Ava POV

I wanted to fall over in relief. Instead, I struggled to my feet and stood next to my mother. A moment of shock went over her face before it returned to the steely mask that looked at the doctor in annoyance.

"Let him go. Let both of them go. We can out fight you," she said.

"Max, Max, Max," the doctor said, "I can let Fang go, but not the girl."

"Both of them," she said in a deadly voice. I looked surprised.

"Max," the doctor said patiently, "you don't really care and you know it."

"No one deserves what you do to them," she replied, "How I feel about her personally doesn't matter, no one deserves to be here, least of all her.

"You're right about her you know," he said pleasantly, "she's weak. She didn't have much of the constitution that your Flock did, and she gave up so quickly. She can't even fight. She's completely useless. A drain on your resources. Let her stay here and die. You and Fang get each other forever, it's the best thing really. Survival of the fittest."

"She is part of my flock," my mom said, "And when it's the flock, survival of the fittest is irrelevant. I'll get her out of this."

"Mo-Max," I whispered, "look." She looked. The Erasers had surrounded. She grabbed my hand in hers and shoved me backwards as she ran towards my dad. She leaped up in the air over the Erasers, to their shock, and began fighting the few left holding Dad. As soon as they had room, they flew off. My heart sank. Suddenly, my arms were grabbed. I began fighting until I heard a familiar voice in my head.

Calm down and we'll get you out, Angel told me. I looked at her and then Nudge, who had my other arm. The whole flock flew off, me in tow, for a mysterious destination.

The mysterious destination was the spot where my dad and mom had met back up, miles and miles away. Angel carried me into the cave and I found it well stocked with food, sleeping bags, and other equipment. Dylan had been left to guard it, and from the looks of the scrapes on his clothing, someone had tried getting in. And equally obvious was that they weren't trying again.

When Angel put me down, I curled up into a ball and watched them set up camp, shivering in the cold night air and the hospital gown I was wearing. I only sort of realized that there were tears dripping down my face. Suddenly dad came and sat next to me. I wanted to hug him, but I was afraid. He didn't seem to want me before I left and he hadn't even really greeted me at all.

He grabbed a huge jacket and put it over my shoulders. Then he held his arms out to me for a hug.

"Daddy," I sobbed, throwing myself at him and crying into his shirt, "Daddy, you're here, you're really here, you found me, you didn't forget me"

"Of course I didn't forget you little one," he replied, stroking my tangled dark curls, "I'd never forget you or leave you behind. I love you sweetheart."

"I love you too, Daddy," I said, still crying. The others busied themselves with camping tasks as he held me and let me cry. Suddenly, a shadow fell over us. A strong hand fell on my shoulder and rubbed it before retreating. I turned around.

It was my mother.

Looking at her now, she looked worn. Her eyes were red rimmed and her nose was a little bit red too.

"Max," I said quietly, "Thank you."

"Hey look," she said, staring at the cave floor, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like I did. I was jealous. Also rather scared. Having parenthood shoved on you like that is a bit of a shock," she added wryly. The corner of her mouth twisted into a grimace. I looked at Dad. He nodded. I crawled off his lap carefully, mindful of my weak muscles and the many injuries I had.

When Max saw me sitting next to her, she smiled a bit. "You don't have to call me Max anymore," she said, "Mom works just fine." I smiled as much as I could through my exhaustion.

"Thanks… Mom," she smiled more. Then she frowned.

"Ange," she looked at the blonde girl, "How bad are her injuries?" Angel frowned at me as she read my mind, then blanched.

"Really bad," she whispered.

"Tell me," Mom said in a harsh voice.

"Burns," I croaked, "needle marks everywhere, scars from random surgeries that didn't kill me, bruises everywhere, I twisted my wrist at some point, and I think I've got some broken ribs. And.." I stopped, then began again, "They clipped my wings." I stared at the cave floor. Suddenly, and arm came around me gently and rubbed my shoulder, and a more familiar one began gently examining everything not covered by the gown.

"She's right," Dad said. He gently poked around my ribs until I gasped, "And yeah, there are a couple of broken ones. We need to get her back to your mom." Then he looked at me. "Your wings will be fine, the feathers will regrow." I stared back at him. His eyes were red rimmed too, but I didn't think he was lying. Besides, he's Dad. He wouldn't.

"Let her sleep first," Max pleaded, "And let's get some food in her. Then we can take her back." Dad nodded. Nudge came over to me with a sandwich and a small bag of chips. I stared at them for a moment, then ate as much as I could. Unfortunately, all I managed was half a sandwich and a few chips. And I couldn't keep it down long.

"We'll give you more when you wake up, okay?" Nudge said. I nodded, realizing that I was falling asleep into my mom's side.

"Sleep little one," Mom said quietly, laying me down so my head was in her lap. As she began gently massaging the spot between my wings, I fell completely asleep.

The next morning, they packed everything up. I was given my choice of what there was to eat, with a promise of Iggy's famous everything when we got back. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat much of anything. What I did eat, I couldn't keep down. Mom and Dad were worried, but they knew the best thing to do would be to get me to Dr. Martinez as soon as possible.

Mom started out carrying me. She looked like she might cry as she realized how light I was. She and Dad switched back and forth carrying me the two or three hours we were in the air until we came back to the familiar house.

We were home.