I couldn't sleep. It was awful. I couldn't get anything off of my mind. So I decided to just stare at the ceiling and think about a song. That's when I heard noises outside. I listened closely. I could hear the wind which was getting louder and I could hear the pounding of rain on the roof. I looked to the door. The light underneath was flickering. I thought the power would go out. The clock next to me said 2 a.m. I figured that was probably right. If it had gone out it would say 12:00 and would be flashing.

I thought I was about to fall asleep when I heard a faint knock on the door. It startled me and I jumped a little. My heard pounded as I made my way to the door and glanced out of the little hole. Fang. What was he doing? Could he not sleep either? I opened the door and he motioned for me to come out into the hallway. I grabbed the passkey off the counter and shut the door quietly behind me. We spoke in whispers.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just feel like something bad is gonna happen. I think it's just me, though." Fang blushed a little. He looked embarrassed.

"Truth is so do I." That wasn't a good sign. We both felt something was wrong?

"I think we should go back to that parking lot where that van was."

I looked at him like he was crazy. Which he was. "Why? We called the guy and he's coming. That's it. What else is there to do?"

"I just think there's something else we need to check out."

I shook my head. "I'm not buying it. I'm sorry but I'm not sure if this is a good idea."

His eyebrows narrowed. He was getting mad. Jeez. "Then I'll go alone."

Fang started to walk down the hall towards the stairs but I grabbed his wrist.

"Oh no you're not. You promised." Fang turned around and I looked him straight in the eyes. There was no way he was leaving us. Not after what he said.

"Fine," he said. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me downstairs. I wasn't getting out of this one. I sighed and sped my pace up so he wouldn't pull my arm out of its socket. When we opened the doors of the lobby we were greeted by a huge gust of wind and rain. I closed my eyes and entered the storm with Fang. It wasn't a hurricane but it was hard to walk in. I strengthened my grasp on Fang's hand to keep from being knocked over and we ran back to the Safeway parking lot.

When we got there the van was still parked in the same pace it had been when we left. I started become weary of the situation. That was just weird. Maybe the kid's dad didn't want the car? Doubt it. We walked up to it, shielding our eyes from the wind and peeked into the car. It was hard to see in the back because the windows were tinted but when I looked in the driver's side I almost freaked.

It was so gross. The woman in the front seat began, get this, melting. Yeah, nasty, right? I'm serious. Her skin was like dripping off of her like melting ice cream. I looked at Fang, horrified. He grabbed for the handle of the car door.

"Ow!" he yelled and pulled his hand away. "Jeez that thing is like a thousand degrees. What's going on?"

I bundled up my sweatshirt sleeve around my hand and used it like a hot pad and reached for the door, expecting it to be locked. But it opened. Heat poured out of the car. I looked down and almost barfed right there. The melting skin was running out of the car and it smelled like…well burning flesh. It was nasty. I turned away and covered my mouth and nose with my hands. I really wanted to puke. When I turned around I saw Fang checking out the situation. He closed the door and raced to the other side and looked in the back. I followed him.

And to our disbelief (if that was possible), in the back seat of the van was the little girl that I had placed there. Her dad hadn't showed up. What was going on? Fang pressed a button to unlock the back of the car. I gulped and ran around and opened the sliding door with my sweatshirt wrapped around my hand. I grabbed the girl's arm and checked for a pulse. There was one but it was faint and slow.

"Fang!" within a second he was beside me. "She's alive." I said, trying not to choke from the smell.

"Get her out. I'm gonna try and figure out what's going on."

While Fang inspected the car I took the little girl out. I sat down and cradled her in my arms. She wasn't melting like her mom. I figured it was because of the whole Itex mutant thing. But the girl was sweating. I pushed her bangs off of her face and tried to wake her up. Either she was unconscious or she was asleep.

"Hey," I said softly but loud enough to hear over the wind. I wished I had known her name. "Sweetie, wake up." I shook her softly but nothing happened. "Come on, please wake up." I begged. This was killing me. I was holding the girl as she died.

"Hey Max, come here!"

I picked the girl up and followed over to Fang's voice. He was in the passenger seat and he had the car on. I stopped by him and shivered. He had turned the air conditioning on. I looked to his hands. Gross. They were covered in melted…thing. I was never holding his hands until he scrubbed both of them at least a thousand times with bleach or something. Then he reached into her melting body and pulled something out. I couldn't take it. I gently laid the girl on the pavement and went to the bushes and hurled. This was way too disgusting for me.

After my moment was over and I was successfully lightheaded I made my way back to the car holding my stomach with my hand. Fang gave me a sympathetic look. I moved the girl away from the door so Fang could get out. He took a water gallon out of the car and rinsed off his hands and the thing he pulled out of the lady. I watched trying not to throw up again. I can't even describe this. It was way too weird for me. Was her skin like plastic or something and they filled it with blood and functioning body parts? It reminded me of Box Boy and Gozen. I shuttered.

"Max, check this out." Fang held up what he had removed from the lady and washed off.

"What is it?"

"A box."

I looked at him like, no duh. He moved the box around in his hands a few times and finally found a place to open it. I was skeptic. I thought a heart would be sitting in it or something. But I was wrong, to my pleasure. It was just a whole bunch of wiring and it had a code on it. Like a mechanical heart? Not so gross but still weird.

"It's just a bunch of symbols. What are we going to do?" I asked Fang.

He shrugged and I went back to facing the girl while Fang peeled the label off of the metal box. I held her again and stroked her hair. What were we going to do with her? Then her eyes slowly opened. I sighed in relief. She was regaining consciousness. Her big brown eyes looked up into mine.

"Help me," she said weakly. I wanted to die.

I looked into the car at the melted body running out of the car. I really didn't get it. Then I looked back at the girl. She seemed perfectly human. I was thankful for that. I needed to take her somewhere. The police station? No. Hospital? That was my best bet here. I didn't want to go anywhere for publicity reasons but if I didn't take her somewhere she'd die. I couldn't have that on my conscience. I'd go crazy. Well, unless I already was. I looked to Fang.

"We need to get her to a hospital. I don't know what else to do. And what do we do about…that?"

Fang sighed. The wind had died down mostly and we didn't have to yell anymore. It was still raining, though and we were getting soaked to the skin. We needed to get this kid somewhere safe.

"Okay. Just leave the car here. Let's get her to a hospital."

He looked to the ground. He looked totally depressed and scared like he had no clue what to do. I really wished I could go over and give him a great big hug but part of me told me not to. The lady melting in the car had totally creeped him out too but he had actually reached inside of her and pulled out wires and stuff. He was probably mortified. I wondered if this was Itex's new subject. No wonder the woman had an expiration date. They melt, I mean come on! I thought having wings was weird enough. Then he looked back at me with an unreadable expression and nodded. In a flash he was up in the sky. I followed him.

--

It had taken us about thirty minutes to find a hospital. Fang was now holding the little girl and she was shaking. I wished I had a blanket for her. Fang just stared down at her with worry. We landed in the back parking lot of the hospital and went into the entrance that said EMERGENCY in big green, glowing letters. We looked around. It was surprisingly empty. Fang sat down with her as I walked up to the front desk. A lady in a wheely chair spun around from her computer and looked me in the eyes. Something about her was off but I couldn't identify it. I kept my guard up.

"Um…we found a little girl and we think she needs some medical attention. She keeps going in and out of consciousness and her heartbeat is real slow."

The woman nodded and got on the phone. She asked for someone named Dr. Taylor to come out to the front lobby; that someone needed his immediate attention. The woman got off the phone and told me to go sit down and wait. I went back and sat in the chair next to Fang. I looked at the girl in his arms. She was sleeping now. I watched as Fang took off his jacket and placed it over her.

"Fang…what about…you know…" I meant his wings. He was only wearing a t-shirt. What if someone noticed?

He shrugged. "That's kind of the least of our problems right now."

Was it? I thought that was the whole problem. I heard the girl cough and I looked down at her. Maybe it wasn't. I watched the way Fang held her and looked at her and tried to comfort her. It was really sweet, really. He held her like she was his daughter and all he wanted was for her to be safe and well. I guess he caught my stare and turned to me. His dark eyes emotionless. He also looked really tired and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a woman in a white coat walking out. I stiffened up. The whole lab coat thing still gets me. I don't think I'll ever get over it. They scared us.

The woman didn't look all that old. She was probably in her late twenties, early thirties. She had black hair and dark eyes, like Fang. But she looked very kind. Her figure was slim and her smile was comforting. She looked like a mother. The woman knelt down in front of Fang and took the little girl's wrist, feeling her pulse. After a minute or so she let go and stood up.

"I'm Dr. Taylor," she said. "Are you this child's parents?"

My eyes widened and I felt a blush run across my cheeks. Parents? Did we really look that old? 'Cause last time I checked I looked fourteen.

"Uh," Fang's voice cracked, embarrassed. I held back a laugh. "We're only like…fourteen."

Dr. Taylor gave a smile. "Okay, okay, sorry. I've heard many weird cases, I was just wondering. I had a child when I was seventeen and you look a little older than fourteen so I was just checking."

Seventeen? She had a kid? Huh. I thought she was the mom type. But seventeen? Isn't that a little young?

"We found the girl alone in a parking lot," I half lied. What else was I supposed to say? That her mom was in the car with her melting? No way. "She didn't look so good so we decided to bring her here."

"Good choice," Dr. Taylor said. "Follow me."

Fang cradled the girl in his arms and we followed the doctor into a room down the hall. Fang placed her on the examining table and we sat in the chairs as Dr. Taylor checked her out.

"She looks like she has heat stroke. Good thing you brought her here, she could have died." She said after a few minutes.

Heat stroke, huh? My only question was how ANYONE could get heat stroke in this kind of weather and how the car got heated in the first place. It wasn't even on. "Oh," I said not wanting to spill the beans.

"I'm going to have to run some tests, though. Do you mind? It'll only take a few minutes."

I looked to Fang and he shook his head. Then Dr. Taylor picked the girl up and left. Once the door shut Fang looked back at me, face curious.

"She had a kid at seventeen," he stated. Yeah, I got that.

"Yep. That's kinda young, dontchya think?"

Fang looked down and I wondered what he was thinking about. I kinda hoped he wasn't thinking what I thought he was thinking but he nodded.

"Remember how we always thought my mom was a crack addict teenager?" I nodded my head wondering where he was going with this. "Well if my mom had me at seventeen that would make her thirty one now."

I raised my eyebrows. "That can't be her, Fang. I mean, really. I don't mean to crush you but that would be very unlikely."

Fang gave me a weak glare. "And it was unlikely that your parents would be Dr. Martinez and Jeb."

He had a point there. A very, very good point. Man, he was on a role over the past few days. "So what if this lady was your mom? What would you do?"

He shrugged and sat back. "I don't know. I just kinda want it to be her, ya know? But then I don't. I think I'd hate her for giving me up."

"Do you want to find out?"

Before I got an answer Dr. Taylor walked back into the room. "I'm having some other doctors help me with some tests. So I want some info from you guys. Where did you find this little girl?"

I looked at Fang again for answers. I wondered why I wasn't taking charge here. I was the leader wasn't I? "We found her in the parking lot at Safeway," Fang confessed. I wanted to slam my head into the wall behind me. This was going to end very badly. Fang told Dr. Taylor the story minus the melting Itex lady and us being flying mutants. He just told her that the mom had died, probably from heat stroke like the kid had almost because the car was so dang hot. And he didn't mention the fact that we had called the home number on the cell phone and that we had been there earlier. The doctor just nodded.

"Unfortunately these types of things happen often," she explained. I was shocked. "But we'll investigate. Thank you for bringing her in. I have all the information from you that I need so you can go back home if you want."

I was about to get up when Fang asked Dr. Taylor a question. "How old are you?"

I stared at Fang. She probably thought he was hitting on her or something because she started looking a bit uncomfortable. I looked at her hands. She had a wedding ring on. I'm not sure if that helped or not. Dr. Taylor cleared her throat and looked between me and Fang.

"Thirty one," she stated. "Why?"

Fang looked like he was about to freak. Or throw up. Or both. The third option seemed more appropriate. "So you had a kid at seventeen?"

I slammed an elbow into Fang's side and he winced. "Sorry. He's kind of out of it right now. You know, weird type of day. And he's tired. Let's go-."

"I did," she answered. "A little boy." She sighed. "But I had to give him away. I kind of had a complicated past. Made a few mistakes. I wished I hadn't done what I did but I made sure I gave my child to someone respectable. I interviewed a man who said that he would take my son to an orphanage in Virginia. He said that he would be taken care of nicely there and that there was some other kids he'd fit in great with. So I took his word and handed over my son. I cried watching them go."

Fang held his breath. "What…what was the man's name? And your son's?" Dr. Taylor probably thought Fang was crazy for asking so many questions but she answered them anyway, like she was finally letting out a secret. I think she was.

"I never named the child because I knew I'd get too attached. Now I know that was a mistake. I wish I had named him just so that I could pray for him by name. But the man's name…I'm not sure if I'm remembering it right but I'm pretty sure his name was…Judd? No, no that's not right. Jeb. Yes. Jeb Batchelder."

I looked to Fang. He was frozen in his seat. I didn't know what to say…what to think. The lady in front of us, Dr. Taylor, was his mother. Fang's mother. It was weird. And she had given him up to help him but she had wanted him. It must have been hard for her. Well it was from what she told us. I looked back and forth between them, waiting for Fang to say "I'm your son" but it didn't happen. He just told her thank you, grabbed his jacket and walked out. I followed him back outside where the storm had subsided.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly. Fang just nodded. I remembered his hands but brushed it off. I'd wash mine later. I reached over and grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. He looked down at me but didn't smile. I knew he was trying to soak all of this in. He had found out who his mother was and that she did want him but he didn't say who he was. I wondered if he regretted it or not.

I leaned against Fang a little bit but he didn't do anything—just kept on walking not wanting to fly right now. I could tell he was heartbroken from both the incident with the little girl and Dr. Taylor. I thought about what would happen when the cops showed up at the Safeway parking lot and discovered the melted body. What they would link it to and investigate. I hoped they didn't track us down or anything. I didn't want to end up in the middle of an investigation or anything. And what about that guy Fang talked to? Where was he?

--

We walked in silence the rest of the way back and stopped outside of my door. It was still dark out but I had no idea what time it was. I hoped no one had woken up to see us missing. I didn't want to explain this. I just wanted to forget it and I'm pretty sure that's what Fang wanted too.

"Fun night, huh?" he asked, jokingly. I smiled.

"Yeah. We should do this more often."

I started getting nervous again as Fang stepped closer towards me. He slid his hands around my waist and against my back under my wings. I felt my heart in my stomach. He pulled me closer until we were touching and I placed my hands on his arms. They were strong and comforting. They were Fang. Then he lowered his head to mine and kissed me, moving his lips across mine. He had never done that before. He had just kind of stayed still. It startled me a little but I gave into it, following his motion. I breathed through my nose quickly and I started to become a little weak in the knees. We had kissed before a few times but this felt more passionate than any of the others. It was weird. It was like he was trying to tell me something. Like…he loved me.

I pulled back and looked into his eyes. They were unreadable. He just smiled and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you for coming with me."

He sounded so not Fang. Like something inside him was really scared and really hurt. And he probably was. But he'd never shown it before to anyone, not even me. So this made me a little concerned. Was he doing it because we were together now or because he couldn't hold it in this time?

Fang let me go and kissed me again before saying goodnight, stacking his fist with mine and going back into his room. I took the passkey out of my pocket and entered in my room very quietly. Then I slid back in bed and under the covers and closed my eyes. This time it wasn't hard for me to fall asleep. But even if I did knock out within seconds, the visions of mine and Fang's adventure haunted me. I don't think I'd ever be able to let it go. I don't think either of us could.

A/N: Yeah, the whole melting thing is a little weird. But it's not random...and neither are the jets. It'll all make sense in a few chapters or so. That's all for now! Posting may become a little slower because I have to go back to school tomorrow...if it stops snowing.