Disclaimer : No own.
So, this is the sequel to Seven For A Secret, although i'm pretty sure you could read this without having to read that. enjoy
Chapter 1.
"Momma! Momma!"
"Mommy!"
"Mommaaaaaaaa!"
I was awoken by the delightful screeching of my children.
"Mommy, it's CHRIIISTMASSSS!" I groaned and turned over. My arm flopped over me, landing on a smooth, bronze chest. I could feel many tiny hands patting on my back, attempting to wake me up from my extremely nice sleep. It was rare I actually got a decent lie-in nowadays. I could feel them becoming impatient, so I grabbed the corner of my sheet and dragged it up and over my head, blocking them out. I sighed in relief as the kids moved on to torture Fang instead.
"Daaaaaddy! Wake up, wake up! Presents!"
"Yeah, daddy! Pwesents!" I opened my eyes, peeking out over the sheet in time to see Fang roll his eyes and turn onto his side to face me, a sleepy expression on his face. I was surprised he wasn't more awake yet; they were rarely this noisy. I could see Bree standing behind him in her bubblegum pink pyjamas, courtesy of Nudge of course, jumping up and down in her excitement. I smiled at how happy she was; I couldn't remember ever being anywhere near this happy when I was a kid. I smirked at Fang slightly as he winced; our daughter had then decided to scream into his ear. I closed my eyes to let him deal with it; he was a good dad, he could deal. Then they decided to take flying, thankfully not literally, jumps onto the bed.
I felt three small forms leap onto the bed, having a quick bounce, before crawling up so they were lying in the tiny space between me and Fang. I could feel tiny fingers poking my face. I sighed; so much for my lie-in this morning. I reluctantly opened my eyes to see my son, his small finger poised and ready to jab me right in the eye. Unfortunately, the three year old hadn't realised that I'd opened them. I yelled in pain as he poked me, rolling away from him to face the cream wall of my bedroom. I could hear Fang sniggering as I pushed myself up in a tangle of sheets and blankets to face my children.
Bree was lying over Fang chest, her curly black hair covering his face; it rose with his breaths. She was nine now, but she looked almost twelve. Fang was less than impressed, to say the least. He'd always been scared that boys would find her attractive as she grew older. I argued that we lived in the middle of nowhere, away from civilisation. It made no difference, unfortunately. She had a beautiful, oval face with my pale complexion and Fangs strong features. It was obvious that when she grew older she would be stunning. I almost giggled, thinking about overprotective and embarrassing Fang would be. I pitied her already. Her two younger siblings were both perched on Fangs legs; I think they'd moved there in fright as I'd yelled. Whoopsies.
Storm and Raven were identical in every way. We'd even gotten my mom to sew their names onto their clothes so we could tell them apart. However, Iggy had had too much of an influence over them, and they often took it upon themselves to switch items of clothing. Believe me, not fun. You try chasing two screaming three year olds around a house full of eight other people, not knowing which name to yell. They were two tiny balls of mischief, forever running around the house tripping people up. With their black hair and dark brown eyes, they looked like miniature Fang's. We'd now even taken to dressing them in opposite outfits in an attempt to tell them apart; one would wear all blue, and the other all black (Fang's influence, trust me), and it would be harder for them to swap an entire outfit before we found them out. I sort of felt a little jealous of Fang at the moment; all three of our kids looked like him. But I knew that it was petty. And if you looked closely, you could see streaks of my caramel colour in their eyes. They also all had my kick-ass personality, which had certainly caused a lot of disagreements over the years.
We hadn't actually planned to have the twins; they were an accident like Bree. All I'm gonna say is it was Nudge's eighteenth birthday party, and Iggy made 'fun-punch'. Yeah.
I could still remember the shock on Fangs face when Raven was born after Storm. I'd refused to have any scans while I was expecting them; I'd done perfectly fine with Bree and I was wary of all that technological stuff near my baby anyways. So instead, my mom gave me a physical exam every month, as she luckily had a limited knowledge of that kind of stuff. Which was handy, because there was no way in hell I was letting a complete stranger near me, not after my past experiences with people outside my family. The Flock had speculated in the months leading up to the birth that we were going to be having twins, purely due to my size. Fang denied it each time it was brought up; it was a little sister for Bree, he'd say. Emily. I had let him choose the name for 'her', as he seemed so enthusiastic about it. I hadn't told anyone, but I was positive it was twins. I mean, how many babies kick with three feet?
When I'd finally gone into labour (believe me, carrying two active babies is no easy task. When one was asleep, the other was wide awake, pounding the inside of my stomach), I was all prepared for two of them. Fang, on the other hand, wasn't. I could remember lying on this very bed (no way was I having any child of mine somewhere unfamiliar), my hair plastered to my head, watching as my Mom passed Fang a tiny, screaming, winged baby. She hadn't told us the sex; I think she'd wanted Fang to tell me, like he did with Bree. Our baby was placed into his blanket covered arms, and I watched as his face lit up as he told me it was a boy. I immediately broke out into a huge grin, watching as Fang cuddled him close, tears glistening in my eyes.
The touching scene went on for around half an hour, allowing us to get to know our new baby when the Flock came in to visit the newest member. My mom had said to them that there was only one baby; she'd given me a quick check and there was no sign of another. I heard Nudge groan as she realised there was only one new baby to play with, and I smiled at her overreaction. The baby was passed all around, when Iggy spoke up.
"What are you gonna call the little dude?" He'd been going through a 'dude' stage. Not a day went by without everyone being called dude at least three times. I glanced at Fang. He simply shrugged at me. I held out my arms for my baby, holding him close. It was nearing December, and outside a vicious storm was brewing; I could feel it. 'Storm', I had said. And it stuck. Six year old Bree was cuddled next to me on the bed, gazing longingly at her little brother as he was passed around.
Everyone was oohing and aahing a little bit more over Storm, when I felt what I thought to be a weak contraction. I winced, but brushed it off as a fake. I smiled and laughed along with everyone else, but when they continued to happen, and got even stronger, I knew something was up. I looked up at Fang, passing him Storm.
"How do you think you'd cope with three kids?" I'd asked. His face dropped. The Flock gasped collectively and all but ran out of the room to tell my mom, who was resting.
Five minutes later he was cradling his two sons. He'd picked the name, Raven, after what we were thinking of naming Bree. I thought it was a girl's name, but it suited him well.
And here we were.
When Bree was around five, and it seemed like we were no longer in danger, we'd decided to start celebrating Christmas. Since the Flock and I had moved in with my mom and Ella, they had kept Christmas to themselves, exchanging a lone present between them, not wanting to disturb our pattern. But once a four year old Bree had seen the presents wrapped up in the shiny paper, she'd demanded we all be included. It was never a big affair; just a few presents each, and maybe five for the kids. Yet they were still so excited about it, it made me smile, happy to give them a half-normal childhood.
I turned my gaze to the side to check the time on my digital alarm clock, courtesy of Iggy for my recent birthday, when I turned twenty-four. But I still felt like the scared fifteen year old at some times though, whenever something strange or unexpected happened. The clock read 6:45 in lime green number, flashing annoyingly as each second passed, making my children even more wound-up.
I reluctantly swung my legs out and over the side of the bed in a swirl of bedding, knowing that if I waited much longer the kids would explode. I could hear Fang getting up as I was on the opposite side of the room; shuffling around in a sleep-drunk stupor with various children following, searching for some kind of clothing to keep us warm. I managed to locate a dressing gown of Fangs that was, wait for it, black. I wrapped it tightly around me, inhaling his smell as I turned to pick up the small boy behind me. It was Raven. I could tell only because he was wearing his pale blue pyjamas with a small 'R' on the bottom. I knew that it was him, and he hadn't changed clothing with his twin was because me and Ella had successfully tired them out yesterday, playing ground-tag with them for three hours solid to ensure the fell to sleep with no issues.
I swung him around me, watching as his long-ish hair swirled around him. I made a mental note to get Nudge to trim it at some point. He giggled and squealed as I threw him up into the air before catching him as I made my way out of the door and into the hallway. I grasped him tightly against my waist as I turned to check that Fang was following me, Storm in the same position Raven was, with Bree bouncing along behind them.
She caught a whiff of bacon and suddenly sped up, skipping down the hallway at an immense speed towards the kitchen. Any mention of food and she was off in a flash, ready to stuff herself silly of her favourite Uncle Iggy's delicious food. Raven saw her go and whimpered slightly, squirming in my arms.
"Mama, down." He looked up at me, his eyes wide. Damn bambi-eyes. I set him on the carpeted floor and watched as he struggled to keep up with his sister, his small black wings straining against his fleecy top in excitement. I slowed down slightly to let Fang walk next to me. I grabbed his hand briefly as we walked around the corner and into the kitchen. I pecked him on the cheek and made to walk over to where Iggy was entertaining Bree and Raven when Storm whined, patting his cheek and looking at me. I smiled and pecked his cheek too, before turning to the delicious smell of bacon.
Iggy was standing next to the counter, some form of kitchen utensil in his hand. He was currently screaming in mock-anger as Raven started to jump up and down next to him, trying to reach the bacon. Bree was talking animatedly about something she'd done the other day to Ella, who was leaning against the counter also, one hand over her still flat stomach. She and Iggy had announced to us only a few weeks ago that they were expecting a baby. Apparently it had been a planned baby, and they wanted to give Bree, Storm and Raven a new playmate. They'd been together since Bree's first birthday, although they had been flirting furiously up until then. I wasn't all that pleased, Ella was only just fourteen at the time, but Iggy had promised to take care of her, so I relented. We were all concerned about how the baby would develop, what with being half bird-kid, but Ella seemed to have no qualms with having machinery used on her, so Mom somehow managed to obtain one of the machines. She had a weekly check-up, as opposed to my monthly one, and everything seemed to be perfectly fine at the present.
I heard the door behind me open and bang against the wall as someone burst into the room. I turned just in time to see Nudge stalk into the kitchen, dressed like she was going to a photo shoot with Phoenix trailing behind her with a sheepish expression. Phoenix was a member to the Flock Fang had discovered while he was away from me. He'd been raiding some of the smaller remaining Itex branches, and he'd found Phoenix along the way. We'd included him in our family instantaneously, and he'd been part of it for about ten years now.
"It's present time baby! Why are we all stood around in here?" She had an incredulous expression on her face, almost as if we should be in the living room, opening presents already at this godforsaken time of seven am. We'd never been up this early before, but the twins understood Christmas more than they did last year, and were far more exited. I was sure their screeches of excitement had woken up the rest of the household. I simply indicated the bacon sizzling in the pan. Her face lit up, and she strutted (yes, you heard me right, strutted) over to where Iggy was standing. She took one whiff of the bacon and almost ran over to our huge table, sitting down like a five year old kid, waiting for her food.
Phoenix trudged over behind her before sinking into the seat next to her. I saw they clasp hands under the table, and I smiled. They'd been 'together' for about two years now; it was very predictable. They'd constantly been flirting and holding hands and the like.
"Auntie Nudgie! Unca Phoeneex!" Storm yelled, jumping out of Fangs loose grip to allow himself to be lifted into Nudges lap. He seemed to be going through a phase of loving those two like his life depended on it, whenever he saw the pair he would run away from me and Fang to go and join them.
It now seemed like all of the adults in the house were in a relationship apart from my mom and Gazzy. My mom had long told us that her priority was all of us now, that there was no time in her life now for a relationship what with such a large family and three and a half grandchildren, nor that she wanted one. Gazzy, on the other hand, was a different case. Ever since Angels death around eight years ago, he'd calmed down a lot. He'd lost his only sibling, watched her die in front of him, and he'd been sort of, closed off since then. He'd cover it up, but every now and again you would see the eighteen year old staring off into the distance, and you could tell he was thinking about Angel. We'd never pressed about asking him about a relationship, feeling that if he wanted to talk about it he would. He'd lost his best friend and his only sibling, and he'd been really cut up about it.
At that moment, those very people walked into the kitchen, dressed and ready for the day despite the early morning. Bleh. They said their good mornings, kissed the kids and went to sit at the table. I sat down too, between Bree and Ella. Fang was the unlucky one to sit between the twins; they were a handful at the best of times, they had a habit of attempting to throw ketchup in each other's mouths. I smiled at him, wrapping my ankle around his under the table. Iggy began placing delicious looking bacon sandwiches in front of each of us, with a spin and a 'bon-appetite' for Bree alone; he'd always had a special spot for her. She giggled and grinned at him, before tucking into her sandwich with gusto.
It took us less than ten minutes for all food to be eaten, Fangs clothing to be changed due to being covered in ketchup, the dishes washed and everyone sat in the living room. The twins were restrained in my lap, and we were crammed onto a cushy armchair, the closest seat to the small tree. The others were dotted around on the various sofas and love seats that were set out, with Bree sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring up at the two foot tall Christmas tree we'd bought at Target three years ago with sparkling eyes. I could feel the boys eying up the small pile of presents peeking out from under the lower branches, and I looked over to see Fang staring at them longingly as well, he was such a little kid!
"So, who wants to get the first presents?" I asked. We always picked someone to collect one present per person and hand them out. Raven and Storm started jumping up and down with excitement, screaming mememememe! in my ear, while on my lap. The others all started sniggering at me while I struggled to restrain them in vain. I successfully tugged Storm back down and let Raven go. He cheered, scrambling down off of my lap and onto the floor.
"Yaaaay, pwesents!"
Storm was still struggling against my arms, wanting to go down and collect the presents himself.
"Shhh, you can do them next time, okay baby?" I whispered in his ear. He relaxed and nodded, instead starting to bounce up and down in excitement as his brother crouched by the tree.
I could see Raven struggling to pull one of the presents out from under the tree, and I saw Gazzy get up to go over and help him. I thought I heard Raven whisper 'I can do it!', but then Gazzy whispered something else in his ear and he quietened down. I could hear the rest of my family talking amongst themselves as they waited for Raven to collect the presents. I saw Gazzy hand him a small present and move to point to Ella. He jumped up and ran over to her as fast as his legs could carry him, the present held out carefully in front of him, his eyes bright with excitement. We all watched as Ella unwrapped a sweater from Bree, Storm and Raven. Thankyou's went all around, and Raven hurried back to get the next present.
Everyone ended up with two presents each, which the exception of the kids who got about five. We all got pretty basic stuff, cooking stuff for Iggy, clothes, that kind of thing. The kids all received a bag of cookies from Iggy (they'd all inherited my love of chocolate chip cookies), some kind of toy they all asked for from me and Fang, and clothing and the like from everyone else. I'd moved over to sit on the couch with Fang and the kids, and I leaned down to whisper to them.
"What do you say to everybody?" They all jumped away from us and gave everyone kisses and hugs, thanking them enthusiastically for their gifts. I looked over at the clock on the wall. Nine am. I still had a whole day ahead of me, and I had no idea what to do with the kids.
"Kids, do you want me to show you how to cook some yummy cookies?" Iggy suddenly spoke up, probably wishing the same as me; keep them distracted so they wouldn't run around and break something. This was unfortunately, a regular occurrence.
I watched as they sprinted into the kitchen ahead if Iggy with yells of 'yeah!' and 'woohoo!'. Iggy looked pointedly at me and Fang, as if we'd raised them to be that hyper, and walked out into the kitchen after them. I sent his back dagger glares as he walked away and stood up, pulling Fang with my by his hand. I stretched and yawned; I'd been woken up waaay to early.
"We're gonna go sort out our stuff, guys. Happy Christmas." I grabbed Fangs hand again and walked out of the room with him trailing behind me. I carried on down to our room and fell onto our comfy double bed, letting out a sigh.
"Christmas is so stressful, Fang." I whined. He sat down next to me, looking up at the ceiling.
"Why? An hour and a half and its over for another year."
"Yeah, but, I dunno, it just makes me feel bad, like we should be concentrating on finding Lucia." I looked to the side, my head turned away from Fang so I wouldn't see his expression. Lucia was one of the three founders of Itex. We'd successfully blown up the Itex headquarters when Bree was a baby, yet when we saw a newspaper article a few weeks later, it told of how they'd discovered the bodies of two men, not any women. This was especially concerning for us, as she was the evillest of all the Itex freaks we'd met so far. She was actually my aunt, making her a total traitor, and she was also Phoenix's mother, making him my cousin. She'd tortured him as a child, and almost killed him. Lucia had also done the unthinkable; she'd raped Fang. We'd only spoken about it once, and he refused to speak of it any more. He stayed silent for a few moments, and I peeked over my shoulder to see him leaning back on his hands, staring up at the ceiling. He took a deep breath.
"Max, I thought we'd talked about this. We're not going to worry about her any more. They probably just couldn't find her. There's no need to start stressing over her now; it was years ago. Let's just try and live a normal life, without Itex for the kids. We're perfectly fine now." He turned away from me and stared out of the window, looking out at the cloudy skies.
I sat up, reaching out for him and shuffling closer. I grabbed one of his hands. "I'm sorry. I guess . . . I just feel like we should still me on the run. It's how I spent years of my life, Fang. It's kind of ingrained in me, still. I can't help it; it's my instinct to be looking out for the next person who wants to kill us all. Whenever we sit around having fun, it still makes me think that we're sitting ducks. It's all just made me paranoid."
He turned back to me, a small smile on his face. "I know. I'm sorry, I just want to forget all about Itex and her. I know how you feel . . . it's the same for me. We just have to overcome it. It's not just us we have to look out for now. I want the kids to have a normal, healthy life. Well, as normal a life as a bird kid can have." We both smiled at that. 'Normal' wasn't a commonly used word in our vocabulary. I nodded, leaning my head against his shoulder, looking out into the skies.
I could hear the rest of my family talking and laughing down the corridor, and the kids screaming in delight as they baked cookies. I felt better now I'd had that talk with Fang; I always got worked up about stuff like that. I knew we were safe and living a normal, Lucia free life, really.
I never knew how wrong I was.