Broken

Chapter 1

Fang and I hadn't had sex in months. I'm serious. Months. It was coming up on ten months, I think.

Moaning, I watched as Fang started kissing down my body. He smiled, starting to unbutton my jeans.

"Glad the sweatpants are gone," Fang mumbled, giving me a kiss above my bellybutton.

"Shut up," I said, wanting to kick him, but not wanting to ruin this.

"Finally alone," Fang mumbled under his breath. "And you tell me to shut up."

"Damn right."

He smiled, running a hand down my legs. "We're not really alone, Max. You have to keep it down, alright?"

I sighed. Chris, our baby, was here. He wasn't easy awaken though. Tyler was home too, somewhere in the house. He was grounded after getting into a fight the other day.

"Let's just get this over with before-"

His cell went off, making Fang groan, not at all happy. He got up and grabbed it off the dresser.

"What?" He sighed. "Tabitha- Well, no. Tab- What? Why does it- Can't you- Please- Fine, alright, fine!"

He hung up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Tabitha got in an argument with that girl's house she was over at and now she wants to come home."

"Can't we at least-"

"Chill, Max," he said, going to pull on his shirt. "I'll take her to someone else's place or something."

"Fine, but hurry back," I said, pulling back on my bra.

"What? You can keep that off," he said, smiling at me.

"Just go," I said, getting up. "Besides, I'm going to check on Chris."

He gave me a kiss on the head before leaving. After finding all my clothes, I went into the room closes to ours, where Chris was.

"Hi, baby," I cooed, going over to his crib. The one and a half year old held up his arms for me, having just been sitting there, waiting. "You're a big boy, huh?"

Chris smiled. "Hi."

"You know whose birthday just past?"

He busied himself with my hair, ignoring the question.

"Jason's, Chris. You know that, huh?"

Nodding his head, he settled into my arms. "Ni-ni."

"Well, it's only four, baby," I told him.

Cameron offered to watch the store for us today, which probably was due to the fact that if she didn't, Damien would have dragged her to the zoo with him, Lucas, Samantha, and Neo. Cody and James had opted out, instead going to stay with Trinity for the day. Mom had Jason and Lance, which left us with Chris and Tyler, as Tabby had originally planned to spend this Friday night at Brenda, who is her new best friend's, house.

Chris didn't understand the concept of time so he just started whining until I laid him back down in the crib. Little brat. I was trying to be nice and pay some attention to him, but no. Whatever. I know that one person that always wants me around.

"Get out, Max!"

I was in shock. "What?"

Tyler frowned at me. "I don't wanna talk to you!"

What did I do? All that had happened was that I opened his door. Big whoop!

"Tyler, why are you mad at me?"

He pulled the covers up over his head, trying to pretend that I wasn't there.

"Ty? You're not mad about the Alex thing, right? You're grounded."

"I know! I don't eve care about that."

"Then what?"

"I don't want to talk to you," he said, turning under the covers to face the wall. "Just leave me alone."

"Tyler-"

"No."

Groaning, I walked out of his room. God, they're all little brats. I went to the living room to wait for Fang. When he got home, he still had Tabitha.

"Tabby, please? Don't you want to see Adeem today?"

"No," she said, stomping over to the couch. "Max, tell him that I can stay home."

"Stay, why would I care?"

"Thank you," she said before marching off upstairs. Fang sighed, looking at me.

"So are we still going to-"

"Fang, Tyler won't talk to me."

"Good," he said, coming over to me. "I want to be the only person you talk to tonight."

"Fang, stop," I said, pushing away his hands. "He's upstairs, in his room. Go talk to him."

"Max, I talked to him last week."

"Fang."

"I can't keep talking to him about things, Max. Then it'll start getting weird," he said. "I have to save up my energy for all the other boys."

"Just go talk to him."

"Tyler?"

"Go away."

Fang sighed. "I wish I could, but Max is worried about you. Go downstairs and tell her that you love her so that we can move on."

"No," he said, not coming out from under the covers.

Fang took a deep breath. "Tyler, what's wrong, huh?"

"Remember that stuff that we talked about?"

"Yeah," Fang said slowly.

"I-I think that it happened."

Fang wasn't sure what to say. "Oh."

"Yeah. I was getting ready to take a shower and-"

"Tyler-"

"No, look at it-"

"No, Tyler, don't-"

He got up and took off his shirt. "See?"

Fang was confused. "What?"

Tyler lifted up his arm. "See?"

"What?"

"Hair. I got a hair."

Fang let out a loud sigh. "That's all?"

He nodded. "Does that mean that all that other stuff is gonna happen now?"

Rolling his eyes, Fang said, "Just go tell Max that you're not upset with her, alright?"

"But what about-"

"Now."

Frowning, Tyler put back on his shirt and ran out of the room. Fang let out a long breath. Dodged a bullet with that one.

Fang and I didn't get to have sex that night. Slowly, two by two, our kids came home. It was horrible. So now, we were in bed, Lance in between us and Chris on Fang's chest. This is why we can't have sex. We always have at least one kid in bed with us. It's so annoying.

"Night, baby," Fang whispered sometime around eleven. I was already half asleep, but he was just now turning off the TV. He had been watching Forensic Files. "See you in the morning."

"Night," I whispered back, not even opening my eyes. "Wake me up at eight tomorrow, okay? I'll open the store at nine."

Fang nodded. "Take some of them to work with you."

"I will," I said, pulling Lance closer to me. "Hey, Fang?"

"Hmmm?"

"…We should try again, tomorrow after I get off."

"Whatever you want, Max."

It was almost midnight, but Samantha couldn't sleep, which meant that Damien' couldn't either. After the day at the zoo, she crashed for about three hours before waking up. Cameron was not happy by this.

"Samantha, if you don't be quiet-"

"No!" She frowned. "Me and Daddy gonna stay up all night."

"No, you're not," Cameron said. "Damien, go put her back in her own bed if she's going to talk."

"Cameron, come on."

"No, Damien."

He sighed, looking down at Sam. "Shhh, okay baby?"

"Mommy's mean," she said, cuddling against him. "Hide me, Daddy."

He sighed, giving her a kiss on the head. "Cameron, be nice, alright? She's just hyper."

"Whatever," Cameron said, putting her back to them. Peter got up and stretched before getting off the bed, not liking all of the activity. The bathroom door was closed, but the bedroom door was open. He was almost out of the door when he heard the breathing of Bubba. No way did he want to sleep out there with the dog.

"Back so soon?" Damien smiled as Peter jumped back into bed with them. Cameron rolled around to face them again so that she could start petting the cat.

"He's getting old, huh?"

Damien shrugged, not liking to think about it. "I guess, Cam. Hey, tomorrow I go in at noon. What are you and Sam going to do all day?"

"Go with you," Sam said. "Please, Daddy?"

"No," he said, giving her a kiss. "Mommy wants you at home."

"No, I don't," Cameron said, petting Peter. "Go, Samantha. Have fun."

"Cameron, I don't want to take her," Damien whispered though Samantha heard him.

"You don't wanna take me?" Samantha started crying.

"Stop," Cameron said, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, just stop."

Damien frowned at his wife, pulling the little girl even closer. "Be nice, Cam. She's three."

"Four, Damien. She just turned four last month."

"I know that, Cameron, but she still has a three year old mentality, so just be nice."

Groaning, she got out of bed, taking Peter with her. "Whatever, Damien."

After she was gone, Samantha moved away from him and into her mother's spot. "Mommy's mad."

"She's always mad," he said, pulling the blankets up around them. "I love you, Samantha."

"Love you too," she giggled. "Best Daddy ever."

"Ever?"

She nodded. "Favorit-est person."

He smiled, leaning over to give her a kiss. "Let's go to sleep, okay?"

"No," she whined. "Talk."

"Fine, talk while drifting off, okay?"

She smiled, pulling one of her stuffed animals to her. "Okay."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Bears."

He sighed. "What about bears?"

"I like their tails," she said, cuddling against her stuffed animal. "What about you?"

"Uh…their teeth, I guess."

Samantha gasped. "Teeth? The better to eat you with, my fear."

"Dear," he corrected. "Not fear."

"Shhh," she shushed. "Stop it. No correct me. I'm like Mommy."

He frowned. "I can correct Mommy if she's wrong."

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

He sighed. "Fine, whatever, Sam. Just go to sleep."

"Max?"

I groaned. "What?"

"I'm hungry."

"Then go make cereal, Tyler."

"I want eggs!"

"Go whine to your dad."

"He won't listen."

"Then I don't know what to tell you," I said, refusing to open my eyes. He went out of the room.

"Max?"

"What, Lance?"

"Gonna get up?"

"You go ahead. I'll be there in a second."

Lance got out of bed so that it was now just me, alone. I laid there for a long time before finally getting up. When I got into the living room, I was mad.

"Fang, you didn't wake me up like I told you," I said. Only Fang wasn't there. Mom was.

"He said that he tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't get up, so he went in for you," she said as she continued to play blocks with Chris. "Maybe if you weren't so lazy-"

"Not now, alright?" I went to go sit down on the couch. James, who was next to me, sent me a smile before going back to Pokemon. Cody was on the floor with Jason, playing with Fox. Neo and Lance were playing with plastic cars.

"Where's Tabby?" I asked, noting her absence. She was normally around to boss the boys around and play parent.

"Fang dropped her at her boyfriend's house."

"Ew," Cody said, making a face. "Why does Adeem like Tabitha? She's nasty."

"Be nice," I said as Lance got and walked over to me. He climbed into my lap, giggling.

"Hi," he said, cuddling against me. "Waked up."

"Yep," I told him, giving the boy a kiss on the head. "Mom, did Fang say if he wanted me to show up and-"

"I would, but I'm thinking from a kind, caring personality."

I really had had enough of her for a lifetime. So, against my better judgment, I showered and left to go head into work.

Work was different now. Fang and I own the store now. I mean, if you want to get technical, Luther's father did, but we were running it now. The atmosphere is more…laid back now.

"What are you doing here?"

I rolled my eyes at Fang. "It was my day, not yours."

Chris, who was in my arms, started wiggling until I gave him to Fang. Lucas got onto the stool until I told him to get down and let me sit.

"Hey, Chris," Fang said, giving him a kiss. He smiled, cuddling against his father. Lucas frowned.

"You don't hold me no more."

"You're seven, Lucas, not a baby," Fang said, rolling his eyes.

"No!"

I sighed. "Come here, Luke."

He was heavy, but he did still fit in my lap. I wrapped my arms around him. Lucas smiled. "Okay, I'm good now."

Frowning, I let him go and he ran off. Fang rolled his eyes. "Your mom's with the other kids still?"

"Yeah," I said. "Fang, why didn't you just wake me up? She called me lazy again."

He sighed. "Max, come on. Why can't you and your mom just get along?"

"Because she hates me."

"She does not and you know it."

Chris started whining. Fang frowned. "What, Chris? What's wrong?"

"He's probably sleepy," I said. "Why don't you go home, Fang? You can take Chris back too. I thought that he would be okay, but apparently not."

He sighed, getting. "You sure that you'll be okay here, Max?"

"Of course," I said, nodding towards my son, who was running around the store, pretending to be a superhero. "I have Lucas to protect me."

Fang glanced over at him. "Oh, I'm reassured now."

Adeem was sitting on his bed, watching as Tabitha sat on the floor, working on the poster they needed to do for science class.

"You have to help with something," Tabitha complained.

"I did! My mom bought the poster board and markers. I'm done."

"That was your mom, not you. Where you even with her when she did it?"

"No."

"Alright then."

"What do you want? A prize?"

"Shut up, Adeem."

He frowned. "You're annoying and whiny. Just do the stupid project."

"Why don't you?"

"Because I'm busy."

"Doing what? Being a jerk?"

"Shut up and do it. Geez, you're such a bitch."

Tabitha ignored that. Adeem had formed a sudden obsession with curse words, his favorite two being bitch and damn. He even called his mother bitch behind her back, so Tabitha wasn't too offended.

"Hey, Adeem?"

He went back to staring at the ceiling. "What?"

"I hate you."

"Good, I hate you too."

She shook her head, continuing to write down the stuff on the posters. They were both quiet for a little bit. Then Adeem got up and sat down next to her.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked.

Tabitha ordered him around, not even commenting on his sudden willingness to do her bidding. He was remorseful for being a jerk to her. She knew that, no need to rub it in. It was just as true either way.

"I need you to cut out the pictures and glue them on the poster."

"All of them?"

"Just do it."

He sighed, but listened to her.

Daddy was home. Everyone loved when Daddy was home. Except for Tyler and Tabitha, but they didn't count. They were older. All the others loved it.

"Look, Daddy."

"No, Fang, play with me. Jason's stupid," Neo said.

James jumped off the couch and landed on Fang. "Let's go outside."

Fang groaned, putting James on the ground. "Who wants to outside?"

James raised his hand along with Neo. Fang shook his head.

"No, no one else wants to but Neo," Fang told James, looking at Jason. "What did you want me to look at?"

The three year old held up the picture he was drawing. It was really just scribbles, but Fang still gave Jason a kiss and told him that it was beautiful.

"That's a girl word," Neo told Fang.

Cody crawled up onto the couch. "Shhh, Neo. I'm sleeping."

"No."

"Yes," Cody said, laying down. James got up and went into the kitchen.

"What are you doing, James?" Fang called, starting to roll around on the ground with Lance. He giggled.

"Getting a drink," James said, walking back into the room with a cup. "Want some?"

"No thanks, bud," Fang said, letting Lance go. "Has anyone seen Tyler?"

"He's in his room," James said, getting onto the couch with Cody. "I'm hungry, Fang."

"I'll make you guys something, just chill for a bit, alright?"

All the boys nodded. If it was Max, they would have whined and cried, because that would have gotten them their way. With Fang, it just got them yelled at and forced to stay in their own rooms. That was no fun.

Fang laid on his back. Giggling, Chris crawled onto his chest.

"Hi," he said, giggling when Fang gave him a kiss.

"Hi, Chris," Fang said, running a hand down his head. "What are you doing?"

Chris, who wasn't very good at answering questions that didn't end in yes or no, just giggled. He rubbed his head against Fang's chest. Smiling, Fang gave him a kiss.

"I love you, Chris. You know that? Huh?"

"Yes," Chris said. Now that was his type of question.

"Where's Lucas?" Cody asked.

"Thoughts was you sleepin'?" Neo asked suspiciously.

"Am," Cody said before looking at Fang. "Where is he?"

"With Mommy," Fang said, still looking down at Chris. The youngest was starting to fall back asleep. "Tired?"

Though the question had been directed at Chris, Lance answered. "No."

Fang sighed. "What do you guys want to do then? I'm bored."

"Outside," James mumbled looking down into his cup. He had gotten cherry Kool-Aid. Max wouldn't let him take anything red or purple out of the kitchen, saying that she'd never get the stains out. His tummy hurt for disobeying her, but she wasn't there, so did it really matter?

"I already said no to that," Fang grumbled, his patience starting to wane.

James stared back down at his cup, forcing himself not to cry. He had heard Max and Fang talking once, and Fang called him wimpy, that Max babied him. James didn't want to look wimpy to Fang, but he was upset. Why did Fang snap at him so much?

"James is crying," Cody ratted out. "Okay, James? Need blanket?"

"No!" James sniffled loudly. "I'm not crying!"

Fang sighed. "James, I didn't mean to make you upset. We're just not going outside today, okay?"

"Okay," James mumbled, still looking into his cup. Fang was so much nicer to everyone else. It wasn't fair. James loved Fang just as much as the rest of them.

A few days passed with little difference from one another. Then, on a Wednesday, Tyler started acting strange again. It was his first day back to school after being suspended from that fight. When he came home, he wasn't angry. See, we had been letting Tyler and Tabitha ride the bus home, as they no longer went to the elementary school. Besides, I had Lucas, James, and Cody in the car still to pick up.

So anyways, Tyler was acting funny. He wasn't yelling at me like he was that one night, he was just…happy. I know it sounds weird that I'm freaked about his happiness, but it was just odd.

"What's up with your brother?" I asked Tabitha after he and the other boys were all gone and it was just us.

"I'll tell you for a cell phone."

"You're too young," I said, getting a coke out of the fridge.

"How about a laptop?"

"Nope," I said, sitting down across from her at the table. "Now tell me."

She sighed, staring down at the homework she was doing. "I don't know. I guess he's just happy about Jessica."

My interest was sparked. "Who's Jessica?"

"This girl. I hate her."

"Tabitha."

She sighed. "Jeff said that Kenny said that Tamara said that she likes him."

I frowned. "So what?"

"She likes him, Max!"

"Yeah, I heard you," I said, taking a sip of my coke. So what if some girl likes him? They're, like, ten. "Hey, Tabby, what do you think about burgers for dinner?"

"That's fine," she said. "Max? How do you multiply decimals?"

"Hell if I know," I said, getting up. "Wait till Fang gets home and ask him."

I went to go see what all the boys were doing. Chris, Jason, and Lance were napping, while James, Cody, and Lucas were doing homework. Truly, James and Cody didn't really have that hard of homework. They were in kindergarten, so they really only had to write down their abc's.

"I don't like homework," Cody told me. "It's too hard."

"Yeah," James agreed. "I don't wanna be in school no more, Max."

I went and gave them both a kiss on the head. The room situations here were getting tight for awhile, but now they were working out. Tabitha still had her own, and Tyler shared with Lucas still. Then we have the nursery downstairs with Chris and Lance. Cody and James still have this bedroom and now Neo and Jason share Gasman's old room.

After helping them a little, I went to check on Lucas and Tyler. Ty was reading a comic and Lucas was finishing his homework.

"Did you do your homework, Tyler?"

"Yes."

"Tyler."

"I'll do it later."

"No, now."

Normally, he would whine when I made him do his homework. He didn't this time. Huh. I think I like this Jessica kid after all. Next I went into Neo and Jason's room.

"Hi, Max," Neo called out. He was jumping on his bed.

"I told you not to do that," I said, going over to him. Jason was sitting on the floor, playing with toy trucks.

"Vroom," he said, pushing a race car across the floor. Then he grabbed the fire truck and drove it over my freaking foot.

"Jason!"

"Sorry," he said, still playing. "Gots to get to fire, Mommy. Fireman. Vroom. Fire truck."

Neo got off the bed, but just started bouncing on the floor. "Guess what, Max!"

"What?"

"Daddy come home!" He kept bouncing.

Gasman no longer lived with us, obviously. His plans to go to college were crushed, however, when he didn't get accepted. For a month, he sat around the house moping. Then he left for New York, planning to take Neo with him. Fang talked him out of it and we kept the baby. No matter what Fang says, he's more attached to the kids than I am. Tammie at one time was trying to get James back, but I fought her about it. I was about to give up, though, when she decided to leave again. If I was sure he would have been alright, I would have been fine with her taking him. Like I knew Neo would be fine with Gasman. Fang, didn't though. He thought that only he could care for the boys.

"Yep," I said, picking him up. Gasman had spent Christmas and New Years in New York with his girlfriend. He met her a few months ago and this would be the first time that any of us met her. He'd be here in a few days.

"Vroom," Jason giggled, now playing with an ambulance.

Neo laid his head on my shoulder. "Miss Daddy."

"I know," I said, bouncing him a little. "You're getting heavy, Neo. How old are you gonna be in July? Huh?"

"Four," he said, giggling.

Jason made a loud noise. "Mommy, need S'arky."

"Huh?"

"S'arky. Fire truck dog. Gonna be good dog. Need 'im."

I sighed. "I don't have a dog for you to play with, Jason. Why can't you use one of your stuffed animals?"

"No gots s'ots. Fire dog need s'ots."

"Dal'nation," Neo said. "Need Dal'nation."

"Dalmatian," I corrected. "Jason, I think that Lucas has a stuffed Dalmatian. Go ask him for one."

Jason ran off to do so. Giggling, Neo said, "Daddy miss me?"

"Of course he does," I said, walking out of the room. Because he had to. I mean, there's no way in hell I'd leave any of my kids behind and move, but that doesn't mean that Gasman doesn't missed him, right?

"Good," Neo said, smiling at me. "Good."

Sometimes, when Fang's alone at the store, he gets really sad. At home, with all the kids, pets, and Max, it's hard to feel lonely. But here, where dead memories trudge alone every square inches, sometimes it's easy to get a little cold.

Though it might not have seemed like it, Fang really did care about Bone and Luther. They were his best friends. He saw them at the worst and his kids brought them to their best. Then, just a quickly, they were brought right back down again. And why? Because God got bored up there in Heaven and missed watching the two of them live in a personal Hell? Was that it? Is that why Victoria had to die? Was that why Tammie had to break Luther and he her?

When it's really quiet, as it is for the most part, Fang can imagine that maybe, just maybe, it's a few years ago, before Tommy had died, before Lucas was born, even before Tyler got sick. Those few months with Max right before that were the best of his life. That's not to say that he didn't love the kids that he had since then, but there was just something about that time that was different. It was magical almost. And yeah, maybe his memory is fuzzy and maybe he's just looking back with nostalgia clouding his mind, but there was just something there.

Absently, Fang started tapping his fingers against the counter in time to one of Bone's favorite songs. In his head, those songs didn't seem so bad anymore. For a minute, Fang almost thought about going into the back and finding one of Bone's old CD's and putting it in, just for old time's sakes. He didn't though. He wouldn't. If he did that, the memory would be scarred and he wouldn't be able to get it back. Sometimes, it's better to think back on memories than try to recreate them. That just ruins them.

I know I said that I wouldn't, but I couldn't help myself. This story wouldn't leave my mind. I've written about five first chapters and tossed them out. Yes, this is how I've spent the last two weeks. Yeah, I have no life.