Happy At Last:
Nudge should be happy now. The things she'd wanted as a young child were coming true. The Institute was discovered, betrayed by one of its own employees. Itex was destroyed, the biggest explosion, caused not by Gazzy and Iggy's bomb, but by a chemical reaction from one of the large vats they kept there. Maybe the same sensory deprivation vat they'd trapped Max in. The School was buried under its own bad name, and Ari…Ari was dead, his rotting bones buried deep in a secluded place of misery and doubt. Nudge should be happy, so why wasn't she? She knew. It was hard to admit, but she knew. Max knew, but she wouldn't betray Nudge's trust. Nudge wasn't quite sure about Angel, so Nudge forced Angel to swear she wouldn't tell. Nudge's problem was love. She had sibling love, from Max and Fang and Angel and Gazzy, and from, she was afraid, Iggy. Nudge had discovered her love for him many years ago, though she had yet to act on it. Iggy would be nice enough to reject her kindly, if he knew of her feelings at all, she supposed, rather than hanging her over a vast pit of suspense.
Nudge didn't know that Iggy felt the same way as her, and he knew she was too good for him. He had decided a while ago that he would never say anything to her about it. He couldn't help his feelings though, no matter how he felt. He had grown up with Nudge by his side, and he wanted her there forever. Nobody but Angel knew how he felt.
Angel was distressed, trying to decide if she would tell them that they loved each other. She was the only one in the Flock who knew how they both felt.
Nudge was leaning on a tree, her twenty year old from curvy and inviting, yet strong and forbidding to those who stood in her way. Nudge continued to write in her blue, leather bound journal, sketching out in words what she could not in any other medium. She was considered the talkative one among her friends, a title she was comfortable with. Why not? She did talk a lot.
Iggy listened to the scratch of her pen against the paper, and wondered what she was writing about. Him? He banished that thought immediately. Of course she wasn't. He blew a bit of air out through his mouth, and stood up. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He couldn't. He would tell her, and leave after her answer. Obviously a 'no'.
Nudge was unwary of Iggy's decision, and continued writing about her past. She couldn't help writing about Iggy. His eyes, the expression on his face when something had happened. The way he listened to her babbling at times, even when she could talk until the moon had replaced
the sun. Nudge shook herself out of her thoughts, and continued writing about the last battle. She scribbled in the last cry of truce before Max gave the order. Max's eyes had been full of tears. She could barely manage to give her orders. None would be left alive. The Flock had killed them quickly and effectively, sparing them the misery of a slow death. Nudge wondered if the attempted truce had been real, or a ploy to live longer and annihilate more lives. She suspected the ploy theory.
"Nudge?"
Nudge spun around, her eyes automatically searching out Max. Nudge was still battle hardened after two years of no attacks, but from rogue Erasers. She relaxed when she saw Iggy, but tightened instantly after that. Did he know?
"Yeah, Ig?"
When he lifted his hand to run his fingers through his hair, her heart jumped out of her chest. Why? Why did it do that? He didn't love her the way she did him.
"Nudge, can I, um, talk to you alone?"
"Sure."
She concealed the apprehension rising in her belly. He had found her out. He wanted to let her down gently. She led him through the trees, being his eyes. He let her, although he could maneuver among the trees quite well now. He let her do many things the others wouldn't have gotten away with.
"Nudge, I…"
Nudge wanted desperately to ask if he knew her secret, if he just wanted to tell her he wasn't interested. But a tiny side of her begged for him to be allowed to speak. A tiny side of her wondered if maybe, perhaps, he might love her back. Maybe his heart beat a tattoo against his ribcage every time she was near. She doubted this, but she was quiet all the same.
"Nudge, I…I…"
Hope rose in her chest, and Nudge did something before either of them could react. Purely unintentionally, she leaned in and kissed Iggy.
Iggy stood stock still, his brain racing to decide if this was real or not. If it was a dream, it was a hell of a good one.
Nudge was feeling dreamlike, too. It was lovely, and she felt so good, but it was wrong. If he didn't want to. She felt the blood rise into her face, and pulled away.
"Sorry." She whispered, "Sorry." Nudge started to leave, but Iggy grabbed her and kissed her back. Nudge felt happiness rise in her stomach, and felt happy at last.