Disclaimer: I don't own Max and Fang, and I never will. I do own Laura and Frank, but its not much consolation :


Chapter 2:

"Don't ever leave me again," She said in a tiny voice.

"I won't," I promised into her hair, sounding most unlike myself. "I won't. Not ever."

Those words were echoing though my brain, slowly drilling, drilling. I'd meant them, I really did. So why was I leaving, then? Why was I slowly walking away, silent as always, from Max's lone figure.

Because I'd finally found her, that's why. She'd finally found them, I should say. My mom and her husband. Over the last week, Max had been surprising each member of the flock with their parents. First Nudge, then Angel and Gazzy, and two days ago, Iggy. Today was my turn.

A large part of me wished that she wouldn't have told me, that she wouldn't have tracked them down. When did she have the time to anyway? I guess, deep down, I had always thought it would be the two of us against the world, forever. And that thought used to make me happy.

When I turned around she wasn't there anymore. I could barely see her outline in the distance. That was it. She just … left. She didn't even say good-bye. So I got in the shiny, black Aston Martin and let my parents drive off. For one moment I was actually mad at her, and I hurt because she just let me go, because she didn't even try to stop me.

My mom turned her head around and looked at me, a smile on her face, and I tried to show some sign of life. She looked like me. I guess it shouldn't have been so surprising. She had my hair and my eyes, but she seemed like a happier creature than I could ever be.

"It's Nick, isn't it?" She asked softly. I wasn't surprised that she called me by that name. I didn't feel like Fang all that much anymore, that chapter of my life ended when I saw Max off in the distance.

I just stared out the window as the car passed over various highways and roads. I never said a word, never moved a muscle. I felt rather empty. There was no more laughter, no more explosions, no more beautiful brown eyes. It was hard to consider that I would never have those things again. Soon the sun set, and the car stopped moving.

"This is it," My mom, Laura, said as we all got out of the car and walked to the door of some mail order house that looked more perfect and orderly than even the picture used to order it. Turns out that my new step-father was some sort of lawyer.

"Can I get you something, sweetheart?" Laura asked after I had come down from viewing the guest bedroom which would be turned into my room. I shrugged.

I found myself sitting down, a plate of, well I don't know what in front of me. There were diced things, sliced things, red stuff and green stuff, the only thing I could actually recognize was cheese melted in some places. The woman was staring at me so I took my fork and took a bite. I didn't want to be rude on my first day there.

I'm sure that the dish was perfectly appealing, but to me it was tasteless. Maybe because it could never compare to Iggy's cooking, or because it looked like something Max would make while trying to cook something completely different. Perhaps Iwas just a little depressed. Yeah, that was it, I was a little depressed.

"Is everything alright, Nick?" I must have frowned or they just weren't used to such a silent person.

"Yeah. Fine." I said, but my head was screaming: How can everything be alright when she's not here? How can I ever be fine without her? "I'm going to go to bed."

"Alright." Laura said in the same tiny voice that Max had used that day. My head was swimming. I didn't notice that Frank was frowning slightly, all I wanted was to get up to that stupid room and be alone, so I could silently wallow in self-pity.

I crashed on the double bed without undressing and stared up at the dark ceiling for a long time. Then the unthinkable happened. I felt tears slide down my face. I let out a short, humorless laugh; I hadn't cried in ten years, maybe more. But I didn't stop them, or even try to wipe them away. They were oddly appropriate.

I was mourning. I had lost the best things in my life: my strange family. Hell, I had lost my life too, I let it fly away from me. My lips traced her name silently before I finally succumbed to darkness, inexplicably tired.


If anyone's interested the dish that I had Laura prepare for Fang was Orrechiette Carbonara, and Fang's parents' car is the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish that Stephenie Meyer has a link to on her websiteunder Edward's "special occasion" car. Sorry, but i couldn't get a link of either on here for some reason.

Ani