It wasn't until the next morning that each and every one of the ducks were on the move again to the North. Though it was a rough night, and not everyone got a proper sleep, everyone had to keep pressing forward. After a very long walk, they finally made it. Canard came to an intercom that was next to what looked like a vehicle entrance. He pressed the button and spoke.

"We're evacuees from Central Base! Captain Thunderbeak speaking!"

A voice from the intercom replied. "You are clear to enter Captain."

Canard typed in the necessary commands on his end and, after a moment of waiting, the vehicle bay door slid open, allowing passage. The first group filed through with Canard leading the way. The medics were with this group, as well as the most severely injured, so that those needing additional treatment would get priority in the medical bay.

Other groups stayed behind, beneath the sewers, and would wait a few hours before coming topside. Avoiding large crowds was necessary on the surface, to keep Saurian surveillance from catching them. By the time everyone was in the base, it was evening. The civilians were getting settled into an underground shelter separate from the base itself.

It wasn't until much later that Canard made his way to the Medical Bay, which was bigger than the one back at the last base, there were some extra beds and more cabinets. The drake turned around to find Danielle finishing up on the same soldier who sprained his ankle. "There you go."

"Angelwing?"

With her surname addressed, Danielle looked up. Seeing the captain, she smiled happily.

"Oh, Captain. Uh-*ahem* Sir!" She saluted.

"What's up?"

"Amy, Abby, and I got our own communicators. And look,' Danielle held up her left arm, shyly .'Mine looks just like yours."

Canard glanced down at the gold coloring on her wristband, smiling as he recognized the styling as his own. "That's great, Danielle," he said, glancing up when he noticed Abby and Amy smiling knowingly at the two. When Canard frowned at them, however, they quickly went back to their tasks at hand.

"Have you had a chance to eat dinner yet?" the captain asked the cream-colored duck, returning his attention to her.

"Hmm? Oh, not yet. But I'm done tending these soldiers."

"Alright, carry on Angelwing."

Canard waited in the doorway for Danielle to finish up. 1 minute later, Danielle hurriedly came out, drying her hands.

They proceeded down the hall, then came across a tall drake with dark yellow feathers, and his hair was pulled back. The pair of ducks stopped before they could run into him.

"Well now.' the new duck replied, looking directly at Danielle, with a cocky grin.'What do we have here? "

Despite being in the resistance for over a month now, Danielle still got shy of strangers, especially if they advanced on her first. Sure, Bluefoot was a jerk before, but not as bad as this new guy. And this new guy was sounding a lot like a certain drake she never wanted to see again.

"I'm Goldburd."

"Um. W-will you please excuse us?" Danielle tried walking away, but 'Goldburd' blocked her path and leaned in closer to her.

"Hey, what's your hurry?"

Before Danielle could say anything else, Canard just shoved the drake out of the way. "Back off!" He interjected.

"On whose orders?" Goldburd mocked.

"Captain Thunderbeak's orders," Canard growled out, pulling Danielle behind him.

The yellow duck looked surprised for only a second, but deftly covered it up with a purposeful gaze up and down Canard. "You? Huh. Thought you'd be taller."

The captain outright growled at that, but Danielle laid a placating hand on his arm. "Let's just go, captain," she quietly reasoned. Canard didn't respond but he gripped Danielle's hand as he walked down the hall. When they were far enough away, Danielle awkwardly pointed out the pressure on her hand.

"Uh, Sir? Y-you're squeezing my, uh..."

"Oh.' He said, loosening his grip 'Sorry."

"S'okay. Don't listen to that guy, Sir. I think you're a great captain." Danielle said sincerely.

The tan drake looked at her with surprise. Did she really think that? Even after the crud they threw at each other? 'She thinks I'm great.' Canard, realizing he was showing more emotion than he'd intended, took a steady breath and nodded. "It's fine, Angelwing. Let me know if he's a bother to you at all, though," he said, turning the conversation around as he looked at her. "You don't need any more of those kinds of drakes in your life."

At first Danielle was a bit stunned. He was the Captain, so he should be thinking about more important things, right? Still..."Thank you for your concern."

By now, they reached the mess hall. Ducks were having conversations but other than that, it was rather quiet. Danielle got her tray-full of dinner and sat down at one of the more empty tables. Canard joined her and sat across from her, but there was something on her mind. "Captain?"She said, poking her food with her fork.

"Yeah?"

"I know we made up from our fight. But…"

"What?"

"Don't you think I should be punished? I mean...I did walk out on you guys, and look what happened to Greybeak." Danielle said, timidly. Canard unconsciously reached across the table to her hand.

"Hey,' he said. 'you came back, didn't you?"

"I-I guess so, but-"

"No guessing about it," he interrupted. "You took care of a lot of civilians since we evacuated, and kept Greybeak alive." Taking a bite of his food and noticing the still-hesitant expression on Danielle's face, he sincerely added, "You're a civilian, not a soldier, Danielle. You haven't been trained like I have, and you still came back to help. I owe you gratitude, not discipline."

Danielle wasn't sure what to say. She would've expected to be slapped around or something, but that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. And all this talk has her heart pounding. Wait...what? Doubts gone for the moment, Danielle gazed up at Canard, and shyly smiled.

"Thank you, Sir. I-I won't ever do that again."

"I know."

Canard replied. Then, the two of them noticed that their fingers were touching, entwined even. They pulled their hands away, both feeling shy and really warm in the face all of a sudden. The tan drake felt that a change in subject would be in order.

"So, tell me about that huge duck that helped you."