Story Title: you should know this one if you're this far

Chapter Title: Chocolate Covered Chips (AHOY!)

Rating: PG 13/R -ish (chapter/story)

Chapter: 11/?

Warnings: un-beta-ed, fresh off ...my computer, some fluff (between my own characters), some Fang/Max

Disclaimer: I don't want to own this series. Trust me... I already have too much in my closet *cough* ahem *kicks door shut on Miyavi squirming around tied up* *Myv tries to chew through ribbon over his mouth*

Miyavi: FNRLT MRE RRRT!!!

Me: uhhhh have fun with Kyo!! XD *opens closet door* *tosses small box three feet tall in* *DANGER in big words on the side of the box* *slams door* He's pretty squished up in there. Be careful.

Box: *growls* *screams* *rattles*

Me: lol such an angry little vocalist! XD

Jaded's fore- words: enjoy if you're still reading!!! X) It's filler but interesting.


"Max, are they your flock?" Dr. Martinez asked, staring transfixed at everyone.

"No not all of them," Max laughed. She stepped back towards the large group of mutants and grabbed Fang's t-shirt sleeve. With a jerk she yanked him forward, smiling while he was obviously displeased.

"This is Fang," Max introduced him, pushing him to Dr. Martinez. She offered her hand and after a moment Fang took it.

"It's very nice to meet you, Fang," Dr. Martinez said.

"And this," Max reached out for Iggy, pulling him closer by his elbow. "Is Iggy. He's blind."

Iggy stumbled a little as he was pushed forward like Fang had been before regaining his balance. He offered his hand to Dr. Martinez and she took it.

"For a blind man you sure know your bearings," Dr. Martinez complimented.

"Thanks. I've had practice," Iggy said with a smile.

"This is Angel. She's the youngest and the black, furry thing is her dog, Total."

"Hello Dr. Martinez. It's nice to meet you." Angel said sweetly and took Dr. Martinez's hand.

"Hey, what about me?" Total whined and Dr. Martinez stared in shock. She recovered quickly then and took Total's offered paw.

"It's nice to meet you too Total."

"This is Angel's brother Gazzy-"

"Hi. It's nice to meet you."

"-And lastly this is Nudge."

"Like oh my gosh. This is so cool. To you meet you and everything."

Dr. Martinez smiled and laughed. Then she was looking at the other four.

"And who are they?" She asked, noticing they hadn't been introduced as flock members.

"They are our friends. We've been flying with them," Max explained and David stepped forward.

"Hey I'm David, the smart one." David smiled mischievously as he took Dr. Martinez's hand. Maxi stepped up and bumped him out of the way with her hip and took Dr. Martinez's hand instead.

"He's lying. I'm so much smarticler than him. I'm Maxine by the way but I hate that name so just call me Maxi. Everyone else seems to be doing so." Maxi smiled the dorkiest yet, all teeth and closed eyes and the movement of her shaking hand holding Dr. Martinez's hadn't stopped yet.

Gabe dragged her back as Dr. Martinez watched amusedly.

"They're both lying. I know everything. The name's Gabe. It's short for Gaberiella."

Lindsay stepped up and took Dr. Martinez's hand after her, much like Fang had. No fun and games. Short and sweet introduction and that was all.

"So you all have wings like Max then?" Dr. Martinez asked once there was no one left to introduce and it'd been quiet for a minute.

"Well all the flock members have wings like Max," David said. "And so does Lindsay. They're bird wings but us three are a bit different."

He motioned at himself, Maxi, and Gabe.

"Like Maxi has bat wings that started out black-"

"Started out?" Dr. Martinez interjected. David nodded.

"Yeah they were black for most of her life and then she ticked Gabe off and now they're…"

He trailed off and Maxi extended one of her wings enough for Dr. Martinez to see.

"Pink," Maxi finished David's sentence.

"Oh," Dr. Martinez said with her eyes wide.

"Hey guys," Nudge interrupted. "I think we should get off the street. People are staring at us."

She pointed at a jogger in a purple tracksuit that had stopped to ogle at them. Framed by a window of another house an old lady stared out at them.

"Yes, well let's get inside then. Are you guy's hungry?" Dr. Martinez questioned and ushered everyone toward the front door of her house.


After mountains of chocolate chips cookies and gallons of milk had been consumed and conversation had been light (David explained about Maxi's wings and they'd been laughing and jabbering with everyone) things settled down as the sweets began to digest and put all present, excluding Dr. Martinez, into a daze.

"So what are you all doing now, Max?" Dr. Martinez asked, sitting down at the table with her fourth cup of coffee. Fifth actually but one of them had gone cold before she'd been able to even take a sip.

"I've seen reports of mutant flying children in the news."

"Yeah we keep forgetting the 'lie low' part of our plan," Max said scowling in Fang's direction. He'd been the one who had convinced them to drop in on the football game that started the whole mess. Football game to clouds to Maxi to David and Gabe to teen club to Lindsay to the School…

"You have a plan? What is it?" Dr. Martinez questioned with concern. Max stiffened in her seat. "What are you doing right now?"

"Having fun and hiding," David interjected from Lindsay's lap where he was sitting sideways in a kitchen chair. One of his arms was thrown over the blonde's shoulders, around his neck.

"Really?" Dr. Martinez turned to him, curious and confused. "From what Max's said she's supposed to be helping save the world."

"Yeah but now she has time off. There isn't going to be any Cat-and-Mouse between herself and the wackos chasing her for a while. And since we met up I've decided to make it my job to force her to relax and have some fun."

"Oh," Dr. Martinez uttered and frowned then smiled brightly, apparently liking the thought of Max having a break. "Is there anything I can do? I could help out with somewhere to stay or-"

"That's okay," Maxi interrupted. "We're goin' ta are place."

"Well maybe you can," Max said then. "Help out I mean. You know that chip in my arm?"

"Yes. What about it?" Dr. Martinez asked cautiously. She feared where this was going.

"I still want it out." Max stated matter-of-factly.

Dr. Martinez sighed.

"Ever since you left I've studied your x-ray a hundred times, at least. I didn't think I would see you again but it drove me crazy. I wanted to find a way to remove it without damaging your nerves. I wanted to help."

"And did you find anything?"

"I'm not positive but I think I could do it with microsurgery…" Dr. Martinez's shoulders sagged as she spoke.

"Do it." Max demanded. "Do it now."

"You still might lose the use of your hand-"

Dr. Martinez was interrupted again. This time David was doing it.

"Wait. Before you do anything, can I know what microsurgery is?"

Dr. Martinez nodded.

"It's surgery done with under a microscope. It's usually used for skin grafting and in plastic surgery. But it's often used in neurosurgeries and pediatric surgery."

David thought on it for a while. His face was scrunched into a deep frown of concentration, making it look like thinking was painful. He was facing forward and staring down into some corner of Dr. Martinez's kitchen. His mind was working lightning fast.

"What if Maxi helped out. Surgery still means cutting too much. Maxi is telekinetic. It takes a bit for her to concentrate, but if she helped she could… do some things where using certain instruments might do more damage than help."

"I don't know…" Dr. Martinez said slowly, warily.

"Maxi, pick Total up," David commanded and the blonde turned and scowled at the furry black dog in Angel's lap. Slowly Total began to rise into the air, floating a foot higher than the table. He blinked in surprise.

"Holy cow," he breathed. Maxi's concentration slipped for a second and the furry dog dropped a couple inches, yelping, before floating up again.

"How long can she do this?" Dr. Martinez asked in fascination.

"Do you mean 'how long can she hold Total up like that'?" David countered, trying to verify even though he knew what she meant. Dr. Martinez nodded.

"Well we used to see what's the biggest thing she could lift, in a game you see, and the largest, heaviest thing was a couch and it was a foot in the air for thirty seconds before she dropped it. So I guess that she could probably hold Total up, just in the air, for ten minutes.

"Small things she can manipulate for longer periods of time as long as they're fairly close. Bigger things, shorter amount of time."

Maxi's brow was starting to shine with sweat.

"Uhhh you can put me down now," Total said, looking towards Angel's lap before darting his gaze to Maxi, eyes taking in the sweat on her forehead.

Slowly and carefully Total descended from the air until he was just hovering over Angel's lap. Gabe kicked Maxi's chair. The legs skidded over the floor and Maxi's concentration broke as she was jostled. Total fell the remaining inches into Angel's lap with an "oomph" of air.

"I still don't know," Dr. Martinez said slowly.

Fang reached over for Max's arm. He caught it in his grip and yanked her sleeve up.

"Just do it before she tries something stupid again, like cutting it out herself on a beach with a shell," he uttered in his quiet voice, clipped. He gestured to the puckered scars decorating Max's forearm.


"Maxine, can you move that tendon towards you?" Dr. Martinez commanded in question form. Maxi grunted softly through her nose, her hand trembling lightly where it hovered over Maximum's elbow of the arm strapped to the table. The other hand, over Max's palm, twitched but remained mostly steady. David noticed.

"You can do it Maxi," he whispered. "Just keep concentrating."

A bead of sweat rolled down Maxi's temple.

Max, who'd said some random full sentences but had mostly been mumbling, spoke up loudly.

"I love you Fang!" She slurred with a dopey grin, staring at said bird kid. "I love you this musch…"

Fang choked on nothing and turned his head away slightly. Max tried to motion how much she loved Fang out with her arms but just the one not being operated on barely moved in Fang's grip.

"Seriously," she said, sounding like she was drunk. "I would not be very okay if you weren't around."

Drunks always sounded funny when they tried to have a serious conversation. Most of the time they didn't make sense but you got the idea. This was no different.

"Okay," Dr. Martinez breathed out quietly. Some movement of the machine she'd been using to operate with on her side. Then, "We're done. The chip is out."

Max was all stitched up and chip free. Some gauze would have to be wrapped around her arm but hopefully she'd be fine.

"Now Max, I'm going to unstrap your arm and I want you to wiggle your fingers." Dr. Martinez instructed, doing as she said she would.

"Okay," and Max wiggled the fingers of the hand in Fang's hand.

"The other ones," Fang said, face stoic and voice level.

"Oh eheheheh."

Max wiggled them. To everyone else though nothing happened. Dr. Martinez sucked in a breath.

"Max wiggle your fingers," Dr. Martinez repeated her order.

.

..

...

..

.

Max's middle finger twitched. Dr. Martinez let out a breath and Fang inhaled slow and big.

"Again honey."

"Why?" Max whined.

"Just do it, Max," David whispered harshly.

Max huffed and wiggled her fingers, from full fist to completely stretched out.

All of them moved in small wiggling motions.

"Good. This is good. Okay Max, it may take you a bit to get back to full motor movement in your hand but we did it. The chip is gone and you can still use your hand."

"Thank god," Fang breathed.


The next day Fang was hanging out in the Martinez's back yard when Max came to him.

"What I said didn't mean anything," she hissed. "I love everyone in the flock."

Fang's lips turned upward and his eyes gleamed.

"Uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that. You loooooooove me. Pick a tree. I'll carve our initials into it!" He laughed and pointed to the woods.

Max swung at him but he jumped back and she missed. She grit her teeth and spun on her heel, stomping back into the house. (2010)

David stepped around the corner looking just as smug as Fang, hands in his pockets.

"You like her, you love her, you want some more of her!" He taunted and then giggled.

"Leave me the hell alone," Fang murmured with a glare.

"Oh come on don't deny it. You want her as much as she wants you."

"Shut the hell up," Fang growled, turning away and unconsciously hunching his shoulders up. David frowned.

"Chill dude," he said pacificatory. "I'm only teasing. And lightly I might say, compared with what I used to do to the people I knew."

Fang said nothing.

A thought occurred to David.

"You know," he started. "It's okay to love more than one person. And… you can talk to me if you need to."

He offered an unseen half-smile and walked away, back around to the front of the house.

Lindsay was waiting for him there.

"Hey," he greeted softly.

"Hey," David greeted back, just as gently.

"Are you okay?" Lindsay asked.

"Maybe." David sighed and sat down next to his boyfriend on Dr. Martinez's porch.

Lindsay reached out and put his arm around David, placing his hand on the younger teen's waist.

"You're more mood swingy than normal," he remarked factually. David chuckled and leaned into the blonde's side. They both stared out at the goings on of the street. Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, and Maxi were playing hide-and-go-seek-tag up and down the street with Ella and some neighbor kids. Currently everyone was looking for Angel.

"I feel something off," David finally confessed.

"Off?"

"Yeah, like… in the air. A feeling of something just not being right."

"When is anything really ever right?"

"I hate you, you know." David's voice was contradictorily loving as he said this.

"Why? You say that several times a day so what's this time for?"

"Knowing what I'm thinking. Knowing almost every philosophy I ponder on. And then using it all against me. It's creepy. Like I'm arguing with myself again."

Lindsay was silent. He smiled, and squeezed David in a silent suggestion to continue with his thought before.

"Anyway," the dark-haired teen sighed. "I feel dread. And anticipation, but it's not my own. The dread is though. While you weren't with us I thought it was that but I still kept feeling it even after you showed up.

"The air just feels heavy too. Heavy to breathe. Heavy to move through. I have no clue why and it's all just annoying the fuck out of me."

"What about now?"

David jerked his head to look at Lindsay with a frown.

"Huh?"

"Now. What do you feel now?"

"Childlike joy. Happiness. Contentment. Beautiful things. Things that make me want to capture it in a bottle."

"So right now you're committing everything around you to memory?"

"Yeah… So I can retreat to it later when things aren't 'quite right' again."

Lindsay hummed before leaning and kissing David full on the mouth. David blinked twice before Lindsay was pulling away.

"What the hell was that for?" David asked with amusement in his voice and a confused smile.

"Something more to remember when you're down again. Something to remind you I'm here when you feel like shit," Lindsay said while smiling and pulling David closer to his side.

"You're so corny sometimes," David said laughing, placing his head on the blonde's shoulder. "I appreciate it though."

And then he tilted his head just right to capture Lindsay's lips in a slightly longer kiss, his fingers slipping into white-gold blonde locks. When they pulled apart David laughed again.

"I think I'm getting cavities from all this cotton candy fluff between us."

"Good. Everyone needs cotton candy fluff sometimes. You said so yourself." Lindsay looked smug and David half-heartedly punched his chest.

"Can it fool."

The loud giggles in the background alerted them to their audience of children.

"It's like in 'Little Mermaid' when Ariel kisses Prince Eric at the end," one of the neighborhood girls said. And the other girls giggled with her.


(2010) - Just noticed as I was typing that that exact spot was the 2010th "word"

Jaded's end notes: You know the deal. You're here you review. Well that's it for that part.