We've been waiting for three hours for Mandy to wake up. The whole family- and all our friends- came to see if she was okay. By friends, I mean the band and the band's kids. We were all sitting around in the chairs and on the floor, staying in a cluster.
I was pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and-
"Stop pacing!" Nikki yelled at me, going back to chewing on her nail and staring at the floor near her feet.
"I can pace if I want!" I argued.
She looked back up at me. "Well then pace outside!"
"Enough, you two! Enough!" Dad yelled.
"Yes, Dad…" Nikki and I mumbled.
Max looked at me from where she was previously staring; the reception desk. "Look, I know you guys are on edge- we all are. I mean…this is my daughter," Max's eyes started to tear up but she wouldn't let the tears fall. She was Max- she never cried. "Just, PLEASE, don't fight."
Fang grabbed her hand and kissed her cheek, whispering reassuring words to her. The tears overflowed.
A doctor came out of the operating room. He wiped his hands on his scrubs, getting some blood off.
"Ride?" he called.
Fang, Max, and I ran over. I don't know why I did; I think it was because I wanted to be one of the first to know.
"Yes?" Max addressed the doctor.
"She's going to be in surgery a little bit longer- ten minutes or so. We did the X-rays, set her bones, everything. Now, we're checking her brain for internal bleeding or damage."
"When will she wake up?" I asked.
He looked at me with sad eyes. "How did she get hurt?" He avoided the question.
"She was thrown down the stairs." I told him, face unreadable.
"By whom?" He asked, jaw set.
"This boy at school. He threw her head against a locker and pushed her down the marble stairs." Fang explained. "We're witnesses. He's already going to hear from our lawyer."
I almost smiled. Michelle- Gazzy's wife- was our attorney.
The doctor looked from Fang to me. "How are you related to her?" He asked me.
Max put a hand on my shoulder. "It doesn't matter, doctor. Please…answer his question from before," Max's voice wavered. I don't think she could get a clear view of Mandy waking up. "When will she wake up?"
"After she's out of surgery…about thirty minutes or so."
"But," I added, knowing it would continue.
"But," The doctor nodded, knowing we wanted all the details. "She can't leave."
"How long does she have to stay here?" Fang asked.
"Well, if she were fully human, I'd say two weeks. But, since she's Avian American, about four days." He stared at Max and Fang, looking at me last. "Trust me; I want Mandeline to come through easily too. I delivered her. You too, Tyler." He smiled sadly at me. "That's why we're doing the best we can." He looked at the clock on the wall. "Excuse me." He left, going back to the operation room.
Max, Fang, and I went back to our spots.
"She'll be out soon but under for half an hour." Fang explained quietly.
I faced the wall, standing. Why? Why would he do this to her? Why didn't I get to her in time? Why? WHY?! I punched the wall.
Lily stood and hugged me from the back, understanding my feelings. She tried to calm me down but I was far too gone.
"Why?" I rasped out, throat dry.
"We didn't know what would happen- it's not your fault." Lily murmured, rubbing her hand in between my wings. That calms everyone in the family down. She must have felt my bloodlust because she smacked the back of my head. "Killing him won't solve anything!" She backed away so I could turn around.
I faced her and everyone else. "Wouldn't it?! If he were gone, he wouldn't hurt anyone else!"
Lucas stood up and put his arm protectively around Lily's shoulders. "Look, Ty, it's not your fault. And you can't try to play God! You can't take his life!"
I clenched my jaw and made a fist at my side.
Lucas saw this. "Do you really think Mandy would want you to kill anyone?"
I froze, thinking it over. Would Mandy still want to be my friend if I killed someone? No, no she wouldn't.
I leaned against the wall and slid down, sitting on the floor. I put my head in my hands, drawing my knees to my chest. I needed to think.
LPOV:
I listened for Mandy's thoughts but the loudest I could hear were Tyler's. He was thinking about Mandy. Of course. But not like everyone else- but about their friendship. His memories were racing through his head like a guy wanting to win a marathon.
I couldn't look away. I knew his feelings- hell, everyone did. He just didn't. And Mandy didn't know either. She didn't know hers as well.
I peered into Tyler's mind- not that it was hard to- and looked at everything he was thinking. It took a while to keep up because he thinks of more than one thing at a time.
--
Mandy was laughing so hard, tears were in her eyes. She just wouldn't stop.
Tyler was over her on his knees while she was laying down. He was tickling her.
"Now will you say it?" He asked over her laughter.
She shook her head as much as she could while laughing.
"I'm not going to stop until you say it!" He tickled harder.
"Okay! Okay, okay!" She pleaded. He stopped and waited while she caught her breath. She looked at him, some leftover giggles spilling out. "Tyler is the awethomestht."
Tyler smiled, leaning back. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Tyler," She sang out his name.
He put his hand up and pushed her head away jokingly. "Shut up. You're so gross."
She laughed, catching herself. "Yes, but that's why you LOVE me!" She joked.
He snorted. "You wish."
--
"C'mon, Mandy!" Tyler whined. "I'm hungry!"
"Okay, hold on!" Mandy was reading a magazine, laying on her bed, on her stomach.
Tyler was copying her as she swung her feet around in the air. Mandy saw this and laughed.
"Goof."
"No, I'm hungry! Let's go eat now!" He grabbed her hand.
"Wait! I want to finish this article." She pulled her wrist away.
"Read it in the car." He told her, keeping his legs down on the bed.
"No way, I'll get carsick."
He groaned and buried his head in the comforter. "Mandy!" He whined really loudly, words muffled from the blanket.
Mandy laughed and got a gleam in her eye. She pushed Tyler off the bed. Tyler caught her wrist and she fell with him, giving out a small squeal.
Tyler landed on his back and Mandy landed on her stomach on top of him. He was still holding her wrist. Mandy looked into his eyes, a small smile on her face. A slight blush crept up her cheeks. Mandy covered her face with her hair.
Tyler reached over to her and moved the hair behind her ears. They were looking into each other's eyes. Tyler smirked and pushed Mandy sideways, her falling off him. He laughed at her while she laid there.
As soon as he was done laughing, he looked over to see Mandy sitting on her knees, facing him.
"I don't think you're in the position to be laughing at me, Tyler." She warned, eyes glinting jokingly.
"Oh yeah? What're you going to do about it?" he teased, still laying down.
She smiled. "I could use my Power and…" she trailed off, looking up at the ceiling. Tyler followed her line of sight. Above him was bowling ball; levitating right above his middle.
His eyes flickered back to Mandy. "You wouldn't."
The bowling ball disappeared in the air. "You're right. I'm too nice." Mandy said.
Tyler raised an eyebrow at her. She laughed. She laid down, facing him; head near head. She put her chin in her palms, supporting her head.
Tyler just stared at her.
"Food…?" Mandy's eyebrows drew down, wondering if that's what he really wanted at the moment.
Tyler was quiet for a while, contemplating. "Food." He said at last. He got up and walked out of the room without another word.
Mandy followed.
--
"Do we have to?!" Mandy whined, looking at Fang.
She was under the mistletoe with Tyler next to her, whining to his mom. They looked about nine, ten maybe.
Fang laughed. "Yes!"
(A/N: I know in a previous chapter, Fang said she was five when the mistletoe thing happened but right now, thinking about it, that's too young so I'm making them a little older where they aren't at the point of teenage years but they wouldn't remember clearly.)
Mandy and Tyler faced, both faces red as tomatoes. They both looked at their sets of parents, begging with their eyes to not do that.
Max and Fang, as well as Nudge and Kyle, shook their heads. They faced each other again, not looking at each other's eyes.
They both leaned forward and their lips touched. After about two seconds, they pulled away, immediately looking away.
--
Mandy and Tyler were sitting on a couch in their hideout, looking at magazines and doing homework.
"I don't get this problem." Mandy told him.
Tyler looked at it. "Divide here and multiply this exponent with this number."
She nodded, doing the problem correctly. Tyler was finishing his science homework. She looked at him, smiling shyly.
"Thanks, Ty, for tutoring me."
He smiled back at her. "No problem. Why are we keeping this secret again?"
"Because I don't want anyone to know I'm having trouble in math. If anyone found out I'm struggling in this subject as well as Science, I'd be picked on even more."
Tyler looked about fourteen, Mandy thirteen. He clenched his fist. "Who's bullying you?"
Mandy saw his fist. "Ty, relax. I can handle it."
"Who?" he repeated. His jaw was clenched shut in anger. He didn't want anyone to hurt Mandy.
Mandy put her book on the floor and took his fist in her hands gently. She brought it to her lips and kissed each knuckle softly. His fist relaxed and soon opened.
She looked back up at him through her hair. "I can handle myself, alright?" She let go of his hand and hugged him. His jaw relaxed as well. "Thank you, though, for caring."
Tyler hugged her back. "Of course I care, Mandy. I'm your best friend. I love you too much to let you get hurt. I promise that I will protect you."
She laughed, still hugging him. Tyler put his chin on the top of her head, resting it there. "You don't have to protect me."
"I want to. I wouldn't be able to see you hurt. I wouldn't be able to handle it." He brushed Mandy's hair out of her eyes. "I promise that as long as I'm your best friend, you will NEVER get hurt."
--
I pulled myself out of Tyler's head. I looked at him. If you looked closely, you could see the tears falling from his eyes. He felt that he broke his promise.
Lily went over to comfort him, knowing how to deal with it. I searcher and found Mandy's mind.
You would think that she'd be screaming in her mind about how much pain she was in or she wouldn't be thinking anything coherent. But, she was worrying about Tyler.
"I really hope he's not blaming himself." Her thoughts murmured. "He couldn't have stopped him in time- I couldn't. Really, no one should be worrying over me. I'm fine!"
"Well, we are, Mandy." I said out loud by accident.
Everyone looked at me, eyebrows up.
"you can hear her?" Tyler sounded stunned. He literally crawled to me before standing up. "What is she thinking? Is she in pain? Does she remember what happened? Does she hate me? Does-" I covered his mouth with my hand.
He really was Nudge's son… I've never heard him speak so much.
"She doesn't want you to blame yourself, Ty." I informed him. "She thinks that no one should worry over her. That's all I heard so far."
Everyone was silent after. Tyler was standing like a stone, leaning against the wall. I tuned into his mind again.
--
"Hey, man, what's wrong? You were really quiet at lunch." Freddie asked, him and Tyler heading to their next class- which was gym.
"Nothing."
"Has to be something. You're all mopey."
"I'm not mopey." Ty objected.
They passed by Mandy's classroom which was Music and saw that she was strumming the guitar, Darrel next to her, tapping a drum, keeping beat. Tyler's jaw set.
Freddie saw this. He smirked. "Dude, are you jealous?"
"No."
"Yeah, you are." He chuckled. "You want to be in Music Class too!"
Ty stared at him. "Yeah…that's it…" They continued walking.
"Or…Is it that you want Mandy all for yourself?"
Tyler shook my head.
"That's it, isn't it?"
"You're delusional."
"That's it! I'm right." He realized that Ty wasn't smiling or anything. "Is this serious?"
"I told you, it's nothing."
--
"Dude, I'm telling you- she did." It was Jacob.
"No way. There's no way Mandy would get drunk, let alone sleep with you." His friend objected.
Ty froze. Jacob was telling people that he and Mandy… his hand turned into a fist.
"I'm telling the truth! After she sang onstage, she beat the shit out of Candy and brought me upstairs. And, let me tell you, she's really good." He started laughing.
Ty walked over and cleared his throat, glowering at him. He turned around. Acting unafraid, he crossed his arms and puffed out his chest, seeming big. You could see fear in his eyes- it was practically radiating off him.
"Hey, what's up, man?" He greeted casually.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Excuse me?"
Tyler took a step forward, towering over the bastard. "About Mandy."
He smirked. "Look, dude, don't be mad that she did it with me and not you-" Tyler punched him. Right in the jaw.
--
"Mandy, I saw what happened."
"Great," She replied sarcastically. "So why are you up here?"
"I'm your shoulder." Tyler said simply.
She looked up at him. "'Scuse me?"
"When you're crying, I'm your shoulder." He put his arm around her shoulders and held her to his side, her face resting against his chest.
She sighed. More tears started falling. "I should have known better. I'm so stupid." She wrapped my arms around Tyler's waist, hugging herself to him.
He wiped her hair out of her face. "You didn't know- that's an excuse. And you did great- he doesn't know that you're hurt."
"But that's just it! I don't have an excuse! Lucas warned me and I still went with him." Mandy started sniffling.
"Mandy, calm down." Tyler soothed, rubbing her back with his hand gently. "You still handled it like an adult. And you kept that warning he gave you. If you hadn't, you would've drunk the punch." She looked up at him. "Like I said, I saw what happened." Then he chuckled. "I'm still shocked, though, that you still drank some alcohol."
"Mom lets me have alcohol once every two months that way when I'm older, I won't be super drunk when I have one drink. Seems stupid and idiotic but Mom says it's safe for me. Besides, that punch tasted nasty."
Tyler laughed. "I bet. Mandy, you are way more mature than you think you are. A teenager who was given alcohol would have had it- all of it. But you didn't. You spat it out. And you didn't go upstairs with him either. So you're not stupid. You're smart and wise."
She wiped her eyes. "I still don't see why he asked ME out, though." She mumbled.
Tyler shook his head. "You don't see yourself clearly. Mandy, you are smart, wise, clever-"
"Those are all the same." She interrupted.
"And creative," he went on like she hadn't interrupted. "Pretty- you have good taste in music. You can cook- you have so many talents, Mandy, it's amazing." His voice sounded so sincere that she had no choice but to believe him. "you are one of a kind, Mandeline. Anyone who doesn't want to date is an idiot." He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and stood up. "You did the right thing today- there's no need to be upset."
She stood as well and hugged her best friend. "Thank you, Tyler."
He hugged her back tightly. "No problem."
She pulled back at the same time as him and smiled. He smiled back, showing his pearly white teeth. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead.
It only lasted a second but a second was enough to have her senses go haywire. He waved as he left the room, smiling still.
Mandy sat on her bed, biting her lip while she smiled.
--
I blinked, bringing myself out of Tyler's mind once again. I should read his mind more often- it's interesting.
"Tell me about it!" Aunt Angel smiled at me, laughing.
"Tell who what, Angel?" Mom played with Angel's hair, ruffling it. To Mom, Angel is still her baby.
"I'm just talking to Lucas about Ty's mind." She said casually.
Tyler looked from her to me, pissed off. "You're reading my mind?!"
I put my hands up. "Maybe?"
"Lucas! I've told you before-!"
"I know, I know! But I'm reading everyone's mind all at once!" I lied.
"Hey!" Everyone chorused.
"Sorry!" I apologized. "Angel!" I yelled through my mind.
She giggled through our telepathic connection. "Sorry." She didn't sound sorry at all.
TPOV:
I was about ready to bust into Mandy's room and shake her awake if they didn't let us see her soon.
The doctor came over to us. "She's awake and stable. You can see her now."
Max hugged him. "Thank you, Dan."
He patted her back. "Any time."
We all followed him into Mandy's room. I was the third to walk in and I covered my mouth with my hand. She looked horrible. She had a bandage wrapped around her head, a cast on her arm, her wing was stretched out and being supported, like one of her legs, and the other leg was wrapped up.
I faced the doctor. "What happened to her wing?"
Everyone noticed this too and looked at him, even Mandy.
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "some of the bones were crushed. It's healing normally now so she'll still be able to fly, don't worry about that. Just don't bump it, it should be really sensitive right now. I'll leave you all alone now."
He left. Since everyone knew about our huge family, they gave her a big room. I stayed back and watched as everyone went up to her and kissed her cheeks and cried happily that she was alright.
Each small family clustered together to fall asleep. It was late at night. Iggy, Ella, and both sets of twins went together. Max, Fang, Lucas, and Milo. Grandma, Grandpa, and Johnny. Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Thomas, minus me. Angel, Ryan, and Ivory. Gazzy, Michelle, and the triplets. The band had left after a while, seeing that she was alright and alive.
I went up to Mandy and sat down in the chair next to her bed. Her heart monitor was working but the doctor muted it so we didn't have to hear it. It still sent signals to the doctors in case anything was out of the ordinary. I held her hand and she intertwined our fingers.
She inhaled and you could hear the machine helping her. She was really beat up. "It's not your fault, Ty." Her voice was hoarse.
"Yes, it is. I promised-"
"It. Isn't. Your. Fault." She ground out, wincing at the end. "Stop beating yourself up."
I let out an emotionless chuckle. "Poor choice of words."
"Did you beat the shit out of him?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Then you're forgiven." She smiled at me. She swallowed. "How are you feeling?"
I laughed quietly, hoping I wouldn't wake the family. "You're in the hospital and you're asking me how I'M doing…"
She nodded. "Yes. You're probably hurting more than me."
"I doubt it. Mandy, you have to stay for four days. That's more than usual."
"It's just because the last day, they have to check to make sure everything repaired normally. And I'm not in pain. Look at Lily," She pointed as much as she could. I looked. Lily was sleeping peacefully, close to the bed. "If I were in pain, she'd be too and she would be as far away from me as possible."
I looked at her face and rested my chin on the bed, sighing. She traced my eyes with her fingers, having let go of my hand.
"Were you…crying?" She sounded so shocked. She would be too- I never cry. Not in front of anyone.
I leaned my head into her hand carefully. "Yeah…"
She played with my hair. "There was no need. I'm fine."
"But no one knew that…Mandy, you were in surgery for almost four hours."
She sighed. "They had to re-break some bones so they could set correctly."
I groaned. "You're in pain. You're in pain, and you know it. You're hiding it from me. You're suffering, I just know it."
"Would you stop?" She laughed. "You're babbling."
"That's because I'm worried." I looked up at her. "When I saw you at the bottom of the stairs, and the blood on the locker…I thought you were gone. I searched for a heartbeat and it was so quiet and slow. I'm just afraid you'll be gone-"
"Tyler, I need you to shut up and forget what happened. I'm alive and I'm healing. That's all that matters."
We were silent for a while.
"You should go to sleep." She said.
"You too."
"I've been asleep for the whole afternoon, Ty. I'm fine. Go to sleep."
I did as she said and fell asleep to the feeling of her fingers running through my hair.
MPOV:
I was playing with Tyler's hair for a while, smiling softly. He cried for me. He cried for my sake. He never EVER cries. He didn't cry when he popped his jaw. He didn't cry when his shin bone shattered- both my fault, actually. But he cried for me.
I looked around at everyone. I studied their faces. They all had puffy, red eyes because they were crying too. Even my parents and they never, ever, ever cried. Ever. Not on the run and not after.
The door opened and in the doorway stood someone that made my blood run cold. If I heard myself say that a month ago, I would have laughed. But now…I couldn't even speak. I just screamed in terror.
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OKay! So all the parts between --'s and the words that are italicized are memories. I thought, why not put them in? Question time!
Q) how is the hospital "used to treating Avian Americans" is it just cause when the adults were pregnant and the Flock Jr. was really little?
A) Yes
Q) what did you mean by the whole "Are you SURE you're Gazzy's kid?" thing?
A) Gazzy is never serious, always the prankster. Lily was being a serious child and not joking around. Completely the opposite from her father- you wouldn't think they were related by the way they both act.
Q) are they going to call Max? cause i think they should...
A) Yes, they called everyone.
That's all the questions. Thanks, )(*wings*)(. I'm not going to list comments anymore because there are so many, it's insane. But I will say thank you to everyone so; thank you everyone!
