Innocent Questions
A/N: This is my entry for the day of Anti-Hardwicke! More at the end. And this is a little OOC and after MAX, and Angel would probably already know this but bear with me here! It's my first Maximum Ride fanfic. –rowena
"Iggy, what's second base?" Angel asked innocently.
Iggy choked on his Coke, coughing and spluttering. "What?" he gasped.
Angel sighed tiredly. "I said, what's second base? And I don't think she meant like baseball."
Iggy's pale eyes narrowed. "Where'd you hear that?" he asked.
Angel touched his knee and then lightly hopped into his lap. "Well, Max was in her room and I was going to go in, but she seemed like she was preoccupied and she was thinking about Fang and thought that and I didn't know what it meant." She said, very fast, Nudge-style.
"So why didn't you ask her?" Iggy asked, gently resting a hand on his little sister's fine blond hair.
"Like I said, she was preoccupied. And she wasn't worried, for once. I didn't want to bother her." Angel said crossly. Iggy was fun, but sometimes he just didn't understand things.
Iggy, on the other hand, sighed. Of course Angel would ask him. Not Max or Fang, who deserved it. "Why didn't you ask Fang?" he asked in desperation. Anything to get him out of explaining this to the 6-year-old mind reader.
"He was talking to Gazzy. Besides, he was thinking stuff I didn't understand too."
Oh God, here we go. Iggy thought. "Like what?"
"Feeling Max? I didn't understand it." Angel said, her voice confused. "I know you know what it means, Iggy. You're trying not to think about it. Why don't you just tell me?" Her voice sounded so innocent, Iggy wasn't sure if she was trying to use her powers to influence him to tell her or not.
"Look, Angel, it's something you really shouldn't know until you're older. It's not for six-year-olds."
Angel pouted. "I'm seven." She said firmly. "And I know lots of things that other seven-year-olds don't."
"Come on, Angel, can't you just ask Max later?" Iggy grimaced as he realized he was practically whining. But he knew Angel wasn't going to drop this. Maybe she would have a year ago, back when she was still six, and they still lived in Colorado and she had actually been as sweet as she looked. But not now. If he didn't tell her, she'd force him to telepathically.
Angel sighed impatiently. "Iggy," she said, pleading. "Why won't you tell me?"
"Fine." Iggy grumbled. "It's something older kids do when they really like each other, like Max and Fang. If you want to know any more you have to go ask someone else, preferably Max or Fang, okay?" He took Angel off his lap and stood up.
She glared up at him as she left the kitchen. Iggy sighed and started to leave, stopping when he heard a door open. He turned to where the sound seem to be coming from, the door from the back stairway.
"Finally!" Iggy recognized Ella's voice as she walked over to him. "I thought you'd never get rid of her!"
"What?" Iggy asked increduosly. "You were there the whole time?"
Ella shrugged, then remembered he couldn't see that and said. "I'm shrugging, Iggy. I was about to come talk to you when I heard Angel ask you that."
"And you hid?" Iggy asked. Ella tried to stifle her giggles. "You left me out her to deal with that alone? Ella Martinez, I am hurt! I could have used some back-up!" Ella laughed openly as Iggy crossed his arms, glaring at approximately where she was standing sternly.
"I think you did fine. Telling her to go ask Max." Ella laughed again. "Besides, now I can help you hide when Max comes to kill you later."
Iggy rolled his sightless eyes. "She totally deserves it." He said simply. Ella grinned.
"That won't stop her from attacking you, Ig." She stated. Iggy sighed. Ella was right, as usual. "But since you're not dead yet, you wanna go see a movie?" Ella asked.
"I'd love to see it, but-"
"You know what I mean." Ella said impatiently. And then it clicked for Iggy that Ella had just asked him out.
"Sure." He grinned. Ella grinned in reply and grabbed his hand. This was going to be great.
*****
Iggy opened the door to his room nonchalantly, but he got worried when Ella's footsteps stopped behind him. He turned around.
"Ella, what's wrong?" She feebly pointed, but he didn't see that.
However, he did hear Max's dangerously low voice when she softly said. "Iggy, I need to talk to you."
Ella backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. She loved Max and all, but sometimes her sister could be downright scary-especially when she was mad. And she was mad at Iggy. But Ella probably shouldn't have abandoned him-now she felt kind of bad about that. And she'd left him to deal with Angel earlier…she opened the door and silently stepped back into the room.
Max didn't notice, and while Iggy probably heard her he was too busy glaring at approximately where Max was standing. Ella almost burst into laughter at the sight of the two of them staring each other down over something as inconsequential as who had to explain to Angel what second base was.
"Angel had an interesting question for me earlier." Max said. "She told me you told her to go ask me what second base was."
"Did you tell her?" Iggy asked wryly. It seemed he found this situation comical too, unlike Max.
"I didn't have a choice!" Max said, exasperated. "If I hadn't, she just would have forced me to." Her eyes narrowed. "What kind of joke is that, Iggy? It's really not funny."
Iggy frowned. "Um, Max? Reality check: I didn't just tell her to go ask you that. She asked me first and I didn't want to explain it to her. Kind of an awkward topic, you know?" Max opened her mouth but Iggy cut her off before she could say anything else. "And the answer to your next question is she overheard your thoughts about Fang, and Fang's thoughts about you, and that's why she asked what it meant."
Max turned red. Ella started to laugh. Max could face threats to her life with no problem, but start to interrogate her about her relationship with Fang and she'd be red as a cherry.
"And she didn't want to bother you, and Fang was busy talking to Gazzy or something so she had to ask me." Iggy said sourly. "I figured the least you could do was explain that to her, since she wouldn't be asking to begin with if you could control your thoughts. Really, Max, you need to be careful with a seven-year-old mind reader on the loose." Iggy's voice turned sarcastic at the end.
Max rolled her eyes. "She's definitely still six, but I understand, Iggy. Besides, your no better with making inappropriate jokes around Gazzy."
"But he can't force you to tell him what they mean." Iggy pointed out.
Max sighed. "True." She yawned, covering her mouth. "I'm sooo tired. I've got to go to sleep now." She started toward the door, opened it and just before she left turned around to face Iggy. "But Iggy," she said sweetly. "You'd better watch your thoughts too. I've seen how you and Ella look at each other." She slammed the door quickly, the pillow Iggy had thrown towards her bouncing off it harmlessly.
Ella giggled a little, watching Iggy blush. She knew he liked her, but he didn't seem to realize she liked him…
She walked toward him and stopped in front of him, putting a hand on his shoulder so he knew she was there.
"Good night," she said softly, kissing him on the cheek. Iggy inhaled sharply, putting a hand on his cheek as she laughed softly and walked towards the door.
"I'll see you tomorrow." she said quietly, closing the door behind her.
Iggy smiled. Tomorrow was looking a lot brighter.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, James Patterson does.
A/N: Like I said, this is my contribution to the day of Anti-Hardwicke. (Go sign the petition-the link is on St. Fang of Boredom's profile.) Because Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson would be SO bad as Max and Fang in the movie, for multiple reasons. I tried to write something about the flock and the fans but it wasn't very good so I went with my original idea. Like I said before, sorry if they are a little OOC, and forget Angel possibly already knowing that, this is my first Maximum Ride fanfic! Please review and tell me what you think, and sorry but it may take me a while to reply as I'm going on vacation. -rowena