Me: CHAPTER 2! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN! (I don not own Maximum Ride. Only the plot. Thank goodness. She would be hard to live with, even if it would be awesome.)

Iggy: Um... Dramatic much?

Angel: Yes. She is.

Fang: ...

Me: ...

Max: ...awkward...

Me: SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING! I HATE AWKWARD SILENCES!

Angel: Um... Something?

Me: UGH! HOPELESS! THERE WILL BE FAX IN THIS. AGAIN, MAINLY INSIDE FANG'S HEAD.

Fang: Why do you make me out to be such a pervert?

Me: Becaaause your in looooo-mrph.

Fang: Shut it. Now on to the reading.

Max: What?

Me: MROUH ONH TU SHA MRANING! (NOW ON TO THE READING!)

Max POV

This handcuff is really starting to make my wrist hurt. I can't DO anything! Nudge is SO DEAD. We were watching a really cool crime T.V. show, but then Fang decided that it was time to go check his blog. STUPID BLOG! The only problem was that he forgot that I was ATTATCHED TO HIM. He got up so quickly that I was yanked by his arm onto the floor. Of course with MY luck, I jarred my wrist in the process. I can't exactly function with only one arm, let alone one arm and an arm attached to a really stubborn Avian-American. I'd like to say that I kept it cool, but in all reality, I yelled, "OW!"

"Oops. Sorry, Max." He DID look sorry, but I was in no mood to be forgiving.

"I'll forgive you if you find a way to remove the handcuff," I said, trying to smile sweetly as I lifted our joined hands for emphasis. I probably looked like the Joker.

He sat down again, more graceful than I could EVER be. It was around 1:00 a.m. and I had NO idea how we were going to sleep. This was going to be SO awkward. UGH! I don't suppose Nudge or Angel thought of THIS situation! Actually, now that I think about it, they probably did. Sighing loudly, I turned off the T.V. and got up. I marched down then hallway towards my bedroom, literally dragging Fang along with me.

"Hey!" he protested. "What makes you think that we're going to YOUR room?"

I gave him my best glare. That shut him up real fast. He knew that I wasn't going to let him win this time. I didn't give a chance to get up, I grabbed his handcuffed wrist with my handcuffed hand. It twisted my arm at a weird angle, but I towed him up the stairs anyway. He thumped against the stairs like a rag doll. Boy-Avian-Hybrid version. Wow. Image of that is in my head now...pffft... THAT WOULD MAKE AN AMAZING HORROR MOVIE! Curse of the killer bird-kid doll? What a ridiculously long name! Now I was laughing out loud. I'm pretty sure that Fang thought I was a demented weirdo.

Then we entered my room, which starts as a nice royal blue but fades out into a green-tinged blue until finally becoming a sea foam green, then back again. It's like a circle of colors. (This is my mom's house by the way. We stay here whenever we aren't on the run. She's away on vet business. You know, all those animal to heal, and so little time.) My furniture was a nice, dark, sleek brown. I know the combination sounds weird, but it works well. Then a new thought struck me like lightning. First: Ouch. Wouldn't that hurt?

Then: How was I going to change into my pajamas?

I looked at Fang. I wasn't going to sleep in my clothes. It's not like we were on the run and I had no choice but to sleep in them. He glanced sideways back at me.

"I don't mind sleeping in my clothes," is what he said. Well, I did. Being my stubborn self and all. I sure as hell wasn't going to let him win this one.

So this is what I did:

I took the pair of scissors in my hand and hesitated.

"You sure you want to do this? Fang asked. That decided it. I wasn't going to wimp out. So I took the pair of scissors to the sleeve of my shirt. I had to get out of this one before getting into the next one, right? I wasn't going to be all wimpy about cutting up a shirt. After all, it's only a shirt. What did you think I was going to do? Cut off my hand? To save a shirt? No way!

"And no peeking!" I said to Fang as I had started to cut and he hadn't turned around yet. I knew that it would be awkward, but he wasn't going to see me in my bra. Luckily, our feet weren't handcuffed (feetcuffed?) so I didn't need to cut my pants off too. That would be a nightmare. Not to mention near impossible to do with the pants as I was about to do with a tank top. But I forgot one thing. The vanity mirror that I never used was on the side of the room that Fang was facing, with his arm twisted behind his back. He could see everything. I however, didn't realize this until later. Too late, really. Like, the-next-day late.

With my shirt now off, torn up, and pretty damn useless, I cut the sleeves of the black tank top that I'd gotten from my drawer at the very top. I put my legs through the hole where my head would go, and one-handed, I shimmied it up my body. It was hard to be honest. I tried to tie the sleeves into little knots at the shoulder, but that was all but impossible to do with one hand. I got my wings through their respective holes. Then, pulling the tank top up to fully cover anything that I didn't exactly want him to see, you know, keeping it PG here, then asked him to turn around to help me. Wordlessly, he faced my direction and somehow, after several long moments of frustration (from me), cussing (also from me), and fumbling fingers (again: from me), we managed to get it done.

I had him turn around again as I changed into my comfortable forest green shorts. Not too short of course. But not quite pants either. Then it was time to sort out where we sleep.

I laid on my stomach on top of my bed. Fang had somehow convinced me that he would sleep on the floor. I was near the left side of my Navy blue comforter with my arm out. It bent down over the bed at the elbow. My wings draped over me like a blanket. Fang had laid down on his left side, wings out across the floor wherever he had room to spread out. His right arm was hanging by the handcuff attached to my wrist. I listened to the steady breathing of my best friend-we may argue, but always has and always will be my closest friend. Handcuffs or no hand cuffs-as I drifted off. I don't exactly remember falling asleep... but I must have fallen asleep eventually to be woken up like I was.

I was yanked to the floor. While adjusting his sleeping position, Fang had accidentally pulled down on his right arm, pulling me over the edge. I thudded down next to him. He startled awake and bolted upright, again, bringing me along with him. I groaned.

"Fang! You pulled me down, and I was sleeping!" Closing my eyes, I flopped down to the floor. I groaned again. I was so not a morning person.

"Sorry," he said. Standing up, this time having the decency to help me up instead of pulling me along, he stretched. I have to give him credit, he didn't almost yank my arm off this time, That sleeping arrangement wasn't going to work for another night. We had to find the key!

"We'll find it eventually," he told me, after reading the expression on my face. He knew me so well. It annoyed me sometimes. It was endearing at others. I guess now was one of the endearing times. My face softened as I looked up at him, and I felt a smile tugging at my lips. Not my usual sarcastic smile, but a sweeter smile that I could feel came from somewhere deeper. It freaked me out a little.

"I know." And I did. I knew that Fang would do what he had to do to find the key for me. We wouldn't be locked together forever.

I had to go through the same ritual of getting dressed that I had last night. If this goes on for much longer, I won't have any tank tops left. I untied the tank top and replaced it with a different on. This one was light gray with a colorful butterfly. I'm not really into butterflies, but I'd decided to make an exception. I had pulled up my dark blue jeans and was buttoning them when I glanced behind me. What I saw made me blush from my neck all the way to the top of my head. I realized that I was in full view of the mirror. And Fang was starring right into that mirror. At me. He noticed how I saw him watching me. And he blushed even more red than I did. If that was possible. He turned away, looking actually embarrassed.

"W-what the hell was that about?" I sputtered.

"Well..."

"Well, what?"

"Breakfast!" we heard Iggy yell. I was going to continue with conversation.

"Tell me." Ignoring Iggy, I stared at him intently. The uncertainty in his eyes was replaced with a determination I'd rarely seen.

"I'll tell you later," he said as the steel lining left his eyes. There was something he wasn't telling me. But I let it go. I was hungry, after all!

As we walked down the stairs, we had to edge along sideways so that we wouldn't knock anything over. Glass, for instance. Mom would NOT appreciate a shattered vase. Or handcuffed kids. But I guess that when the Mom's away, the kids play. And handcuff each other. Oh, well. Mmmm. I can smell the bacon...

Fang POV

I cannot believe that I almost kissed Max. What was I thinking? Well, I was probably thinking even less when I watched Max get dressed... I am such an idiot. She caught me. And now she wants an explanation. Why is love so difficult? I'm sure now that love is what was happening to me. But how do I tell her?

Max POV

Iggy is officially my favorite right now. Well, I say that at every meal, but seriously. It is delicious. Bacon perfectly crispy, scrambled eggs, and warm, fluffy pancakes with creamy peanut butter and maple syrup. Seriously. Peanut butter and syrup on a pancake is heaven during breakfast. No lie. Try it sometime and you will become a believer. As we all sat around the simple oak table in the cream colored dinning room and stuffed our faces, I reached for the pancakes on one side of the table while Fang reached for the syrup on the other side. Both of us used the hand that was attached to the others'. Our hands jerked as we tried to separate them and it left red marks on my wrist. This was no plastic play toy, it was a full-on metal lock and key type of handcuff. I haven't learned how to pick locks yet, but after this I sure as hell will. I just hope the kids didn't steal it from a cop. My eye caught Fang's and I blushed as I remembered what had happened earlier that morning. These next few days are sure to be torture.

Me: Hope you liked it!

Max: This is so awkward

Me: Bye-Bye! (for now! I'll update soon! )