Hi everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. So, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but it was far too long, so I divided it into two, which was super annoying as each chapter was a lyric!

Everything is properly going to go tits up in this chapter, you have been warned.

TFG

And I know I said it a million times but I'll only stay with you one more night

Duke was happily surprised after one hell of a game, to come downstairs and find his barely secret girlfriend waiting for him. She was not waiting in her underwear, she was still dressed in her leggings and tank top. But she was waiting with slightly dimmed lights, candles, soft jazz music and chilled wine. It looked very romantic, for Roxie at least, the girl who was practically allergic to romantic gestures.

"What's all this for?" Duke asked, dropping his bag next to the door in front of his laundry basket.

"Thought you might enjoy it, that was a really hard game, after all. You got hit, like twenty times. I could, you know, help with the bruises, unless you'd rather go and see Butcher?" Roxie answered with the shy smile, something that he wasn't sure that he'd seen on her before.

"That sadist and her ripper crew? No thanks, Angel," Duke said, already taking off his t-shirt and sweat pants, the ones he usually wore after changing out of his hockey gear.

"Could you, you know, leave the pants on?" Roxie asked nervously, barely making eye contact with Duke as she shifted around some jars of balm and oil on the bedside table.

Now, that was an odd request, thought Duke, but he didn't make too much of it. It was clear that Roxie was nervous about something, and if keeping his pants on was going to help her express whatever it was she wanted to say, then he was going to respect that.

Pulling his sweat pants back up, but throwing the discarded t-shirt into the laundry hamper, Duke climbed onto the bed. He then took off his eye-patch, placing it on the stand next to his alarm clock, enjoying that he could take it off without seeing a look of revulsion cross her face. He finally tried to take hold of his girlfriend, only to be told to lie on his stomach and behave.

Again, he complied instantly, getting more curious about what Roxie was up to. But all thoughts went out of his head when Roxie started to massage the oil into his feathers. It was something that he would have had to do once he came downstairs to make sure that they didn't dry out from the Earth cleansing products. It was more enjoyable when Roxie did it though.

He was practically sinking into the mattress as he felt Roxie's delicate but firm hands massaging the tired muscles of his back and shoulders. With the soft music and lavender scented candles, Duke couldn't remember another time when he was this relaxed.

"Argh!" Duke groaned out when Roxie had found the first of his bruises. Despite the sheer amount of high-quality padding that he wore, a well-placed slap shot could leave an intense bruise for days.

"Sorry, Duke," Roxie said, reaching towards the jar of balm that was there. It was a concoction of Tanya's to help the Ducks deal with bruises. It was vitamin and oil rich, with a small amount of analgesic for good measure. It was a common product on Puckworld, to prevent moulting on a bruise or cut, which would cause a bald spot on their plumage. But on Earth, there was absolutely nothing like it and Tanya had to replicate it with a lot of trial and error.

"Better?" Roxie asked, making slow circles on the bruise in the centre of Duke's back.

"Much. Now, Angel, not that I don't appreciate all this, but I'm not sure what it's for," Duke said, tilting his head slightly to talk to his girlfriend, who was straddling his backside as she worked.

"I, um, just wanted to do something, something for you. That's all," Roxie replied, stammering slightly over her words and letting Duke know that she was lying. She was a terrible liar at times.

He knew that he couldn't force it out of her, he knew that he would just have to wait for her to work up the nerve to speak about what was bothering her. That was probably why she was giving him this massage, she needed to do something physical before she could verbalise anything.

"I'm only a few credits from finished my PhD," Roxie said after several minutes of silent massaging.

"That's great, Angel," Duke replied, the first sound he had made other than moans and groans.

"I, I just need to defend my thesis. Then, I'll be Doctor Moore. I'll probably be able to quit the Birdcage soon, so that I can focus on it. And, my advisor has already told me that I've gotten quite a few job offers, but the university would like to keep me on. They've been really happy with the groups I've been running, and the classes i've been TAing."

Duke would have gone 'ah-ha' if he wasn't afraid that that would cause Roxie to clam up. Roxie wanted to talk about the future, and what she was going to do when she had achieved her PhD. There was a possibility that this might be the break-up talk, but he doubted that she would have made him do it shirtless. So, he just let her continue to her point.

"I've got a few offers, from institutes in Europe. I'd, they would probably be for a few years, so if I took them, I would be living in Europe for a few years, maybe more," Roxie said, "I would probably need to go and see those places though, before I made any decision. I can't, you know, speak French though, and that's a really common language across Europe, it would probably be best for someone to come with me, to help me get around and all that jazz."

This caused Duke to slowly turn over so that he was finally facing his girlfriend as he was unsure of what she was saying. And he told her this, that he didn't know what she was asking exactly.

"Well, I know you wanted to go to France, to, you know, sightsee and stuff, and it's not really the same, but we could go for a few weeks, check out some of those places. I know it'll be a little boring for you, but we could do some stuff while we're there. I probably won't take the offers, but I should look them over, you know."

"That sounds, like something, but wouldn't a lot of people ask questions about why we're there together. Or, will you just use the excuse of my language ability, cause that won't fly with Nosedive. He speaks Rouenin too, remember. He'll wonder why you didn't ask him to come with you."

"I know, I was thinking, of you know, telling him, about this, about us. I owe him that, after all this time I definitely owe him that," Roxie said, finally making eye contact with Duke.

"And, what will you tell him?" Duke asked, his heart beating faster than he thought it could go. He tried to stay calm though, as anything else might spook her.

"That, that we're together. That we've been together for a while now. That, that I'm pretty sure that I love you. I mean, you're converting to my religion for me, I think I can finally woman up and admit what's happening to my best friend. Then we'll have to tell everyone else."

"Oh, they all know. All the other Ducks at least. But, we are going to have to start to tell others. It'll be hard, but it'll be better this way, instead of them finding out in some other way. We have a game in Chicago next month, we could tell your family then?"

"Fuck, I didn't even think about them. Hopefully your conversion might soften that blow a teeny, tiny bit. It's so much. It's so fucking much. I, I never thought, I never expected to be talking about this, ever! I thought, I thought we were only going to have this physical thing, then I'd meet a nice boy and we'd stop," Roxie ranted, pulling her hands through her hair as she went.

"Me neither, Angel. Didn't think I'd find a human as attractive as I find you. But, here we are," Duke said, finally turning fully around so that he was lying on his back with Roxie still straddling his legs. There was nothing sexual about the position, despite the number of times it had been. Duke just wanted to look at his girlfriend and hold her hands as she tried to calm herself down.

"Hey, how about we take a quick trip this weekend. The calendar is clear, we could head up to Napa, do some wine tasting and see a show? Just, just me and you?"

"That, that does sound nice. But I'll need to talk to Dive first," Roxie said, starting her massage on Duke's chest, instantly finding another three large bruises.

The two continued like that, in silence for a while, until Duke started to feel up Roxie's legs. The idea that his girlfriend was finally willing to call herself his girlfriend had sparked his libido, but he knew he couldn't start something until she was ready to start.

Luckily for him, Roxie suddenly stripped off her shirt, bra and panties, then pulled down his pants. She then grabbed hold of him, and impaled herself. She moaned out as each inch slid in, while Duke tried to still himself from simply taking her.

He would have thrown her down and fucked her like a jackhammer, if she hadn't started moving, rotating her hips slowly and driving him absolutely crazy. He couldn't' lie down and just let her have her way though, he needed more, more touching, more movement, more of her.

"I love you," Duke said almost reverently as he grabbed hold of her hips and moved upwards, so that they were both in a sitting positon.

"I love you too," Roxie replied, stroking his face.

They didn't last very long after that, both collapsed in a heap on Duke's bed, clinging to each other as they're breathing returned to normal.

"When are you going to tell Nosedive?" Duke asked once his breathing and heartrate had calmed down.

"Tomorrow night, might as well get it over with, like pulling of a band-aid. Quick and painful," Roxie replied, nodding into Duke's chest.

"That's a good idea. Then we can head off to Napa on Friday, give him a chance to get used to the idea," Duke stated.

He could feel Roxie nodding in agreement against his chest, but he could also feel her stretching like a cat. He knew that she was about to fall asleep at any moment, leaving him to clear up everything. But he didn't care, he was feeling more contented than he had ever felt in his entire life.

When she had succumbed to slumber, Duke got up and threw the covers over her naked body. He didn't want her to catch a chill in his slightly cold room. He then went around and blew out all of the candles and stopped the music that was still playing. He corked what remained of the wine, which happened to be from Napa, and placed it back in the wine storage fridge in one section of his fitted closest.

Then, he pulled down two small suitcases, one was bright pink and for Roxie, while the other was dark blue. He didn't feel like sleeping yet, so he decided to pack for their trip instead, get it out of the way while he was still awake.

He pulled down a few items from his closet, and placed them neatly in the small suitcase. He then reached for his bedside table and pulled open the drawer. Duke took out two black, velvet boxes and placed them in his suitcase and closed the lid, locking it for good measure.

The larger of the two boxes contained a piece of jewellery that humans wouldn't recognise but all the Ducks would. It was a platinum band, with a spiral pattern of multi-coloured gemstones around a larger central diamond. The smaller box contained a piece of jewellery that the Ducks wouldn't recognise but humans would. It contained a platinum ring, with a large central diamond surround by the same multi-coloured gems on either side.

Duke had decided to commission both months ago, after Roxie got back from the NASA mission. That was when he knew that he wanted to spend his life with her, but he had no idea when he would finally get up the courage to ask. He might still chicken out during this trip, but knowing that he did have them ready if he felt the moment was felt made him feel slightly more at ease.

With a final look towards the two suitcases, Duke climbed into bed. He slid next to his companion, enjoying the fact that she reached for him. Then he let himself fall into a very contented slumber, curled up next to a love he never thought he'd experience.

-OMN-

Returning to consciousness, Duke couldn't help but smile when he remembered the events of last night. He felt so serene, and happy. This was a feeling that he not experienced in so long, if ever. And, he never wanted it to end. He wanted to wake up every morning like this.

Indulging in his fantasy for a few moments more, Duke moved close to Roxie and gently stroked her arm, knowing that it wasn't enough to wake her. She did sleep like the absolute dead. But that made him smile more.

Leaning down, he closed his eyes and imagined their life together. He would have to get a house, now that the Saurian threat was over there was no need for them all to live underground. A nice house, with a garden and a pool would be great. Or, maybe an apartment, close by, would be more to their liking. It would have to be somewhere private.

Then, they could think about adopting. Or maybe sperm donation. They hadn't really spoken about kids at all, as he never thought he would need to think about it, but he couldn't deny Roxie something that he knew most females wanted. And, he might want that now too.

It was a nice fantasy, which probably wouldn't happen in that way, as they were two people who were not the house with the white picket fence and two-point five kid's type of people. They were the theatre, sports, crime-fighting, inventing type of people. There were still some villains that needed to be defeated, so that type of life was still going to be unavailable to them.

Plus, there was the fact that they were an interspecies couple, and, as far as Duke knew, there was no way for them to be legally married. They would have to make a case to the court to be allowed a marriage licence and then most likely apply to the Bishop to be allowed a Catholic wedding, which Duke was determined to give her.

During Phil's wedding preparation, Roxie had been a little upset that Diana had decided against a church wedding, despite going to church almost every Sunday. When all the women discussed their dream weddings, Roxie had also mentioned having a church wedding, presided over by her childhood priest, Father Patrick, who had been one of the few people to encourage Roxie to explore what she wanted.

The alarm going off is what drew Duke out of his musings and fantasising. He could see Roxie trying her hardest to stay asleep, but she eventually did open her eyes and started to curse out the alarm clock as she reached blindly for it. It took her three attempts to turn it off.

"I hate that damn clock," Roxie said out loud, groggily stretching.

"You were the one who set it so early," Duke said from his position on the bed, watching as his girlfriend threw off the covers and shivered in the morning cold.

"Yeah, well I have a lot to do today, and have to get an early start," Roxie replied, grabbing hold of one of Duke's shirts from his closet. She rarely wore pyjama, and would just grab whatever of Duke's clothing was around or just take something from his closet.

Duke did not mind at all. He was more than happy to let Roxie wear his shirts, as long as she wore nothing else under it. And, due to the chilliness of the room, he could see her nipples through the white shirt that she had selected, causing him to get a little excited.

"When do you plan to speak to Nosedive?" Duke asked, sitting up so that Roxie didn't notice his excitement.

Roxie stopped what she was doing, looking directly at her avian boyfriend. She knew better than to hope that he had forgotten what they had spoken about the night before. He had a ridiculous memory, just like her. She had hoped though, that he would at least give her some time to wake up before reminding her.

"Tonight, we were planning on getting dinner at a new Mexican place. I know I should have done it sooner, and this means I won't have a chance to back out," Roxie replied, fiddling with the sleeves of the shirt she was wearing.

"That sounds like a plan, I'll try to make myself scarce and I'll talk to Wing about it, to make sure he'll be available in case Nosedive needs him," Duke added, still watching his young lover.

He wanted to reach out and hold her, but she suddenly turned and headed into the shower. Duke often wished that she wouldn't shower in the morning, he liked the idea of her going about her day smelling like him. And he had told her once, at which she had picked up a bottle of shower gel and thrown it at him. He of course caught it effortlessly, and just laughed it off.

When she came out of the shower she smelt like mangoes. It was a delectable smell, which made Duke very hungry for the fruit as well as for Roxie. He continued to watch her as got dressed for the day in a simple pair of jeans and a tank top. She then quickly braided her long hair as she obviously couldn't be bothered to dry it.

"What's with the suitcases?" Roxie asked as she applied her make-up, a coat of mascara and nude lip gloss. Her regular day make-up, as she called it.

"For Napa. The trip this weekend. I got your suitcase down as well, so that you can pack later," Duke replied, finally getting up and pulling on his sweatpants.

"Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but I'm normal. I shall be doing all my packing, in a minor tizzy, the night before we leave, like everyone else the world over," Roxie joked, even though he knew she was deadly serious.

Duke laughed loudly, enjoying the banter that he had with Roxie, it made him feel lighter and younger. If he had his way, they would just stay in their room that day, damn the consequences. He had enough food in his personal fridge, and it would be nice to just ignore the world outside.

He knew that they couldn't do that though. Roxie had to get to the university to finish up her studies and then to practice, and he had to check over some of the expenses of the franchise before his own practice that afternoon. And, if they didn't show up then Wing might come down and knock his door down to find them.

Looking to his side, he saw Roxie grab her bag to go. She probably wasn't even going to have breakfast before she left the Pond for the day. But, before she could leave, Duke grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

"Say it again," Duke asked huskily as he ran his beak through her hair.

"Say what?" Roxie asked innocently, even though she knew exactly what he wanted her to say.

"Say it."

"No, every time I say it, it gets you so hot and bothered that we end up having sex and being late. Remember what happened the other day, Wildwing was complaining about you being late for hours after."

"I promise, Angel, I'll be good, just, let me hear you say it again. I can't get enough of it," Duke replied, holding his hands up in surrender and moving backwards to prove his point.

"Fine, fine. Duke L'Orange, I love you," Roxie said as theatrically as she could.

"I love you too, Roxanne. I'll see you later," Duke said with a sincere smile.

Throwing her messenger bag over one shoulder and her practice bag on her back, Roxie rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics. She still waved goodbye and blew him a kiss over her shoulder as she slipped from the room. And though he couldn't' see her smile, he knew that she looked just as happy as he felt.

-OMN-

When Duke arrived in the kitchen after his shower, he saw that both Grin and Wildwing were already there. The former was by the stove stirring a large pot of something, while the latter was sitting munching on a bowl of fruit as he read through a really large novel. The white drake had started a series of novels recently and had had his beak exclusively in them when he was not at practice or working.

"Good morning everyone, how are you all doing this fine morning," Duke said as he grabbed a bowl of fruit from the sideboard for himself and sat down opposite his captain.

"You're in a good mood," Wildwing said, barely looking up from his book.

"I agree, my friend, your aura seems light and content," Grin said in his deep baritone from his place by the stove.

"That's exactly the word to describe how I feel, content. I don't think I've ever felt this content. Oh, Wing, I'm gonna be heading up to Napa this weekend for a break. I'll be leaving on Friday but I'll be back on Monday," Duke said, turning towards his leader and gesturing with his fork.

At the word 'Napa' both Wildwing and Grin had stopped what they were doing and looked up. Their human ally Roxie had just breezed through the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water and a few pieces of fruit on her way out, had called back that she would be gone that week. When asked where she was going Roxie had replied that she was going on a break to Napa and that she would leave on Friday and be back on Monday.

Neither Grin nor Wildwing had thought this odd, as the girl had been working really hard the last few months. But, knowing that she was now going to be going with Duke, they were both worried. They might be able to hide the true intent of this trip from the press, but not from Nosedive. Who, as far as Duke and Roxie knew, did not know that they were dating.

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what about Dive? If you and Roxie both leave this weekend, to go to the same place, he will put two and two together," Wildwing said, putting a wooden bookmark in his novel and closing it.

"Roxie is telling him this evening," Duke answered with a smile.

This nonchalant statement caused Grin to drop his spoon into his pot and Wildwing to drop his book. The bookmark flew out of it and he lost his place in the novel, but the white drake didn't seem to notice, or care. This statement was a very big development and neither knew what to say about it.

"Um, what exactly is Roxie telling Dive?" Wildwing eventually asked, after opening and closing his beak several times and looking towards Grin for help, who still hadn't noticed that he had dropped his spoon.

"She will be telling him that she and I are an item. That we have been for a while and we will be continuing our relationship into the near future. We will be coming out to various people, including her mother when we head to Chicago next month," Duke replied, still gesturing with his fork at each major point and still with the same smile plastered to his beak.

Now this confused Wildwing completely, and it probably showed on his maskless face. The last time he and Duke had spoken on the interspecies relationship was two months ago during Phil's wedding. And, from that conversation, he understood that they were having a lot of problems. For everything to change in two months was a little hard to comprehend.

"My friend, may I ask what has changed to cause this honesty?" Grin asked, taking the words out of Wildwing's beak and making it sound a lot sweeter than the 'what the fuck' that he was going to say.

"She told me she loved me. She told me that she wanted us to, well, to be us. I know, I know, it's going to be difficult. But, I never thought I'd have anything like this. I thought my past, well, I thought I couldn't have this, that I didn't deserve to have it. But, I do, and, I don't think I've ever felt this content. Life's good," Duke said, looking almost wistfully into a future only he could see.

Neither of Duke's companions knew what to say at his declarations. That was the most Duke had ever expressed about his feelings in the six plus years that they had been trapped on Earth. So, the two just tried to get back to what they were doing before Duke arrived and threw their world view for a loop.

As Grin turned back to the stove and tried to fish out the spoon from his pot, Duke tried to engage Wildwing in conversation about his book, after asking him to check in on Nosedive later that evening. The book that Wildwing was reading actually sounded interesting, despite Wildwing's stuttered explanations. There seemed to be dragons, and ice demons, and battling royalty, and a lot of murder and death. At the point Wildwing was reading, a previously murdered character had just been brought back from the dead and vowed revenge on the family that killed her and her family.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they barely noticed Mallory walk in for breakfast. She sat down quietly, eating her breakfast and just listened to the conversation about a very bloody novel. The only thing that stopped the conversation was Phil storming in and slamming something on the table in front of Duke and knocking everything off the table.

"You lying, deceitful, bastard! How could you have been so fucking stupid!" Phil screamed at the bewildered older drake as everyone looked on equally shocked.

They all knew that Phil was money grubbing and abrasive. He would value the bottom line before a lot of things, and often did not think about the bigger picture on his way to make a quick buck. He had accidently insulted each of them at one point or another, or multiple.

But they had never seen him be outright furious. Not even when he was taken advantage of by an evil robotic femme fatale. Nor when he was brainwashed by an evil Saurian wizard to try and destroy the source of his cash flow. He had been upset and angry, but not furious.

"Phil, hey, calm down, what's going on?" Wildwing asked, ignoring the orange juice that was slowly dripping on his jeans.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! You, you gave me your word that nothing was going on!" Phil roared at Wildwing causing the white drake to hold his hands up in surrender of an offence that he didn't understand.

"Easy, little friend, this anger is not good for either yourself or us. Now, please sit down and explain what is the cause of this," Grin asked calmly, coming over to place a steady hand on his manager's padded shoulder.

"Calm down! Calm Down! Don't' any of you tell me to calm the fuck down after what that, that perverse bastard did! And not just did, but caught fucking caught, on film doing!" Phil yelled, holding up what was in his hand to emphasise and prove his point.

No one knew what had gotten into their portly manager, nor what he was holding. Though, his roars of anger had been enough to attract Tanya and Nosedive from where they were still hiding. The two new Ducks stood in the door of the kitchen watching the scene with utter bafflement.

"Phil, please, whatever I did, well, I'm sorry, but you gotta explain why you're so angry," Duke said, standing up from the ruined breakfast table and moving towards the enraged man.

"Explain? I'm not the one who needs to explain!" Phil yelled as he slammed the open paper down on the table in front of Duke, finally exposing the source of his outrage.

Spread across the table was the headline 'Interspecies Sex Secrets Exposed' with the sub headline, 'The Secret Relationship of the Centre of Mighty Ducks'.

And, there were photos. Lots and lots and lots of photos. All in colour with only the naughty bits blurred for decency, but you could easily tell exactly what was going on in each photo. There were photos of Duke and Roxie lying in bed together in hotels in a post coital glow. Photos of Roxie blowing Duke in shower of the locker rooms. Photos of Duke fucking Roxie as she was bent across his desk in his office.

"There's a glossy magazine describing the entire affair too, which you could purchase for ten dollars. I got both of them sent to me this morning though," Phil said, his voice dripping with ice as he threw the offending magazine in front of the horrified drake.

The magazine was even worse than the four-page spread in the paper. It had a lot more photos, printed in brighter colours, with the entire relationship describe. All three years of it, with a handy timeline to help you keep track.

And there weren't just photos of Duke and Roxie in sexual positions. There were photos documenting intimate moments with almost a full transcript of their conversations. There were even photos that had been taken at Roxie's fathers funeral showing Duke supporting the distraught girl.

Seeing that made Duke's blood change from boiling in rage to ice from fear. In all the things that had been written about Roxie over the years, they had never printed her real name, only using her stage name. This exposé though, it stated her real name and occupation. There was even a full biography, detailing her family, her academic career and dancing career.

"This, they can't, this isn't happening," Duke said as he flicked through the glossy details of his relationship.

"They can't do this! Can't you get an injunction or sue them or something?" Wildwing exclaimed, slamming his own fists down on the table.

"On what grounds? These are real photos, so I can't get them for slander! We had no agreement with anyone as I didn't know. If you had told me, I might have been able to stop this sort of thing happening, but no one told me!" Phil yelled, pointing an accusatory finger around the entire room.

"Well, what can we do?" Duke asked, still in a state of shock and horror, his contentment seeming a lifetime away from what he was feeling now.

"I have no fucking idea! Damage control? Press conferences to mitigate the problems? I've had nothing but calls all morning from everyone about this, wanting to talk to both you and Roxanne," Phil explained.

"Hey, where's Roxie?" Nosedive suddenly asked.

Duke had almost forgotten the younger drake was in the room as photos of himself fucking his best friend every which way was presented to the team. He just stared at him in horror, knowing that Roxie had not explained the relationship.

"Dive, I, I wanted to tell you, Roxanne wanted to tell you. We, she was going to tell you," Duke stammered out, completely ignoring everyone else in the room to talk to his girlfriend's best friend.

"Don't, just, don't, just, where's Roxie?" Nosedive said, completely waving off what Duke was trying to say.

"She left, she was going to the University and then to the Birdcage. Fuck, she doesn't know. How, how many people do you think has seen this, this trash?" Duke asked, glancing at Phil.

"This filth, about half the population of the country. The other filth in other magazines and paper, probably the rest of the country and the world. The radio stations and morning shows playing audio and videos, everyone else who hasn't seen the photos. This is huge fucking news. This is actual evidence of a human fucking an alien! You have no idea what you've done!" Phil said, his fury reverberating around the kitchen.

-OMN-

It was a near miracle that Roxie found a parking space near the building she needed to be in. Usually she was stuck a good five-ten minutes' walk out from it. She was also pleasantly surprised to see that there was no line in Starbucks as she bought her morning coffee. The coffeehouse was full though, but everyone was sitting at their tables reading a magazine or the paper.

She made a mental note to buy the paper on her way out, as it looked like there was some huge news. But, she didn't have much time, as she had booked time with the laser grid that morning, and, if she didn't show up on time she would lose her spot and have to go back on the waiting list, that was currently about six weeks long.

As she grabbed her coffee from the barista, she was almost taken aback by the look the young woman gave her. Almost as if she was disgusted to see her and didn't want to touch her. The girl then thrust the coffee at her before storming off and whispering to her colleague. But Roxie could not hear what they were saying, as she had her earbuds in so that she could listen to the soundtrack for Les Miserables.

Trying to brush off the strange interaction, Roxie left the coffee shop. She was sure that every set of eyes in that place were following her and whispering as she walked past. And it happened the entire walk to back to the building. People's eyes would just follow her and they wouldn't' even try to hide it.

It was starting to make Roxie paranoid. She looked down at her clothes to make sure that they weren't accidently see-through. She felt the back of her jeans to make sure she hadn't accidently ripped a huge whole over her backside. She even took out her compact mirror to make sure nothing was on her face.

But everyone was fine. There was nothing amiss with how she looked, so she tried to shrug off all the craziness, trying to rationalise that she was just being paranoid. Even when the stares followed her through the entire physics building and when the department secretary fell off his chair when she showed up to get the keys for the laser grid.

She was very happy to close and lock the heavy door, no one else was going to be in the room with her, so she could put everything out of her mind. That was when her cell phone started going off though. She looked at the screen to see a number that she didn't recognise.

Knowing that at eight in morning, a number that she didn't recognise would almost certainly a telemarketer. So, she declined the call, and the next call, and the next call. It was on the fifteenth unknown number that Roxie finally decided to turn off her phone so that she could concentrate on her work.

She placed her phone in her bag and put her earbuds back in, and entirely forgot about everything while she was working. She was in the lab for six hours, hardly stopping, until she had finished running the programmes that she needed to run.

On the way out of the lab, she turned her phone back on to see that she had over three hundred missed calls, five hundred new messages and her voicemail had been filled. Roxie was entirely shocked, but had no desire to look through any of it. She just turned her phone back off and slipped it back in her back, promising herself that she would deal with it all later.

After she gave the keys to the laser grid back to the secretary, who barely looked at her, she made her way out the building. She was still aware of every set of eyes following her, some even took photos of her. It was starting to freak her out so much that she practically ran to her car, locking the door as soon as she got in.

"This is all in your head, it's probably some stupid rumour going around about the club or something. Don't read too much into this," Roxie said to herself.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Roxie put her old, beat up car in reverse and backed out of the parking space. The poor car sputtering as she did, making her wish that she had taken the Ducks up on their offer of a new car for her birthday. But, once again, she was determined to do it herself as she was still not paying rent or utilities and getting a ton of gifts from Duke.

The drive to Birdcage was anything but pleasant for her. The AC had stopped working last week, and she had not gotten round to fixing it yet. The radio had given up around the start of last month, so the drive was completely silent. All she could do was sing to herself, as she couldn't put in her earbuds.

After what felt like hours of hot, humid, sticky traveling, but was really only forty minutes, Roxie arrived at the Birdcage. She could already hear the music signalling the start of practice for the regular dancers. But, as she was a part time headliner, she didn't need to take part in it.

Instead, Roxie shouldered her practice bag and made her way through the back entrance of the club. She waved at a few people who were milling around backstage, as well as a few of the dancers. She was met by whispers and stares again though, as well as sneers, giggles and disgusted looks.

It was starting to get a little ridiculous, as Roxie thought she had a good relationship with most of the staff at the Birdcage. She had been working there for five years, having worked up from the chorus to headliner. She knew a lot of the backstage staff as well as all the dancers. It was true that she didn't get on with some of the dancers, but that was to be expected as she was part time and still working as a headliner.

It wouldn't matter soon though, as she was going to be graduating with her PhD in a few months and would be leaving her place at the Birdcage. This would mean that one of the chorus dancers could be elevated to headliner. Though, she was the only aerial dancer at the moment, if they wanted to keep those performances, she would need to train someone on how to complete her complicated routines without either hanging themselves or falling from the ceiling.

Opening her door to escape her paranoid thoughts and the strange behaviour of those she had met that day, Roxie suddenly let out a scream of horror. All around her dressing room were pasted photos of her and Duke in various positions.

Her head whirled around, seeing herself in the throes of ecstasy. Her head was spinning, and their seemed to be a cacophony of noise surrounding her that she couldn't identify. She tried to surge forward to start ripping down those photos only to feel something hit the side of her body.

She quickly turned around to see several of the girls from the chorus, jeering and pointing. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she saw the wads of wet paper towels that were in their hands. That had been what had hit her, Roxie realised, as she felt the wet spot on her tank top.

She watched as one of the chorus dancers cocked her arm back and threw her wad of wet paper towel, hitting Roxie square in the face. What happened next was a barrage of hard, wet hits across several parts of her body while the mob chanted 'slut', 'slag', 'whore', 'duckfucker', 'pervert' and many more that she could barely hear.

"Move out of the fucking way!" came a sudden forceful voice, pushing several girls out of the way.

It was Johner, followed by Lola, who was trying to keep everyone back. Roxie could barely feel Johner as he hoisted her up, grabbing her bag on his way out the door. He managed to get her through the corridor and into Lola's office before Roxie realised that she was away from all the horrible chanting.

Once in the comfortable seat, Roxie wrapped her arms around her body and merely sat there rocking, trying to tell herself that she was having nightmare. She didn't know, or understand how anyone could have done that to her, photograph her during her private moments, publish them, or display them all around her dressing room.

Roxie didn't even realise that she had been locked in Lola's office with the drag queen and her friend, until a cold shot glass got pushed it her hand. She didn't say a word, she merely threw it back without tasting anything, she had gone completely numb.

"There you go, hun, there's no woe that can't be numbed with vodka. Now, I'm sorry to ask you this, especially seeing as it's pasted all over my walls, but what is going on?" Lola, handing Roxie another shot glass full of vodka from the bottle everyone knew that Lola hid in her desk.

"I, I, oh fuck, everyone knows, don't they? This is going to be all over the country, no the world? Oh my god, I, I can't believe this!" Roxie exclaimed before she threw herself forward and vomited all over the floor.

"I think you better get her out of her, and back to the Pond, before the crowd out there gets nastier," Lola said to Johner as she rubbed comforting circles over Roxie's back and necked more vodka straight from her bottle.

"Don't think that's a good idea. I just came from the Pond. Barely got out of there in one piece, the sheer number of reporters and paparazzi outside of it is incomprehensible. I don't think anyone's getting in or out of there any time soon," Johner said with a horrified grimace.

Johner had not looked at any of the news before he arrived at the Pond that morning, but as soon as he started getting calls from every news media outlet about the affair, he turned on his TV. The story had been scrolling all morning, with blurred out videos and mean commentary. He had tried to call Roxie, but her phone had been turned off. So, without even checking what was going on downstairs, he had rushed to the University to just miss her. He had then raced to the Birdcage to try and protect her. He had obviously been too late for that.

"Well, she can't stay here. I can already see the bloodthirsty swarm accumulating outside, and I have to get those girls in line before they make things worse," Lola argued, gesturing between the window and the door.

Grabbing a long, black coat from Lola's costume rack, Johner threw it over Roxie's head and asked Lola to help him get her out. The trio managed to make it through the back of the club without too much trouble, but opening the back door had them stepping out to bulb flashes and a barrage of questions.

"No comment, move!" Johner yelled, pushing reporters out of the way, as he dragged Roxie behind him with Lola taking up the rear.

They managed to get to Johner's new SUV, though it took so much longer than it should and he was sure those photos were going to appear on the news that evening. He pushed Roxie into the front passenger seat, ran around to the drivers' side and started forward slowly.

The paparazzi barely moved out of the way, he had to keep honking his horn and inching forward as they continued to throw questions at the locked car and snap photos. Johner was very thankful he had decided to go for the tinted windows as Roxie had vomited again, and he would hate for that photo to end up on the news along with the photos of her naked and having sex with an alien.

-OMN-

The only place that Johner could think of taking Roxie was his new apartment. He had moved into it a few months after the fire that had caused Roxie to move into the Pond. It was a two-bedroom place with a balcony and easy distance to the Pond.

It was very minimally decorated, as he had been buying pieces himself over the years. The walls were a plain beige, the colour of all new apartments. And, instead of painting them himself, he just covered them with framed photos, posters, and a large rainbow flag.

At first, he had rented out the second bedroom out to cover the cost of the rent. But, as Wildwing had made Phil give him a raise, Johner had not needed to rent out the room. He had decided that he was going to turn it into a home office instead. He was still going to keep the bed in there though, so that his family had a place to stay when they came out to visit him.

"Here, it's lemon and honey tea. I may have put a large shot of rum in there too," Johner said handing Roxie a bright ceramic mug.

"Isn't that a hot toddy?" Roxie asked, accepting the hot drink, the first thing she had said since they arrived in Johner's apartment.

"No, hot toddies are made with whiskey, and I don't have any of that fancy stuff," Johner replied, drinking his own hot rum.

Over the last two hours that they had been in Johner's apartment, Roxie had insisted on listening to the messages on her phone. Johner had tried to talk her out of it, as there was no reason to make the situation worse. But she had been resolute in getting everything over and done with.

The sheer amount of hate that had spewed from her phone had been incredible. There were messages from colleagues, friends, family members and just random strangers. Then there were the requests from various reporters and media outlets, as well as talk show hosts. They had been shocked to hear Dr Phil's voice coming from the phone.

It was only when the messages Duke had left started playing that Roxie demanded the phone to be switched off. His urgent and desperate pleadings to know where she was and if she was okay had caused her to start crying and shaking.

"Roxie, I, fuck, I'm just sorry. That, no one should have gone through what you've just been put through," Johner eventually said, wanted to fill the oppressive silence of the room.

"I deserve this. I, it was wrong, what we were doing, it was wrong," Roxie said over the rim of her mug.

"Do you really believe that?" Johner asked, getting slightly scared by the completely blank look on Roxie's face.

But she didn't get a chance to answer, as there was a very firm knock on the door. The two friends were utterly terrified. Johner had not thought that anyone would know to look for Roxie at his apartment, his name was not mentioned in connection with hers in the articles. At least as far as he knew, and he was sure that no one could trace the registration on his car that quickly to get his address.

"Hey, let me in, I don't want anyone to see me!" came the voice of Nosedive from behind the locked door.

The two humans let out a collective breath, relieved that it was a friend rather than a foe. Johner leapt up from his seat to unlatch and unlock the door, letting his friend dash in quickly. He then made a quick sweep up and down the corridor before locking and latching the door again.

"You weren't followed up, were you?" Johner asked the young drake who had just ripped off his coat.

"No, no, I was real careful. Took side streets, and came up the emergency exit," Nosedive replied before he crossed the room to sit next to his best friend.

He only managed to get Roxie's name out of his beak before the emotional girl threw her arms around his neck, crying loudly and finally letting all of her emotions out. Most of what was coming out of her mouth was unintelligible, but the prevailing word was sorry.

"Hey, hey, now, why are you saying sorry?" Nosedive asked, still hugging his friend as she unloaded everything onto his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for keeping this from you. I'm sorry that you had to find out this way. I, I should have told you. I'm the worst person, the worst friend ever, Dive!" Roxie cried out, gripping her friends shirt as she sobbed some more.

"I knew."

That single statement caused the sobbing to reduce to hiccups and sniffles as Roxie let go of Nosedive so that she could look him in the eyes. Both looked at each other guiltily as she asked how long he had known and why hadn't he said anything to her.

"About the time you came back from the Space Station. But I wasn't sure until your dad's funeral, when Duke leapt up to support and you wouldn't let him go. And, I didn't talk to you about it, well, cause I figured you would tell me when you were ready."

"I'm still not really ready. To talk to anyone about this."

"I can understand that, but Roxer-Roo, you're going to need to talk to us, to help us understand. To help us know how to deal with this. This is a pretty big bombshell that just got dropped on everyone's lap and, well, we're scrambling."

"I, it was meant to be just physical. It wasn't meant to last any length of time. It was supposed to be over and done with!" Roxie exclaimed, throwing herself forward again so that she could hide her face in her hands.

"Then, why wasn't it? Roxie, I'm gonna have to ask you a very serious question, cause it's a madhouse back in the Pond. Duke is quite literally pulling his feathers out trying to find you. Wildwing is barely keeping him there. Do, do you love him?"

At that question, Roxie looked up into the faces of her companions. She could see both were desperate for her to answer that question. She had only just admitted the answer to that question to herself recently, she wasn't expecting to have to give it to anyone else anytime soon.

"I, I wasn't supposed to. But, he's, over the years, we've, we've been... I, I can't be," Roxie stammered out, looking desperately around at her two companions.

"But you are. Roxie, it's, it's obvious to everyone that you do," Nosedive said, while Roxie nodded her head and acknowledge that she did love Duke.

"You can't help who you fall in love with, Roxie. If you could, do you think I would choose to be gay? I mean, my entire family are fundamental Christians who are going to disown me as soon as I come out to them," Johner added, laying a comforting hand on hers while Nosedive gently placed an arm over her shoulder, holding her close by loosely.

Her two male managed to eventually persuade her to take a shower, as she had vomited up a few times that day. And Johner assured her that the good old mammalian diving reflex would make her feel better. Nosedive added that a change into comfy, lounging around clothes would relax her more and Johner had plenty of those.

While Roxie was in the shower, Johner contacted Roxie's phone provider to cancel her phone and set up a new one in his name. That way she would not get as many calls as before. He then checked in with Lola to see if the crowd how dispersed from the club, only to be told that they needed to close down for a few days while Lola contacted her lawyers and PR representatives. Finally, he called her department secretary, to give them this number as a new contact number. He hung up as soon as the secretary started asking questions about Roxie and Duke's relationship though.

Nosedive, meanwhile, called the Pond over his communicator. He had not told anyone where he was going and had managed to slip out even though they were practically locked down due to the crowd. So, his brother was rightly angry, as he had been dealing with two of his team being missing.

"Can you just tell me where you are? Is Roxie with you? Duke is going absolutely nuts, I think he might actually hurt himself soon," Wildwing confided, looking off screen towards what might have been the freaked-out drake.

"Yeah, yeah, she's here with me. We're at Johner's place. Listen, just tell Duke that we're safe, but I don't think it's a good idea for him to come here. At least not at the moment," Nosedive said, very aware that the shower had just turned off.

"Yeah, I think that's the best idea at the moment. We're still trying to figure out what to do, and it would be going better if Johner was here. Listen, you two stay put, I don't think it would be a good idea for Roxie to come back, and I don't think you could physically get back here anyway. It's like something out of a horror movie, a zombie horde or something. Everyone who was already here is having to bunk down here for the night. Maya, from the kitchen, tried to leave but was almost assaulted by reporters. Mark managed to grab her and pull her back though," Wildwing explained.

"Shit, that's hard-core. I'll check in tomorrow, see ya," Nosedive said, hanging up his com before Roxie came into the room.

She didn't need to know about the media zombie horde outside of the Pond, or the Birdcage for that matter. There was probably another group circling the university, like buzzards. She also did not need to know that everyone was now essentially on lock down because of her relationship with Duke.

-OMN-

It was around two am when there was a pounding at the door, startling awake the three occupants of the two-bedroom apartment. Nosedive jumped so high that he toppled off the couch that had been made into his temporary bed.

"Who the fuck could that be?" Johner asked, coming out of her room while he slipped on a t-shirt.

Roxie on the other hand, had stuck her head out of the room that she was now occupying, but she refused to leave the safety of it. She was practically cowering behind the door, looking terrified towards the front door.

The two males grabbed whatever was available, Johner grabbed a baseball bat and Nosedive grabbed a hockey stick, and took up defensive positions near the door. Johner then inched his way towards the door to try to look through the peephole.

"Hey, come on, open up, I can see you moving under the door!" Duke's voice said from the other side of the door and causing Roxie to yelp and slam the bedroom door.

Johner put down his baseball bat and unlocked the door. He didn't unlatch the door, so it only opened up a few inches, to allow the two to talk face to face. And Johner was shocked by what he saw. The normally well put together grey drake looked an absolute mess. His feathers were all out of place and his mane looked dishevelled. You could even see the patchwork of scars that were around his eyepatch.

"What are doing here, Duke?" Johner asked, trying to hide his shock.

"Do you really want me to explain it, out here, in your hallway, where all your neighbours could hear?" Duke answered, his desperation coming off in waves.

"It's not like everyone doesn't already know," Johner sniped back, but he still pushed the door closed to unlatch it and then opened it again, allowing the frantic drake into his apartment.

"Where is she?" Duke asked, looking around the apartment.

"She's asleep," Nosedive lied, "What are you doing here Duke? This is not a good idea, and I know Wing told you to stay put."

"You're a terrible liar, Nosedive and you know that. And like Wing could keep me in one place when I don't want to. Now, where is Roxanne?" Duke stated, trying to sound calm but he just couldn't succeed.

"She's in the spare room," Johner said, gesturing towards the closed door. He tried to explain that Roxie didn't want to see him at the moment, and it would be probably best to give her time to calm down before he confronted her.

But Duke pushed past both Johner and Nosedive to pound on the door of the spare room. He had tried the nob, but found that it was locked. The noise he was making, Johner was sure that the police were going to be called soon so there was no way that Roxie had gone back to sleep. Even she wasn't that heavy of a sleeper.

"Roxanne, open this door!" Duke practically yelled, stunning everyone else into silence. He looked like a man, well, drake possessed.

"Roxanne, please, let me in," Duke softened, pleading with the girl hiding behind the locked door.

"No," Roxie's tiny voice said from behind her fortress of solitude.

"What do you mean 'no'? Roxanne, Angel, please, let me in, I need to know your okay. I need, I need to see you! Roxie, please!" Duke pleaded.

"Please, leave."

"Roxanne, I'm not going anywhere. Yes, this is shit, I know. I didn't expect this at all, but Roxanne, Angel, I love you. I love you and you love me, we can get through this, we can get through this, together. Just let me in and we can talk!"

"Please, just leave. I can't deal with this."

"Well, we're gonna have to! Everyone now knows, Roxanne, we have to deal with the fallout! You can't just hide in this room and hope that it all goes away!"

There was no reply to that outburst, and Nosedive and Johner were feeling really uncomfortable. They could see how distressed Duke was and how desperate he was to see his girlfriend. But they also could hear how broken Roxie sounded. Both didn't know what to do or how to help either Duke or Roxie.

"Roxanne, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I yelled, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I'm just, I'm just so sorry. But, I'm not going anywhere. I'm in this, I'm completely in this, forever. I love you, Angel. So what if no one else understands that, I know that I love you. Please, just open the door and let me in."

Duke had come closer to the door as he spoke, trying to get closer to the girl who was on the other side. He had one hand on the knob and one hand on the wood, with his head leaning against the barrier. And, he had started to let the tears fall from his eyes, as he let all of his emotions spill.

"I can't, I'm sorry. Please, just go," Roxie said after several moments of silence.

"I think you better go," Nosedive said, coming forward to take his team mate by the shoulders and lead him away.

The two drakes then left the apartment, going past all of Johner's neighbours who had left their own apartments to see what was going on. Some were on their cell phones, obviously calling in the latest juicy bit of news to the local stations.

Meanwhile, Johner remained in his silent apartment, closing the door behind the drakes. All he could hear was the buzz of gossip outside and the sobs wracking the small woman in the locked room.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I hope I got the heartache right. I think I went a little OOC though.

palacegirl: yep, the cat is completely out of the bag and won't be able to get back in.

Leandra L'Orange: thanks, but I think I'm just going to continue working on this alone.

masharfsky: oh she will fight having to admit her feelings tooth and nail!

starrat: thanks

TFG