Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of its characters. If I did I would be getting the deadline for the sixth book moved up, not writing fanfiction.

Summary: One-shot. Fang and Max. Alone together in a cabin. During a blizzard. How will Fang turn this situation to his advantage? FAX! Set after TFW

"Alright, guys," I said, clapping my hands together to get their attention. "So, I'm thinking it's probably about time we move on, and – "

"But why, Max?" Angel asked innocently. We're safe here, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah," I said, surprised. "For now. I mean, we can't stay here. They have us on their computer, and of course, it's a hotel. Their business runs on ripping off poor bird kids like us."

"I agree with Angel," Total said loyally. "We're safe here."

I glared ferociously at him. "You just like the massage beds."

"That too."

"But Max, we don't even know where we're going next!" Nudge said earnestly. She looked around at the younger kids. "I think we should pick out another spot before we move, cuz I'm tired of being on the run." Here we go, I thought wearily. "I like having a comfy bed, and cable television, and food, and running water – "

"And a toilet!" the Gasman put in. Vaguely, I wondered if Angel was making the others support her decision.

"What if you and Fang go find our next place to stay, and the rest of us will stay here?" Suddenly I became sure that Angel had another motive. I envisioned myself returning to find the charred, smoky ruins of the hotel. I shot a furtive glance at Iggy. Surely he didn't have a bomb powerful enough to do that? He smirked, as if sensing my thoughts.

"C'mon, Max," Nudge wheedled. "Please?"

Well, it wasn't like I was totally against the idea. I looked to Fang. He raised his eyebrows at me and gave a little jerk with his head, as if to say it didn't matter to him. I sighed inwardly. I hated the fact that nowadays, the less you said the manlier you were. I half expected Fang to announce any day now that he had decided to become a mime to promote the spread of badassedness.

"Okay," I said. "Whatever. Fang and I will find a new place to stay, and we'll be back in a few days. You're in – " I stopped when I saw Iggy pantomiming something exploding to Gazzy, who was laughing. They stopped when they saw me. I changed my mind. "On second thought, you're in charge," I told Nudge. I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "If things start of get out of hand, I give you permission to kick them where it really hurts." I motioned to the boys behind me, trying hard to appear innocent but only succeeding in looking like they had bad gas.

Nudge's eyes widened. Angel giggled. She must have been eavesdropping on Nudge's thoughts. I would love to know what kind of mental picture Angel got.

I turned to Fang. "Alright. Let's go." We got our packs from the next room and said goodbye to the flock. I'm sorry to say only about fifty percent of those remaining at the hotel looked sad to see us go.

"Roof?" Fang asked, and I nodded. Hopefully there would be no one up there, and we could have a nice smooth takeoff.

As the hotel seemed to have been built before cowboy spurs went out of style, there was no elevator. Personally, I was surprised there was electricity. We climbed the seemingly endless rickety stairs. "Where do you think we should go next?" Fang asked. He brushed a sprinkling of dust off of his head. I noticed the footprints he left behind in the dirt.

I shivered and wrapped my arms around my chest, conserving body heat. "Someplace warmer, definitely. Jeez, haven't these people ever heard of heating?" It was so cold in here you could become a human chandelier just by standing still long enough and allowing the icicles to form.

"No, I don't think heating was introduced until the last century," Fang said, flashing a smile behind his shoulder at me. I stumbled a little on the stairs.

We got out into the open air of the roof, and the cold air was like a knife in my lungs. (Yes, an unfortunate side effect of being a mutant bird kid is morbid thinking.) How could it be this cold without any snow on the ground at all? I glanced up at the overcast sky.

Fang motioned for me to go first. I stepped up to the edge and prepared to jump, but was interrupted before I could leap out and unfurl my wings.

"NO!" someone screamed. I looked around, distracted, and something collided with me at top speed. I fell over and the heavy object fell with me.

I blinked up at the guy currently lying on top of me, a concerned expression on his face. But I only saw him for a split second, because in the next instant, he was hauled off of me. Fang grabbed his collar and threw him off, a murderous expression on his face. The unknown teenager rolled to a stop and jumped to his feet.

Fang helped me up. "You okay?" he asked. I nodded, and he turned his attention back to the other guy standing there.

He was around our age, and looked affronted as he dusted himself off and glared pointedly at Fang. He opened his mouth, but Fang beat him to it. Ooh, eager to speak, minus ten man points for Fang.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Fang snapped. He no longer looked so angry since we had discovered my attacker was a mere mortal – muahaha – but just very annoyed. "You could have hurt her!"

The guy snorted. "Like you weren't just about to make her kill herself, hypocrite!" He turned to me imploringly. "You don't have to listen to him. Give life another chance."

Dumbfounded, I stared at him. What the h was he talking about?

"I'm Michael." He moved towards me, laying a what-he-probably-thought-was-comforting hand on my arm. Fang stiffened, and I swear, he growled. Michael didn't even spare him a glance. He must have a death wish. Like me, apparently.

Fang brought his arm down in a chopping motion, effectively keeping Michael from maintaining contact with me. "Keep your hands off her," he said blackly. Uh-oh. Fang was in one of his scary moods.

"Okay, time for you to leave now," I said quickly, taking Michael's arm and trying to steer him away, but he wouldn't budge. "Seriously, everything's cool up here."

He looked earnestly at me. "You're too pretty to kill yourself. Don't let that guy push you around."

How had Fang gotten into the role of abusive boyfriend? I repressed a snort. "Just because he sometimes makes me want to inflict pain on myself does not mean I want to die. You're very confused, and you should go."

He studied me for a minute, then shrugged and allowed me to lead him away. Suddenly he pulled out a pen and paper and proceeded to write a number on it. "Hey, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, okay? Give me a call sometime." He flashed me a shy smile and left.

I rolled my eyes and returned to the edge of the roof, where I ripped up the paper that had Michael's number on it into little bits and watched the little pieces flutter to the ground. Jeez, if he really wanted to see me again he was more suicidal than a marshmallow.

I realized Fang was watching me intently, and looked up to meet his gaze. "What?" I asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

There was some emotion buried deep behind his eyes, but I couldn't read it. After studying me for another minute he shrugged and again gestured to the sky. "After you."

I glanced around, making sure there were no more suicide stoppers around, and jumped off, snapping out my wings and soaring upwards.

It wasn't really necessary, but I flew above the clouds anyway, liking the feeling of being able to see nothing whatsoever except whiteness – or more like grayness. They weren't the fluffy Care Bear clouds that make you resent your lumpy mattress (or in my case, lack of one) but rather looked like storm clouds. But I was probably imagining things again.

I caught sight of Fang as little below me, and swooped down to join him. We were flying in a south-southeast direction, and I hoped to find some warmer weather soon before I turned into a mutant Popsicle.

A couple hours later, we were forced to stop as it was getting dark. And the temperature still hadn't risen any.

We scouted around a small cabin, probably a retreat for skiers. Or abused girlfriends. No one was there, so we coasted down to the porch silently. I allowed Fang the honor of picking the lock on the door.

When we got inside, Fang immediately went to the hearth to start a fire. The wind was howling outside. I headed to the kitchen, intending to find some chow. I checked the fridge first. There wasn't much. I sighed.

"Find anything?" I turned at the sound of Fang's voice behind me. He was standing a lot closer than I'd realized, though, and his face was only a few inches from mine.

I cleared my throat and quickly turned to peer in the refrigerator again, trying to hide the rising blush on my face.

"Um, not really," I said. "There's some, uh, milk, and, uh, some cottage cheese..."

"Yeah, those'll go well together," Fang said dryly, and sounded a lot more disappointed than he should about the lack of food in the fridge. To my relief, I sensed him move away to search the cupboards.

In the end, we found some canned food on the shelves, as well as cake mix. I saw Fang eye me furtively, then place the mix in a place I couldn't reach easily. I stuck my tongue out at him, but was too hungry to do anything too drastic in retaliation.

After I ate – it took like two minutes – I went in the other room and dragged the only couch in front of the fire, pushing the footstools in front of it. I lay down with my upper body on the couch and the rest of me lying on the footstool. I closed my eyes.

Fang came in the room and sat next to me on the couch. I sensed his hesitance. "Max?"

I moaned. "Too tired. Talk tomorrow."

Fang gave an exasperated sigh, but lay down next to me and didn't talk.

And it was true. I was too tired and really wanted to sleep. But as soon as Fang sat down next to me I had become wide awake. Now I had no hope of sleeping. For a while, at least.

So I had time to think. For some reason, the first thing that popped in my mind was the Michael kid. Inexplicably I felt the urge to smile. But wait... I didn't want to smile because of Michael. I was wanted to smile because of Fang's reaction to him. Fang, who was currently lying next to me, separate by only a few electricity-charged inches...

I scolded myself. Stop! He's your brother, for God's sake! At least the mind reading child wasn't here. If she was, I would probably have to kill her.

I wondered how the kids were doing. Iggy may be an immature sexist pig, but he would take care of the flock, even though I hadn't asked him to. I hoped he could handle Angel. Something was going on with that kid. She had been way too anxious to send Fang and I out today. My last thoughts before I dropped off to sleep were the creative ways I would get Angel to tell me what was going on once we got back.

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When I woke up it was still the middle of the night. Instinctively I knew something was different. That was before I felt the bone-jarring cold that seemed to originate in my bones, making my teeth chatter uncontrollably. I got up to avoid waking Fang, and moved to the window. My breath appeared in little clouds. I opened the curtains, and groaned in horror.

I couldn't see past three feet out. There was because there was insane whiteness flying everywhere. A full scale blizzard was occurring right outside.

I cursed. It would be impossible to fly in this. Heck, it would be impossible to walk in this. To be perfectly honest, I was having a hard time looking at it. I walked back to the hearth to relight the fire. By this time, Fang was awake, blinking.

I jerked my head to the windows. "Take a look outside," I said tersely. He looked confused, but went to the window and peered out.

"Hm." He didn't appear too concerned. Actually I thought I caught a hint of relief on his face.

"This is fabulous," I groaned. "The kids get even more time to destroy the hotel, and we're stuck in here!"

Fang turned around to look at me. "I'm sure we can find something to do."

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Angel clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention, just like she had seen Max do so many times. "Okay, everyone, we need to have a meeting."

"Angel, what's the deal?"Iggy asked. "Why did you want the rest of us to help you send Max and Fang out together? Not that I don't like it, of course. I mean, this is great. No one to remind us to brush out teeth, or shower, or – "

"Flush the toilet!" Gazzy put in. Angel wondered why everything with him was about toilets.

"Fang needed some help," Angel said, shrugging. "So I gave it to him."

"What are you talking about?" Gazzy asked.

Nudge looked at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed Fang crushing on Max this whole time!"

"Well, yeah, actually I have, but – "

Angel sighed. "Just look outside."

Together, the four of them peered out the window.

Nudge giggled. "Iggy, what are you doing?"

"Humoring Angel. Now tell me what's going on outside."

"It's a blizzard," the Gasman observed.

"Yes, it's a blizzard," Angel said patiently. "Hopefully this will improve Fang's chances."

Iggy looked confused for a moment, then a devious smile spread across his face. "When exactly did you become the son of Satan, Angel?"

And if you don't think that's a weird sentence, maybe you should reread it.

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I stared at Fang uncomprehendingly, confused by his suggestive tone. What was that supposed to mean?

He rolled his eyes and came over to sit next to me on the couch. He took my hand. "We have to talk," Fang said, his dark eyes staring intently into mine.

I began to stand. "I, uh, need to, uh – "

He pulled me back down, hard. "You're not going to run away this time," he snapped. Then his lips were on mine and I couldn't think much anymore.

His kiss was rough. I was too stunned to respond much, so I didn't really push him off or kiss him back. One arm wound around my back, crushing me to his chest, and his free hand twisted in my hair, holding my face to his. His mouth kissed my hungrily and more than a little possessively. He tilted his head so he could get even closer to me.

Slowly, he brought his head away, and I found I really wanted to pull him back. But he kept his face very close, leaning his forehead against mine.

"What are you afraid of?" he murmured. "Why can't you let us be together?"

I didn't really know that answer to that question anymore. I already trusted Fang with my life; wasn't that the same as entrusting him with my heart? And his kiss had really made me want another.

Slowly, slowly he lowered his mouth to mine again. The moment his lips touched me a warmth filled my body that had nothing to do with the fire and everything to do with the boy in fron of me. I kissed him back this time, and he responded even more eagerly, his arms pulling me towards him.

I fixed my arms around his neck, holding him against me. He gave a little shiver and lay back suddenly, pulling me on top of him.

I froze for a moment, and Fang took advantage of it by kissing his way along my cheekbone, ending at my ear. I relaxed into Fang's chest, and knotted my fingers in his silky black hair, pulling his mouth back to mine.

When my neck got tired of craning upward to reach him I pulled away and put my head over his heart. Its comforting thrumming filled my ears, beating faster than usual. He ran a hand over my hair, followed by a quick kiss. His arms held me tightly to his chest, as though he were afraid to let go. He hand lazily rubbed my shoulder. My fingers idly played with the long strands of hair that hung over the back of his neck.

We lay like that for awhile, until I felt my eyelids drooping. Then I buried my face in his neck and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

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When I woke, it was to the tickling sensation of Fang kissing my eyelids. I opened my eyes, confused for a moment, not remembering what had happened the night before.

When he saw my expression Fang grew very still. "Have you changed since last night?" he asked. I saw him begin to retreat behind his emotional wall again.

I smiled by way of answer and pulled my face up to his. This kiss was different from the ones of last night. It was sweeter, gentler, as if his lips were asking me a question and I was responding yes, yes, yes!

We kissed good morning for a long time, until with a jolt I remembered our situation. I rolled off of Fang and stood abruptly, going over to the window.

Thank God it had stopped snowing. A blanket of white coated everything, making it look like some hyper little boy had gone crazy last night and painted everything with frosting. It wasn't as cold today, either.

I turned to Fang, who had sat up on the couch. "Maybe we should go back to the hotel. Make sure the kids are okay."

He grimaced. "Couldn't we just hang out here for a few days? The two of us?"

I shook my head. "If we were caught out in this blizzard, the might have been, too."

"I'm sure they're fine. Come back over here," he said persuasively.

I grinned and went to the kitchen to find us a quick breakfast. I actually found a box of Pop-Tarts, which we scarfed down. Fang wanted to hang at the cabin for a little while longer, and to be honest I did too, but what kind of a leader would I be if I gave in to temptation? Instead I made him take off, following right behind. We flew side by side, feathers brushing on every downstroke. Whenever our gazes met, we grinned big, goofy grins at each other.

We got to the hotel much too soon. Right before we entered the room, I shot a regretful glance at Fang. He looked about as disappointed as I felt.

When we got inside, I blinked. The four of them were sitting on the bed, all with the same knowing grin on their face.

"So?" Angel said smugly. "Did you find a place to stay?"

"No," said, fighting the sudden urge I had to blush. "We came back to see if you guys were alright, with the blizzard and all."

"So..." Nudge echoed Angel's sentiment. Then she suddenly couldn't contain herself, and started squealing. "So did it happen? Are you guys together yet? I mean, of course you are, that was the whole point of sending you out in the blizzard, but still – "

"Wait a second," I interrupted. "You... set us up?" I cast a disbelieving look at the rest of the flock, all looking way too pleased with themselves. "All of you?" I turned to Fang. "I don't believe this." Then I saw his expression. He had the same satisfied look on his face but with just a hint of guilt in it. "You set me up, too?" I demanded.

"It was my idea," Angel said innocently. My head snapped back to her. Of course it was her idea. "Fang just agreed to it. Or maybe agreed is too big of an understatement. Hey, he needed a little help!"

Fang's arms wrapped around my stomach, pulling me back outside the hotel room with him. I leaned back against him. "You know what? I'm glad you set me up," I said thoughtfully.

He spun me around to face him, covering my lips with his. His mouth was grateful, relieved, ecstatic on mine. I was soon out of air and pull away to gulp in lungfuls of it. He hugged me to him.

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that," he said.

A/N: Ta-da! I'm finished! That was a lot longer than I thought it would be... Sorry for any typos etc. I wasn't quite sure how to end it, so I just stopped it there.

About the whole suicide stopper guy... don't ask, he just popped in there somehow. What a weird brain I have.

I thought I kept in character pretty well, but there were some points I thought I went OOC. I'm also not quite positive I got the kissing parts quite right. Review and tell me what you think!