-Black as Midnight, Shiny as the Stars-

"Alexis! Joshua! I'm so glad you could make it!" Jeb Batchelder smiled brightly at his two friends.

"Of course we came!" Alexis smiled back, and adjusted the two year old in her arms, "We wouldn't miss this for the world."

Joshua took a step closer, "And you, Val? How you holding up?"

Valencia Martinez smiled at her two friends, "About as good as you can expect me too after giving birth."

"Is that her?" Alexis asked, handing Joshua the toddle she was holding.

Valencia nodded, beaming at the little bundle in her arms, "Her name's Maximum, Maximum Martinez."

"Maximum Martinez, it's a beautiful name, Val," Alexis grinned, "C'mere, Josh! Look at her, she looks just like her dad!"

"Let's hope not," Joshua joked, before looking at the tiny baby.

"Say hi, Fang, that's Maximum there; she's the daughter of mommy's best friend," Alexis cooed.

"I, Mamum" Fang greeted.

"Her name's Maximum, you say?" Joshua asked.

"Yup," Valencia confirmed.

"Pretty name, imagine when both are kids are grown and they get married, she'd be Mrs. Maximum Ride. Got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Joshua joked.

"Indeed it does, shall we start saving up for the wedding?" Jeb laughed.

Alexis and Valencia exchanged a look, both barely keeping the smiles off their faces. Valencia rolled her eyes at her husband, "She's hardly a day old, he can barely talk, and we're talking about weddings already?"

Alexis shook her head, copying her friend, but a smile broke through, "Oh my, my, my."

7 years later…

Max smothered her laughter as Fang tried—and failed—to readjust his bow tie. They were sitting side by side on a branch in Fang's backyard.

"If you don't stop laughing at me, Maxie, I'm gonna beat you up!" he threatened.

Max put on her most guilty looking face and turned to her best friend, "I'm sorry! You just look ridiculous!"

"As if you look any better," Fang laughed, and Max reddened.

She glanced at her supposed to be white dress, but after running around for a few minutes it was filthy. Her bows in her hair were also coming undone and she tried in vain to fix them.

"It's not like I want to go the your Aunt Petunia's wedding," she told Fang, looking him in the eyes. Onyx, she remembered from school, dark as midnight, but as shiny as the stars, her teacher had said.

"Max! Fang! Get down from there!" Valencia yelled.

"Uh-oh."

During the wedding…

"I don't understand why they have to kiss, it's so gross!" Max told Fang, and helped herself to a slice of his wedding cake.

Fang glared at her, "I don't know, and my parents kiss me all the time and I don't think it's gross," he pointed out.

Max crossed her arms defiantly, "Well then, Fangy, if you don't think it's so gross, then I dare you to kiss me."

Fang shrugged indifferently, "Fine," and began to lean forward.

Max shrieked and took off to hide behind her mom.

"Whoa there, Maxie," Valencia laughed.

Jeb gave Joshua a knowing smile, "I've been saving a dollar every day, so far for the wedding, you?"

"Only a dollar? I've been saving two!" Joshua laughed.

Max looked at the grown-up, confused, then she shrugged and decided it was a big people thing.

Alexis smiled at the two men, "Glad you two are planning ahead."

Valencia rolled her eyes to the sky, "Again with the wedding talk!" Then she watched as Max went back to Fang and the two continues to talk as if nothing happened and smiled, "Oh my, my, my."

9 years later…

Max hadn't seen Fang all summer. He was coming back from camp today after spending two months away from his best friend—their first summer apart, it also just so happened to be her birthday today, her sweet sixteen.

As soon as Fang entered the door, she tackled him with a bear hug. She could feel him smiling, "Missed you too, Max."

She laughed and offered her hand to help him get up; she noticed his eyes widen slightly and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

She knew she changed a bit over the summer; she got taller for one thing, she got an extra four inches taller. She also decided to join her school's volleyball and track team, where she met her best friends Ella and Nudge. It was also because of them that she started to dress a little better (or in her case got better fitting shirts and replaced her baggy cargo pants with skinny jeans) and told her to let her hair grow out. Max had to admit that she was nervous of what Fang would think, though she wasn't sure why.

Fang looked her up and down, as if trying to take in the new Max. "You look different," he grinned at her to show her it was a compliment.

Max let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. A small smile spread across her face, "And you look exactly the same."

Fang laughed, "Hard to improve on perfection."

"Oh, please," Max rolled her eyes, but a smile broke through as she looked into the eyes she missed so much. "Come on, we've got a lot of catching up to do."

Five months later...

Fang glanced at his best friend; they were stargazing in the back of his truck. She looked so happy and Fang liked the fact that he put it there.

He was planning on asking Max to be his girlfriend tonight, but he was nervous to say the least. Sure, they'd kissed a few times, but technically they weren't officially together.

C'mon! he yelled at himself, you've known her your entire life, this shouldn't be that hard.

He swallowed nervously and turned to face her fully, "Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?" she grinned at him.

"I was wondering if you'd, um, like to be my, er, girlfriend?" he said asked quietly.

A look of surprise came on Max's face and she sat up, pretending to think. She tapped her fingers to her temple and hummed.

"Well, I guess so," she said.

"You guess so?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess so," she managed to keep a straight face.

"Well if it's such a sacrifice," he rolled his eyes.

"To put up with you it is," she told him.

"That's it," he said and started tickling her.

They were both laughing and rolling around in his truck, and finally ended up with Fang pinning Max underneath him. Then they were kissing, then they were laughing again.

Fang rolled to his side, his left arm supporting his weight, "So? Is that a yes?"

Max pulled him down and gave him a short, sweet kiss, "It's a definitely."

7 years later...

Joshua grinned at his wife Alexis, "Didn't I tell you?"

Alexis grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed it, "Yeah, you did."

"I couldn't have picked anyone better myself," Jeb smiled.

"Plus," Valencia said, looping her arm with Alexis, "Now we're a real family."

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Max waved from limo they rented for the wedding. Valencia waved back enthusiastically at her daughter and wiped away tears.

"Bye!" Fang grinned as they drove off.

"My little boy's all grown up," Alexis sighed,"Oh my, my, my."

Fang smiled at his beautiful bride, still not quite believing he was married to her. "Hello, Mrs. Maximum Ride," he pulled her close to him.

Max laughed, "I could get used to that, husband."

"I could get used to that, too," Fang grinned and kissed her, "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she replied, looking into his eyes. She remembered when they were seven and she thought his eyes were like onyx, dark as midnight, but as shiny as the stars.

A/N. So I decided to end it there since it seems like a good place to end it. This is based on Taylor Swift's song Mary's Song, which I've wanted to do a story on forever. I hope you guys liked it since it was really fun writing it (though it took like three hours.)

Don't forget to review!

-Indy