Okay, I'm sorry for not updating the second I got into the house but I had to chew over whether this was the right way to turn my story... I'm still not sure if it's a good idea... but I guess you're opinions will tell me soon enough.

I will pray to whoever runs this world that it was the right way to go and leave my story's judgment in all your too smart and brilliant judgment.

HAPPY READING! -hopefully!-

Chapter 10
(Fang's POV)

I groaned and let myself fall back onto Max's bed. We were sitting in Max and Shadow's room trying to study and we just weren't getting anywhere.

We'd studied for hours and I couldn't seem to remember anything.

"I hate Socials Studies!" Shadow suddenly screamed and threw her text book across the room and yelled in frustration. "I hate studying and school and… and everything!" she continued to spaz out but I stopped listening.

Max lay down next to me and I sighed.

The next three days were pretty much the whole house studying and the next 2 after that were exams. We were supposed to move houses during those days, but we were way too tired and stressed out.

I sat in the exam hall, freezing my butt off, I forgot my jacket and now all I could think about was how cold I was. This room seriously had no heating.

I was doing my science exam, my last exam, and I was flying through it. After a few years of being subjected to experiments you start pick up on these things. It was a 90 minute exam with 275 questions and we were 50 minutes into it and I was on question 213.

I glanced over at Shadow who was sitting across the isle from me. She had a look of concentration on her face as she went through her questions. I smiled and my eyes looked down at my questions. She seemed to be doing fine.

I finished with nearly 20 minutes to spare so I gave in my test and rested my head on my arms and watched the clock.

Time seriously goes slower when you want it to speed up.

Shadow gave in her test with 5 minutes to spare and sat with in the chair and sighed. She smiled at me and I smiled back slightly.

We played the finger game as we waited; the one where you have to add the fingers and try to get the other person to have none, which sure got the minutes to fly by. Shadow won in the end and I stuck my tongue out at her as the bell above rang signaling that the exam was over.

Shadow jumped up and said, "That was fun… at the end," She whispered and I smiled.

"Let's go catch up to Riley and the others," I said, almost cringing. At school I was Marshall Cole, and I really wished I'd just said my name was Cole because every teacher had to remember not to call me Marshall, and Shadow was Zoe and Sorrow was Riley. I was so used to calling them Shadow and Sorrow that I had a hard time saying their other names. It was so annoying to have to remember. I didn't mind being called Cole, mom and dad called me that sometimes, but I knew the others didn't like it too much.

Random kids talked to us on the way out. Max and Iggy joined us and we walked out together.

We walked into the courtyard and Sorrow and Nudge were there. Sorrow had 3 tough looking guys around him. Sorrow looked pissed and Nudge looked slightly worried.

Suddenly one of the guys pushed Sorrow and I glared at him. As I approached them I could hear their conversation.

Sorrow pushed the kid back. "What's your problem Kevin?" Sorrow growled at him.

The boy, Kevin I guess, laughed, "What's yours spaz? I was just doing some friendly flirting with your girl." He winked at Nudge and she looked a little sickened by him. She was starting to look pretty angry now.

Sorrow glared at him and opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Is there a problem here?" I asked glaring down at this Kevin kid.

Sorrow looked at me and let out a slow angry sigh. I had to make sure Sorrow didn't throw any punches; he was already in huge trouble for fighting.

"No man, we're cool," Kevin said taking a step back. People knew I was a peaceful kid, but they also knew better than to mess with my siblings while I was around. I'd proved more than once that I was capable in taking any kid in a fight, despite my scrawny build.

"Good, now beat it," I practically growled at the kid and the three kids glared at Sorrow but left.

Sorrow looked at me with a frown. "I could have dealt with that, you didn't have to step in," he mumbled.

"I know you could have, but you would have used fists, and if you get into any more fights mom and dad may kill you," I said and he looked at the ground, too ashamed or too angry to say anything or look at me. At this point the only thing that mattered was that it hadn't turned into a fight.

He sighed, "Whatever," He looked over at Nudge who had taken his hand and a slow smile spread across his face.

"Come on, let's go get something icecream or something," Shadow said. "Exams are over!" She yelled and cheered. Iggy laughed and chased her across the courtyard, the two of them laughing.

I shook my head as I watched Shadow, she was so weird sometimes. We went and got icecream and walked back to dad's house. Gazzy and Angel had been off school for the last couple days and found it extremely hilarious to bother us about it.

That night we went over to mom's to celebrate the end of exams. She had invited everyone over for the party. Even Dad and Mrs. Martinez were there.

We were hanging out and eating when I noticed Max and shadow disappear from the celebration. I didn't really think too much of it, but Iggy had a slightly worried look on his face and I tried to ignore that, but I couldn't help but feel some of that worry too. What could have possibly set him on edge like that?

(Max's POV)

I was standing in the TV room when Shadow came over to me with worried, nervous eyes. "Max, I need to speak with you."

I nodded, I couldn't say no to her when she looked that upset. Angel's head shot over to us and her eyes showed her surprise but she quickly covered it up and looked back at the TV.

I followed her out of the room and upstairs to our bedroom. She paced, wringing her hands as she went. She was obviously worried about how I would react to some sort of information.

"Shadow please, you can tell me anything," I said sitting on my bed.

She took a deep breath, "Alright, please don't judge me for this, but I have to tell you… before I could even think to tell anyone else that is." Shadow said still pacing.

"Shadow spit it out!" I finally snapped. I was worried about her now. She seemed so breakable for a second, something I wasn't used to. She was always working so hard to be strong.

She took an even deeper breath and closed her eyes, "Max, Iggy and I want to get married."

Okay, wasn't expecting that one, but that didn't explain the worried look in her eyes.

"Congratulations… but that's not all… is it?" I asked her kind of suspicious now.

Yes Max, that is definitely not all… Wisdom said in my head.

Shut up! I hissed at her while I waited for Shadow to answer. Wisdom listened to me for once.

Shadow stared at the floor for a long time, she looked very fragile again. She looked up at me; her eyes were swimming with tears, "Max… I'm pregnant."

Surprise and sudden understanding snaked through me. Okay, I definitely wasn't excepting that one.

(Shadow's POV)

I had made the biggest mistake of my life, but for some reason I could simply not regret it. The whole thing had happened a while ago and I was still surprised that no one had found out until now.

I still couldn't believe I'd been so stupid. Iggy was angrier with himself than anything. He was the first person I told; I knew I could trust his reaction. He assured me he'd stick to my side, but he was extremely angry with himself for not making sure this didn't happen.

For the record, we did have protection… we're not that stupid, but I guess something went wrong and well that's how it goes sometimes.

Max was pretty much frozen where she sat on her bed. The first words from her mouth were words that frightened me to my core, "Fang is going to be so mad."

I looked down, "I know, he's going to kill Iggy for this."

She looked up and shook her head, "He won't… he'll come close… but he won't. No matter how angry he is, he loves you enough to know better than to touch a hair on his head."

I looked at her, "Are you mad at me?" I asked her quietly.

She sighed and walked across the room to huge me. I was kind of surprised by the hug but I hugged her back tightly. I needed the support now more than ever.

"Yes and no." She answered finally.

"Yes and no?" I asked kind of sad and fearful. How mad was she exactly? At least she wasn't yelling like I knew Fang would.

"I'm not angry because I know, even though I think you should have waited, that you're happy and that Iggy's happy. I'm angry because it was stupid and… urgh just stupid… but," She sighed, "I won't hold it against you I guess. You're my family. I'll help you."

"Thank you Max," I whispered, "I know, it was so stupid, but I can't seem to regret it." I muttered.

Max sighed and pulled away, "When are you planning on telling Fang?" She asked I got the feeling she wanted to tell him just as much as I did… and for the first time in my life all I wanted to do was nottell my brother about this.

I sighed, "Better get it over with… do you think now is a good time?" I asked her.

She shrugged, "Better than any other time… I'll go get them."

"Them?" I asked my eyes widening.

"Iggy and Fang… hey… how did you convince Iggy to let you tell me alone?" Max asked me suddenly.

I shrugged, "I wear the pants I guess." I teased and Max laughed as she left the room to get the two most important people in my life, one I knew would love me endlessly no matter what happened to me or him, the other I knew would protect me against anything and everything, but could he protect me from the people I loved? Could Fang consider Iggy and the child growing in me something that I needed to be protected from?

He couldn't keep me from them, but he might try to.

I took a deep breath and sat down on my bed, all I could do is wait and see how he would react, and pray. Pray that he would understand that I didn't care about this danger. I didn't care about the pain that would come. I would take it and not complain. It was weird, but I wanted this and I was more than willing to fight for it.