*gets stabbed with Whisper's pitchfork*

I'm sorry!

And to think, this started out as me trying to write humor!

It was later. How much later he didn't know, but it was definitely later.

His head ached and his stomach flipped and his mouth felt dry.

It was very quiet on the Condor. Only the soft humming of the engine and the steady dripping of leaky pipes filled the tense silence.

Finn stared blankly at the soldered metal tiles of his ceiling as he lay on his bed, his mind chasing itself in circles.

What to do, what to do?

He had two, terrible, horrible options before him.

Option one: he would have to gather his courage and go to Piper, confess that he was the one who'd gone into her room and took not only the recorder but her Truth crystal as well. Then he'd suffer her wrath immediately, and afterwards Aerrow's, and then the rest of their team's. Then he might even be kicked off the Storm Hawks.

Option two: he could let things continue as they were and stay out of harm's way for the moment. But doing so would also keep Piper's anger directed at Aerrow, and their fight would continue. It would destroy their friendship and their team. The Storm Hawks could fall apart and then they'd all be left with nothing again.

The sharpshooter closed his eyes, and rubbed his forehead with his hands. He groaned and felt the sudden, overpowering urge to move, to escape the small confines of his bunk.

He rolled off his bed and quietly walked to the door. The hiss as it opened seemed too loud in the overbearing silence and he flinched. But no one was in the hallway.

Finn stepped into the corridor and looked around: empty.

He made his way slowly to the bridge, walking with his shoulders tensed and his arms held up to his chest, ready to strike at anything that moved. But the bridge was empty also. Everyone must still be in their rooms, he thought.

The paint and Aerrow's half-finished model were still on the table, left as they had been when he'd stood up and gotten hit with the Truth crystal, when this had all started.

Finn slipped into a seat at the round table and poked dejectedly at the dried paint. He wished he could go back in time and slap himself silly at his first thought of sneaking into Piper's room.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"

He jumped at the sudden sound. He hadn't heard the door opening. Turning around, Finn's blue eyes met with Stork's black ones. They stared for another moment or so, until Finn couldn't bare it any longer and let his eyes drop, his face screwing up in pain.

"I didn't think so," the pilot said, as he continued toward the ship's controls.

There was an infinite stretch of very loud silence until,

"I don't know," Finn whispered to the Merb's back, before climbing to his feet.

Stork stopped him at the door, half in the bridge, half out.

"He's not doing so good," he said, keeping his back to the sharpshooter as he steered the Condor out into open sky, "I've never seen him like that before. Well, still haven't really, but I heard him…"

Finn wondered if it was on some instinct that he said 'he' instead of 'Aerrow,' or some backwards kind of way to keep the Sky Knight's pride intact, but it didn't matter.

"And she's not doing so well either. Better than he is at least, but once the anger cools down they'll be about the same."

"I feel terrible enough as it is. Why are you telling me this?" his voice was steady, but at the same time quiet and hopeless.

Stork turned around and simply looked at him, not glaring, but his eyes were piercing, holding him frozen, "So you'll make the right choice," he said.

Finn wandered slowly through the maze of hallways on the Condor, paying no attention to where he was heading, just letting his feet lead him on. He had more important things to worry about then where he was going.

Like: how could he fix this now? And: was there an option that didn't lead to total disaster for someone?

He sighed and shook his head, which he seemed to be doing a lot lately, but what else was he supposed to do to show how hopeless he felt? He groaned instead, and stopped short when it echoed back. Taking a better look around, Finn noticed he was in the hangar.

Shuffling miserably across the large, murky, empty space, he sat on his skimmer and bashed his head between the handlebars. His mind was running in circles: Why? What could he do now? Why did he have to…?

A sharp, wet intake of breath snapped him into awareness. Finn looked around, and froze when he saw Aerrow in the doorway. The Sky Knight had whipped his head to the side when Finn had looked up, and seemed determined to pretend he didn't exist.

Finn couldn't get a good look at his face from this angle, but somehow Aerrow looked different. Was there red around his eyes?

"Aerrow?" Finn quietly tried to get his attention, even though half of him protested trying to speak to him this early. But the Sky Knight ignored him, walking silently, albeit too quickly, to his skimmer, grabbing a small red toolbox on the way. He remained silent as he deftly removed a wrench and began working on the wing of his ride.

Finn stood up slowly, creeping timidly across the hangar, "Aerrow?"

Aerrow paused, his hand sort of hovering near the frame of his skimmer, but he didn't turn around. Finn stopped a few feet away, just out of wrench range, and took a deep breath.

"Aerrow, I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't think this would happen. It was supposed to be a joke, honest. I never meant for-"

He stopped when he saw Aerrow shaking. Was he crying? Argh, why couldn't he make anything better!

Finn was about to put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, was about to apologize again, when he noticed the clenched fists and tensed back. So Aerrow wasn't crying, he was angry? Finn took his cue and left, he didn't want to challenge Aerrow's restraint right now.

Instead he went to Junko. Junko was a compassionate guy, he'd know what to do, he'd have advice. Finn knocked quietly on the mechanic's door, though the sound seemed to vibrate through the entire ship. Junko opened the door pretty quickly, as eager to not upset the delicate 'peace' as Finn was, and ushered his friend inside.

Finn stood in front of the closet packed to bursting with a strange assortment of metal objects while Junko stood nervously on the other side of the room.

"Hey Finn," the Wallop said, attempting a smile, even though he looked as if he'd rather not have Finn in the room with him at the moment.

"I don't know what to do, Junko," he moaned, hands moving to pull at his hair, "Piper hates Aerrow, and Aerrow hates me, and both of them are fighting and it's all my fault!"

"Woah, buddy," Junko gently pried the other's hands off his head, "calm down."

"How can I calm down? I don't know what to do! This wasn't supposed to happen! It was a prank! It was just a stupid joke! And now they're fighting and I'm going to be kicked off the Storm Hawks!"

"No, Finn! Aerrow and Piper will sort this out, they just need time. And nobody wants you gone! I don't, you're my best friend." Junko scooped Finn into a tight hug, not a bone crushing hug like usual, but a nice little squeeze to show he cared.

Finn's eyes looked a little watery anyway, but that might not have been the hug.

"Thanks Junko. But what do I do? How- how do I tell Piper that I took her crystal? You didn't hear her, she sounded really upset. And she said she trusts me. She even used this really big word that I don't get…"

Finn looked up at his giant friend, "What do I say?"

Junko looked thoughtful for a minute, his own concerns about team dynamics breaking forgotten as he concentrated on helping his friend. Finally he shrugged, "Just tell her the truth. The whole truth."

"And nothing but the truth?" Finn quietly attempted the joke, nervously kicking his shoe against the floor as he mentally prepared for what he had to do.

The joke went right over Junko's head as the Wallop gave a reassuring pat on Finn's shoulder, sending him stumbling into the door, "Oops, sorry!"

"Heh," Finn rubbed the back of his head, wincing as he left, looking back at Junko for reassurance. Junko nodded, smiling, and gave him the thumbs up. Finn didn't make it over the threshold; suddenly his own voice was everywhere.

"I've got another question, Aerrow: where did Piper hide my guitar this time?"

"What?" Finn looked around nervously. Who had the recorder now? No one was in the hallway, and it suddenly hit him that the tape was being broadcast over the comm. system!

"No, you can't tell him that!"

"I have to: it's in the engine room Finn, by the back corner, under the big boiler."

Oh no! This was terrible! Piper would hear Aerrow confess, and then Aerrow would get upset and then-

Wait, this could work. If Piper heard the tape, she'd know he'd taken the recorder and the crystal, but she'd also know why Aerrow had stolen the recorder again. She'd get the full story. Aerrow was being a wimp anyway; Piper should know he liked her. But who would broadcast the tape?

Finn twisted nervously to share a nervous, confused glance with Junko, before he took off running for the bridge. The only ones not involved in this were Junko, Stork, and Radarr. If Junko was with him, that left Stork and Radarr. Stork didn't have a motive but Radarr would do anything to help Aerrow.

"Okay then, what's your most illogical fear?"

"Sometimes, I feel like people are watching me. Mostly on missions and sort of right now, only this time it's slightly different."

Did he want the tape to stop? Finn couldn't decide, but he was running out of time either way. He rounded one last corner and slid through the open bridge door; Piper was already there, her face a mixture of confusion, anger, and curiosity, as she stared up at the nearest speaker. As Finn walked farther into the otherwise empty bridge, Junko only a step behind him, Aerrow emerged from a different door. The expression on the Sky Knight's face was almost identical to Piper's; the only difference was nervousness in place of anger.

A hard guitar riff suddenly filled the Condor before fading into Finn's voice,

"Hey, Aerrow, do you love Piper?

Aerrow looked ready to faint, his face was blending in with his hair, and he had to lean against the wall for support. His eyes flickered to Piper's face: she was looking at him too, her expression unreadable.

"Perhaps."

Piper seemed to flinch a bit, but didn't take her eyes from Aerrow's.

"What does that mean?"

"I think she is wonderful as a person, and is especially skilled. She's nice and funny and beautiful and she doesn't hate me, I would do anything to save her…I think I love her."

Aerrow's face did a one-eighty, suddenly draining of all the blood until he was white as a ghost. He gulped and stared fixedly at a rivet in the floor.

"Aerrow?" Piper's voice split the sudden silence.

He refused to look up at her. That is, until he felt her nudge his hand. Her eyes looked kind of wet, and her smile seemed a little wobbly, but she didn't look disgusted or pitying as he'd feared.

"Is this why you took the recorder?" she asked quietly, in a voice devoid of anger.

He nodded, eyes still searching her face nervously.

"Oh, Aerrow, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have blamed you, or yelled at you like that without knowing the full story! I'm so sorry!"

She threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed into the Sky Knight's shoulder, continuing to mumble apologies as her tried to return them, looking slightly out of place.

Finn jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He'd been too absorbed in watching Aerrow's and Piper's reactions that he hadn't heard the door hiss open behind him. Stork pulled him back slightly and whispered in his ear,

"You owe me big time."

"You did that?" Finn spun around to face the pilot. Radarr was perched on the Merb's shoulder, and both of them looked proud of themselves.

"Mostly," Stork admitted, "but you still need to apologize."

Finn winced, and turned back to look at Aerrow and Piper, who were pulling out of their hug.

Piper leaned back, wiping her eyes, slightly embarrassed. But she whispered, "Me too," smiling up at Aerrow.

"Um?" Finn was suddenly behind the navigator, standing just past an arm's length away, nudging the floor with his booted toe.

"I just wanna say I'm sorry, to both of you. I shouldn't have gone in your room, Piper, and I shouldn't have used you like that, Aerrow. I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear! Well, this part I did," he gestured to their still clasped hands, suddenly gaining his old swagger and then losing it in the same breath. "Please don't kick me off the team!"

Two pairs of eyebrows shot up. "Kick you off the team?" they asked in unison, "What would give you that idea?"

"I dunno…"

"But," Aerrow dropped Piper's hand, and stepped closer to Finn, grinning mischievously, "I do remember promising to throw you overboard if you let Piper find out, and well…" he shrugged.

"Heh…w-well I didn't play the tape…"

"Sorry Finn, but a promise is a promise," Aerrow gestured to something behind Finn and suddenly the blonde was lifted clean off his feet as large, four fingered hands wrapped around his upper arms.

"Junko! Put me down!"

Aerrow led the way to the hangar, Stork staying to open the bay doors, with Junko carrying Finn behind him, and Piper and Radarr bringing up the rear.

The Sky Knight stopped at the edge of the landing strip, "Right here's good, Junko."

The Wallop dropped Finn in an undignified heap, and stepped back with the others, grinning. Finn scrambled to his feet, eyes wide as he stared disbelievingly at Aerrow.

"You wouldn't really?" Finn squeaked.

"No? Are ya sure, Finn? You don't think I could get revenge?" Aerrow was grinning ear to ear, though he tried to cover it and act serious as he talked.

Finn leaned forward the tiniest bit and peered over the edge at the rolling clouds beneath the ship, "You couldn't-!"

Aerrow shoved hard, sending the blonde spinning through the air. He shrieked like a little girl as he fell, and the other Storm Hawks laughed the last of the tension out of their bodies.

"Sooo…" Aerrow turned to look at Piper, "I should probably go get him…"

"Yeah," she agreed, stepping forward.

Aerrow hesitantly leaned toward her, and tentatively pecked the girl on the cheek. Then he spun and dove off the runway, face red, but grinning, to go save his sharpshooter.

So? I like it.

Limited romance is the best romance, WHAHA!

Now, I'm gonna go find something for my pitchfork wounds.

Cheers!