Okay Now

Fang was nervous for some reason as he entered the apartment building, Max on one side, Dr. Martinez leading the way. The ting was though, he didn't know exactly why he was so nervous. Everything was finally right. Really, truly, it was. He had all of the Flock back and safe, he had Carter saved and safe, and now he was finally going to be able to restart his relationship with Max, truly, after having proven himself in the biggest way ever. It should have been victorious energy that fueled him.

It was not.

"What's up with you?" Max asked as Fang bounced slightly. "Huh? Are you not happy to be out of-"

"I'm happy," he assured her as Dr. Martinez glanced back at them. "I'm just…"

"If you're not up for it right now, Fang, seeing the kids, that's fine," Dr. Martinez assured him. "You could come back to my-"

"No," he told her, quickly reminding the woman of her place. She had lost that humble, scared Fang that she had known only a short time before. That Fang had died and, if they were all lucky, would never come back. This was the real Fang, alive once more. And he was not going anywhere. "I'm fine. I just really wish that we could get this over with."

Max interlaced her fingers with his then, smiling slightly while Valencia only shook her head. It was wrong of her, perhaps, to ever get attached to the overly needy Fang, but it was too late for regrets. Now she was only left with missing him and nothing more.

Her daughter, however, smiled brightly when Fang looked back at her, recognition obvious in his eyes. For so long, there had been nothing. And then when there was something, it was the kind of recognition a child had when it saw its mother, its protector. Now though, it was back, at least somewhat, to what it once was. He was hers once again, in the most important way.

"It feels weird, doesn't it?" Max whispered to him softly as her mother once again fell silent and distant. "Coming back here?"

"Like coming home."

That made her happy when he said that and for that Fang was glad. He knew that the past few moths he had put Max through hell. Sure, he had been unconscious and then mentally retarded for most of them, but even before that, he was kind of a handful. Especially considering her daughter was in a comatose state. And then even before that he-

"The door's locked, honey," Dr. Martinez said then, looking to Max to unlock it. She must have suddenly forgotten that she had a key or something. Whatever. Fang wasn't really concerned. He only cared about what was behind that door. And what going through it would mean.

"Owl's home!"

It was Carter, of course, that greeted him first. And rightly so. It was for her that Fang had gone through all he had. He did so much for her, had done so much for her, and planned to continue to do so much for her. They hadn't known each other long when he sacrificed everything for her, but it was long enough. He loved her. He really, really did. She was the last person he thought about before he took that deep plunge not death and the first one he saw when he finally, really, woke up. He'd proven his devotion to her and was ready then to continue to show his love.

"Owl," Carter yelled again, rushing over to him, grasping his hand in her own before tugging him further into the apartment. "Look! I drew you pictures and I made you a ball with Play-Doh and I-"

"Carter," Max sighed as she came into the apartment as well, her mother bringing up the rear. "You and Owl will have all day to play. Calm down."

"She's fine," Fang told Max as Carter let go of his hand, only to begin thrusting her gifts into both of them. "Really."

It was Angel, sitting on the couch, that Fang kept looking at. Err, rather he kept staring at what was in her lap. He knew immediately who it was. He also knew though that he was the reason of his nervousness.

Carter, noticing his attention had been taken, frowned when she saw who it was by. "That's Davy. He's stupid. Pay attention, Owl, to the drawings!"

He raised his eye brows slightly before quickly looking back down on them. Cured once more or not, Fang was still a sucker for Carter. And her snapping at him was usually a sign that he needed to stop whatever he was doing.

"Carter, don't call your brother stupid," Max hissed while Dr. Martinez sighed.

"They're very nice drawings," Fang complimented the little girl, who promptly stuck her tongue out at her mother. When Fang saw that, he frowned. "Don't do that, Carter. You know better."

That got her to, of course, stick her tongue out at him before snatching her drawings back and running off. Well, crap. Now Fang had to actually pay attention to-

"Fang, ignore Carter," Max said then. "She's just acting out. You spent all of yesterday with her, anyways. Come meet Nicky."

Nicky. Right. Carter had told Fang that the baby's true name was David. Davy. Fang wasn't really fond of either name, honestly, and figured he'd just end up choosing a nickname for the boy. Like Holden or Owlet.

…Or not. Carter was kind of special, honestly. And, honestly, Fang wasn't really sure if he was ready to have a son yet. Taking care of Carter had kind of (more like completely) been a handful. Not that he wouldn't care about his son, that was a dumb thought to have, but he just knew that he cared about Carter with all his heart. And then the rest of it went to Max. It was almost unimaginable to think that he could care about something else near as much.

"Here," Angel said simply, standing then to deposit the baby in Fang's awaiting arms. He was of course, overly cautious then, holding his baby in his arms, not readily used to holding a child again. Evan was a toddler by that point and Carter was a child. He didn't have much baby experience anymore.

"Oh," was the first thing out of Fang's mouth as he studied Davy/Nicky. The child just stared up at Fang with unblinking eyes. Then, giggling, the child reached out to poke him in the eye. "Ow!"

"Here," Max sad, quickly moving to take her child for fear that Fang would drop him. "Come here, Nicky. Mommy's sorry. Mommy's sorry."

"Sorry," Fang grumbled as she took their child from his arms. "What are you sorry for? For me?"

"Well," was all Max got a chance to say as it was then that Carter appeared back at Fang's side.

"Here," she said, thrusting something else at him. "I got it for you. Happy coming home day!"

Fang frowned, looking down then at the thing Carter had given him. It was a book, an orange paperback, with the title and author's name in white.

"Carter…"

"Holden," she said simply, reaching up to pat the cover of the book. "That's where Mommy says the name comes from. Huh?"

He dropped to his knees then, rather unceremoniously, quickly pulling Carter into his arms. She giggle at then, hugging him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Owl," she complained slightly as he stood, still easily lifting her into his arms. "Put me down. I'm not a baby."

"You're not a baby," he repeated back, kissing her cheek then as he held her. "You've never been one, huh?"

"Everyone's a baby, dummy."

"Carter," Max reprimanded once more, but Fang just kissed her cheek again.

"Stop, Owl. Down. Put me down. And stop kissing. Ew."

He kissed her again for that, a long one to the top of her head before dropping her to the ground, the little girl obviously displeased and confused by this, but excited nonetheless. She just giggled slightly, a nervous one, clearly not fully used to Fang being back into her life. He knew that it would be an adjustment period for the both of them, in many ways. It would be stupid to think that things could just go back to the way they used to be. Because they couldn't. They would have to be something all together new, something completely different than before.

"Thank you, Carter," Fang said finally, smiling at her. "For this. It was really nice."

"You just don't gotta be weird," was what she told him, still rubbing at the spit on her cheek.

It was Dr. Martinez who started laughing then, causing everyone in the room to look at her. Even Davy, though that was probably more to the fact that he had never heard such a sound come the straight-laced, frigid woman's mouth. Like, ever.

"What, Mom?" Max asked, frowning slightly as she shifted her son in her arms. Even Angel looked concerned, which was shocking, as she never really seemed to be concerned with anything, but herself. "What's wrong?"

"It's just," the older woman started before shaking her head. "She wanted him to come home for so long. So, so long. And now she's annoyed with him. Already."

"I love Owl," Carter said, frowning at her grandmother. Then, as if to prove it, Carter turned her head slightly, as if holding out her cheek to the man. "Here."

"Maybe I don't wanna kiss you anymore," Fang said then, causing her to frown up at him. "Maybe I'm angry with you."

"No, Owl. You can't be."

"I can be whatever I want to be, Carter."

She reached over then, easily grabbing her ball of Play-Doh and throwing it at him.

"Carter!" Max was about done with her daughter, honestly. "You seriously make everything about you. Do you have to ruin everything?"

"You ruin everything!"

Fang frowned down at the little girl then, reminding himself that he had been away for a long time. She had gone leaps and bounds from just repeating his nickname over and over again. He'd like to say that she had gotten more disrespectful as well, but she'd honestly been that way since, well, he was pretty sure since she was born.

"Carter," Fang sighed while she just crossed her arms, turning from him. Reaching down, he moved to removed the Play-Doh from his jeans. "Honestly."

"You be honest."

"That's not what I meant."

Davy made noises then, that distracted the women while Fang only sighed before moving to set the Play-Doh back on the table.

"It's not nice to throw things," he told Carter softly. "But thank you for my book, Holden. It's my favorite."

"That's how comes I gots it for you, Owl."

"I know. Thank you."

"And…" She shuffled her feet slightly. "No more kissin'."

"Okay. No more. For now."

"Forever, Owl."

"For now."

"Ever."

"Now."

"Owl."

"Owlet."

That made her giggle before moving to help get all the red Play-Doh off his jeans. "Love you."

"I, Carter."

She just groaned making him smile and pat her on the head. Then, after getting all that nasty Play-Doh off, he turned to face Max once more. He knew that he could only spend so much time with Carter before it came off as shirking his responsibilities to David/Nicholas. And he didn't want that.

"Let me hold him again," Fang said which Max readily gave into, as she went to go correct Carter some more. That was one thing about Max, she just could not let something go. See, Fang and Carter had already made up and professed their love for one another. Max though was still all upset about…honestly, Fang couldn't remember why they were all angry with Carter to begin with!

"See there?" Fang bounced the baby slightly, who gurgled back in response, staring after his mother, who was bent over, explaining to her daughter that no, throwing Play-Doh was not an acceptable human response to things. "I can hold him."

It was then that Carter completely tuned her mother out and focused in once more on Fang, who moved to sit down on the couch. This would not have been a problem had he not been holding stupid David in his arms. Uh, what did Davy thing he was doing? Owl was Carter. C-A-R…Carter's. (Her name was hard to spell. Even her teacher told her so.)

"Owl," she complained, completely ignoring the fact that Max was still nagging at her. Ugh. Mommy was so annoying. Honestly. "Owl!"

"What, Carter?" He didn't even look at her as Davy laid a hand on the man's face, patting it slightly.

"Owl," she kept whining.

"Stop it." Max frowned at her daughter. "What is wrong with you?"

Carter couldn't explain though, as it had already started. Why hadn't she seen it before? In her love for Owl and her love for Davy, she had never thought the day would come that the two of them liked one another more than her.

Where had she gone wrong? Truly, where had she gone wrong?

"Just come here," Fang snapped finally, frowning at her slightly. God. She was starting to get too old for whining, you'd think. "Come sit up here with me."

"Carter-" Max started, but the girl ran around her mother, quickly moving to climb onto the couch with Owl.

"There," he said as the little girl snuggled up to him, trying to get him to forget about Nicky once and for all. "All better?"

"Mmmhmm."

So they sat there for a good hour or so. Eventually Dr. Martinez left and Angel found something else to do. Max stood by though, never straying too far, for fear that Fang would have a meltdown or that her children would need her. They didn't though. They just sat on the couch, watching some mindless cartoons, both snuggled up to Fang, content in the fact that he was home.

"Owl?" Carter asked eventually, just as he was starting to fall asleep. Days spent with nothing to do at the hospital had left him with an odd sleep cycle.

"Hmmm?"

"You gonna spend the night?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Tomorrow too?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Oh." Carter giggled then as Davy settled out against Fang as well, no doubt ready for a nap too. "Like before? You're gonna stay here?"

"Mmmhmm."

"That's good."

"Mmmm."

"'cause I don't want you to leave again, okay? You gotta stay always. Okay? Okay, Owl?"

"Okay," he mumbled tiredly. "I'll stay always."

"And so will Mommy and me, okay? And…Davy."

"Yes, Davy, Carter. You love your brother."

"Mmmm…yeah," she admitted. "Love him, but…"

"You're still Owlet," he assured her then, knowing that it was only the beginning of her jealousy. "Okay? Holden?"

She just giggled, kissing his arm then before moving down the couch so that she could lay down, her head resting against his thigh. No matter how old she got, she'd know a good naptime when she saw one.

"So you're going to be okay?" Max asked then as she appeared once more, though that was just to take David from Fang, no doubt to deposit him in his crib for a real nap.

Fang just shifted then to lay down on the couch, moving Carter to lay up on his chest, even though she was starting to get way too old for that.

"Now I am," he said simply causing Max to smile and walk off. Glancing down at Carter, Fang corrected. "Now we are."

LadyLaneyOfRanger asked for this and, if you guys ask me for something, more than likely I'll deliver.