Well this idea just popped into my head, so I decided to write it down. As stated in the description, this is what I think are a couple of scenes that are missing from the episode Dark Waters.

This technically is in the same universe as my story Atmos Campaign, but since this takes place well before that particular story, I decided to have it as a completely separate one-shot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks.

Things had been looking up. The Storm Hawks had located Triton and the Neck Deeps, blocked off the entrance to the Endless Caverns after drawing those creatures back inside. Despite losing I.J. Domiwick, the mission had all but been a complete success, or so they thought. Until they learned that they had missed one of the creatures.

It had attacked the ship, tearing a hole into the hull and leaving it to flood. The Condor was sinking. The attack from that creature had torn a hole in the hanger, leaving the modified airship to sink to the bottom of the Aquinos lake, the submersible skimmers lost to the depths forcing the Storm Hawks to abandon ship.

And, to make matters even worse, there were only five breathers.

"My breather!" Piper desperately looked around, and immediately realized. "Domiwick took it!"

Aerrow didn't hesitate.

"Hurry, take mine." He passed it to her but she refused.

"No, Aerrow-"

"There's no time to argue." He pointed out. "There's still two miles between us and any more air."

"So what?" Finn asked, his voice distorted from his breather's speaker. "You're just going to go down with the ship?"

"I'm not giving up on the Condor yet." The Sky Knight responded. "There's still a chance we can save her if the engine room doesn't flood."

"But you'd have to close it from inside the access duct!" Junko pointed out.

"Which I won't be able to do in a bulky breather." Aerrow said, firmly pushing his helmet into Piper's arms, making it clear that there was no room for debate. Piper looked into his eyes, he gave her a nod and a reassuring smile.

With a small sigh, Piper took the breather in her hands, closing her eyes as she reluctantly accepted it. Then with she opened them and fixed Aerrow with a firm, determined look. Grasping his collar, she only had one thing to say.

"You better make it back."

"Hey, it's me." Aerrow said, giving a confident smile. "I'll find a way."

Soon, the rest of the team had begun swimming out into the lake. The only people still onboard the Condor were Aerrow, Piper and Radarr. The latter did not want to leave his best friend alone.

"I'll be fine, Radarr."

With a whimper, Radarr finally acquiesced and dove into the water. That just left Piper, who was standing at the edge of the water with Aerrow's helmet still in her hands. Aerrow walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Piper?"

She turned and looked at him, her orange eyes meeting his green eyes. She held a look of concern and fear in her eyes and a small dejected frown on her face. "You need to get going." Piper turned and looked back at the water, then back at him.

"I'll be fine, I promise."

Instantly, Piper turned to fully face him and cupped his cheek with her free hand, pulling Aerrow closer, she pulled his lips to hers. Aerrow was surprised for a second, then closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist. After a few seconds, she broke away, with her forehead against his.

"You better."

The creaking of the Condor reminded the two of them that they needed to hurry. Donning Aerrow's breather, Piper gave one last look at the Sky Knight who once again gave her a reassuring smile, before she jumped into the water and joined the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, Aerrow watched as the Storm Hawks swam their way to the surface, then made his way to the access duct. Taking a deep breath, he dove into the water, which bitterly bit at his skin. He ignored the discomfort as he swam to the engine room. He had promised Piper he would make it, and he had no intention of breaking that promise.

At the edge of the dock, the Storm Hawks gathered, sitting exhausted from swimming two miles. Piper wasn't concerned about that now, instead focusing on the air bubbles that had to mark where Aerrow and the Condor were.

"Come on, Aerrow."

She desperately wanted to see the Condor rise from the depths, with Aerrow at the helm. The alternative would be- Piper halted that train of thought. He would make it. He had to. He was too strong for the alternative.

That was what she thought, up to the point when the bubbles stopped rising. Her heart shattered in that instant, as a sob threatened to escape her. This was all her fault. If she had kept a better watch on Domiwick, Aerrow wouldn't have had to give up his breather for her.

That feeling of depression welled up in all of the Storm Hawks for a split second, just before something exploded from the water. Stork screamed and everyone else cringed at the sight, only to gain a feeling of awe as they saw what it was.

It was the creature from the cavern, blasted high into the air by the maelstrom. And on top of its back, silhouetted against the moonlight and gasping in a lungful of air as if just breathing for the first time, was-

"Aerrow!" She cried, clenching her fists in happiness, no longer caring about exhaustion.

She watched as gravity overtook the creature and Aerrow, who started plummeting back towards the lake. But while the creature fell, Aerrow deployed his glider wings and flew towards the dock, retracting them and landing just after the creature hit the water with a splash.

The Storm Hawks cheered and ran to Aerrow, who looked a little unsteady on his feet. Junko reached the Sky Knight first and supported him while the rest of the Hawks gathered around. They were all thrilled at the Sky Knight's survival, Piper especially. It had been a close call, far closer than Piper would've liked, but he had made it.

An hour later, having explained what happened to the Neck Deeps, Triton swore that the shipwrights would be able to recover the Condor in the morning. For the night though, the Neck Deeps happily provided the Storm Hawks with accomodations for their rest, a relief for the exhausted Storm Hawks.

Piper, despite her exhaustion, couldn't sleep, and once everyone else was out, quietly crept into Aerrow's room. This was her chance to see him without any of the others interrupting them. Opening the door, she saw Radarr asleep at the foot of Aerrow's bed, but to her surprise, the Sky Knight himself was still awake.

"Hey." He smiled, gesturing for her to come in.

"Hi." She sat down at his bed, careful not to disturb Radarr's sleep. "How're you feeling?"

"Never better." He said, before stifling a yawn. "Tired, though."

"Then why are you still awake?"

"I could ask the same about you."

Her expression fell slightly, which Aerrow didn't fail to pick up on.

"What's wrong?"

She stood up and looked away, feeling the weight of her guilt knawing at her. She had felt the same way when her miscalculations had sent him on a wrong course in the exosphere, but unlike that time, the guilt was still lingering.

"Piper." She looked back and sighed.

Piper sat down on the bed, looking at the floor. Aerrow put his hand around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Any other time, she would've melted into his embrace, but now, she found it more difficult this time around.

"It's my fault you were trapped down there." She said, tears clouding her eyes. "If I had kept a better eye on Domiwick-"

"Hey, hey." He pulled her into a full embrace with both arms wrapped around her. "It's not your fault. The only one we have to blame for that is Domiwick."

She wrapped his arms around him, her head on his shoulder.

"When I saw the bubbles stop, I-I thought you were gone."

"Well, I promised I would come back, didn't I?" He said boisterously. "I keep my promises."

She giggled in spite of herself. She always admired Aerrow's confidence, it was one of the aspects that she loved about him. He never questioned whether or not something could be done, he just went out and did it. It was something she was a little envious of, to be honest. Still, there was one thing she had to know.

"Did you honestly believe you'd make it out?" Aerrow was silent for a moment before answering.

"Yeah, I did."

"How?"

"Because I had you to come back to. That's all the motivation I need."

Piper rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless, which Aerrow returned. It was sappy, but she didn't mind. It was rather charming in its own way. She looked at the clock and yawned as she realized just how tired she was.

"You should get some rest." Aerrow said, stifling his own yawn. Piper didn't move.

"Can I stay here tonight?"

Aerrow paused, then smiled and patted space beside him. She got into bed beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Putting his hands over her shoulders, Aerrow pulled her closer and softly kissed her, before nuzzling into her neck.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Comfortable in each other's arms, the two exhausted Storm Hawks fell asleep. After a moment, Radarr briefly opened one eye and churred happily before falling back to sleep himself.

Honestly, there are several times between scenes where there are fairly obvious time skips. Personally, I think something like this could've happened at the given points during this episode. If you can think of any other episodes where I could write any similar scenes, I might consider making this into another series of one-shots.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this little one-shot and reviews are always welcome.