Danielle worked hard on the more urgent matters. 20 minutes after she tied up one soldier's sprained ankle, she searched for anyone else in need. Then she hears a young voice, calling out. "Hello?" Curious, she followed the voice and came upon a young girl, no more than 6 years old. She asked Danielle. "Can you help us, please? My friend is sick and she needs a doctor."
"Don't worry sweetie. I'll help her."
Danielle followed the girl to a group of three more children. Among them was a baby, a tiny boy only a few months old with red-brown feathers and a light orange beak. He was wrapped in a light green blanket and whining for someone to hold him.
Danielle instantly went to the fussing baby, taking him from one of the young children. "Where's this little boy's parents?" she asked, calmly shushing the infant while bouncing him in her arms. "And which one is sick?" she asked, looking at the other three children.
The older boy who looked about 8 year old, gestured to a young girl who looked at least 7 years old. "She is, ma'm." Said girl was curled into a little shaking ball.
Danielle carefully placed the infant in one arm, and with the other, she felt the girl's head. "Hmm, you seem to have a fever,' she turned to the other children. 'has she had any coughing or sneezing?"
"Coughing.' The youngest boy said, he looked at least 5.' And she won't stop shaking."
"And she says it hurts everywhere' the younger girl chimed in.
'She must have the croup.' Danielle surmised. Just then, Abby came along."There ya are. Capn's lookin fer yah, he wants you to know that-"
"Abby, please, will you hold the baby for a moment?' Danielle asked, standing up. 'I need to tend to one of these children."
"Uh...I guess?' The brown goose awkwardly took a hold of the little ball of fluff. 'Uh, hi there...Li'l Quacker..."
But the tiny duckling started to fuss again, he wanted that other dolly to hold him.
"All right honey, let me get a better look at you," Danielle soothed, kneeling next to the shivering girl. "I'm going to check you over and ask a few questions, okay?"
The little girl nodded, still hugging herself tightly.
As Danielle worked, Abby looked like a deer in headlights holding the small, squirming child. "Where's this one's, uh, folks?" she asked no one in particular. She tried to rock the baby with no success. She glanced around and saw Canard still talking with the others.
"Captain!" she called, getting his attention.
Canard turned to look at her, slight confusion etched on his face. After finishing his conversation with the others, he walked determinedly over to her.
"Waddlemeyer," Canard greeted as he approached, "Did you speak with Angelwing? What's the prob-" He cut his own sentence off, his eyes widening when she turned around and he saw the baby in her arms.
"Oh, Captain, great timin' as usual," she stated. She handed the baby over smoothly, so smoothly in fact that Canard blinked and an infant was suddenly in his possession.
"What?!' the captain blurted out. 'Waddlemeyer, don't you dump the kid me!" he snapped at the goose's retreating form. Then he heard Danielle shush him harshly.
"Captain, you'll scare him!"
"I wasn't trying to.' he retorted, then the baby started to fuss again, about to cry. 'Uh. Angelwing, a little help here?"
Because she was busy tending to the other children, Danielle just said. "I'm sorry Captain, but you need to hold him closer to you."
"E-excuse me?!"
"Cradle him in your arms.' Danielle replied, taking a first aid kit out from her backpack, not taking her eyes off the girl. 'Now Molly, I need you to..."
Canard hesitantly did as he was told. Once the boy was properly in his arms, he stopped crying and his fussing was now settled into cooing. Then he noticed something. Around the grown duck's neck, was a set of dog tags. They glistened in the very faint light. With a curious little "Peep!", the baby reached for the tags.
Canard was watching Danielle impatiently, but when he heard a peep, and felt the pull at his neck, he glanced down. The baby was quiet and eyeing the jewelry intensely, enough so that Canard tried to reach a hand up to pull them away.
"Oh no, those aren't-"
Before he could finish, the baby duckling had promptly placed the tags in his mouth, chewing on them. Saliva dribbled down from the ends and Canard hesitated.
"-to play with," he finished his sentence dejectedly. Sighing, he let the kid soothe himself with the necklace, returning his attention to Danielle. "Angelwing," he prompted again, his impatience (and awkwardness of the situation) getting the best of him.
Danielle could hear the impatience in the captain's voice, but she didn't move right away. Danielle pulled her jacket out of her bag, and rolled it up loosely into a make-shift pillow. "Try to get some sleep Molly. I'll be here with the other children."
"O-okay..." 'Molly let out in a shaky breath, then she laid her head on the pillow, now trying to sleep.
The female duck stood up, and walked up to the male and the infant. When she walked up, Danielle couldn't help but smile. The baby was still teething the dog tags but when he saw her coming, he turned his attention back to Danielle and eagerly reached out to her. The female gently took the little fluff ball back into her arms and cooed at him gently tapping the end of his beak.
"You good, Little Bug?"
"Peep!"
Canard sighed with relief. "Next time Waddlemeyer tries that, do not let her." he said, rather grumpily.
"Oh, come now.' Danielle smiled up at him, despite his scowl. 'You handled the baby better than she did. Uh, no offense.' Danielle then put her free arm around Canard's waist, pulling him to her side. 'Thanks for your help, Captain. You're a real trooper." The tan mallard stiffened at her response, but cleared his throat and replied,
"Uh, yes. Sure. Um... anytime." Realizing his poor choice of words, he instead focused his attention on the baby in Danielle's arms, contentedly looking up at both of them. Canard gingerly reached out a finger to him, the duckling happily grabbed at it with his hand. He clutched the finger like a teddy bear.
Danielle let out a small giggle when the duckling's tiny hand grasped Canard's larger index finger, happily.
"See? He likes you." Danielle smiled up at the male drake. Canard was caught into the female's smile.
"Uh...yeah, I guess he does..." He muttered before thinking, 'Does she have to be so cute when she smiles?'
To his relief, Danielle didn't seem to take any notice. "Captain, permission to stay with these children until we find their parents? I've already taken care of those in urgent care."
The tan drake noticed the duckling was still clutching his finger. As much as he wanted to move, Canard wasn't sure if just pulling away was a good idea. But Danielle, taking notice, pulled her own tags out. The dolly shook the tags over the duckling's head. The baby was drawn to the new noise and tried to reach for it with both hands. Canard just smiled.
"Permission granted. Carry on Angelwing."
"Yes, sir."