`Oop's`

"Ernie? I wanna...ask....you.....something" Spirit walked into the room where Falcone was staying and froze.

"Spirit?!" Alley exclaimed in surprise grabbing the blanket around herself as Spirit fell flat on her behind on the floor with laughter.

"Spirit? I say...what an..er, um....surprise ol` gal" Falcone said, both he and Allan were blushing as red as can be "me and Ann was just..um..discussing something" he tried to come up with an excuse but only succeeded in blushing redder.

"oohhh boy is Mal` gonna love dis!" Spirit laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye "I know something Mallory doesn't...tehee" she suddenly said seriously, looking at them with a sly grin.

"no! not the M word!" Alley shrilled kidishly in anguish & hid under the the blanket.

"not a word of this to Mallory Spirit. Not a word. Is that understood?" Falcone told her sternly, his cape around his waist.

"you'd better clean up your act Ernie. Duke's lookin` for you and Mallory's heading this way" Spirit laughed as she left the room. Leaving Allan and Falcone to rush around.

~~~later in Spirit's Aerowing. Reev was asleep in his tire bed, Spirit was sitting to a pop out desk doing something or other.

"Spirit? you have to promise us you won't tell Mallory" Alley said. She was frightened.

"awe get over it Alley" Spirit said, sketching something into a workbook that Falcone passed off as her homework.

"promise me Spirit. If Mallory finds out I'll never hear the end of it and she'll kill Ernie" Alley said.

"please Spirit. It'll be the end of me if Mallory catches wind of what we're doing" Falcone begged her.

"awe relax Ernie. Im not gonna tell nobody. It's not like I `aven't walked in on somebody wit` somebody else dey weren't supposed to be with before" Spirit

"what do you mean?" Falcone asked.

"Ernie....when the Alliance found out there was a girl, me, in the Crew, they sent a full crewa girls to try an` put a mothers influence on me" Spirit rolled her eyes "they even made sure one of `um was takin` care of Littrell. Grandpa might be old but he's still movin` if yah catch mah drift" Spirit said "he wez pretty calm about me walkin` in on `im an` `iz nurse" she said it like she was just realizing it herself. Falcone shuddered, grossed out.

"ew...mental picture!" Falcone shook it from his mind.

"so?...are you ok with this Spirit? I mean I walked in on somebody I looked up too when I was your age, and I had a hard time dealing with it" Alley said.

"Alley, in the past year I've found out Gunner's not my real father, that I was adopted by him, then that Talay and Zimra adopted me to, then that my birthmother was alive, who my real father was, and that there's a good chance he's dead. If I dealt with dat, I can deal wit` dis" Spirit looked at her seriously.

"can you honestly tell me your ok with this?" Falcone lowered himself to her eyelevel and raised her sunglasses to look into her eyes.

"I--do--not--care--who--you--choose--to--mate--with" Spirit said slowly. "really? what do I care who you choose to mate?" she said, taking a book off the large pile besides her and opening it up, Alley could see it was a different language from anything on Puckworld "just as long as I get invited to the wedding" she added seriously in a joke. Falcone chuckled and so did Alley.

"you'll be the Flower Girl if it ever happens Spirit, there's no worries about that" Alley smiled as Falcone took off Spirit's hat and gave her a noogie. Spirit swatted his hand away annoyed and took back her hat, pulled it down over her head defiantely, making Falcone chuckle even more.

"so what are you doing ol' gal?" Falcone asked, leaning on the desk looking down at the book.

"Yastrotchien hyperdrive's....I got it off a friend on my last outing" Spirit said.

"Iiieee...don't think I wanna know" Alley said.

"nither do I. Come along Ann. Time for your speach lessons" Falcone led her away. Alley had trouble with her speach. Running away at a young age she didn't get to learn a lot of words...none that she was supposed to any ways. Falcone loved being with Alley, she appreciated the arts like him, didn't like to talk much, loved listening to his stories, and unlike other women he had dated, she didn't care about how much money he had and all she wanted to do was snuggle in his arms while he talked to listen to his voice.

~~~Mallory and Duke finally found the two in the Study Room~~~

"Falcone, I want you to stay away from my sister" Mallory said.

"I say, what are you talking about?" Falcone asked.

"you know exactly what we're talking about Falcone. I've seen you like this before. Alley's a good kid. She can do better then you" Duke said.

"stop talking like I not here" Alley told Duke "I not a MacMallard any more. Mallory not my sister. I choose who I want to like" Alley stated.

"you? you can't even talk right Allan. Your my sister. Blood's thicker then water. And your my own blood and feathers. Your my sister like it or not. And I have to tell you that loving Falcone will hurt you in the future. What are you going to do Allan? What are you going to do when Dragaunus is dead and we go back to Puckworld? huh? When we go back to Puckworld. Duke and Falcone will have to go back to the Brotherhood of the Blade and you'll have to come home and live with me, mom and dad" Mallory said. Alley began to cry.

"I not Allan. I Alley. Alley! Just Alley!" Alley yelled at her, she got up and ran.

"is that all you can do Allan?! run from your trouble's?!" Mallory yelled after her.

"now I know why Ann ran away from home" Falcone glared at Mallory, angrily "all you can do is yell at her for things she doesn't do or think about. Have you ever thought that Alley won't go home with you? have you ever thought that Alley will go back to where she's been living for the past ten years? back to the only family she's ever known, other street ducks?" Falcone asked Mallory "have you ever thought she might not make it back to Puckworld? because from how I see it, at least one of us has to die before we can get rid of Dragaunus and his henchmen. And Alley's blood pressure is so high from all the stress you've put her under, she's about ready to explode. If you even have one true grain of love for your sister, go ask Tanya about Alley's health and how it's failing" Falcone left the room to go look for Alley.

"I have to agree with him Mal-mal" Duke said "all I've seen you do is yell at her....you are pretty hard on the kid"

"don't start with me L'orange" Mallory pushed him roughly out of the way as she walked past him.