Disclaimer: I don't own anybody who was ever on the show.

Chapter 5

Around noon, Emerald had fallen asleep, Nosedive and Veranda were talking, and Tanya and Mallory were again having a conversation.

"Why haven't you slept Mallory?" asked Tanya.

"Well, I promised myself that I would not sleep until my daughter and I are safe with Duke."

Just then, eight very familiar people entered the room. Everybody in the large room turned to see who it was.

"WING!"

"DUKE!"

Both Tanya and Mallory jumped up and ran straight into their husband's arms.

Wildwing had changed into his street wear. He knew Tanya didn't want to run into the arms of the team leader. She wanted her husband, Wildwing Flashblade, the man she had fallen in love with.

Duke held Mallory tight. "Oh Mal, I was so worried!" Mallory rested her head on Duke's collarbone, happy now that she was with her beloved husband once again.

Nosedive and Veranda got up to see what all the commotion was.

"Wing, bro, you made it!"

After the couples managed to let go of each other, Duke and Mallory went to the nursery to look at their daughter.

The doctor working there smiled at them and said "I wish I could be as lucky as you two, having your own little girl to raise into the family."

"You'll get your chance too," assured Mallory. The doctor led them into the room. "Just wait until see her," said Mallory. When they reached the bed, Mallory picked up their daughter and held her so Duke could see her. "Here she is."

Duke seemed spell bound by sight of her. "I've never seen eyes like that before," he said.

"It's amazing, isn't it?"

"What are we going to call her?"

"I've been thinking, since she's extraordinary, I thought we should give her an extraordinary name."

"Makes sense. Have you thought of any yet?"

"No, but Emerald did. How does Kolena sound?"

"Where did she get that name?"

"She said that it means 'rising of the sun' in the ancient Artica language."

"Sounds like it fits her perfectly."

"Well? Is that what we're going to call her?"

Duke smiled. "Sounds good to me," he said, pushing back some of Mallory's bangs.

As they left the room, Mallory looked at him, smiled, and said "I always imagined myself getting married to a civilian or an army officer, but not a thief. I never thought that Duke L'orange would be the right man for me."

As they entered the room where the team was waiting, a bunch of "Aws" came from the crowd around them. Sunstar, who was pushing the now awake Emerald in her wheelchair, wheeled Emerald over to have a better look.

"What's her name?" asked Firestar.

"We agreed on the name Kolena," said Mallory.

"Kolena, that's different."

"That's because our little girl is different," said Duke, letting Kolena grab hold of his finger. Kolena opened her eyes and the crowd around them awed again.

"How do you get yellow eyes from green and dark green?" asked Waterstar.

"We don't know. That's why she's different," said Mallory.

They all loaded into the Migrator and began the long trip home. Kolena was put in a bed that was earlier prepared by Firestar and Waterstar towards the back of the Migrator. Duke and Mallory must have been really tired, because they fell asleep, Mallory's head resting on Duke's shoulder and Duke's head resting on hers. Waterstar nudged Firestar and pointed at them. They both unbuckled their seat belts and took a blanket from the closet. They covered up the couple and returned to their seats.

-

A few hours later, they arrived at a rest stop.

"Somebody wake up Mallory and Duke, we're going to get something to eat and then we're going to hit the road again."

Waterstar walked up to Duke. She gently shook his shoulder. "Duke, Mallory, wake up."

"Hmmm?" Duke lifted his head.

"Wake up, we're at a rest stop,"

"Oh, I'm up." he looked at Mallory.

"Mal, wake up," he said, pushing some bangs out of her face. Mallory's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Mal, we're at a rest stop. We're going to get some food if you're hungry."

"I suppose I could use a snack or two," said Mallory. They both lifted the blanket off of them and they checked on Kolena. "I'm not going to leave her in here," said Mallory as she carefully picked her up. Emerald and Veranda stayed in the Migrator while everyone else went inside the rest stop.

It looked more like a gas station, minus the gas pumps. Nosedive was towards the Twinkies section, the Sisters were scattered in the isles, Wildwing and Tanya were at the check out line, Mallory and Duke were at the refrigerated section, and Razorwing was looking at the sodas. No one noticed the two men wearing black ski masks until they shot their guns into the air.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

People screamed. Kolena started crying.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!" shouted one of the men, pointing the gun at the crowd. Both of the men turned to the frightened cashier.

"Empty the register," ordered one.

All three froze when they heard a faint buzzing sound. The cashier dropped the bag she was holding and was staring in fright past the robbers. Both the men turned to see the barrels of ten pucklaunchers pointed right at them.

"You just made a big mistake," said Wildwing. Razorwing looked at the cashier. He nudged his head towards the phone on a wall, signaling for her to call the police. She understood and darted out from behind the counter and grabbed the phone. Mallory hid in the isles, not wanting to get too involved. She was helpless with Kolena in her arms.

-

In less than five minutes a few squad cars showed up and police poured out of each one. They surrounded the two men and arrested them. While the police talked with Wildwing and the cashier, Duke looked for Mallory. Mallory was sitting against a wall, trying to calm Kolena down, when she heard footsteps approaching. She kept still. She knew the person was most likely friendly, but she couldn't take any chances with her baby. When she saw that it was Duke, she breathed a sigh of relief. Duke helped her up.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Mallory nodded, holding Kolena close to her, who was still wailing. Duke gave Mallory a small hug to comfort her. "It's alright, the police have the men in custody."

Kolena stopped crying and she moved a little bit trying to get comfortable in the blanket she was wrapped in. They walked to the ring of police and Mallory kept a good hold on Kolena.

When the police were done talking to Wildwing, he gathered up the rest of the team and said, "Let's get out of here before the press shows up." They all got in the Migrator and drove away before the news van showed up.

"What happened in there? We heard gunshots," asked Veranda.

"Some idiots tried robbing the place. We stopped them," said Razorwing.

"Looks like somebody's in a bad mood today," said Firestar.

Razorwing gave her a dirty look.

"That's enough," said Wildwing. "Were all in a bad mood today. It's been a rough week."

To be continued…