" 'Cause I still love you like I did before, I know for sure that you still feel the same way I do." -Michelle Branch (If She Only Knew)

" 'Cause when there's you, I feel whole, And there's no better feeling in the world, But without you I'm alone, And I'd rather be in love with you." -Michelle Branch (I'd Rather Be In Love)

I do not own Max, Fang, or any of the other characters in the Maximum Ride series. They belong to James Patterson.

No copyright infringement intended.

It had been 3 months since Fang had left, and Max had not been able to let what he had said in the letter go.

The thing is, Maximum, I love you. I can't help but be focused on you when we're together. If you're in the room, I wan to be next to you. If you're gone, I think about you. You're who I want to talk to. In a fight, I want you at my back. When we're together, the sun is shining. When we're apart, everything is shades of grey.

I hope you'll forgive me someday for turning our worlds into shades of grey- at least for a while.

Everyone who knew her could tell you, she was not the girly girl type, the type to obsess over a guy, but Fang was different. There was a partnership with them, he was her second in command with the flock, but there was so much more to their relationship than that. Max had never thought she would fall for any guy, certainly not Fang, there had never been anything between them other than friendship for the longest time, nothing to indicate anything romantic would happen, but somewhere between all their banter and pulling together for the flock when they had to go on the run, something had started to change.

Thinking back on it now, Max could almost pinpoint it to the exact moment when she saw the red headed wonder kiss Fang while they were at that creepy private school. She knew now that the feeling she had felt was jealousy, that she had wanted him to be kissing her instead, but of course she wouldn't admit it to herself until months later. The only person who really knew everything she was feeling and helped her sort out her feelings was Angel, despite Max still protesting she felt nothing other than friendship towards Fang.

But now as she sat alone in her room reading over the letter for the umpteenth time, she was wishing she could have had more time with Fang, more memories to hold onto until the day she saw him again. Heck, she would give anything just to know she would see him again. To know nothing had happened to him. That he hadn't been captured.

That one section of the letter had Max wondering though, if being apart from her caused his world to be in shades of grey too, then why had he left? After everything that had just happened, and with Fang almost dying, if he had really needed to leave, why couldn't he have taken her with him?

In these past three months Fang had not been in contact with any of the Flock, not Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, and especially not Max. He knew that if he had made one phone call, if he had heard Max's voice on the other end of the phone, he would not be able to stay away. Everything in him would want to go back and be with her, his partner in crime, the girl that he loved.

He had left that letter so she wouldn't try to come find him, so she would know he hadn't been taken, and that he was safe, but part of him had still half expected she would still try to come find him.

And when she hadn't he was a little shocked. This was Max, feisty, headstrong, and the girl who never took no for an answer. That was when Fang knew, she was in love with him too, she trusted him, and even though she was no doubt hurting just as much as he was from their separation, she respected his decision enough to know, he would come back when he was ready.

But thinking back on the letter he had left, Fang only had one regret, one thing he wished he could of done differently. If he could go back to before he had left, before he had written the letter, he would have told Max he loved her in person. He would have loved to of seen the look on her face when he told her, it would probably be just as shocked as he imagined she had been when she read the letter, but he also knew that she would have recovered quickly, and told him she loved him too. Oh how he wished he could hear Max say those words, to hold her once again, to kiss her. Every day he had been gone there was one thing he constantly thought about, the day he would walk back through the front door of the house he shared with Max and the rest of the flock, and seeing the smile that would light up Max's face when she saw him again.

Yes, Fang could not wait until the day they would be reunited. Contrary to what everyone else thought, he was a bit of a romantic.

So this is my first attempt at writing a fanfic for one of my favorite series of books, the Maximum Ride series. If you haven't heard of them go look 'em up, you're missing out on an amazing story. I can't wait until the seventh book comes out on Valentine's day, only 4 more days! ;D This one shot takes place in between book 6 (Fang) and the new book (Angel). And I really love how it came out. ;D I absolutely love Max and Fang and while listening to Michelle Branch's CD "Spirit Room", I was inspired to write this. This was actually written over the course of me listening to the CD for the first time, and most of the songs on there actually fit this story and Max/Fang really well, so check that out as well. That CD actually just helped me break my writers block of over a month, let's hope it doesn't come back for a long time. *fingers crossed* Anyway I hope you all enjoy this, and please remember to press that button at the bottom of the screen and let me know what you thought. -Renee :)