Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Maximum Ride universe nor to Taylor Swift's "Safe & Sound." Please review and let me know what you think! Much love!

I remember tears streaming down your face

When I said, I'll never let you go

When all those shadows almost killed your light

I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone

But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight

Max sighed as she peered out the window at the bright flashing lights overhead. She could just make out the outlines of the figures engaged in an aerial battle as they wove through the clouds chasing after one another. Humans and recombinants both used the tools available in the effort to gain the upper hand, even though they were both fighting for the same things. Irritation flowed thick though her body as she saw yet another one plummet to the earth in a fiery arc. Life would have been so much simpler if she had just expired already.

Guilt shot through her at that thought. People depended on her to stick around, to lead them through the chaos that was their world. She couldn't die. Her hand curled into a claw over her heart and her nails dug into the freshly scrubbed skin without conscious thought. A soft groan reached her sensitive ears and she let the curtain fall back into place before she limped across the room to check on her companion. A low hiss lift her lips as her broken ribs protested the movement and the deep gash in her left thigh burned as she moved. The numerous bruises coloring her skin did little to slow her down, but they still proved an annoyance. She put it all out of her mind as she focused on his injuries.

Though she hated the situation, her eyes softened as she scanned down his body to make sure that he hadn't bled through his bandages or torn one away in his sleep. Neither had been participating in whatever battle was going on in the open air, yet somehow they were both passing within miles of each other and both had been caught in the crossfire. Shrapnel from an explosion had caught him by surprise and her heart had almost stopped as his wings folded. Despite their history, he was still a part of her and she was not the kind of person to abandon someone so callously.

The bed dipped slightly under her weight as she sat next to him, her fingers sliding through his sweat-soaked hair to move it off his forehead. She twisted her wet hair into a quick bun with one hand and leaned over to press her lips to his forehead. So far he hadn't developed a fever, but she would have to watch him closely for the next few hours as his mutant body knit itself back together. His injuries wouldn't have been life-threatening if he hadn't been so close to the explosion, but the shrapnel had done some serious damage and Max still wasn't quite ready to let him go. She would be damned if she was going to let a thing like blood loss stand between her and the man she had loved for her entire life.

As she watched, his face scrunched into a frown and his limbs twitched as if he were reaching for something. New scars lined his skin and she pressed her mouth into a thin line to keep from pressing it to the marks. He groaned again and whispered, "Max?"

Max could tell that he was still asleep, or rather unconscious, and caught in the throes of some dream, but still she leaned over him and gently stroked his cheek. "I'm here, Fang. I'm here."

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be all right

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

Some time later, she woke to the terrible sound of silence. She lay on her side facing the wall and her senses failed to pick up the familiar feel of him at her back. Fear spiked through her and she sat up quickly, her heart racing. A quick scan told her that he wasn't in the room and she gently lay a hand on the bloodstained pillow next to her head, somewhat relieved that it still held some warmth.

Max took a deep breath to calm her panic and silently slid out of bed. Though she was stiff and sore, her bare feet made hardly any sound as she moved cautiously through the house. She couldn't be sure that someone or something hadn't slipped inside while they slept. Stepping down the small staircase that led to the recessed family room, she breathed a sigh of relief as she caught sight of him sitting on the couch with his backpack across his lap. His torso was bare but for the bandages wrapped tightly around him and she could see from his jerky movements that he was still in a lot of pain. A faint tinge of pink was starting to show through.

Making sure that her feet made sound as she walked over to him, she dropped onto the love seat opposite him and raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure you're not going to get any better if you keep ripping yourself back open."

His dark eyes barely flickered up from his bag as she stretched her legs out across the faded cotton covering. His bandaged shoulders dipped further as he appeared to run out of steam. The pink gauze darkened as he moved.

She hated the coward in her that was too afraid to look him in the eye and tell him exactly what he had done to her. Anger spiked in her system as she watched him. The familiar twisting, shredding feeling began to seep back into her chest and she dug the heel of her palm into the flesh just above her breast in another futile attempt to get the knots to ease. She hadn't ever understood how it appeared to be so easy for him to walk away from her time and time again. He had taken pieces of her with him every single time and she had been unsuccessful in getting them back. Even so, her eyes wandered over his features, drinking in every detail she could just so that she had something to remember when she was alone again.

With a sigh, she forced herself to her feet and grabbed the bag out of his hands, ignoring the flash in his eyes. "I didn't spend three hours stitching you up just to watch you tear them all out." She dug out the med kit he always carried and bullied him into sitting still long enough so she could check his stitches and rewrap his wounds. He didn't make a sound throughout the process though she wasn't exactly gentle as she worked. As she was taping up the last loose edge on his back, her fingers brushed absently over his skin and she nearly drowned in a flood of memories. Her body shifted forward and her forehead lightly touched his shoulder as tears flooded her eyes.

His whole body stiffened at the contact and jerked as several hot tears dripped onto his chilled skin. "Max," he rasped, but she stood quickly, threw his bag back into his hands as she scrubbed her hand across her face.

"Please be careful," she said as evenly as she could. "I really don't want to find you bled out later." Without waiting for a response, she wheeled around and fled back to the bedroom where she collapsed onto the comforter and released the flood.

Don't you dare look out your window darling

Everything's on fire

The war outside our door keeps raging on

Hold onto this lullaby

Even when the music's gone

The pillow beneath her head was soaked with the seemingly endless tears by the time she wore herself out enough to sleep again. But sleep was hardly a refuge as her brain showed her a reel of her worst moments, all the times that she wasn't strong enough or smart enough or just plain enough. She watched as she and the others decided that Jeb wasn't coming back, as Erasers stole Angel away in a dark helicopter, as Fang lay still and quiet in a hospital bed, as her own blood soaked into the sand at her feet. The ache spread throughout her body until she felt as though she were a quivering mass of pain and disappointment. She felt the solid circle of his arms around her, the soft pressure of his lips on hers and the shattering of her heart as she read his goodbye.

Max curled into a tighter ball even as her injuries screamed at her, bringing fresh tears of pain to her eyes. Yet, she welcomed the physical hurt because it gave her something to focus on other than her pathetic excuse for a life. The sensation of the edges of her ribs grinding together was almost enough to drown out the less tangible causes of her torment, but not quite. Finally exhausted with trying to fight it all, she just let her body go slack and gave in to the whirlpool of pain.

She didn't know how long she lay there shuddering and lost in eighteen years of hell, but slowly she became aware of another body in the room with her, on the bed next to her. A small spike of embarrassment and disgust at letting Fang see her this way came and went. She was too worn down to do anything about it. She almost started over as she felt his hand slide across the comforter and pause for a long moment before curving over her shoulder. A soft moan escaped her throat at his touch and almost instantly, he was pulling her into his arms.

Her body acted the traitor, melting into him as he drew her back against his chest and twined his legs with hers so that there was barely the space of a breath between them. He slid one arm under her neck and bent it back to rest his hand on her hair while the other wrapped around her waist and pressed her tight to him.

"Fang, please don't-" she started, the words thick and painful in her swollen throat, but he hushed her.

"Just let me hold you," he said softly. "I need to hold you." Though his voice was quiet, she could hear more emotion in those few words than she had heard in the first fifteen years of their lives. It started her tears again.

"It hurts so much I can barely breathe," she told him, weary from the events of the last few days. "That might be the broken ribs though." Her laugh was short and bitter, more of a cough, and she felt him flinch.

His grip lessened a little, but he pressed his face against the back of her head. "I'm sorry, Max." His fingers stroked through her hair, causing more tangles than they smoothed. He sighed. "I'm sorry for everything. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought it would be okay because you would be better off without me, better off with him."

Shock rippled through her system and she could do nothing but lay in the circle of his body and listen to him admit that he had been wrong. As if his touch wasn't enough to shatter her again, his raspy confession did it. She lay her own arms over his and clung to him as she was swept away. But this time, the pain seemed a little less because he was there, holding her through the storm.

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be all right

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

The first thing that Max became aware of when she drifted back to awareness was the solid presence of Fang half beneath her. She lay still for long moments, savoring the peace she felt with her cheek pressed to his chest and his arm draped protectively around her waist. Inhaling deeply, she wrinkled her nose at the sharp scents of antiseptic and blood, but the tension in her unknotted as her brain filtered out the familiar smell of pine and wind and Fang. Her fingers found a strip of bare flesh on his abdomen and started tracing absent circles. There was little about him that she had missed more than simple moments like this when there wasn't anything but them.

Her mouth tugged into a small smile as she heard his heart speed slightly when her fingertips slid over the dips and ridges of his muscles. His grip on her waist tightened minutely.

"You're the only one who's ever touched me like this," he said softly, his breath stirring a few of the strands of hair that were falling across her face.

Even after five years and immense heartbreak, green fingers of jealousy squeezed her chest as she imagined his face obscured by a sheet of red hair as he tilted his head for better access to a girl's mouth. Her fingers stilled and the jealously seeped into her voice when she said, "I doubt that."

He brought his other hand up to hook beneath her chin and tilt her face so that she could look at him. His eyes were wide and serious as he gazed at her. "Max, you are the only person who has ever touched me gently without an agenda. You've never used it to try to gain my trust or to manipulate me into doing something. You've never withheld your touch because I didn't do what you wanted or tried to deliberately hurt me with it." She raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "Sparring and normal you behavior don't count."

His fingers straightened along her jawline and slid back into her hair. His thumb stroked gently across her lower lip as she flattened her hand on his abdomen. He shifted and rolled them so that she lay on her back and he leaned over her looking down. Closing the gap between them until the tips of their noses brushed, he told her, "You're the only one who's touch makes me feel safe."

She lay still for a few seconds, her brain trying to make sense of everything he had laid at her feet while she could only think, That's the most I've ever heard him speak at once. All at once it hit her that everything he said was true for her as well. He was much less prone to spontaneous physical contact, but he was truly the only person who had ever laid hands on her without wanting something other than the pleasure of being near her, with her. And with complete disregard for the imminent shattering of her heart, she tilted her chin and pressed her mouth to his.

Just close your eyes

You'll be all right

Come morning light,

You and I'll be safe and sound...