Taken

Chapter 31

The silence annoyed the hell out of me. Max had decided to ride with her Mom. Ghost went with them too. I was here with Jeb and Iggy. The others all rode in the van. We were sitting in Jeb's car, outside of me and Max's new house.

Yep, you read that right. This was where Jeb had taken my stuff. He bought us a house. I guess he is trying to change and be a dad. Whatever, I'm just glad I don't have to stay with Dr. Martinez anymore. I love the flock and all but I still haven't been completely alone with Max since we got there. Plus, everyone else loved Ghost. Don't get me wrong, I like that they love him but I never get time with him either.

The house was basically in the middle of nowhere. It would take an hour at best to get to Dr. M's house. Today, thanks to traffic, it took two hours. By car that is. I bet we would get there a lot faster by flying. I liked it away from everything. That way, I don't have to worry about people. The van pulled up behind us in the long driveway. The second it stopped, Ghost jumped out.

"Daddy!" He called and ran to our car. "Daddy!"

I stepped out of the car and picked him up. He laid his head on my shoulder, Snowy dangling from his arms. The others filed out of the car. Max came up and took Ghost from me. He smiled at her.

"We live ear?" I think Ghost was trying to say here.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Why? You don't like it?"

He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Nice Fang." Max said.

"What?"

"Let's go inside kids." Jeb suggested and we all walked in. "I doubt that Max and Fang want you all to live here but there are enough rooms for the flock, one for Ghost, one for Ella, and one for her mother. There are also seven extra bedrooms and two game rooms."

"This place is so awesome." Gasman said.

Okay, I'll admit, it is pretty cool. At least the living room is. Can you say BIG TV? That was the only thing I saw or cared about at that moment. The couch was one of those huge ones that were in the square without a top shape. There was a glass case and in it was one of the best looking stereos ever. Under the stereo there was about a hundred DVDs. No joke. The living room was huge. One of those bar thingies separated it from the kitchen. The kitchen looked pretty nice too. Well, all the stuff in there was new.

"Daddy?" Ghost asked as Max sat him on the floor. "Where me seep."

"In your room." I said.

"Oh." He jumped up and tried to grab my hand. I gave it to him, though I had to stoop a little. He started running, so I had to move too. "Come on!" I walked with him as he ran down one of the halls.

"Ghost how do you know where your room is?" I asked as he stopped at a door.

"Me look in Heb's mind." He told me. Max didn't want Ghost calling Jeb grandpa or anything like that so Ghost did the best he could to say Jeb. Sometimes it came out as Reb or Deb.

"Oh." I said opening the door.

The walls were dark blue with green on the baseboards. He had a bed with Scooby Doo sheets and a Scooby doll sitting on them. There were boxes of toy that had yet to be opened. There was a Tigger doll in the pile of toys. The dresser was green and matched the baseboards. The ceiling was black and had those glow in the dark stars covering it.

"Daddy look! Scooby." Ghost ran to his bed and picked it up.

"Yep. Here's Tigger too." I said, walking over and handing it to him. That's all he watched now. Scooby Doo and Winnie The Pooh.

"Snowy stay in me room too?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said. "You want to go see the others rooms?"

"Oh a." He smiled at me and I had to smile back though part of me wanted to fight it.

Max's POV

Fang and Ghost took off to go find Ghost room. Jeb told me that if I wanted to look at my room, it was up stairs. I don't know if I like that. Having Ghost down stairs by himself. I mean, I had always been with him. Always. But I guess things will have to change.

I walked up stairs while the others went to look at their rooms. Jeb stayed in the kitchen, saying that once everyone had seen their rooms, he had a few more surprises for Fang and me. I walked up the stairs and into the room at the end of the hall, which was the room Jeb had told me was mine.

The room was white which contradicted with the black dresser, night stand, and TV stand. The TV on the stand looked nice I guess. I really wouldn't know. TV's aren't my thing. You'd have to ask Fang. The bed sheets were black. Fang would like that. The room was pretty big. In comparison to our old bedroom at the apartment, it was gigantic. I walked to the door leading into my and Fang's bathroom. There was a shower stall that was way bigger than the normal ones, huge bathtub, and double sinks. It was nice and new. On the outside, this house looked like some old house but the inside was clearly completely redone. I have to admit, Jeb did a good job. If he's trying to buy my love, he is off to an awesome start.

I walked back into the bedroom and turned to face the bed once more, when someone grabbed me from behind. I panicked and fought back.

"Babe, it's me." Fang soothed, still holding me.

"God Fang!" I yelled at him, turning in his arms. "Your such a jerk!"

"Max, I didn't know you were going to freak." He whispered in my ear. I relaxed a little.

"Just don't do it again, alright?"

"Okay." He said. We were silent for a couple of seconds before he said, "Jeb has great taste in bed sheets."

I smiled. Leaning against his shoulder. "What happened to Ghost?"

"I traded him off to Nudge." Fang said. "she likes taking care of him."

"I hate being this far away from the flock." Max said.

"They could live with us." I hinted though I really didn't want them too.

Max shook her head. 'No, I couldn't do that to them. They have friends and stuff. No."

"Who said I wanted them anyways?" I asked, leaning down to kiss her. She moved her head to avoid it. 'What?"

"I just…" Max just stopped and I got it.

"Too soon." I mumbled and she nodded her head. "I'm not Viper Max."

"I know that1' She said, angered at me saying so. "He just…I can't right now. Okay?"

"Fine." I said.

"Have you seen the others rooms?" I asked him.

"I peeked at them. They all have TV's and stereos." I told her.

"Jeb went all out." She whispered into my shoulder, where she decided to rest her head. 'Ghost likes his room?"

"Yeah." I said. "He loves it. He got Scooby and Tigger stuffed animals."

"I bet he's happy." I said.

"Very." Fang murmured. "Think that we should go back down stairs?"

I truly didn't want to go but I knew that the others would be done looking at their rooms soon and that then Jeb had another surprise for us. And I wanted to see Ghost and have him tell me all about his room. "Yeah, let's go."

We walked out the door and took a peak in the other rooms upstairs. There were two hallways. Our room was where the hall stopped. On the right wall, there were three rooms. The one closed to us is an empty room. Next to it is a bathroom and on the other side of that is a game room. On the left, there were two rooms. They were both empty except for a bed. The other hall was Mom's room, Angel's room, and Iggy's room.

"What's the other halls like?" I asked Fang.

"Nudge and Ella's room's and on either side of Ghost. There's another game room across from him and a bathroom. Gazzy's is a little further down but on the same hall. There's one other hall with three extra bedrooms and a living room." Fang told me. "What does he expect us to do with all these rooms?"

I shrugged my shoulders. There was also a dining room off of the kitchen and a garage. Jeb had mentioned a basement and a garage. I guess the flock will be over here a lot. We also owned all of the land around us and over half of the woods outside. What the hell does he think we're going to do?

"Mommy!" Ghost came running up to me as we walked into the living room. He had Snowy in his right hand, Scooby in his left, and Tigger under his arm. "Look what me gotted!"

"I see." I said, picking him up. "You like this house?"

"Shep."

"Um, Fang?" I asked as we sat down on the couch.

"What?"

"What does shep mean?"

Fang's POV

It took the others long to look at their rooms than I thought. I was hoping they would hurry up. Max had told me that Jeb said that there was a gift that he still had to give us. Max was sitting next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. Ghost was lying across our laps, as I flipped through channels. I swear, we have every channel known to man!

"Hey guys." Gazzy said as he and the other kids and Dr. Martinez walked back into the living room.

"Hey." I said back.

"Can we go see your surprises now?" Angel asked.

"Sure sweetie." Max said standing. "If Jeb's ready."

"I am." He said. He was in the kitchen at the table. "It's in the garage."

The door to the garage was in the kitchen. The garage was one of those two car garages.

"Now, before we go out there, I'd like to say that there is still something else besides what's out here." Jeb told us.

I picked up Ghost and we all walked out there. I'll give you three guesses of what it was. Most of you probably got it right. Two brand new cars! One was a Ford Expedition in a royal red. The other was a 2010 Ford Mustang in black. They were the best looking cars ever!

Over the squeals from the girls Jeb said, "The Mustang is for you Fang. Max you got the Expedition." Jeb tossed me both sets of keys and I handed Max hers and walked over to my Mustang.

"Daddy? We ride in car?" Ghost asked.

"Yeah, once all the others leave." I told him. He was still carrying all three stuffed animals.

"Wait." Max said. "After all of this, what else could you possibly have gotten us?"

"Well, my next gift is more for Fang." He said. I locked eyes with him, stiffening.

"What?"

He pressed the button for the garage to open. Apparently he had went out and move my new motorcycle into the driveway while we were all in our rooms. Yeah, you read right. Motorcycle. It was a Harley-Davidson, 2009 Street Glide. It was sleek black. I loved it.

"No." I said. "Take all this back. Sale the house. No."

"What are you talking about?" Jeb asked.

"I can take care of my family by myself." I said, pushing past him. "When you said you bought us a house, I was alright with it. I thought that I could pay you back eventually but I can't."

I walked away into the woods. I still had Ghost in my arms. He fell asleep after a while. I moved him around gently so that his body was flat on him back against my arms. He had his stuffed animals in his arms. I can't even start to tell you why I said no. This all just seems fishy. I noticed that I started to get dark so I walked back to the house. The van and Jeb's car was gone but the lights were on. I walked through the front door and found Max sleeping on the couch.

I walked to Ghost room and put him in the bed. I was scared that since it was his first night in the house, he'd freak about sleeping alone. This solved that problem. I walked back to the living room and went to Max.

"Honey." I whispered. "Wake up."

"Hmmm." She moaned looking at me. It took her a second to focus before she spoke. "Where's Ghost?"

"His room. He fell asleep on our little walk." I told her, sitting down.

"You weren't serious were you?" Max asked. 'He's being nice."

"I guess but this all feels so weird." I told her.

"Yeah but I want to give it a try. Please Fang?" Max pleaded. Wow. I guess I'd have to get used to her being weaker around me.

I picked her up and sat her in my lap. "I take care of my family."

"I know and sometimes you've got to do things you don't want to.' Max told me. "Don't you love this house?"

I nodded my head yes. "A lot of extra space though."

"I figured that out." Max said. "Angel said that Jeb thought that we would want more kids. The rooms for the flock are for the summer. They'll spend it with us. You know, give Mom a break."

"Do you think that we should?" I asked her.

"Yeah Fang, I do." She whispered. "It's all we've got now."

"Can I go wake up Ghost and we go ride in the cars?" I asked.

She smiled. 'Jeb left two car seats so that he can have one for each car."

She started to get up to go get Ghost when I stopped her. I know I was an idiot but I grabbed her arm and stood up. I kissed her. Just to see what she'd do. At first she tensed but then gave in. I won't give you all the details but I ended up on my back on the couch, her tongue I my mouth.

"We can go riding tomorrow." Max suggested.

I laughed. "Thought it was to soon."

"It was." Max told me. "Three hours ago but I thought about it and you're no different than before."

I kissed her again and sat up. I carried her to our bedroom and gently sat her on the bed. We started kissing again. She pulled away.

"You know, I just realized something." She said.

"What?"

"It's been two years since you've had sex hasn't it?" She asked. "Or at least it better have been."

I laughed. "Yeah it has."

"Would you be mad if I told you to wait a little longer?" She asked.

I sighed and said, "No Max. I'll wait as long as you need."

She smiled and then kissed me and slipped her hand in the front of my shirt.

"I thought you needed time?" I groaned as she sucked on my ear lobe.

"Yeah and you were going to give it to me." She said, moving her head back to look me in the eye. "That made me realize that there is no way you are anything like Viper. You would give everything up for me. I mean, two years and you would have waited another two. I love you Fang."

"I love you to Max."

It was at that moment that I knew that everything was going to be okay. This house would be our home and we'd all love it. I had Max and Ghost and they weren't going anywhere as long as I had something to say about it. Whether we were in this house or in that small apartment in New York I knew, everything would be okay as long as I had my family with me.