It's been way too long, but the important thing is that the chapter is up and worth reading! Thank you for the previous reviews!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to James Patterson.

Part 3:

Fang was the first to wake. His eyes darted around the room, analyzing it and where the best escape routes were. Then, he remembered where he was and why he was there.

He sat up, silently stretching his travel-worn muscles. Still on the floor, Fang turned his intense dark gaze at Max who was still sleeping on the bed.

Max had the blankets pulled up to her chin, and she was sleeping on her side. Her flat brown hair was all tangled and knotted.

A shadow of a smile crossed his lips as he looked at her quiet breathing form. Miraculously, she didn't snore once all night. Truthfully, Max may have been snoring, but Fang was in deep sleep all night, and wouldn't have heard it anyways.

The bright rays of morning light peeked into the room through cracks in the shades on the window.

Suddenly, a snippet of a scene in Fang's mind engulfed his attention. In the daydream, they were both in a room, this very room, in fact. Fang imagined waking up next to Max in the morning, with her curled up next to him and his arm around her. Fang saw himself softly kissing Max on the forehead.

Fang blinked rapidly as he returned back to the present scene.

He meditated on what he had thought, what he had wished for. It wasn't a random thought; Fang had wanted that to happen.

Immediately, Fang brushed the thoughts out of his mind. There was no sense in tormenting himself over something that could never be. I wouldn't happen, no matter how much he wanted otherwise.

The cold logic woke up his partially dreaming brain more than any amount of caffeine could. He slowly stretched out his arms, getting the blood flowing again. Sleeping on the floor wasn't the most comfortable sleeping arrangement he'd had over the years, but it certainly wasn't the worst.

Waking up in agony, from physical wounds, starvation and dehydration in a crate so small that he couldn't even fully stretch out his legs or even sit up all the way, and hearing the terrified and pained howls and cries of other mutants like yourself certainly didn't make his top ten list of favorite abodes that he'd stayed at.

He inhaled deeply and smelled a wonderful smell that he hadn't smelt in a long while. Waffles, and not those frozen Eggo waffles either. This was the real made-from-scratch deal. Fang could barely remember the last time that Iggy had made waffles from scratch. There was another smell mingling with the homemade waffle smell; the sweet, savory smell of frying bacon.

Fang's stomach rumbled loudly. After the long and taxing day yesterday consisting of flying for hours on end, dragging Max through the woods, and kicking those boys' butts with no food in between, he was ravenous. He could literally eat enough food to put a diner out of business.

He heard Max shift in the bed, and automatically turned around to face her. That little snippet of him waking up next to Max and kissing her as she awoke flashed into his mind again. He forcefully shoved it out of his mind. What was wrong with him? He usually had more control than this.

"That's the loudest noise I've ever heard you make." Max said groggily as she sat up in the bed. Her pajama top, which had some strange cartoon character on it, was askew revealing the soft pale skin on her collar bone. Her hair was frizzy and going in all directions, like it had had been through a tornado.

Fang thought that she looked so beautiful, that he forgot how to breathe. He swallowed quite loudly, but Max was too drowsy to notice.

Yet another clip of vivid urging took over Fang's attention. He saw himself striding over to the sleepy Max and kissing her by force. She was a little hesitant at first, but he slowly eased himself onto the bed, on top of her. Her brown eyes drifted shut as she succumbed to his kisses.

Fang shook his head, his jagged black bangs swishing over his eyes. He said nothing, as per usual.

"Somebody's still a bit tired. Bet you would've slept better if you stayed on the couch like I told you to." Max said; smirking as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"What fun would that have been?" Fang replied coolly, regaining his wits and trying to forget the vivid scenes that had flashed before his eyes. Where had those come from? He was supposed to protect Max, not ravage her. It was because he hadn't eaten. That was it. He couldn't really concentrate or think straight when he was this hungry. He focused on thinking clearer now, using the stab of hunger as a tool to stay awake, alert, and focused.

"Now I can use all that stuff that you muttered in your sleep against you. You said my name a lot." Fang replied stoically, his poker face impeccable. She had really said nothing of the sort, and he was too deep asleep to hear anything whispered in her sleep anyways.

Max glared at him, but in the dim morning light filtering in through the cracks in the blinds, Fang could see a crack in her glare. A crack of emotion that flickered in her eyes, if only for a moment, before being covered up again. Fear. Fang was unbearably curious now. What was she afraid of? Did she believe that he was serious? That he'd actually heard her calling his name in her sleep? His heart went a little off beat at the thought of her dreaming about him.

That's it. He needed food. Pronto.

Suddenly, the door opened; filling the dim room with the light from the rest of the house. Ella stood in the doorway, peeking around the doorframe.

"I think they're awake." Ella spoke softly, as if speaking to another person behind her. Instantly, the two bird-kids tensed. What if Ella was a traitor? She could be talking to a whitecoat with an assault rifle behind her or a police officer or even an Eraser disguised as someone. Maybe not even disguised at all.

Then, Ella's mom appeared behind her, filling up the doorway completely. There wasn't anyone else there. Both Max and Fang let out a breath of relief.

"Morning, Max. You too, Fang. You guys hungry? Do you like waffles?" Ella's mom said cheerfully. Both Max and Fang were great at detecting lies, and right now, they both silently agreed that Dr. Martinez was being sincere. She wasn't hiding anything.

"And bacon?" Ella chimed in, like she was genuinely happy to have strange house guests to share her breakfast with. "And fruit and stuff?"

Fang looked to Max, who nodded. She shot a private smirk at Fang. She knew that he was starving too.

Both Ella and her mother smiled. Ella held out something. Max walked over and took what was being offered to her. It was her jeans and underclothes and socks. They had been washed.

"So you can change." Ella added helpfully. "Fang, your stuff is in the bathroom where we cleaned up Max last night. You can change in there."

Dr. Martinez left for the kitchen, but Ella stayed behind and said one last thing to Fang before taking off.

"I swear I won't peek." Ella said, winking at him. Then, she ran off faster than Fang had ever seen a human run.

He was a bit stunned. Had that human girl actually flirted with him? And she knew that he was a mutant freak? Why would she ever think of someone who was a genetic screwball like him in… that sort of way?

Max, on the other hand, looked a bit gruff. She felt strangely… uncomfortable when Ella had flirted with Fang. It was because he was like a brother. That was it. It was weird to think that someone would like a brother, especially when that person flirting with 'her brother' knew that they were both not human. It certainly wasn't because Max felt anything other than close friendship verging on sibling-like feelings towards him. If that was the case, why was Max unsatisfied with that conclusion? She brushed the thoughts aside.

Fang felt worried about leaving Max to herself for even a few minutes while he changed. He supposed that Ella's mom had purposefully left his clothes in a separate room, away from Max. He'd already spent the night in the same room as her, but he assumed that she was trying to make them behave 'modestly' or some other motherly reason. Fang almost smirked. He would behave 'modestly' if forced to change in the same room with Max anyhow. She'd kick his butt if he tried anything.

Not like he would try anything with her. They were just friends. Those strange fantasies were byproducts of hunger and mental stress. Fang wasn't fully satisfied with that answer either, but he refused to take up any more thought on the matter and shoved all those strange ideas aside. He had more problems to worry about. Like the fact that he'd just left Gazzy and Iggy alone at the 'E' shaped house. They would be sitting ducks out there if they didn't find another place to hide, because now, the Erasers knew where they lived. Or the fact that Nudge was probably scared out of her wits. She'd had to sleep alone last night. She probably thought that he and Max were dead and that she'd have to rescue Angel all alone from the school now with nothing but the meager supplies in that backpack he'd left with her.

He changed in the backroom. There was a new black t-shirt, since the last one had holes all in it from Eraser claws. There were two long, perfectly spaced cuts in the back of the t-shirt where his wings would come out of. They must've observed his last shirt, and copied the long holes in the back. His jeans were newly washed and his socks were also. He slipped everything on and tried not to run back to Max's room. He hoped that nothing catastrophic had befallen her while he was gone, like things tended to happen around her whenever she was left alone.

He waited outside the door, listening intently for any signs of foul play. He heard the shifting of fabric and muttered cursing. It sounded like someone was trying to attack her or kidnap her or worse. Fang flung the door opened, muscles as tense as a person with his neck on the guillotine.

Max whirled around in an attempt to cover herself with her good arm. Her other arm was in a type of sling around her shoulder to keep her arm movements from jarring and further aggravating her injury. She'd managed to get her jeans on, but that was all. She had furiously been trying to hook her bra together with one arm but to no avail, hence the struggling and the cursing that he'd heard.

"Fang!" Max shrieked. "What is wrong with you? Why are you busting in all the time when I'm half naked? Ever heard of knocking you idiot! I'm going to kick your scrawny, sexist…"

"It sounded like you were getting strangled." Fang said emotionlessly, as he nonchalantly closed the door behind him. He focused on Max's eyes intently, his gaze not straying any lower, no matter how much his darker thoughts nagged him to.

"Well I'm not! I can take care of myself so get out get out!" Max growled vehemently, verging on shouting on the last two words.

"No you obviously can't take care of yourself considering that you're so injured that you can't get dressed." Fang said, as snappish tone leaking into his apathetic speech. "Now let me help you and for the love of God, stop shrieking! That girl and her mom will think that I'm doing terribly naughty things."

Max didn't know what she was more stunned at, Fang talking so much all of a sudden or the fact that he'd been directly defying her so much. She was the leader, not him. He was supposed to do what she said. Was she losing her leadership qualities? The fact that her face heated up, red like the hot wires in a toaster at Fang's last sentence didn't help matters at all.

Fang walked over to her, keeping his eyes politely averted from her less than concealed upper half. He stood behind her and tried not to think about the skin on her back and how it looked so incredibly smooth. He took hold of the back of her bra and, from behind, helped her ease her injured arm through the strap.

"You are doing incredibly naughty things to me." Max muttered, but not resisting. She would never admit this, even under torture, but she did need help. She didn't have to be verbally compliant to it though. It would inflate Fang's ego way too much. His head would be too big for him even to take off.

No, but I want to. said a voice in Fang's head in reply to Max's last comment. He almost stumbled backwards from the thought. He gritted his teeth as Max adjusted the front of the bra so that it fit on her properly.

"Don't flatter yourself however, that girl did seem interested in that idea. What was her name? Bella?" Fang retorted. He watched as Max's ears turned red, which only happened if she was extremely angry or embarrassed.

He'd noticed the change in her countenance after Ella's witty little flirty attempt on him. She'd gone from sarcastic to hostile in a matter of seconds.

"Will you hurry up? I'm freezing!" Max snapped at him, in an attempt to change the subject.

Fang quickly hooked the back of her undergarment together so that it was on completely now, being careful around her wings. He pretended not to notice the goosebumps that crept across wherever his fingers touched the shin on her bare back.

"You put it on wrong!" Max hissed, now very irritable. "The strap goes under my wing joints, not above them!"

"How am I supposed to know?" Fang said in a slightly aggravated tone which meant that he was as aggravated as Max was. Bout of the bird-kids' aggregation was a failed attempt to hide their discomfort.

He took the sweatshirt from its spot on the unmade bed and held it above Max. Max braced herself as he slid it over her head. She pushed her good arm through its proper sleeve.

"I'm going to take your arm out of the sling for a second." Fang said shortly. He took a pocketknife, which had amazingly survived the wash, out of his jeans pocket and cut the gauze holding Max's arm in a temporary sling. Before Max could protest, Fang gently eased her arm through the armhole, but She'd twitched uncomfortably at his closeness and the sheer strangeness of their situation, and managed to worsen the pain in her shoulder. She winced and let out an involuntary yelp of pain. Fang bit his lip, loathing the sound of her in pain.

"Hey, easy." Fang murmured softly in her ear. Max stiffened, and that was all Fang needed to inch the rest of her arm through the sleeve. He quickly gathered the newly cut-through gauze that had previously held Max's arm in a sling and, with expert precision, re-set her arm in a sling. He carefully tied the knot holding the sling together on the top of her shoulder. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he soothingly kissed the top of Max's head.

She tried to ignore the fact that all of the pain in her body had suddenly melted away and all of her problems seemed to dissipate, if for a second.

Fang was so stunned with himself. He'd never lost control like that before. What really scared him was the fact that the action was so smooth, so natural, like he'd done it a thousand times and would do it a thousand more. Heck, he felt like he'd wanted to do it a thousand more times. He was very scared that he'd officially lost his friendship with Max in that one little second. The one little second that brought him more bliss that he'd had for as long as he could remember.

Before he could possible do more to screw anything else up, he walked, soundlessly towards the door.

Max brushed past him a little more forcefully than necessary. She had, of course, forgotten temporarily about her injured shoulder. She inhaled sharply at the stabbing pain and stumbled a bit. Fang immediately, as if on reflex, grabbed on to her, to keep her from falling.

Max abruptly yanked out of his grasp. She walked, almost jogged, into the hallway, Fang staying a few steps behind her. Max was now clutching her injured shoulder. The pain came back to her, hitting her like another bullet wound. It not only ached, but it was a sharp pain too. It was even worse that the time that she'd dislocated her shoulder when she was sparring with Fang a long time ago back when Jeb was still with them. Max remembered staggering around, being as tough as she could and refusing to cry. She remembered the look on Fang's face. She saw the flicker of emotion before it had left his face for good, but still, she'd seen it. He had been stricken and guilty and a bit fearful. Max knew that he should be afraid. She was going to kick his butt when this terrible pain went away.

Little did Max know, but Fang was secretly afraid that he'd permanently injured. He felt really guilty about hurting her so bad. He knew that it was bad if Max was close to tears. She had always been the strong one. And he'd do the thing that he swore that he'd never really do, he'd hurt her. It was bad, too. He was supposed to make sure that she didn't get hurt, not be the one that hurt her.

Max then remembered Jeb. He was there, next to her, talking to her. Talking about how to better improve her skills so she would be able to avoid a blow to the shoulder like that again. About how one day, not even Fang would be able to touch her in battle. Then, at the last second that she expected, Jeb slid her shoulder back into place. In a moment, all the pain was gone.

Max wished that the pain would go away now. Now, however, she had an aching pain in her heart at the fond memory of Jeb. He was the closest thing that she'd had to a dad and now he was gone forever.

But there was something that could make the pain go away. When Fang had kissed her, even if it was on the top of the head, it had made the pain go away.

Max repeated those words over in over again in her head, like a mantra. Fang kissed me. Fang kissed me. Fang kissed me.

He had to have been kissing her like a brother. Brothers and sisters shared tiny bits of affection like that. It had to what she's been feeling, what he'd been feeling. Brotherly love.

Max, almost bitterly, thought that Fang had a new interest now in Ella, anyways.

As soon as Max entered the kitchen, she was almost floored by the scent of food, but it was a good thing. The smell of bacon and sausage and waffles and eggs overpowered her, and she wanted to melt. It was a normal sight. There was a perfectly normal teenage girl setting the table, there was a perfectly normal mother, cooking a breakfast feast. She was wearing normal clothes, aside from the giant slits in the back. It was like they were an actual real, normal family gathering together for a normal meal.

"Oh, Max, I totally forgot about your sling!" Ella's mom said loudly over the noisy sound of bacon and sausage frying at the same time. "It seems like you've managed to do it yourself though!" she said this with admiration in her voice, and a bit of surprise.

Max was relieved that Ella or her mom didn't even know about the fiasco with her getting dressed. Max sensed Fang behind her and remembered the unbearably good feeling that had washed over her when his fingers had brushed the bare skin on her back, the way that his fingers gently grazed the soft downy feathers near her wing joint. The feeling overwhelmed her, and frankly, it scared her to be so out-of-control with her emotions. She shook her head, as if to erase the memory from her mind like an Etch-A-Sketch.

"You guys can sit down. The table's ready." Ella said merrily. She grabbed a plate piled high with bacon and placed it on the table. Here was already fruit, oatmeal, waffles with whipped cream and chocolate chips, syrup, powdered sugar, and even cereal on the table. It looked like a banquet. Ella's mom turned off the stove and brought the eggs and sausage to the table.

"We didn't know what you liked," she confessed. "so we made a bit of everything."

"Don't worry about it. It all looks great!" Max enthused. Fang couldn't help but nod in agreement. The two bird kids eyed the plates of food like they were piles of gold stacked before them.

"Don't just stand there! It's not poisoned. See?" Ella said as she took a big bite of waffle. Max and Fang's willpowers crumbled. They sat at the table at the last two seats available. Naturally, they sat across from each other.

They tried not to inhale the food, but it was the best that they'd eaten in a really long time. Max tried to use her fork and knife to cut and eat her food like a normal person, although she was sorely tempted to just use her hands and stuff as much food as she could into her mouth. Strange enough, Max felt normal here. Besides the fact that Fang was sitting across from her, carefully avoiding eye contact with her, she could have believed that she was human; all human.

Even the conversation was somewhat normal. Well, much more normal than it was when Max was with the Flock. Gazzy would be talking about his latest pyromaniac-driven creation, Iggy would be bragging about the amazing food that he'd just whipped up, Nudge would be babbling about the newest fashion magazine that she'd lifted from the nearest convenience store, and how modern fashions could be practical during flight or some similar crap. Angel would be reading everyone's minds and generally commenting on what she found to be interesting. Max, of course, would be making sure that the bacon was distributed evenly so that a brawl wouldn't ensue. Of course, Fag wouldn't say anything at all.

The mere thought of an average breakfast with her Flock made Max feel ten pounds heavier with sorrow. She shoveled another quarter of waffle into her mouth.

To hide the fact that she was in agony over the loss of Angel all over again, and wanted nothing more than to curl up on the ground and cry for her little baby to be brought home again. She felt a strange yarning for Fang to hold her close and to whisper that everything was going to be alright into her ear, then kiss her. This time, on the mouth. She almost dropped her fork at the thought.

To cover up for her seemingly strange behavior, Max blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Wow, these waffles are amazing! I think that they are even better than Ig-" Fang had cut her off with a sharp glare; the first time that he'd looked at her the whole meal. Max glared even more pointedly back at him, but she was more angry at herself than him. First she'd revealed her real name to these complete strange humans, and now she'd almost revealed another one of them to those same humans! Was she subconsciously hell-bent on their early, untimely deaths?

Ella's mom looked a little troubled at the sudden halt in the middle of that last sentence, but eventually smiled.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you like them." Ella's mom said warmly. She'd noticed the large amount of food that Fang and Max had eaten, but only looked mildly curious, not in the least bit annoyed or fearful. Another thing that Max and Fang assumed wrongly about her.

Max didn't want to bring up the fact that she and Fang were mutant freaks and needed an obscene amount of calories just to stay alive, that's why they had to eat so much. This breakfast was so strangely… normal. And she didn't want to ruin it.

Max and Fang made an unspoken agreement not to eat all of the food that they knew they could. They would only eat what they absolutely needed to eat in order to function. They wouldn't give themselves the luxury of eating until they were blissfully and completely full. The two of them combined would probably eat Ella and her mom to bankruptcy.

They finished what was on their plates, piled their plates with seconds, and then all but licked the plate cleaned. They both could easily go for third, fourth, even fifth massive servings.

Ella's mom seemed to read their minds.

"Please, eat all you want. I'm just going to throw the extras away. I need to go shopping later this afternoon anyways." Ella's mom said. Max smiled, almost guiltily.

In a matter of minutes, all the food that was stacked on the table was gone.

Ella had almost been late for school, but she pecked her mother quickly on the cheek and sprinted out the door to catch the bus.

Now all that was left to do was to clean up the expanse of dirty dishes. Fang took it upon himself to collect the dishes and bring them to the sink, where Ella's mom would rinse them, then hand them to Max, who loaded them into the dishwasher.

It was quiet except for the clinking of dishes and silverware and the rushing of water into the sink.

Ella's mom decided to fill the silence.

"So Max," she started as she meaningfully handed Max a serving plate. Max automatically tensed. Fang's muscles went taut; as if expecting to fight or bolt at any given moment. His wings shifted on his back restlessly.

Max felt like she could trust Ella's mom, she was so kind and understanding. She wanted to tell her everything, but Max feared that she would curl up into a ball and cry for hours if she started talking about Angel or the rest of the Flock. And she certainly couldn't talk about her recent confusing feelings with Fang with him standing a mere few feet behind her. However, if he wasn't standing behind her, if he wasn't in the house. Max would have probably spilled her guts about her new feelings for Fang., or at least, what she thought she felt about Fang. Ella's mom was just so… mom-like. And Max had never had a mom before. She'd always been the mom. Who was the mom supposed to tell all these girl things with when she didn't have a mom herself?

"Not really." came Max's short, almost disappointed reply. She knew that she was running out of time anyways, to save Angel. Angel was in the School suffering while she was standing here washing dishes.

Max realized that she would never have a mom. She would never have someone to spill her guts to about feelings and all that other mushy, confusing girly stuff. That was because she was the leader, she was the alpha, it was her job to take care of everyone else. It was just the way things were. She needed to get a grip on reality!

It was quiet for another minute. Fang walked up, delivered more dishes, and then went back to the table to collect more.

"Do you have a last name?" Ella's mom asked quietly, so Fang wouldn't hear. Somehow, she sensed that Fang's presence was keeping Max quiet. Well, it was Fang's job to be the voice of reason, even if it was usually a buzzkill. It didn't matter anyways, Fang could still hear her.

"Yeah," Max replied, shrugging her good shoulder slightly. "I gave it to myself."

Max glanced over at Fang for a second. For a brief moment he seemed almost… lost. He'd never bothered with a last name. He said he didn't need one, since he wasn't human, and only humans had last names. Maybe he wished that he knew what his last name was sometimes. They all did. They just never talked about it. They were test-tube babies. They didn't have last names. It was yet another thing that made them aberrations.

"My last name is Ride." Max said finally. The more that she talked to this woman, the lighter she felt. It was like the weight on her chest that had been there ever since Angel had been taken was slowly disappearing, a little bit at a time with every secret that she spilled. She needed someone to spill to. It seemed so natural, how bad could it really be?

"Like Sally Ride, the astronaut. Maximum Ride." Max finished. Fang has paused collecting dishes and was full out staring at her now. He didn't know what had gotten into her. She was all of a sudden, telling this strange woman who they knew little to nothing about, everything. Her identity, what next, was she going to tell them about the Flock, the Erasers, the whitecoats, and the School?

Ella's mom didn't seem to notice that anything was askew. She nodded good naturedly.

"That's a good name. Are there others like you?" she asked. The question sounded so simple from her lips. Max's heart felt like it would burst now. She wanted a mother, more passionately than she'd ever wanted one before. Fang's eyes searing into the back of her had were making her jumpy and uncomfortable and she was just so confused and upset and scared. Max realized that she was holding a dish, and not loading it into the dishwasher like she was supposed to.

Max was always the mother; she'd been a mother for as long as she could remember. Well, in the position of one, not a physical one. For once, she wanted to be able to talk to someone who would judge and who would keep her secrets. Was that too much to ask?

Nudge and Angel confided their secrets in to Max, and Max never told anyone else. Angel. Her baby. He poor, sweet baby. She was gone. She was gone. Maybe dead. Probably dead. It was all her fault all her fault for not being ready, for failing to protect her.

Max's hands shook. She dropped the plate. The plate wasn't the only thing to fall. Tears dripped down Max's face, which made Fang and Ella's mom nearly shell-shocked. Max hadn't shed a tear when faced with a bullet wound and Fang hadn't seen her cry even when her bones were broken. She was now crying in front of him and a near-stranger. Max fell to her knees and was full out crying now. She was so embarrassed, and deep down, she was furious with herself. All of these confusing emotions about her with Fang, about the School, Ari, Nudge being Alone, Gazzy and Iggy alone, Angel, and now Ella and her mom. It was just all too much for Max at the moment. She was so vulnerable in front of this very kind woman.

Fang was over by her side almost instantly. Dr. Martinez, who was startled by the sound of the breaking plate, was already kneeling by Max.

"Shhh, Max. It's fine. It's okay, sweetheart. Don't cry." Fang said soothingly in her ear. Max could barely comprehend what she was hearing. She barely noticed the fact that Fang was gently stroking her between the wings in a way that felt so intoxicatingly good. She almost didn't notice the strangely sweet words coming from his mouth. They weren't sarcastic, condescending, or scolding like she expected to hear from him right now. He was being soft with her; something that she'd never expected him to be with her.

"They took my baby!" Max cried into his shoulder. Ella's mom looked surprised for the first time. She saw that Max and Fang, as tall and mature as they were, they could only be fourteen or fifteen, sixteen at tops. They couldn't possibly have a baby! Could they? Fang had said that she wasn't even his girlfriend, though she could obviously tell that she meant much more to him than a friend or even a sibling. Could he have lied to her? He didn't seem to trust her like Max did, but why would he lie about something like their relationship?

"We'll get her back. I promise. I swear Max, if they plan on hurting her, they'll have to kill me first before they do." Fang said seriously. Ella's mom was even more taken aback. He didn't deny it. They really had a little baby girl? And someone took her? No wonder they were so skittish around humans. They were probably going to save her when Max stopped to save Ella and got shot in the process. It also explained on why Fang was so protective of Max. He was part bird, obviously. Some kind of bird-of-prey, by the type of feathers on their backs. It was only natural that male birds protected their… mates. Even if their 'mate' was as strong willed as Max.

"I don't want you do die." Max chocked out. "I can't lose you too. Especially you."

"We'll get her back Max. We will. I won't leave you either, I promise." He murmured, so low that even Ella's mom couldn't hear. With that, he kissed her forehead. "I won't leave, you Max. I love you." His heart stopped cold in his chest. The words slipped out before he'd had a chance to censor them. He was mortified, and stopped breathing. Max would never talk to him again. He was supposed to be her best friend, her second-in-command, her vice president, her first mate, her beta. He'd just totally blown that by pulling a Nudge and blurting the wrong thing out at the wrong time.

He quickly looked away from her and let her go. He stood up and prepared to flee the scene.

"Wait." Max said in an undertone. She sounded almost desperate, nothing like the strong, tough, leader Max that he knew. This Max was emotional and fragile and couldn't handle being alone. He was a little alarmed to see her this way. He'd never seen her this way.

Max stood up and walked over to him. Without warning, she kissed him back, the way that he'd been daydreaming about. And it felt a hundred times better than he'd ever imagined. With the kiss, Max felt stronger, better, and like herself again. She could face all of her emotions and shove them into the back of her mind where they belonged because she was Maximum Ride. It's what she did.

She was then put into a critical stage of shock when she realized what she was doing. She'd kissed her best friend. He'd said that he loved her. In front of a stranger. It was so un-Fang-like, which she thought that she'd dreamed this whole mess up and would wake up in bed, back at the 'E' shaped house. But this felt too good to be a dream.

Max then turned around and resumed putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"Do you have a dustpan? There's glass on the floor." Max said helpfully as she loaded more dishes into the dishwasher. It's impossible to tell who was more confused and stunned, Ella's mom or Fang.

-XOXO-

Ella's mom was a little afraid to ask questions after Max's meltdown in the kitchen, but Max seemed stronger than ever, and her personality and free will seemed more vibrant that usual.

Fang too seemed like he'd drank a triple espresso shot of coffee. He was on high alert and higher attuned to everything happening around him…Well, like a hawk.

Ella's mom didn't speak, so it was quiet; save for the sounds of dishes and silverware being loaded into the dishwasher. They quickly and efficiently cleaned up the kitchen until it looked better than it was before.

After the dishwasher had been set ad was washing the multitude of dishes, Max and Fang shot a secretive glance at each other.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Max spoke.

"So, thank you so much for everything. Really." Max said earnestly. "But we really have to go."

Fang shot Max a dirty look. He knew that she couldn't fly with her wing in that condition. AS much as he hated to stay in a strange human's house, this one didn't seem hostile and had actually helped them. They didn't really have a choice but to stay. But of course, Max would be Max and insist on leaving, even if the decision was irrational.

Fang did want to save Angel, with all of his being, but he would need Max to help break her out, and he wouldn't leave her anyways. He'd promised. They couldn't leave now, because Max was no good in the rescue if she was dead.

Fang had thought about all of the terrible things that could, and probably would happen to Angel if they didn't rescue her soon.

He'd also replayed the scene with Max in the kitchen a thousand times in his head. It was probably the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, besides the time when Iggy had gotten angry with him and had broken into the bathroom while he was in the shower, and then Iggy had stolen all of his clothes and the towels, so he'd had to attempt to cover himself with a still sopping wet washcloth and his wings as he snuck back into his room to get real clothes so he could sufficiently kill Iggy. He remembered at the time, he'd prayed to every deity and spirit he could think of that none of the other Flock members were nearby, making it even more humiliating. Of course, Max just had to walk out of her room at the time. That's why it was the most embarrassing thing that had happened to him until that moment it the kitchen.

He'd told Max that he loved her, something that he'd even denied in his head. But once he'd said it, he knew that it was true. What surprised him even more than Max's fit of tears, was the fact that she'd loved him too.

The embarrassing part was the fact that they'd kissed in front of a complete stranger… well, she wasn't a total stranger, considering that she'd patched Max back up and knew what they were. Heck, she didn't even freak out. That same human had seen his carefully placed emotionless façade fall to pieces at the sight of Max in tears; she'd seen him at his weakest, and she'd what even the rest of the Flock hadn't seen, his true feelings for Max. That is why he was mortified. He'd always been so adamant about keeping their secrets safe, and unheard by human ears. Now he'd practically screamed out the secret he'd kept closest; his love for Max. By the time they left, Ella's mother would be an expert in Avian-humans, and enough Flock gossip to make even Nudge jealous.

Ella's mom suddenly looked distressed at Max's news.

"Max, are you sure I can't help in some way?" she said in a worried, almost motherly tone. The tone had never been used on Max, and it was really an odd experience to hear it for the first time.

"You've helped a lot already, really. But we… We've got some friends waiting for us. It's really important." Max emphasized. Fang wanted to roll his eyes. He and Max both knew that no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't fly on that wing. She wouldn't be able to fly at all for at least a few days.

He wanted to save Angel just as badly as she did, but Max was no good to her if she was falling from the sky in a fiery nosedive just because she wouldn't wait an extra day to heal just enough to fly.

"How will you get to them? Can I give you a ride?"

"No," Max said, her mouth tilting downwards in a downhearted frown. She rubbed her sore shoulder. "I need to, um, fly there. But I don't think I can fly yet."

Fang almost sighed. At least he wouldn't have to argue with her about staying here for a while longer. One less battle.

Ella's mom's forehead crinkled in thought.

"It would be dangerous for you to strain your injury before it's healed. I couldn't tell the extent of it. But I could give you a better idea if we had an x-ray." Ella's mom said finally.

Fang's blood went cold. Oh, no. This is where he drew the line. This lady could be working with the School, who was supposed to slowly gain their trust, then take them to a horrible hospital where the whitecoats and Erasers would be waiting for them. There could be Erasers surrounding the house now, waiting to see if he and Max would go to get this 'x-ray' voluntarily. If they said no, they would attack. Fang looked at Max from behind, hoping that she would come to this conclusion as well. She was smart, she was the leader! She would totally know that this reeked of a trap.

He waited for Max's signal. She would decline, then they would get the heck out of there. He would freaking carry her if he had to. He could; if it would save her, he'd carry her to the moon and back.

Max looked at Ella's mom soberly. "Do you have x-ray vision?" Max replied in complete seriousness.

Fang took this as a good sign. In true Maximum Ride style, she would throw in a few wisecracks before the clever fight/getaway.

Ella's mom laughed, genuinely, and Max's laugh followed. Fang tried to ignore the fact that Max's laugh made him want to kiss her again, and to the fact that Max would be waiting for the perfect opportunity to high-tail it out of there.

What Fang didn't know, is that Max had completely forgotten that he was there. In fact, she wasn't suspicious of Ella's mom at all. She was slightly jealous of Ella, who had such a cool mom like that all the time. Right now, she almost felt like she had a mom. Maybe this is what her life would have been like if she'd been born the normal way instead of in a test tube.

"No, not all of us have superhuman powers," Ella's mom said, still chuckling. "But some of us have access to x-ray machines. "

Fang watched in amazement as Max calmly listened to Ella's mom, as she explained that she and another vet shared a vet practice, and today just happened to be her day off. However, no one else would question their presence there.

Max couldn't actually believe this. It was way too convenient, not to mention ironic.

But Max followed, almost earnestly, like a little kid on 'bring your child to work' day. Fang couldn't believe this. Max couldn't honestly not see anything wrong with this picture.

But Max grabbed her combat boots by the door and slid them on, along with an un-slitted windbreaker to 'hide her wings'. Fang saw that it was to keep her unable to fly, at least for a few seconds. A few seconds was all that an Eraser needed to rip her throat out.

The image was sickening. He wouldn't let that happen to her.

Ella's mom offered him an un-cut windbreaker as well, but he declined. Instead, he put on his beat up old leather jacket that was hanging on the hook by the door.

"I'd rather be prepared." Fang said coolly.

Max finally looked at him, like she'd just remembered that he was there.

"What's wrong with you? She's trying to help me." Max hissed between her teeth while Ella's mom locked the door to the house behind them.

"What's wrong with you? Are you crazy? She's taking us to a veterinary office! That place is probably crawling with whitecoats and Erasers! We'll be dead before we get out of her car!" Fang hissed back.

Fang looked at Max disbelievingly; she was looking at him like he was the one who wasn't thinking rationally.

"Fang, it's fine. I'm the leader, remember? I know what I'm doing." Max said with more confidence than she felt. Fang's cold logic had totally deflated her daydream. Max hated to remember that he world wasn't made of homemade breakfasts and charming mealtime conversations. It was more probable that his lady was taking her to her death rather than doing an act of kindness.

Defiantly, Max got into Ella's mom's van, and a darkly angry Fang got in behind her.

Ella's mom hummed pleasantly as she drove down the driveway.

"Hey, we, uh… we never got your name." Max said from the shotgun seat. Fang sat rigidly in the backseat.

"Oh, I'm Valencia Martinez, but Ms. Martinez is fine. Or Dr. Martinez, if you want. It doesn't really matter." Dr. Martinez said easily.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, save for the radio quietly playing lite rock in the background. In a matter of minutes, they arrived in the parking lot of the vet's office. Fang was very tense as he watched the amount of people in the building's parking lot alone. So far, none of them seemed Erasery. Max seemed a little nervous herself.

Dr. Martinez didn't seem fazed in the slightest. She patiently waited for them to exit the car before locking it. She then strode into the office. This was her territory; here, she was the leader.

Max and Fang followed her, a few steps behind.

The memories of the School flooded them. Max silently wished that maybe she should have listened to Fang. The smell of antistatic and bleach flooded their nostrils and made their stomachs turn. They heard the crying, whimpering, and yelping of animals, most of them unhappy. Images f mutilated, dead, or dying mutant animals bombarded their sight.

Max wanted to grab hold of Fang's hand, for some reassurance in this place. But if she did, it would only make what happened in the kitchen real. It would solidify the fact that she really loved him, that he really loved her. Those feelings seemed more daunting then the fact that they were in a place that seemed to be so much like the School.

"Hi guys," Dr. Martinez said to the clerks at the front desks. They were wearing friendly scrubs with smiling animals on them. The effect was almost cheerful. "These are friends of Ella's they're partners doing a report on the veterinary career, so I am giving them a tour."

The clerks at the reception desk waved and smiled, wished them luck, then went back to business. They didn't notice the fact that all the color had been drained from the two kids' faces. There was a man in the hall ahead of them. A man in a white coat. A long white lab coat.

Without warning, Max grabbed Fang's hand. He was just as scared as she was, although he'd die before he'd admitted it aloud. She gripped onto his hand, which now had an almost corpselike complexion. He gently squeezed back.

"They seem to be more than project partners." The guy in the white coat said teasingly, he then winked. Max's hand quivered. Fang desperately wanted to grab her into his arms and take her out of there. Flying away with her in his arms almost seemed like a whimsical notion, like the scene out of a movie, but he wouldn't mind it, honestly.

Dr. Martinez looked back at the two petrified bird kids, both standing there frozen. If you looked at their faces alone, it would reveal nothing, but if you looked into their eyes, it revealed pure, raw terror. Well, Fang's eyes didn't reveal much, but the loss of color in his skin sure did.

"Max?" Dr. Martinez said, her confusion evident. Max stared at her mutely. Fang stared at the guy in the white coat, waiting for him do make a move. His free hand clasped into a hard fist.

Dr. Martinez took Max's arm and gently pulled both Max and Fang into the examination room. She cheerfully explained what the room was used for, then abruptly closed the door. Her expression turned serious.

"What's wrong? What's the matter you two?" she asked. Fang eyed the door, waiting for bloodthirsty wolf-monsters to break the door down.

Max took a few deep breaths, and Fang sympathetically squeezed her hand amongst his silent panic.

"It's the smell," Max murmured. She looked at the white tile floor, seeing scratches on its shiny surface. Her face turned a pale pink in embarrassment. "The chemical smell, like a lab. The guy in a white coat. I have to get out of here, okay? Can we just go now, like really fast?"

Dr. Martinez gently rubbed Max's back soothingly. Fang instantly let go of Max's hand. He finally saw that Max saw a mother-like figure in this human. She'd seen the risks, but didn't want to believe that they could be true, because for once, she wanted to be normal, with a normal mother. He felt like he was invading in on the moment.

"I promise that you're safe here. Can you just stay long enough for me to get a quick x-ray, and then we can leave right away?"

Max swallowed nervously. Fang could hear her heart rate pounding much faster from usual at his post by the door.

"Please, Max."

Max forced herself to nod. Dr. Martinez quickly made sure that Max wasn't wearing any jewelry. Max would have laughed at the notion of such a ridiculous thing if she wasn't so darn terrified. She looked at Fang, her brown eyes scared.

It hurt Fang more than anything to see her like that, sprawled out of a table and so, so scared in a place like this. He felt so useless.

"It's not going to hurt her?" he said suddenly, startling everyone in the room. They were the first words spoken by him since they'd arrived at the clinic. Max's heart thudded. She hoped that it wouldn't hurt her too badly.

"No, it won't hurt her at all. Why would you think that?" Dr. Martinez asked, genuinely surprised at the question.

Fang's dry, humorless laugh sent chills down both of the girls' spines.

"I've been hooked up to a lot of machines. I can't remember one of them not hurting." Fang deadpanned.

Dr. Martinez sent another unreadable glance between Max and Fang. A small buzz echoed through the room, and Max instinctively flinched.

Max looked around, surprised. She shot Fang a sudden, relieved smile. He loved to see her smile like that, so he sent her an extremely rare, half, smile back. Her eyes brightened at the sight of his trademark partial smile.

Dr. Martinez took a large photo and put it up on a light box moments later, revealing Max's bones. The bird-kids stared at it, almost in awe. They'd hear a lot about how their bones were unique, but they'd never actually seen them.

"Look," Dr. Martinez said as she traced the curve of Max's shoulder blade with her finger. "The bone is fine. It's all muscle damage-you can see the torn tissue damage here and here." She said as she gestured to the indicated places.

Max and Fang nodded, unintentionally, in synch.

"And your wing bones," she continued, now automatically hushing her voice. "All seem fine. Which is good. Unfortunately, muscle damage usually takes longer to heal than bones do. Though your rate of regeneration is weirdly fast, I must say…" she trailed off and stared at the luminescent x-ray image, as if entranced by its strangeness.

"Your bones are so fine and light. They're beautiful." She murmured, as if taking to herself. "They're beautiful."

Everything about her is beautiful. Fang mentally insisted, before he could stop himself.

"Huh. What is this thing?" Dr. Martinez said. Both bird kids tensed. She pointed to a bright white square in the exact center of Max's right forearm on the x-ray.

Fang hoped that it wasn't a tumor. Or cancer. He knew that mutants always died fast. They were the longest ones to live ever. Fourteen years was an eternity for a mutant, but is seemed so short when he was thinking about losing Max. He couldn't lose her. Not when he'd just told her that he loved her. Was this the universe being morbidly ironic again? It seemed to think that Fang's entire life was one big, sad ironic joke. He doesn't get to love Max more like a girlfriend for one day before she gets a death sentence that even he can't fight against.

"That's not jewelry, is it? It's not the zipper of your jacket?" Dr. Martinez persisted. Fang tried to swallow, but couldn't Max didn't wear jewelry. Ever. And she'd taken her jacket off before she took the x-ray.

"No-I took it off." Max replied tersely.

Dr. Martinez looked at the image closely, squinting her eyes in concentration.

"It's a- It looks like a…" she trailed off in a confused sort of way. Max gripped Fang's hand again. He gripped her hand tightly in return.

"What?" Max asked quickly. The expression on Dr. Martinez's face unnerved her more than the actual picture did.

"It's a microchip," she said, glancing at Max as if to gauge her reaction. "We put something similar into animals. To identify them in case they're lost. Yours looks like a, looks like the ones that we use on really expensive pets, show dogs and such. They have a tracer in them in case they're stolen. They can be tracked, wherever they are."

Okay, I'm going crazy with the descriptions here, because I'm not really close to being done. One more chapter. That's all it'll take. I swear. Review please! I'm sorry for not updating it sooner, but I'm kind of working on another story. It usually has the higher priority, but I felt like updating this one.