

"Uh, she's here, but she's not the equipment manager. If you give me a minute I'll go and get her. How about you wait upstairs in the players' lounge. Our caterer should be serving up some food soon. Nosedive will show you up and get you situated. Can we get your name though?" Wildwing replied, gesturing upstairs and elbowing his brother to take the young man upstairs.

"Sure, it's Peter Maguire," the young man answered, at which Nosedive gave a slight yip before clamping his beak shut and looking guilty around.

"I take it, Red Light told you about me then?" the young man, Peter said with a pained smile.

"A little bit. I'll take you upstairs then I'll get Roxer-Roo, if she'll come back up," Nosedive said quietly, gesturing for the young man to follow him.

But Duke intercepted the plan, saying that he could take Peter upstairs while Nosedive got Roxie to come out from where ever she was hiding. And Peter accepted before anyone could protest or offer an alternative. The two heading off while Nosedive was left to summon all the courage he had to get Roxie and everyone else hit the locker room.

"Hey, Roxer-Roo," Nosedive said, once he had found his friend. She was hiding in the garage, pulling apart the engine of the migrator. Something that she often did when she was stressed.

"Did he leave?" Roxie asked hopefully.

With a small, sad shake of his head, Nosedive explained that Peter had gone upstairs with Duke and that he was waiting in the players' lounge. He braced himself for an onslaught of emotion, as there was no part of that sentence that would make Roxie feel any better about the situation.

The girl protested very loudly that there was no way that she could go upstairs now. She couldn't talk to that man, and she definitely didn't' want Duke talking to him. She then begged her friend to get him to leave.

"Listen, Roxer-Roo, I know you have, history, with this guy. And, that it's going to be difficult to speak to him, but this might be a good thing! You might finally be able to get closure on everything, move on and have a real relationship with someone else."

That was an interesting point that Roxie hadn't really considered. Her relationship with Peter had ended really badly when she was fifteen. And, as he was her first boyfriend it might have set up her pattern of doomed relationships.

Yet, it surely couldn't be that simple. Her first relationship was messed up so every other relationship afterwards were doomed to fail. She would have dismissed the common pop psychological approach to her love life, if there wasn't a lot of evidence supporting Nosedive's theory. Her current non-relationship relationship being a prime example. Not that he knew that though.

Taking a very deep, calming breath, Roxie nodded her head and put down the machine part she was working on. She looked down at what she was wearing and felt confident enough to face her ex-boyfriend. She didn't look amazing, but she looked good enough to talk to Peter.

-OMN-

Peter was sitting in the players' lounge with Duke, who was chatting to the young man in a very friendly tone. He had made him comfortable on one of the large couches and brought him over a coffee. Duke was still wearing most of his hockey gear, and seemed to have no inclination of leaving Peter alone to take it off.

"So, how do you know Roxanne?" Duke asked around his own cup of coffee. He held his cup up slightly to cheers Mark, their chef, who had taken on his comments about real coffee.

"Um, I was friends' with her eldest brother. So, I guess we grew up together," Peter answered vaguely, making Duke suspicious of the answer.

He didn't understand his initial reaction, the way his gut was churning or the way his heart was beating. But Duke was having a very strong reaction to the human sitting across from him. He had not had such a reaction before, he had after all, seen Roxie flirting with other men and other men flirting with her. He had seen men feel her up in clubs and on the dance floor at the big events they went, and brushed it off. He almost laughed along with Roxie at those men.

This however, obviously meant something. This man, who was sitting and shifting nervously under his gaze, this man meant something to her. She wouldn't have disappeared otherwise. And, she had never mentioned a word about him.

Not that she needed to, they had not actually discussed any of their previous relationships. As they were not in a real relationship, it was only meant to be sexual, casual. There was no reason to divulge their past love lives.

"Are you sure, seems that you might have been a little more?" Duke asked casually, determined to get to the bottom of what was going on.

"Well, we did used to date when she was a teenager," Peter admitted after sizing up the alien duck sitting across from him.

"'Teenager'? She's only twenty-one and she's been in California for a while. She must have been pretty young, and you must have been pretty old," Duke stated, also sizing up the man across from him and suddenly not liking what he was seeing. His inner righteous fury was obviously ignoring the sixteen-year age difference between himself and Roxie.

"Well, she was pretty young, and I was definitely too old to be dating her. When her dad found out, he, um, there was some problems."

From what Duke knew of Roxie's father 'problems' seemed to be a very deliberate understatement. Mr Moore, a captain of their local fire department and previously a major in the marines, ran his family like a unit in the military. That was why Roxie had so many problems with her family, she was a rainbow coloured, scientific sheep in a strict catholic, military family.

Duke's inquiries were stopped by the arrival of Roxie and Nosedive though, both of whom looked a little concerned with seeing Duke quizzing Peter. The two sitting on the couch stood up to greet the two newcomers, and Nosedive told Roxie that he and Duke would be sitting on the other side of the room, in case she needed them.

The younger drake didn't give his team mate time to argue, as he grabbed hold of Duke's arm and dragged him away. He then pushed Duke down onto a couch on the furthest side of the longue and glared at Duke, as if daring him to challenge him.

Duke though, did not challenge Nosedive. He sat in silence and tried to figure out why he was having such a reaction to the man that was there to see Roxie. Over the last few months Duke had realised that he had started to feel more for Roxie than he should have. Yes, he was very strangely attracted to the human girl and had developed quite a strong friendship with her. But now, he was starting to miss her when she wasn't there, he was starting to live for her laughter and wanted to be there for her when she was upset.

Over the years that he had been trapped on Earth, Duke had done a lot of introspection. He had come to realise that he really didn't care about anyone other than himself, at least when he was on Puckworld. He had climbed over and cut down anyone who had got in his way or wronged him. He had destroyed his sisters' life and when she had built it back up by her own bootstraps, he had come once again to destroy it.

He had come to realise that being trapped in another dimension was his punishment for what he had once been. He had hoped that he could prove himself enough to show that he had changed, and that when, or if, he finally got back to Puckworld he would be able to make amends with his sister.

So, becoming involved with Roxie was something he was not expecting. Possibly falling in love with Roxie when he thought he might be incapable of feeling such things was something that didn't even seem plausible. But, falling in love with Roxie could be the only reason why he was suddenly feeling as murderous as he was. Especially when Peter tried to pull his girl in for a hug.

It took a lot not to launch himself across the room and run the human through with his sabre. That would take a lot of explaining though, not only to law enforcement but to everyone else. He would need to explain what Roxie was actually beginning to mean to him, and he doubted he could verbalise it at that moment. Instead, he merely sat and listened intently, trying to hear everything from across the room.

"So, Pettie, it's, well it's been a long time," Roxie said after a very awkward hug. They had not seen each other for almost seven years, not since the accident that had caused everything to unravel with Roxie's relationship with her family.

"Yeah, it has been, why don't we sit down and talk," Peter said with a small smile. He still had on his jacket, as the Pond was always kept slightly colder than was necessary.

"Sure, how about you sit down and take off your jacket, look like you're gonna be here a little while, and I'll get us some more coffee, that is actually drinkable," Roxie said gesturing to the two espresso cups on the table.

While Roxie turned her back and went to get two cups of milky, sugary coffee, Peter took off his jacket and put it down. When she turned back around she gasped in shock and dropped the two cups of coffee all over the floor. This caused every male in the room to come round and help her clean up, while trying to figure out why she had suddenly freaked out again.

"Sorry, shit, I, um, fuck, oh fuck, I shouldn't have said fuck, sorry, um, when, when did this happen?" Roxie asked Peter, gesturing at her neck in absolute horror.

Both drakes were incredibly confused by this gesture. They looked over to see that Peter was wearing a shirt with a stark white collar close to his neck. They didn't understand what the problem with the neck was. Was it something to do with Roxie's neck or with Peter's neck?

"Um, a couple of years back," Peter said with a small shrug and accepting the replacement coffees from Mark, who was trying to make himself as scarce as possible.

When the chef handed over the coffees, he also called Peter 'Father', which didn't help with the drake's confusion. This whole situation was making no sense to either of them, and they were silently asking each other what was going on. They were then grabbed by Mark, who pulled them back to the kitchen to quickly explain the problem that their friend had just been faced with.

"Okay, I know you guys only really have one religion on Puckworld and it's more of a culture rather than anything else. So, here on Earth there are many religions. One of which is Catholicism, which I worship as does your friend Roxie, though I do believe she is a lapse rather than a practising Catholic, but I could be wrong. Anyway, this is the worship of God, Jesus and Mary. And, it seems her ex, yes I know that he's here ex, it's completely obvious to anyone with eyes, and it seems her ex is now one of the religious leaders of this religion. Which is a really weird thing to happen, as Catholic priests don't marry or have relationships, they are essentially married to the church. So, she's gonna be a little freaked out by this," Mark explained, pulling out a cross that was hidden under his t-shirt.

The topic of religion had come up a few times over the years that the Ducks had been on Earth. Many journalists often asked about their religious leanings, and some people asked them if they would like to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and saviour. All of their human allies told them to try and stay away from the subject of religion, as it often caused intense fights.

They were surprised to find out that it had even caused wars on this planet, considering that most religions had the exact same principles. But Phil, Roxie, Johner and Mark, who they seemed to interact with the most, just told them to try not to think about it too hard. That it was silly, but belief was a very big topic that would cause a lot of trouble for them if they said anything negative.

Accepting the advice about something neither understood, both Duke and Nosedive accepted the plates of stew from Mark. The rest of the Ducks should be through soon to eat something after they finished their practice, which was why Mark was currently in the large kitchen. He was currently getting a new team together, to get ready for when there were another twelve mouths to feed after practice.

"So, um, do I have to call you Father now?" Roxie asked once she had sat down, she was perching on the edge of the couch, as she was very conscious of how she now looked to her ex-boyfriend.

"Not unless you want me to call you 'My Child'. Peter is fine, just Peter," Peter replied.

"Right, so when did this happen? Last I heard you joined the marines?"

"As a chaplain. I actually just got back from a tour in the Gulf. I was, you know, visiting a friend from seminary school who is out here, and I saw you leaving the church a few days ago."

"You didn't take my confession, did you?" Roxie asked, suddenly utterly terrified. She could not stand it if her ex-boyfriend had heard her confessing to interspecies hanky-panky.

"No, I didn't take anyone's confession. I was just there to visit a friend, though I might be placed at the base near here. And even if I did take confessions at your church, I would never speak about what was said in a confession."

Roxie nodded slowly and let out a deep breath. She knew this already, but the idea of Peter knowing more about her sordid life did not sit well. She had no idea is he still spoke to her brother or not, and she didn't want to put that idea next to the idea of her family finding out about what she was doing with Duke.

"I guess that makes sense, but I'm still confused as to why the dog collar and not just the machine gun? I mean, you never spoke about wanting to join the priesthood. I'm pretty sure things wouldn't have ended the way they did if you had," Roxie said, moving forward a little.

"It's because of the way things ended that I got my calling. After we lost the baby and the court case, well, I got into a bad place. I was drinking a lot, my family had disowned me, and I lost my place at college."

"I heard; you know I never wanted them to press charges."

"No, it was the right thing to do. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that. I knew you were having trouble at school and with your family, and you were looking to act out."

"I knew exactly what I was doing, Pete, I knew that, well, doing that with you would hurt them the most. The blame isn't all on you."

"Yes, but I was the adult in the situation. Even if it was just barely. I should have stopped it, instead of sleeping with you like that. And for that, I'm sorry."

"That still doesn't explain how you got the dog collar."

"Well, after everything, after you left, I spent most of my days drunk, then I stupidly got into my car and ploughed into a semi-truck. I swear, if I had hit it another mile an hour faster, I wouldn't be here. That was when I realised, lying there bleeding out, that I had ruined everything. And I swear, I felt that if God spared me, then I would devote my life to a better cause. So, after my recovery, I enrolled in seminary school and I entered the chaplaincy programme with the marines. I spend my days giving spiritual counsel to men and women in the worst place on Earth. And, I'm happy to be doing something worthwhile."

"I'm really happy for you, Pete, really I am. It's nice to find a place. That's what I felt like when I sat through my first physics lecture. Like this is where I should be. But, why are you here?" Roxie asked, she had reached forward to take Peter's hand as he told his tale and was now sitting next to him on the couch.

"Well, like I said, I was visiting the area and I saw you coming out of church, and, I wanted to make amends. I wanted to apologise for everything I did to you, and for the problems I caused. I'm going to be heading back home for a little while, so I also wanted to make amends to your family. But, since you were the one who I hurt the most, I wanted to make sure that that would be okay as well," Peter replied with a sad smile, the memory of what he had done obviously still haunting him.

Roxie returned his sad smile before she reached forward and embraced him in a tight hug. She had forgiven him a long time ago, as he wasn't entirely to blame for what had happened. Yes, he had been twenty-one while she was only fourteen, but she knew exactly what she was doing and had waited until he was slightly drunk, preying on his inebriation to get what she wanted. Which had been to hurt her parents as much as they hurt her.

Of course, she didn't think she was going to end up pregnant. She also didn't think that she would end up getting in an accident and having to make the decision to abort, a huge no-no in the Catholic Church. Even though, if she had kept the baby it would have ruptured her uterus and she might have bled out. The only thing her parents focused on was the fact that she had had sex, outside of marriage, with one of her brother's friends and aborted the baby. It cemented in their minds that she was an absolute tearaway, that couldn't conform to anything.

Luckily, she had been tested by her guidance counsellor at a far higher level than she should have been the year earlier. This meant that she had skipped a few grades, completed her SATs with a perfect grade and applied for college. She had been accepted by several, but Roxie had chosen to go to a college over two thousand miles away from her family to escape everything.

"Peter, you really don't need my forgiveness. You need to forgive yourself. But I you have my forgiveness, as long as I have yours, for leading you to temptation, or however you would like to phrase it."

The laughter that burst from the man sitting opposite her still made her insides squirmed, even after all those years apart. Out of everyone back home, he was always the nicest to her, which was why Roxie had slept with him. She wanted to at least loose her virginity to someone that she liked.

"Here, I have something for you. I noticed that you didn't have one the other day, and, well, I wouldn't be a good priest if I didn't make sure you had these," Peter said, handing Roxie a small black cardboard box.

She took the small and opened it. Inside was a simple silver cross, with a small amethyst at the centre. There was also a set of rosary beads, also amethyst, under the cross. It touched Roxie that Peter could remember that her favourite stone was amethyst. She had always wanted a set of amethyst rosary beads, but her mother had always refused. And, since her accident, she had not really gone back to church. She had only done so recently as a way to talk through what she was feeling.

"It's lovely, but I'm sort of a lapse Catholic, you know," Roxie said with a small smile.

"Then why were you in confession? Here, let me help you put that on," Peter said, taking back the box and gesturing for Roxie to turn around.

She complied quickly, allowing her old boyfriend to put on the small piece of jewellery. When she turned back around, Peter had taken out the rosary beads and handed them to her. He then took her hand, asking to join him in prayer.

Once they had crossed themselves and completed the Lord's Prayer out loud, Peter blessed his young friend. He then hugged her tightly one more time for good measure and left.

-OMN-

The chiming jingle brought Roxie out of her quiet introspection, causing her to look at the circular door in curiosity. Since Peter had left earlier, she had been hiding in her room, looking through her diaries from home while fingerings her new rosary beads.

Getting up slowly, she thought that she knew who would be on the other side of the door. She had been very thankful that everyone had left her alone for the rest of the day, as she didn't feel like rehashing anything that she had discussed with Peter. But she guessed that her friends couldn't curtail their curiosity forever.

Pressing the button that opened the door, Roxie as barely surprised to see Duke leaning against the wall. He had finally changed out of his training gear and into his lounging around clothes. They were still in his signature colours, but looked a lot more comfortable than the form fitting jumpsuit.

"Hey there Angel, figured you could use a drink," Duke said, holding up the bottle of wine and two glasses that he had been hiding behind his back.

Normally, Roxie would protest at how brazen Duke was being, standing out in the middle of the corridor in the middle of the night with alcohol. Yet, she felt a little spark of something that actually made him smile and invite him into her room.

Over their time together, they had never really met in her room. They would always go to Duke's room, which was far larger and more luxurious than hers. He had decorated it in such fine furniture and muted colours that she always felt like she was in a five-star hotel, rather than an underground, pseudo-military base.

Her room, on the other hand, was a lot smaller as it had started out as a storage closet and been converted for her use. It was still big enough to be comfortable and had its own en-suite bathroom. The furniture was also a good quality, as the Ducks refused to let her simply pick up some cheap, flat-packed furniture from IKEA.

But it was messy, and didn't really conform to any style of decorating. The walls were a bright sky blue, and she had attached glow-in-dark star adhesives to the ceiling. There were band posters on the wall, as well several white board that were scribbled all over.

Duke's room exuded an elegant style, while hers was just an extension of her cluttered mind. She felt her age while she was in her room, she didn't need to try and put on any act or conform to anyone's notions of what she should be. In her room, she could just be herself.

"How you feeling, then?" Duke asked from where he was leaning. He had put the bottle and glasses down on Roxie's desk, once he had cleared some space. He had yet to open and pour though, obviously wanting to gauge her emotions before he plied her with alcohol.

"Unsure, medium, I think?" Roxie replied, sitting down on her bed and crossing her legs.

"That good, huh?" Duke asked, finally opening the wine with the bottle opener he had in his pocket.

He poured two rather large glasses of wine and brought them over to the bed. Sitting next to his companion, he handed one over to her and waited for her to take a drink before he also took a deep drink. He then waited silently for Roxie to start talking, which could take all night. He knew she could be a closed book when she wanted to, but he had the time and patience to wait for her. He would wait an eternity if she needed it.

"I never expected to see him again. I honestly thought that I would go the rest of my life without ever having to talk about what happened with him," Roxie said after her second glass of wine.

"And what did happen with him? Listen, I know that you don't need to talk to me about it, but, if you want to, I can listen. It might help with whatever you're feeling to, you know, verbalise it," Duke explained, gesturing from where he was lying on the bed. He had been staring up at the adhesive stars while trying not to stare down his companion.

"I know, it's kinda hard to verbalise it. I've just tried to move past it, but I probably should have talked about it, under of letting it all fester over the years."

"I'm not going anywhere, Angel," Duke said soothingly, scooting closer to Roxie and taking her hand. He kept hold of her hand, rubbing small circles between her thumb and forefinger.

"Okay, so when I was younger, I was, well, I was a terror, an utter terror. I didn't listen to anyone, I started fires, I even hotwired a couple of cars. If my teacher in third grade hadn't figured out I was doing it all out of boredom and pushed hard for me to be tested then I'm sure I would have ended up in juvie. But she did, it took four years for me to be tested and I was tested up by four grades, skipping most of middle and high school. It helped with most of my behaviour, but I still really acted out, as I was so angry that my parents and siblings seemed to be angry with me for being exceptional. So, I did everything I could to make my family feel as bad as they were making feel, especially when they started to complain about the cost. There are six of us after all. We were all supposed to grow up to be good little boys and girls, settle down, have a family and live an entirely unexceptional life, and I really didn't want to do that."

"Well, to hurt them, I did something that was very, very destructive, since the hotwiring the neighbours' car wasn't working. I started sleeping with Peter, who was my oldest brother's oldest friend. My brother had always annoyed me, but Peter had always been really nice and I did have a huge crush on his when I was a teenager. He did know my age, but because I, um blossomed early enough, I did not look like a fourteen-year-old."

"I bet you still didn't look twenty-one though. Sorry, I'm having a little difficulty with the knowledge that a twenty-one-year old slept with you when you were fourteen. That's wrong," Duke said simply. He understood that the age of consent in the United States was between sixteen and eighteen, depending on the state, and if the person was younger than that it was considered to be statutory rape.

"Well, my dad did press charges against him, which were dropped after I left the state. So, I don't think he faced any prosecution, but he did get kicked out of school and had to go to another college. Anyway, I guess I sort have seduced him when he was a bit tipsy and we had sex. Then we had sex a few more times. We were actually having sex in his car when we got hit by someone. It was pretty serious and we both ended up in hospital. When I was in hospital I found out that I was pregnant."

"At fourteen!"

"Yeah, and it was an ectopic pregnancy too. So, I had to abort it, or else it would have ruptured and I might have died. But, abortion is a huge no-no in my family. And, since I was a minor, my parents got called to the hospital as there were some complications, and the whole thing blew up so messily that I was surprised that any of us are still talking to the other. I got my acceptance letter from Caltech though that week with all my scholarships and stuff, so I managed to get out here early. I probably should have sorted everything out with my parents before I left, it made everything ten times worse as we just festered in the hurt. I even took up burlesque and aerial dance as one final 'fuck you' to my mother. She was a ballet dancer and wanted me to continue with it."

After she finished her sordid tale, Roxie took another long drink from her glass, finishing the almost full glass in one long draft. She then held out her glass for a refill, the pain from her story taking a huge toll on her.

Duke obliged, pouring a very large glass and finishing the bottle. He then reached up and took off his eye-patch, placing it on the bedside table and turning to look at his companion. She was now looking at him curiously, as he rarely took it off. He only willingly took in off during sex or before going to sleep and it didn't look like he was going to do either.

"The last person I got in a relationship with, well she was a beautiful hen, with these luxious, chocolate brown feathers and deep brown eyes. I really thought I was falling in love with her. We were together for, I don't know, about five months. I brought her back to places that I really shouldn't have, but I did think I was in love with and she was in love with me. I don't know if you know this, but my parents were thieves together. They were partners, and I thought I might have found a hen to do that with me.

"Well, to make a long story short, Angel, she was not actually in love with me. Don't actually know if she even liked me that much, but she was a terrific actor. One night, after we had, well, you know, I was sleeping quite peacefully curled up next to her. I woke up though, to see her pulling a dagger. I only just managed to avoid getting my throat slit. She got me in the shoulder though, then across my face, then in the eye, twice."

"What happened to her?" Roxie asked, already knowing the answer. From what she had gathered the person Duke was before the invasion was not the type to let someone get away after almost being blinded and murdered.

"I got the dagger off of her, and, she didn't make it out of my room," Duke said plainly, not feeling the need to sugar coat it. It was probably past time that Roxie know exactly what she had gotten herself into.

"I guess we both have really, really shit dating histories," Roxie said after a long stretch of silence. She didn't know what else to say, as the person she was sleeping with had just admitted he murdered someone, albeit in self-defence.

"I wish I could take it back. I wish I could take everything that I did back. I joined the resistance with the idea that I could do enough good to balance out all the bad things I did. I don't think there are enough good deeds or enough time to accomplish that though," Duke said with a sad smile, looking almost resigned.

"You're not that person anymore Duke. You know that, right? This guy, sitting next to me, he's someone so removed from the guy who did that, that's he's actually in a different dimension."

Duke chuckled lightly, feeling a hundred times lighter than he had felt earlier. He had never told anyone that story, even his colleagues in the Brotherhood didn't know that much about the girl who had almost taken his eye.

He felt even better when Roxie put her empty glass down, then moved to straddle his lap, her arms around his neck. She then leaned forward and kissed the tip of his beak very lightly. She then repeated the action, again and again, moving down his beak until she got closer to his face. When she had finished with his beak, she leaned up and kissed the scarred tissue all around his eye, before she kissed his closed eye-lid of his marred eye.

"I really wish that I could really kiss you," Roxie said with a sad sigh.

"Me too, Angel, but I have figured out something, if you want to try it. But, don't laugh, cause I really needed to think about how to do it."

Duke could tell that Roxie was intrigued, she was even more intrigued when he pushed her off of his lap and slid off the bed to kneel at the foot. When he grabbed hold of her legs and pulled her so that she was practically dangling off the bed, she had to bite her fist to keep from laughing.

Her muffled laughter turned to muffled something else when Duke began to stroke and caress up her legs, removing the tight blue jeans that she was wearing. He then, ever so slowly removed her bright yellow cotton thong.

When he finally spread her legs open and admired the sight, Roxie was already breathing heavily with anticipation. He was excellent with his fingers, and never failed to get her off. But, he didn't use his fingers, he leaned forward and with some remarkable placement, Roxie was coming around both his tongue and his fingers.

"That was possibly the most painful sexual act I've ever performed, I think I have lock-beak," Duke complained when they were lying contentedly under Roxie's bright, multi-coloured covers.

"It was impressive though, I have no idea how you managed to figure that out. I wouldn't mind a repeat," Roxie said from her place lying next to Duke, stroking his chest.

"Gonna have to give me some time to recuperate, Angel. That was difficult," Duke replied, his hand trailing over Roxie's naked back and neck. He could feel the chain from the new cross she had been given under his fingers.

As the two lay there, happy and sleepy, Duke made a mental note to find out more about religion on this planet and more specifically about Roxie's religion. From what Mark had said earlier it seemed like it might be important. And, if he was going to be staying on Earth longer, he might want to look into it more fully.

-OMN-

Since their recent heart to heart, Duke and Roxie began to sleep together most nights. And, what was stranger, they were actually just sleeping at times. There were still several nights that they spent apart, but Roxie had begun to be a permanent resident in Duke's bed.

That night though, then had been fucking intensely for hours before collapsing in a contented heap. Roxie had been busy working on a presentation for a recent symposium. She had spent almost every night working late and would leave early in the morning. No one saw a single rainbow hair for almost two weeks.

Plus, the Ducks had played three back to back home games. They had also begun a more intense practice schedule with some new human players. These players were not on the team yet though, and were only training with them. They hoped to open up the team to some of these up and coming players soon, so that the Ducks didn't need to play so many games.

It was around five in the morning that the annoying, high-pitched chirps of Roxie's cell phone started to go off. It woke Duke up almost instantly as he flailed about searching for the offending device. They had only passed out around three o'clock as they had a lot of pent up sexual frustration to work through.

After a few failed attempts, Duke finally managed to pick up the phone. He instantly flopped back down as he answered it, glaring at his lover who was still sleeping soundly. She could literally sleep through an apocalypse.

"Hello?" Duke answered, bewildered at who would be calling at this hour.

"Who is this?" came a very annoyed feminine voice on the other end of the call.

"You're the one calling, I should be asking that," Duke asked, incredibly pissed off by the rude woman who disturbed his happy, post coital slumber.

"Put Roxanna on," the woman commanded curtly.

He wanted to tell the person on the other end to do something very anatomically impossible, but thought better of it. He didn't know who it was and was very aware that Roxie had colleagues in other countries, he didn't want to do anything to jeopardise her work.

Instead, he rolled over and shock the dead-asleep girl, trying to wake her. Which took a lot longer than it should have as she was obviously exhausted from their intense love making and her immense workload.

When he handed over the phone, Duke curled up next to her, getting comfortable and hoping that they might be able to cuddle a little. He watched as Roxie sluggishly brought the phone up to her ear and murmured a very sleepy greeting into the device.

He was then very shocked as the girl suddenly sat bolt upright, before she jumped out of the bed and flicked the light on. She was practically stumbling around as she tried to get herself dressed, all the while still talking on the phone that was attached to her ear.

"No, I didn't forget, you did remind me, like, twenty-thousand times. No, I didn't forget, no I didn't. Fine! I forgot! I had a lot on my plate! No, I'll get there, no I will, you don't need to get a taxi. Yes, I am aware how old they are. Yes, I am aware of what time it is. I'll be there!"

Duke had no idea what was going on, he tried to get up and help, but was hit in the stomach for his efforts. So, he just stayed where he was on his bed, and watched as Roxie pulled on her shoes, grabbed her bag and bolted out the door with her shirt on backwards.

He saw neither hide nor rainbow hair of Roxie for the rest of the day. Duke did try to call her around lunchtime, but the call went straight to voicemail. Before he went on the ice for afternoon practice, he asked Nosedive if he had seen Roxie that day.

"Now that you mention it, Dukester, I haven't seen her all day. Which is really weird, she promised that we would go for breakfast as soon as she finished her sermon, symphony, symp-thing," Nosedive replied from where he was sitting lacing up his skates.

That was concerning, as Dragaunus did often abduct Roxie to try and get the Ducks to do what he wanted. She was almost defenceless when she wasn't in the Pond and still couldn't actually defend herself from attack.

He was about to bring up his concerns to Wildwing, but managed to stop himself. If he was more worried about Roxie than her best friend, who seemed to just shrug it off, then everyone may question that. Plus, he did see her leave of her own free will earlier. She might just have gotten busy with whoever was yelling at her on the other end of the line.

Instead of causing a panic when there was no evidence that anything was wrong, Duke continued to put on his gear and then headed out onto the ice. They were having a 'Ducks' only practice that afternoon, as they were a little exhausted with having to deal with so many new players. Ian, Wildwing and himself were going to have to sit down and make a plan of action for the coming few seasons, so that they could start to integrate the team in a way that Nosedive doesn't spontaneously combust with excitement. Or Mallory doesn't go apoplectic through annoyance.

The practice was going very well, as everyone worked together like a well-oiled machine. They were also practising without Ian being present, or Phil. In fact, the only human present was Johner, who was making notes on the side of the rink and making phone calls to arrange various things. The poor boy was definitely over worked, but he seemed to enjoy it.

About half way through their practice the Ducks were stopped by the sound of new voices coming into the stadium. But it seemed that Johner knew who was speaking as he suddenly jumped up to and ran to the door.

"So, after doing your bachelors and your masters at Caltech, you're an equipment manager for a sports team?" said a very snotty voice.

"I'm not an equipment manager, I invent new equipment, you know, like the stuff that goes up onto the International Space Station and is used by the department of defence. I literally have six patents right now. What do you do?" replied the unimpressed voice of Roxie, causing all the Ducks to look at each other. They had never heard their human friend speak to another person that way before.

The two human girls then proceeded to have a full on, ridiculously loud, argument, right in the middle of the stadium. The Ducks could see that Johner had appeared and seemed to be holding Roxie back as she looked almost murderous.

But, what was worse, it looked like two older humans, who looked quite similar to the two fighting girls stopped the fight by coming to the defence of the new girl instead of Roxie. They stood in the middle of the two and told them to stop, but asked that Roxie apologise for her outburst, which she did begrudgingly.

"Mr and Mrs Moore, it's good to see you both again, would you like to meet the team?" Johner said coming to the rescue of his friend who looked like she was going to punch the other girl.

"Oh, the ones who dress up and pretend to be ducks?" asked the slim, middle aged woman standing next to the Roxie's lookalike. She was dressed really well, and had short blond hair, similar to Roxie's natural colour

"No, mom, they're really ducks, from another universe. You know, living, breathing proof of the multiverse theory," Roxie said sounding a little annoyed. She had probably had to have this argument many times.

"Well, if they are aliens, at least we know you haven't slept with any of them, even you aren't perverse. Though, looking at the papers and magazines you wouldn't think so," the Roxie lookalike said with a humourless giggle. Roxie, to her credit, managed to keep a straight face and didn't give anything away while Mallory had to be elbowed to stop from commenting.

At that point, Wildwing skated over. He took off his gloves and even his mask to hold out his hand. But, was a little taken aback when the older humans moved away slightly, while the Roxie-lookalike sneered at his outstretched hand. He looked up quickly to see Roxie look apologetically up at the good-natured drake.

The family of four definitely looked like a family, the resemblance clear to even the Ducks. The women were all about the same height, with the same face shape and shade of blond hair. It was a little unnerving to see Roxie's hair still being blond with only a tint of colour at the ends. She had stripped most of the colour due to her presentation at the symposium and had yet to get her colours put back in. The man also had blond hair, but it was a few shades darker than his wives or daughters. And, all four had blue eyes.

They were all well dressed, wearing very modest clothing considering the Californian heat. Even Roxie had everything covered, she was wearing jeans and a loose shirt, obviously deciding to dress more conservatively for her parents.

But it was the way they interacted with each other that was a little strange. Family was, after all, very important on Puckworld, and all the Ducks would give anything to see their family members again. This group however, looked like they weren't that happy about being together. The worst offender was Jessica, Roxie's twin, who looked very standoffish compared to her sister.

"Um, mom, dad, Jessica, this is Wildwing. He's the team captain of the Mighty Ducks. Wing, this is my father, Jack, my mother, April, and my twin sister, Jessica. They flew out this morning for a visit," Roxie said, gesturing to each member of her family.

"Well, we flew out for a performance of the Royal Ballet, which mom danced in when she was younger, you just happened to be in the area. And yet, you still couldn't actually remember and made us get a taxi from the airport," said the lookalike, Jessica, cattily, suddenly looking very unlike Roxie due to the permanent sneer on her face.

"Okay, girls, let's give it a rest. Roxanne did get to the airport, a few hours late but she did get there. I mean, she does have a lot going on, it's not surprising that some things get forgotten," Jack, Roxie's father said with a smile towards his rainbow haired daughter who looked slightly deflated. It was almost a nice thing that he said, but he had stumbled at the last minute.

That was when Duke skated up to the group to introduce himself. There was a split second when Roxie feared that he was going to introduce himself as something other than a hockey player duck. Or, that her sister would recognise his voice from the phone call this morning.

Luckily for Roxie none of this happened. Duke merely extended his hand as Wildwing had done and introduced himself. And her sister was too busy being irritated at being at the Pond to notice anything. The rest of the team then skated up and introduced themselves to the family, only to be polite as Roxie's family wasn't being very friendly.

It was when Nosedive introduced himself what her family became outright hostile. It seemed that despite claiming they didn't believe the things that had been printed about Roxie and Nosedive, a part of them obviously did. It made Roxie unbelievably relieved that the stories always printed her stage name rather than her real name. If they ever printed her real name, then she was sure her entire family would never forgive her.

After a lot of very awkward small talk, in which Roxie's mother talked down to her as if she was a wayward four-year-old and her father gave some horrendous negative compliments, Roxie decided enough was enough. She had wished she had decided that earlier, as her sister started to make some really snide remarks about the guy who answered her phone that morning.

She could see most of the Ducks look quickly over at Duke, who was trying to appear as nonchalant as possible but was utterly failing. He was literally holding himself back from physically beating sense into his lover's family and his hands were fidgeting so much that he had almost ripped off all the tape from his stick.

"Okay, well we're going to go now, and let these guys get back to practising for the game tomorrow," Roxie said quickly before anything else was said in front of her parents.

"Oh, the game is tomorrow, I wish you had said something sooner, Dear. Courtney and Jessica got us tickets for the theatre for tomorrow," Roxie's mother said with a smile at the Roxie lookalike.

"I told you about this weeks ago, and the tickets are right at the boards. I, I thought you would enjoy it," Roxie said, sounding deeply hurt at the insult.

"I know dear, but hockey isn't really your mother's thing. And this way we could all do something together, that everyone would enjoy, not just you. You really need to think about others sometime, Roxanne. The world doesn't revolve around you and your wants. Now, how about we go and get some dinner? You can tell us about all those 'patents' that you've got," Roxie's father said condescending to his daughter.

The family barely bid the Ducks goodbye before they left, and Jessica barely said anything. The only person who looked sorry to leave was Roxie, who threw back such a sad look that her friends really wanted to jump over the boards to save her. Even Mallory, who had been seething at the rudeness of Roxie's mother and sister.

"Well, who else wanted to punch the mother and sister in the face?" Mallory asked, wishing that she had been nicer to Roxanne recently.

"I hope she's going to be okay," Grin said, looking very concerned in the direction of the closed door.

-OMN—

That was the last time that week that most of the Ducks saw Roxie. Nosedive did come and meet her a few times, along with Johner who tried to save Roxie from almost killing her family, or herself. They were even stuck going to mass together before her family left on Monday.

Duke on the other hand saw Roxie every night that week. As soon as she left her family she would sneak into his room to work through all the rage and tension she collected from dealing with her family.

He was surprised the first night, as he was already asleep when she let herself in. As soon as she opened the door, he woke up though. He then watched as she stripped herself naked, climbed on top of him and touched him until he was fucking her senseless.

There was one night when Duke actually got to his room after Roxie had let herself in. He found her kneeling on his bed in her underwear. He had been so shocked and turned on that he had dropped the book he was holding and almost started stripping off before the door closed behind him.

The night that Roxie finally dropped her family off at the airport found her celebrating by riding Duke until absolute completion. She had had to pick up several new boxes of condoms on her way back and had found Duke already in his underwear, waiting with a chilled bottle of wine, soft music and candles.

Roxie was about to admonish him for being presumptive, but she couldn't help but be touched at the slightly romantic atmosphere. She was sure no one had ever tried to make anything romantic for her, and doubted anyone else would have thought to do something romantic in celebration for her family leaving town.

Accepting the glass of wine, Roxie almost drank it in one go, before she took off all her clothes as slowly as she could, enjoying the way Duke was looking over her. Like she was something ethereal, something worth having. It felt wonderful after the weeks she had had, where she felt like she was utterly worthless.

"Take them off," Roxie said, nodding her head in the direction of his already hardened member.

Duke happily obliged, sliding the offending pair of briefs off quickly and throwing them away. He then leant back against his headboard, letting his lover control everything about that night. During most of their nights of passion, Duke took charge, controlling the pace and the activities, as he didn't like to lose control. It seemed though, that he finally trusted Roxie enough to let her be in control of him.

And Roxie understood this. She understood that Duke was giving her something that he had probably not given anyone before. That she was unlike anyone else in two universes, and it made her feel something other than horny. She felt a word that she refused to associate with her time with Duke.

Instead of admitting to that word, or letting herself actually feel that word, she decided to feel full instead. So, she walked towards the bed, crawled onto it, and threw her leg over Duke, straddling him. She then lowered herself onto him, all the while keeping eye contact.

They never lost eye contact during that night. Not even when they were screaming out in completion, or changing positions. They both looked at each other with something other than lust, but fucked their way through it.

Usually they had a few days to cool off before they got together again. They definitely never slept in the same bed for several consecutive nights. But, as they lay together catching their breath, they felt something very different.

It was utterly terrifying and both knew it.

So, for some reason I always imagined Roxie and her family as Catholic. I am not a Catholic myself, my grandfather was though, in fact him and his mother were sent to a mother and baby home as she was an unwed mother. As such, my family still donates to the Catholic Church and nunnery that ran it, even though we aren't Catholic and they are all no longer with us.

I also felt that Roxie was going to be a horror as a child, just due to boredom, lots of highly intelligent people get bored really easily and do things that aren't great to alleviate that boredom. Luckily, she was found to be highly intelligent before the worst could happen. I would feel this put a tremendous strain on her familial relationships and caused her to be very wary of any kind of relationship.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

TFG