1
Only I could possibly get myself in this much trouble.
It was flying through the sky with Jake and fifty-ish other mutants that made me realize that I am just plain insane. But I love it. Jake's hand was warm in mine, the sky was blue, the wind felt great and all those fifty-ish mutants were smiling, sticking hands out in the air and feeling it, staring at clouds in wonder at their closeness. Cute kids. We'd been to Mickey D's, refueled, and were on the way to the real middle of nowhere to touch down for a while and talk. Why the middle of nowhere despite the Arizona heat? Because I'm an idiot and didn't think about what this would look like walking into a McDonalds. That's me: always thinkin'.
About an hour after McDonald's we touched down in nowhere and settled down in a strange little circle. Bird kids seemed to be pulled towards us, so they formed the inner ring of the circle around Jake and I. Kids moved out of the way so that other kids could see and soon we had a relatively orderly circle of a couple scattered half-rows of wide eyes looking up at my boyfriend and I. Oh, great.
"Alright, well… Hi, everyone. Welcome to the world," I began. And kids clapped. The actually clapped and cheered, and all I'd said was "Hi." Well, I feel special, I thought. Jake walked closer and put his arm around my waist. "You are," he told me. Well, reading my mind, are we? I thought, but I knew he'd already picked up on the incoherent thoughts that came when he slid his arm around my waist. "Yes," he said with a laugh. Well take about three steps backward or your gonna get kicked. It's leader time. He stepped back with his hands up in the universal "I surrender" position, but he was still laughing at me. Dork.
"Well, anyway, here you are, in the lovely but hot Arizona. I have no idea where any of you guys came from but I obviously cannot take care of all of you, so I don't really know why I'm up here. I guess we'll all hang out today, and then… I don't know, do what's best for you. If you think you need people, find a group. If you think you need a partner, well," I stopped and stepped back to take Jake's hand. "Find one. If you would rather live on your own, I can understand that. I tried it once. Just be aware of how well you really can take care of yourself. Maybe ask a couple people where they're going so that you'll know where to go-well, not like any of us will get to stay in one place long. If there's anything I learned from my good friend Max when she was still around-"
I was cut off as everyone cheered. Max was a legend. Her flock had kind of gone AWOL, but they were legends. They brought the School down to the point where kids like us were helping kids like us all over the world. Itex was failing. Freaks were prevailing. Max had found Jake and I once-though we didn't make it into Fang's blog or any of her little books, because we were on the run and asked not to be mentioned. We hung out a little while and were friends as much as any freaks on the run can be. But we had to go our separate ways of course. Fang and Jake kept in touch blogging, though. Nerds stick together, I guess.
Curly strawberry blond hair fell in my face. Dang, I needed to cut my hair. It was back in a ponytail and still annoying the crap out of me.
"Yes, I know we all love Max. She was one awesome bird girl. But anyway, you've all got your own stories to write, so… I don't know what you've all got me for. Everyone start talking and hanging out and see who you end up with. Stick around for a little while-that is one thing I'm going to take initiative on. We are going to make sure that no one who doesn't want to be alone ends up alone. We are all going to find better lives than the ones those life sucking scumbags at the school tried to give us. We are not experiments, we are people. Cool people, with wings and scales and cool abilities. And we will not go down without a fight. So find someone, please-I do not recommend going it alone. But I'm sure there are some people that it's good for. So, now that I've rambled and put you all to sleep, go find someone to hang out with!"
Some of them actually laughed when I made fun of myself and it felt good to be liked. I mean, I'd really only ever had Jake. And Max, when we talked on the blogs.
"Oh, Em, speaking of the blogs, Max wrote to you," Jake said. Gosh dang it.
"Will you stop reading my mind?" I spat at him, faking annoyance but smiling the whole time. He walked two steps closer to me, wrapped both arms around my waste and pulled me into him.
"But you're so easy to read," he laughed, his face inches from mine. But I wasn't about to kiss him in front of these kids. So I leaned in and rested my head on his chest when I felt a little tug at my light grey Converse All-Star t-shirt. I looked down and the little girl I'd carried on my back was there. She had strawberry blond hair like I'd had when I was little-mine was more strawberry dirty blond now, a bit darker. Her eyes were dark brown-like Jake's, only they were cute and almost owl-ish instead of… nevermind. She had pale skin from living in bright white labs her whole life, and wore a hospital-type gown and a bracelet.
Then I remembered that not only was she a winged child, but she had a broken wing.
"Oh my gosh, sweetie, I forgot about your wing," I said, pulling away from Jake and leaning over to put my hand on her arm comfortingly. "Is it okay if you turn around and I look at it for you? Jake broke his once, I think I know how to help a bit. I can definitely find you a way to make it hurt less. But we'll see how bad it is. Is that okay?" She nodded, still silent. She looked to be about four years old, maybe five. She turned around and I gasped. Blood soaked her nightgown on the back-some of it new, some of it maybe not. Her wing had been broken before the break in. But thankfully it had definitely not started to heal. However this was not one that I could fix.
"Oh my gosh sweetie! Doesn't it hurt?" She turned around to face me and I saw tears welling in her eyes. Oh, my gosh, she was so cute…
Then she took two little steps forward and threw her tiny arms around my neck and started to sob. "It hurts so bad," she cried into my hair. I looked at Jake.
"Well, she is adorable. She looks like us. And I know I'm couldn't convince you otherwise even if I wanted to. Oh, and I'm not literally reading your mind this time. I'm just looking at those green grey eyes and thinking, Oh, crap, I have a daughter."
The little girl pulled back and looked at me, her face streaked with tears. I instinctively used my thumb to wipe the tears off her face. "Can I stay with you? Can you fix me?"
God, she was adorable.
"Of course, sweetie. I think I love you already." She smiled through the tears and hugged me again and I just held her and smiled at Jake.
"You realize what this means, right?" I asked him expectantly.
"You mean that we have one more mouth to feed?" Wow, practical much?
"No. I mean that the only person who can fix this is Dr. Martinez. And you know what a trip to Dr. Martinez's house means."
2
Only Emily could end up with a daughter in five minutes and decide that there was totally a way to cope with that. But now we had a daughter, and yes, I will be telling people that it is ours. Even if she is in no way related to us, and Emily and I are technically not related-both Christian, we won't be having any kids until we get married-that little girl is ours.
The question on the flight to the Martinez's house was "What is your name, sweetie?" Emily's words, of course. That little girl is adorable, but I couldn't bring myself to just immediately call her sweetie. Emily's just a mother by instinct. We used to hang out with some other bird kids-they were the same age as us, but they definitely needed a mother, and Em went on this leader thing for a while. It worked out, though-they all got their lives worked out and eventually ditched us. But it took a toll on her for a while. It made us a lot closer to each other and God when she decided she could save the world one troubled teenager at a time-she definitely needed some support for a while there. And I was happy to give it.
So anyway, we were flying to the Martinez's which was conveniently in Arizona and only a couple hours away by flight, where we knew we could stay for a few days, refuel, decide how we were going to feed another mouth and take care of this little girl, get a lot of food, and rendezvous with Max and the Flock. Because fact is I love them every bit as much as Emily does.
We'd been taking turns with the little girl and she was currently on my back, and the three of us were discussing possible names.
"They don't give you names in science labs," Emily had explained. "It's more like a product number, which isn't right for humans. But I know you know most of that. Anyway, you need a proper name. I liked the name Emily when I was little because of Toy Story 2. I loved the doll Jessie and I wanted to name myself after her owner. Jake named himself after Jacob from the Bible." We then explained to her what the Bible was and decided to raise her Christian, the way we'd have anyone grow up if we got to choose. Wow, becoming a parent at fourteen. Without all the trauma. Woohoo.
"Well, I like a lot of names," the girl said. "Can we have the Flock help us pick one? And Ella and Dr. Martinez? We'll all just say a bunch of them and I can pick what one I like."
I'll give the School credit for one thing: it makes you grow up fast. And this little girl acted eight, not four. That wasn't really fair, but it was good for us, and good for the way she'd have to live, always on the run. Emily and I were kind of becoming big-shots in the world of mutants, running escape plans in locations all over the U.S., once even making it to Mexico. Illegally, of course.
In what seemed like no time at all we'd landed at the Martinez's.
"Emily! Jake!" Ella ran to us, having been just going inside with a bag of groceries which she dropped, running to hug us as we landed and shook out our feathers and a swung the little girl around to hold her in the front-much easier, and my back was tired. And she really was adorable.
Ella ran and hugged Emily, then turned to me and saw our little girl. "Well who is this?" Ella exclaimed, smiling and going to tickle our little girl. Then she saw the brown eyes and strawberry blond curls and looked up at me, then at Emily, a look of horror on her face. I didn't process it until Emily laughed.
"No, Ella, that's not what happened!" Emily yelled to her. "She's not our biological daughter. Though I know, it's kinda weird."
"Well, we've got visitors!" Dr. Martinez yelled as she finally came out of the car with a couple more bags. "Ella, do you really have to destroy something every time a bird kid lands in our front yard?" she asked, gesturing to the bags of food on the ground.
"Well, yes, I do, because they're just gonna eat it all anyway."
"Well, good point," Dr. Martinez said, laughing. "Well, who is that little angel? And I mean angel metaphorically, not as in Angel… wow, that doesn't work anymore," she said, laughing at herself and trailing off. She then did the same thing Ella did and we had to explain the little girl's story. As we explained, we all began to slowly walk inside, and we'd already shown Dr. Martinez the girl's wing. So we went inside and she grabbed some equipment and keys to different rooms at the veterinary clinic she worked at, and we all piled in the car with the girl between Emily and I in the back seat.
"So what's your name, sweetie?" Dr. Martinez asked her, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
"I don't have one yet," she replied, starting out confident and getting quieter, hiding her mouth behind her hands and hiding in my arm. I looked up at Emily and she smiled, and I started reading her mind deciding she was trying to tell me something and that was easier.
Isn't she adorable? I don't want her to ever grow up, she said. I looked back at her and, knowing she couldn't hear me, thought I wish that could happen. This was awesome. I had been a bit doubtful, but I should have known Emily would make it work, at all costs.
We got to the clinic and our little girl hid in my arm again, seeing the building and just sensing a doctor-ish office. I'd put an extra jacket on her from my backpack (Emily and I had hid our backpacks somewhere and gone back to get them on the way back, I doubt she felt the need to include that), just a fleece hoodie, but it covered her whole body, so I picked her up and carried her with her body facing mind and no one could see the hospital gown or the blood or the wings.
"Hey, Annie," said Dr. Martinez to the secretary. "Giving some kids a tour of the back rooms again." Like this was perfectly normal. We walked right through, my new little girl cringing into my chest and hiding, scared of the antiseptic smell and white walls.
"It's ok, sweetie," I whispered to her, stroking her long, curly hair. It felt like she calmed down a bit-I hadn't even realized she'd been tensing up. How much would that hurt with her injured wing?
I had a flashback to when I'd broken my wing. It would hurt a lot.
"It's ok, sweetie, we're gonna get you all cleaned up and fixed up." She sniffled.
"Okay, so I'm just going to start by washing you off a little bit so that your wings are clean again, okay? I should've thought to bring you some clothes… but I guess I don't really have any…" Dr. Martinez walked around looking for a towel and anything the girl could wear. Nothing. "Alright, we'll have to put you back in that hospital gown for now, but we'll go straight home to give you a proper bath and Jake and Ella will stay with you while I go with Emily to buy you some clothes, all right?" She nodded meekly.
Dr. Martinez picked her up out of my hands and took her back to wash her off, brining her back pretty quickly. "Now we're going to go give you an x-ray, so that I can see what's wrong with your wing, okay?" She just nodded. I knew she'd warm up to Dr. Martinez the same way she had to us, but it would take a little while. With us, it just seemed to… click.
We followed Dr. Martinez to an… x-ray room. I don't know how to describe an x-ray room. She took the x-ray and it was nasty. One of the hollow bones in her wing was bent totally at the wrong angle and had knocked another one funny.
"Well, the good news is I can definitely fix it. The bad news is it's not gonna feel too good for a few days, and it's going to take six weeks to heal, and you probably won't be able to fly for eight weeks. But, then again, I need to take into account the rate at which you guys heal… umm… it will hurt for a few hours, she'll be healed in two weeks, and should be able to fly in four weeks."
"Thank you so much, Dr. Martinez," Emily told her. I couldn't agree more: this little girl needed more help than we could have given her and Dr. Martinez was a miracle worker. She started messing with our baby's wing and soon enough she was wrapped up. The only problem: it was near the base of her wing and she could no longer completely bend it, keeping her from bringing in to her back and concealing it with my jacket. So we improvised: Emily carried her, stood at the back, and the three of us formed a triangle around her and hoped no one noticed. Her wings were small, so we rushed out and it was okay.
Back at Dr. Martinez's, we decided to hang out for a little while. Our little girl said she could survive in the clothes for a little while, she just wanted to rest. She promptly fell asleep on the couch, and so did Emily, with the girl on top of her. So I went to the kitchen, plugged in our laptop and went on the blog to write back to Max.
Max-
At the Martinez's. How soon can you meet up? We've got a surprise for you guys to meet, and she's pretty dang adorable ;)
See you soon,
Emily
I thought my Emily impersonation was pretty good. Max wrote back almost immediately-she'd been online.
Be there soon
Max
Way to be quick, Max. Well, at least I knew she was rounding up the Flock to come say hi. I wondered for a moment what would've happened if she hadn't gone looking for Fang when he'd decided to run off "for the good of the Flock." He knew he'd messed up. We talked on the blog and he was almost literally going to kill himself over it. But thank God, Max found him.
Then I realized of course Max went to look for him. That's just the way those two are. They need each other, in Maxness and in Leaderness, to lead the Flock.
And I need Emily, in Emilyness and Leaderness, to raise this child. Little did I know at the time that we'd pick up a few more…
HEYY GUYS:) So as you can see, I've finally taken your advice and written a Max Ride FanFic, living up to my name. And dramaqueencve made me realize that I need to stop worrying about whether my writing is good enough for you guys or not. You either like it or you don't-it doesn't mean you don't like me! :P Anyway, I like this one cuz I'm making up the characters and I'm really gonna get to put myself into it. In fact, I've got so many ideas brewing… somebody PM me and tell me to go write something for the LLPA sequel, too-I don't want to accidentally abandon it with this! :P Anyway, I'm having fun. Here you go!
