This story is set nine years after Fang left, with the ages being Angel-15, Gazzy-18, Nudge-21, Iggy-24, Max-24, and Fang-24.

Max

I rolled over in bed, my hand slamming down on the source of noise. Oops, there goes another alarm clock. I sighed as I slipped out of bed, unplugging the broken device. I tossed it to the alarm clock grave yard in the corner of my room. I was going to have to get another one if I was going to be on time for work tomorrow.

Work wasn't bad. It didn't require a degree, so anyone who passed the physical fitness test was a potential employee. Oh joy. Although that probably explains why I got the job. I worked at a juvenile correction facility. Hold the irony please.

I slouched off to the bathroom to brush my teeth, grabbing my uniform on the way. I actually got some laughs on the job. Some of the stuff these kids come up with is amazing. I mean, they must have a lot of time to perfect the art of insulting, since they are behind bars. I have also gained some skills while working at my job. I learned to laugh internally, because you can't not laugh at some of the stuff the kids say. I was also better at the job than most of the long time employees. That was more of me being awesome at handing crap back to them on a silver platter though. Some other kids remind me of myself, and it gets me wondering about what made them like me. Broken.

Nudge

A girl stumbled over the threshold of her boarding house, her short brown curls floating in disarray around her head like a chaotic halo. "God Monique, this has to beat the record." Another girl, Lisa, came and put Nudges arm over her shoulder. "I think you beat Pete's. He only lasted until six before he came crawling home." Nudge giggled. "What time did you leave?"

"I left at one, the first time the cops broke it up."

"Nothing fun happened before one though."

"That's because most people weren't drunk before one. When did you leave anyway?"

"I think I left at five, and then a bunch of people from Lacey's went over to Denny's." Lacey's was the local bar the members of the house slacked at. Lisa deposited Nudge in their room. "You puke on any of my things and you will wake up underneath a tombstone with Monique all over it." Nudge mumbled something about cranky anti-party animals and then passed out.

Iggy

Iggy was sprawled across the couch, sleeping in the same clothes he had on yesterday. A woman came over to him, poking his nose. "Ella, stop." He commanded in mock anger. She pulled him to his feet. "You can't sleep all day, besides I want breakfast." He chuckled pulling his girlfriend to the kitchen. "What do you want?"

"Scrambled eggs of course," Iggy opened a cupboard feeling for the frying pan. "Hey, did you reorganize the kitchen again?"

"No, the frying pan's in the dishwasher." He moved over to the dishwasher, reaching inside for the familiar weathered handle. "Still can't find it," he complained. "I put it on the bottom shelf."

"It's almost like you don't know I'm blind." He complained as he placed the pan on the stove. "You certainly don't act like it." She laughed as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Love you." Ella muffled into his back. "Love you too."

Angel and The Gasman

Gazzy laughed as his little sister jumped on his bed attempting to wake him up. "I'm awake Angel."

"Come on we're going to be late for school." She whined as she dragged him out of bed.

"I'm heartbroken." She smiled as he grabbed a pair of fresh jeans and headed toward the bathroom. "Don't take to long."

"Me? Never."

Angel laughed as she sat on his bed, mentally noting that he needed to clean his room. She had lived with Gazzy for a year now, and she loved it. Nobody had really done well after Max left, and for a while they had all crashed at Jeb's, though none of them stayed any longer than was legal. After Gazzy turned sixteen he moved in with Iggy, and Angel just automatically went with him. She had changed a lot since the voices had disappeared. No more weird predictions, strange commands, or twisted directions. Life was good, until Angel thought about the others. She saw Iggy every once in a while, and she knew Nudge had fallen off the cliff of sobriety, but Max and Fang were a big mystery.

She was thinking about disobeying the one rule that Gazzy had made. She wanted to unfold her wings, all fourteen feet of them, and just fly. But she knew it would ruin everything they had built. It was so nice not being chased all the time, not doing cryptic things, making people angry and hurt…She was better now. It was just so tempting though, she could picture herself doing it. She could almost hear the rush of the wind in her ears. She would go to find Max, she would make everything better. "Angel." She glanced up to see Gazzy looking at her with a strained expression. He could always tell when she was thinking about them. "I miss them…" He came and put his arms around her, pulling her into his lap. "I miss them too."

Fang

"Hey, Damon!" Fang slammed the door to his apartment, running down the steps into the bar he lived above. "What Jack?" he asked while trying to look like he was in a hurry. That seemed to be the thing with him lately trying to look something. Trying to look happy, trying to look normal, trying to look like he hadn't been slowly rotting from the inside out for nine years.

"Your rents late."

"I'll get it Jack, I found a job."

"This is the last time I let it slide. No more funny stuff Damon, or your out."

Fang escaped out the door before Jack could pester him about the rent. He didn't really have a job, but saying that to Jack wouldn't help. He knew the easy thing to do would be to just bartend at Lacey's, but since the first time he spotted Nudge there getting wasted, he kept to his apartment. (A/N: Fang lives above Lacey's) He had told everyone his name was Damon, Fang just seemed so conspicuous, and would have people asking questions he couldn't answer. Not to mention it didn't sound as good as it used to. Everything that she said sounded good. No! He thought to himself. He needed to keep her out of his thoughts. It was the only way he wouldn't go crawling back. He refused to go back to the one person on this planet he loved.