These are all pretty long… it's just the way they turned out, I guess. I mean, they look longer than usual in my notebook. This one took about five a half pages, I think. I like sixteen and seventeen best. Eighteen's depressing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

16. Freeze

"Fang!"

"What?" he groaned.

"Bring me another blanket!"

Fang growled and dug through the backpack, then crossed the cave floor and dropped it on Max. "It's our last one. Good night, Max."

Ten minutes later…

Something pressed up against Fang, and his eyes instinctively shot open as cold feet pressed against his leg.

"What are you doing?" he asked Max.

"Body heat. I'm still freezing."

Fang rolled his eyes. A guy can never get any sleep around here."

"Sorry," Max said, not sounding very sorry at all. She lay her head on Fang's chest. "Man, you're warm."

He grunted, but once her breathing slowed and he was absolute sure she was asleep, Fang draped an arm over her waist and pulled her even closer.

"You can come over here when you're freezing any time you want," he said very, very quietly.

17. Firetrap

"Where's Max?" yelled Fang over the roar of the fire behind them.

The flock looked at one another, and Angel pointed to the building as tears welled in her eyes.

Without a second thought, Fang turned and raced back to the flames, ignoring the cries of protest from behind him. One word, one face, one thought was in his head: Max.

Launching himself through an open window, he landed in a hallway almost entirely consumed in flames. To get around them, he had to use quick movements and rely on his skinniness to slip by them.

One thing was for sure, though: Fang wasn't leaving here alone.

It wasn't five minutes later that he found her lying unconscious in another hall, this one with a little more room to move around. Soot covered her face, and an arm fell awkwardly over her stomach. Fang used all his willpower to control his emotions and focus on saving the two of them.

As he lifted her into his arms and felt the dead weight, that became harder than ever. "Damn it, Max, wake up," he said as they made their way toward another smashed window. "I love you! If you don't live I'm gonna kick your ass!"

They were at the window, and Fang stepped up on the sill, adjusting Max so he'd have a better grip.

"I'm not letting go," he whispered to her. "I've got you, Max. Always… even if you don't make it."

With that, he launched the both of them into the sky, stroking powerfully to get away from the flames licking at his back.

A couple minutes later, Fang felt a fist gently close around the fabric of his shirt and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

18. Nightmare

I live in fear. Of everything. I had been strong after all I'd been through, but after Max left me, all that was lost. I'm paranoid. Depressed. And I can't escape the recurring nightmare, the one that plays in front of my eyes long after I wake up in the morning.

It's her face. Always her face. Whether I'm asleep or watching TV or driving, all I see is the pale skin, blood on her nose, light draining slowly from her chocolate eyes.

Her sweet voice saying its last words. "Fang, I--"

She never finished. I knew what she was going to say, but that doesn't help. I needed to hear it, and I never did. And now I never will.

Much like this nightmare will never end.

19. Brother

Max sniffed, trying desperately to hold in her tears. Fang's arms immediately engulfed her, rocking her a little bit.

"Ari's expiration date kicked in," she said into his chest. "He was seven. Seven, Fang! He had a whole life ahead of him, and those creeps took it away."

Fang ran a hand through her hair. "It's okay, Max."

"No, it's not." Max cried even harder, and he just let her cry, willing to wait because he knew she'd tell him when she was ready.

"Fang… he was my brother."

20. Tennis

"Why are we doing this, again?"

"My mom wanted us to get out of the house," Max replied, hitting the tennis ball softly back over to Fang. "You just don't want to be hear because you know I could kick your butt.

He snorted. "No way."

"Wanna bet?"

As an answer, he grabbed the ball and hit it, hard, over the net. She dashed toward it and pounded it, just as hard.

They went back and forth, not able to out power each other. After a while of this, Max began to slow down and mostly stood rooted in the middle. Fang ran to the left for one shot and put all his strength into that swing.

A second later Max was holding her nose.

"Max!" He leapt over the net and ran to her. Grabbing her hands, he pulled them from her face and examined the blood dripping over her mouth.

"Geez," Fang mused, ripping a bit of cloth off his shirt to squeeze her nose with. "We won't be letting you on a tennis court again."

I hope there's no typos! I tried to be careful but I am so tired. The last two were written when I was kind of tired, so if they're not very good, I'm sorry!

Thanks for reading-- please review!!