(A/N; This chapter is very depressing, read at your own risk.)

Danielle didn't respond, but she slowly walked out of the room. She was too upset with herself to care where she was going. The one thing she did know was, she wanted to be away from others. Not wanting to hear anyone berating her. It's bad enough that the captain did, but to hear it from her other comrades would be too much. Even though she deserved it.

"You hear me once on this. Mind your manners from now on,' A voice inside her head threatened. ' or I'll do worse than slap you. Got me?"

"Yes, Ironbill."

The cream colored dolly shook away the memory. Her mind cleared for a moment to find she was near the storage bay. Where the soldiers would bring in supplies, and store for future use. Because it was secluded most of the time, Danielle thought it would make a nice place for her to sit by herself. She looked down the hall to make sure no one was coming, then she typed in the key pad. The door slid open, and Danielle went inside.

Danielle found some huge boxes by the wall on the far side of the room, and decided to rest there. Curled up against the wall, Danielle thought of what happened that day. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt.

"Why can't you do things right?!" Another voice in her head snapped. "Don't try to deny it, you know you deserved that, you spiteful little wretch!" She felt her heart constrict, painfully. "No one is going to care for you anymore. Not even Canard."

Ashamed of herself, Danielle wept. She wanted her brother back, now more than ever. But until then, she was going to stay out of the way, she thought. She doubted Canard would even want to glance at her. Then she remembered that she had work to do. Picking herself up, Danielle shut out her feelings, and proceeded to the Medical Bay.

3 days later.

The first night he assumed Danielle had slept in the med bay on a spare bed. But in casual conversation with Abby and Amy the next day, he had learned that Danielle had showed up for her shift, worked, and left without uttering much more than single-word responses. Amy seemed very concerned about Danielle's behavior, while Abby seemed to be giving him the stink eye, as though he had anything to do with it.

He waited up in his room the second night, still angry enough to not do much else. But the next morning, he found she still hadn't come in. The bunk beneath his was still made, and cold. After the second night, worry began to creep up into his veins. Her personal items were still in his room, and yet she hadn't come by to retrieve them (or managed to sneak in when he was out). Regardless, she had been obviously avoiding him and he wasn't quite sure why.
He had a right to be angry. She had nearly gotten herself killed, and over a thief, at that. But a flash of her face came to mind, when he told her to mind her manners.
It was a common term used in the military, but when he said it to her she almost seemed to ... shrink away from him. Did something he said cause this?

With the worry much more prominent now, Canard searched the base, asking any of the other ducks, checking all the personal quarters, kitchens, briefing rooms, and even the storage rooms. When at last he checked the smaller storage facilities, he found her. He had been about to close the door, but saw her bright orange hair behind a box. He approached quickly, his fear peaking, but when he rounded the box he saw that she was curled up on the floor, fast asleep.

Canard was relieved to have found her, but was quite puzzled. Why would she be sleeping here? Crouching to her level, Canard then shook her shoulder, whispering."Angelwing."

A small shriek had escaped the female duck's beak as she jolted up."I didn't mean to-!" she cried. But her panic worsened when she was grabbed by the shoulders.
"Woah, Danielle! It's okay! It's me!"

Recognition crossed her face as she looked up at him, but quickly turned to fear.
Canard frowned even more at that, releasing his grip on her shoulders. She used the opportunity to scoot away from him, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Angelwing, what ... what are you doing in here?"

"N-nothing.' she whispered fearfully.'I'm sorry, Captain."
"I'm not angry, I just want to know why you've been avoiding me." Canard explained.
Danielle didn't say anything at first, but her body started trembling. Then she whimpered, "You don't like me."
"What? No, I do like you."
"After the way I screwed up? And talked back at you? If you want to kill me, than just do so..."
Canard just couldn't believe his ears. Why in the world would she say that? How could she think that he would kill her over mistakes?

"What the hell are you talking about?" the tan mallard finally asked. "I wouldn't...kill you?" he fumbled over his words, shock making him momentarily confused. He paused and swallowed hard, sitting back onto the floor next to Danielle. "Danielle."
She did not meet his gaze.
"I ... I was mad about what you did, yes. But never in a million years would that lead to killing you." His pause was longer this time, and he looked away briefly, almost ashamed. "I mean, do you really think I would-that I would do that?"

"...No...I guess not...' Danielle replied softly. 'I'm just ashamed. So I thought I should just... stay away from you. For your own good." She then buried her face into her knees, then she felt her hand being taken, and squeezed gently.
"Look at me Danielle."
She didn't.
"Please look at me."
This time she did. Canard's gaze was softened and a little saddened. "Is this because I snapped at you the other day?"
"I deserved it."
"Not like- I mean...Danielle, I'm...I'm sorry I scared you."

As he squeezed her hand, Canard watched as the cream-colored duck returned her gaze to the ground, tears forming but not yet falling from her eyes. She didn't reply to him.
He took a long breath as he studied her. "There's ... there's something else, isn't there?" he asked, watching her reaction.
Sure enough, she flinched.
"You ... you can talk to me, about it, if you want."

"Well,' she started hesitantly.'the way you spoke to me like that. Um...someone once told me the exact same thing. Before he threatened me."
The tan drake stiffened. Who would dare threaten someone as kind and caring as Danielle? "Who is 'he'?"
Swallowing her fear, Danielle told him."Ironbill, my ex-fiance."

Canard didn't show it, but he was shocked. She was promised to someone?!
"My parents knew the guy, he seemed like a suitable life mate. That's why they arranged a marriage for me, but they were wrong."
"DuCaine," Canard breathed. "I'm guessing that fell through with the... the war?"
Danielle did not respond. Canard offered a gentle hand on her shoulder for support. "I'm ... I'm sorry all that happened. But that ...

"Please, don't apologize,' Danielle responded. 'Actually, IronBill would make me do all the housework,'Because you're the female!' he would say. And he constantly put me down for even talking about being a nurse. I thought he would stop it eventually, but he never did. Derek came to see me one day, I missed our phone rendezvous, and he got worried. Ironbill tried to attack Derek, because he didn't want any other drake near me, not even if said drake is family. Derek over powered him, arrested him."

"Oh ... oh," Canard replied. "You, you were actually married, then?" he asked, not sure if it was even appropriate to ask. Granted, the drake had been arrested, and with the war there was no saying where he was now, and it did sound like she had kicked him to the curb. But, as much as tried to stop it, Canard couldn't stop feeling a pang of worry. Perhaps she still had feelings for him..?
"No, because I was promised to him, he made me stay in his house. We never got married, thank DuCaine for that." Danielle explained.