The squall outside raged on as the Flock slept serenely, thankful to finally be able to get some shut eye in a warm hotel.

I sat on the windowsill inspecting the rain, watching the lightning carve like a razor across the ominous sky and listening to the thunder rumble, thinking about how lonely it would be to be stuck out in this storm.

Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang were in the room next door, adjoined to my own through a two-way door in the wall between the rooms. Angel and Nudge were situated in the bed farthest from the window, snoring so lightly it was barely audible.

It was cold. I'd been through worse, far worse; but for some reason, in this heated room with readily available blankets, I was the coldest I had been in a long time. Nothing seemed to warm me anymore. Not ten blankets; not a high-powered heater; not a sweltering fire. I had begun to wonder if the invincible Maximum Ride would ever recover or if the loss of warmth was the result of an impending expiration date.

The wood of the windowsill creaked beneath me as I stood again and headed over to the side of Angel's bed. She had been the best little girl a "mommy" could wish to have for so many wonderful years, so why had she suddenly become so rebellious? It wasn't like the Angel the Flock had known for the whole of her existence…

I knelt on the floor at the side of the bed and delicately brushed away the beautiful golden hair that had fallen into her face as she slept. Her eyelids fluttered and she shifted, but didn't wake. I let out a sigh and stood again, leaning over to lightly brush my fingers across Nudge's smooth chocolaty skin, smiling lightly at the thought that I would never see her being quiet in daylight.

"Weird to see her quiet, isn't it?"

I spun around toward the wall with the door and came face to face with a disheveled Fang, apparently just out of bed. His barefoot, messy appearance was so good to see. I hadn't seen anything relaxing in a while and the look he had on his face of sleeplessness and boredom was one I hadn't seen since before Jeb disappeared.

"What're you doing up?" I asked him, moving toward him as noiselessly as I could manage. With the door open and children in both rooms, there was really nowhere for us to talk that wouldn't wake them.

"You were sitting by the window, right? I thought I heard something, so I got up. I haven't been able to sleep lately."

"That's understandable. The mosquitoes are awful lately… It's nice to finally have a mosquito-free bedroom and a shower."

"Mosquitoes aren't keeping me up, Max."

I was confused. What else could keep a man up who had so much need for sleep? "Then what is?"

"Just thoughts, really. About anything. Everything," he shrugged and walked over to the windowsill I had recently left. He sat in the chair by the small table and I assumed we would be talking long enough for sitting to be worthwhile.

"I don't understand, Fang. Our Flock has been changing. What's going on with Angel, why does Nudge suddenly only want to hang out with Iggy, and what's going on with Gazzy wandering away all the time?"

"I think Angel is at that age when she's trying to push everybody's buttons to see how much she can get away with. And Nudge seems to have quite the crush on Iggy. I'm not sure about Gazzy. Maybe he's building a bomb?" It was quite the speech for the ever quiet Fang. He smiled at me, the tired look in his eyes telling me he didn't want to talk about this right now.

"Fang, have you ever wanted to see the future?"

"Yeah," he said, as if wondering where this was going.

"What did you want to know from it?" I asked, hoping he wanted to see the same thing I did. For months now I had wanted to see if Fang and I would end up together forever or if we would try to kill each other during an argument. I wanted so badly to know whether what we had was worth pursuing or if it should be left to whither.

"I wanted to know if we would beat the School. Wanted to know whether our two Flocks would ever be one Flock again, too. Mostly, I wanted to know about us…"

"What do you mean by "us"?" I asked, leaning forward so I could hear better without him having to be too loud.

"You know, just… Us… As a couple…. You and me…" he looked me straight in the eye as if begging me not to tease him about the admission.

"Maybe we really are perfect for one another… I wanted to see the same thing, but I definitely can't… Too bad no one in the Flock can see the future…" I twisted up my face in a show of disappointment.

"If anyone ends up with another power like being able to see the future, it'd most likely be Angel… Have you noticed she seems to have wayyy more powers than the rest of us?"

No, I hadn't noticed, but now that he mentioned it…

I must have spaced out for quite some time before Fang started to get worried. I came back to reality when something touched my knee lightly and I refocused my sight to see Fang kneeling in front of me, asking if I was alright.

Of course I told him I was, but the truth was, I hadn't been very happy lately. I know the stories about how many teenagers have depression or anxiety or whatever, but I didn't think I could have those sorts of things… Maybe I was wrong?

"Fang, what should I do to make myself happy again? It feels like I haven't been happy in a long time…"

He cocked his head to the side and looked at me inquisitively. I just stared back blankly before I looked away out the window. I felt Fang's hand come up to touch my left cheek. For a moment, he just let it stay there, motionless, but soon after, he moved my face to look in his direction. I didn't want to because I felt weak, but I'm not as strong as Fang and I didn't want to start a fight anyways. When I looked back, he smiled a little half-hearted grin.

"Try doing the thing you want to do at the exact moment you think of it. It'll make you feel happier because you'll be acting spontaneously and then, maybe you'll even discover something new that you really like, right? It couldn't hurt. What's the first thing you can think of that you want to do? What do you want to do right now?"

At that same moment, looking into Fang's eyes, all I wanted to do was hold him tight and be held in return. I wanted to feel the softness and warmth of his lips against my own, and I wanted to fall asleep in his arms. I couldn't possibly say that, though, could I?

But I did. I said to him, "I want a hug. And I want to hug you back."

As Fang's arms wrapped firmly around my waist, I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in the crook of his neck, twirled my fingers through the strands of hair at the base of his head, and stood on tiptoes in order to do it all at once.

We must have stood there for minutes, and I was starting to shake, unable to stay on my tiptoes much longer. Fang must have noticed, because suddenly we were sitting in that same chair from before, him sitting straight forward and me sitting perpendicular on his lap. It was a lot easier on my toes, but his legs were probably going to be hurting after not too long.

"What do you want now, Max?"

"Nothing in particular… Nothing I'm going to tell you about, at least."

"Why not? You can trust me, Max…"

I knew I could trust Fang, I just didn't know if he would turn me down… But his lips looked so soft and warm and smooth and so incredibly inviting that I just couldn't help myself.

"I want you to kiss me," I whispered in his ear, then nuzzled my head back into the crook of his neck. He stiffened for a moment, so I assumed he didn't want to kiss me. We hadn't kissed for a while… Probably close to a year. We hadn't had the time, or the luxury of being able to take a five minute break… It'd been non-stop for almost a year. I missed his kisses more than I was willing to admit.

Fang stood up, carrying me over to the bed. I figured he would tuck me in and tell me to get some sleep because I "wasn't thinking straight", but instead, he set me down on the bed lightly before crawling into the bed and lying down on the soft sheets with me. While he cuddled up to me, legs intertwining with my own, arms circling my waist, shifting an arm to become a pillow for my head, he whispered something along the lines of "not a problem", then kissed me square on the forehead.

"That's not the kind of kiss I wanted, you know."

"No? Well what kind do you want, then?" The look in his eyes made it clear that he was teasing me; he knew exactly what I wanted but he wanted me to ask for it.

"Shut up, Fang. You already know."

"Know what?" His smile grew even more when I huffed and frowned.

Fang kissed me then, the softest, most wonderful kiss I had ever shared with him. His lips were the most amazing thing I had felt in the longest time; even better than the warm shower had been. As his lips moved against mine at an excruciatingly slow but sensual pace, I wrapped my arms around his neck again and pulled his head closer to my own, deepening the kisses we shared.

One kiss had turned into two, two into three, then more and more until I had lost count. Our tongues met in a dance of soft passion while the warmth of our bodies so close to one another made me feel groggy. Mid-kiss, Fang pulled away just long enough to ask me a magnificent question.

"Max?" he asked between each kiss to my cheeks, neck and forehead.

I didn't answer. I didn't have to; all I did was look at him next to me.

"Can I stay here tonight?"

I snuggled into his body again and grabbed hold of his rumpled t-shirt in one hand before pulling the comforter up and over our bodies with the other. That was the only answer he was going to get.

My eyes drooped increasingly each minute and I could tell his were doing the same. I kissed him one more time before I snuggled even closer and said goodnight through a small yawn.

"Max; one more question."

I opened my eyes just a little more to show him I was listening.

"Is it alright it I love you?"

"Not unless I can love you too…"

"I love you, Max. I've loved you for so long I can't remember when I first realized that there weren't enough words to describe how I felt about you…"

I kissed him again, lighter than ever before, then whispered against his lips exactly what he had told me.

"I love you, Fang. I've loved you for so long I can't remember when I first realized that there weren't enough words to describe how I felt about you…"

"Max, will you go out with me? I mean, we don't have a lot of down time, but if I could just hear that you'll go out with me… Max… It'd make me so happy…"

"Are you sure you want to date me? I hear voices, remember?"

"What do the voices have to say about us dating?"

"Last I heard, the voice tried to convince me that we were soulmates…"

"Perfect…" he smiled, kissed me once more, and then wrapped me in his warm embrace before we drifted off to sleep.