Coupledom Troubles, a Maximum Ride Fanfiction

A/N: Somewhere in the world, a short, geeky girl scratches her head as she looks at her laptop screen. Blinking, she wonders out loud, "Well, if so many people want a sequel, how can I refuse?" Removing her kitty from on top of her keyboard and munching on the cookie kindly provided by ShadowAmunet, she begins to type.

For those new on the boat, I am Yukiko and this is a sequel to my other fanfic (only fanfic, actually), Field Trip. It takes place after MR4. It's not entirely necessary to read that one to get this one, but I would highly recommend it. Review while you're at it, 'kay? :D

Disclaimer: Nooou, I am not James Patterson and I do not own Maximum Ride.

Chapter One —

It was so strange to be back home after the long vacation. I felt oddly out of place wearing heavy clothes and walking into my own familiar house.

Mom and Total were both ecstatic to see us, of course, and they practically drowned us with questions upon our arrival home. Total was especially teary-eyed to get us back, and immediately pounced on Angel and gave her a through washing. He tried to do the same to me in turn, but I quickly convinced him to leave me alone.

Dearest daddy Jeb was also there to greet us upon our arrival home, much to my annoyance. He gave us warm welcomes as we toddled in the door, like veterans back from the war zone. Obviously, we all ignored him.

I was the first one to scent the lovely warm smell of cookies baking in the oven as I trooped into the kitchen. Whirling on Mom with a maniacal gleam in my eye, I said slowly, "Mom… do I smell cookies?"

"Yes, Max, those are for you and the flock. I thought you might want some homemade cookies after your trip, so I popped them in the oven before heading out to the airport." She gave me a warm smile and walked up behind me. "I bet you're tired," she murmured, rubbing my back gently. Pulling Ella up next to me as she walked into the kitchen, Mom ruffled her hair. "If you girls are tired, you can take a nap right now. I know the time difference is probably horrible for your internal clocks."

This was one of the reasons I loved Dr. Martinez. She was always so caring and… well, motherly. Unlike — oh, I don't know — some wacko scientists I don't care to name.

Regardless, the temptation of cookies overruled the lure of a warm bed, at least for the moment being. I shook my head. "No, I think I'll wait a while. Those cookies won't taste as good cold."

Mom smiled. "Well, you're free to go to bed whenever you like. It's a Friday, after all." Giving Ella's hair one last ruffle, she walked out of the kitchen.

The rest of the flock quickly assembled into the kitchen as well, lured by the overwhelmingly lovely smell of baking cookies. I grinned as Gazzy led the group with his nose in the air, sniffing loudly to fully appreciate the scent of the cookies. He was still hugging his suitcase.

"Gazzy, why don't you go put your suitcase in your room?" I asked him. "The cookies aren't going to disappear. In fact, they won't be ready for a while. You might as well just go put your stuff down." Nodding happily, he skipped away to drop his bags off in the room he and Iggy shared. Iggy followed, and then Nudge and Angel.

Ella looked over at me and asked, "I put my bags by the staircase, next to yours. Do you want me to go grab it and put it in our room?"

I smiled at her. "That would be great, thanks!"

She left me alone in the kitchen to savor the smells. I grinned stupidly at the oven. It had been so long since I had homemade cookies. I took a step back to lean against the kitchen counter, and hit resistance as I leaned back.

And then Fang appeared behind me, leaning nonchalantly against the sink.

I gasped, then quickly tensed, annoyed that he had scared me. "Geez, Fang—"

"And how are we doing, Max?" He leaned his face down next to my ear and put a long, gangly arm around my waist.

Oh, right. Another thing out of place in my already spinning-out-of-control life. Fang.

During two week tenure in Taiwan, due to some rather unusual circumstances, Fang had confessed his long standing feelings for me. During the plane ride back, due to some likely brain damage on my part, I had confessed my own feelings towards him.

The result? We had officially entered the world of "couple-dom".

I had to hand it to the flock; they had done everything they could to get the two of us together. After my confession, Nudge and Ella had come to check on the two of us, and they admitted that they had orchestrated a great deal of it after our "fight". "We didn't want you two to break apart again, like that one time," Nudge explained, for once not ranting on and on. "We kind of made sure you two sat together."

Anyways, back to the present. Kitchen. Me and Fang. Awkwardness.

"W-what are y-you talking about, Fang?" Oh, great, now I had developed a lovely stutter. "I'm fine."

He gave me a small smirk, as if pleased by my discomfort. "Anything wrong, Max? Your heart seems to be reacting to something."

I gave him a light backhand slap on the cheek. "Freak."

He grinned, probably pleased that I was my normal self again. "Glad to be home?" His voice ticked my ear.

"Mmm, yes. Taiwan was fun and all, but it's nice to be able to relax in bed. I like knowing my surroundings." Relaxing a bit in his arms, I allowed myself to lean back into his chest. Maybe this couple thing wasn't so bad after all…

Suddenly, the oven alarm went off with a metallic "bzzzt", and I practically jumped out of my skin. In a flash, I had pulled away from Fang, before I even realized that it was the oven that I had heard. By the time my heart had sufficiently slowed down for me to stop jumping around like a nervous alley cat, there was already thumping coming down the stairs as the sound of five pairs of feet raced to the kitchen.

Fang was looking at me with a faintly amused expression on his face, and he quickly crossed his arms that had been thrown apart by my hurried exodus. "Max—"

"Are the cookies done!?" Gazzy burst into the room, his ribbons flapping. He had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt with a lace-up collar, and he had obviously been interrupted by the alarm as he had been tying up his shirt.

Nudge and Iggy were close behind him. Iggy was rubbing his hands together with anticipation, and Nudge was entirely focused on the oven door. Then she seemed to notice that I had been alone in the kitchen with Fang, and she stared between him and me, smiling slightly at the apparent space between the two of us. I looked away, not wanting to meet her questioning gaze. Angel and Ella popped in the doorway soon after, and then the kitchen was crowed as our whole happy little family squished inside.

"Let me through," Mom cried, as she looked into the kitchen door with some dismay. "I need to get my oven mittens on."

We quickly cleared a path for her to the oven, and she walked through, snatching up her oven mitts along the way. Opening the oven door, she slowly lifted out a steaming tray of chocolate chip cookies. As she was turning to make her way over to the dining room table, I quickly snatched one of the cookies off the tray.

"Oh, geez!" I pouted, as I transferred the cookie from one hand to another. "It's hot!" Holding it in front of me by my fingernails, I looked at the cookie longingly.

By then, the rest of the flock was slowly following Mom out of the kitchen, as if she were the Pied Piper leading her little line of mutant-bird kids. I slowly followed Iggy as he shuffled out of the door.

I couldn't wait anymore. That cookie was just begging to be eaten. Quickly, so as not to be burned, I lifted the cookie above my head and lowered it into my mouth. Bliss.

There came a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around in surprise. Directly behind me was Fang, his head lowered to my height. He grinned, and before I had the time to defend my claim, he had taken a bite out of my cookie.

I glared at him, ignoring the sense of déjà vu that I was remembering in the back of my mind. The last time he had stolen a bite of my cookie…

"You meanie," I muttered, only it came out as, "Yuph eenie." Cupping my hands protectively around the rest of my cookie, I turned and followed the crowd out of the kitchen.

The flock had already gathered around the cookie tray and were all proceeding to stuff their greedy little faces, as Mom watched on proudly. I darted over and grabbed two more cookies, before stuffing the rest of my first into my mouth. These were divine.

"Mom, you are amazing." I said around a mouthful of warm, oozing, chocolate chip. "This is wonderful."

"Yeah, Mom, how about another batch?" Gazzy asked, shameless. He smiled up at her cheekily. I glared at him.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Max." Mom smiled at me, rolling her eyes. "I was going to make another batch anyways." She took the second-to-last cookie and headed back into the kitchen to bake another batch.

I shook my head at Gazzy, but couldn't stay mad at him. It was too joyous a time to be mad at anyone. "If only this moment could be freeze framed," I mumbled with a sigh, "without any annoyances or threats on my life…"

Fang looked over at me with the corner of his eye, understanding showing in his glance. Lightly, he rested his arm around my waist. I leaned into him a little, basking in his warmth. Somehow, Fang always seemed to know what to do to make me feel better. I smiled up at him and tried to reach him on my tippy-toes, before I realized that a lull had fallen in the boisterous conversations around me. Glancing up and around the table, I noticed the flock looking our way, but pretending not to.

Quickly, I started to pull away from Fang again.

"Max," he sighed, his voice quiet, "you can't stay away forever." And with that, he pulled me right back into his embrace once more.