It's a real shame I went so long without uploads; I think a lot of my old readers have decided to leave this story now in case I vanish again, which is sad. I'm hoping regular and good length updates will draw people back in again, so here's another short chapter, as promised earlier despite the lack of reviews.m=]

If you like, please review! It's like candy to me, and encourages me to keep writing.

x Enjoy

Chapter 10 (January 20th)

Sat her desk, Max had her elbows on the table and her head in her hands, the biology assignment she had been attempting to complete forgotten. Staring blindly at her papers, she attempted to regulate her breathing, trying to remain calm.

Since Wednesday, Nick had barely said a word to her. She assumed he was angry at her for their argument in the kitchen, but she was refusing to apologise; as far as she was concerned, she'd done the right thing for her family and it had failed to work out anyway. She'd taken the gamble and lost, but what she'd lost that hurt so much she wasn't sure.

If Jeb was after something, he seemed to have given up; he hadn't attempted to contact her since. Not that she had made an effort to contact him. Given his aversion to her family, she would rather ride out the care homes with the kids than live with strangers without them while they went through that hell without her.

The kids had already lost so much. They all had.

Closing her eyes, Max fought back a combination of anger and tears. Everything had seemed like it would get better at Christmas – they'd had money to get presents, Mike was gone from their lives, and nothing seemed to be in the way of tthings improving. Then Nick had given her the letter from the YCA, and doubt had settled in her stomach, growing and growing as the days passed.

"And now it's over," she said to herself, sniffing hard, feeling the tears stinging her cheeks. After all those years of struggling along to keep her family together, all those days off school to nurse Gasman or run errands to pay bills and get food. After everything she had done, none if it even mattered anymore.

It was out of her control. There was nothing she could do.

"Max?" She recognised his voice immediately and sniffed hard, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, noting they came back damp. Exhaling, she sat up in her chair and turned to look at Nick, who was leaning around the doorway. She noted he'd yet to step into the room; since the disastrous dinner he had, by silent agreement, been sleeping on the couch. The only words they'd shared were about dinner, or getting the kids ready for school. Thanks to her advanced classes he didn't even see him at school, and he had avoided the canteen at lunch.

Honsetly, she was surprised he'd come to check on her.

She motioned for him to come into the room, retrieving her pen before returning to her assignment. Within a few seconds she was tapping the pen on the edge of the desk, her leg jittering in time to the beat, her mind on everything but the information before her.

Though he stepped into the room, Nick didn't approach her. Instead he waiting near the doorway, ordering his thoughts. Despite planning to show her the letter from his Mother, he had backed out at the last second, mostly because Max had fallen asleep so quickly it gave him too much time to think. Now, looking at her torn over her family's situation, he felt like he needed to share, if only to make himself feel better.

But would that help Max, or just make her more upset.

He sighed and leant against the wall, eyes to the ceiling and arms folded across his chest. "I get it," he said quietly, and Max glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering if this was an attempt at an apology. "If they were my kids and the bastard was my last short at keeping us all together, I'd have met him too." Nick closed his eyes and rested his head on the wall, propping up a leg behind him. He decided to omit the information about his Mum's suicide. Max stopped tapping her pen on the table. "I hardly know Nudge and I'm sad to see her go. She feels like my sister."

Silence followed, but she couldn't take her eyes from him. Eventually, Nick opened his eyes and pivoted his head on the wall to look at her, meeting her gaze. He could see a pain in her eyes he was sure was currently fluttering around his stomach, but he didn't say a word; he had nothing else to say.

It was Max that spoke next. "I honestly thought he might help," she said softly, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes, head hung backwards. Her hands played with the pen in her hands. "Or I hoped he wanted to help. I'm not sure which anymore."

"I can see why," Nick said gently.

She placed her hands in her lap, turning her head to look back at the boy. He hadn't moved. "When I met him at the ice cream parlour, he seemed so nice, and so…remorseful. I assumed the YCA had told him I had siblings, and that he was willing to help all of us." She sighed, dropping her head. "I feel so stupid."

He was going to reassure her, but she continued before the words could leave his mouth. "And then you voiced my worst fears and I didn't want to hear it. I got angry. I defended a man I barely knew instead of someone I love." She opened her eyes again, catching his gaze. "And…I'm sorry."

He simply nodded, offering her a small smile, which she returned a moment later. Happy their differences had been settled, he moved further into the room and perched on the edge of the bed behind her, resting his elbows on his knees to lean forwards. Max turned in her chair to face him, wrapping an arm around the backrest and resting her chin on the top. "So what do we do now?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Nick sighed and wiped his palms on his hands. "The only thing we can do: Wait."