The library was quiet as the kids read. We had all made use of the conveniently stocked library after the little fiasco downstairs. I surveyed the room, taking in the quiet way Angel was mouthing the words, the quiet giggles from Nudge and Ella as they read the same book. Gazzy was curled up next to Angel his eyes wide, I looked at the book and smiled, Everything Gross, why am I not surprised?

My own book lay open on the table, Technique, A Martial Arts Guide, I didn't anticipate any fights to the death in the future, but still, you never knew. The worry that should have been gnawing at my insides about the Cullens, was replaced by a dull ache, part worry, part anger, and part sadness, Fang and I had never fought like this before, ever. Even when he left the flock that one time, it wasn't like this. I had no idea what to do.

A lot of the kids from school had left about an hour ago, I think a few of them were still down there though. I sat up straight as I heard the faint grind of the garage door opening, Mom was home.I needed to talk to her, about several things.

Glancing at the clock I saw that it was ten o'clock, time for bed. "Guys I need you to get ready for bed, it's already late." The kids all grumbled slightly as they trouped out of the library. Gazzy still clutched his book to his chest, obviously enthralled with the world of grossology.

Looking longingly at my room across the hall, I followed the kids down the spiral staircase, making sure they all went to their rooms instead of someone else's (Cough, Nudge, cough Ella).

Mom was standing downstairs in the foyer her keys still in hand. Fang and Katie were standing in the door, both of them laughing. I leaned against the top of the stairs, waiting patiently. Katie spotted me first, her eyes widening slightly.

"Oh, hey Max!"

"Hey Katie."

"Max! There you are, did you have fun at the Cullen's ?" Mom sounded eager, she probably thought I was "with" Ash, or something.I glanced at Fang and frowned.

"I was actually hoping I could talk to you about that, alone?" Mom looked surprised but pleased as well, I had a feeling she wasn't expecting the kind of chat I had in mind.

"Sure, why don't we go into my office?" I nodded and walked past Mom and Fang, smiling slightly at Fang I headed down the hall, acutely aware of the glare Fang would be sending me.

I opened the wooden door to the study and sat down on one end of the leather couch. Medical books lined the walls and an exam table sat in one corner, for house calls, or when one of us got hurt.

The door opened and Mom stepped inside. "Katie is such a nice girl, I invited her for dinner tomorrow, that should be nice hmm?" Mom turned and smiled happily at me as she shrugged on a sweater.

"Yeah I guess."

"What's wrong Max?" Mom came down and sat on the couch. I searched for the words to say what I needed to say.

"Mom, in life, sometimes you have to make hard choices, you know that." Mom nodded, her face wary.

"If I ever tell you that I have to leave, I need you to let me go." Mom stared at me.

"Max, is something going on?"

"Not..not right now. But I want to be prepared if something does happen. I want to make sure that the flock is taken care of. I know people who can protect them if worst comes to worst, and you too, but you need to know that if anything ever does happen, and I need to leave, I need you to let me do what I have to do." Mom sighed her face suddenly sad.

"I understand Max. Is there anything that you can tell me? Is there something that's making you worry?" I looked at the floor, deciding what to tell her.

"The Cullen's know about us."

"What?" Mom stood up, her expression almost comical. She paced slowly in front of me, her eyes worried.

"Is that why you're worried, because the Cullen's know?"

"No! It's just...well I can't tell you that but, they can be trusted, I know that for a fact."

"How did they even find out?"

"They saw me flying."

"When?"

"After Amy's party."

"Why were you flying after Amy's party?"

"There was this creepy guy there and I wanted to go home."

"You could have just called me." Mom looked at me reproachfully.

"Flying seemed easier at the time." Mom was silent for a long moment.

"You know this is incredibly dangerous. Dr. Cullen is a nice man, but I'm not sure your trust in him is well placed."

"Mom, I can't tell you why but they will keep the secret." Mom sighed.

"I trust you Max, but be careful."

"I always am." Mom smiled and patted my leg.

"Okay then, go on up to bed."

*************************************

While I would have liked to go straight to bed, I hadn't done any of my homework that night. Between being at the Cullen's and the fight with Fang, it had completely slipped my mind. As a result I was up till about 1:00 doing it.

When I got up in the morning I could barely keep my eyes open. Everyone was quiet in the car, especially Fang, and as we pulled up to school, he was the first one out of the car. I let the rest of the kids pile out in front of me Angel grinned at me as she did jerking her head towards one of the trees that stood in front of the highschool. The Cullen's were grouped under it in the shadow of the tree.

"Remember what I said Max." Mom had seen where I was looking.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll bring Ash over after school and you can meet him." Mom rolled her eyes and smiled at me.

"I'm guessing you'll be riding in his car then?"

"I'm sure he'll give me a ride." I hopped out of the car and shut the door, waving as Mom drove away.

The rest of the flock was waiting in front of the school, minus Fang.

"And we think Max and Ash like each other but we're not sure but they totally look cute together-" Nudge saw me and froze.

"Nudge!"

"I'll tell you the rest later, bye!" Iggy grinned as Nudge grabbed Ella's hand and ran. Gazzy smirked at me before running ahead.

"Honestly, is nothing sacred in this family?" Angel shrugged.

"Let's got talk to the Cullen's Renesmee is over there and Iggy wants to meet them." Iggy turned bright red and scowled at where he thought Angel was.

"I'm over here Ig, and it is true." Iggy sighed.

"Well yeah, I just thought that if these are Max's new friends then I should meet them, if you trust them then I do." Iggy smiled nervously.

"Thanks Ig, that means a lot to me." Ig shrugged and I grabbed his hand. "Come on." Angel grabbed my hand and I walked over to where the Cullen's were standing. Ash watched me approach and my stomach clenched.

"Hey Max!"

"Hi Alice."

"This is one of your brother's?"

"Yeah, I'm the smart one." The Cullen's laughed and Iggy smiled. "I'm Iggy." The Cullen's introduced themselves one by one as Iggy catalogued their voices. There was a short pause that was broken by Angel breaking into laughter. Edward was looking nervous as Angel smiled sweetly at him. I briefly wondered what was going on before Angel quickly hugged Iggy then me.

"Max I"m going to school, bye Ig!" I had the sneaking suspicion that Angel had just been messing with Edward's head.

"Max, I think I'm going in too." I glanced at Iggy curiously.

"Do you want me to help you in?" Iggy shook his head.

"But if you could just point me towards where Jennifer is standing."

"Who?"

"She's in all my classes, I know she's tall, and I think I just heard her voice." I shook my head and turned Iggy so he was pointed towards the girl that I faintly remembered being in his classes.

"Ten steps straight ahead." Iggy paused and ran a hand through his hair, throwing me a smirk before he sauntered off. I fought the desire to sniff loudly, Iggy was all grown up! Kind of. Shaking my head I turned back to the Cullen's.

"Your sister, she's scary that one." Edward shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Aww, little bro, don't worry, the wittle girl won't hurt you!" Emmet grinned mockingly at Edward.

"Emmet's right." Emmet grinned. "She wouldn't hurt you, she'd make you hurt yourself." Emmet paled and everyone stared at me. I guess I forgot to mention the whole mind control aspect of Angel's power, whoops.

"Are you serious?" Rosalie was staring at me incredulously.

"Dead serious."

"You mean she would actually...."

"Make you throw yourself into a fire? Fall down a flight of stairs? Walk into the sunlight? Probably not, but I still wouldn't make her mad." The Cullen's were quiet for a moment until Alice spoke up.

"Well now, that's odd. No, I don't think so Edward."

"What's she talking about?" I whispered to Ash. He shrugged.

"Probably a vision, sometimes she gets snippets, not a full blown vision but a glimpse."

"Oh."

"Come on, lets get inside." Ash let his arm fall over my shoulders and I felt a shiver run up my spine. As we walked towards the building I glanced at Ash from the corner of my eye, he was looking straight ahead, a strangely satisfied look on his face.

"You know you still have to tell me about your power." Ash smiled but didn't look at me.

"Who says I have a power."

"Edward."

"He told you?" Ash glanced at me sharply.

"No, you just did." Ash frowned a little, but a small smiled tugged at the edges of his lips.

"Well then, you'll have to wait till after school." I smiled at him and slipped out from under his arm.

"Okay, by the way my mom wants to meet you. She thinks you're like my boyfriend or something." I laughed slightly but Ash's face was thoughtful.

"Hmm. And how do you feel about that?" His voice was low and alluring. The bell rang and jumped.

"Oh look, we'd better get to class, bye!" I took off down the hall, trying to resist the urge to look back and see the smirk that I knew would adorn his face.

Boys were so confusing.

**********************************************************

"Okay guys, listen up, you are going to be on your absolute BEST behavior tonight, we have two people coming over and we are all going to be good, no displays of powers or anything like that, am I clear?" The kids nodded solemnly as Iggy sniggered behind me. "That goes for you too mister." I shot Iggy a look and he smiled meekly.

"Yes ma'am." I made sure the kids all looked compliant enough, the noise of kids waiting for parents was loud, as we all (minus Fang) stood on the sidewalk waiting for Mom.

"Hey guys!" I looked up to see Katie sauntering over, a huge smile on her face. Choruses of greetings rose from the kids, my little angels (yeah right).

"Max? Are you ready?" Ash's voice sounded behind me and I started.

"Jeez, some warning would be nice."

"Well Iggy heard me." Ash smirked at me, as I smacked Iggy. He tried to look innocent as Gazzy sniggered loudly.

"Aren't you coming with us Max?" Katie sounded perplexed.

"I'm actually going to catch a ride with Ash, I'll see you at home."

"Oh okay." Katie smiled as Fang came up beside her, his face unreadable.

"Kay guys, I'll see you at home."

"Bye Ash! Bye Max! Have fun!" Nudge's voice was entirely too innocent for my liking. Iggy nodded at Ash.

"Drive slow, as soon as she gets home she'll make us do homework."

"I'll do what I can." Rolling my eyes I took off towards Ash's car he was smiling as he caught up to me.

"It's strange how your family all listens to you, well most of them." I shrugged, biting back the twinge of worry at Ash's subtle reference to Fang's recent rebelliousness.

"Well I've saved their butts enough for them to know that I'm usually right." Ash smiled and held the car door open as I got in.

I waited till we had pulled out of the parking lot before I pounced.

"So are you going to tell me?"

"What?"

"Your power, what is it?" Ash stared at the road, his face unreadable.

"Telekinesis." I stared at him for a moment.

"Really?"

"Really really."

"So how big of an object can you move?" Ash shrugged.

"The biggest I've ever done is a truck, but I haven't tested it beyond that." I stared at him in awe.

"Wow, if any of the scientists I knew got wind of you, they'd have a field day." Ash smiled.

We were silent as he focused on the road. I glanced out the window, the trees were going by fast, almost as though I were flying.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Slow down, you're going way too fast!" Ash smiled.

"I don't think either of us would be seriously injured if we got into a crash."

"You're wrong there, at 90 miles per hour I would most definitely be roadkill." Ash looked surprised.

"But I thought you were stronger than average and you healed quicky."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I don't get hurt, badly." Ash scowled at the road as he slowed down.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" He almost sounded angry.

"I didn't know you drove like you were in Nascar." Ash made a noncommital sound, his face still creased into a frown.

Apparently Ash's speed demon driving had drastically cut down on the time it took to get to Mom's because we soon pulled up to the house, the cloudy sky making the house look slightly eerie.

Before I could even grab my backpack Ash was outside my door holding it open as I stepped out.

I smiled before freezing, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. I peered into the trees around the house, their bright green branches casting deep shadows.

"What's wrong?"

"I just... I feel like someone's watching me." Ash glanced around then grinned.

"You can come out Jake, she won't hurt you." I tensed as a figure slowly moved out of the trees. I immediately recongnized him, Jacob the werewolf.

"Well I wan't going to jump out at her, who knew what she'd do?" Ash rolled his eyes.

"Pathetic." Jacob scowled at him then looked cautiously at me.

"I just, I wanted to see if you had gotten home safely." Ash frowned at Jacob.

"As you can see she's fine, now what do you want?"

"I was just...How's your brother Max, the dark haired one?" I stared at Jacob, my eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"He's fine, why do you want to know?"

"I was just...wondering. You talked to Alice yet Ash?" Ash shook his head, a frown still on his face.

"Oh, okay, well, see you round." Jacob sauntered back into the woods and I stared after him.

"What the heck was that?" Ash stared at the spot where Jacob had disappeared into the trees.

"I don't know, but I think I'd better talk to Alice when I get home. Come on, your mom is here." Sure enough her car was just pulling into the driveway. Ash and I walked up to the house the door opened before I could even knock. Apparently everyone had ran inside.

"You must be Ash!" Mom sounded beyond excited and I repressed a groan.

"No Mom, this is the President of the United states, you might have heard of him." Mom shot me a look before ushering Ash into the house.

"I thought you said you'd drive slow?" Iggy was glaring accusingly at Ash.

"I did." I snorted loudly and Ash smiled quickly at me.

Katie and Fang came in from the Garage and Katie paused upon seeing Ash.

"Hello."

"Hello Katie." Katie giggled breathlessly and I fought the urge to punch her.

"Well then, now that we're all here. Why don't you all head up to the library and you can work on some homework while I get dinner started. You are staying for dinner aren't you Ash?"

"I'd like to but my mother needs me at home to help with some things around the house."

"Oh well that's too bad, maybe some other time."

As we all headed up the stairs I tried not to think about what would happen when we were all crammed into the library, Fang, Katie, Me, Ash, oh lordy.

As we all got settled in and I got the kids started on their homework, trying to ignore Katie's giggles as Fang spoke in a low voice. I sat down across from Ash, he held up my history textbook and cringed.

"Must we?"

"Well, I'm pretty good with history, I could make you think that I was even there." I smiled at Ash's comment, he probably was there.

"Okay then, make me understand the civil war."

"My pleasure."

*******************************************************************

After finally getting me to understand most of the war, explaining shakespeare, and helping Nudge and Ella with their English, I was ready to worship Ash. The kids and Iggy were done with most of their homework and Fang and Katie were still working on theirs. They'd probably be done except for the constant flirting they were doing, disgusting really.

The library had gone fairly quiet when Ash's phone range. Snapping it open he listened for a moment. He went froze, "I'll be right there." He shut the phone and stood, can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah sure." Grabbing my hand, he led me into the hallways. The kids looked at us curiously before the doors shut.

"I have to go, Alice had some visions and...well I need to talk to my family, I'll come back later tonight, through your window I think. I'll go say goodbye to your mom now though. Everything's fine, don't worry."

"But-"

"I told you, don't worry." Before I could say anything else Ash leaned down and kissed me softly, before turning and disappearing down the staircase. I stood stock still, the feeling of his lips effectively wiping any thoughts from my head.

"Max?" I turned to see Angel poking her head through the doorway. She suddenly smiled before pulling her head back into the library. A minute later I heard Nudge and Ella burst into very loud giggles, and I had the feeling i knew what caused them.

"Angel!"