Max's P.O.V.

Part of me didn't want to leave the hospital, but that part was a minimal 12%. That small percentage only wanted to stay to keep talking to Fang, as I was supposed to address my doctor. The other 88% couldn't wait to see the kids and gouge away on Raven's home cooking. I changed into a fresh set of "outside world clothes" then waited for the text from my daughter reading that they were parking in the hospital lot. It still hadn't come. I sighed in exasperation; the anesthetic smell was still bugging me after a week, if anything, my tolerance had become worse.

"Max?" I heard from my doorway. I glanced up to the familiar, yet unfamiliar voice. I say unfamiliar because over the past couple days, as steady as the tortoise, his voice gained more and more warmth.

I looked up from my finger tapping and looked into Fang's eyes. The same scenario of his voice applied to his eyes, which now didn't seem like bottomless ice pits but mere dark slushy ponds.

"What's up?" I asked skillfully.

He shrugged, "Nothing much, I came to give you one last checkup." Suuuuuuuure.

He did his duties quickly then stood before me and gave me some orders, which I hardly paid any attention to. I nodded and said my "'Kay's," at all the right places, and I think he succumbed to the allusion that I was listening.

"Hey, Fang," I tested the odd name, "what if you made some house calls?"

"House calls?"

"Yeah you know, to check that I'm being a good girl and doing what you tell me to."

"I know you won't, so why would I waste my time checking?"

Dang it. I laughed then said, "True. True." Then, the fateful text came. "Thank God!" I cried out happily. Fang eyed me strangely and asked, "What?"

"Time to go!" I hoped up, pulling my bag to my side.

"Let me walk you to the door."

"Is that standard procedure?"

"For the patients who need guidance."

"I can navigate and walk for myself!" He snorted.

"I'm sure you can," he answered sarcastically. I rolled my eyes, but I allowed him to walk beside me. When he reached for my bag, I snapped, "I'm not an invalid!" He backed off.

We walked in silence towards the lobby where Raven sat tapping her foot impatiently as Indie talked her and Ari's ears off. Angel sat beside Ari, holding his hand and laughing at whatever Indianna was saying. The scene reminded me of the future fated to be only nine months from now. I scolded myself. Negativity never helped anything.

"How were the kids?" I asked Ari the moment I was in hearing distance.

"Good," he answered simply.

"They were just darling!" Angel cried out enthusiastically.

"Good," I answered with a smile.

"Here Mommy, let me take your bag," Indianna offered sweetly. Fang scoffed, "So the seven-year-old gets to help you, but I can't?" I just glared at him for a moment as I handed my bag to Indie. "Thank you baby," I said to my son.

Raven seemed like she was getting impatient and huffed, "Can we go now?"

"I'll walk you to the car," Fang offered.

"What, the door isn't enough?" He shrugged.

Fang's P.O.V.

The little boy, Indianna, was struggling with the bag. Every couple steps, he would drop it and drag it across the pavement. "Here," I offered softly as I took the bag from his hands and threw it over my shoulder."

"Thanks," he said gratefully, huh, he looked just like Max, but when it came to relying on others, he didn't mind a little help, which was very different from his mother.

Max was ahead of us chatting with her brother and his girlfriend, while her daughter, Raven, walked slightly behind them texting.

Max's son looked up to me and asked with desperate eyes, "Will Mommy ever be like she used to be?"

I didn't want to answer that question. I didn't want to crush a little boy's hope. Instead I said softly, "How do you like school?" Indianna didn't seem surprised at the change of topic and shrugged, "It's a snooze fest." I nodded and said, "Of course. What's your favorite subject?"

"Lunch."

"That hardly counts as a subject."

He shrugged again, "I can examine and learn about the food right?"

After a moment, I inquired, "What have you gathered about the food so far?"

"That it has no health value, and the fries are the only tasty part." I laughed lightly at his answer and smiled at the young boy softly.

Max's P.O.V.

Now that I'm back home, I feel like everything's gone back to normal. Raven still cooks in my stead, and Indianna still enjoys chasing the cat with a nerf gun. They argue endlessly, and I'm there to break my kids up. Indianna has trouble with his homework, and I'm there to help him through the process. Of course, the truth is, my life will never be normal again. I can only hope my children and I gain wisdom from the fix we are in.

Angel's P.O.V.

"I miss the kids. This place is so quiet without them…."

"Really Ange? I thought you like peace."

"I do, but some chaos is always fun." Ari grumbles at my response. "Come on babe, take a step back and try to examine the situation with eyes unclouded by greed. Those kids are sweet and will need a home."

"Ella should take them in. She loves kids."

"But Ella already has three of her own, a husband, a house to run, and two jobs to work." I love Ari, but sometimes he can be so selfish.

"There has to be someone else."

"Like Max's druggie ex-husband or the parents who abandoned her?"

Ari's P.O.V.

I thought over what Angel just said. She was right. I was being ridiculous and selfish. I sighed and leaned into her, "I just don't want things to change."

She ran her left hand through my hair, and in her angelic voice she whispered into my ear, "None of us do."

Nudge's P.O.V.

When I walked into Fang's office and heard him softly humming, I couldn't help but think sometimes change is good.

"Fang?" I asked. He turned to look at me, eyebrows raised, "This Saturday is May's birthday, we are going to see May's first movie in the theater. Want to join us? She's decided on Beauty and the Beast, which of course she's already seen thousands of times, but she really loves it. She always yells at Gaston and calls him an asshole though. Stupid Iggy has rubbed off on her too much. I can only hope she doesn't scream out in the theater- think about all those poor other girls whose sweet innocent ears will receive such foul-"

"I'll come Nudge," he cut me off shortly.

"Yay!" I clapped and smiled at him widely, "Meet us at Starlight Cinema at 6:30! Make sure you bring money though, and a lot of it. Their candy is waaaay overpriced. Come to think of it… everything there is overpriced. Even that claw came costs five dollars! Once, Iggy won May a bear on the claw game! May was so happy; the next day she took it to school and bragged endlessly about how awesome her daddy was. It made Iggy so proud!" I was about to continue when I was paged. "Crap- gotta go Fang! See you Saturday! Don't be late!" Then, I was out the door, and very pleased with my achievement.

Mrs. Batchelder's P.O.V.

"El, how are the boys?"

"Very good. But I found out Zander has to get glasses."

"Ah." There's an awkward moment of silence.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"About M-" She stops awkwardly. "Marcus. About Marcus, he really likes your chocolate chip cookies."

"Oh, well tell him I'm happy he likes them. I could send you the recipe if you want."

"Sure, but I highly doubt mine would taste as good as yours. Mom- I've got to go. The kids just got home from school, and I need to start making dinner."

"Ok, Ella, miss you dear. I hope you can visit soon."

"Sure Mom, I'll talk to David about it."

"I love you dear."

"Love you too Mom, bye." There's a click, and my daughter is gone. I sighed and placed the phone on the receiver lightly. Lately, she has been more resigned than usual. I wondered why. I left the kitchen, where our classic wall-phone was and walked to the living room where my husband was reading the paper on his recliner. I settled in my own chair, then cleared my throat, "Jeb, I want to go see a movie this weekend. We haven't had a night out in a while. Ella told me The Warhorse was really good." Jeb looked up from his paper, "Sure Val. That sounds fine, but make sure it's an early showing. We need to get to bed early for church the next day."

I smiled, looking forward to what was to come, "Great."

A/N Thanks to everyone who participated in the the guessing game! Now to announce the winner! Drum roll please! Congrats to Anna Ride, it was her mother! Coming soon: J.J.! But Jeb/Max's father was a great guess! Anyway kudos in general if you participated xD.

not caitlin: A date doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to or has fallen for Brigid. Fang wasn't really looking forward to the date with Brigid, really it was just to take some free time off of his hands.

ANYWAY: Thank you all for the reviews and guesses! They were all very appreciated!