Set in the future, Max is nineteen, everyone is five years older. Read and review, I'm not gonna update right away because I actually have a life and have homework and things to go to. At the very most, I might update once a week on Saturdays or Sundays. So just know that. Sometimes it might be two weeks.

Some of you may have read my story, "Still", but I've stopped writing that. I got bored. Anyway, this could be something new. Enjoy!

It's funny how much you realize how much you loved someone when you begin to accept you'll never see them again. Love is the only thing that the whole world seems to understand, and you realize how much it really holds things together when it's all that you have now.

For instance, when I left the flock because I was pregnant with Fang's son, it just snapped things right into perspective on how much love had really mattered. I mean, it's been five years since all of that happened, but the love that I had for everyone is still there.

But I have a responsibly now. His name is Silence, and he's my world. He looks just like me, just with olive skin, obsidian eyes, black hair…and black wings. He's four years old, almost five. His smile lights my world up, and his laughter is like music. His cry tears me apart.

"Mommy?"

I looked up from my coffee at the kitchen table at Sy. He was in his blue Thomas the Train footsies and his short black hair was sticking up in all directions. "Hey, babe, what's up?"

His black eyes watched me steadily, reminding me of Fang. "Do you have work?" he asked quietly, crawling onto my lap.

My arms encircled him and I kissed his cheek, cuddling him to my chest. "No, sweetie, not today," I told him.

Actually, I got laid-off, but I didn't want to freak him out. I could barely pay the rent anyway, and the landowner was getting pretty pissed at me. "Can we play at the park today?" Sy asked.

I yawned, putting my chin on his head. "No, babe, I have stuff I need to do. Maybe we could invite one of your friends over, huh?"

He frowned. "Friends?"

Oh, maybe not.

"Here, how 'bout you go turn on the television for me so we can see what's going on in the world today," I suggested. "Then you could jump on the little tramp and count to thirty."

"I did that yesterday," he said.

I picked him up, balancing him on my hip. "I'll bet you can't count to fifty," I dared him.

"I can," he said.

"I bet you can't," I repeated, smiling at him.

He squirmed and I set him down, and he took off, black feathered wings out making airplane noises over to the little exercise tramp I bought him at WalMart. "One! Two! Three! Four!" he started counting with each bounce.

"I'll bet you can't flap and stay airborne for a full ten seconds," I said.

"Airborne?" he shouted.

"Stay in the air."

"I can't do that," he said. "I can jump on the tramp."

I smiled at him and watched the television screen, where I immediately saw something that caught my attention. "…the mysterious 'bird kids' that were seen a few years ago across America have been seen openly in public for the first time. Here's a picture that one of our viewers caught of one of them."

My breath caught in my throat. A picture of a boy with hawk-like, angular features, dark eyes, dark hair, and black wings appeared on the screen.

"Woah, Mom? Who is that?" Silence hopped off the tramp and walked over to me. "Mom? He has wings, too, like us."

"Shh," I quieted him.

"…have been seen around the Denver area, asking anyone who will listen about someone named 'Maximum'. If you have any information, please call the number on your screen."

"Mom?" Silence asked again, clearly frightened now.

I quickly crossed the kitchen and picked up the phone, punching in the numbers, and held it to my ear.

"Mom? What's going on?" Silence begged.

I put a hand on his head. "Shh…" I told him.

"Hello, this is 7 News, how may I help you?" a woman's bored voice crackled on the other end.

I took a deep breath and looked at Fang and my son, tears coming to my eyes. "I know where Maximum is," I choked.

FPOV

My phone buzzed. I checked the number, and it was from the 7 News station that was helping us locate Max.

I don't understand why she left in such a hurry those five years ago. We've been doing everything we could to find her, but things got harder and harder to do on our own as time went on. Iggy's lost all hope, and so has Nudge. I decided to finally resort to outside sources.

I flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

"Mr. Ride, we've got someone with information about Maximum," the lady from the news station said.

"Put 'em on," I said absent mindedly, sitting down at a coffee shop and looking at the menu.

A waitress came to check up on me and I ordered a bagel and crème cheese.

The line transferred. "You have info?" I asked.

"Um, yeah," a girl's voice said.

I pulled out my notepad and a pen and flipped past the numerous hoax phonecalls. "Your name?"

There was some muffling on the other line. A child's voice begged, "Mo-om. What's—"

But he was cut off by the mother scolding him. "Nicholas Silence Ride," she growled.

I stopped what I was doing.

"Wait, did you say Nicholas Ride?" I asked.

She wasn't paying attention. "Sy, can't you just be quiet for one second while I'm talking to someone important?"

"Max?" I asked a little louder.

"What?" she answered. "Sorry, he's just a little high-strung this morning."

"Max?" I repeated, a little awed.

"Hi, Fang," she said. "Yeah, it's me."

I sat back in my chair. "Oh my God, it's really you."

"The one and only."

"Oh, wow. How are you? How are things?" I asked in a rush. I was trying not to anger her, in case that was the reason she'd left in the first place.

"Chaotic," she said, and then to the kid, "Here, I have Cheerios for you, see? Honey Nut."

"I hate cereal. I want bacon," the kid said.

Then it hit me.

"So…is that your son?" I asked.

I heard her smile. "Yeah, that's him. He's almost five years old. He's really cute."

Five years…

"What did you say his name was?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

She paused for a long minute. "His name is Nicholas, Fang. Nicholas Silence Ride. I named him after his father."

I set the phone down on the table and looked at it. Max had left the flock because she was pregnant five years ago. That was my son. Unexpected tears came to my eyes. "Fang?" an antsy voice asked from the receiver.

I picked the phone off the table and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "Hey," I asked. "Do you want to get together and have coffee?"

Review por favor? More will come at the very fastest if we're lucky next Saturday. Just know that. It might be week, it might be a month. Just be flexable. Review, review, review!