Chapter 11

(Fang's POV)

I was watching Iggy, his nervous and anxious behavior made me suspicious and worried.

He looked over at the door when Max walked through it. She smiled slightly at Iggy and came over to him, whispering something in his ear before she came over to me. "Come upstairs with me," She whispered. Iggy disappeared upstairs and my eyebrows pulled together. I got up at once.

"Where are you guys going?" Sorrow asked and I nearly jumped at his sudden voice.

"We're just going to talk upstairs…" Max said slowly.

"Well we're coming," Nudge said for the both of them, standing and looking like she was going to follow us.

"No, we'll talk later," Max said sternly and took my hand as she turned and led me upstairs.

I noticed that Sorrow and Nudge were standing with their arms cross and frowning, obviously debating disobeying Max's obvious order.

She led me upstairs and I was getting more worried by the second. Where was Shadow? Why didn't she come down with Max? I had a really bad feeling that something major had just happened and I was sure I didn't like it.

(Iggy's POV)

I was so dead. Fang was going to murder me. I could already imagine his angry face… and the fist that would no doubt follow.

All I could hope for was that Shadow would stop him before he got too far.

I nearly hit myself for thinking such things about Fang. I knew he was protective, but he loved her enough not to hurt me, right?

I walked into Max's room and went right to Shadow's side and took her hand. She smiled at me, she was so beautiful. I kissed her cheek, "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"It's not me I'm worried about," Shadow whispered, "He's going to be mad at you."

I smiled softly at her and kissed her lips again, "I'll deal with your overprotective brother," I whispered to her staring into her dark eyes. I kissed her forehead as Fang and Max entered the room.

She took a deep breath, getting prepared to tell him. She started to stand but I placed a hand on her shoulder, slowly pushing her back down. "I'll take his one," I said kissing the top of her head. She stared up at me, fear in her beautiful eyes.

I frowned, "Could I have a little bit of optimism please?"

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Can someone tell me what this is about?" Fang said loudly and I looked at him, I could already see that he was angry. Oh well, better just spit it out.

"Fang, I know you're going to very angry with me and Shadow, but I would appreciate it if you would please just remain calm." I said and he glared at me. I'd better hurry this up and get it over with because he was probably going to guess the problem any second now.

"Fang," I took a deep breath, "I know it's more customary to ask your father if I may ask Shadow's hand in marriage," oh dear God I sound so formal, I thought, "but you've been around her all your life and well… your opinion on the matter kind of matters more to me…. No offense to your dad," I said kind of backtracking.

His eyes went from slits to wide, "Why so soon? You're hardly out of high school…. Just get married later when you're older." He said, trying not to offend our choice I think, but I figured he thought there was something underneath it. He knew there was something that was pushing our decision.

He was starting to put together the jigsaw puzzle that he didn't want to finish.

"Fang," I took a deep breath, "Shadow's pregnant."

He stared at me, his eyes were slowly turning to slits again and I could see his fists shaking at his sides. I took another deep breath and tried to calm myself.

"I know this is a little sudden and really bad and I feel like an idiot for letting this happen and I know you're angry and you're within your rights to kill me." Shadow squeaked slightly, I could see my words upset her, but there was nothing I could do about that right now. "But Shadow and I love each other and are fully committed to this."

He was fuming now and I hoped this wouldn't hurt too much.

"Are you out of your mind!?" he suddenly yelled making Max and Shadow jump. "Iggy I trusted you to take care of Shadow and then you pull this?" He was shaking now and his jaw was tighter than I'd ever seen.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't be such a drama queen you know you can trust me."

His eye actually twitched, "Iggy… because you're my friend I'm going to give you some advice…." He paused and looked up at me with angry eyes, "Run."

Needless to say I listened. I bolted for the door with Fang right behind me. I heard Shadow scream but if Fang was going to hit me I was not going to have Shadow in the room to see it.

I could only hear one person chasing me so I figured Max stopped Shadow.

We ran right past the rest of the flock and Fang's mom and dad and Max's mom. All of which gave us weird looks and stared at Fang when he suddenly yelled, "I'm going to kill you for this Iggy!"

I ran right out of the house and down the street. We ran for blocks, but it was in the giant field 4 blocks away from our house that had tall grass that looked like it had never been cut I heard Fang cry out in anguish and I stopped hearing his feet against the ground.

I stopped and turned cautiously, he was on his knees, his head in his hands and completely silent.

"Fang?" I asked in a whisper.

(Fang's POV)

I couldn't do it. No matter how angry I was, no matter how much I wanted to hurt Iggy for this, I couldn't do it. "I'm sorry Iggy," I whispered and looked up slowly.

He slowly came over and sat beside me. "I'm sorry too."

I shook my head slowly, "Don't be."

It was silent for a long time. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "I've tried so hard to protect her."

"I know."

"All my life, it's just been about protecting her, but this… I can't protect her from this," I said with my eyes still shut.

"I know, I'm so-"

"Let me finish," I snapped. I took another deep breath and let it out slowly, "I've always known that I'd have to let her go sometime, but I guess I've been dreading that. Iggy, as weird as this sounds, you've got my blessing," I actually winced at those words. I looked up at him, "She's your responsibility now, and you'd better take care of her."

He smiled, "I will."

"You'd better," I grumbled.

"So are you angry with me?" He asked slowly.

I sighed, "No, I guess not. Just surprised I guess."

He nodded, "Thank you."

I shrugged, "It's not like I'd be able to stop her. She's kind of stubborn if you hadn't noticed."

He chuckled, "I know, but I love her none the less."

"You'd better," I repeated.

He smiled, "Come on, she's probably worried you killed me."

I sighed, "I was thinking about it."

He looked at me a little nervously for a second, but it passed, "What changed your mind?"

I smiled as I looked at the ground before I looked at one of my best friends, "The thought of being an uncle."

Iggy rolled his eyes, "That's the weirdest excuse I've ever heard… but if it saves my life…." He said grinning. He suddenly looked at me with sparkling eyes, "Wow… I just realized… I'm going to be a dad."

It was my turn to roll my eyes, "Glad this finally got through your thick skull."

He gave me a look and we headed home. We were silent as we walked, it was kind of weird that I had that sudden change of mind… but I got the feeling that if I hurt Iggy at all I would regret it later, no matter if I just punched him or killed him.

We walked into the yard in the back and Shadow came bursting out of the back door. I could see the tears running down her face as she got closer.

She reached her arm back and slapped me across the face. Needless to say I was incredibly surprised. "Don't you ever say or do anything like that again! Do you hear me? I love Iggy so much and I don't need you to protect me!"

Wow I feel like a jerk, thanks Shadow, I thought kind of angrily.

"Shadow," Iggy said in a scolding tone. He wrapped his arms around her arms and said into her ear. "I'm fine; he didn't do anything to me. He just over reacted that's all," he said and Shadow smiled slightly and kissed his lips softly.

I winced slightly, "Okay, I'm not freaking out but could you take it slow please, it's like a nuke going off every time I think about it."

She looked at me calmly for the first time since she came out. She slowly disentangled herself from Iggy and came over with her arms stretched wild for me to hug her. I slowly hugged her; she might suddenly slap me or something.

"Sorry Fang," She whispered in my ear.

I rubbed her back, "So… is there really something growing in there?" I asked her as I gave her stomach a little poke with my finger.

She giggled, "Ya."

I sighed, "Okay, I can deal with it…."

"You sure you can?" Shadow asked pulling back slightly.

I sighed again and shrugged, "Hopefully, I am going to stick with you and whatever though."

She grinned and hugged me so tightly that I was having a little trouble breathing. "Thanks Fang, I seriously couldn't do this without you," She whispered in my ear before letting go a bit.

I smiled, I felt much calmer about the situation. "So did you tell mom and dad?"

She chuckled awkwardly, "See that is why I need you… you're like… my force field."

I copied her laugh, "I wouldn't go that far."

"Okay, just make sure they don't… like… hurt me or anything okay?" Shadow whispered as we walked slowly towards the house.

"Don't I always?" I asked her with a smile and she gave me a little squeeze of a hug. She let go and held Iggy's hand.

Iggy smiled at me and I took a deep breath as we entered the house. Max ran over to me and hugged me. She kissed my cheek wordlessly before taking my hand and walked with us into the kitchen, where the whole family was waiting with confused face… other than Angel.

"Hey guys," Shadow said awkwardly. No one replied.

"So…" Iggy said, "We need to talk about something."

"No, shit Sherlock," Sorrow grumbled, "What's going on?"

"Hey, don't talk to Iggy like that." Shadow said putting her hands on her hips and looking angry.

Iggy mouthed the word 'hormones' to me from behind his hand and I sniggered.

Shadow smacked him over the backside of his head, "Not nice Iggy," she growled.

"Ow," Iggy muttered.

"It hurts a whole lot more when she slaps you," I muttered and Shadow smacked me upside the head as well.

"Someone get to the point already!" Gazzy suddenly yelled.

"Iggy and Shadow are getting married and Shadow's pregnant, there you go." Max said, evidently she was sick of our stalling.

It was silent for a long time after that.

"Awkward turtles, making awkward babies," Nudge muttered under her breath.

Dad was the first to speak, "Really?" he sounded amazing.

Shadow nodded, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Well… this afternoon makes a lot more sense now. Congratulations I guess," He said with a smile.

"See, he's able to respond like an adult Fang," Shadow hissed at me.

"Well sorry, wasn't expecting you to come out with that and do you really expect me not to want to rip him to shreds for it?" I growled back.

"I didn't know what to expect but I expected you to be the tiniest bit happy for us," She snapped.

"I am the tiniest bit happy, but I just wish this happened later," I snapped back.

"Are you out of your mind!?" Mom suddenly yelled. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "A child is a huge responsibility Shadow, are you really up for this?"

"I am," Shadow said getting defensive.

"Shadow, let me handle this one," I muttered, she took a deep breath and let me talk. "Mom, here are the options. Shadow can kill it," Shadow actually defensively wrapped her arms around her stomach, "keep it or give it away." I paused as mom pursed her lips, "As far as I can see, she's no way going to kill it."

"It's not an it!" Shadow hissed at me.

"Until I know what gender it is, it's an it," I snapped at her before continuing. "You know yourself how hard it would be to give her child away." I paused and mom sighed. "So, logically, the best thing to do is to keep it. We've got more than enough people to take care of one child, and there is no way to get around it. So you're just going to have to deal with it." I swallowed hard, "We're all just going to have to deal with this."

Max squeezed my right shoulder and smiled at me.

Mom smiled, "Ya, I guess," She went over to Shadow and hugged her. "This is your decision Shadow; we'll all be here for you either way." Shadow smiled and kind of just melted into mom's arms.

I was still stressed out, still unable to accept it, I didn't want this for her, but I knew Shadow enough to know she'd never let it go. I was kind of angry at Iggy, but I knew he never intended for this to happen. I took a deep breath; I hoped that I could accept all this. I was going to help her, I already knew that, but I couldn't comprehend the thing inside of her. I hated it and at the same time it made me smile. I sighed; maybe I just needed some time to get used to the thought of it.

Hey everybody, I made a poll on my profile for if Shadow's going to have a boy or girl, so tell me which one you want it to be… or I'm just going to have to pick for you and you may not like it!! So tell me which you want!!