"Uh..." Darrell stammered.

"Eh... heh..." he chuckled sheepishly.

"I... well... partly because I witnessed it, yeah..." he said.

"And... well, I thought that, since I was there, and couldn't or didn't do anything about it, I would be faulted by everyone here, as well." he continued. "Though that was a minor thing, to be honest." he continued.

"But... I... well... I was... confronted by the situation of... you not... being in my life any longer." he admitted.

"And that... that scared me."

"Yeah." Darrell replied.

"Yeah, I would imagine so." he said.

"I mean, you took that fall and-" he started to say further, before he suddenly paused, something she said having finally registered.

"Ah... ah, wait..." he muttered.

"Back up..." he said further.

"You'd... you'd hate to not be in MY life, as well?" he asked.

"Are... are you saying... what... I think you are...?" he asked further, his blush returning now.

Her initial blunt and candid statement caused his face to go redder than before, but he soon realised all that she had said.

"I... I see." he said.

"I... well..." he stammered.

"I really feel the same way about you." he told her.

"And I think it started with your determination to win that race." he continued.

"...." he was then silent, thinking for a moment.

"By the way, I never heard anything about how your mother reacted to all that." he then said.

"Was she cool with it, or... well... not?" he asked.

"Eesh." Darrell replied.

"That's rough." he said.

"Something tells me it coulda been WAY worse, though..." he then mumbled.

"But... anyway..." he then said further.

"Given what's... what's transpired here..." he continued, clearly awkward at the moment.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

"Wanna... go on a date?" he asked her.

Darrell thought for a moment as well.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"Where? Got a restaurant you like?" he asked.

"When? Anytime. Your schedule is mine at the moment, heh." he chuckled.

"How? I have some spare cash." he then told her.

"I can afford dinner for the two of us." he reasoned.

"Or is there something else you'd rather do, in particular?" he then asked her.

Darrell just shrugged.

"Sure thing." he replied.

"What do you think you want to e-" he started to ask, before they heard Ash call out.

"HEY! SAM!" he yelled to Sammy.

"Come on inside!" he told her.

"I made up a turkey sub for you to eat, seeing as you just regen'd!" he added with a light laugh.

Darrell followed, and Ash just smirked when Sammy said what she did.

"Heh, no worries." he told her.

"Made up a sub for you as well." he told Darrell.

"Montreal Smoked Meat, as you like." he added.

"Oh, thank you!" Darrell said in response.

"If you want, take 'em up to the roof or whatever for a picnic." Ash then suggested. "There's some bottles of pop and juice and stuff in the fridge if you want drinks." he continued.

"And yes, I made your sub extra stuffed." he then said to Sammy.

Darrell was silent for a moment, thinking about it.

"Cherry cola." he told her.

"I love it." he said.

Ash just laughed a little.

"And you're my favourite niece." he told her.

"My #1, favourite niece, second to none." he added.

'....isn't she his ONLY niece...?' Darrell wondered silently.

Ash just laughed as Darrell accepted the drink.

"Oh yeah, the bird that crashed into you should be fine." he told her.

"Just gotta wait until it wakes up, and it should be able to fly on its own when it does." he continued.

"The injuries were simple to take care of, just exactly in the wrong place for it to sustain flight." he shrugged.

"And you're welcome." he then said further.

"I do what I can to make things easier for people."

Darrell made sure he had everything, and nodded.

"Got it." he replied.

With that, Sammy left and he started to follow, before Ash handed him a small satchel with some things in it.

"Here. For when you're up there." he said.

"Ah, thank you." Darrell responded, before hurrying to catch up to Sammy.

"Let's hope nothing crashes into you again." he told her with a small laugh.