Fang rubbed his eyes, and stifled a yawn. He had been looking at the computer screen too long. He knew if he closed the lid, he would be too tempted to drop off to sleep with everyone else. So he sat, still staring at the white light from the screen, watching youtube videos with no sound and trying to think of something to write.
Fang looked around the room, his eyes pausing at each member of the flock. Iggy lay slumped against a chair, that was occupied by Gazzy, who was snoring loudly with his mouth wide open. Max lay in the center of the bed, Nudge curled up by her feet and Angel nestled close to her side. Fang let out a sigh as shifted his position in the chair, trying to regain the feeling in his leg.
He glanced up as he heard the gentle swish of fabric, and saw Max, let go of Angel, and roll to the other side of the bed, face pinched in pain. Fang slowly put the laptop to the side and was getting to his feet, when he saw her face relax once more, and her body become less rigid. Fang moved to sit down again, when something caught his eye.
A glint of metal on Max's exposed neck.
Fang crept over to the side of the bed, and with a closer look ascertained that it was a part of a chain, the rest tucked into her shirt. He had never known Max to be one for jewelry…
Slowly, so as not to wake her, he began to pull at the chain so he would be able to see whatever was on the end of it. He held his breath as the chain slowly pulled free. Fang cupped the end of the necklace in his hands.
There were three things dangling off of the end of the chain. The first was a set of keys, that Fang was sure went to a little box she carried in her backpack. The second was a small ring he had seen Dr. Martinez give her, and the third was the most peculiar. It was a safety pin. Just a normal everyday safety pin.
Why would Max put that on a necklace with two extremely important things? He examined it more closely, and saw it was dented and bent, and there was something dry on it… was that blood? Fang dropped the necklace and grabbed Max's wrist.
Max, startled by the sudden grip on her wrist, punched Fang in the nose, who stumbled into the wall, causing Nudge, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy to spring to their feet, ready to defend themselves.
The four caught sight of Max, fist raised, still only half sitting up, clearly stunned at what she had done, and Fang, slowly sinking to the ground, back against the wall, fingering his nose, which was bleeding profusely.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Fang yelled angrily.
"What the heck happened is what I want to know," Iggy said, eyebrows raised.
"I'm sorry!" was all Max could squeak as she grabbed a shirt to mop up the blood.
A while later after everything had been mostly explained, everyone was fast asleep again, save for Fang, who was still on watch, and Max, who was watching him.
"You can go to sleep you know…" Fang said, not looking up from his laptop.
"Why did you grab me?" she asked slowly.
Fang closed his eyes in a pained way, as Max looked at him, searching him for some sort of hint in his face or eyes.
"Necklace," he said quietly.
Max looked curiously at him for a moment, before pulling the necklace out of her shirt again and taking it off from around her neck.
"Why would you possibly do that because of this?" She said, anger sparking into her voice as she held the necklace in his face.
"Look at this!" he hissed, "grabbing the safety pin, now pushing it into her face.
"What about it?" she said angrily, splotches of color appearing on her cheeks.
"There's blood on it!" Fang said, dropping the pin angrily.
"And your point is what now?" She said, face dangerously close to his.
Fang groaned angrily, "As if you don't get hurt enough! Now you're doing it to yourself!"
Max just looked at him, eyebrows raised, before doubling over with laughter. Fang glared at her, eyes narrowed, as she tried to find her breath.
"You seriously think I'm cutting myself?" Max said with an amused smile, "Like you said, I get hurt enough already thanks."
Fang just stared at her, not quite believing it.
"What's it from then?" He asked indicated the blood with a nod of his head. The smile vanished off of Max's face in an instant. "C'mon," Fang said, still staring at her, "What's it from?"
Max slipped the chain back onto her neck, and began to finger each of the items in turn. When she got to the safety pin, she stopped, rubbing it in between her fingers and staring hard at the floor. "It's yours," she said quietly. Fang spun to face her.
"Mine?"
She nodded silently, "When you were in the ambulance after being attacked by Ari… I took it off of your jacket- the one they cut apart." Fang remained silent as she continued, "I thought you were going to die."
There was a long silence until Max cleared her throat and changed the subject, "You've been on watch for too long. It's my turn. You can go to sleep."
Fang didn't move though, his eyes searching for hers.
Just as Max was about to sit down, Fang grabbed her wrist.
"Look, don't make me punch you again," she said seriously. She could see him weighing his options for a moment, before pulling her into him.
The next morning, Nudge awoke to find Fang and Max, curled up in the chair, heads leaning together, with the necklace held loosely in Fang's hand. She smiled to herself, before pretending to be asleep once more. She would let them have their moment. Just this once.
A/N: Ok this sounded a lot better in my head. But what doesnt? I havent written for a really long time... and sorry about my other mr story but i am still having MAJOR writers block. I mite come up with something someday....