Hi, everybody. Just to let you know, this is not part two to 'Why Didn't I Say It?'. This is completely different, plus it's post MR3. So yes, there will be spoilers, for those of you who've gone without reading Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports yet.

Disclaimer: Haven't I said this enough yet? Fine. Everybody now: We don't own Maximum Ride, it belongs to the one and only JP (Chorused sadly and wearily by entire fanfic community)

Chapter one: Will You?

"Hey! Max!"

"What?" I called tiredly.

"Can you come here for a second?"

"Sure, Ange, I'll be right there." I plodded down the hallway to her room.

Just if you're, you know, wondering where the dang house appeared from, we found a deserted one deep in a forest. It helped that everyone thought it was haunted by deranged vampires, I guess. Because they've seen us flying around the area, at night, carrying things that looked suspiciously heavy (groceries. We have to eat, okay?) and we were big and, well, human shaped. It also helped that the general area was very superstitious.

Anyway.

"Yeah, Angel? What's up?"

"Can you… unh… help me out with this thing?" She was groaning and struggling to lengthen the straps to a tank top. She was holding the thing in her lap, and she looked seriously frustrated.

"Sure. Hand it over," I said.

She did. One of the little buckle thingies, you know what I'm talking about, was twisted around and kind of mangled and the other one I could barely see.

"Jeez, where's this thing been?" I asked, 'because it also had a few small holes in it and a slash down the side, plus it was really, really dirty, but she just grinned at me. I knew, anyway. We'd just fought off a group of Flyboys a week ago. I finished untwisting it, and handed it back. I'd get her a new one later, when I could.

"Hey, I've gotta go, okay? Tell everyone where I've gone." By everyone, I meant Fang, mostly, which she knew dang well.

"Okay." She grinned slyly at me, and said in my mind,

Fang and Max, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes –

But I interrupted her before she could finish. "Shut up."

She just grinned at me.

I sat down silently, and tugged at my stupid uniform. An apron and a short little skirt. At least it was high enough in the back to hide my wings. But not so much in the front, if you catch my drift. Yeah, that's me. Maximum Ride, the Amazing Waitress. Oh joy. But it was a job. Even if the place I worked in was mostly populated by men. Who were waiting around for one of the waitresses/female bartenders to lean over low so they could get a peek under our shirts or something. But they tipped big time. Although there were a few reasons against the place, one being if anyone tried anything with me, I would probably have popped them one. I bet they'd have liked a black eye from a girl. They could brag to all of their friends about it. Two being if I told Fang, they'd probably have two black eyes. Plus there were just too many people, and there was loud music and all that. Both of which are pretty high on my list of things to avoid.

The reasons for it, though, outweighed the reasons against it. Reason one was the large amount of tip money the drunks always left, guaranteeing us a week's food supply, even with our humongous appetites, being mutant bird kids and all that. Reason two was that, hey, it was a job, right? And there were no other good jobs in the area, save one, which was entirely full anyway, and also mostly men, the point being if I quit this one that was it. Although I could've worked with Fang, except that place wasn't looking to hire.

So once my shift was over, and I had discretely nearly broken the fingers of a drunk when he put them in the wrong spot, and I took my almost comped coffee, stress on 'almost', and beat a path out of there. Jeez. My heart was always hammering after my Friday evening shift because there were way too many people there, and it was always, always, always really crowded. Whew. I leaned against the grimy wall out the back and sipped some of my drink. I had to if I was gonna fly the three-plus miles back home with a cup of coffee, which I always did. I slipped on my long black coat, and let my hair cascade down to my hips. I've decided not to cut my hair quite so much anymore. Now unless they saw me up close, no one would recognize me. I waited for it to cool, then took a long drink. Once one of the girls I worked with had spiked it without telling me, and I had come home completely, entirely drunk. That's one thing about my system, is it can't handle booze. Even a tiny amount. But this time it was fine. Warm and comforting.

I wanted to go home and lie down.

When I got home I went up to the door and fastened my coat all the way around me, so no one could see my dumb uniform. Besides, I don't think Angel and Nudge would have stuck around to see it. Gazzy might have, but just to ridicule me. Iggy couldn't care one way or the other. Fang on the other hand… well, I had a reason to hide it. When it was on me, in any case.

I snuck up to my room, slipped out of it and put on some jeans and a hoodie. Much better.

I looked at myself in the small mirror I had found a while ago. I looked… old. Older than eighteen, which was how old I was then. With the makeup I wore for my job, and my eyes all tired from basically existing and my hair down I looked older than I was. I sighed. Ran my fingers through my hair. Then I got up with the intention of asking the Flock if they wanted to play a game or something. We had Parcheesi. Sort of. I mean, most of the pieces were missing, but we could, I don't know, fold up chunks of duct tape and color them the right colors or something. I opened the door to my room and saw Fang there, about to knock.

At eighteen, he was taller even than he'd been at fourteen. Almost six five. His hair was longer, kind of shaggy, and still hung in his eyes. He was wearing a black hoodie with red Xs on the arms and dark jeans.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey. Can I talk to you?"

He was acting nervous, all shifty.

"Sure. What's up?"

He took one of my hands and pulled me down onto my bed next to him. "Uh,"

He didn't usually get nervous, so this must be pretty bad.

"What? What's wrong?" I was tense, ready for action.

"Nothing, Max. Everything's cool."

"Okay."

He didn't say anything to me yet, just slid something hard and circular into my hand. Oh my god. It couldn't be. I looked down. It was.

"Um…Are you asking me to marry you?" I said dumbly.

"Yeah."

Oh God, oh God, oh God – How had he bought this, anyway? I mean, I guess as a mechanic, you got paid moderately, but still… Oh my god. We'd know we loved each other for four years, and we were kind of dating, I guess, except we couldn't really go anywhere alone, exactly. But I was so not expecting this. At all.

I think I started crying. He looked alarmed. "Max?"

"I'm okay, but…Oh my god…" I was still in tears. What was with me, anyway? Does everyone cry when someone proposes to them? I hope: It'd make this slightly less awkward.

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't think of anything to say. I just decided there to do it. To go with the flow, like my Voice had been telling me.

"Not this time Maximum. This is a bad idea."

"You know what, Voice? Screw you."

I slipped it on. Then I held his gaze. We were both smiling, even though I was still crying. I threw my arms around him, and he held me.

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Opinions, anyone?

-Insane Winged Girl