* Wow, I'm flattered by the response I've already gotten! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I decided that 2 totally kick-ass reviews, 3 favorites and 6 story alerts were worth a quick update. I really hope I can live up the the expectations. Please review so I know how I'm doing.
forgot to mention the disclaimer in the first chapter: wish I came up with Maximum Ride myself, but I didn't. I just copied it :)
My world went from the perfect peacefulness of soaring to utter chaos in the time it took to walk the ten steps through the front door.
"Whaaaaaa. Whhaaaaa," James was screaming at the top of his little lungs. It was so much more of a cry now that he was only a couple months shy of a year. His normally tan little face was bright red and his beautiful gray eyes were scrunched tight. Somehow, tears managed to escape anyway.
"Just give it to him," Iggy yelled over the screaming child.
"No," Dani refused. "We can't just give in every time James demands something."
"It's just a cookie, Dani. If it'll make him quiet, just give it to him."
"Sure, now, it's a cookie. Tomorrow it'll be another toy. And then you'll be bringing home a dog." Total frowned and growled. "And letting him stay out all night. James, I mean, not the dog."
"We did whatever we wanted growing up." Iggy knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as he said it.
If only Iggy could have seen the scowl Dani gave him. He would have winced for sure. As it was, he stood with his mouth open, like even he couldn't believe he just said that either.
Dani shifted her weight onto one leg with her hands on her hips. It was her 'don't mess with me' stance. Everyone sort of tiptoed out of the way. Even James momentarily gave up his quest for a cookie.
Dani's voice held no anger, in fact it was eerily calm, "And how was your childhood Iggy?" Iggy closed his eyes and slumped slightly. "Is that what you want for James? Is that what you promised him?"
"No. Of course not," Iggy answered shamefully. "You're right," he said reluctantly. He scooped James up in his arms.
"Sorry buddy. No cookie."
James looked at him, then at Dani. Finally, his lip stuck out in a pout, his body relaxed and slumped against Iggy in defeat. None of us could really say for sure, but James appeared to understand when he could push the envelope and when he couldn't. I suspected that it had to do with his ability to get into people's heads, like Angel. But I don't remember her having the same sort of insight at such a young age. In fact, truthfully, Angel didn't seem to have a grasp on that concept until she was nearly eight. Then again, she didn't need restrain herself, she could merely force someone to give in to her wishes. And though she rarely took advantage of that skill anymore, occasionally I worried that I changed my mind about something because she made me. I sincerely hoped that James would not develop that talent.
Disaster now averted, Iggy handed James off to Dani, who took him upstairs for a nap. Iggy made his way to the kitchen to begin cooking dinner. These days, Gazzy and Miranda often helped. They both showed an interest cooking and would take over simple cooking duties from time to time. Gazzy had improved greatly from his days of burning mini corn dogs and peas.
"Anything I can do?" I asked the group. Gazzy and Miranda looked at each other and smirked.
"You want to help cook?" Miranda asked.
"Why not? You're learning," I answered. "If you can learn, I should be able to, right?" She was, after all, cloned from me.
Gazzy looked like he was about to protest, but Iggy spoke up. "Okay, Max. Do you know how to chop vegetables?"
"I guess."
"Chop the carrots into quarter inch slices and the celery in thirds, lengthwise, then about an eighth of an inch," he directed.
Was he giving me such specific instructions to deter me? Or maybe he was spelling it out so I couldn't possibly screw it up. Either way, I was determined to prove that I could help out in the kitchen without poisoning anyone.
Gazzy and Miranda watched me out of the corners of their eyes constantly, while they cut up onions and potatoes. Iggy braised the beef cubes and soon the stew was well on it's way. Iggy came over to where I was working and picked up a few pieces of carrot and celery.
"These feel like just the right size Max. You almost done? I'm ready for them."
"Sorry it's taking me so long to do this, Ig. I'm still working on the celery. It's harder than I thought," I admitted.
Miranda came over and took some celery and silently began chopping. She gave me a small smile. "I was pretty slow at this when I first tried it too."
Before long, all our ingredients were simmering in the huge pot on the stove.
"Now what?" I asked.
"That's the best part about stew," Gazzy told me. "It just cooks on it's own for a few hours. Now we have some free time."
I walked over to Fang in the living room when I noticed him watching me.
"What?" I asked.
"You look pleased with yourself," he smirked.
"That was the most useful I've felt in a long time," I said, patting my belly. "I've been barred from doing most of my usual activities. I miss training, and now no more flying," I pouted.
"You could pack your hospital bag and put away the things your mom brought last month," he suggested. I fake scowled at him. "You have to get yourself prepared sooner or later, Max."
I sighed. "Okay, I'll go pack a bag." I dropped my shoulders and stomped my way toward the stairs, pausing to have a silent mini tantrum and whining.
Fang laughed at me, "Very mature. Come on, I'll help you." He put his arm around me and led me upstairs.
He helped me pick out things to put in an overnight bag-p.j.s, shampoo, clothes for going home in and the most feminine outfit in the pile for the baby. It was yellow with a white fuzzy bunny on the front and a little pom pom tail on the butt. We put the rest of the baby clothes that Dani gave us into drawers. I saw no reason to go out and spend money on girlie clothes when James' old clothes were in perfectly good shape.
Glad to have the task finally finished, reality was beginning to really sink in. "I'm scared." I turned to Fang. "Isn't that stupid? I fell off a canyon cliff, had broken bones, been shot, willingly walked into danger countless times, and I'm scared of having a baby."
"It won't be as bad as you think," he tried to reassure me. "You'll be in a hospital, they can give you some good drugs," he smiled. "I'll be there and your mom, too." He was really trying.
"But you weren't there when James was born. You didn't see it. I'll never forget that sight."
"I remember what you told me." He pulled my head to his shoulder. "It'll be all right."
Easy for him to say. He would never have to face this. With all the tampering those damned scientists did, they couldn't fix it so that the guys had to have babies? Of course not, what was I thinking, most of the scientists were men.
not a whole lot to this chapter-just call it foreshadowing :)
