Mallory and Wildwing walked through the restaurant's parking lot to the duckcycle they had taken, both looking a little worse for wear. Mallory's dark jeans thankfully hid most of the wine stain adorning her thighs, but it did not hide the dark red blotches caused by the cherry pie.
A vigorous scrubbing in the restaurant's restroom had gotten most of the food off her blouse, jacket and hair, but a sizeable bruise could be seen forming on her forehead from where Mindy's softball arm had whacked her with a dish.
Wildwing had also managed to get most of the food stains out of his clothes, aside from the assortment of blotches in a very uncomfortable area thanks to a stubborn fruit tart. To hide the embarrassing coloring he had taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist, using its arms to cover most of the afflicted region on his jeans.
Wildwing looked tired. Mallory looked like it was taking all of her reserved energy to keep from blowing up.
In the restaurant, as they had wiped globs of dessert off their clothes and Mindy left to retrieve more napkins, Wildwing had commented, "I'm surprised you haven't bitten her head off yet."
Mallory, rubbing her head gingerly, had responded, "Well, you told me I should work on controlling my temper." As her hand came back she realized she had tiramisu stuck to her forehead and hair. She angrily threw the pile of food onto the table. "…It's a trying process," she had added through gritted teeth.
Wildwing smirked a little at the memory, causing the present Mallory to side glance him with a raised eyebrow.
"I could have a concussion and you're laughing?"
Wildwing, still smiling, slipped his arm around Mallory's waist. "Aw, you're fine. She did have on hell of an arm though, didn't she?" he used his other hand to tenderly brush some hair away from the developing bruise.
"At least you don't smell like a liquor store."
"No, just an assortment of fruit and whipped cream."
Mallory smiled at that. "Back home to regain what little dignity we have left?"
Wildwing's free hand subconsciously went to the outside of his pocket, relieved to still feel the box nestled inside. Mallory thankfully hadn't noticed his subtle movement so he stopped them next to the duckcycle, turning her towards him. "I was hoping to steal you away for longer than dinner tonight…."
He wrapped his arms around Mallory, bending down to affectionately kiss the bump on her forehead. She cringed a little from the pain but didn't pull away from his embrace.
"Well, I'm not going anywhere inside. The next tabloid would have an exclusive on my newly acquired alcohol problem."
Wildwing laughed, lifting Mallory up and sitting her on the duckcycle. She eyed him suspiciously but swung her leg over as he mounted in front of her on the bike, handing her one of the helmets hanging off the handlebars.
"How about the beach then?"
Mallory smirked, putting the helmet on and wrapping her arms around Wildwing's waist as he gunned the engine. "A little sand never hurt anyone."
"Wildwing!"
"Hold on, hold on! I'm thinking!"
"Think faster!"
Wildwing did not want to change to battlegear, because if he did he'd change all the other team members to battlegear as well, which would basically elude them to an emergency.
And while this was certainly a good time for a puckblaster, it wasn't necessarily an emergency.
"AGH! Wildwing, please!"
The evening at the beach had at least started out nicely. Seal Beach was only a few miles north of Sunset Beach, and Wildwing had thought it'd be a bit more reclusive than the media frenzy that seemed to swarm the beach Mallory and Wildwing had picnicked at over a year and a half ago.
And, sure enough, it was. They had been able to walk the beach together, talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company, the fiasco at the restaurant earlier almost forgotten.
They had come across some small rocks, easily crossable, which led to what looked like a pretty private retreat in the cliff side. Mallory, with a seductive grin on her face, had grabbed Wildwing's hand and led him over there.
In the moonlight it was hard to tell the rocks from bodies, however, and Mallory had the misfortune of stepping down onto the latter.
With a loud bark, the large seal sat up, causing Mallory to yelp herself as she lost her footing, falling the last couple of feet into the sand.
"Mallory, you okay?"
"What is that!" Mallory shrieked, scrambling up and away as the seal aggressively raised its neck and wormed its way closer to her.
Wildwing, behind the seal and suddenly aware of the half dozen other "rocks" around them in the clearing, cautiously stepped towards Mallory. "They're … seals."
"I thought this place didn't get seals anymore?" Mallory asked, jumping a little as the seal barked at her again.
"I didn't think it did. But it's winter, and I think I read that's when they migrate here, if they do."
"Well, this one isn't too happy with me, Wing. How do I call it off? Wing? WILDWING!"
Wildwing, lost in his thoughts leading up to this sour turn of events, realized present Mallory had been calling to him, continuously backing away from the angered seal. Unable to really do anything else, he ran forward and grabbed the tail of the angry seal, avoiding the other seals that seemed to remain asleep or not care enough to move away from the scene before them.
Knowing it was a stupid idea before doing it, Wildwing gave the tail of the seal a quick yank, channeling the sea mammal's aggressive behavior toward him instead of Mallory. With a furious bark it turned and approached him, causing Wildwing to do the same dance backwards his female companion had been doing moments prior.
Mallory took the opportunity to sneak around to the other side of the clearing, where more rocks enclosed the area from the water below. Wildwing managed to back up where they had entered the alcove and began climbing back up the rocks when the seal gave no sign of easing up on his chasing.
"Can you get up there okay?" Wildwing called, watching Mallory on the other side make her way up the slimy rocks.
"Yeah, I think so. I'll just head over to the beach on the other side and find some stairs that lead back to the main road, okay?"
"Sounds good. Be careful," Wildwing added, finishing his climb to the top of the rocks. Looking down it appeared the angry seal had lost his temper, or was too lazy to chase Wildwing any further. Satisfied that the two ducks were out of the clearing, it settled back into its original resting spot.
Mallory finished her slightly higher climb up the rocks on the other side, smiling at Wildwing before turning to head down to the beach.
The moonlight foiled them again, however, because one "rock" Mallory stepped on turned out to be something else entirely.
More startled than angry like the other seal, this sea mammal barked out of surprise, sitting up and frantically trying to pass Mallory to jump into the ocean behind her.
"Hey, whoa! STOP!" Mallory stumbled backwards, trying to move out of the seal's way as quickly as possible. But on slimy rocks facing a cliff edge, it was pretty much Murphy's Law waiting to happen.
With a shriek and a bark, both Mallory and the seal went into the ocean a dozen feet below, the former falling backwards and the latter diving in intentionally.
"MALLORY!" Wildwing saw the scene unfold and had already been making his way over to her. Without a second thought he dove in after Mallory, wishing more than anything the water below lacked a rocky bottom.