Okay guys, here's my new chapter! I hope you like it.

I look at Jeb's face, sickened by the creepy smile he's wearing, and suddenly all the things I wanted to yell and scream at him disappear from my mind. The only thing that's left is . . . shock. I stand at the trunk with Fang, while everyone is silent, waiting to see our reaction, I guess.

While I'm too frozen to do anything, Iggy is a different story. He's standing by the car door, staring at Jeb with as much amount of hate as I'd been feeling the past few days. I can see his body tremble a bit, and I think his anger has finally boiled over.

"Kids!" Jeb says, obviously not sensing the tense atmosphere. "I haven't seen you in, what? 9 months?"

The shock suddenly washes away, and total fury fills it. I'm about to say something, but Iggy beats me to it.

"Ten," he says with as much annoyance and disgust as he can muster. He trembles even more. I try to gather up the strength to move, and I walk swiftly over to Iggy. I take hold of his arm, and pull back slightly, worried. I have a lot of hate towards Jeb too, but I don't want Iggy to get in some sort of fight with him. It just wouldn't end up pretty.

"Okay!" Debra says loudly, trying to defuse the tension. She walks up to Jeb and they begin talking.

I pull Iggy back and look him straight in the eye. He looks so heartbroken, so frustrated and disgusted all at the same time.

I give his hand a squeeze and say gently and quietly, "Calm down, okay? I know what you're feeling, but I don't want you to start trouble on the first day here. We're already having a terrible day as it is."

He sighs and nods a tiny nod. I release him, and walk back to Fang who is getting our suitcases out of the trunk. I don't say anything, and help him. Once we're done putting all our bags and suitcases on the ground beside the car, we hear a throat clear.

I look up, and Jeb's there. "Need any help?" He asks with a smirk.

I glare at him and leave, suitcase in hand, without answering. I hear Fang utter a "No we got it," annoyingly, and I can sense that he's behind me, walking up to the house. Iggy grabs a bag from the ground and tags along with us, trying not to be alone with Jeb.

I step up the stairs that lead to the front door. When we get to the top, we step inside the massive house. The first thing I notice is a giant stair case. The ceiling is really high with an amazing chandelier hung. To my right is a space that looks like an office, and to my left is a dining room. There are dark wooden floors all over, and the walls are a cream color. The house is beautiful to say the least.

While my eyes are taking in the magnificent place, they shift in front, where I see a pretty lady who's grinning like a madwoman.

She looks like she's in her early forties and she's got blonde hair, a straight narrow nose and high cheek bones that make her look sophisticated. Her eyes, though, are the most striking part of her face. They're dark green and they pierce, seeming to look right through you. She's wearing a lavender colored blouse with sleeves that stop a couple of inches below her elbow. She has khaki pants on with a gold chain belt and white high heels. She looks like a rich man's wife, that's for sure.

"How nice to finally meet you, Maximum," she says with a smooth voice while holding out a hand.

Her eyes pierce mine, and for some reason I'm compelled to smile at her, but I refuse. Instead I shake her hand, mumbling a quick "Hey."

She dismissively looks past me, at Fang and Iggy, and her smile grows. "Now which one of you is Iggy? There are only two of you coming, correct? I hope there hasn't been a miscommunication."

Iggy steps up and says exasperatingly, "No, I'm Iggy. That's her boyfriend."

She shakes his hand and then shakes Fang's hand. We stand there quietly while she sizes us up. I fight the urge to straighten my hair down while she looks at me expectantly.

When she finally takes her judgmental eyes off of me, she steps back, smoothes her shirt down and says, "Well it's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Clarissa and I'm Jeb's fiancé. It's too bad, Fang, that you must leave us. Maximum must be very distressed, but I suppose it's for the best that she –"

"Wait wait wait," I say loudly. "What do you mean, 'fiancé'?"

She looks at me and smiles, almost mockingly. "Why, you haven't heard, Maximum? Jeb and I are finally able to marry, now that he's a widower. . ."

The way she said that sentence just made all the frustration and fury that was lost come back and almost knock me out. I try to take deep breaths to calm myself. In, out. In, out.

It doesn't work.

"Oh," I say angrily. "Now that our mom's dead you get to finally get married, huh? Oh, that's just perfect."

Fang gently grabs my arm to calm me down, and it does slightly.

Clarissa looks at me and goes, "Excuse me young lady, you do not speak to me like that in my own house." But something was off. She said it in a way that sounded forged, like she was faking being mad.

Her tone surprised me enough to where I couldn't even find a response to what she said, but I wouldn't have had a chance anyway.

Jeb walks in abruptly, Debra towing behind him.

"Ah," Jeb says, smiling at us. "I see you kids have met my lovely fiancé Clarissa."

Debra's eyes look like they're about to bug out when she hears this, and we share a look, but she quickly conceals her shock by saying, "Well Margret the social worker will be here any second."

Jeb nods, still smiling, and goes, "Okay then Clarissa, honey, you wouldn't mind showing the kids to their rooms, would you?"

She smiles up at Jeb and is about to reply when we hear a loud crying.

"Oh, that's just Grace!" Clarissa says cheerfully. "Let me go get her."

Fang, Iggy, and I share a startled look; I guess all of us remembered just now that they have a baby. Jeb's other kids suddenly fill my mind and I'm wondering where they're at.

I don't have time to think it over though because Jeb goes, "Come on, kids I'll show you your room."

He starts walking up the staircase while Iggy, Fang, and I follow behind grudgingly. Just looking at him makes me frustrated and hearing his voice is even worse. I honestly don't know how I'm gonna survive living here.

At the top of the stairs, to our right is a hallway with bedrooms and to the left down a hall is a huge game room or home theater, I'm not sure.

In front of me is a balcony looking over the living room. They have a giant screen TV at least 55 inches, a long khaki leather sectional, and a really nice leather chair that looks pretty expensive. To the right of the living room is the kitchen, and I can only see a bit of that, but from what it looks like, it's pretty amazing.

"Nice, isn't it?" Jeb says, smiling at all three of us admiring his house.

I stop my ogling at the house and glare at him. "Can you just show us the rooms?"

He nods, oblivious to my annoyed voice, and goes, "Well kids, we only have 5 bedrooms in this house and we use the fifth one for an office. Clarissa works at home."

"So wait," I say, letting this sink in. "Don't you have 3 kids? How are we all gonna fit?" Iggy murmurs an agreement.

He gets a worried look on his face and says, "Well we figured you, Max, can room with our daughter, Megan. Iggy, you can get our guest bedroom. We would have you room with our son Derik, but I'm afraid he isn't the best roommate."

I was kind of irked that Iggy got his own room and not me, but I guess I won't complain. All I can hope for is that I get along with this "Megan".

Iggy looks at me guiltily and says in a disgusted voice, "Well why can't Max and I just share a room? That would make more sense than her having to share with your other daughter."

"No, no," Jeb says sternly. "We don't like to have mixed genders in the same room."

We all share weird looks and turn back to look at him. "Um," I say sarcastically. "In case you haven't noticed: we're twins. Brother and sister? Just sayin'."

"Regardless," He says, holding up his hand and closing his eyes. "Boys and girls shouldn't room together."

I roll my eyes with a "Whatever," and when Jeb starts to walk toward the bedrooms without a care, we follow. On our way forward, Fang looks at me with his eyes wide and an alarmed expression on his face. I guess he's worried about our new household.

He stops at the first door down the hall. "This is Max's room, along with Megan's."

He opens the door to a spacious room. The walls are a beige color, the floors are a dark hardwood like the rest of the house, and the furniture is pretty awesome. There's a closet on the right of where you walk in, and it's not that big but it seems doable with two people. Suddenly, I notice a crib in the back of the room.

"Um, what is that?" I ask suspiciously, pointing to the crib. I turn back to look at Jeb and he has a carefree expression on his face.

"Oh that? That's just Grace's crib. But don't worry. She usually sleeps in our room, but we keep another crib here just in case."

I sigh with relief. I definitely not want to have to deal with some loud baby every night. I look back at the room, studying it.

"So?" Jeb says, a genuine smile on his face. "How is it?"

It makes me sort of pissed that I actually like it so I try to mask it when I talk. "It's fine."

He smirks at me and leaves along with Iggy so he can see his room. Fang and I stay in my room so we can unpack.

Fang and I set down the suitcases we've been holding this whole time and look at the room. There are two beds, each on the opposite side of the room. I figure mine's the one with the plain bed spread, compared to the comforter with purple stars all over it, so I put my stuff down beside it.

I'm about to open my first suitcase when Fang comes up to me and brings me to his chest in a big hug. I relax into him and hug him back as hard as I can. I heave a heavy sigh and breath in his scent for the last time.

He pulls back slightly, but only to kiss me fiercely. We kiss intensely for a few minutes before the kisses turn gentle and soft. It feels amazing, but I'm also mentally freaking out about how it's the last time this will happen.

When we finally pull back, he rests his forehead on mine and whispers breathlessly, "I can't believe it's the last time we'll do that."

I sigh and grab his hands. "Come on, it's not the last time. We can see each other anytime, right?"

He looks at me worriedly and says, "I… really don't know, Max. It's a long drive down here. Most likely, I'll have to wait till summer to make a trip down here."

I was afraid I would hear that. I nod understandingly, though, and say "And I'll try to go up there whenever I can. If I can somehow get my hands on a car…"

He's about to say something when we hear a throat being cleared. We look up to see Iggy there, at the doorway, looking out of place and uncomfortable.

"Hate to break up this…goodbye, but the social worker's downstairs."

Fang and I break apart and all three of us go downstairs, me giving Iggy a pat on his arm on the way out of my new room.

Okay, I really hope that wasn't lame. Please tell me what you thought of it in a review! :)

~Peace