AN: Hi, I'm so sorry for the long wait again. I thought that I would have more time to write during christmas break, but it turned out to be quite the opposite... The holidays have kept me very busy...

Anyway, I'm overjoyed with all the reviews and positive response this story is given. Thank you so much guys:) I swear if it weren't for you this story would never have made it this far.

I really hope that you will enjoy this new chapter.

DISCLAIMIER: I do not own Kickin' it.

Chapter 11

Exchanging Gifts

Reaching my destination I landed on a sign at the side of the parking lot. There wasn't much people around the usually so crowded mall this early Sunday morning.

I doubted that Rudy would be here already, which probably was a good thing, although it might get a little trickier to get inside… There would only be one way in that I could take and be certain that no one would notice me… -The vent system.

Searching the building with my gaze I soon found the square shaped thing that would be my entrance. I took off towards it, wasting no time.

Luckily the horizontal bars that made the grille weren't closer to each other than I could manage to squeeze through, but not without losing a few feathers in the process.

Well inside I quickly made my way through the maze that made the vent system. The mall having been like my second home for years had let me know every corner of it and even though I couldn't see I had a pretty good sense of where I was.

Five minutes later I had found the dojo. Getting out from the air-vent wasn't as easy as entering it though and it took me quite some time to break through the grill. The one in here was made out of plastic and was much weaker than the one outside, but I still had to ram my shoulder into it repeatedly before it finally gave away.

The lights in the dojo were out, telling me that Rudy hadn't arrived yet and no one else seemed to be around. I flew over to the lockers.

Not fully sure that I would be able to do this I grabbed the dial on my locker with my claws. After making sure that I had a good grip on it I started twisting in the air, rotating it and entering the combination.

Luckily it turned out to be easier than I thought and pretty soon the lock clicked opened. Still holding on to the dial I flew backwards, opening the locker as much as possible. I did not want to risk it shutting close once I'd flown inside…

Quickly I dove into the locker, finding the pile of folded cloths that I always kept lying in there in case of an emergency… My jeans were at the bottom, their upper part with the waistband and pockets sticking out. I stuck my beak into the right front pocket, pushing in as hard as I could until I felt the piece of paper I was looking for. Grabbing it I pulled out the ten dollar bill and placed it in front of me. I smiled in triumph, knowing that I'd done the hard part. Now all I had to do was to bring it back without getting noticed.

I rolled the bill up so that I would be able to easily carry it with my feet, before I flew out of the locker, pushing it close behind me.

~~~Wings of Love~~~

I panted as I landed on Jack's bed side table again. I was exhausted from the flight, having flown as fast as I possibly could through town. But I was happy. I had succeeded to get the money and make it back in time without getting noticed.

Climbing up in my towel again I put the ten-dollar bill away, hiding it in one of the many folds of the fabric. I made myself comfortable as I lay down to rest, catching my breath.

It didn't take too long until I heard someone coming up the stairs. The footsteps were lighter than Mr Brewer's and they moved with much more speed. I smiled, looking down at the place I'd hidden the money. Jack was on his way and I couldn't wait to give it to him.

He was getting closer as I eyed the door with anticipation. Much to my surprise though the footsteps made it past the door and went further down the hallway. Somewhere in the distance I could hear a door opening and closing before everything went quiet again. I frowned in confusion. I'd been certain that the person had been Jack. So why hadn't he gotten in here?

I was pretty sure that he didn't have much to do in the rest of the house and as the minutes passed my confusion grew stronger.

I shifted, starting to grow a little impatient as I threw a glance at the digital clock next to me. It had been almost twenty minutes since I heard him making it upstairs and my empty stomach kept nagging me. What took him so long?

If it hadn't been for the fact that the door was closed and I wasn't able to open it I would have left the room to go and search for him. He'd told me that he would hurry to get back…

As I sat there going through all the possible reasons for his delay I suddenly heard the footsteps again. They came from down the hallway, making their way back towards Jack's room.

The very next moment the door opened and the familiar boy stepped inside. Just like yesterday he was carrying a plate with some breadcrumbs and other things that he thought I might like. Closing the door behind him, he looked over at me. A smile made it to his lips as he spotted me and I found myself returning it.

"Sorry for taking so long," he apologized as he got over to me and put the plate down at the same spot he'd done yesterday. "Here you go."

Jack was sitting on the edge of his bed, watching me as I finished my breakfast.

"So," he started. "What do you like to do today? I'm kind of grounded so I'm not supposed to leave the house…" he looked down at his hands as he fiddled with them. "I can understand if you don't like to stay here all day. It's boring as hell." The left corner of his mouth pulled up into half a smile as if he was trying to make the last sentence feel like a joke, although I could see in his eyes that it wasn't. "I have a list of chores to do, which will probably keep me busy until noon. So I won't be that much fun to be around…" he threw me a glance. "You can go outside if you'd like."
I was again surprised over his offering. I very much appreciated his thoughtfulness, although I wasn't going to take it. This house probably held the only key that could lead me back to my body. I needless to say I had to stay.

Whistling I flew from the bed side table and landed on Jack's left shoulder, indicating that I didn't intend to leave. Jack's face brightened.

"You're staying?" I nodded, making him smile. "Okay then…Dad's soon gonna leave to meet with 'the brothers' down at their 'headquarter'." He made air quotes around the words brothers and headquarter as if he thought it was a bit silly. I felt myself stiffen up, listening intensely. Jack didn't seem to notice my sudden interest as he went on talking. "They kind of assemble every Sunday and it usually takes all day. So the house will be clear for you to move around in…" I got a bit disappointed when I realized that he wasn't going to tell me anything more about the order or his dad. But at least I got to know that Jack knew something about it. Even though I wasn't sure that Jack did know exactly what the brotherhood was doing he was still aware of that his dad was part of it.

I wished that I could talk, so that I could ask him about it. But as it was now I had no way of communicating with him like that and all I could do was listening as he continued to speak.

"There're a lot of things to be done…" he mumbled as he pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it. I looked at it from my place on his shoulder. It appeared to be a list of chores. The handwriting was familiar, since I'd seen it on a few notes back in the office and it didn't take me long to figure that it was Mr Brewer who'd written it.

"Okay, first off we have the dishes… then the laundry…" Jack read out loud as I read along with him, without him really knowing it. I don't think he even had thought about me being able to read. "…taking out the trash, vacuuming the first floor, changing Dani's bed sheets…".

The list was long and I wondered how Jack was supposed to get all of that done in half a day, which had been the time line he'd put up for himself. I was afraid I couldn't do much to help him either, being the weak little creature that I was…

Jack sighed heavily and put the note away again.

"We'll start as soon as he leaves…" he said and stood up. I wobbled a little on his shoulder, having not expected him to move underneath me. "In the meantime we have other more important stuff to deal with…" he said as he started walking, back and forth. My problems quickly entered my mind and for a moment I thought that he was meaning them when he'd said 'important stuff'. Of course as I had come to figure he had no clue of who I was or how severe the troubles that I had brought myself into were. All he had on his mind were his own problems. But who could blame him? This kid had probably one of the most complicated family situations I'd ever seen and I hadn't seen all of it. In fact far from it…

"What must I do to raise like seven bucks?" He asked me as much as himself. "I'm pretty sure no one would lend me the money, nor would they hire me to do a job…" I tipped my head to the side, briefly reflecting on how cocky and arrogant Jack used to be at the dojo or at school, driving me beyond annoyance with his attitude, when in reality he had barely any confidence in himself. In the short time I'd spent with him I had already seen him doubt himself numerous times. It's like he was expecting himself to fail as if it was some kind of logic that he couldn't do anything more than accept. "If I were a bit younger I could've made lemonade to sell on the street, but what kind of fifteen year old boy would do that…?" I smiled a little at the picture of him standing by a self made lemonade stand, trying to sell cool drinks to everyone who's passing by.

I wasn't really worrying about what was troubling him, knowing that I'd already solved the problem and as the boy kept pacing, while weighing options I flew across the room to the towel. Jack didn't seem to really pay attention to what I was doing as I landed on the small table and started searching for the ten dollar bill I'd hidden just a moment earlier.

I found it almost instantly within the many folds of the towel. Grabbing it with my feet I lifted again. I whistled, causing Jack to look up at me as I flew through the air. At first he just looked at me with a confused expression, but as I got closer I could see him furrowing his brows as he laid eyes on the piece of paper I had rolled up in my claws.

"What've you got there?" he wondered, holding out his hand so that I could land in it. Dropping the bill in his palm I looked up at him, waiting for his response. Slowly I could see his expression change from confused to surprised then back to confused again as he examined it.

"How…? Where did you get this?" he asked, looking as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Tsip," I tweeted cheerfully. He looked at me curiously.

"Did you find it?" I shook my head, which made him frown a little. "You didn't steal it, did you?" My eyes widen as I started to shake my head vigorously. Of course I didn't steal it!

Jack seemed to be relieved at that answer, although he still seemed a little puzzled. "Then where does it come from?" he asked.

I whistled loudly and pointed at the ten dollar bill with the tip of my wing, before I pointed at myself. The teenager quickly caught on to what I meant, but he was still a bit sceptical.

"It's your money?" he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. I nodded. "How come a bird has money?" I shrugged at that, not finding any better way to answer his question.

After a moment of thinking he shook his head.

"I can't take this."

What? I blinked, not believing what I'd heard. Why wouldn't he? "It's too much, besides it's yours," he said, holding the bill out for me.

Of course it's mine which means that I can do whatever I want with it! And right now I wanted to give it to him. Frustrated I snatched the ten dollar bill with my claws. Why couldn't he just accept it?

"IRRTSIP!" I chirped in annoyance as I flew forward, shoving the money forcefully into his chest. Jack seemed to get what I meant and that it would be useless to try and discuss this with me.

"Alright, alright," he chuckled and took it. I flew away from him slightly so that it would be easier for me to get eye contact, hovering in the air in front of him. He put the money in his pocket and looked up at me. "Thank you," he said. I felt warmth starting to grow in my heart, slowly expanding until it engulfed my entire body by the relief and gratefulness that were projected from his smile. "You're the best."

Taking in his comment I felt proud over my accomplishment and I liked the fact that he liked me… as a friend…

Suddenly Jack's sweet smile turned into a wide grin as if something had just popped up on his mind. Quickly he got over to his closets, opening the first one. I watched him curiously as he started to search through it, practically sticking his whole head in there. After a few moments of intense digging, not seeming to achieve anything but creating a mess Jack found what he was looking for. He stood up straight, holding a shoe box in his hands. Not caring to close the closet behind him, he brought the box over to the desk. Opening one of the drawers he picked up a few pencils before turning to me.

"Which one?" he asked, holding up about fifteen pencils in different colours right in front of me. I instantly picked the bright blue one by pecking on it, using my beak. I've always like that colour. It reminds me of the ocean setting the background to a coral reef and it has that calm yet majestic feel to it. Jack raised his eyebrows at my choice.

"That's my favourite colour," he said and turned around facing the desk again. "Now, don't peek…"

I didn't really pay attention to what he was saying, too caught up in watching as he picked out a piece of paper, a ruler, a pair of scissors and some tape. Noticing me still flapping around in the air behind him, looking over his shoulder he turned around.

"I said; don't peek," he said, trying to sound strict. There was a playful tone to his voice though as he pointed over at the bedside table. "Now go over there or I'll lock you in the bathroom."

Reluctantly I flew over and landed on the towel, feeling Jack's eyes on me as he made sure I did what I was told. I sighed and looked at him just as he turned around and started working on whatever he was doing. His back was facing me, careful to block my view.

Half an hour later Mr Brewer left through the front door downstairs, leaving us alone in the big house. Jack had been working the entire time, occasionally glancing over at me to make sure I wasn't looking. Of course I was curious and I had thought about flying over to him more than once. My conscious had stopped me though. I guess I respected him too much to disobey him...

So to make the time pass faster I had been planning. The fact that Jack had so many chores to do was a good thing, for me anyway. It meant that he would be busy and with a bit of luck I would be able to sneak into Mr Brewer's office again, the place I was sure held all the answers that I needed.

Jack had obviously also heard Mr Brewer leave and he stood up, covering the things on his desk with a blanket.

"I guess it's time for us to start working…" he said, giving me a glance as he walked over to the door.

"Tsip" I flew up and landed on his shoulder, finally being let into the rest of the house.

~~~Wings of Love~~~

Hours had passed. I was sitting on the kitchen counter, listening to one of Jack's stories about his karate tournaments. Not knowing who I was and believing that I didn't know anything about it he had explained in detail how the sport works…

"...he finally went down. I think that's when I really proved to myself that I was as good as my sensei kept telling me. Eric always used to say that I was the best kid my age that he'd ever trained and I started to believe him," Jack said, opening the trash bin. "My parents were there too, cheering on me like they always did back then…" His voice died out and he froze in his movements. The look on his face was blank as memories were flashing through his mind. I'd never heard anything about his life in Washington before, nor had I cared to know anything about it. I think it was the mention of his parents, mostly his mum, or maybe it was the slightly troubled look on Jack's face, or the change in his voice that made me feel unease. And I just knew then that something had happened in his past. Something that had been life changing for him, and probably not for the better…

Suddenly Jack shook his head and grabbed a hold of the trash.

"You coming?" He looked at me. "This will probably be the only chance I get to go outside today, so it shouldn't be wasted…" I whistled and followed him.

The air was warm but still fresh. Jack walked very slowly, heading towards the garbage can. I guess he was trying to make his visit outside as long as possible by taking his time like that. It was a wonderful day and it was a real bummer that we had to stay inside for the rest of it. I took the opportunity to spread my wings, flying in circles around him. He laughed slightly at the sight of me.

The sound of his laughter made me fly faster, making quicker turns before diving down and touching his scalp playfully. He ducked by reflex, laughing harder. The entire thing soon turned into a game of tag and he took off running doing everything he could to avoid my attacks that now came from all directions. Being the skilled martial artist that he was, I have to admit that he was hard to get. But I still managed to land a few hits on him, bumping into him lightly.

Jack ran in circles, having totally lost track of his way to the garbage bin. We were at the edge of the yard, just a few steps away from the street that ran trough the neighbourhood when Jack suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"That's a lovely sparrow you have there." The funny looking lady standing on the sidewalk must have startled him and he immediately tensed, not sure if he could trust her. I on the other hand having instantly recognized her as Claire felt relief, believing that she'd come to help me.

Jack watched her suspiciously as an awkward silence erupted. I landed in a nearby tree, unsure if I should act as if I knew her or not in front of Jack. It was better if Claire handled this since she clearly had the most knowledge of everything going on.

Claire flashed her big smile, realizing that she probably had scared him a little.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Maybe you don't remember me. We met at the tournament last week. I'm Kimberly's aunt." She reached out her hand politely. After a slight hesitation Jack shook it. He seemed to remember her, but he remained silent.

"So…" Claire started. "…nice weather we have today. Perfect for playing outside…" Jack gave her a weird look.

"yeah…" he agreed, not letting his guard down. Claire smiled again and shot me a very brief glance as if she was trying to make contact with me.

"Well I was just passing by… I guess I should get going…" she said awkwardly. "Good day." She gave him one more smile before she started to walk again. Letting her hand fall down to her side she moved her finger ever so slightly, pointing it in the direction she was heading. I knew that the gesture was meant for me. She wanted me to come with her. I looked at Jack who was still watching her, his eyebrows furrowed.

Clearly she didn't want him to know anything…

Jack suddenly shook his head and walked over to the garbage bin to throw the trash away. Taking the opportunity of him having turned his back towards me I flew, quickly catching up with the red-haired woman. I threw a glance over at Jack to make sure he hadn't seen me before I landed on Claire's shoulder, letting her wild locks hide me from his view.

Claire kept on walking as if she hadn't noticed me, although a smile made it to her lips.

"I need to talk to you." She said quietly. "But I can see that you're busy… Meet me by the end of this street tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, when Mr Brewer's at work and the boy's at school." I nodded even though I knew she couldn't see me. Got it; tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.

"Good…now you should probably return to your friend before he starts to worry…"

I jumped off her shoulder and took a shortcut across the yard. Jack had already noticed that I was gone and he now looked up at the branches of the tree he'd last seen me in, obviously searching for me. I flew up behind him silently. Very carefully I took a hold of a few strands of the wavy brown hair using my claws. A mischievous smirk made it to my beak before I suddenly tugged on it. Jack jumped startled and spun around. The surprised and almost annoyed expression on his face quickly changed into a warm smile when he saw it was me.

"There you are," he said. "C'mon, time to go back inside." I whistled and took a seat on his shoulder, as he stared walking. Looking down the street I saw the small figure that was Claire, disappearing in the distance.

I felt anxiousness fill me as I thought about our meeting that was about to come. What was it that she needed to talk to me about?

~~~Wings of Love~~~

"You're keeping your eyes closed, right?" Jack asked for what must be the tenth time. I sighed and nodded. We were back in his room, since Mr Brewer had come back home and it was no longer safe for me to be in the rest of the house. "Okay, don't look…" Jack kept saying as he got closer to where I sat on his bed side table. I could hear something being placed in front of me and my curiousness increased.

"Wait just a moment…" I could feel Jack's hand against my chest, carefully pushing against me, urging me to take a step back. "Okay, now open your eyes."

I did as he'd said immediately. At first I didn't comprehend what it was I saw, but as my wide eyes travelled over the pretty large object in front of me it became very clear to me.

It was the shoebox that Jack had brought out from the closet earlier, although it didn't look the same anymore. He had cut down the sides somewhat and covered the entire thing in white paper sheets. Inside it was a piece of black fleece fabric lying neatly folded. It filled the box all the way up to the edges. The lid had been placed as sort of a headboard and cut out in a shape of a half circle. Also this was covered with white paper and had big blue letters written on it spelling the name 'BUCKY'. I raised an eyebrow, reading it.

"I figured you might wanted your own bed…" Jack said, shyly. "And ehm…I kind of named you…"

I looked up at him, slightly annoyed by the fact that he'd given me a boy name… It shouldn't be that hard for him to look up what kind of bird I was. I mean Claire had already mention that I was a sparrow and if he'd just taken the time to google it or something he would have found out that I was a female since they differ from the males a lot when it comes to coat patterns and colours… I planned on letting him know that I was a girl and I wanted a feminine name, however when I met his eyes I couldn't bring myself to do anything.

"You like it?" he wondered a bit unsure. He seemed worried that I didn't and his brown orbs were filled with that same kind of self doubt that entered them far too often.

I quickly nodded, whistling cheerfully. Jack chuckled, reminding me of just how much I love the sound of his laughter. When I came to think of it I didn't really care what he called me. If he wanted to call me Bucky then so be it. I was only here temporarily anyway…

~~~Wings of Love~~~

I stretched out my body, as I slowly opened my eyes. I'd slept like a baby in my new and very comfortable bed.

Jack and I had spent most of the day yesterday doing chores around the house. He had been very keen for me to keep him company throughout the entire day, never really letting me out of sight. I'd figured it was because he'd been lonely for so long, not having anyone to talk to… Now it was as if he was trying to say everything that he'd kept to himself all these years at once. It was kind of strange to see him like that. The Jack I'd met in school or at the dojo barely ever said anything, unless he felt the need to throw out a rude comment or comeback… Turned out though that he talks…a lot. He'd talked about karate, movies, music and anything in general.

I really liked that, but his intense want and most likely need for company hadn't exactly helped me on my quest. It had been close to impossible for me to find an opportunity to get back into the office. Not even when Jack had mysteriously disappeared into that room he'd been visiting yesterday morning again had I gotten a chance to and I hadn't made any progress at all with finding a way to get back to my body.

If it hadn't been for the stupid full moon on Friday I wouldn't have cared so much. Not any longer. For I have started to really enjoy hanging out with the brunette. It made me happy and I felt that I filled a purpose making him happy.

Today would be that day though. We would make a breakthrough. I was sure of it. Claire had found a way to fix all of this. She must have. Otherwise she wouldn't have come here yesterday in search for me, right?

From the bathroom I could hear the water running, telling me that Jack was already up. I blinked starting to feel more awake now. My mind began to work on a plan to get to Claire without anyone noticing. If Jack would lock me in the house it would definitely be a problem. I would have to sneak out with him when he'd leave for school… If he didn't decide to bring me along, hiding me in his backpack or something, which would be an even bigger problem…

Suddenly the bathroom door opened and I was pulled away from my thoughts, looking at the boy who'd appeared from behind it. My cheeks heated up instantly as I realized that he didn't wore more than towel wrapt around his hips, giving me a full view of his toned torso. His hair was still damp as he smiled at me, noticing that I was awake.

"Good morning Bucky."

I greeted him with a tweet, doing everything that I could to focus on his eyes. He chuckled and turned for his closets. As soon as the eye connection was broken I had nothing to hold on to any longer and it turned out to be impossible for me to not take a peek at his body.

The slightly awkward yet enjoyable tingling I felt quickly turned into a horrifying ache spreading through my heart. Suddenly anger erupted inside of me, slowly growing for each bruise that was disgracing his smooth skin. There were several of them along his arms and upper body. Some of them had almost faded away and some of them were in a deep shade of purple as visible as they'd get.

So much had happened and so much had been going through my brain that I had almost forgotten about the violence Mr Brewer had displayed and the abuse Jack had had to suffer just two days ago. Now the memory hit me with full force, making me feel sick.

I had known back then that the beatings had happened before and the marks on Jack's body only confirmed it and led me to the disturbing conclusion that it would only be a matter of time before it would happen again. I watched the boy going through his wardrobe. He must be knowing it too. Living with his father was like living with a ticking bomb and I hoped that I wouldn't be there to witness the next time it went off, still the thought about Jack being alone with him was awful. How come something like that could continue without anyone noticing?

Jack took out a pair of jeans and tossed them over to the bed, before reaching into his closet again. The towel ending right at his knees moved as he did, revealing a pretty bad bruise starting at the outside of his right knee and probably continuing up over his thigh. In the middle of the now yellow-greenish patch was a cut. It didn't look too deep or bad, but it must've bled quite a bit when it was fresh, not to mention hurt. No wonder he had been limping…

Pulling out two different shirts, a purple one and a striped red and black one, Jack turned towards the bed. His movements were fast and the carelessly wrapt towel around him suddenly became undone and fell to the floor, leaving him butt naked…

My cheeks instantly started to burn and I quickly turned my head away. I was too late though. I'd already seen him and the image was now stuck in my head. The awkwardness I felt only increased as I heard him walking over towards me and the bed.

"Which one?" he suddenly asked. 'Great', I thought, realizing that he was asking me and I couldn't ignore him. Hoping that he'd put the towel back on I slowly turned my head.

My eyes widen before I was able to do anything to control them at the sight of him.

Nope, he definitely hadn't covered himself up. I shut my eyes hard.

"I like the purple one," he said, not seeming to be embarrassed at all over the fact that he was flashing every inch of his body. "What do you think?" I opened my eyes slightly, squinting, so that I was sure that I wouldn't see more than I had to. He was holding up the purple shirt in front of him, waiting for my reply. I nodded, before quickly averting my gaze again. Man, this was awkward…

"Then this one it is…" He made a pause, studying me for a moment. "Are you okay?" he wondered. "You're acting kind of weird." I gave him a reassuring nod, looking everywhere but at him.

I was okay, if he could just hurry up to put some clothes on…

OK that was it. I hope Jack walking around in his birthday suit didn't scare you away...haha;P

As usual I will do my best to get the next chapter up asap, although it takes some time to make these chapters... but as usual your reviews can help speed things up;)

See you around

/MJ *oh and there probably gonna be sneak peeks for those who review...