Reunited: A Fax One-Shot

He was coming home. Fang, my only love, my heart and soul, was finally coming home. It had been a countless number of days since I'd seen him. When he'd left for his private mission I'd begged and cried and pleaded with him not to leave. But I knew he had to, and eventually I'd let him go. But only because I knew that he would return.

And now the flock and I waited for him outside of our house in the Colorado mountains, staring up into the sky. I waited for the dark flash that would signify his black wings. I waited for the familiar tingle I always got when I was looking at him. I waited. And waited. And waited.

"It's been ten minutes!" I shouted impatiently, tapping my foot on the ground. Angel gripped my hand tightly, as if to tether me to sanity.

"He'll be here, Max," my mother said in a soothing voice. "Soon."

"If he is not here in five minutes, I think I'm gonna murder someone."

"There's no need to threaten the lives of innocent people, Max, Fang said, suddenly behind me. I gasped and whirled around, throwing my arms around his neck.

"Fang! You're home!

"I'm home," he whispered in my ear as his arms encircled my waist. We kissed, and kissed again, and again and again. And again. Oh, how I had missed his kisses. God, how I had missed him.

It was hard for me to let go of him so he could greet the rest of the flock and my mom. He hugged them all once, pounding Iggy s fist and ruffling Gazzy' s hair. He winked at Angel and gave Nudge a noogie, and it was such a natural scene that it made my heart lurch.

"I brought you guys presents!" he said, and the forced enthusiasm in his voice made me laugh out loud. He stared lovingly at me, and I knew he was thinking about tonight, when he would inevitably sneak into my room and we would have a welcome-home make-out session.

I blushed just thinking about it.

The flock followed Fang and I into the house. Fang would not let go of my hand. We sat down on the couch together, and Fang took his backpack from his back and unzipped it, dumping the contents onto the floor. There were five carefully wrapped packages, all wrapped in festive Disney wrapping paper and topped with a silver bow.

"What is this, Christmas?" I joked, picking up the package with my name on it. I laughed at the 101 Dalmatians wrapping paper. I loved that movie, and I knew Fang had probably picked the paper specially for me. I would keep it forever.

"Go ahead, open 'em," Fang said as my flock members greedily took their packages. I carefully took the wrapping paper off mine, so as not to tear it or damage it - like I said, I would keep it forever - to reveal a rectangular white velvet box.

"More jewelry?" I asked, stroking my hand over the soft velvet of the box. Fang grinned sheepishly, and I leaned over to kiss him. He took my hand and ran his thumb over the promise ring on my finger that he d given me so long ago on our fifteenth birthday.

I waited to open the box until the flock had opened all their presents. Angel got a set of cute little hair bows. They were totally girly and totally not me at all - but Angel loved them. Nudge got a book on how to design her own clothes, and she squealed with delight. Iggy got these really cool sunglasses that blocked out sun completely, and the lenses were like totally black and you couldn t even see out of them really, but it was okay because Iggy was blind anyway. He could wear them all the time and look like this total badass cool kid. Gazzy got a book on explosives, and I smirked at Fang for that one. He simply shrugged innocently.

"Your turn," he said when everyone else had opened their presents. I smiled and gently opened the white velvet box.

Inside, there was one of those name necklaces. It was a gold chain with a gold charm hanging off it that said Fang' s name in curlicue letters. It was incredibly cheesy and way too clichÈ for my taste.

But I threw my arms around Fang' s neck and promised him I would never take it off. I loved it, of course. It was amazing.

Later that night, after things had settled down and Fang's presence had been fully accepted, the flock was all watching TV in the living room. All except two. Fang and I were snuggled up in my bedroom, clutching each other and kissing like there was no tomorrow. This had been going on for about an hour, and I had no intention to stop.

"I love you," he kept whispering against my skin. He planted a line of kisses from my hairline to my jaw line, and then he kissed my neck and my shoulder and every part of me that he could reach.

"I love you, too," I said, biting his lower lip gently. He grinned and took my breath away from me again in a procession of kisses.

"Let's never break up," Fang said.

"I thought that was a given," I replied. He laughed and kissed me again. "But it sounds like a plan," I said when he broke away.

"Then it's settled. We're never breaking up."

"Never," I promised. And I would stick to that promise for as long as I lived.