This is my first fanfiction. My cousin, beatlesgirl221, got me into Maximum Ride and has now got me into this website.

I love writing and please be nice since I'm still trying to figure this all out.

Be sure to look up beatlesgirl221! She has a good story going on there. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Maximum Ride's characters or the book itself. James Patterson does. ^^

(Nudge is nineteen, Iggy is twenty-three.)

Nudge's POV

I jerked awake and sat up in my bed abruptly. My rapid breaths were the only sound in the room but seemed loud enough to wake up anyone. I sighed, frustrated.

Why did I have to be forced awake again? I had just gotten over the weeks of morning sickness, and thought so happily that I could get a goodnight sleep again. I guess it wouldn't be happening for awhile. I ran my fingers through my bangs and pushed them from my eyes.

Iggy groaned next to me and I stiffened immediately. He whispered something incoherent in his sleep and turned over, relaxing me a small bit that I hadn't woken him up. Nothing seemed to wake him up; not even my getting sick at the break of dawn so many times before this night.

I glanced at the clock and frowned at the time: five hours into the morning. There wasn't any use trying to get back to sleep. I leaned over and pressed my lips to Iggy's cheek with the lightest of touch. He shivered and a short sigh escaped through his lips but otherwise, his eyes remained shut. I got up from the bed and left as silently as I could manage.

I was almost certain Fang and Angel were the only two in the flock that knew of the baby I now carried. With her mind-reading ability, I couldn't keep anything from Angel though I undoubtedly wanted to. The day I looked in the mirror and knew what had happened, Angel had stared at me with the widest of eyes. To my relief, she had said nothing like she had promised me.

Fang had walked in on me one morning, unfortunately as I was throwing up and shaking by the bathtub. He had sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders, not saying anything as I cried my eyes out from the pain and the fear. He had rubbed my back carefully and spoke the softest tone in my ears: "Iggy won't be angry. He loves you, he'll love the baby". Being the silent ghost that he was, he had left without another word.

It had been a few weeks since the morning he had found out, and Iggy still didn't have a clue.

"Good morning, Nudge," Fang's voice captured me from my thoughts and I hadn't realized how long I had been standing in the kitchen, or even how I got there.

"Good morning," I murmured gently, focusing my eyes over to the fridge though I knew I couldn't eat anything.

"You haven't been sick lately," Fang noted, looking at me as he stood in the midst of the small kitchen, looking taller than he already was.

I didn't move. "Finally," I sighed.

He nodded and came over to open the fridge, taking out the eggs that suddenly sounded delicious to me. He placed them on the table and reached for the cupboard that held the pans.

"Go wake up Iggy," he said. "You know he can make better eggs than I can."

I smiled a quick smile and didn't look at him as I made my way past. I heard him sigh.

"Nudge," he spoke in a voice that sounded as if he wanted me to stop. I thought it over quickly and stopped in the middle of the hallway, not taking the time to turn myself around to face him. It took him a while to speak.

"You need to tell Iggy, Nudge."

I pulled my eyebrows together, trying hard to keep the tears behind my eyes. I couldn't break down in front of him again.

"He's the only one who doesn't know and yet he's the most important," his words stiffened me. Everyone knew? How?

"We're a family here, Nudge, and we're worried about you. It's only a matter of time before Iggy finds out the wrong way. He needs to be told by you."

"I'm trying Fang," I choked pathetically, shutting my eyes. I felt Fang's hand suddenly on my shoulder and I winced in a shiver.

Before he could say anything more, I vanished inside the safety of mine and Iggy's room. Immediately, I found him sitting on the edge of the bed looking towards me as I closed the door.

"Nudge?" his voice was groggy but happy.

"Morning Iggy," I whispered after a bit, taking precautions so he couldn't hear my voice break.

He stood up and strode over to take me into a tight embrace that I always loved. I buried my face into his shoulder and let myself hide from the never-ending worry I felt when I thought of his baby that grew inside me. His hands wrapped around my upper back, imprisoning me with my own will.

"Good morning Nudge," he whispered as his lips touched my hair.

"Good morning Iggy," I whispered in an answer.

I wanted the moment to last for as long as it could, as if it wouldn't happen again in my lifetime.

"Why are you shaking?" his fingertips smoothed the hair from my cheek as he felt around my face, feeling what he couldn't see.

"I… I just don't feel well," I murmured almost too quickly, trying hard to stop the unwanted shaking.

"What's wrong?"

His fingers stopped on the curve of my lips and I opened my eyes to gaze at him, every single aspect of my body abruptly stopping in mid-breath. His beautiful, sky-blue eyes gazed down at me though I knew he could see nothing of my features. I wanted so badly for him to see my face.

I felt the too-familiar tears well up again but to my convenience, they didn't roll down my cheeks to meet his fingertips. I closed my eyes again and forced my lips to upturn.

"Everything's fine," I whispered to him, taking his hand from my lips to kiss his pale ones.

He parted them delicately and I felt my eyebrows draw together once more at the beauty of our kisses though they seemed so rare. He released his smiling lips after a moment and pressed his forehead to mine.

"That's good," he said, purely happy. "You always should be happy."

I forced another smile as he released his hold around me to take my hand gently. He lead me back out to the kitchen where Fang no longer stood.

One solid tear stole its way down to my parted lips.