A Different War

Chapter 4: Nightmares and Perverts

Max woke up quickly. She'd been thrown off the sofa by a black quickly moving mass of screaming. Then she realised that she fell asleep on top of Fang. He was sitting upright, sweat trickling down his face, looking very shaken. He was muttering under his breath.

"It's only a dream, it's only a dream, it's only a dream." He said, as if to confirm it actually was just a dream, as if he thought it was real. Fang was breathing heavily, like he'd just run a marathon.

"Are you okay Fang?" Max asked, concerned for him. She did need a pillow after all. He seemed as if he didn't hear her. "Fang!" She raised her voice and he snapped out of his trance, looking at her. "What the hell just happened?" She asked, slightly worried for his mental state.

"It was a dream." Fang shrugged an apology. He couldn't tell her just how bad it was. How this happened every night. Or what he dreamed about. He could tell she was thinking hard, even with the pitch black.

"You've got PTSD, haven't you?" She asked, switching on the lights. He was momentarily blinded by the suddenness of it, but his eyes quickly adjusted. He didn't know how to answer Max's question. He'd always thought it might be that, ever since the first nightmare. But he could still train; with no flashbacks of any kind.

"I don't know." He answered slowly. "But I don't need some stupid shrink. I just get nightmares now and then. That's all." It was probably the longest speech that Max had heard him say.

"You can talk to me about it. If you want, I mean." She said, trying to comfort him.

"What would you know about combat? How would you understand?" He replied bitterly.

"You'd be surprised." Max said ominously, standing up and walking towards a draw. She opened it and pulled out an all too familiar L-shaped object. "Glock 17, third generation. 9mm parabellum, with a Surefire flashlight mounted underneath." The gun in her hand was unloaded, with the safety catch on, and she was handling it like a professional. At Fang's questioning glance, Max explained. "I was in the LAPD for two years; saw a fair share of fire fights." She placed the gun back in the drawer, and continued. "I left four years ago, when I bought this off the last owner." She gestured to the building they were in. "I guess some things never leave you though."

"I wouldn't have guessed." Fang said. He was quite surprised by her revelation. He didn't take her to be an ex-cop, quite the opposite. He didn't think she'd shy away from a fight though.

"Not many do." She replied, smiling. "Now if you don't mind, I kind of need some sleep tonight. And I will sleep in the bed this time." The smile turned into a smirk. Then she climbed into the bed, still in her clothes from the day before. Max fell asleep almost instantly.


"Wow, they haven't screwed each other yet." Fang was awake instantly, reaching for a gun that wasn't there. The voice belonged to Gazzy, who was staring down the lethal barrel of Fang's finger. He smirked, and playfully smacked the finger away. "Sorry to startle you. Good morning by the way." He grinned before sitting on a chair. Angel was behind him, and propped herself on the kitchen-desk.
"Enjoy your night." Angel asked him, smirking, revealing her hidden question. Fang looked offended.

"No! Really? You thought we'd sleep with each other? We only just met!" He exclaimed, as Max sat up in her bed, blinking and rubbing her eyes.

"Well, accordingly to Iggy, you're quite the ladies man." She replied, still with that smirk.
Fang now was getting frustrated. Angel laughed, finding the expression on his normally emotionless face amusing.

"Wow Fang, can see why you show no emotion now, because it's hilarious when you do." Gazzy said, laughing at his expression as well.

"What the heck just happened?" Max asked, oblivious to the world for the first five minutes of her waking up.

"Gazzy and Angel thought we had sex last night." Max burst out laughing at Fang's candid response. Fang smiled faintly then, as even his nearly-nonexistent sense of humour found it funny. "Do you two always just barge in like this?" He asked Gazzy and Angel. The siblings looked at each other knowingly.

"No." They said unanimously, staring unblinkingly at him, disturbing the deep, dark thing in the corner called Fang's soul.

Iggy turned up a couple of hours later. In that time, Fang had a shower and a shave, getting rid of the week's worth of stubble he had, and then got changed into some spare clothes Max had for some reason. There was a nametag in a black t-shirt he put on, reading Dylan Gunther-Haegen, US Navy. And from Max's reaction to his mentioning of SEAL's the day before, he could guess which unit this Dylan belonged to. He put the t-shirt on, along with a pair of black cargo pants, also belonging to a Mr Dylan Gunther-Haegen, before walking back into the main room. He sat down on a couch next to Iggy, who was listening to music on his IPod. There was a knock on the door, which Iggy stood up to answer. He opened the door, and was greeted by Nudge, and another girl that looked like a younger Max.

"Hey beautiful." Iggy said to the new girl, kissing her on the lips. So this was Ig's fiancée.

"Sup Ella?" Max said in greeting. The others said similar words of greeting.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm a little late, my alarm broke." Ella said, apologising for her apparent lateness. She looked similar to Max, only younger, and with a slightly darker tan. Then she noticed Fang. Recognition flashed in her eyes, probably either from TV, Iggy or both. "Oh. Um, hi. I'm Ella,"

"Iggy's fiancée." Fang finished her introduction for her.

"Yeah, and you're Nick, the guy who saved his life." She replied, still surprised by his appearance. He nodded in response. The situation was definitely an awkward one. "Well, I guess I owe you a thanks." Ella finally said, breaking the silence.

"Don't mention it. Couldn't leave you behind, could I Ig? You'd just come back and haunt me." Fang joked.

"Sure would." Iggy replied, making everyone chuckle.

"Hey Nudge, when's the first customer due for today?" Max asked, wondering if she had spare time on her hands. Nudge checked on her phone.

"In about six hours. Plenty-o-time." She replied.

"Awesome. Fang, would you like to have a jump today. Free-of-charge o course, for such a brave war hero like you?" Max smirked at him, trying to get a response. Fang snapped back into his emotionless, silent state that he pretty much lived in, and nodded his head as a confirmation.

"Alright. Then let's hit the airfield." Max led him out the room, waving a goodbye to the rest of the group.


A/N: I am SO sorry about the nearly 10 month wait! I have had so much on my plate, plus writers block for this, and new stories I've been forced to put some on hiatus. And I know that this is a filler chapter but I just wanted to let you know I'm still alive. And plus, you got a bit of humour for it too.

Bradykins out.