Fang is back. I just stared at her. Why is he back?

"Max, come on. He's waiting in the living room." Nudge said, she looked sympathetic; she knew how much I cared for Fang and how much it had hurt to let him go. And now he was back. I wonder how he found us here; we've only lived here like a month. Right now we are living in a little cabin that we found in the woods in southern Missouri. People had obviously lived here once, but it's been abandoned for a while.

"Um, yeah…ok. I'll be in there in a minute." I started to get up and Nudge left and went back in the living room. This was the last thing I needed right now, especially after that dream I had last night. My heart was pounding as I looked for something clean to put on-clean meaning not stained with blood or dirt, because let's face it; birdkids on the run don't really have decent clothes. I grabbed some jeans and a t-shirt and went into the bathroom.

I grabbed a brush and started brushing my hair, not something I do very often. Wait, why was I doing this? Fang had always been there to see my best and worst anyway, and it's not like he cares. But still, I couldn't help but be glad I took a shower last night.

I slowly left the bathroom and made my way to the living room where my flock and ex flock member were waiting. I stopped right outside the living room door to try to calm myself down. I took a few deep breathes and counted to 10. I walked in.

"Max—," Fang started, looking at me with some emotion in his eyes, I couldn't really tell which one.

"Nice of you to join us, tired of playing house with your Max stand in?" I interrupted him bitterly. Upping my Maxness up a few notches was the only way I could get through this. This time what I saw in his eyes I could identify; regret. I was hoping it was regret over leaving the flock and getting a new flock with Maya.

Four pairs of birdkid eyes stared right at me—Nudge, Gazzy, Fang, and Iggy, well Iggy looked in my direction, because he's blind. I didn't seem right; there should be five birdkids with me. It was bad enough that Fang hadn't been here, but then we lost Angel, my baby. "How'd you find us here Fang?" I said.

He glanced quickly at Gazzy, but not quick enough. "Gazzy!" I exclaimed. "Did you contact Fang?"

The Gasman looked away, "I may have mentioned we were here. But I'm sorry! I missed him and wanted him to come back." I had to remind myself that we all missed Fang, and that Gazzy was only 9… no matter how old he seemed. I couldn't be mad at him.

Fang never really talked much, and he was quiet right now. He looked up and met my eyes and smiled at me. As he started to walk over to me, he said, "I missed you Max."

Seeing him was enough to make my heart hurt, but now he was saying he had missed me? I looked down at my feet, not wanting to admit to him how much I missed him too, the rest of the flock of course knew. I was concentrating on my feet so hard that I didn't even notice Fang right in front of me.

Fang pulled my chin up to where I was looking right at him. There were only inches between us. His hand sent electricity all through my body. Then to my amazement, he pulled my face closer to his and kissed me.

I instantly kissed him back, missing the way the warmth of his lips spread throughout my body. I knew I was supposed to be mad at him, but it's so easy to forget things like that when he kisses me like this. I could have kissed him forever, but he pulled back.

"Are you mad?" He said, gazing at me. The way he looked at me—I felt like I was the most beautiful girl in the world. I couldn't be mad at him.

I sighed, "Not completely," I started to add more but he grinned and kissed me again. He lifted me off my feet and into the air, kissing my neck and sending tingles down my spine. He held me level to himself, looked me in the eye, and simply said, "I love you Max." Then he set me back down.

I turned from him, "You said you loved me before, and then you left." I looked around, realizing the rest of the flock must have thought we needed privacy, because they were no longer in the living room.

"Max." He said, "Max, look at me." I turned slowly, but looked down at the ground. He, of course, pulled my chin up and said, "I thought I could live without you, I thought it would be better for everyone if I did. But I was wrong, so freaking wrong. These past few months without you have been the worst of my life. And I—"

"Man," I smiled, "What happened to the Fang that used to never talk?"

He smiled at me, and I smiled back. We hugged, and just like that; everything between us was back the way it was. We called to the rest of the flock, and hand-in-hand we ran, jumped out the window, and opened our wings. I forgot how great flying could be with him at my side.

Two months later my dream came true—you know, the dream where Fang asked me to marry him? (Well minus the Eraser attack, thankfully.) The rest of the flock was happy about it, and didn't tell us to leave and have our own flock (haha)… surprisingly Angel was the happiest. Yeah, Angel… we got her back. Looong story. My life has never been better, but knowing me; it won't stay this way for long.