Here we are. Chapter one of the finale of my 'Dreaming' series. This story will be longer than the other three, because I have to fit in a lot. I promise you it will be intriguing and exciting. And there will be one, huge, ginormous surprise that I think all of you will love.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Or the series would be much more Iggy-centric… and maybe a tad better (no offense, JP, but the plot became kind of patchwork after the first three books, although those were amazing).

Max POV

"Oh, gosh! Iggy, Iggy, Iggy!" Nudge cried, her arms around his neck, hugging him so tightly I was worried he might pass out from the pressure. He patted her back uncomfortably, grinning slightly.

"I'm glad you're so excited to see me, Nudge," he said, "Although I can't have been out much longer than a day or two."

Fang and I exchanged a glance; we hadn't told Iggy about James yet, or about him having been totally out of it for about a week. We would, eventually… like, tonight maybe. Just not yet. Let him enjoy being back with the flock.

Angel practically flew into his arms; actually, no. She flew in the literal sense, wings spread, arms outstretched. She hugged Iggy tightly and cried into his chest, and he smiled softly as he gently stroked her hair.

"Ssh, ssh, Angel, it's okay. I'm here. Everything's going to be alright."

I smiled as I saw the tenderness in which he held Angel, the softness in his voice and eyes and the caring in his motions. He was so good with the little kids, sometimes I felt as if I should relinquish my job as 'parent' to him. He would do a better job. They all listened to him, and didn't give him any trouble. And he never even had to resort to yelling.

Angel stayed there, her arms wrapped around his neck, for so long that Gazzy just couldn't wait anymore. He bolted out of his tense position of barely-stifled energy and hugged Iggy around his waist. Iggy laughed and bent down so he could hug him as well.

"Hey, Gasser," he chuckled. "Did you miss me?"

"Yes! I told them, I told them you were coming back! And I was right! Iggy, I was right! Oh gosh, I'm so happy I was right…" the Gasman broke off with a sniffle.

"We're happy too," Fang said. "Iggy, man, we're so happy."

Iggy threw a smile towards Fang and me, his blind eyes bright with joy.

"Yeah. I'm glad."

Mom was standing in the doorway, her hand on her chest, her eyes watering and a smile threatening to break her face in half. Ella hovered slightly behind her, smiling ever-so-slightly, looking awkward and sending strange looks towards Iggy.

Gosh… maybe she felt differently about him after we told everyone about what happened to him in the past? I hope not. Iggy liked Ella.

Meagan was eagerly bouncing, her face alight with smiles. Her hair was pretty tangled and there were shadows under her eyes – so basically, she looked like me when I pulled an all-nighter on watch (none too pretty) – but the excitement on her face pretty much negated that. Plus, it wasn't like Iggy would care.

"Iggy!" she called, not being able to hold it in anymore. "Iggy! I'm so glad you're here!"

The second he heard her voice, this look of happiness flashed on his face… but then quickly turned to pain, until he managed to assume his regular grin. He didn't say a single thing in response, which really confused me. I had assumed he'd be ecstatic to hear her.

(Oh, just to let you know, Meagan's voice is different than mine. Well, it's not actually that different. I mean, no one can tell. The only reason we know is because Gazzy told us. Apparently, when he mimics me, and when he mimics Meagan, the tone or whatever is different. I figured Iggy must be able to audibly hear the difference, and that's why the thought never crossed his mind that Meagan was my clone.)

Meagan's expression of happiness turned to confusion as well, and everyone sort of pulled back and threw him a confused look. Sensing the new tension in the room, Iggy looked around.

"What?" he asked.

"Iggy, aren't you going to, you know, like run up and kiss her or something?" Gazzy asked. I could tell by his expression that he didn't really want to witness such a 'gross' scene, but that's what he had expected.

Iggy's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Angel threw me a glance, filled with sadness.

He thought he was hearing things, Max.

Ah. That actually made sense. After all, he had just spent months having to cope with the idea that Meagan had just been a dream.

"What we mean, Iggy, is that we were expecting that at the simple sound of Meagan's voice you were going to jump ten feet into the air, then rush up, tackle her, and make sweet love," I said, teasing. His expression turned to confusion and shock.

"Meagan?" he whispered, turning to where he had heard her voice. Meagan's smile appeared once more.

"Yeah, silly. Who else?"

Angel removed her arms from around his neck, and her and Gazzy stepped back, allowing him space. Meagan took a few tentative steps forward and reached her hands out to him, also spreading her black-and-indigo wings ever so slightly.

"Hey," she said softly.

Iggy, with an expression as if he were trying to desperately not get his hopes up, reached forward and ran his long fingers through her streaked hair. Then his hands went to the shimmery indigo in her wings, and his eyes widened. After that, he felt at her eyebrow, where a thin scar cut through it.

Then, with an odd sort of expression, he turned and sat hard on the couch, putting his head in his hands.

"Iggy, what's wrong?" Meagan asked nervously, bending down and putting her hand to his hair, as if feeling for a temperature. The rest of us took nervous steps forward as well.

"Something must have gone wrong with the surgery," Iggy muttered in response. A flash of panic went through my body.

"Seriously?" I asked, my voice frantic, taking hurried steps towards him and bending down beside Meagan. "Why? What hurts? What's wrong?"

Taking a moment, Iggy raised his head slightly from his hands, showing his glassy eyes and a smirk growing on his face.

"Because I've obviously died and gone to heaven."

There was a moment in which the whole room contained a strangled silence… and then we all started laughing out of relief. Iggy was fine. And he was back. Our old Iggy was back, laughing, sarcastic, joking Iggy.

The only problem with that; the old Iggy's not the real Iggy. We had seen the real Iggy, when he let his façade slip while we were trying to get him to the surgery. When he had constantly told us to forget about it, leave him behind, not risk it just for his sake.

And however much it hurt me to bring that Iggy back to the surface, I knew I had to. Because otherwise, no matter if our lives went back to normal, Iggy would still be silently suffering. All alone. And I'd never make him go through that again.

So, while Iggy and Meagan hugged, finally reunited, and the rest of my family laughed and talked and interacted, I stepped back to talk with Fang.

"When?" was his simple question. When we were going to talk to him? Bring up everything he had tried so hard to hide from us? Force him to relive memories, the very same memories that had practically destroyed any happy future he could have ever hoped for? When were we going to make him talk to us about everything had had wanted never to talk to us about? The things that would embarrass and mortify him? The horrible memories that made him think himself useless, worthless, and weak?

"Tomorrow," I answered. "Tomorrow night, when everyone else is asleep. We want privacy."

"What about telling him about James?" Fang asked, and I could see some sort of regret echo in his eyes when he said the boy's name. James was the artificially-created seven-year-old boy that had been put in Iggy's mind after his own memories were deleted. And we had had to get rid of him to get Iggy back.

To be honest, there was a faint flicker of guilt in my own mind when I remembered the eager-to-please little boy with the winning smile. Although he had actually been in Iggy's body, he had still had that aura of childish innocence that all children have.

But he was artificial. And Iggy deserved a life.

"We'll do that tonight. It's not nearly so stressful. Just let him bask in the wonder of being the center of attention for a little longer."

Fang smiled at me, and I grinned back at him. Then we turned back to our family, and our best friend who was finally back with us, and whole and well. After all we had gone through to get our Iggy back… well, it had all been worth it.

So we joined them in talking and laughing, and teased Iggy and Meagan as they held hands, and as they teased us whilst we held hands, and as we had fun with our family, we pushed the thought of our impending discussion with Iggy to the back our minds. We didn't have to focus on that pain just yet. There was so much more to do at the moment.

Thank you for reading. I'm sorry that this chapter was short, but it was just the start. I promise more lengthy chapters in the future. And, if not that, at least more rapid updates.

Thanks for reading, and please review, for the sake of poor Iggy.

Thank you!