AN: hello again! again, I'm really sorry about any spelling/grammar mistakes last chapter. I do believe that I fixed them, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem now. but, anyways, it's back! the story that was originally meant to be a oneshot! enjoy! (psst! there's more FAX in this chapter!!)

Chapter 3

Finally, we had made it back to the States. We were on the East Coast, staying in a cave overlooking a fatal drop into nothingness. We were close to the ocean and could smell the salt in the air, hear the crashing waves, from our makeshift home.

It got late and the flock was completely worn out, except me. I was still reveling in the elation of what had happened in Germany. Still, Iggy volunteered to take first watch.

For almost an hour, I watched the flames of the fire dance in the wind, unable to sleep. I looked over to Iggy and saw that he was beginning to nod off. I rose, careful not to startle him or wake the others. I lightly shook his shoulder.

"I'll take it from here, Iggy. You sleep." He didn't protest, didn't reply, just got up and sank down onto the cave floor, asleep in an instant.

I stared to the mouth of the cave, looking into the starry night, enjoying the view. I lost myself in the stars, picking out shapes and stories hidden in their lights. I was so absorbed that I didn't notice him until he had plopped down right next to me.

"Hey, Max."

"Hey, Fang." I looked at him for a moment before turning back to the stars.

"I thought Iggy had first watch."

"He did, but he started to fall asleep, so I took over."

"Shouldn't you sleep too?"

I shook my head. "Not tired."

"Look, Max, I-I think we should talk." I looked back at him and, for once, saw something in his eyes, a plea of some sort. "I know you don't like to talk about…emotions and such, but just please don't fly off or leave. I really think we need to talk."

"Okay." I looked at my feet, wishing so much that I could use them and get out of there, but that was the one thing that he had requested for me to not do.

"In Germany…did you mean what you said?"

"It depends what you're talking about. I said a lot of things in Germany."

He smiled slightly, but immediately sank back into his emotionless defense. "Right before you said you weren't on Valium."

Whoa. I hadn't expected that. Of all things he could question, that?!

I looked him in the eye. "Why wouldn't I mean that?"

Fang sighed and pushed his hair out of his face. "It's just that…you, like me, were built to survive. And to outsmart whoever tried to make sure that you didn't. You just might have taken that as an exit route or something. I don't know…"

I was absolutely mortified. "Fang, if that was the case, you wouldn't be alive anymore," I answered coldly.

"So…you actually meant it?"

"Of course!" I snapped. "I told you the truth because I sincerely thought that I wasn't gonna make it out of there alive! I wouldn't have said it if someone else was trying to kill me because I would've killed them first! I wouldn't have said that if we hadn't been in that situation, but I wasn't gonna die without letting you know that!"

Fang was silent for a moment. "You really meant it."

"Yes! I've been trying to get that across to myself for a long time, but I just didn't realize it. I didn't realize it, so Angel didn't either. But the Voice did. The Voice is actually the one who pushed me to do it! I never thought it would actually be good for something like that." I met Fang's eyes, the stars vaguely reflecting in them. "But the point is I meant it. And I hope you did, too."

"Yes. I meant it. And it was something that I was trying to tell you for so long. But the message always seemed to fall on deaf ears."

For a while, we both watched the night, gazing at the stars in its dark grip.

"So…we both meant what we said to each other in Germany. Where does that leave us?"

Fang smiled at me and my heart nearly stopped at the sight.

"I think that leaves us about here." And he pressed his lips to mine.

-_-_-_-_-

Angel rolled over and stretched, almost hesitant to open her eyes in case they were still at Itex. But they weren't; she woke up to the cave she remembered falling asleep in. She sat up and looked around. Everyone else was still in their place, sound asleep. But there were two empty spaces that made Angel's eyes widen in panic. Max and Fang. They weren't where they were supposed to be.

Before waking anyone else up, in case it was a false alarm, Angel ran around the cave, looking for one of them or both of them. She was about to give up and wake the others when she saw their sleeping forms, bundled together near the mouth of the cave. Angel smiled to herself before quietly going back to the others.

-_-_-_-_-

I woke up to find my head resting on something softer than rock, but harder than a pillow. I opened my eyes and saw Fang, in all his glory, still asleep beside me. Then I remembered what had happened the night before and bolted into an upright position.

(Insert swear word here.)

I had fallen asleep on the watch! Where was the flock? What if something bad had happened to them while I was sleeping? Wouldn't Fang have taken over the watch? Why didn't he? Damn it, damn it, damn it! How could I have been so stupid!

Fang stirred beside me and I tried to wake him up completely.

"Fang! We fell asleep during our watch!" He was up immediately, looking around us for any sign of Flyboys or something of the sort.

"(insert another swear word here)!" Fang shouted something…inappropriate. You didn't catch it? Good.

When Fang was done shouting, I heard a grumble from further in the cave. "Could you guys kinda keep it down before you wake up everyone, and I mean everyone?!" It was Total.

I let out a whooping sigh of relief and sank back down to where I had fallen asleep. Obviously, if Total was still himself, then everyone had to be okay. Fang sat down too.

"Let's not do that again," I said.

"Do what?"

"Fall asleep on watch, freak out, yell cuss words at the top of our lungs…you know, that sort of stuff."

"Oh. I thought you meant this." Fang kissed me again and I let him. Okay, so I did more than let him. I kissed him back. After a few minutes, I broke away to breathe.

"Actually, I think this is the kind of stuff we should do more often." And this time, I kissed him.

I had never seen this side of Fang before, never even known that this side of him existed. This was his mellow, hearts-and-flowers side. I loved it, loved him, every part of him, every side that I had seen and had yet to see. I couldn't stop myself from loving him, no matter how hard I tried. That was something that I'd learned the hard way.

But he still loved me anyway. He was mine and I was his. Maybe, just maybe, we could make it last…

Forever.

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