A/N: Yeah so here be anotha chapta. I posty it now. See! See. Anyway this is to sayeth HAPPEH! Holidayseth~! Read eet nao.

"Yeah… We flew with those hawks." A voice that sounded a lot like Nudge was saying. I opened my eyes to a cave wall.

"Just some fun quirks to being a mutant on the run?" David asked. I blinked. I couldn't hear the others. No breathing even.

"I guess you could say that. …Even though we're always on the run and stuff, we had a lot of fun before too." Nudge said.

Slowly, carefully, I sat up and looked around. Nudge and David were the only two in the cave with me.

I stood up and quietly walked over. It was weird actually because Nudge was just sitting there, quiet and still, talking to David. Their wings were out, loose and relaxed, and they were dangling their legs over the edge of the cliff. The hawks were out flying and the two were watching them in the orange light of the setting sun.

"Hey Max," Nudge said softly, looking at me as I stepped up behind them. Orange glowed in her brown eyes.

"Where are the others?" I asked, feeling a little left out. But they wouldn't know that.

"They went to get some food." David said. "It's nice, isn't it."

"What is?" Nudge questioned.

"This." David breathed, flicking a hand at nothing really. "It's calm, content, quiet, beautiful. I wish I could take pictures."

"Why?" Nudge was the one to ask, again.

"I collect beautiful things. Pictures, clothing, words, music, ideas. I like to surround myself in beauty."

"I like beautiful things too." Nudge said. "Like, Max looked so pretty in that outfit when we went to that club. I drew a picture of her."

"Do you like clothing, Nudge?" David asked with a smile on his pink lips. …Wait. Pink lips? What the heck was I thinking? Where did that thought come from?

"Well, I guess. I don't really know." Nudge seemed a little confused and embarrassed.

David leaned back onto his elbows and I noticed the orange from the sun changed his normally pale skin to a soft cream color. Like the color that people try to paint their walls when they want someone to be comfortable without straying from white.

"Let me rephrase," David said, laughing a little. "Have you ever seen someone wearing an outfit you wished you could wear or ever thought it would be cool to have a lot of clothing to wear?"

"Well yeah-"

"Nudge, do you think it'd be fun to help me with a couple clothing related ideas I have in mind? You'd be like a model of sorts. Just for fun you know."

"I don't think that's a good idea," I interrupted. I had to wear the clothing David picked out and I did not want Nudge to start dressing like that.

"Chill Max," David drawled lazily, looking up at me with a smirk. "We're no where near where we're heading so there's no pressure. It's not like I'm in dire need of a model. I have Maxi and Gabe if she doesn't want to wear something.

"I just wanted her to consider the idea because it'd be fun. Okay?"

He turned his head away from me then just as Nudge spoke excitedly.

"They're back!" She exclaimed and her stomach rumbled.

Sure enough a group of large dots getting bigger by the second were approaching us from near the bluer horizon. Soon they were all landing, carrying numerous takeout bags of food and trays of ten extra-large sodas. I had no clue how they even flew with all that food.

"Alright!" Maxi barked. "Nudge your three ham and cheeses with extra cheese, curly fries, and mozzarella sticks are right here."

She held up a large bag and Nudge snatched it right up, soda already in hand (God I hoped there was no caffeine in it), with a loud "Thanks Maxi" barely heard over the rustling of bags and calling out of food exchanges and "Who ordered…"s.

"Hey, we didn't know what you wanted so we got you one of almost everything and a Sunkist," Maxi said quietly now that everyone else had their food.

I took the bag and orange soda offered to me with a muttered thanks of gratitude. I was starving and my stomach chose that moment to remind me with a light pang followed by a gurgle. Maxi had already moved on as I took a seat where I was standing.

"I didn't think a sandwich could be this good with so little on it!" Total suddenly exclaimed. I looked over at him along with everyone else, barely opening my bag. One by one little smothered snickers and giggles began to erupt all over the cave.

"I think you have something on your face, Total," Angel giggled.

Total frowned and wiped his paw over his mouth, smearing the cheese sauce stuck in his fur around and getting it on the back of his paw too. He stared at it for a moment before glaring at us all. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"Oh ha ha," he growled and I laughed harder, noticing Fang laughing around a mouthful of fries from the other side of our shelter. I grinned.

Lindsay reached over with his free hand and ruffled Total's fur, taking a bite of his own sandwich.

I glanced up in the middle of eating as Maxi plopped down next to me with her own food, which had gotten lost in the chaos. Out of the corner of my eye I saw David move over next to Lindsay and lean back against his shoulder as they ate.

Everyone was silent except for the occasional word or two after that as we all chowed down. We all had a lot to eat and I think after shoving the first sandwich or handful of fries down our throats we were all ready to enjoy it.

It was dark by the time we finished and sometime in the midst of our munching someone had started a fire. Probably David.

"So sleepy," David yawned, finished with all his food and sipping on the remnants of his soda. Maxi yawned from beside me, and then Gabe did too. Lindsay's mouth opened in one too as he crinkled up his last wrapper and tossed it in one of the paper Arby's bags.

Iggy yawned. Fang yawned. And soon everyone was yawning (for the first time or a second one) in a large chain reaction.

"I hate you," Maxi said on the tail of her yawn, looking at David. He just lazily opened one eye and stuck out his tongue.

It wasn't much later that Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge were curled up and asleep, Total pressed against Angel's back in slumber too.

David's soda was cast aside and Lindsay wrapped an arm around his waist as he shifted to lie down on his back. He tucked his free arm behind his head, the edge of the fire inches from his fingertips if he were to stretch that arm out. David was pulled down with him, the younger teen half asleep already as he shifted onto his stomach. One of his legs fell between Lindsay's as he curled half on top of the blonde, using his chest as a pillow. He was completely asleep in seconds.

Soon Maxi was getting up and making her way closer to the fire where she lay down to sleep. Gabe joined her moments later so they were back to back in a comforting manner.

Lindsay was still awake, I could see that from the way he turned his head every so often, staring into the fire and glancing at David whenever.

The air was practically thick with slumber. Soft noises such as heavy even breaths, light snores, and occasional shifting, were calling to me, coaxing me to join in the nighttime orchestra of snoozing.

And God it was tempting. I felt so exhausted.

I scooted closer to the fire and laid down on my side, facing Fang who was leaning against the cave wall with his head back and eyes closed. Iggy was laying down and sleeping next to him.

He opened his eyes and met my tired gaze after a moment and I smiled at him. He smiled back and closed his eyes again. There was a gentle, heady, warmth filling the cave.

It was almost as if the cold from outside couldn't enter our little haven. Which is exactly what it was.

For the moment the world didn't need us. For the moment we didn't need the world. For a moment we had no responsibilities and we could just sleep and dream. For the moment reality couldn't touch us, fended off by the safety we felt all together as a large group just as the cold was kept at bay by the light and warmth of that fire burning in the center of our group.

I fell asleep and met peace-ridden, blissful darkness instead of nightmares or worries for the first time in a long while.

In the morning only two people were awake in the hour before noon, everyone else asleep, soundly. Gabe and David laid together, David's head on Gabe's stomach and both on their backs, next to the fire. And they talked.

"You were dreaming last night," Gabe commented.

"Obviously I don't remember what it was or you wouldn't have told me," David said back in a quiet, unassuming tone. He reached out with his arm and poked with all five fingers the curled t-shirt-clad back laying diagonally not six inches from Gabe and him, in the corner they'd created with their bodies. It moved out of reach and then relaxed again.

"It was peaceful."

David blinked.

"But it wasn't about what you normally dream about. The fucked r-"

"Rainbows and weird jrockers and twisted plots. I'd have remembered if it was like that. Did it have to do with…?" David rolled over so he was facing the female teen's ample chest. He stared at the whiteness of her shirt, tired of the cave ceiling for now.

"Did it have to do with the island?"

"Yes."

David swallowed nervously.

The island. It was a reoccurring theme in each of their shared dreams. Which meant that Gabe had been sharing his dream. He wondered if Maxine had shared it too. It was negated by a feeling almost instantly though. It meant that the dream was his then.

Gabe was their connector. Her mental capabilities subconsciously allowed them to share dreams; never really knowing exactly whose it was when all of them did. When they all did they were separate views of the dream. When it was just Gabe intruding on the dream, she saw it through the vision of whoever was dreaming.

"You were smiling, and there were people. But they were just blurs. There was a beach full of white sand. You were young in the dream. A woman's voice laughed and a man's voice whispered undistinguished words. It rained suddenly and she was holding you like a baby as the rain poured down, cold and wet and you could feel it. And the woman continued laughing. You laughed. And the both of you were spinning.

"But it all stopped when the man's whispering faded. Then there was thunder and suddenly you were lying in a window seat facing outside. It was dusk and there were three windows, all entirely glass and only held together by plastic frames, and all around behind you there were candles. Their flames were reflected in the glass and you were watching the water stream down the windows. And the window seat was really plush. It was comfortable and resting to lie like that.

"After that you started to leave REM and woke up soon after. I woke just before you."

David sighed. He wished that maybe he could remember that dream, even though Gabe's description painted a pretty picture and David's imagination was overactive, so that he could feel what he'd felt before and forgotten.

A worst fear of David's: forget.

"I wish I knew David," Gabe whispered. "Then you wouldn't have to fear it."

"I'm guessing you're suffering pretty bad too, considering most people have the advantage of not knowing most of the time." And David's sarcasm conquered again. He needed those witty comebacks to break the monotony of thinking too much.

Its edge was lost though without David's accompanying smirk of triumph and humor.

"You coping okay?" Gabe asked.

David parted his lips, as if more smart, ridiculing remarks would spill forth, and found his mind and mouth empty of such. He sighed instead and turned his head into his friend's stomach and makeshift pillow.

"As best as I can I guess. I don't blame; you know that. Unless I'm faultfinding in the gods or fates or something other. Forgive and forget, the word 'forget' used lightly in the present context. Move on really," David said, calm and level. Not a facade, but just the truth of the matter. Stating facts.

"I know it hurts… and you don't want to talk about it. But I know you. You're just going to live around the problem until it comes up later, in explosion. You won't forgive until a sorry is said."

"Yeah but it's what you gotta do if you're gonna live your life."

Across the cave, Maximum began stirring. The two were silent. Within minutes she was awake, yawning, and sitting up.

Maximum turned her head and noticed David and Gabe, both on their backs after David had shifted again.

"Do either of you know what time it is?" The blonde asked, looking out the cave's entrance where the world outside was hot and lit.

"That depends on whether you want to know the time here or somewhere else-" Gabe said and was interrupted.

"Like Japan-" David suggested.

"Or Paris France-"

"Or Nigeria!"

"Here would be fine," Max grit out, cutting off whatever other countries and towns they might spurt out.

"Then it's only eleven-thirty," Gabe supplied the wanted information. She never needed a watch. Or a calendar. Or a compass!

"We should move-"

"I'd rather not but if you want to feel free to walk around a bit," David said with his usual wit.

"I meant that we should leave soon. Flyboys from the school will be looking for us." Max was practically hissing it. But her anger left a moment later and she turned thoughtful. "I was meaning to ask before, do you know why the School wanted you guys? What exactly was going on? With Angel and… everything?"

"Well," David started. "They tried to give us false memories of living in the School but Gabe 'convinced' a lab assistant to tamper with the hypos for it."

"They probably wanted you for tests then," Max mused. "More than likely they were going to kill us off and play with you guys. Pick you apart and whatnot then kill you to make worse things with their newly obtained knowledge."

"That's a pleasant notion," David said, voice light like he was speaking of picnicking under a shady tree in the afternoons of a breezy summer day.

Max looked at him incredulously. The corner of his mouth twitched and she tried to scowl but her lips were straining in the other direction. He'd almost had her.

"Where are we going?" Iggy asked.

We were all flying scattered through the air, David and Gabe in the lead of our unformed formation.

Ahead, David angled his bat-like wings and dropped back and to the left so he was flying over our blind blonde. Fang was ahead of him and Nudge next to him. Angel was above me to right, smiling in the innocence of air and sun. Gazzy and Maxi were giggling and playing a small, leisure game of tag together, swooping around. On the other side of Angel and at the same altitude as me, Lindsay flew smoothly with his sepia wings beating a slow rhythm.

"To Big Wyoming, the Cowboy State!" David said in answer to Iggy's question.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. I would have heard you from up there," Iggy muttered, cheeks flushed in annoyance. David just quirked his lips into a smile.

"I know. I just didn't want to shout over my shoulder."

"If we're going to Wyoming, then why are we going east? Shouldn't we be going north?" Nudge asked, dropping back next to Iggy.

"Because we're going there a special way," Gabe called back over her shoulder.

I looked down, watching the ground pass by far underneath us. I the recognized something amazingly familiar!

"Oh my gosh," I whispered.

Before I thought about what I was doing, my wings were tucked in and I was hurtling toward the ground. Behind me I could feel annoyance and confusion in everyone else.

I opened my wings at the last possible second and landed in quick walk on a road. In front of me was something I never thought I'd see again. The trees and the yard and the home of Ella and Dr. Martinez.

"Max, what the fuck?" David questioned as he landed a ways away, jogging over. I glanced at him. He was still wearing the white pants provided by the School. I almost blushed when I looked at his bare chest, so pale in the sun, and quickly returned my attention to the building in front of me.

Fang landed next and came over too. The rest of our larger flock landing in a group, one after another.

"Max?" Fang asked quietly, reaching out and touching the back of my wrist briefly. I did blush then. Because, well it was Fang. And he was staring at me.

I moved forward a couple paces, noticing everyone watching me. I had to get out from between those two. It was making me really uncomfortable.

"Where are we?" Fang asked.

"At Ella's and Dr. Martinez's house," I said. I almost didn't believe it myself.

Just then the front door to the house opened and Dr. Martinez stepped out. She turned and was locking the door. Next to me Fang had taken a step backward in precaution.

Dr. Martinez paused, her key in the door, and turned around. I was unknowingly holding my breath. I saw her lips form one word.

'Max.'

Seconds later I was hugging her as she held me tight, stroking my hair and whispering. It felt so great to be back with her. I was trying not to cry, feeling this deep satisfaction just being held by her. Affection.

Then I remembered my flock (oh god Fang) and the other four. Immediately I felt embarrassed and I loosened my hold on Dr. Martinez. She took the cue and did the same, looking over my shoulder.

"Oh my," she whispered, eyes round.

A/N again: Review plz. Crit too! Break it down scene by scene if you have to! -pokes Lazy Bear- -wiggles eyebrows- ;)

Another should be out soon! I'm kicking my butt into gear! -JADED