Me~ Ha… ha, ha… Hi. How's it going? ...I'm so, so, so, so, sorry I haven't updated and for the short chapter! I hope no one's too mad…. Also! I'm cutting the chapters short, only 1-2 thousand words rather than the 4-6 thousand. It'll make updating a lot faster and so much easier.

Max POV

The rest of the evening, was spent with me sitting with Fang talking on the ledge, getting to know each other, or just watching everyone play in the small saltwater pool in a comfortable silence, only occasionally going water, usually to get revenge on whoever splashed us, before returning to our spot.

When everyone stopped for supper, I pulled out some chicken and turkey sandwiches for Ari and I, then a separate container for Angel full of… gulp… sardine sandwiches. Ari and I both put two cans of sardines into a blender, blended them together, then lightly spread mayonnaise on four slices of white bread, then laid the sardines on thick. I sprinkled some salt and pepper on it then cut the two sandwiches into triangles and carefully placed them into the container. The container that I am now handing to the little blonde.

"Are these really…?" She asked excitedly. I nodded, trying to keep the grimace off my face at the horrid smell. "Oh, come now! They don't smell that bad! They smell absolutely scrumptious!" She exclaimed.

"Thanks. We weren't really sure how to make them, 'cause we don't eat sardines all that much," If ever. "And I can't really cook all that well, but I hope you like them." I said cheerfully, hoping the finger food didn't blow up in their mouths.

"Oh please, I doubt that will happen."

"You'd be surprised." I deadpanned at the young blonde and she giggled while trying to figure out the latches on the plastic container, with Iggius, Nutu, and Vestibulum staring at her hands with interest. I nudged Ari to help her then glanced at Unguis out of the corner of my eyes. He caught my gaze and gave me a small smile, which I shyly returned after a heat graced my cheeks and before I looked back to the rest of the group, who were moaning at the taste of the sardine and turkey sandwiches.

I saw Unguis disappear and reappear with a large, green basket. It must have been heavy for his large biceps -that I openly oogled and inwardly drooled at- to bulge as they did. Not that I minded. Nope. Not. At. All.

He reached in and pulled out what looked like small packets wrapped in evergreen green seaweed.

"These are our sandwiches." Angel announced, probably reading my thoughts again. "Yep. Do want one with fish or without?"

"Without, please." She brought a few packets to her nose and took a whiff of each before handing one to me. "Veggies and fruit straight from our garden."

I took the palm-sized object into my own hand and started to talk a bite into it, with all the mermaids staring at me eagerly. I slowly brought the bundle to my mouth and was about to nibble it when Angel spoke up.

"If you aren't fond of raw seaweed, I suggest you take it off. And I would recommend taking a fairly large bite or else you just get mostly bread." I carefully unwrapped the wrapping to reveal a Pizza Pocket-like bun, only the breading is a light green color with darker flecks, and there were dark purple splotches, particularly where my fingers are digging into the bread. I took a big bite and multiple flavors attacked my tongue, purple juice running down to my chin.

"Mmm, this is so good!" I moaned, licking as much juice off with my tongue as possible, but Unguis' enrapture with my tongue while doing so did not go unnoticed by me. Ari's answering moan clued me into him finishing his foreign sandwich.

We all spent the rest of the sunlight talking, laughing and sharing different kinds of food. It was now getting dark.

"Come on, Ari. We need to go home; we've got school tomorrow." I said in my gentle-but-firm motherly voice.

"Aww!" Everyone groaned, save Unguis, who looked just as disappointed, if not more so, than everyone else.

"We need to go. Ari, help me pack everything u-"

SMASH!

Everyone froze and stopped what they were doing. A drunken giggle was interrupted by an angry cry, "Oh come on, man! That was the best bottle of booze all night!" Oh no, Sam. I silently pushed everyone to pack up and leave. The Mermaids and Mermen hastily threw everything they own into their basket.

Everything was going well until Ari tripped over his sandals and cried out. Everyone froze for the second time.

"Oi! –hic- Did ya –hic- hear dat?" Mr. Giggly asked.

"Yeah, it came from this way… Well come on! Don't just stand there!" I became much more frantic and they soon dove under the water and swam away, save Unguis.

"Max…" Unguis gave me a worried look.

"What are you still doing here? Go!" He reluctantly turned and got ready to swim away before I cried out for him to stop. I picked up Ari by wrapping an arm around his ribs and gripping his black and neon green swimming trunks and chucking him out into Unguis general direction. Said man jumped out of the water and caught Ari before he could face plant into the chilly saltwater.

Trusting Unguis to take care of Ari, I turned around and slowly began packing again, just in time to see Sam and a drunk -and probably high- blue-eyed, pudgy redhead trip into the rocky cove.

Third Person POV (First time trying it, so be nice)

The Merpeople, and Ari, hid behind the sharp and pointy rocks jutting out of the ocean, the cerulean blue waves crashing into them creating white foam and causing it to disperse as they watched the young girl interact with the drunken fools.

"Oh, hi Maaaaax." Sam giggled, drunk out of his mind.

"Go home Sam, you're drunk." Max retorted, straightening out and rolling to the balls of her feet, fist clenched tight, and leaning slightly forward; anticipating a fight.

"Awwww, but the fun just started!" He whined, starting to advance on Max and cornering her into a wall of dark rock.

"Hurry up and –hic- screw her already, Sam! I wanna leave go back to -hic- the party; we're all out of booze! -hic- I heard that heroin showed up, and I want to -hic- get some before everyone takes it all." Mr. Giggly Redhead complained, obviously not liking having to wait.

"Shut up." Sam muttered. Suddenly, before Max could respond, Sam slammed his hands on either side of her head and smashed his lips against hers in a forceful kiss.

Back behind the rocks, Fang felt his heart shatter as he took in the sight of his beloved kissing another, before bitterness, hurt and anger crept into his chest and he whipped his head around to glare at the dark water, not noticing Max's struggling. Fang felt two pairs of small hands wrapped around both of his biceps.

"Unguis, do something!" Said man looked down to the small brunette boy's pleading face, to Max's struggling form. He had looked up just in time to see the larger body push himself off of the girl he forced himself on.

Sam grunted in frustration. "Stop," he brought his hand back and brought it forwards again to slap Max across the face so hard her head snapped to the right and hit her temple against the rocky wall she was pinned against and collapsing to the ground. He then picked her up by the throat and threw her to the center of the platform. "Fighting!" Everyone watched as Max writhed on the ground trying to regain the wind that was knocked out of her, most in horror and others in sick satisfaction. Sam strutted over to her and straddled her hips and wrapped his hand around her throat, and soon Max noticed everything going into tunnel vision as the air was cut off from reaching her lungs.

Fang, seeing more than enough, had dived into the water and used his powers to propel him towards his Alia Duodo and, when close enough, launched himself out of the water.

Sam, hearing the big splash of water dispersing, and whipped his head up in time to see a feral-looking, back haired, obsidian-eyed man with a long, black tail of like a dolphin, crash into him full force, teeth sharp like a sharks' and eyes wild. His fist flying forward into Sam's chest which catapulted him into the right wall of the entryway. Fang saw movement to his left and saw the boy that walked in with the bastard who dared to touch what was his. He was jolted out of his haze of fury by the possessiveness of his thoughts, before shaking his head and focusing on the matter at hand. With that in mind, he sent a small, but powerful, wave to the freckled carrot top who was trying to scramble up and away from his spot on the floor, leaning against one of the walls, knocking him unconscious effectively immediately.

Seeing no other potential threat, Fang dragged his limp backside to a stunned and gasping Max and helped her sit up.

Ari hastily started to swim towards his sister, but was quickly stopped by a -for once- stoic Iggius. Confused as to why he wasn't allowed to tend to his sister, he looked to Angel to explain.

'Merfolk, Mermen especially, tend to be insanely protective of their Alia Duodo. Remember Unguis' speech about it? Well, it's all because he himself found his other half: Max. And he, and Max now that I think about it, is completely smitten, as all Merfolk are when they find each other.' The young blonde mentally explained.

'Oh.' Was all he could reply with the new information swirling around in his head.

Sensing the boys' confusion she clarified, 'Yeah, so if go up to him right now he might accidently see you as a threat and send a really big wave at your head.' How charming Ari thought sarcastically. She quietly giggled.

'He wouldn't do it on purpose,' Angel assured. 'He's just… running on instinct at the moment, and his instinct right now is to protect his mate.' Ari nodded his understanding before worriedly looking back to his older sister.

Max stayed silent as he massaged her scalp, hands, knees, palms and neck (her gasping and wincing a bit as he did so) with healing abilities. Feeling the need to break the seemingly one-sided uncomfortable silence she gasped out a 'Thank you.' In a dry, gravelly voice. Hearing this, Fang, snapping out of his thoughts of how soft and delicate her skin seemed compared to his rough and callused hands, didn't answer rather scooped up water in his hands and held it to her lips with the soft, but firm, order to drink. Max complied with a sigh, placing her lips on his fingertips and let the surprisingly warm water stream down her sore throat, which went away on contact with the water. Max slightly frowned.

"Did you hear me?" He just nodded, not even looking in Max's direction and Max felt her stomach drop as she tried to mask the hurt and pain of what felt like rejection. "I'm sorry."

Fang finally looked her in the eye, his face colored with surprise. "Why do you say that?"

"You look angry. I'm sorry you wasted your time and energy." Max swore she heard Iggius mutter 'Stupid Homo Sapien girl.' under his breath.

Fang looked at the pretty -stunning he would insist- blonde strangely, incredulously. "Do you... think I… didn't want… to save you?" She shrugged and looked down at her hands. Fang sighed and touched the underside of her chin gently tugging her face up to his gaze. "I apologise for making you think that. It truly did not bother me in the slightest." He gave her a small smile at her doubtful look. "Besides, doesn't everyone want to be the hero every now and then?" She giggled and he smiled, happy her smile returned to her pretty face. After a moment of staring at each other, Max looked down to the ground and stood up.

"Well, we should be heading back. The sun's gone down and we do have school early tomorrow after all." Max lightly tapped her foot against his tail. Fang forced smile and started to move to the ocean before Max spoke up. "Uh, do you need, like, help… Or something…?" Fang chuckled at her awkwardness.

Fang created a slide made completely out of water and slide down into the cool, dark water, then gave Ari a lift out of the water.

"Uh, Unguis? Do you think you could wash these guys out on the beach? This place is kinda important to Ari and me, so we don't want anyone to know about it." He nodded and swept both of the unconscious men out into the ocean. Ari and Max watched the beautiful hybrid creatures swim away into the sea, then started walking home.

Fang handed Iggius the basket and started swimming away from the group with Max's attackers in tow, mentally letting Angel know his intentions. After her wishing him well and telling him to get some sleep, Fang quickly made his way to the beach, rook care of the men, then followed the sound of his beloved and her brother to a two-story house over-looking the ocean, where he saw them carefully enter and got ready for bed.

And then he settled in for a long night.

Me~ Tada! Chapter 4! Gonna keep this short cuz I got school tomorrow, but you my friends are very lucky! I was planning on a chapter that was around 1500 words. You ended up getting one that was 2239 words long.

R&R! BMB out!