You're My Ugly Pineapple

Chapter fourteen

(I edited that myself lol, first proper edit tbh)

I woke up bright and early the next morning, the dew in the air collecting on my fur as I sat in front of the lake with a makeshift fishing rod in my paws. Beside me a small pile of headless fish was sitting collecting frost, their heads being used as bait on the end of the vine I had wrapped around a branch to make a weird but functional fishing rod. As I waited for a fish to grab onto the bait I was collecting more vines and moss to aid in healing Rudy. With the right treatment, he would be up and moving in maybe 7-9 days if he ate well. And by gods was I going to make sure of that. 

"Angel? You around here?"

"Yes Buck, I'm just collecting some stuff to help Rudy when we go to see him later," I called out, looking over at the one-eyed weasel who was staring around looking for me. He spotted me and a smile crept to his face and he bounced over to me, handing me a massive beetle with a shining black shell. 

"I got this for you, I figured you hadn't had breakfast and I can't let my love go hungry, can I?" He grinned, placing the colossal insect in my paws. I smiled wide and kissed his cheek, ripping the head off of it to eat the warm and tasty insides. After finishing the insides of it I ate the outer shell, the crunchy goodness of the sweet but slightly bitter elytra's and thorax sending a smile to my face. 

"Aw, you remembered that stag beetles are favorite," I smiled, wiping the excess juices off my lips. 

"Of course I remembered, I also remembered that you love miniature centipedes," He smiled, pulling one out of the leaf bag he had around his shoulder and giving it to me. I smiled and kissed his cheek again before eating it too, scampering over to the fishing rod to pull in another fish. 

"If you want you can have one of the fish there, I'm pretty much done after this one," I smiled, tugging on the rod to bring the fish closer to the shore. I put the rod under a rock and jumped into the water, following the vine to where the fish was. It was a whopping big catfish, big enough to swallow me if it wanted. I pulled my knife out of the bag around my shoulders and plunged it into the back of it's skull, instantly killing it. It's blood tainted the water around it as I pulled it to shore, the blood staining my fur and paws. Buck stared as the bloody catfish and I emerged from the water, a smile and my face as I hauled the beast of a fish out of the lake. 

"Holy, how did you manage this one?" Buck exclaimed, running over to help me lift the fish out of the water and into the bag with the rest of the fish. 

"A fish head, a rod and a knife, love. No more, no less," I grinned, winking at him, raising my knife into the air and bringing it down on the catfishes neck, making a clean cut through. Separating the head from the rest of the body and throwing it into the water, I lifted up the massive bag of fish, with much difficulty, and started dragging it towards Ava's tree, whistling to her. She flew down and nuzzled my cheek with her beak, a cooing noise coming from deep within her throat. 

"Can you fly these over to Rudy? Place them where Buck and you were hiding yesterday and come back to collect us, I don't want the load to be too much for you," I smiled, placing the fish in her talons. She gurgled in approval and flew off, the breeze she made with her wings ruffling my fur up slightly. Buck jumped over and held my paw in his, squeezing it slightly.

"I love that you're doing this for me, angel," He smiled, kissing my paw.

"I know how important this is to you, I saw how upset you were when you thought Rudy was dead. He gives you meaning in a way nothing else could, and I respect that and want you to be as happy as you can be," I smiled, taking his other paw in mine so we were facing each other. "You're special to me, and I want you to know that."

Buck grinned at me, his face love-struck as I leaned forward and kissed him. A small smile crept onto my face as he kissed me back, his paw leaving mine as it sneaked up behind my head, pulling my head closer to his. His other paw wrapped around my waist and he pulled me closer as I wrapped my arms around his body, the smile on my face cementing. 

We broke away finally and I rested my forehead on his, smiling from ear to ear. "I'm so happy I found you again."

"So am I."

A squawk echoed through the jungle and I turned my head to see Ava soaring down towards us, a vine in her beak. She landed in front of us and I smiled, taking the vine in my paw. Jumping onto her back, pulling Buck up with her. As we set off, the suns early morning beams shone through the ice and warmed my cheeks, somehow not melting the ice itself. 

As we neared Rudy's cave, I got the anti-bacterial paste prepared and the clean wraps I had around my chest untangled, a nervous tingling sensation filling my chest and moving down to my feet. My paws tingled with panic as they gripped the reins, the nerves causing them to shake slightly. 

"Hey, don't be scared, angel. He's already shown that he trusts you," Buck smiled, stroking my back with his paw. I sighed and nodded, landing Ava and jumping off. The bag of fish was leaning against the tree beside us and I motioned for Buck to grab it. I took a deep breath and started walking towards the cave. 

"Rudy? I'm back," I called, looking up at the overwhelming darkness. I gurgled sigh greeted me along with a gust of warm air, the air smelling greatly of rotten meat. I walked closer and looked over at Buck, and he greeted me with a nervous smile.

"I brought some food, and a friend," I added, motioning to Buck. He had left his knife at home today so he wouldn't trigger anything inside Rudy, so he held his hands up to show he meant no harm. I motioned to Rudy again and Buck took a fish out from the bag, walking up to Rudy with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey Rudy, I brought you some fish if you don't mind," He gulped, holding the aquatic animal out in front of him. Rudy's face poked out from the shadows and he eyed the fish suspiciously, giving Buck the same side-eyed glance as he laughed nervously. He picked up the fish in his jaws and swallowed it in one gulp, licking his lips slightly as his head retreated into the shadows.

"We have some more if you want, I can imagine you'd be incredibly hungry," I smiled, hauling the bag closer to the cave. Rudy's head poked out yet again and he eyed down the bag, poking it with his nose so that the fish fell out onto the ground. I picked a few of the smaller ones up with his mouth, followed by a few larger ones and then the catfish. When his mouth was full he took a second to swallow all the fish and I walked over to his injuries to change the dressings, motioning to Buck to sit down and talk to the massive dinosaur.

"Um, I'm sorry about what happened back then, Snowflake" Buck gulped, staring up into Rudy's massive eyes. Rudy growled and licked the place where his tooth was supposed to be, his eyes locking on Buck's eye-patch.

"Yeah, both of us lost something, huh?" Buck smiled, lifting his eye-patch off. I stared at the gash across his eye, the sight of his scar sending shivers through my body. It was gruesome, three parallel scars ran over his eye and sealed it shut. Tears pricked at the edge of my own eyes and I held my paw to my right eye and my other clutched my necklace in an attempt to feel better. Rudy moved closer and Buck held his paw out, placing it on the crack in Rudy's gums.

I turned away and sighed, continuing to check on Rudy's wounds. They were healing up nicely, but would need a few more days to heal enough for him to leave the cave. I turned to Buck, who was picking a fresh leaf from the foliage beside Rudy's cave to wrap his eye in, and nodded. 

"So, Rudy, we've got to go. Daily check-ups and whatnot," I smiled, jumping out of the cave and grabbing Buck's paw. "We'll check up on you overmorrow, to give you a day to completely rest," I added, smiling warmly. Rudy gurgled softly in response and disappeared back into the cave as Buck and I walked back to Ava. As we flew back, Buck wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled into my neck, smiling softly. As we landed in Ava's nest he picked me up and carried me down, a blush on both of our cheeks.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, there's not really anymore danger now that Rudy is on our side, so I was thinking-"

"Yes, I do want kids now."