Well, I got 19 reviews since yesterday, so I think you guys deserve a new chapter… I'm gonna make a few shoutouts, and then you can read the story.

To Axel Cutlass: Haha! Your right! Itex isn't creative with names! But, trust me, the baby's name is NOT Twen. Seriously, do you think Fang and Max would let their baby be named TWEN? I don't think so.

To caffeinatedlackey: Thank you for the creative criticism. I read the chapter over and it did make it seem distant. I will rewrite some of the fighting scenes and make them more realistic, but I have to admit, usually I write romance stories, not action, so I'm not used to having to write fight scenes. Some pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Shall we:-)

My Favorite Mistake

Chapter Eight

Sweet and Sour Moments

After a couple minutes, they all ran in again. Iggy and Fang grabbed hold of Rik and held him. The two of them together was strong enough to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Nudge ran to me and helped me to stand. I walked to Rik and punched him hard, just once. He blacked out from my punch and Fang and Iggy threw him off to the side, not afraid to let him crash into a few things.

"Let's go," I choked out. I jumped and tried to fly, but faltered and crashed to the ground, unconscious from lack of blood.

Whoops.

POV Nudge

Poor Max! I felt so bad for her; Rik had done some serious damage. Fang picked her up in his arms and we left together. We met Angel and Gazzy outside and flew to our hideout.

Fang laid Max down on the floor and looked around. "OK," he said, "if anyone wants to show their First Aid certificate, do so now!"

Everyone's eyes looked blank, so I took what I'd learned from watching ER and The Discovery Channel and went into Nurse Mode, "All right, someone needs to go to the store. I'm gonna need antiseptic and a lotta band aids. Bring me water and a bag of ice. And bring some multivitamin tablets. They'll help her heal faster. Here, take Max's credit card." I scanned everyone's faces. They all looked pretty shocked. "Go!" I cried.

"I'll go," Iggy muttered.

"I'll go, too," I said, "Fang, make sure she gets lots water. Clean up the blood off her. She's obviously gonna bleed, but if I see too much more blood, I swear, I'll hurl."

I stood and Iggy and I took off. We were lucky there was a town close by. I found the personal health aisle and grabbed some Neosporin, gauze, bandages, Band-Aids, painkillers, paper towels and multivitamins. Then I went to the drinks aisle and grabbed five liter-size bottled waters. In the toys aisle, I found a plush hawk and a baby blanket and bought them, too. I went to the front to ring them up.

"Did someone get hurt?" the sales' clerk asked, concerned.

"No," I answered, "We just wanna be prepared. We were out, so we figured better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yeah," she said, "All right, fifty-three dollars and eighty-nine cents."

"Gimme a bag of ice, too, please," I said.

"Alright," she said, totaling it again, "fifty-eight, twenty-one." I handed her Max's credit card.

She handed me back Max's card and the shopping bags. I handed the water bag to Iggy and took the other two myself. We left the store quickly.

Once we were in the air, we began to talk again, not afraid to discuss personal problems, "How did you know all about curing people like that?"

"Well, watching TV does come in handy sometimes," I told him, "I always watched ER and the Discovery Channel back at the house. They turned out to be very informative."

"You watched a hospital soap?" he laughed.

"You watch Scrubs!" I snapped.

He laughed again, "Scrubs is funny! ER doesn't make dirty comments ever."

"You're right," I said, "Scrubs is funny. But not informative."

"You amaze me," Iggy laughed. I tried to control my cheeks and prevent them from blushing too bad, but I think they still did.

"Hey, hang a right," I said. We turned and landed back in the cave.

I went right to work. I pulled out the paper towels. I soaked them with water and dabbed at the wounds on Max's pretty face.

"Band-Aids," I said, and Iggy handed some to me. "Neosporin," Iggy handed it to me. I squeezed some Neosporin onto the Band-Aids and patched her face with them. "Hand me some paper towels and a water bottle." I cleaned up the wounds along Max's arms and covered them with Neosporin covered Band-Aids as well. I did the same to her stomach.

"Uhhrrr," Max said, waking up. She tried sitting up. I touched her shoulder gently and said, "No, Max. Lie down. You're gonna hurt yourself even more. Now, what hurts? Did I get everything?"

"My back," she told me. I lifted her and bandaged her back up.

"Rik really hurt you," I stated sympathetically.

"Did I kill him with that punch, at least?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I said, shaking my head, "You knocked him out pretty cold, but we didn't check…sorry."

Max almost laughed, "Nudge, it's all right! I don't mind! We'll just have to kick his butt next time."

"Max, will you be OK?" I asked her.

"Yeah, babes, I'll be fine," she assured me. But I saw fear and pain in her eyes for just a second before she hid her emotions away again. I gave her a encouraging smile and walked to sit beside Iggy.

POV Max

Fang came over and sat beside my head (cuz I was still lying down). He was holding our baby. His expression was blank as usual, but I saw enjoyment in his dark eyes.

"So what's her name?" Fang asked.

I laughed, "They wanted to name her Twen."

"Twen?" Fang repeated.

"Twen," I said, "As in their twentieth successful experiment." I gave him a serious look, trying to let him know with my eyes that I was not joking.

"Our baby's name is not Twen," Fang said firmly.

"I know," I said, "But I wanted to wait for you to name her."

"How about Natalie?" he suggested.

I smiled. Natalie. It had a nice ring to it. Natalie. "I like Natalie," I said.

"Natalie it is, then," Fang said, "Natalie Ride."

I was stunned. We were using my last name? Boy, do I feel special. But then it dawned on me that Fang didn't have a last name, so my last name was the only last name to use. I smiled and repeated it, "Natalie Ride."

"The Natalie Ride," Fang said jokingly, "Daughter of the Maximum Ride."

"And daughter of the Fang…uh…" I said. Fang chuckled softly, "And daughter of the Fang! See, you're so important, you don't need a last name!" We were both silent for a while, then I said quietly, "She looks like you."

"She's a day old! How can she look like me?" Fang asked.

I smiled, "She has your eyes."

"Yes, but your eyes are dark, too," Fang pointed out.

"Well, she has your hair!" I smiled. It was true. Natalie's hair was straight like mine, but it was chocolate-colored like Fang's.

"She has your wings," Fang added. Her wings did match mine.

"Someone hit her with the pretty stick," I said.

Fang nearly smiled, and for the first time in a month, I felt hope rush through my veins.

THREE DAYS LATER

Thank you quick healing bird DNA! See, I knew that stuff came in handy every now and then!!! Anyways, I'm 100 percent healed! Fang and I decided to go on a date, so we left Natalie with Nudge (God, Nudge loves holding the baby WAY too much) and went off on our merry way.

We found a park close by and sat next to each other by the fountain. I was staring out at the mountains in the distance, but I saw Fang staring directly into my eyes.

"What are you looking at?" I laughed.

"Natalie's not the only one who got hit with the pretty stick," Fang said.

"Who else did, then?" I asked, knowing the answer even before I asked it.

"You did," Fang stated and leaned to kiss my mouth.

"Fang!" I giggled.

"What?" he asked, amusement expressed in his gorgeous eyes.

"Why'd you stop?!" I said slyly, leaning in to kiss him back.

We stayed like that for the longest time. Finally, we broke apart. I examined his fine face, but his eyes were studying the skies behind us.

"What?" I asked.

"Get up," he said. His voice portrayed sincerity and urgency.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Get up!" he cried, standing. I looked at the mountain where our hideout was. But I couldn't see the mountain for all the little black dots blocking in. And since I doubt there were that many birds blocking our area, I figured they were Erasers.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. I jumped to my feet and we took to the air. I had to fight my way through all the Erasers, but I soon got inside the cavern. I took out my fury on Erasers as I hurriedly scanned the heads for my flock. Where were they?!

POV Nudge

"Gimme the baby, Fudge!" Rik was saying to me.

"It's Nudge!!!" I snapped. I cuddled Natalie protectively against my torso and avoided a punch aimed at me.

"Like that's much better," Rik sneered. His hand clenched into a fist, turning his knuckles white. He lifted it and attempted to hit me, but I dodged his punch easily. I lifted my foot and kicked him right across the cheek. He flew backward, knocking over a couple other Erasers like bowling pins.

He stood right away and walked over to me. He growled fiercely and punched me again, this time succeeding and making me fly against the cave wall. Dizzy and disoriented, I tried to stand, but Rik just came over and punched my chest.

"H-help!!!" I managed to scream out.

I was expecting to see Max or Fang appear. (I was positive they had seen the battle and came to join in.) But instead, I saw Iggy break through the crowd of Erasers, coming to my rescue.

Iggy shocked me beyond belief. He looked angrier than I'd ever seen him. He swung a punch at the back of Rik's head, hitting him firmly and causing him to wheel around and face Iggy. Iggy was lucky he was blind, so he didn't see the nasty looks Rik was sending his way.

Iggy swung another punch at Rik, and Rik fell to the ground. Iggy crouched on the ground and punched Rik as if he were a punching bag. Rik was strong, though, and managed to flip it over so he was on top of Iggy, but Iggy was able to wiggle around enough to evade the attacks.

"Why don't you look at me when I hurt you?!" Rik shouted in frustration.

Iggy laughed out loud and threw Rik off of him, "I'm blind," he stated. He kicked Rik in the side and then brought a punch down in the middle of his chest.

"And that'll teach you not to hurt Nudge ever again!!!!" Iggy shouted, two inches from Rik's face. Rik didn't move a muscle. He was either severely out or dead. I was hoping for the second one, but you could never be sure.

Iggy stood and walked to me, wrapping me into a hug. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and nuzzled my head into his neck. "You're OK," he said, "Nudge, you're OK."

I shrugged him off of me and used the back of one hand to wipe away my tears. "I know," I said softly, "But I was scared back there."

"You're really good at dodging attacks," Iggy pointed out.

I laughed softly, forcing myself to not blush, "I know. It's a great skill, don't you think?"

Iggy laughed and nodded, "Yeah. Especially when you're a mutant bird kid on the run from wolf hybrids hungry from only your blood." We were quiet for a while. Natalie wiggled slightly against me and made a gurgling noise. Iggy must've heard it, because he said, "Is Natalie OK?" His hand reached out to touch the baby gently.

"I think so," I answered, "I protected her from Rik the best I could."

"Are you OK?" Iggy asked.

"My head hurts a little," I said, holding my head, "and my chest, too," I touched my flat chest, "But otherwise I'm OK." I didn't mention that Rik might've broken a rib or two.

Iggy smiled. I liked his smile. It made me smile. "I'm glad," he said.

"How about you?" I asked him, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Iggy answered, "That bastard should think twice before messin' with me!"

I tried to be strong. I really did try. But it's very hard when you just got your butt kicked by a scary wolf-thing. Now I knew how Max felt. I dropped my head into Iggy's t-shirt and tried to hold myself together, but a few sad tears still escaped.

Iggy placed a sensitive hand on my poofy hair. "It's all right, Nudge," he said quietly, "Everything will turn out OK."

So there's the Niggyness you wanted! Is Niggyness right? I mean, I know Fax is for Max and Fang, but is Niggy for Nudge and Iggy? Or is it Nuggy? Idge? Idgy? Nudgy? Ugh…I'm confused! Well anyways, there's your chapter!!!