If it's not obvious by the title, this chapter is three months later than the last one. Enjoy!

My Favorite Mistake

Chapter Four

Three Months Later

Fang was stroking my hair, with his free arm protectively around my waist. Angel and the Gasman were sound asleep, lying close by the rest of us. Iggy was playing mancala with Nudge, who was losing badly to Iggy.

A hawk flew by outside the cave entrance. A shotgun fired and the hawk fell downward.

Before I knew it, the cave entrance was clogged with Erasers. The four of us who were awake shot to our feet. I ran to the Gasman and Angel and shook them awake. "Erasers!" I told them, "Up and at 'em!" They jumped to their feet, fully awake. They fight faces were on immediately.

Violence broke out. The Erasers were slowly closing the gap between us and the back of the cave. I became increasingly nervous for my baby.

I punched an Eraser in the head, but my strike wasn't as hard as it used to be. The Eraser, only angered by the punch, kicked my stomach. I crumpled to the ground, wrapping my arms around my stomach. Worry filled my mind. Maybe I should see a baby doctor. What if my baby died because of that?! The Eraser kicked me over and then kicked my head, over and over.

I was losing consciousness quickly. I tried to remain awake, but it was hard. I felt nausea wash over me, and puked all over the Eraser's boot. He cried out in anger and kicked my head more. And that's the thing last I remember.

POV Fang

My heart pounded as I scanned the scene for Max. Where the hell was she?! Usually she was kicking ass! Every Eraser she saw typically fell to the floor, dead or severely injured. This should be that much easier since this batch of Erasers were weaker than the rest. But yet I saw no Max, and no falling Erasers.

Angered and worried for Max, I felt adrenaline rush through my veins. I knocked down the Eraser I was battling with one punch and hurried to where I last saw Max. An Eraser was kicking her head repeatedly. I lunged at him. I punched him upside the head and turned to Max.

"Angel!" I cried out. Angel appeared by my side.

"What?" she said. She saw Max and her eyes widened.

"I need you to stick here and kill these Erasers while I check on Max," he said.

"I'm not nearly as strong as you or Max, though!" she cried.

"Use your mind!" I ordered. She turned and began to kill the Erasers with her head. Several dropped at once, and I gave mentally gave her kudos.

"Max!" I cried, desperately wishing for her to wake up, "Get up! Come on!"

It fell silent, and when I turned, there were no Erasers left standing. Iggy, Nudge and the Gasman were already working to clear out the bodies. Angel was sitting, exhausted from killing all the Erasers.

"Max," I said quietly. I moved her to a different position on the cave floor. The others surrounded me.

"She's not thinking anything at all," Angel told us, "No dreams, nothing."

"She'll be OK," I told everyone, sounding surer than I felt, "Now, you guys need your sleep. I'll take the first watch." They all found a place on the floor, and were all out within minutes.

Being the only one awake sucks more than you'd think. I had all the time in the world to worry. I was desperately hoping Max would be OK. If she wasn't, I'd die. I also wondered if our baby was alright.

The hours passed slowly. I went online and wrote on my blog, but I didn't say about Max's being pregnant. I told them there'd been an Eraser attack which left Max incredibly injured. After three sentences, I put it up online.

I leaned my head against the wall and opened up Solitaire on the screen. After playing it five minutes, I closed it. I suck at Solitaire. I glanced at Max. Her eyelids were fluttering. They weren't open, but it meant she was not dead. I shut down my computer and set it off to the side.

I crawled over to Max and brushed her hair out of her face. She opened her eyes just to see my hand stroking down her face.

POV Max

"Fang?" I said quietly.

"I'm here," he said to me. His voice sounded so great.

"My head hurts," I said, reaching it up to find large bumps on my head. I sat up straight, feeling pain down my back.

"I know," Fang said, "That Eraser kicked your butt pretty good. How's your stomach?"

"Just like normal," I said. I placed a hand on it and felt something hit it. Not on the outside. On the inside. "Oh, my God! I think I just felt a kick!"

"Let me feel!" Fang said. He placed his hand on my stomach and we both felt another kick and another. Then he said, "I don't feel anything."

"Oh, wait. That was just my stomach growling," I said, "I need to eat more."

Fang laughed. "Besides the headache and you stomach, do you feel alright?" he asked.

"I think I might have a concussion, but the only reason I puked, I think, was because of morning sickness," I said, "Otherwise, I'm fine."

"Good," was all he said. I sighed.

"I'm tired," I said.

"Go to sleep," Fang told me, "I'll keep watch."

"No," I complained, "I want to keep you company! I don't want you to be all alone!"

Fang chuckled as only he could, "You're pregnant. You need your rest. Both you and our baby need their rest. Come on. Just knowing you're OK is company enough for me."

I scooted so my head lay on Fang's lap. He stroked my hair, and I fell into a peaceful sleep.

At Itex:

The Director stood from her seated position. She was getting angry, "Did any one of you manage to eliminate any of the flock members?"

The Erasers stared all shook their heads slowly, regretfully.

"Well," the Director continued, "Did anyone even hurt a flock member?"

A male Eraser stood, addressing himself as Rik. The Director recognized him as one of the Erasers who stood out to her during their training sessions. "I knocked Max to the ground," he said, "It was easier than usual."

"What attack tactics did you use?" the Director inquired. All eyes turned to him.

"I kicked her stomach," Rik said, "She fell to the ground, holding her waist like there's something wrong with it. She puked on my boot." He recalled, wincing, "Then I kicked her head over and over for like five minutes. Finally Fang came over and kicked my ass."

"She fell over when you kicked her stomach?" the Director said, surprised, "We didn't create her to be that flappable. Are you sure that's all you did?"

"Yes, Director," Rik answered, sitting down, "She probably ate something that upset her stomach."

"That's reasonable," the Director said, "I bet that's all that happened."

A female Eraser stood and addressed herself as Is. "I think it's more," Is said.

"Yes?" the Director said, "And what do you think is the cause?"

Is looked around, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "I think," Is said, "I think she's pregnant."

"Pregnant?" the Director said, "No, no, child! She's certainly not pregnant! We didn't add that into Max!" She laughed. Following by example, the rest of the Erasers laughed, too.

"She's ninety-eight percent human," Is pointed out, "In that ninety-eight percent, don't you think it might be possible?"

Rik stood again, "But she fell when I kicked her stomach! She was holding it tight, like she wanted to protect it. Then she puked! What if that was morning sickness?"

The Erasers stopped laughing, paying close attention to every word the Director said. "Pregnant…" the Director said, "She could be, I suppose. Pregnancy means a baby. A baby means another chance to get the Angel Experiment right." She nodded, "Yes, pregnant. Perfect!" She then went into Order Mode, barking orders to the Erasers, "All right! I want every Eraser ready to strike! We're going to build up our army! We're going to strengthen and be ready to get Max back!" The Erasers cleared out of the room.

"Pregnant," the Director smiled, "So Max wasn't a failure after all."

I'm probably going to speed things up now since I have to get through five more months, pregnancy and then the kid's life. I don't know how long this will be. It could end after the pregnancy or after the first years of the baby's life, or it could go all the way through the teen years. We'll see! Regardless, ten more reviews or no fifth chapter!