AN: I'M ALIVE! Yup, I'm alive. And I'm sooo so sorry for not updating in ages. You probably hate me right now. I swear I have some pretty good excuses for this, it wasn't only my laziness. But you probably don't care and don't wanna hear them all, soooooo.... on with the chapter! I hope it makes up for me disappearing on you guys.

Disclaimer: My iPod: $200. My laptop: $1299. Rights for Maximum Ride: many, many millions of dollars. Sadly, they're not mine to sell.

Max's POV

"Good morning guys."

A bunch of mumbled responses. Nudge only smiled.

"What do you wanna do today?"

Angel, Gazzy and Iggy all started talking at once. Fang gave me a look that said 'whatever you are doing', and Nudge shrugged.

"Nudge what do you want to do?"

She shrugged again. I couldn't believe it. Not a word about going shopping, or any gushing over clothes and make-up and shoes. Was the world ending or something?

"Nudge, sweetie, is something wrong?"

Instead of answering my question, she glared at Fang. Huh.

I sighed. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"He's using his new power on Nudge. She hasn't been able to say a word for… like, ten hours," said Angel.

"You what?" I glared at Fang.

"She wouldn't shut up. So I did it for her," he reasoned.

"For ten freaking hours?"

"Yeah," he said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Fang! Let her talk!"

"Fine. But you brought it on yourself."

What the hell is he thinking? Actually, he probably isn't thinking. Abusing his powers like that – it was about as bad as Angel mind controlling the whole of the population of New York City to, say, perform a huge rendition of Swan Lake. Okay, maybe not that bad, but the same as Angel brainwashing me to shop for a day. And we all know how well that goes down with me.

That's not a bad idea, Max. We could also give you a makeover while we're at it.

Angel, how many times have I told you not to do this kind of thing?

Do you mean controlling people or reading your mind?

Both.

Oh. I have no idea. But it's not fair! Fang can use his power to control people and I can't use mine!

Fang can't use his power like that. Which is exactly why I'm mad at him right now.

I was about to tell her to get out of my head, but our little mental conversation was interrupted by the Nudge Channel.

"Oh my god! I can, like, speak now, with sound and everything, and I can finally tell you guys how much I want to go shopping 'cause we totally need to buy new clothes. Oh, and then we could get new haircuts and maybe I'd get my nails done in that really cute pink like that girl on TV, you know, the one that–"

"Nudge, I know how happy you are that you can talk again, but please don't make me regret telling Fang to let you speak."

"I'm sorry Max, it's just that–"

"It's fine, Nudge, really," I cut her off before she started rambling again. "As for shopping, I don't think we need to and I don't want to spend too much of Mom's money. But if you want to go so bad, you can ask Mom to take you. Maybe you could wait for Ella to come home form school so she'll go with you."

"Oh Max! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" And with that, Angel and Nudge ran off to find Mom.

I sighed. "I'll be in my room."

I'd been in my room for almost half an hour when I heard a quiet knock on my door. "Max," Fang called, "open up."

Ugh, not him. I was still very pissed at him for that thing with Nudge, and I'd been trying to avoid this conversation for as long as possible.

"Come on, Max. Won't you at least let me try to apologize?"

Reluctantly, I got off my bed and unlocked my door for him. It won't hurt to let him try. Besides, it's a win-win situation. Either he says something reasonable and we can then proceed to making-out in my room, or he has to do everything I want to try to get back on my good side. See, sometimes even my life can be awesome.

I flopped back down on my bed. "It's open."

He turned the knob slowly, as if expecting the door to still be locked. After closing the door gently behind him, he cautiously sat next to me on my bed. It was sort of like he was expecting me to blow out on him, and it was really funny to watch.

"Look Max, I'm sorry," he started. "I shouldn't have done that."

"I know. But you did it anyway," I said, not looking at him.

"I didn't mean to keep it on her for that long. I sort of forgot to remove it."

"And I'm sort of forgetting to forgive you."

"Please, Max. I won't ever do it again, I promise."

For some reason, that made me even angrier with him. "So? What's done is done, Fang, and nothing you say is changing that. I really don't feel like listening to your excuses right now, so, please, get out."

"Max… just listen to me. Please."

At this point, I was yelling at him. "No, Fang. Right now, I don't care what you want to say. Now, get out of my room."

I still wouldn't look at him, but I felt the weight on the other side of my bed disappear. "If that's what you want," he said, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper.

"Why do you even care?" I screamed at him. I stood up, so that I was almost face-to-face with him. "You just do whatever you want when you feel like it!"

"Why do I care?" he yelled right back at me. "Because I freaking love you, Max, that's why!"

"Did you expect me to forget everything you did, just because you said that? It doesn't make it any better! I don't–" I shouted at him, but then stopped abruptly when what he said finally sank in. After a few seconds of silence, I whispered, "What did you say?"

"I-I… s-said… that, uh, I-I, you know… I-I-I… I…" he stuttered.

He took a deep breath, and then looked me in the eyes and said in a firm voice, loaded with emotion, "I love you, Max."

A couple of minutes ago, we were almost ripping each other's throats, and now we were declaring our love. I couldn't help it, as soon as he said those words, I wasn't even slightly mad at him anymore and I completely forgot about our argument. I was just so intensely happy that I couldn't think about anything else. The world could be ending right now, but all that mattered was that Fang had just said he loved me.

Fang. He was looking at me expectantly and a bit uncomfortably, gauging my reaction. Oops, I still hadn't said it back. I smiled. "I love you too, Fang."

When he kissed me, all I could think of was how I was the luckiest person in the whole world. I knew that no matter what, I'd always be able to count on him, because he would always be by my side.

Click. I barely heard it (it's amazing how I still get in some sort of trance when Fang kisses me), but I was pretty sure that it was that annoying sound of a camera taking a picture. Then I heard giggles, and what sounded like people slapping high-fives. Way to ruin the moment, guys.

I pulled back from Fang, glaring daggers at Angel, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Ella, Total and even Mom, who were all standing in the doorway grinning at us. Fang moved so that he was behind me with his arms around my waist. For some reason, it seemed like his arms had the double purpose of keeping me close to him and restraining me from slicing the others' heads off.

"We could hear you in the kitchen," Angel explained hurriedly, listening to my slightly (but only slightly) murderous thoughts directed at them.

"I think we'd better leave now," muttered Mom. "Give them a little privacy." They didn't need her to say it twice – before I even knew it, there were out of my room and the door was closed behind them.

"So, where were we?"

AN: Sooo... this was the last chapter, what did you think of it?

Oh... and I really can't resist... it just fits sooo perfectly... in that part where Max is thinking about Fang telling her that he loves her... please insert these lyrics for the best song ever:

Tell me that you love me,
And it'll be alright
Are you thinking of me?
Just come with me tonight
You know I need you,
Just like you need me
Can't Stop, Won't Stop, I Must Be Dreaming