Who knew three words were so troublesome?

"Max? Fang?" Ms. Smiley called through our door. "We're going to go to dinner in an hour! We'll meet in the lobby. Oh, and Fang? How about you wear some of the clothes I bought you?"

Fang groaned from his spot above me. Before Ms. Smiley had rudely interrupted us- again- Fang and I were sharing a few kisses on the bed. Okay, a lot of kisses.

"Come on, Fang. The clothes can't be that bad." After I had gotten over my lust for Iggy's blood and calmed down long enough to think, I decided that I would keep the black clothes I had bought for Fang a secret, so when the time came for the clothes to be unveiled, Fang would- hopefully- be to thankful to notice the single white shirt I had bought.

"You haven't seen the clothes I'm going to be wearing," Fang muttered, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Actually, I have." Then I not-so-gently pushed Fang off of me and ran to the place I stashed the clothes. Pulling out one of the black shirts, I held it up for Fang to see.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Fang repeated like a mantra while walking up to me and kissing my cheek. "You're the best girlfriend ever."

With a snort I replied, "I know." When he reached for the shirt and the bag, I pulled then out of his reach.

"What? Max, come on. Give it to me."

"I will," I started, loving the Iggy-approved plan I formulated in my head, "after you try on all the clothes Ms. Smiley got for you."

"Who's Ms. Smiley?" Fang asked.

"Of course you'd focus on that part of the sentence." With a sigh, I continued. "Ms. Smiley is Ms. Plum."

"In that case, no."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, or you have to wear her outfits in public."

With a glare and a defeated look, he muttered a fine and a 'worst girlfriend ever', grabbed the colorful bags Ms. Smiley bought and walked into the bathroom.

* * *

We walked hand-in-hand down the stairs into the lobby- me humming a happy tune, Fang silently fuming. Let's just say my reaction wasn't what he wanted (i.e. me laughing: bad.)

"Cheer up, Fang."

He grunted.

"Come on, Fang. Is it really that hard to talk?"

He grunted

"How old are you? Five?"

He grunted.

"Great now you've got me in a bad mood."

He grunted.

"Say something!"

With a sigh, he stopped us and turned me to look at him. "Sometimes I contemplate murder."

I glowered at him. "Is that supposed to mean something? And what is it with you and big words today? First impeccable then contemplate."

Before Fang answered my questions, he looked up at the ceiling and muttered so quietly I almost didn't hear, "I can't believe this. And I wonder why I love her." My heart froze and my breathes started coming out faster. Did he just say he loved me? Does he mean it, or is he just saying it for effect? What do I do? Should I say it back? What is he wasn't talking about me?

Even though I didn't notice this because I was too busy hyperventilating, Fang was doing close to the same- I mean, as close as someone like Fang could get to hyperventilating. This is what was probably going through his head: Did I really say that out loud? God kill me before Max does.

Okay... Maybe not- but I'm not the mind reader in the Flock.

"Fang," I choked out. "Fang, I love-" Before I finished, thousands of possibilities that all end in him refusing me and leaving clouded my mind. "-this shirt your wearing," I finished lamely.

"You should," Fang said not even bothering to keep the hurt and disappointment out of his voice. "You did pick it out."

I kissed Fang lightly on the lips- hoping that it will be enough to make up for the hurt, but knowing nothing will ever be enough (except maybe declaring my undying love for him in a public place).

"I'll meet you down in the lobby," Fang said, turning away from me but not before I could see the wetness in his eyes.

After Fang left, I stared at the place he once was and whispered, "I love you, too."

* * *

When I was finally got to the lobby, Fang was sitting on a couch between Angel and Nudge. Iggy was talking quietly to Gazzy while Ms. Smiley stood next to them, rolling her eyes every few seconds.

Before I even made it to the couch Fang was sitting on, he stood up and smiled a dazzling smile that would have made my knees week if I hadn't been able to see the slight sliver of hurt in his eyes.

"Thank God, you're here, Max!" Fang called to me, making a few heads turn in our direction before turning back to there previous spots. "You should have seen the way Nudge and Ms. Plum yelled at me when they saw what I was wearing." After he finally reached me, he pulled me into a passionate kiss that made me feel like I had said I love you. I knew what this kiss was actually saying though- and it almost brought tears to my eyes. It was saying, I love you even if you don't love me and I'll be to waiting for you.

It made me feel loved.

It made me feel special.

It made me feel wanted.

It made me feel selfish.

Who did I think I was to just take his love and not give any in return? Why didn't he just yell at me? Why did he have to be so... Perfect?!

"God, get a room you two," I heard Iggy mutter. I debated whether I should argue with him, or continue kissing Fang... Tough choice, I thought sarcastically, deepening the kiss between Fang and I more, trying to show without words that I truly did love him even if I couldn't say it.

When we broke away I heard Ms. Smiley sigh and say, "I wish I had a relationship that was half as loving as yours." A small smile was playing at the corner of her lips as she remembered all of her previous love-scapades. Angel's horrified expression just helped confirm my suspicions. "Well, that's the past! Let's go live in the present!" Ms. Smiley- get this- smiled and marched us of towards the awaiting limo.

* * *

Turns out, Ms. Smiley's 'living in the present' isn't exactly like I thought it would be. I thought, having a nice dinner, enjoy each others company, maybe going out and dancing in some square with a live band, see some movie premiere you would normally never see. I mean, isn't that what normal people do? If so, Ms. Smiley is about as normal as we are.

First thing we did, was go to Burger King. Don't get me wrong, I love 'the King', it's helped me through some never-sure-if-you're-going-to-live times. But it's not really something I expected Ms. Smiley to enjoy. Because trust me, she was pigging out. Before I knew she was done eating, she started pulling us towards thousands of art galleries. Then we went dancing. Well, not we per se. She. When I heard the word 'club' I faked chest pain and dragged the others back to the hotel.

After we had successfully made it back to the hotel we stacked fists and said goodnights.

As soon as Fang shut our hotel room door, he started groaning and covering his eyes with his hands.

"What?" I asked. "Are you hurt?" When I tried to get closer to him though he grabbed my hands and looked me directly in the eye.

"Promise me, Max, that no matter what, you will never drag me to another art gallery."

With a roll of my eyes, I yanked my hands back, turned to my bag full of clothes and called over my shoulder to Fang, "I'm going to take a shower!"

When I got into the bathroom, I did the normal stuff- wash myself, brush my teeth- but afterwards I stared at myself in the mirror. Not criticizing myself like normal girls my age might, just looking, wondering slightly, what did I do to deserve Fang?

No, I get why he loved me (and yes I realize how conceited that sounded), I was strong, fierce, fearless Maximum Ride. My name strikes terror into whitecoats and hope into experiments (I hope anyway). But, I wondered silently, am I really that person?

I'm strong, but others are stronger. I'm fierce, but Angel makes me melt. I'm fearless in everything except losing my family. Even if that fear is irrational in the most obvious way.

Like saying I love you.

I know that Fang wouldn't leave if I told him I loved him- in fact that might make our bond stronger. Some part of me is afraid that when I tell him I love you, one day he'll decide that I'm not the strong, fierce, fearless person he thought I was. I'm afraid that then, he won't love me- and that's worse then him leaving me. I also know that doesn't make sense. Birds mate for life, and we have bird DNA. Fang has already told me that he has chosen me, which means I'm his mate, right?

God, I thought bitterly, I'm making this way to complicated. Fang loves me, and I love him. That simple. Now go out there and tell him!

Oh no, I thought again with a weird feeling of dread, I'm really starting to talk to myself!

With newfound confidence, I pulled open the door walked out into the room, to see Fang lounging on the bed in a pair of American flag boxers Ms. Smiley got him (one of the few things Fang actually liked) and a black T-Shirt. At some point in looking at him, I lost all that confidence I had gained.

"Took you long enough," Fang muttered. "I thought you had fallen in the toilet or something."

"I'm going to ignore that comment." Fang grinned at me and patted my side of the bed.

After I had gotten settled in the bed and snuggled up to Fang, I took the opportunity to ask him, "Why aren't you taking a shower tonight?"

"You were taking too long and I decided to take one in the morning."

"M'kay," I mummered. Before we finished the show, we turned of the T.V. and went under the sheets. Fang drew me closer to him, wrapping his arms around me and laying his head on top of mine.

"Goodnight," I whispered to him.

"Goodnight Max," Fang whispered back. "I love you." It was obvious from his tone that he didn't expect me to answer, and I desperately wanted to prove him wrong. To whisper I love you back to him.

But once again, I fell silent. Only when Fang was dead asleep did I allow myself to whisper those four words. "I love you, too."