The second time Steve attempted to fly, he waited until Danny was out of the house, and Steve was sure he wouldn't be back for several hours. Mindful of last time's near disaster, Steve pointed himself out to sea. There wouldn't be any buildings to run into there.

Steve spread his wings and tried to remember how he'd gotten airborne last time. He decided to flap his wings as hard as he could and pray. Wonder of wonders, it worked, and Steve found himself airborne. It was only about six feet, but it would do. Steve decided to keep it low this time—less chance of damage to himself and his surroundings.

Now, forward motion. Stretching his neck forward seemed to work last time, so he tried that again. Good, he was moving forward—not smoothly or quickly, but steadily. Steve decided slow and steady was the way to go for now.

He flew out over the ocean, claws occasionally skimming the waves, motion getting steadier as he went on, speed and altitude constant. He was getting the hang of this!

After a couple of minutes, Steve decided that was good enough for a first—okay, second—try, and headed home. Or at least, attempted to. He realized he wasn't actually sure how to turn around. He took a stab at turning his body around, but his wings wouldn't rotate and his tail got in the way. He went crashing down into the water.

Steve panicked. The water wasn't deep—maybe only 20 feet-but it was still over his head, even in dragon form. He tried to swim to the surface, but his wings met resistance and his legs scrabbled for purchase, and nothing he did seemed to help. The surface was so close, but he couldn't get there.

Steve grew frantic. His body just wouldn't respond, and he didn't know what to do. Steve knew he should remain calm—his military training taught him to keep his head in the toughest situations—but this was too new, too different. His SEAL training hadn't prepared him for this.

SEAL! Of course! He was a SEAL! Tamping down his panic, he concentrated and shifted. As soon as he was in human form, he shot towards the surface, gulping down huge breaths of air. He treaded water for a moment, getting his bearings, then started swimming to shore.

A wave of anxiety hit him, and he knew its source immediately. Danny. He must have come home early and felt Steve's panic. Uh-oh. This was so not good.

No sooner had those thoughts run through his head than large talons snatched him up and lifted him free of the water. "Steve! Oh, my God, what happened? Did you get a cramp? Are you okay? It felt like you were drowning—I felt you all the way from the car!"

Steve tried to keep his mind blank, but he couldn't help an image of the crash flashing across his mind. He feverishly hoped Danny hadn't felt it.

No such luck. "You what!?" Danny almost dropped him. Steve thought he'd almost prefer being dropped back in the ocean to the rant he knew was coming. "You nearly drowned, freaked me out, made me leave our son in the car, all because you thought you could just take off and fly across the ocean!? What were you thinking!?"

"I wasn't?" Steve thought tentatively.

They reach land, and Danny dumped Steve unceremoniously on the beach. Then he shifted, waving his hands in time with his words. Steve didn't know what Danny would do if he was stuck in dragon form and couldn't use his hands while he talked.

"You're damn right you weren't thinking!" Danny shouted. "You can't just take off and fly at will! You have to learn, Steven! Look at what happened! You almost drowned! You could have died, Steve!"

Steve hung his head in shame. He hadn't meant this to happen. He didn't mean to scare his husband like that. "I'm sorry, Danny."

"Sorry? You're sorry? You'd better be sorry, Steve! You promised me you wouldn't go flying alone. You promised."

Steve felt guilty at the way he'd deceived Danny. "Technically, I just agreed. I didn't actually promise."

"I don't believe you, Steve! I hope our son doesn't grow up to be as devious as you. What am I going to do with you?!"

"Teach me to fly?" Steve suggested timidly.

Danny deflated. "That's the only way I can guarantee you won't go off doing stupid things like this, isn't it? Okay, fine. I'll teach you." Steve nearly cheered. Danny held up a finger. "But we start on land, Steve. Then, when I think you're ready, maybe, maybe mind you, we'll try getting you up in the air."

Steve was disappointed.

"What, did you think you could just flap your wings and fly, just like that?" Danny looked at Steve, who once again tried—unsuccessfully-to keep his mind blank. "You did, didn't you? I can't believe you! When you learned to fly a helicopter, you didn't just take off, did you?"

"Well, actually. . ." Steve began.

"Oh, my God! Unbelievable!"

"It was a mission," Steve explained. "The pilot got shot, and somebody had to get us out of there."

"And of course it had to be you, SuperSEAL. I'm surprised you didn't crash into a mountain."

"It was in the jungle," Steve said.

"And just how many trees did you flatten? Never mind, I don't want to know."

Steve brought the subject back to the matter at hand. "So you'll teach me?"

Danny sighed. "Yes, I'll teach you. Land ONLY."

"But. . ." Steve protested.

"That's the deal, Steve," Danny said firmly. "Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it."