Hey!!

Guess.

What.

I wrote a Maximum Ride fanfiction that ISN'T faxness!!

I know, right, I can't believe it either!! It IS, however, Iggy/Nudge, but they're grown up so it's not gross and Iggy's not a creep. I hope you enjoy, even thought it is pretty short...

Hurt

Nudge slammed the door behind her and raced down the hall, trying to get to her room before the tears overflowed. Through the jumble in her mind one coherent thought floated to the surface: Guys are so horrible sometimes.

She rushed through the house, not even stopping when Iggy's door opened. "Nudge? What's going on?"

"Nothing," she said, but her voice betrayed her as it wavered. Nudge mentally swore and brushed by him.

"Nudge?" His voice was concerned. She swung into her room, shut the door behind her, leaned against it, and burst into tears.

Footsteps came down the hall, then abruptly sped up with a muffled curse. "Nudge! Holy crap, are you crying?"

Nudge slid down to the floor and buried her face in her knees to muffle the sobs. It didn't work. Iggy jiggled the doorknob frantically. "Nudge, let me in."

She cleared her throat and tried to steady her voice. "It's nothing, Iggy. I'm fine."

"Like heck you are. Open the door." It was amazing how quickly panic could overwhelm a man who had been on the run his whole life.

Nudge sighed and rolled her flooded eyes. She stood up and twisted the knob, not bothering to turn her back to the tall man because he couldn't see her tears.

Iggy grasped her shoulders and his clouded eyes stared slightly past her. "Tell me," he said simply.

"Why?" Nudge just looked at him.

"Because…" Iggy's fingers tightened on her subconsciously. He released them abruptly with an oath. "I care about you. I've lived with you my whole life, dang it, aren't I allowed to worry about you?"

"You haven't seemed to lately." The quiet words slipped out before Nudge could stop them.

Iggy felt like he had been punched in the solar plexus. His vision less eyes closed, and he turned his back so that she wouldn't see the pain on his face. "I guess I deserved that."

Nudge's conscience twisted seeing the slump of his shoulders. Guilt welled up in her throat. "That was uncalled for, I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's all right." He swallowed hard. "It's true. I haven't been around much lately."

In her open way, Nudge slipped her hand into his in a gesture of apology. Iggy's fingers curled around hers. "I was out with Michael today," she said to divert his attention.

Iggy's internal radar flashed, and he turned back around to frown at her without releasing her hand. "Your boyfriend?"

She grimaced, knowing he couldn't see. "Yeah. We went to dinner."

Iggy caught her tone of voice. "…And?" he probed.

"What is this, 20 questions?"

"Nudge, so help me, if you don't tell me why you're upset I'll go get Fang." Iggy threatened. As much as Iggy had distanced himself lately, Fang was still as protective of his family as he had ever been. Telling Fang that someone was bothering them was like saying "go murder (enter-name-here)."

"He's out with Max."

"Then I'll call him."

"It's really nothing, Ig."

Iggy started digging in his pocket for his phone.

"All right, all right, whatever." Nudge grabbed his wrist. "Michael broke up with me, ok?"

"What?"

"He broke up with me. It's happened before, it'll probably happen again. No big deal."

"No big deal? Did he give you a reason?" Iggy felt anger growing.

"Apparently he didn't like being tied down to one girl. Especially one that "brought down his image" like apparently I did," Nudge said flatly, tears starting to fall again.

The anger that was blossoming inside Iggy abruptly turned to roiling fury. He was hit with rage so abruptly that he couldn't speak for a moment.

"He said that?" Iggy asked in a voice laced with iron.

"Basically." Nudge wiped her eyes with her free hand and Iggy realized that he must have been crushing the one that he was still gripping. He released it and turned to the door.

"Where are you going?" Nudge regained slight control over herself.

"To kill him."

Nudge's romantic's heart flopped over in her chest. "Oh." She grabbed his wrist and spun him around. "Don't do that."

"Why not?" His face was as cold as ice.

"Because Max would be mad when she had to pay your bail," Nudge joked, the glimmer of a smile breaking through. "And I'm fine, he didn't hurt me or anything. Not that any human could."

Not physically, Iggy growled mentally, remembering the sound of her sobs earlier. Unable to stop himself, he lowered his forehead to press against hers in a gesture of comfort to them both. Nudge's arms slipped hesitantly around his waist with a sweetness that made his chest ache. Iggy felt as though he was standing on the edge of a cliff, about to slip off the edge; into what, he didn't know. His hands weren't quite steady as he stroked her hair.

"Iggy? Thanks."

Nudge's quiet voice pushed him closer to the brink of falling. "Nobody's going to hurt you again," he muttered, and tightened his grip on her. Following a sudden wild impulse, he tipped her head up and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss pushed him over the edge of the cliff, and he fell in love with her.

Review, dears. And -- who else thinks that Iggy is THE sweetest guy in the world sometimes?? :) ((Aside from Fang, of course. But they both have their moments :D)) And I didn't put a lot of imagery in here because a bunch of it was from Iggy, and for obvious reason's that wouldn't be possible.