Life truly is full of surprises.

And life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.

And let's just say that this particular moment took mine away,

One minute, you run to the kitchen to give your mum a card, after smelling glorious chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven.

Then the next, you have a headlock around a blonde haired Gasman.

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MAX!"

"What the heck?!?"

Yes, what the heck.

It was Mother's Day, and for the love of all things daughter-y, I made my wonderful mother a card, then I bought her a gift.

It wasn't much, not a lot at all, but it was from my heart.

And ain't that what it was all about?

I bet that for my mum it could be enough.

And so, when I woke up that morning, I got up to the smell of chocolate chip cookies.

And I went down the stairs, with my card and gift in hand, following my nose to the kitchen, not minding what I was wearing.

I made my way slowly to the kitchen, inhaling the heavenly scent of the cookies, and when I made it there, I stopped dead in my tracks.

The lights were turned off.

Then slowly, paranoia taking control over me, my hand crept to the light switch.

I flicked it open.

Then I felt someone in front of me.

I dropped the card and the gift to the floor.

As an instinct, I grabbed his/her head, and placed him/her in a headlock.

"Gah!"

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MAX!!"

"What the heck?"

It was all of the flock, together with my mom and Ella, around the kitchen table, on which sat a full tray of cookies, tubs of ice cream, a cake, and a stack of cards.

I inhaled deeply.

"Uh, M-max, c-can, you-"

I almost forgot to release the Gasman.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Gaz!"

"Er, it's fine."

"What's this guys?" I asked all of them, with their faces all happy and cheerful.

A moment of silence.

"I told you she would be seduced by the cookies." Iggy muttered.

Then Fang hit him on the head, and gave me a little smile.

"Hey, Max."

Then another momentary silence.

It was my mom who spoke first.

"Max, honey, Happy Mother's Day." She came to me and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, then gave me a very tight hug.

"I'm not a mother! I'm not even old enough to have a child!" I protested.

Fang gave me a little wink.

"Max, dear, sometimes, a leader is even harder than being a mom. And I would like to thank you, for being the best daughter you could ever be."

She kissed my forehead and went back behind the counter.

Then Iggy got up and gave me a hug.

My eyes widened, and he stepped back a bit.

"Thanks Max, for ya know." He shuffled his feet. "Letting me cook."

I smiled at him, even though inside , I was still very confused.

He walked back to stand behind Ella.

Then Angel came up to me and pulled my neck down, to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Max, for being more than a big sister to me." She smiled at me angelically. "And also for saving my life." She added quickly.

"It was my pleasure." I smiled.

And when I looked up, Nudge and Ella were already squishing me as hard as they could. They laughed and each of them got one of my hands.

Ella started. "Thank you for saving my life. And for being the coolest big sister I could ever have."

Then Nudge started blabbing away. "Max, I would like to thank you for waking me up in the morning, for helping me fix your hair, for going shopping with me, for teaching me how to deal with nitwits, for teaching me about cooties, for not cooking, for being an awesome leader, for making me laugh, for making everyone in the flock especially Fang happy, for telling us that were the best we could be, and for telling us that were not as bad freaks as you are. And Oh! Yeah, and for always being there for me."

I shuffled her mane of hair. And then I gave Ella a hug.

Then I gave myself a little glance at Fang, who smiled, and made my heart explode into tiny little shards of warm fuzziness, it could've made yo dance like a ballerina, even though you were a manly man.

Then Gazzy came up to me and laughed so cheerfully, you wouldn't have known he was an 8-year old fighter. "Max! Thanks for not killing me in that headlock!" Then he hugged my torso, which was impressive for an 8 year old.

"No problem, my little Gasman." I knelt down and pecked his cheek. Then he turned red.

I giggled.

Then it WAS supposed to be my Fangster next, but he didn't come forward.

I tried to swallow down my little disappointment.

But even through all the cheer and fluff, I couldn't help but frown a little.

I stared at him, he stared at me.

Then came the awkward silence.

"A gay baby is now born." Iggy muttered.

We all stared at him.

And then my mom, rubbed her hands together, and said in a really excited voice, "DESSERT FOR BREAKFAST!!"

And my flock dug in.

Through all those sugary treats, I tried to keep my heart up, for the sake of my flock. They were all happy, and maybe, that would just be enough for me.

But apparently, it wasn't. So, after I gouged down all that my 97 pound body could take in, I stared at my pyjamas. Then cleared my throat, and the whole flock looked at me.

"So yeah, guys, I wanna thank you for this." I pointed to all the empty trays and the decorations put up.

"You didn't have to." I smiled. "But you still did. And that's one of the reasons why, I got the job. Of you know, being your mini mom. Because, even if I have some life of a freaky bird kid, " Iggy rolled his eyes. " I still have a family like you to spend it with."

They all smiled.

I looked at Fang expectantly. But nothing, He didn't do anything.

Isn't he supposed to be the one to give me the best possible thanks?

Well, he just unfortunately made me scowl.

Disheartened, I looked down.

Then I saw my card and gift for mom on the floor, and found it as an escape.

"So, uhm, yeah, Happy Mother's day." I picked up the card and gift from where I left it and handed it over to my mom.

"Max, you didn't have to! Thank you so much, honey!" She got me into a tight hug again.

"No problem mom, I'm just going to go back upstairs, to change my purple unicorn pyjamas."

I smiled and she nodded.

As I made my way back up the stairs, something- no, someone caught my hand. And when that hand touched mine, I just felt a whole lot better.

Fang.

"Max."

I turned around and smiled, but it turned back into a frown.

"I thought you didn't want to thank me for anything."

Fang first looked at me in confusion, and then he grinned at me darkly.

"No, it's not that ."

"Then why didn't you approach me a while ago?"

"Because I wanted to show my thanks, personally." He smiled.

And almost instantly, my heart started to pound out of my ribs.

He shoved me backwards, and put a hand on the wall opposite me.

Then he came closer.

Closer.

Just a little bit more now.

A tiny, little eensy weensy bit more.

And when he was close enough, he didn't kiss me, but he whispered softly into my ear, "Max, Thank you for being my best friend…"

I laughed nervously, staring up at his dark, twinkling eyes.

"And also for loving me back."