A/N: Yeah yeah yeah, it's been done a billion times before, yada yada yada. I know. And guess what? HERES ANOTHER ONE. Deal with it.

Like I promised in the summary, there's some nice Faxy fluff when you get near the end. I'm sick of all the ones where Max is just like "its okay" and kisses Fang. So be patient, golly.

HUGEABUNGO thanks goes out to my betas, desperatelyobvious and mariya. Seriously, guys. I could not have done this without your awesome editing. If you guys hadn't stuck with me, this would be more an (unintentional) comedy than a romance. So thanks, again.

Disclaimer: hm, hang on… okay, I just looked in the mirror, and nope, I'm not James Patterson.

This was it. I was going to see Fang. Truth be told, I was calm. Perfectly fine.

The wind sifted through my hair in a relaxing way, and I reveled in the joy of flying.

It wasn't like I was nervous – I mean sure, I was going to see the love of my life who left me 20 years ago, but even so, I felt oddly serene… ahead, I saw it – the cliff. The Hawk Cave. It was empty, but I wasn't surprised.

Fang always did have a thing for making grand entrances.

Landing lightly on the edge of the dusty cliff, I took in my surroundings.

That was where Iggy accidentally set off the bomb and nearly blew his wings off, and that was where Angel attempted to make a bed out of leaves and they turned out to be poison oak.

Wow… I thought. That scratch Nudge made trying to carve her name on the cave wall is still here! I smiled at the memory.

I glanced around, looking for something. There was no way it could still be there, and even just entertaining the thought was silly, but I couldn't help but wonder... I began moving some of the larger rocks aside until finally, I had checked under every rock in the cave.

Ah, how silly of me… of course it isn't here… I thought.

I stood up and brushed off my knees, about to walk back to the entrance when a sparkle caught my eye.

Could it be…?

I bent over, and reached into a small crevice I hadn't noticed before. My fingers touched something smooth and slippery. Gingerly, I pulled it out.

Bingo.

It was a wrapper. Not just a wrapper; the candy bar wrapper that Nudge told me about. It didn't even look a day old. I picked it up and turned it over in hands, marveling.

Plastic did take long to decompose, didn't it? If evil scientists don't destroy the world first, we'll probably just cover the whole dang earth in junk, I thought.

Despite my gloomy prediction, I couldn't stop the smile twitching at my lips as a burst of unexpected nostalgia hit me. It was so long ago that we had all gone off to free Angel, and I had rescued Ella, and we had flown with the hawks…

That was when we were still together, still a family, back when Fang was still with us…

Fang still hasn't arrived.

Of course he hasn't, there's no way you'll miraculously arrive at the same time! This isn't a movie!

Taking a deep breath, I regained my composure.

Right. This wasn't a movie. Fang might not even arrive at all.

Now, what should I do until Fang gets here? That is, if he decides to come.

I turned around, unfurled my wings, and leapt off the cliff. There was no sign of the hawks. Odd…

I flew for a long time. Hours, even. I just circled around the same spot, diving and doing flips until I got bored. When I landed in the cave again, I could help but think how anti- this was. I mean, if this were a manga, I would have arrived here, looked around, and Fang would come up behind me and put his arms around me and say in that strong voice of his, "I've missed you so much…" and I would turn around and we would kiss and I would tell him I loved him, and he would tell me that he loved me, and we would fly off into the sunset together.

Then again, if my life were a shoujo manga, Fang would have never left in the first place. What kind of idiot ditches the girl he loves – and who loves him back – for 20 years?

Oh yeah. Fang would.

Sighing, I plopped down on the cave floor. It was unusually comfortable, for a huge hunk of rock I mean. I was tired, and judging by the sun it was around five. Still seven hours to wait till the day would end. Might as well take a nap…

When I woke up it was dark out, clearly past midnight, and by the looks of it, Fang-free.

I felt a strong pang of disappointment in my stomach; I really wanted to see Fang, despite my calm demeanor. And now he wasn't here.

I would probably never see him again for the rest of my life.

I slumped against the cave wall, my breath coming out in a huge whoosh.

Fang wasn't coming.

He's never been late if he could help it; why would he start now?

Maybe because it's been twenty years? I screamed in my head.

I sighed. I can't believe I got my hopes up, just to be disappointed and miserable. Again. How stupid of me – haven't I learned anything in the past few years?

What I really wanted to do was lie back down and sleep – my back hurt but I really didn't care – but I knew I couldn't. I had to go back home, back to the rest of my Flock.

I stood up and hurried to the edge of the cave, breathing in the earthy smell one last time before hurdling into the air.

As I flew away from Lake Mead, I realized that I wasn't that sad. I wasn't relieved, nor happy, or even angry. Just sort of… numb.

I'd almost reached the edge of the cliffs when I turned around for one last look, and saw something in the distance, a dark shape, with large, powerful wings coming toward me.

No. It couldn't be…

I dropped before it saw me. Oh man…

Was it Fang? It had to be.

I whirled around and soared back to the cave at top speed. I was there in seconds.

My breath was coming out in quick, short pants.

I stood on the edge, waiting for the shape to grow large enough to make out. It was almost in sight…

Oh no.

Oh. No.

It wasn't Fang.

It was a hawk.

Just a freakin' hawk.

My arms hung limply at my sides as I stared in shock at the large bird – surely offspring of one of the first hawks we had seen – and didn't move.

I came here, hoping to see him. He wasn't here.

I waited for hours, hoping he would come. He never did.

I had turned around, hoping it was him I was seeing. It wasn't.

That was it; it was final.

He wasn't coming.

I had come to the conclusion twice already, but this time, it hit me like a blow to my stomach.

He wasn't coming.

I sank to the floor, not caring about the Flock anymore. After all, they could handle themselves.

I could only think about how he didn't come.

I dreamed that night that Fang returned, but when I looked at him, he was all grown up, and had a beard, and his hair was to his shoulders, and hanging onto his arm was a girl, a red head, and he smirked at me and said "I've grown up, Max. Why don't you?" and he turned around and flew away, and the girl followed him – she had wings too – and I could hear their laughter all the way until they were out of sight.

When I woke up, I was sweating. Not only because of the dream, but because it was so hot in the cave. Freakishly hot. Like, it shouldn't be that hot when you're in a cave a couple thousand feet off the ground.

I tried to get up, but something was holding me down. Craning my neck, I saw a dark shape lying behind me. And it – he – was pressed up against my back.

I screamed. And without having the time to think about what I was doing I punched him in the face with all I possessed.

Fang shot awake, wincing at the blow and looking around frantically, when he realized it was me screaming. "Max?" he cried.

I leapt up and backed away.

Bye-bye, composure.

Fang had a confused look on his face – oh, his face. I hadn't seen it in so long; it hadn't changed at all and despite the reddening mark he was still as gorgeous as ever…

He moved toward me, but I shook my head and back up a few more paces.

"Don't come near me." My voice was rough from sleep, but I didn't care.

Why was he here now? Why didn't he come yesterday? Didn't he have any idea what I went through? Why did he even leave me in the first place?

I was trembling now, despite my vain efforts to appear calm.

"Max, are you okay?" Fang was really worried now, he was worried? How dare he be worried now when he hadn't even been there for me when I needed him?

He darted forward and grabbed my arm. "Max, tell me what's wrong! Tell me right now!" he was acting like…like…like Fang. The Fang he'd been all those years ago. He knew something was wrong – it wasn't hard to tell, I was shaking now – and he, typically, wanted to know what.

How dare he? How dare he come back and act like he had before he left? How dare he act like he still loved me, like he'd never been gone? And how dare he make me feel this way?

I slapped his hand away and sprinted to the edge, where I flung myself away and into the air.

"Max!" Fang yelled. He came after me – I could hear his wings – yelling. I flew until I didn't have any energy left, I was so exhausted already, and blinded by the tears. When had I even started crying?

I landed clumsily by the border of the lake, and fell.

Fang landed behind me, clearly relived, but at the same time worried.

"Max, please, tell me what's wrong! Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry…"

I was sitting on the ground, tears running down my face, and I managed a strangled laugh. Did he hurt me? Could he be any more idiotic?

Fang was next to me, crouching, afraid to touch for fear he might set me off again. "Max, I'm so sorry I left the Flock. I'm so sorry I left you. I missed you so bad… every day I was gone I thought of you; every night I dreamed about seeing you again. Do you have any idea how much I looked forward to this day?" he was staring pleadingly at me, and for a second, I was lost in his dark eyes, and I almost caved. But I didn't.

"Fang," I began, and he closed his eyes in relief at hearing me talk, "I don't care. I don't care! You left me Fang, you didn't say goodbye- don't talk! I'm talking here! You didn't say goodbye, that letter didn't count. You can't hug in a letter, Fang. You can't tell someone you love them by putting a pencil to paper. That's a cheaters way. That's a wimp's way. You left. It was heck, Fang. The year you left, I thought… I thought it was hopeless. The Flock, I was horrible to them! I screamed at them every second and then would refuse to talk to them for a week. I wouldn't eat a thing.

"I got sick, Fang, so sick. And finally, when I began to get better, I would remember your letter, and it said twenty years. That killed me – having to wait twenty whole years before I could see you again?

"But I waited. I bided my time, because if I was patient I would get to see you again. But some nights I would think that you weren't ever going to come back. Those were horrible, Fang. I had nightmares, and would cry in my sleep. Me, Fang, Maximum Ride, I bawled like a baby! And then finally. It was the day.

"I thought I would see you, Fang, I really did. I tried to convince myself not to get my hopes up, but finally, it was nighttime, and you still weren't there. I was crushed. I thought you weren't coming. I really thought you were gone forever. I though even maybe you were dead. Dead!" my voice was hoarse, and I paused to take a breath. I looked up at Fang's face to see, to my astonishment, him crying.

"Wha-?"

He didn't say a word, only reached over and hugged me. I tensed, but slowly put my arms around him.

I nearly started to cry too.

He smelled like Fang. So much like Fang.

I missed him so badly…

I buried my face in his shoulder, and then I too was crying.

"You idiot!" I said in a muffled voice in between sobs, "don't ever- ever-"

His face was smothered in my hair, but I could still hear him. "I'm so sorry Max. I won't, ever, ever leave you again."

We stayed like that for a few minutes, smooshed up against each other, till I was afraid I would faint for lack of air.

I pulled away, and wiped the tears from my face.

Standing up, I looked around. "Well," I said, my voice horribly wobbly, "should we… go back? I'm sure the Flock wants to see you…" honestly, I wanted him all to myself for a few hours – heck, a few days would be nice – but I had to think of the others.

Fang stood up also and took my hand. "They can wait." And he pulled me against him and kissed me.

I hadn't kissed a guy for twenty years, so I forgot just how good it could feel. Fang molded his lips to mine and I pulled him closer, hungry for every bit of him I could get. My thoughts were muddled as I wound my hands in his long dark hair. Something like this: Oh my word, it's Fang, he's here and oh my word, we're kissing, we're finally back together its Fang Fang Fang…

"Fang," I said when we parted a few minutes later, "Fang, I want you to promise me, this time when I'm not bawling, promise me you'll never leave."

He took both of my hands in his, his usual smirk replaced by a much more serious expression, and said "Maximum Ride, I love you more than anything. I promise to stay by your side forever, if you want. Will you be with me?"

I smiled the biggest smile I could, and kissed him with all my might. "Yes," I whispered against his lips, "I will."

Fang brushed my hair out of my eyes, gave me a long, scorching kiss, and pulled me into the air. "Well, we better go see the rest of the Flock now. We'll have plenty of alone time later."

And we flew off to meet the rest of our family, hand in hand, in the perfect picturesque sunrise.

A/N: reviewers get virtual cookie dough. (dough because I'm too lazy to cook it.) anyway, cookie dough is better than cookies. So, people, REVIEW please! :)