Wow, I'm quite amazed that I've already gotten 13 reviews in just three chapters. Thanks for the positive feedback.

Blu woke up again to the sun's rays hitting his eye. I really need to sleep in a different spot. He saw Jewel next to him, but saw no reason to wake her up early like last time. He got up and walked out of the hollow. Outside, he looked at the branch they sat on last night. He thought of the story Jewel told him. He needed to cheer her up, he thought. He decided to get a mango slice for them to share.

...

Blu returned with the mango slice. Túlio had also given him a Ziploc bag of apple slices and grapes. He brought each up to the hollow individually, knowing that the effort of carrying both the bag and the mango would be too much for him.

Upon returning from the second trip, he found that Jewel had woken up.

"Good morning, Blu," she greeted.

"Good morning, sleepy head," he said back.

"Did you get this for me?" she asked him, pointing at the mango slice.

"Yeah, of course. I thought you might need some cheering up." He paused. "Look, Jewel. I-I'm real sorry about last night. I should have never brought that up."

"Don't be. Think nothing of it. Come on, let's eat the mango."

They both ate slowly—or rather they tried to, but the mango was especially sweet. When they finished it, Blu pulled over the bag of apples and grapes.

"What are those, Blu?"

"What? You've never had apples or grapes?"

"Never heard of 'em."

"Oh, they're delicious. They're quite common in America. I think I even saw someone selling them when I first came here."

"Huh. Well I've never seen them in the jungle. Can you pass me one of those round ones."

"That's a grape. Here you go," he said, passing her a grape.

She tore half of it off with her beak, wanting to get a good taste of it. It was pretty sweet, but nowhere near as good as the mango. After swallowing, she said, "Wow, this is good, but I think I still prefer the mango. But, I guess it's good to change it up a bit." She threw the rest of the grape into her mouth. She stuck her head into the plastic bag and tried the apple. It was awful, though there was nothing wrong with it. She somehow managed to swallow it though. "Ugh, I don't think I like this one. It's disgusting!"

Well that's a bit harsh, don't you think? Blu thought, before taking a bite from the same apple slice. "I don't know what you're talking about. It tastes fine to me," he got out with a full beak.

When they both had their fill, Jewel asked him, "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Hmm... I don't really know. I guess we could just go to Linda's house today, but I don't really know what we'd do there."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could go outside to get some fresh air. I could show you around Rio."

"No, Jewel," Blu firmly told her. "You need to stay here so that your wing can heal."

"But, Blu—"

"I said 'no', Jewel."

Jewel looked at the floor in defeat. "Okay... I understand."

Great, what do I do? He didn't want to see her like this, especially after he'd already made her feel bad the night before.

After a long silence, Blu said, "Fine. I'll... I'll see what I can do."

Jewel looked up at him happily. "Thanks, Blu."

"Okay, but just... just wait here."

Blu flew out of the hollow and to the metal door and knocked a few times. Somebody opened it for him and he walked through. He flew over to Túlio who was, as usual, taking of a "patient." Before getting his attention, he grabbed the pencil next to him and a sticky note. He wrote down, "Jewel wants to go outside and get some fresh air, so can we?"

When it seemed that Túlio had finished, Blu squawked to get his attention. Túlio turned and saw the note. "No," he firmly said.

Blu took a moment to think. Guess I have to go with plan B. I wish I'd never thought of that. Blu added to the note, "Please? It might strengthen our relationship and" He wanted to die as he wrote the next part. "she may want to mate while we're out there."

Túlio read the added part and as his eyes opened up to realization. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." Yep. Blu knew just how to manipulate him.

Back in the hollow, Jewel paced back and forth thinking, Come on, Blu. Please say yes, please say yes.

Blu returned. He could feel that he was still blushing from what he had written on the note. "He said ye—" Before he could even pronounce the last letter. He was tackled to the floor by Jewel.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said as she hugged him hard, really hard.

Her hug and weight on his chest were making a double-blockade for air.

"Jewel... can't... breathe..."

"Oh! Sorry!" She got off.

When Blu had calmed his breathing, he said, "Okay, let's go."

He flew her down to the floor and they walked out of the still-open door.

They waited at the entrance/exit door to the Conservation Center for Túlio to let them out. He walked over to them with two small devices. They were small enough to fit on their legs without hindrance. "I'll need you two to wear these. They're GPS trackers so I'll know where you are."

He strapped one snuggly onto one of each of their legs. He opened the door and told Blu, "Good luck, Blu."

"Good luck with what?" Jewel asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Blu quickly said before taking to the skies.

...

"Beautiful isn't it?" Jewel asked.

"Yeah," he answered, amazed by the beauty.

Blu asked her, "So where do we go first?" He had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind.

Jewel put some thought into it. She wanted to go to the jungle, but they could do that later. "We should go to the Christ the Redeemer statue." Blu knew exactly what that was, based on the name.

He flew her to it and put her down gently on Jesus' head. "Yep, I remember this," she said, looking out at the ocean.

"What do you mean? You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I used to come here all the time when I was troubled or just to think."

'Troubled.' Jewel must have had a some good parents for her to still think about them after all these years. He felt bad for her, but strangely not himself. To be honest, he'd never really thought a lot about his parents. Considering he was probably only a few months old when he was captured. He didn't know the fate of his parents. But, he and Jewel are the last of the species, so he assumed the worst.

"Jewel. If... If you're not comfortable here, we can leave."

"Oh, no, no, no. You put a lot of effort into bringing me up here. I wouldn't want to waste that."

He and Jewel sat together on the statue's head for the next hour, enjoying each other's company. Every so often, they would find something to comment on.

"You did WHAT?" Linda yelled into the phone's speaker

"Listen, Linda. Blu told me Jewel wanted to go outside with him for a bit. They're wearing trackers. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well how long have they been gone?"

Túlio looked at his watch and hung up the phone. He left immediately in the Jeep.

"So, how did you learn to read and write?" Jewel asked Blu.

"Well, Linda was writing in her diary one day, and she noticed that I was watching her. She asked me if I wanted to learn and I agreed."

"How long did it take for you to learn?"

"It took me about two weeks to get the hang of it, but in a few months I could read short novels and write full paragraphs on my own. Of course, because of the language barrier Nico mentioned, I wasn't able to ask any questions until I had a good understanding."

"Do... Do you think you could teach me... since I'll be stuck there in the room for two weeks?" Well, this was the last thing Blu would ever expect Jewel to ask of him. He didn't know why, but her personality just didn't seem the kind that would accept learning.

"Uh, yeah sure. When do you want to start?"

"Tomorrow, I guess."

There was an awkward silence, since neither of them really knew how to transition out of this conversation. Blu decided to ignore flow. "So, do you want to go, now?"

"Yeah, let's go to the jungle."

Blu froze. The jungle? Why'd she have to pick there? As much as he really didn't want to go, he wanted to keep Jewel's spirits up, so he accepted.

...

They were now in the jungle. Blu decided to stay high in the trees to avoid any possible snakes on the ground. Jewel was directing him on where to go. Blu didn't know why she was so particular, but she was actually leading him to the area she used to live in.

"So where are we going, Jewel?"

"We're going to my old home," she simply said.

Blu stopped at the next tree. He looked at the ground, taking time to choose his next words wisely. "Look... Jewel... I... I don't think there's a point in going. You're parents won't be there..." He said the last part with regret.

"I... I know, Blu, but I just feel like I... I have to make sure, okay?" She looked at him. Her eyes seemed glossier than usual. With just one look, Blu decided not to argue over it.

"Okay, just tell me where to go."

Jewel led the way to the tree she used to call home. Blu let her off at the hole leading inside. Jewel slowly walked in and looked around. No one was there, like every other time she had come before. Blu heard her sniffle and walked in.

"Jewel? Are... are you alright?"

"There's still my friend's tree. Take me there," she commanded with tears in her eyes.

Blu complied and brought her to the tree she directed him to. They both walked in and saw that the hollow was empty except for a pile of twigs. The twigs were obviously from a really old nest as they were dry and broken. Seeing that nobody but them was in there, Jewel put her head on Blu's shoulder. "You're all I have left," she told him through her tears.

Blu hugged her for a few minutes to comfort her, but he finally said, "Come on, let's go home now."

"Okay."

Flying out of the hollow, Blu gave one look back over his shoulder toward the tree. It's nothing, just my imagination, he thought.

On their way out of the jungle, they came across Túlio (he was walking, not in he Jeep), who was perplexed as to why they both seemed sad. He decided to leave the couple alone, not wishing to make them relive the details.

Not much else really happened that day. Túlio brought them to Linda to prove to her that they were safe and sound. They started talking about Túlio's work like they had done the previous day. Blu and Jewel just talked some more to each other, sharing stories of various parts of their lives. Naturally, Blu was more open than Jewel. They also chatted with some other birds on Facebook. Many of Blu's friend congratulated Blu on finding himself a nice girl, but Blu insisted that they weren't together. Jewel didn't know what to think. Was it cute that he was shy about the subject, or should she be a little mad that he didn't consider them a couple? They all watched a few movies together, and Túlio didn't get back to the Conservation Center with Blu and Jewel until eight.

...

"Thanks for taking me out today," Jewel said to Blu as they lay down next to each other in the hollow.

"Oh, sure. No problem, Jewel."

"So you promise to start teaching me how to read and write tomorrow?"

"Of course. I don't really have anything else planned for the next twelve days."

She smiled. "Good night, Blu."

"Good night, Jewel," he said, smiling back.

Yeah, not really my best work, I know. I've had this chapter ready for a few days and have been trying to think of ways to improve it, but honestly I just couldn't think of any necessary details to add.

To therobotchicken fan (I like that name): I like the idea. I will take it into consideration. (To your second comment) Well, obviously, you haven't read anything by Corration, the best author in the Rio Archive.

To Aninat131 and Lazy Reviewer (regarding the cute moments between Blu and Jewel): Yeah I guess that was the goal of chapter 3.

To Lazy Reviewer: Wow, I'm surprised that I got a comment this long on only the third chapter. I'm glad you're enjoying it (this sentence applies to everyone else).