Hi, this is a long ass chapter, I know. It's important to the story though to tell how Nudge and Fang first met, and developed their deep relationship is so I didn't hold back. In this they are initially 4 years old (fang) and one year old (nudge) I did the math and everything so, yea. At the end they are zero (angel), two (Gazzy), five (nudge), eight (Max, Iggy, Fang). I like reading with details like that so I thought I would include it.

Fang uncurled his legs, sighing in contentment. He had no idea what he had done to deserve such a reward but did nothing to question it. He was resisting less than usual, not wanting to end up like the bruised and broken blonde-girl resting beside him. She always fought, even when they were giving her food and water. Compared to her, Fang felt like a sissy. He rebelled as best he could but didn't hold a candle to the resilience she showed daily. His newly exchanged medium-sized cage had enough room for him to stretch his legs! Not completely of course, but it was a lot better than the back-breaking curled position he'd had to endure in his previous extra small. As he began to doze, he heard a "Psst!" from the cage next to him.

"I wouldn't be so smug if I were you," Max began, a cocky grin lighting up her bruised face. "I heard they're doing budget cuts."

Fang had no idea what that meant, and shrugged his shoulders, allowing his confusion to show on his face.

"Heck if I know, but it has cuts in it, doesn't it?" Fang nodded understandingly as he hated being cut as well, before turning over and staring at the empty cage next to him. His friend, Iggy, usually occupied that position but he'd been gone all night. He'd noticed several experiments around him disappearing lately, and hoped Iggy wasn't getting budget-cuts done to him too. Maybe that's why there were less kids now-a-days.

Suddenly, he heard a eardrum shattering, glass breaking shrieking began. He groaned before sharing a look of annoyance with , they had gotten a new experiment who screamed and wailed all day long. It was obviously an infant because hardly anyone else, not even Iggy, was that much of a sissy. Briefly, he hoped that the baby would get the budget-cuts instead of Iggy at least t,hey'd be able to sleep. He guiltily banished the thought from his subconscious. No kid deserved to be hurt, he thought firmly. The baby was at least two sections away but he heard it clearly from where he was placed. He noticed with alarm that the screaming was getting louder, closer. Were they moving it closer to his section? Oh no. They were hardly getting enough sleep as it was.

Two annoyed whitecoats stormed into the hallway, carrying a small, coffee colored bundle. And it was screaming. They stopped in front of Iggy's empty cage.

"Finally, put it here!"

"No way, it'll die alone. We need this specimen. We should really put it back in the nursery."

"You read the report. It's disturbing the other subjects. It has to be put here."

"This cage belongs to #4449 anyways, so what do we do, kill it?"

"Yea, like we can afford that. This cost us so much. We'd have to sneak and do it."

Fang's heart skipped a beat at the thought. Of course the baby was annoying, but to kill it! That was cruelty. He began to feel even more upset as he noticed that with her Coffee brown skin, Wide doe eyes, and crinkly tufts of hair, she was kind of cute. As he looked upon her naked body, seeing several ribs poking out and noticed that she was violently shivering. Fear gripped his heart for the baby. No wonder she cried, she was being treated horribly.

"Here!" Fang desperately yelled. "Dr. Batchelder said that it was supposed go here." They were probably going to end up killing the poor girl no matter where they placed her. He'd sat aside complacently as several experiments were butchered and killed. But she had tawny little feathers sprouting out her back and he would not let down one of his own. She was an aviation-hybrid just like the two of us!

For a long, horrible moment, he believed that the Whitecoats would simply ignore him. He noticed that Max was staring at him, shock evident on her face. With a start, he realized that this was the first time he had ever truly spoken. He was sure that the doctors and intelligent experiments thought that he couldn't. The doctors eyes widened as they almost dropped the screaming child in their attempts withdraw their voice recorders and notebooks. They were muttering,writing furiously, whispering among themselves.

"#3264 can speak!" One muttered.

"Witkowski owes me money. I knew it was coherent! We need to test it's brainwaves immediately."

Iggy was carried into the room, unconscious and with several stitches along his forehead. The Whitecoats were forced to step aside with so he could be placed in his cage. Making an executive decision, one of the men injected me with a needle of green stuff. Immediately my eyes began to droop, but I held on longer. Forcing myself to watch. The White Coat holding the girl flung her in my cage, hitting her head against the bars, and making her erupt into even louder screams.

Fang smiled, a real one, for the first time ever. He knew the baby would not be killed. That made it all worth it. He fell into the darkness.

Almost an entire day later, he awoke, his head throbbing. He gingerly tried to move only to realize there were stitches in the top of his head and it was now shaved. He emitted a low groan, as pain from his head hit him in waves, and tears slid down his cheeks. What had they done to him? Budget cuts? He realized with a start that he was now back in his cage. Panicking, he searched frantically for the baby he so desperately wanted to save. Did they come back for her? He felt a small nudge in his back. He froze, felt it again.

Swiveling, he found the child tucked tightly against his back, huddled in a corner. She was sleeping, her faint breath coming out in wheezes, and her bony leg twitching against his spine. Fang gathered her in his small arms, studying her troubled, gaunt face as she dreamed. Suddenly her eyes opened, revealing wide brown eyes that locked on his onyx ones. He almost began to smile when her face crumpled. She was screaming again, and he heard curses from both Max and Iggy as they were woken up from sleep.

His pulled off his grubby t-shirt, wrapping around her to stop her shiverings. She quieted slightly but not much. He tried rocking her, as he had seen the nice Whitecoat, Jeb, do once before. Her screams dissipated to restless whimpers and his friends beside him sighed in relief before curling up to resume their slumber. Now he was shivering with the cold, left in only the matching tan pants that covered each experiment. Somehow, the baby had ended up without either.

For the first few months of their time together, the baby cried more often than not but as she became used to him, his gentle touches, his quiet demeanor, she cried less and less. He gave her his food, and she transformed from a tiny skeleton, to an almost healthy looking child. In comparison, he began getting sick more often from being underclothed, and underfed. Eventually it began effecting Fang's data and results and they were given enough food and clothes for the both of them. Every time he was given a potty break (twice a day) he took the child with him and cleaned her up before he was escorted back to the cage.

The two children developed a routine, and stuck to it for almost a year. Living together, comforting each other. Whenever Fang was taken for a test, the baby would scream until he was brought back, and the relieved child would curl up in his often unconscious lap. The child began calling herself Nudge due to his constant mutter of, "Stop nudging me," as they curled up at night. She slept awful even then. Max adored the child, and Nudge brought out a side of her that he couldn't help but marvel at. Who knew this fierce girl could turn so...soft! In his care, the crying wailing nuisance transformed into a giggling, constantly smiling nuisance. When she turned two years old, the whitecoats believed that they were both growing too fast to share a cage any further, and fearing to stunt any possible growth, separated the two. After a week of nonstop crying on Nudge's part, and Fighting for Fang, Iggy and Nudge switched cages. That being said, he now was in the middle of Nudge and Max with Iggy across from him. The budget-cutting (he finally knew what it was) actually ended months prior to the move, they received funds from a new donor, but Fang and Nudge were allowed to stay together to avoid any extra hassle. Realizing the success of having one experiment care for another, not to mention it saved money, Max was given Gazzy to take care of, to all of our disdain, and he was moved next to Iggy when Angel arrived two years later. And thus, the flock was reunited. They bled, cried, laughed, and grew together in The School. They were experimented on, tested, and abused their limits when finally Jeb Batchelder saved them from the school.

Hiii! I really hoped you liked this! It's been a few years, and I'm changing the plot and everything about this story but keeping the same name. I took a break from FF, to grow in my writing, so I hope its noticeable. AGAIN, I am changing the story but it's under the same name and has the same general theme to it so hopefully not to much of a change for any old readers who find it. ANYWHO!

Please review! I would like that very much and tell me if it was too long, not long enough, too rushed, not rushed enough, that sorta thing. Too many details, too little details just whale it all on me because I really wanna hear from you all and see if its good or not. Next Chapter will include a full summary, as the one on the cover is pretty vague to the plot. I wanted to include this first so no one would get any false Ideas before beginning to read it. If you want a response to your review or have any questions, please PM me and I'll get back to you all there.