A/N: I am SOOOO sorry that I haven't uploaded in forever! I had a lot of stuff going on at school, and then I was sick . . . Anyway, I'm really sorry and I'm trying to get this done as fast as I can. Thank you to all of the people who reviewed!

Disclaimer: OF COURSE I own Maximum Ride! That's OBVIOUS because I'm posting this on FANFICTION and not putting it in a BOOK. If you believed the stuff I just typed, sarcasm is dead, and you've never really looked at a Maximum Ride book. I cry for you. Why? Because the book clearly says JAMES PATTERSON is the author, and I'm a girl. JP is a guy.

Max's thoughts: Look like this

Voice's thoughts: Look like this

MAX POV:

Of course we would be in this REALLY awkward position when Fang regained his senses. He suddenly backed off, staring at me.

"Um, Max, why is your shirt off?" he asked. Looking down, he noticed that his shirt was also gone. "And where is my shirt?"

"I think our shirts are in the corner, where you threw them." I said snidely, walking over to them.

"Why am I in your room?" He asked, looking around.

"I don't know, why did- Oh, wait. You seriously don't remember anything?"

He shook his head, silently reclaiming his shirt.

Hm . . . The voice remarked oh so helpfully.

Do you have an explanation, or do you just enjoy saying "Hm"? I asked the voice, annoyed.

Surprisingly, the voice actually answered. Well, it appears that Fang was subconsciously fighting against his instincts. So, kissing with your shirt off might have placated his instincts enough to get them under his control. Of course, they aren't gone, but they aren't as bad.

Fang looked over at me. "Were you planning on putting that shirt back on, or just standing there with it in your hand for the rest of the night?" he asked me.

"I was talking to the voice, if you must know." I said, turning red as I put the shirt on. "How far back do you remember?" I asked.

"Walking into the door, after school. When I try to remember the time from there to now, I just get a feeling of surprise and vague annoyance. So, what did I miss?"

"Trying to kill Iggy. Twice." I said, walking out of my room. "And my entire explanation of what was happening."

He looked at me as we walked into the kitchen to get food. "I tried to kill Iggy?"

Iggy, who was sitting at the table eating, looked up at the sound of us walking in. "Yep," he said, then looked at me, remembering he wasn't supposed to talk to Fang.

Fang stiffened, then carefully relaxed his body. "I'm sorry," he said calmly, walking over to the pile of sandwiches Iggy had made for dinner. "Is there a reason I tried to kill him?" he asked carefully, as if he didn't want to know.

"Mostly because he was there," Iggy looked at me for an explanation of Fang's more calm behavior, but I waved him away. "See, we're going through an animalistic period, and you and I are going to be fighting over leadership of the flock for awhile. I'm hoping that since you've regained some control, it will be easier, but-"

"Why should you lead the flock? Why should I have to work to keep myself from getting what I deserve?" Fang asked, cutting me off.

"I'm leaving," Iggy said, standing up. "One lump on the head is enough for me in a day."

"We've been through this," I told Fang , sighing. "You told me that you didn't want to try being leader again. Please, at least try to handle the instincts. I'm sure it will get easier."

Fang looked calmed down, so I sat down with my sandwiches and started eating.

"Who are you to boss me around?" he asked, stealing my food.

Um, Voice? Could you help me on how to know when it's Fang talking and when it's the instincts?"

No answer on the Voice front. Lovely. Now all I had to do was try and get my food back without making Fang go berserk.

I reached for the food, but he hit my hand out of the way, leaving bloody furrows on my arm.

Well, when he's controlled by his instincts he'll have claws. The voice said.

Oh, thanks.I snapped. Right on time, as usual, voice. It didn't answer.

"You can't even steal your own food back. Why do you think you should be leader? I'm stronger," he snarled.

I decided that I didn't need to have sandwiches for dinner, and reached for the refrigerator. Fang blocked my attempt, putting the sandwiches on top of the refrigerator, where I couldn't get at them.

"If you ask me nicely for food, like a good member of my flock, maybe I'll give you some. Maybe. If you're good," he said angrily.

I turned to the side and sighed, as if in defeat. Then I snapped my wings open, knocking a surprised Fang onto the ground. I completed the movement with a hard downstroke, lifting me up enough to get to the sandwiches while pinning Fang to the floor with the air.

"I'm the leader because I'm smarter," I told him smugly, running outside. There was no way that this fight would be quiet, and I didn't want the kids to wake up. It also gave me more room to maneuver.

Fang jumped up and ran after me as I began wolfing down sandwiches. "Why are you so stubborn?" he asked angrily. "Why can't you just admit that I'm better?"

"Earth to Fang, guess who has the food?" I said, backing away from him as I ate. I wouldn't be in range for him to hit me with his wings, even if he would sink to copying me. In this state, he probably wouldn't.

Fang grinned evilly, then disappeared. Shit. Recently, he learned how to move and stay invisible. I immediately jumped into the air, but he was already top of me, grabbing the food with one hand and my arm with the other. He folded his wings, making us drop back to the ground.

"Who's smarter now?" he asked, holding the food in front of me, totally visible.

"Ow," I said quietly, getting up from the ground. He had made me fall on my wing, and it hurt a lot.

He looked at me with disdain. "You're incredibly weak. That didn't hurt me at all."

I jumped into the air and went into warp drive. My skill had advanced enough that I went too fast for even one of the flock to see me. I grabbed the food and flew twenty miles away, the journey taking seconds. I wolfed the sandwiches down, knowing that when Fang caught up with me, he would probably be invisible.

I had just finished the last one when Fang tackled me to the ground, pinning my arms behind my back.

"Where are they?" he snarled.

"In my stomach, where they belong," I said smugly.

Go limp, Max. The voice said suddenly. I immediately followed its instructions. However annoying it is, it's been pretty trustworthy with the commands out of nowhere thing.

Fang shoved me to the ground, and I did nothing to stop my fall. I'd learned to take a command from the voice seriously. He kicked me, causing me to roll over, but I managed not to move or tense up. He picked me up by the neck and started shaking me angrily.

Why can't I fight back? I asked the voice, annoyed.

It will just make him angrier, and he'll stay in this state for longer. If you don't do anything, this will end sooner. The voice said patiently, as if I should have understood immediately.

After a couple of minutes, the claws digging into my neck slowly retracted, until it was normal fingernails. The shaking stopped abruptly as Fang let me go. I dropped to the ground, gasping. The whole being shaken by an angry Fang thing made breathing very difficult.

"Max?" he asked quietly. "Why are you all beat up?"

I glared at him from the ground. Is this going to happen every time his instincts take over? I thought, annoyed.

Probably. The voice said helpfully. But only when it is very extreme. As he gets better at controlling himself, he'll start to remember more.

"Well," I said to Fang. "You got annoyed that you had to control your- you know what? Never mind. I tried to eat something, you stole it, then told me I couldn't eat until I said you were the leader. Then we showed off our amazing powers, and I ran away with the food. When you showed up after I'd eaten, you beat the crap out of me."

Fang stared at, me his eyes slightly wider than normal, which was a Fang version of jaw dropping shock. "I beat you up . . . because you ate something?" he sounded incredulous.

"Yep," I said, getting up. "Time to fly back."

"How far away are we?" he asked, helping me stand.

"About 20 miles, give or take," I held out my hand to him. "I'll take you back with warp drive."

He took my hand, and we arrived back at our house in seconds. As we walked into the house, Angel looked up from the table, where she was talking to Total in her nightgown.

"Why would Max hate you, Fang?" she asked, confused. Fang stiffened, then walked past her into the living room, saying nothing.

"Angel, honey, why are you still up?" I asked tiredly.

"I woke up and I didn't hear you or Fang in the house, so I got scared and walked downstairs with Total," she said. "Why were you guys gone? And why does Fang think you hate him?"

"We were just talking, Angel, I have no idea why he thinks that I would hate him. Don't worry about us, you can go to bed now," I told her. She nodded and walked upstairs. I sighed and walked into the living room, where Fang was flipping through the channels.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You don't have to pretend, Max. Angel said you hated me, and I don't blame you," he said, not looking up.

"What? That's not what she said," I told him, sitting down next to him. "She asked why I would hate you, because she probably read your mind and heard you thinking that I hated you, which is stupid."

He looked up. "It's a perfectly plausible assumption that you would hate me, Max. I beat you up, attacked Iggy twice just because he was there, and pinned you to the bed with both of our shirts off. It would be totally reasonable for you to hate me."

My face hated up when he reminded me about the incident in my bedroom, but I kept my voice level as I responded. "If that's reasonable, then I'm definitely not a reasonable person. I know that it was just the instincts that did all of those things, so I don't blame you."

He looked away, unconvinced. I leaned over and kissed him lightly. "How could I hate you?" I asked him.

Max? The voice said as Fang turned around, his eyes looking slightly fevered. That was a really bad idea.

A/N: So, what do you think? I think it was okay, but not that great. Please tell me if you liked it or not. I also wanted to say THANK YOU to anyone still reading this after my crazy-long hiatus. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner next time.