A/N 1: So, I wrote this story around July of 2011. I got writers block and just stopped writing it thinking I would finish it up within the next few days. As it turns out, I actually forgot about the story's existence until I searched through all of my files hoping to find a chapter for another story (erg, I'm still angry about that). Even though I lost my most favorite chapter that I've written for all of my stories, I'm glad I at least found this.
A/N 2: I FORGOT ABOUT THIS STUPID THING AGAIN AND I'M GETTING SO ANGRY IT'S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS SINCE I WROTE THE FIRST AUTHOR'S NOTE AND I KEEP FORGETTING ABOUT THIS FREAKING THING. AHG BUT I FINALLY FINSIHED THE LAST BIT AND I'M READY TO POST THIS. IT HAS BEEN TWO YEARS. TWO. FREAKING. YEARS. But anyway, I'm sorry if the grammars all weird. I wrote most of it before I went into eight grade and the last few lines I wrote tonight. I'm too tired to fix everything on this, but I personally like this. It's become my baby. Kind of. I guess. I hope you guys like it though.
A/N 3: So, this might be sort of confusing. Just a brief, the Batchelder's and the Martinez's are related by blood. While the Ride's and the Walkers are related to each other. The reason why there are no parents in this story is because Valencia, Jeb, and Anne are important scientists who have to be away for a long time, and the Rides parents died when they were young. Oh, and the remaining parents thought it was best if all the kids stayed in one house together. The reasoning is pretty lame, but ehhh. :)
A/N 3: They might be a little OOC at some parts, so I apologize in advance.
Ride: Max, Maya, Iggy, Ari
Martinez: Ratchet, Fang, Ella
Walker: Dylan, Star, Gazzy, Holden
Batchelder: Tess, Sam, Nudge
Oh! And Iggy has his eye sight in this. :)
I hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride; if I did I'd be one rich man. Unfortunately, I do not have the parts required to be a man so I guess I don't own Max Ride.
In the Bathchelder/Ride/Walker/ Martinez house, the fact that information could be kept a secret for longer than three hours was a shocker. A full day was just mind blowing, and a month was considered a miracle. Of course, in the 14 people household, there was only one piece of information that had fallen under the category 'miracle', and that was only about three years prior when Max had been with child.
When Max's secret had been discovered by then five year old Ari ("Fang, I found this fairy wand in Maxie's trash! Isn't it pretty?") the whole house had become chaotic (or at least more chaotic than it usually was). Max's cousin, Dylan, had attempted to tackle Fang, Fang's face was changing all different colors of the rainbow, Ella was trying to throw away a very uncooperative Ari's "wand", and everybody else was just sort of yelling out random words for the fun of it.
After a talk with a very nice policeman who was called over for multiple disturbance reports, everyone was able to gather around and discuss this topic calmly. Or, as calmly as a conversation could go when one dude was attempting to body slam another dude.
About seven and a half months later, little Angel Martinez-Ride (or as Iggy had dubbed her: "Miracle Baby") was born.
That was the last time there had been a miracle case in the B.R.W.M. home. Or, so the majority of the occupants thought.
Ella Martinez tip-toed down the staircase as quietly as she could. With everyone in the house asleep, the wooden creaky stairs seemed to be amplified enough to be heard from miles away. As she slowly walked down the stairwell, she gripped on to the smooth mahogany hand rails to ensure she didn't tumble down the stairs. The handrails did nothing for her though as she tripped over her own feet and slid down a couple of steps. She managed to stop herself at the very bottom, where she noticed a shadowy figure looming over her.
"You know, you've got a mouth that'd put Max's to shame." Iggy commented in a whisper. He'd heard her carol down the stairs.
"Well, you've got a mind that'd make Rachet's seem like an innocent child." Ella fired back in the same volume of voice as Iggy's.
She could faintly see Iggy's hands raised in front of him in an 'I surrender' way. He then put his left hand out in front of him, and helped Ella to her feet. They walked down the hallway intending to go to the living room.
"So, dear secret girlfriend of mine, what shall we do now?" Iggy questioned in a way that hinted something else.
Ella rolled her eyes at her boyfriend "Calling me your secret girlfriend makes us sound childish." She stated with a voice filled with humor. She then used her right hand to grab hold of his left hand.
Iggy stopped walking and turned to her. "Well, that's what you are though," He then slid his arms to her waist, and wrapped them around her loosely. "Remind me again why we're keeping our relationship a secret?" He asked in a soft tone.
"Well," Ella started off in a knowing voice "If Ratchet and or Fang found out that you're dating their younger sister, they would most likely punch you in the face." She stated, her arms snaking themselves around the much taller boys neck.
"Now I remember." Iggy whispered back. Ella then leaned up slowly, and Iggy slouched down. Just as they were about to reach one another, a voice interrupted them.
"Iggy? Ella? What are you guys doing down here?" Max questioned slowly and in a groggy voice.
The two teens immediately jumped apart, but both knew it was too late because Max had seen the position they had been in.
"Kitchen. Now." Max commanded in a tone that dared you to say no.
The couple quickly shuffled from their spot in the hallway, into the giant kitchen that had the themes of yellow, black, and silver in it.
Max seated her self on one of the kitchen stool, and rested her hands on the shiny marble island. "Well, talk." She said. Her eyebrows rose while speaking.
"Iggy and I are dating!" Ella rushed out quickly. Her heart was racing in worry of what her sister figure would say about it.
The 21 year old stayed silent for a few moments before saying something.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Max asked, sounding a combination of hurt, and miffed. Hurt because Iggy, Ella, and Max were pretty close, and miffed because Maximum Ride did not like to be kept out of the loop.
Ella felt a wave of guilt rush through her body "I'm sorry Max. I was afraid you'd tell Fang." She told her honestly.
The older girl raised her left eye brow and her lips formed a smirk "You're afraid of Mr. Silent?" She implored, sounding amused.
"Actually, I was afraid of Mr. Silent, his brother, and their fists." Iggy piped up from Ella's left.
The two girls just rolled their eyes at Iggy, and continued talking.
"I won't tell Fang about this if you bake me some chocolate chip cookies." Max bargained with Ella.
"Can't I just make you a sandwich? If I make the cookies now, we'd have a stampede rush down here." Ella whined, sounding ten years younger then her age.
"Hmmm..." Max pretended to think over it. "How about you make me a sandwich now, and bake me cookies later?" Max arranged.
"Deal." Ella agreed. She then bustled around the kitchen to make Max a ham sandwich. Once she finished, she handed it off to Max, (who squealed in a child like manner) and then she and Iggy headed off to bed.
Both were hoping that they wouldn't get caught by anymore people.
It had been a month since the late night incident with Max, and so far, five other people had caught Ella and Iggy in a couple's moment.
Nudge had discovered the two in the middle of session when Nudge opened the closet door in the room she shared with Ella.
Dylan, after a late night with his friends, had come home to see the two in a similar position Nudge had caught them in.
Gazzy, intending to grab a jacket from the coat closet on the first floor, had opened the door to reveal a preoccupied Ella and Iggy. He just raised his eyebrows, closed the door, and walked back up to his room.
Holden had walked into the bathroom to find the two in the same way Nudge and Dylan had found them. The poor ten year old boy had blushed for days whenever one or both would walk into a room.
Tess was probably the only one to be spared. She caught them both curled up innocently on Ella's bed.
All four had different reactions to the news. Nudge and Tess had screamed with joy at the top of their lungs. The screaming was loud enough to send a panic through out the house, because people had mistaken it with the 'AHHHH THERE'S SOME RANDOM BURGARLOR IN MY ROOM!" scream. In addition to screeching, Nudge had also ranted about how cute the two were together.
Dylan had been kind of iffy. He viewed Ella as his adopted sister, but Iggy was his blood cousin. He ended up telling them he was happy for them, but not before warning Iggy about a few broken bones coming his way if he ever hurt the brunette.
Gazzy was going through an "I'm too cool to care" phase, and had acted indifferent to the fact that the two had been secretly dating.
Holden, who was just starting to learn more about life, had been avoiding the two for the last month. Ella and Iggy eventually cornered him and talked to him about the incident.
All five had promised not to breathe a word to any of Ella's brothers who they all thought of as their own brothers. All four had felt guilty from keeping something from the two guys, but all knew it wasn't their secret to share. Which was surprising for Ella and Iggy, because nothing had ever stopped the members of the B.R.W.M. house hold to spill another member's secret.
Two months after Max had caught the two in the hallway, the rest of the house (minus Fang and Ratchet) had found out about the not so secret relationship. Even little three year old Angel had found out, and would now repeatedly say the word "kissy".
Max had scolded her brother and the girl she considered her sister for being reckless as to have a three year old walk in on them, but quickly dropped the subject when Angel started talking about how 'Momma and daddy kissy all the time!". The little girl dragged out the word all, and clapped after she spoke.
As time went on, it was getting harder to keep the not so secret due to the fact that fifteen people knew (four of them not living in the house). The teenage kids would often wiggle their eyebrows in a suggestive manner, Max would smirk at them, and the younger ones would often make smooching noises. Ella was pretty certain that her brothers were starting to catch on to the fact that there was something going on that they didn't know about.
Well, at least Fang. Ratchet was just sort of preoccupied most of the time with checking himself out in the mirror.
For once in what seemed like a really long time, Ella and Iggy were spending their afternoons doing different things. The 18 year old college graduate had a job interview at some big electronic company that Ella forgot the name of.
"Aunie Eya." Ella looked down to see a small curly headed blonde, tugging at her sleeves.
"What's up Ange?" Ella questioned the small girl as she bent down to knee level with her.
"Look at my pwetty picture!" She exclaimed. Her mouth opened to reveal a toothy grin.
Ella looked at the picture. At first she thought it was to sticks attacking each other with fish lips, but then soon realized it was no other then her and Iggy. The brunette girls eyes widened and she bolted up right.
Angel noticed Ella's expression, and her ocean blue eyes, that matched both of her uncles, started to water. "You don't like it?" She asked. Her bottom lip started to quiver.
"Oh, wait. No, don't cry! Auntie Ella loves this picture. In fact, it's her most favorite in the world! I bet Uncle Iggy would love it too!" Ella rushed, feeling guilty that she caused her niece to be sad.
The three year olds mood lightened. "Weally? I'm glad! I'm gonna go draw Unkey Iggy a picture too!" She exclaimed, while bouncing out of the living room.
Ella sighed and fell back onto the lumpy black sofa. It would be a matter of time before everything exploded in their faces. This explosion would probably be worse than Max's cooking explosion of 2006.
It had been almost four months since Max had found out, and things around the B.R.W.M. house hold were starting to get tense.
Due to the fact that Sam's girlfriend, Lissa, and her family were in France for the next month, Sam had turned into Mr. Drama Pants. He now spent most of his day wallowing in tears.
Nudge had just recently got dumped by some dude whose name sounded like a cereal brand. So now Nudge spent most of her time with Sam, and the two of them would cry together.
Max and Fang got into a fight about two weeks before. Fang had finally confronted Max about feeling like she wasn't telling him something, and she flat out denied it. Then they proceeded to yell at each other. Fang, being himself, stupidly asked if Max was pregnant again, and if that was why she was acting so weird. Max got mad, and banished him to the cause of back pains (also known as the living room couch).
Ella was starting to feel immensely guilty, especially because Fang and Max rarely fought. The two may bicker, but Fang had never been kicked out of their room for longer then a few hours.
Iggy was convinced that Fang was starting to figure out that what ever was going on, had something to do with his sister. Then she would laugh at Iggy for being overly paranoid, and give him a quick peck on the lips.
All though, she was starting to believe Iggy was right. It wasn't that she was paranoid, but why else would a dude spend most of his dinner time observing his sister while he was cruelly stabbing his chicken with a fork? The poor guy accidently missed the chicken once, and some how speared his thigh instead.
That was a somewhat awkward trip to the hospital
After the fork incident, Fang and Max had decided to forget about their argument and move on. The two's idea of moving on though was quite the opposite of its definition. Fang would make home made fortune cookies, and stuff them with fortunes that said something along the lines of "You should certainly tell the father of your child the secret you've been withholding." Max's version was something along the lines of: "If you ever ask me again if I'm pregnant, I will damage your off spring maker." Angel had been in the room when they had this conversation, so now Angel kept asking for an "off spring maker" for Christmas.
It was quite humorous for anyone above the age of 13. Well, everyone except Fang who broke out of his silent shell, freaked out, and started ranting for close to an hour about how his daughter would never ever get an "off spring maker". He spent up to two hours rambling about how the minute she figured out boys in fact did not have cooties, she'd be shipped away to an all girls catholic school. He then continued on to say that at said catholic school, Angel would hopefully decide that her true life's passion was to become a nun for the rest of her life.
In addition to Fang turning into psychotic papa bear, Max's cousin Star pulled an "I'm going to tell the people in charge of me that I'm going to my best friends Kate's house, when really I'm going to a frat party to get drunk. Then I'll sing Katy Perry songs on a coffee table, and maybe attempt to crowd surf!" Unfortunately for her, she was caught by her older brother Dylan, and Max's twin sister Maya.
So, to top all of the events off, Dylan had gone into "Unbearable brother bear mode" and would growl at any guy outside of the B.R.W.M. house who would even walk pass Star.
With all the crazy things going around in the seven room home, Iggy and Ella had obviously been forgotten about. Or, so they thought.
Ella slowly and quietly creeped down the mahogany stairs; each step seemed to create a loud creak, causing her to cringe at the volume. She grabbed the smooth and cool handrails, and fumbled all the way down to the very bottom, for once not actually falling. She walked down the hallway, squinting and searching in all directions, hoping to find the one person she was looking for.
"Looking for me?" A happy sounding voice whispered from her right.
"Gah! You scared me!" Ella managed to get out, even though her lungs had constricted out of fear.
Iggy just laughed and pulled them into the same position Max had found them in all those months before. Just as they were about to lean in to each other to kiss, the hallway lights flickered on. The two practically flew from one another, and whipped their heads to the front door, where the light switch was located at. When they saw who had turned the lights on, both yelled at the top of their lungs.
Doors could be heard opening both upstairs and downstairs. Lights were turned on, and the hallway became flooded by numerous people, all asking what the heck was wrong. When they all saw a tired looking Ratchet, a calm looking Fang, and the "secret couple" on opposite walls, everyone made a mad dash back to where they came from. Before Max could flee back into hers and Fang's bedroom, Fang's voice rang out.
"Iggy, Ella; kitchen. Now. You too Max." The three whose names were called started mumbling under their breaths, and reluctantly followed the dark haired man into the some what fancy looking kitchen.
Fang and Ratchet sat on the bar stools behind the kitchen island, Max decided to sit on top of the kitchen counter, and the two teens opted to stay standing. When Fang raised his left eyebrow, the teens immediately started talking at once, trying to explain the situation to Fang. After they both stopped talking, they waited for Fang (or Ratchet) to talk.
"You know what, I'm tired and I need my beauty sleep for the ladies. Iggy, I'll punch you in the face tomorrow. Night." Ratchet yawned out, he then walked out of the kitchen to head for his sleeping quarters.
The room was silent for what felt like an hour, but what was really only about thirty seconds.
"Anyone want to explain?" Fang questioned the trio.
"No, not really."
"Nope, I'm good."
"I like my face the way is, so no thanks!"
Fang glared at Iggy, who let out a squeak before running to hide behind his girlfriend. Max rolled her eyes at her brother's pathetic-ness, while Ella stared at the ground chanting that by miracle a unicorn would crash through the window and take her to Unicorn-Ville.
After a few moments of tense and awkward silence, Max broke in and spoke her thoughts. "Well obviously they're not learning how to do the polka."
Everybody's eyes flickered to Max, who sat at the marble counter with her legs swinging and her right eyebrow raised in a "you people are stupid" manner.
"No, really?" Fang asked, sarcasm leaking into his tone.
"You wanna spend another night on the couch?" Max questioned threateningly.
Fang's eyes flickered with fear before they went back to their usual impassive look. "No ma'am."
"That's what I thought." Max replied in a smug tone; her lips curved into a winning smirk.
Fang averted his attention back to the younger couple, inwardly smirking as he watched them fidget under his gaze. After a few moments, he decided that they were scared enough, and he opened his mouth to speak. "I'm not mad."
The younger duo let out a breath they had been holding, and their faces flooded with relief.
"I wish you would've told me though. My poor leg and back probably would've been saved if you had." Fang grimaced as he re-lived said incidences.
"Oh suck it up you big baby. You're 21, not 65." Max snorted, responding to his complaint about his back.
"That couch is evil." Fang whispered as his face scrunched up at the mere memory of his night on said contraption.
Max rolled her almond color brown eyes at the ridiculousness that was her boyfriend. "Alright, if you people are just going to stand in here all night-or should I say day-I'm going back to my room to get some well deserve shut eye. Good night." The blonde girl then jumped down from her spot on the counter and walked out of the kitchen.
"Look, I can't say I'm thrilled…" Fang started out in a sigh. "But you could do worse." He finished off.
"I feel like that's as close to an approval as I'll ever get, so I'll take it." The lighter skinned boy stated.
Fang rolled his deep dark brown eyes at the words that left the younger boy's mouth, but he chose not to comment on them. "Just don't keep things from me, alright?"
Ella's face flushed from a combination of embarrassment and guilt; embarrassment that they were even in this position in the first place, and well the guilt was pretty obvious. "I won't, and I'm sorry." The girl said.
Months of tension seemed to be erased as the siblings came to understanding; in its place a buzz of ease seemed to resonate. But of course, seeing as the household wasn't the type to be at peace for more than a few brief moments, Iggy decided to open his mouth.
"Hey Fangy, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful brotherhood. Hey, maybe Ells could get pregnant and we could raise our mini-me's together!"
Fang burning gaze snapped to the other boy in the room; his midnight colored eyes seemed to get even darker, if that was even possible. "If you even think of having sex with my sister your off spring maker is mine, you understand?" He bit out threateningly.
Iggy gulped and his piercing blue eyes became as wide as saucers. " Ye-ye-yes sir!"
"Good."
The room was engulfed in silence for approximately thirty seconds until-
"But dude seriously if you wanted a piece of me you coulda just asked. You don't need to act so threatening to get a chance at the Igmeister."
"Iggy!" Ella exclaimed exasperated with her boyfriend.
"What? I'm just sayin!" The boy was quick to defend himself.
"You're seriously dating him?" Fang questioned his sister.
"Aww Fangy, are you jealous?"
"Iggy if you don't shut up, I'm going to punch you."
"C'mon Fangy, gimme a kiss."
"Iggy seriously, stop." Ella practically begged the boy.
"I can't help it if Fangaliscious has the hots for my spicy self. He doesn't need to hide it, it's totally understan-" But before the boy could finish, Fang had decked him across the face.
"I'm going to bed." Fang grumbled as he marched out of the kitchen.
"Night," Ella called out before she turned her attention to the blond boy currently sprawled out on the kitchen ground. "You Igiot! You're lucky I have a soft spot for you, or else I probably would have punched you too."
"I'm a Martinez magnet." Iggy quipped as he groaned in pain.
Ella took sympathy in the boy clutching his face that would most likely be bruised in a few hours. "Let me get you some ice." She offered as she stepped over his lanky body to get to the stainless steal refrigerator.
"You're an angel."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever." She stated as she grinned fondly.
As she rummaged in the fridge to find an ice pack for the boy to use, Ella thought about how she wouldn't change a thing in the world. Sure, there were moments where she found herself wishing for more privacy. Her brother's were crazy, and the other occupants seemed to be just as equal to them in the spectrum of insanity. But, at the end of the day, she was grateful to have a crazy family like hers. They may be loud and a little bit impractical at times, but they sure as hell were pretty entertaining. After all, what's family without a bit of insanity?
In the Bathchelder/Ride/Walker/ Martinez house, the fact that information could be kept a secret for longer than three hours was a shocker. A full day was just mind blowing, and a month was considered a miracle. Ella and Iggy's case however, surpassed all levels that had been previously reached. The household would later come to call the five month secret "The Impossible" and would silently agree that nothing could beat the Eggy scandal. Well, that is, until about seven years later when Ari had a little secret of his own that he'd manage to keep for almost a year.
AND THERE. I feel so happy now. It took a while, but I finally finished this darn thing. I'm not exactly thrilled with the ending, but I couldn't think of what else to do. I hope you guys liked it though. Thoughts, comments, and constructive criticsim are welcome.
I should probably go to bed; I have to leave my house in the morning. Merp :/
-Mae