Here's chapter 3, picking up the story the next morning. This chapter will really start to explore Jewel's inner thoughts and feelings, sort of how the previous chapters have done so with Blu.

Thank you for the review and the other people who followed/favorited the story since I posted the second chapter. It means a lot to me and helps me stay motivated to continue writing this in a timely manner, by the time I will have posted this I will have probably finished the 4th and 5th chapters, I'd just rather space them out than release them all at once.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 3: Safe with You

It was early in the Morning in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The sun rose over the sparkling waters of the Atlantic Ocean, basking the city in its warm rays. None of this light made its way into jungle room, however, where the last two spix macaws were still sleeping. A lot had happened between them in the short time they had known each other. Just 6 short days ago they were strangers, both having recently been whisked away from their homes and brought to Rio, where they met each other for the first time, in the very room they were now sleeping in. They had come so far since then, their new bond strengthened even more when they had been reunited the previous day.

The lights finally flicked on in the aviary. Having slept for the majority of the past 48 hours, the female was the first to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched her good wing before examining the cast that tightly held her broken one. Just like the previous mornings, she could feel the dull pain slowly increasing in intensity as she continued to wake up. But this morning, something was different. She felt hope. For the first time since the operation, she looked to the future with optimism.

The reason for this was the bird sleeping on the other side of the hollow. Jewel smiled as she looked on, admiring the male as he slept contentedly. She found herself growing more fond of him every time she laid eyes on him. He was the last bird in the world her former self would have expected to feel this way about, and yet now here she was, falling head over heels for a nerdy, domesticated pet. She settled back down and rested her eyes as she waited for Blu to wake up. She had never felt this way before meeting him, and although she had initially avoided confronting these feelings during their adventure together, she now fully accepted them.

Blu was now beginning to stir. He untucked his head from under his wing and slowly blinked, trying to remember where he was. He felt a new and until recently strange sense of warmth and excitement coming from deep in his chest. Blu slowly scanned the inside of the hollow, finally locating the cause of this feeling. He could feel his heart beating a little stronger.

As he looked at her, Jewels eyes slowly opened again. She turned her head and stared back at him, her beak curved in a big smile. She stood up and stretched before walking towards him and sitting down next to him. "Morning, Blu" she happily sighed as she leaned on him, resting her head on his neck.

Blu flinched, a blush forming on his cheeks. He loved having her act this affectionate towards him, but it also made him feel guilty. He assumed she was only doing this because she was in desperate need of help in her current condition. He didn't like the idea of taking pleasure in something that he was sure Jewel didn't intend to be taken as anything but purely platonic.

"Good morning, Jewel." He said in return. "Did you sleep alright?" He asked nervously, trying to shrink away from her.

Jewel barely heard him. She looked over at Blu, who had moved away from her and now sat about a foot away, looking at the floor. Blu's awkwardness was mildly frustrating to her. She knew for a fact that he deeply cared for her in a way that was much more special than he admitted to the previous day. That much had been evident to her from the moment she saw him falling from the plane, giving up the rest of his life just to be with her in her final moments. Still, she couldn't hide her disappointment.

"Blu, is something wrong?" Jewel asked. Blu looked at her awkwardly, already regretting his decision to push her away.

"Sorry Jewel. I just was worried I was hurting your wing." he quickly lied.

Jewel could see right through him, but she chose not to make him any more uncomfortable. She already knew how he felt, and she had no doubt that he would open up to her in time.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Blu" she said in a reassuring voice, smiling at him.

Blu was relieved that he hadn't hurt her feelings, but he still wished he hadn't pulled away from her. He hadn't had a problem with these displays of affection the previous day, when Jewel was in distress, but now that Jewel was acting more like her old self again his nerves had started to return.

Blu knew that he would find out the truth once her wing was healed. He was greatly touched that she was being so kind to him and seemed to want him to be close to her during her recovery, but he thought that could just be temporary. He still felt insecure, thinking so little of himself that he doubted she would stay with him once her need for his care had disappeared. She was a wild, independent bird at heart. He was worried his presence would only drag her down.

"Why don't I go get breakfast for you?" He suggested, hoping he could make up for his actions, and also looking for a way out of this slightly akward situation. Jewel smiled again, moved by the thoughtfulness of the gesture. It seemed to her that Blu always had her needs in mind.

"That would be amazing, Blu." He turned to leave, but Jewel stopped him by extending her wing and gently touching his side. "Thank you, Blu" she said, looking into his eyes as she did so. "Thank you for being so supportive of me. I really, really appreciate you" she cooed, trying to make it clear that her appreciation was of him, and not just his actions. She lowered her wing and tucked it back against her side, smiling at him.

Blu blushed before exiting the hollow. Her words of praise still echoed in his head as he spread his wings and took flight, heading away from their hollow and towards the door. He was so distracted that he didn't see the door opening as Tulio was coincidentally about to enter the jungle room.

Tulio was humming to himself as he approached the door, carrying pain medicine for Jewel along with some food for the macaws. He opened the door, stepped inside, and screamed as he found himself face to face with Blu, who was speeding towards his head. Blu snapped out of his trance and saw Tulio at the last second. "Cheese and Sprinkles!" He cried, trying desperately to slow down. Tulio dived out of the way, and Blu went crashing into the door.

Jewel heard the commotion and poked her head out of the hollow, cringing as she saw Tulio holding the dazed male macaw and stroking the feathers on the back of his head. That was the one thing she didn't quite get about Blu. She had tried her best to reconsider her views on humans, having been forced to concede that some of them did indeed have her best interests at heart, however misguided they were in their methods of achieving them. To Tulio's credit, she admitted, he had done a stellar job mending her broken wing, but she still couldn't trust any humans completely, even him.

Tulio was now walking towards the hollow with Blu perched on his arm, carrying an assortment of nuts and fruit for the macaws to eat. Jewel instinctively retreated into the hollow as they approached. Tulio set the food down on the ground below the tree before turning around and exiting the room, thinking it was best to wait until Jewel was out of the hollow and on the ground before trying to capture and examine her.

Blu, still a little shaken, wisely elected to climb up the tree as opposed to flying. As his head popped up above the lower rim of the opening, he expected to see Jewel grinning or even laughing about what had just happened. Instead he saw her sitting against the back of the hollow, looking slightly afraid. She jumped back slightly before seeing it was just him.

Blu looked at her, wearing a concerned expression. "Umm... Jewel?"

"Is he gone?" she quickly asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Yeah, he left." said Blu, realizing what the problem was. "He was just bringing food for us. Oh and he also had some sort of medicine for you to take, I think he wants to examine your wing after you eat." he said before quickly adding "Don't worry, he's not trying to hurt you. I...I can come with you if that makes you feel better."

He spoke the last bit nervously, but was relieved to see that Jewel seemed to like this suggestion. It looked like she had relaxed, at least a little bit.

Blu helped Jewel get down from the hollow, and they sat down to eat on the ground beneath the tree. Jewel looked around nervously, half expecting Tulio to jump out from behind the tree and grab her, but they seemed to be alone. She looked over at Blu, who was curiously sniffing the food in front of him, much of which looked unfamiliar. She felt safe with him, even if he was a bit of a wimp.

She smiled and said "Thank you for getting breakfast for us, Blu." She looked at him, grinning, before she teased "or should I say attempting to get breakfast for us."

Blu looked slightly embarrassed. "Oh, you saw that?" He asked sheepishly.

Jewel smiled. "At least you tried. It was still thoughtful of you." She watched him as she said this, and saw him slip a brazil nut into his mouth before he smiled back at her.

"I thought it was kind of cute"

Blu choked on the brazil nut

•••

Tulio had both macaws in a small carrier as he walked out of the jungle room. Blu had been right, shortly after they had finished eating Tulio had come in and whisked Jewel away to examine her. Jewel looked terrified, and Tulio almost made it out the door before Blu flew over to them and clung onto the side of the carrier, squawking wildly at Tulio.

As they stood there together in the carrier, Blu could see someone waiting in a chair by the main door of the building. He squawked in excitement when he got close enough to see it was Linda.

Linda ran up to Tulio before bending down to scratch Blu below the chin through the opening in the crate. He hadn't realized it until then with how eventful things had been, but he had gone a full 24 hours without seeing her, probably the longest they had ever been apart, with the only exception being a few days ago when he was stolen by the smugglers.

"You should have seen it!" Tulio was saying as he spoke to Linda in his usual excited tone. "I tried to take Jewel to be examined, but Blu wouldn't let me take her alone. He was so protective of his girlfriend!"

Blu froze, not daring to look over at Jewel. His cheeks turned bright red for what seemed like thousandth time in the past two days as he quickly turned his head away and looked in the opposite direction.

Jewel tried to hide a smile as she watched Blu's reaction. She loved how bad Blu was at trying to hide his feelings. As she waited for Blu to recover from his embarrassment, she couldn't help but think about what it would be like when they were finally considered a couple, when Blu was no longer afraid to accept her love and to express his own love for her without restriction.

Tulio took them into another room and set the carrier down on a table that was positioned in the middle of it. He opened the door and reached in, trying to grab hold of Jewel.

Jewel instinctively tried to bite his hand as she retreated further into the crate, but Blu placed a wing over her and looked at her reassuringly, just like he had at the airport when they had first sought after Tulio for help regarding her wing after the plane incident. She looked back at Blu, her faith in him evident in her fearful but trusting eyes, before allowing herself to be picked up. Blu climbed out of the crate after her as Tulio set her down on the table.

Tulio removed the bandage and began poking and prodding at Jewels wing, gently feeling her weakened bones. He then took an X-ray to get a clear view of the progress. Normally these checkups were a pain for both of them, as Jewel fought back with as much strength as she could muster from her weak body, which luckily wasn't very much. So far Tulio had been able to examine her pretty easily, but it was very stressful for her.

However with Blu by her side it was mildly annoying at worst. She took comfort in knowing that the usually timid and anxious bird beside her displayed no worry as he watched Tulio work, and she found herself no longer feeling afraid.

That was until Tulio brought out a needle, however. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized Tulio planned to poke it into her. She frantically looked over at Blu, who still stood there watching.

Blu could see that she was panicking. He felt bad for her. Having been raised around humans and regularly visiting the vet, Blu had a few shots given to him over the years. But to Jewel, who had never been around humans, this was obviously terrifying.

"Jewel, listen to me." He said to her, as she squirmed in Tulio's hands, trying to escape. "I know it seems scary. But it's going to help you. It's just a quick poke, and it's done. It will be over before you know it."

Jewel stopped struggling, so Tulio set her back down. She looked at Blu, who reached out a wing to her. Jewel let out a deep breath before reaching out her own wing to him and grabbing hold of his. She closed her eyes as she saw the needle getting closer. Jewel fought the urge to panic. She focused on Blu, whose wing she held with a tight grip, and braced for the horrible pain that was about to come.

Jewel felt a slight prick. A tiny jolt of pain shot outward from where it had entered, and just like that it was over.

She opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She was still holding onto Blu's wing as she turned to face him.

"See, Jewel, that wasn't that bad, was I-"

He didn't get to finish. Jewel pulled herself against him and hugged him tightly with her good wing, burying her head in his soft chest feathers. This time Blu didn't shrink away. He wrapped his own wings around her and held her tightly, wishing he never had to let go.

And that's chapter 3. I honestly had no idea where I was going with the story after I finished the second chapter, but it all came to me as I started writing this one, and now I have a clear vision for how I want to continue and ultimately conclude it. Remember to leave a review, positive or negative, so I know how I can improve the next chapters.