A/N: Hey there. Just to let you know, I am not randomly inserting 'BOB' everywhere in my story. It's the amazing new divider! I just realized after I wrote my author's note at the end of the story that my divider says 'BOB.' If your name's Bob, sorry if it gets annoying! :D

BOB

Disclaimer- Uh. No.

BOB

Happily Ever After (On the Run)

BOB

He watched her wiggle her toes in the sand, a tiny smile pulling her lips. The whole flock was spread out over the beach, and Fang sat on the rocks, watching them all. But mostly Max. His gaze switched from her to Angel, assessing the ring of dolphins swimming around her. Harmless. Max would flip if anything happened to her flock on their little vacation, especially if it was Angel in the path of danger.

Gazzy and Iggy had a campfire going on the beach, set deep in a sandy hole. They tossed in slabs of driftwood and anything else flammable and non-living, determined to make a fire pit that would last the entire night. Nudge was setting a world record at making beach angels, tirelessly working her arms up and down while Total sat beside her, content with watching.

Fang returned his attention to Max, who had stood and was just unfolding her wings. His brow furrowed, and he watched as she took off, pumping gracefully into the sky. His Max. She made a wide circle over the flock and soared out over the sea, beautiful as ever in the eyes of Fang. He watched, strong and silent as ever. He wanted to take off and fly with her, but he didn't want to say anything that might put her out of her good mood.

He rarely saw her smiling and laughing while she flew like that. Usually she was telling the flock where they were fleeing to, or encouraging them to pick up speed to get out of range of some Flyboys. He was glad they were gone for now. Things had sort of quieted down, so they were using the downtime to their advantage.

Max returned from her venture over the ocean, and was gliding down to the sand to see what Angel was doing with her fishy friends. Fang watched it all with blank eyes. He couldn't figure out why she affected him this way. She'd smile, he'd suddenly feel happy, they'd have a little private moment every now and again and he had to struggle to keep his cool. He wanted to hold her, but she was still confused, and hadn't said anything to him about his advances. Fang forked his fingers through his hair, annoyed that he was getting so worked up over Max.

His Max.

He stood from his place on the rocks and took off, flying over Max and circling until he got her attention. He made sure she saw him before he headed out over the stretch of beach and then turned where the island ended, disappearing behind the cover of the trees. He was suddenly glad they had found an uninhabited island, so he could go where he wanted.

"Angel…"

"He's just going out for a fly. He'll be back before the sun goes down."

Max stared after the dark angel, shaking her head.

"Why do you keep turning him down, Max? He's getting tired of sitting around while you do nothing." Max started, her eyebrows rising at what Angel had said.

"How do you--"

"He thinks about it a lot. So what are you going to do?" Max stared out over the sea, confused.

"I don't know."

"Max?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"Do you love Fang like he loves you?"

"I, uh, well…" Her face went a pretty shade of red, and Angel just stood, staring at the waves washing over her bare feet.

"He thinks you're ignoring him. Fang can't read your mind like me. He can't tell what you're thinking, and he's aggravated." Angel looked up at Max, her eyes wide with honesty. "Celeste thinks you need to talk to him instead of running away."

Max stared at her little girl, her little Angel, and couldn't say a word. Was she purposely eavesdropping on their thoughts to try and get them together? She blinked, and dug her toes into the sand.

"Maybe I will." Angel smiled and hugged Celeste, dashing back out into the waves until the water was up to her waist.

Max watched her dive under water, still not able to shove away the worry that something might happen to her little girl while she was out of sight. Angel resurfaced a couple yards away, her hand on the back of a dolphin. She waved, and Max smiled, waving back.

The sun had just touched the horizon line when Angel returned from the sea, gathering around the fire pit with Iggy, Gazzy, and Max. The latter was scanning the sky, trying to find a pair of silky black wings. Iggy and Gazzy were dancing some crazy made up steps around the fire, cackling and pretending to be primal islanders. Nudge was slowly working on another sand angel, with replicas scattered too far down the shoreline to see. Angel sat talking to Total, and Max briefly wondered how strange that would appear to normal people. It was getting dark fast, and there was still no sign of Fang.

"I'm going to take a fly around the island. If Fang comes back while I'm gone just sit tight here, got it?" Angel nodded, and Max took off.

Lucky for her the moon was full, so she didn't have a lot of trouble searching the beach ground while she flew. She figured she was halfway around the island from where she started when she found Fang, sitting in the sand and staring up at the moon. Max came down for a landing a few yards away, and as she walked towards the black winged boy her heart skipped a beat at how amazing he looked in the full moonlight. He really looked the part of a fallen angel.

"Max."

"Yeah?" She wondered why she sounded so airy and small.

"Look. Isn't it beautiful?"

"What?"

"The ocean. And the moon. And," He paused catching her eyes when she sat down beside him, "and you too."

Max flushed, glad for the semi-darkness.

"Fang--"

"Just sit for a while. Here, with me. Please." Max sighed, and she looked out over the sea.

"Okay."

She stiffened slightly when a warm hand covered hers, squeezing her fingers and then relaxing. Her breath released shakily, and she willed her muscles to relax. This was just Fang. The same Fang she knew all her life. 'But he's not acting like the Fang I've known all my life. He's being emotional!'

A few minutes passed, and Max had her head propped on his shoulder, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. Maybe Angel was right. Maybe it was time she stopped running away from him. Maybe, maybe it was time for Max to think about what she felt about Fang. It was already kind of obvious what he felt about her.

'But I can't do this. I can't get so involved that my feelings will end up influencing major flock decisions. I could put everyone in danger.'

'But Max, you're already thinking with your feelings. That's how you've kept everyone safe and alive all these years, don't you see?'

'Shut up, voice. Just shut up.'

"Max?"

"What?"

"You were growling."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. The voice was being annoying."

"I meant are you okay with…this." Fang squeezed her hand, and at the same time her stomach flipped.

"Oh." She picked her head up off his shoulder, and Fang removed his hand from hers.

"I see. You've…made your decision then?" Max stared at him, but his face was darkened by shadows. She couldn't help but wonder if she imagined the pain in his voice.

She didn't know what to say. She liked sitting there. She liked sitting there a lot. But that was scary. She had always been big leader Max, never insecure girly Max. It was unsettling. Fang stood up, and turned to go.

He was almost a yard away when Max realized that she could lose something if she let him go. She could lose something very, very important to her.

"Fang!" She jumped to her feet, her voice pleading with him to turn around.

He stopped.

"Don't…don't go. Please don't go. I have made up my mind. I…I don't want you to go."

He turned. Max offered a smile. His mouth quirked, and then spread into a beautiful, lopsided grin. Max giggled, not knowing what to do with herself. She felt such a great relief it made her want to cry. Fang walked back and stopped just a step in front of her, the moon lighting the dark brown in his eyes.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really, really?"

Max choked a laugh.

"Really, really." Max watched him smile, and then broke the silence again. "So…what does that mean?"

"What?"

"We fixed the great emotional rift. Things are all cool…what happens next?" Fang grinned again and leaned forward, bumping his forehead against hers.

"I kiss you. And we live happily ever after."

"Oh. But, how do we live happily ever after? Almost every power hungry dictator in the world wants us in their weapons arsenal. Happily ever after on the run?"

"Works for me." He smiled kissed her, and the moon lighted their happily ever after.

(On the run.)

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Heehee. I love Fax. It's beautiful. :D You know, I just realized that my new divider thing says 'BOB' about a million times over. Yeah, I nixed the 'OXOXOXO' thing. X's bother me. X3 So, this is my first Fax fic! Actually, it's my first Max Ride fic too! Yay, Max Ride! I don't know why I haven't written any Fax before. It's so much fun! Sorry if Fang was a bit OOC, but hey, he getsall emotional and non-Fang like in the books later on, so whatever. XD Love Fang to death. Him and Iggy are the most uber amazingest Avian Americans ever. XD Review please?

Mistoffelees Shadow