Sorry guys I guess I didn't really make it clear so I will now. Okay, the previous chapter was five years after Maximum Ride: The End Is Here. So just add five years to their age. (Max was 15 so she was 20 and married to Fang in Chapter 1. Ignore the Prologue as far as these chapters go. It will just confuse you. It will tie in later.) Okay, now, in this chapter. Add six more years to their ages. (Max was 20, is now 26.) Sound good? Oh and I know one person mentioned that they don't like stories where Max is pregnant or has kids. I can promise you that this is different. The story will not circulate around her being pregnant. Nor will it circulate around the kid getting kidnapped or something like that that has been repeated on here a thousand times. This plot is new. I didn't copy it from anyone and don't worry, the characters that were in the prequel will see their time in the sun plenty. :) Shout outs: iceangel, With Love - Kaitlin, Maximum Ride is awesome98, paige, Unknown Writer O.o, carly, flockgrl18, Neon shoelaces and Fax, ilianas2, lillypad22, girlreadsalot, and AnikaandAJ.

Chapter 2 New Life

(Six Years Later)

"Max. Max." My eyes snapped open and I looked up at Fang's face which was just inches from mine. I let out a breath and sat up as Fang leaned back, his face held a smirk. "Ugh, what time is it?"

"Around 3 o'clock." I glanced at the window and saw that the moon was hidden behind black clouds. The storm that raged outside had been going on since the sun had set the evening before. Lately we'd been having these storms. It was crazy. Every time I turned around there were stories of massive tornados tearing towns apart or floods making people evacuate for hundreds of miles. There were even reports of lightning and wild fires killing dozens of people at least once a week.

I sat up, rubbing my face as I tried to wake up, and looked at Fang. He seemed still half asleep himself but half smiled at me. Then I heard the reason for his waking me. "Mom!"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." I mumbled as I lay back down, my head flopping on my pillow. Fang chuckled at me and in a tired voice said, "I got up and went but apparently daddy's not good enough. Tough old mom's just gonna have to handle this one."

I glared at Fang with one eye around my pillow and he raised his hands, the lightning flashing behind him outside our master bedroom's window. "Just saying."

"Fine, I'll go." I said, rolling over with a sigh. I pulled my robe around me and after cinching it slipped on my house shoes and shook my hair. "If I'm not back in 10, I've been kidnapped." Fang rolled his eyes. "Don't go there." I stuck my tongue out at him then watched as he lay back down. Grumbling under my breath though I wasn't really mad I gently closed our door and made my way down the hall.

All of the lights were out except for a small air re freshener light that we used if we had to get up at night. I turned to the door directly beside it and slowly pushed it open.

The room was dark and cast in shadows which sprang to life as lightning crackled outside the window. Toys and clothes littered the floor and I stepped around them carefully as I made my way to the bed pushed up against the corner near the window. There, the blankets were pulled up around a huddled figure on the bed making it look as if a ghost crouched there.

Gently I sat down on the bed and pulled the covers down. A dark blonde haired boy with tanned skin looked up at me with even darker eyes which were wide with fear. At seeing me though he stopped shaking and threw his arms around me. Carefully I pulled him to me and he snuggled against me. I rested my chin on his soft hair.

"Ari, what's wrong?" My son looked up at me, then nodded at the storm raging outside. I glanced at the window then pulled him closer. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"But Uncle Iggy said that the storms are getting worse. He said they've never been this bad."

On the inside I cursed Iggy and his big mouth. Of all the things to say to a six year old boy.

"Ari you can't always believe everything Iggy, Uncle Iggy, says. He likes to hear himself talk."

"I thought that was Aunt Nudge. Holden said that's why he asked her to marry him. I don't believe him." Ari looked up at me with wide eyes. "Do we get to go to the wedding?"

If these storms don't wash us away first, I thought in my head. But I didn't say this out loud. "Of course."

"And I have to be the flower girl. Bleh!" A voice spat from the door way. I turned and gave my daughter a stern look which she attempted to return. God she was definitely my kid. But Fang was easily traceable in her features as well. Her dark, black hair was long and she had bangs much like Fang. Her skin was lightly tanned and her dark eyes matched her father's perfectly. A deep, dark onyx, just a shade more so than her brother.

"Alex be nice." I scolded her and she rolled her eyes before walking over to us and sitting next to me on the bed. She glanced down at her twin and shook her head. "Scardy cat."

"Am not!" Ari shouted, throwing the blankets down only to snatch them up again as thunder boomed outside.

Alex cast a glance at the window then went to stand near it. Cautiously she placed her hand against the window pane and mist surrounded her fingers as the heat of her skin touched the cool glass. Lighting flashed outside making her face light up. She glanced at me and I could see my own bravery reflected there.

"It's okay, Ari. It'll pass." Alex said, coming to stand next to her brother who still huddled close to me on the bed. He looked at her with wide eyes but stopped shaking and managed a weak smile. I messed up his hair and threw Alex a 'thank you oh child of mine' look which she smirked at.

"Why don't you stay in here tonight, Alex?" I said, giving her a meaningful look. "Yeah I guess, why not?" Alex said, catching on. She winked at me then ran towards the door calling over her shoulder, "Be right back!"

Ari and I watched her go then he turned to me. "She doesn't have to stay." He swallowed. "I'm fine."

"Alex is just being a good sister. She loves you very much."

"Pff, what ever." Ari shook his head and threw me a pitying look. I smiled softly and pushed his bangs out of his face.

"Do you think the storms will be gone for my birthday party?" Ari asked suddenly, his anxious eyes looking up at me. I cocked my head and said, "What party?" Ari gaped at me and sat up straight throwing the covers down. "My birthday! Alex's birthday! It's only a week from now. Did you really forget?" Ari's voice shook and I waved my hands. "Ari! I was kidding. I could never forget my kids' birthdays." I took his shoulders and forced him to sit still. "I would never do that."

"Promise?" Ari asked. I nodded and he said with a glint in his eyes, "Pinkie, promise?" He stuck out his pinkie and inwardly I rolled my eyes though I locked pinkies with him. "Pinkie promise."

"What are we promising to?" Alex asked, coming back into the room with her blanket and pillow in hand. She jumped up on Ari's bed and slipped under the covers. "Mom said we are going to have our party!" Alex's eyes widened and she smiled. "I'm gonna be six before you!"

"We were born at the same time!" Ari protested, glaring at his sister. Alex lifted her chin and proudly said, "I was born two minutes before you."

Ari's face turned red and he opened his mouth to retort but I waved my arms and said, "Alright, alright, bed. Now." They both looked at me then snuggled down into their blankets. I tucked them in then kissed both their foreheads and moved to the door.

I paused, there, at the threshold and looked back at my children. Soft breathing could be heard and I knew that they'd fallen fast asleep. Lightning flashed outside the window and my eyes snapped to it.

There was something wrong. Storms like we'd been having just weren't natural. It was almost like…like the world was ending.

I shook my head in the dark. I'd saved the world. There was no one to threaten it or us now.

But as I headed back to my bed with Fang I couldn't help but doubt. Why did this all seem so familiar?

So, is the world falling apart? I think we will see. That's not the real question though. The question is, why? Why is it falling apart and why now? We shall see.

R&R please!