This story takes place pre-series.
She awoke abruptly, breathing heavily and gulping hard for breath. Oh, how she wished for a teddy bear right now to hug when she got scared from the nightmares, but Max had deemed it unnecessary, so she had never brought the subject up again since. Angel's raptor vision, so good for seeing in the dark, sought out the clock and she saw that it was almost 3:00 in the morning. Quietly, she slid out of her lavender covers, shivering at the sudden cold, and crept out of her room. Bypassing the room across from hers, she tiptoed to the room on her right, and gently pushed open the door.
This room, so unlike her own, was completely pitch-black, surrounding her and filling her senses. The room was very bare, with only a bed and a dresser in it. The dresser, as always, had a couple books, a notebook, and a pencil on it. She cautiously approached the bed, her hair ruffling slightly in the light breeze coming inside from the open window. Fang was asleep in the bed, his dark covers pulled up to his waist, looking almost invisible, as usual, with his face turned towards Angel. She stretched out a hand to shake his shoulder to wake him up. He woke almost immediately, instantly alert with his eyes wide.
"Angel? What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I had a nightmare. I was scared," she replied in a tiny voice. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and took Angel's hand, leading her out of the room and into the kitchen. His hand was warm and reassuring. Without saying a word, he filled a glass with milk and opened the cupboard to find some Oreo cookies. Finding them, he took the cookies, milk, and Angel to the squishy armchair in the living room.
Silently, they each took a cookie, dipped them into the milk, and ate them. Angel, sitting on Fang's lap, looked up at his face. How did he always know just what to do to make her feel better, all without saying a word? If it was Max Angel had woken up looking for comfort, she would have pressed Angel to reveal what her nightmare was bout and why she was scared. But Fang never pushed. If you were willing to talk, he'd listen. And if you weren't he was okay with that too. Sometimes silence and comfort with milk and Oreos was all Angel needed.
Angel wasn't exactly surprised when Fang suddenly asked, "You wanna talk about it?"
"No, it's okay. I'm not scared anymore." He gave her an intense stare, which she held, and seemed to decide that she was telling the truth, and let it go. The milk and cookies were gone, and Angel was growing sleepy again. She automatically adjusted herself on Fang's lap, and let her head rest on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, faster than a regular human's, assured herself that he was really there with her, and wasn't going to go anywhere, as well as the rest of the flock, and relaxed, closing her eyes.
She felt Fang's hand stroke her hair gently and heard his breath evening out.
"No matter what happens, I will always be there, Angel. Always," he said in a low, soft voice.
"I know. I love you, Fang."
"I love you too, Angel."
When Max woke up the next morning and went to the living room, she saw Angel and Fang, the lightest and happiest of the flock with the darkest and quietest of the flock, asleep in the armchair, Angel curled up on Fang's lap. A smile was on her young, cherubic face.
Max couldn't help but smile—and take a picture, especially when she saw the Oreo cookie crumbs.