Disclaimer – I do not own Maximum Ride. If I did, there would be no Dylan.

1.

Max sighed as she plopped down onto the couch, staring out the window blankly. It had been a year and a half since Fang first left, and she was more or less over him now. After all, no one could expect her to be moping around, wishing for him to come back after all this time. He was gone for good, and he had made that quite clear. But… there was a part of her that wondered if he still missed her… it had always seemed like –

Hands suddenly clamped around her eyes and she flew off the couch, turning around and blindly punching whoever had touched her. Yes, she may have changed a lot in the past few years, but she was still a kick-ass fighter.

"Dylan!" Max yelled, exasperated. Ever since Jeb and all of the rest had come back a few weeks prior to convince them to go off to Germany and… have a flock together, he'd been extra sappy and sweet. Yuck.

"What? I was just going to play a game of guess-who…" Dylan muttered, rubbing the red mark on his jaw where her fist had hit. It looked like it hurt. Good.

"When will you learn that we are not going to Germany, we are not going to date, and I most certainly am not going to ever think of you as anything but a friend?" She asked him, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Dylan winced at her words, taking a tentative step back. Gosh, why did he have to always look so innocent and compassionate whenever she started to yell? Maybe it was just something programmed into his brain; 'Act hurt and tenderhearted when Max starts to get mad, it will soften her words.' As if.

Max stared at him for a while until Angel came running in, a phone in her hand. "Max, someone wants to talk to you." She said sweetly as Max held her hand out. After shooing the little girl out of the room, she held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked suspiciously, wondering who wanted to talk to her. Or… who even had access to their phone number. A while back, they'd done another mission in Antarctica and had received a secluded home in the middle of the mountains somewhere near Utah. It was a nice place and was close enough to Arizona so that she could still see Ella and her mom. Heck, anything was a nice enough place as long as it had beds and a roof over their heads.

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment before a careful voice said, "Max, its Fang. M-my… I abandoned the gang. They were too absorbed in the whole 'Saving-the-world-through-the-internet' thing. I know you probably won't want me back, but I promise I –"

He never got a change to finish, because Max said, "Fang, I don't want any of your promises."

"But –"

"No, I don't want to hear any 'buts.' If you regret ever coming up with the whole gang thing, you should've never left in the first place. I'm sorry." Max was about to hang up the phone when she heard his last words;

"I understand, Max, but I love you –"

Max shook her head, hanging up running a hand through her hair. "I hate him!" she muttered, throwing the phone at Dylan and then storming out of the room.

A bit short, yes, but this is my first fanfic so I'm a bit cautious about how fast I take the story. PLEASE review and tell me your thoughts!