Holy Cheese-It's, Guys! I knew you were gonna get mad! I told you not to!

Everything gets explained in this chapter, and I promise you'll love Wake again! I knew ya'll would freak out. Gosh! Do ya'll not trust me? ;)

AND WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING UPDATING ON A TUESDAY? Well, you guys were too upset, and I don't like disappointing you. So, I spent all day at school yesterday and today writing this for YOU! I couldn't even begin to tell you what lessons we've learned - was too busy trying to make sure the teachers didn't catch me writing on here.

Anyway,

Random thought of the day: How hard is it to make freaking toast!?

Like, seriously! I eat toast every other day, and I've burned it EVERY TIME except for once! Yup. The chances of me being a chef is totally out of the question. :P

So enjoy Chapter 12! Starts off sad, but gets happy!

Max POV

Erasers got Nudge! We have to go after them.

My fist came down on the hood of the go-cart. "I knew it!" I hissed.

Gazzy looked up at me. He heard Angel's call too. "What?"

I pulled over and ripped my seat belt off before turning around and doing the same to Gazzy's. "Wake is a traitor. He set this whole thing up!"

No, Max he didn't! Angel's thought rushed at me. He really didn't! I was listening to his thoughts the whole time! You don't understand!

"Well, you better make me understand, and fast." I said aloud due to the anger I was in, "If you don't convince me by the time we get there... I'm gonna kill him."

Angel's response came hurried and frantic. Okay, quick version. They ran into a friend he knew from the School. She used to like him, but he didn't like her back, yada yada yada - teenage drama. He always saw her as a sister. But when she showed up, she kissed him without thinking. He'd thought she was dead for the past two years, and she thought he was dead too. Wake locked up in shock. I mean literal shock, Max. His brain almost shut down. She took a break, and I was almost at the roller coaster that they'd gone to. Gazzy was pumping his arms to keep up with me. So far, I wasn't buying it. I mean, since when do you just shut down from a kiss? Remember when I said he has a lot of dark thoughts that he won't let loose? Well, his generation was hard-wired to become unresponsive when they are put into a situation with too much stress. Stress can be in the form of pain, fear, or anger. RAWR hotwired his brain like that incase the School ever got to him and tried to interogate him. Instead of taking the chance of him slipping up any kind of important information, they made it to where if get's in too much stress, his body won't respond to any of his reactions. You know, like if they tried to torture information out of him and he wouldn't be able to say anything. In this case, the extreme shock that his friend wasn't dead triggered the reaction. It wasn't his choice!

"Not his choice for what?" I asked looking around. "I'm at the ride." I said, stopping abruptly. "Which way now?"

Head toward the bathrooms and then through the tree thicket. She directed. But anyway, the thing is, Nudge saw him not fighting back the kiss. But she also didn't register the fact that he also didn't go with it. It was all because he physically couldn't do anything about it. Nudge only saw him not pull away, and she freaked. She ran off, kind of like you did when you saw Fang with Lissa-

"This is not about me!"

Anyway, I read Wake's thoughts and pushed Kazin off of him. As soon as I did that, he started functioning again. Kazin was mad at me, but Wake was greatful. The Erasers were waiting for one of us to stray, so Nudge was ambushed while we were looking for her. After that, Wake's thoughts became fuzzy. He was in a lot of pain from something he was hearing. And he was panicking. With the pain and panic, his body was about to shut down completely and blackout. He finally did when he reached the water. All of it together just became too much.

I thought about it, and it made sense, but some part of me was still mad at him for hurting my baby. I was running through the trees when I saw Fang and Iggy running along beside us. We nodded to each other. As soon as we came to the beach on the other side, all off my remaining anger subsided.

Wake was crying. Wake, the total clown/goofball, was crying. He was on his hands and knees with his fingers digging deep into the sand. He was muttering under his breath. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "Nudge, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I tried, but I couldn't do it. I really tried."

The next words he whispered caught me off guard.

"Nudge, I love you." He choked, then wrapped his arms over his head like he was in a weather drill at one of the schools we'd gone to.

Angel glanced at me, her eyes telling me how worried she was about him. I think he might go into another blackout. He is stressing way bad.

"Which way do we need to go?" Fang asked, quick and to the point.

Angel shrugged. "It's like all of their heads have a shield up. I would have stopped them with my mind if I could."

Wake was suddenly at my side, his death grip holding onto my arm. His tear streaked face was now replaced with determination and was hard as stone. "I can hear it, but I won't be able to catch up." His grip tightened. "I can direct you if you can fly."

"You can hear it?" I asked in astonishment.

He nodded. "Can you carry me? We need to hurry."

I returned his steel grip and launched myself into the air with him. I instantly began to dip toward the ocean from his weight. His eyes widened and then started to flutter shut. I went into warp drive straight up to get a better view. "Stop stressing, kid!" I yelled at him as I turned a circle and saw nothing. "I need you to tell me where to go!"

"Nudge!" He exclaimed, his eyes snapping open. "I can do this for Nudge."

"Hurry up!"

"That way." He said pointing off to our left. "There's a lot of beating hearts on that boat."

I zoned in on the horizon and started up on the speed. I was perfectly fine, but Wake looked like his face was going to peel off in the wind. "You can here a heart beat?" I said disgusted.

He could only nod.

Within two minutes, a boat came up in my view. I'd already seen it by the time he tilted his head to it. What I saw scared me.

The ship was mostly underwater.

It was sinking fast and Nudge was no where to be found, although, the way the metal sides of the boat were caved in showed that she was the reason the boat was going down. Erasers clawed their way to the surface of the water, their panic and instinct for survival took over, and they weren't listening to some of the whitecoats' commands.

"Where is she?" I said panicking. "Where is Nudge?" I looked to him but he was holding his breath, his pulse in my hand was fast. "She can't breath under water like I can. She's going to die if you don't start talking."

"Let go of me." He said tense. "She's underwater and I can't direct you down there. I have to go in."

"Okay, sure. Just don't pass out, okay?" I dropped him, and he executed a perfect dive. I waited impatiently up above the water as his form sank below the surface.

Nudge POV

I struggled. They had me in the bag, and I couldn't get out.

Angel was in my head. She was reassuring me, but I couldn't tell her where I was at. She explained what happened with Wake, and it helped me calm down. It wasn't his choice. I fought hard to get free and slow the boat, but that happened to put a hole in the side of it.

Now I was suffocating.

I was surrounded by water, and the bag wouldn't allow me to swim. I knew I was dying, and I shut my mind off from Angel. She didn't need this playing in her head for the rest of her life.

I was pushed against the inside and squished tight as some force his me from outside. It made me gasp in shock, and I inhaled the water. At first I thought it was debris hitting me, but I felt arms tighten around my waist. Nothing is scarier than choking underwater, but suddenly, I was no longer submerged in it.

The bag was ripped open, and I was pulled into familiar arms, the air hitting my face. I gagged and puked over his shoulder, but his hold on me didn't loosen. "Wake." I breathed. "The water. You went in the water."

He squeezed me tighter. "Dear, God, Nudge. You scared me." He pushed his temple against mine, and his hand shakily brushed back my hair. "You know that I love only you, right? I didn't mean to do that back at the-"

I choked again and pushed a finger to his mouth. I was already having a hard time breathing, and this just made it worse. "You what?" I pulled back blinking.

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "I said, I love you."

I snorted and the biggest, dopiest grin spread across my face. "I love you, too."

He laughed at my reaction and he began turning us in the right direction. Max was smiling at us, and I could tell that it was taking all that she could to keep herself from tackling me. "You're okay!" She shouted relieved.

I nodded, but just then, the sound of something ripping filled my ears. "Jeez, my wing!" Wake yelled. For a split second, we watched the soaked duck tape fall back toward the ocean. In the next second, we were spiraling out of control while he tried to correct himself.

"My turn to save you." I laughed. I spread my own wings and took on the weight of Wake. The air slipped through my feathers a lot easier and smoother than his wings, and we were only gradually loosing altitude. I beat down hard and managed to hover.

He smiled. "You are a most beautiful creature." He quoted himself from the first few days we'd known each other.

I giggled while Max flew over and held out her hands. "I can hold him." She offered. I nodded and handed him over.

I was silent for a few minuts, but of course that wouldn't last.

"Princess!" Wake shouted out to me as we flew back. "You have saved me again! What is our tally?"

I thought it over. "Well, I saved you from the CottonCandy Monster. And I saved you from my imaginary friend - he was going to help Gazzy set up an exploding soda can." I tapped my chin. "And you just saved me from Erasers and drowning."

"And you saved me from plummeting to my death!" He joked, over exaggerating a lot. "So the tally is three for you, and one for me."

"Please." Max huffed. "I think saving her from Erasers, beats CottonCandy Monsters. Plus, I don't think Gazzy would ever call on the help of Nudge's imaginary-" She paused. "What the heck am I saying?"

Wake and I cracked up. Max rolled her eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched up reluctantly. "Max!" I called through my snorts. "You have officially joined the MAD club. Wake and I made it."

He nodded. "It stands for Mutants And Dumbness." He beamed. "Brilliant right?"

"Absolutely mad." Max agreed, her smile widening.

I glanced at the two of them and shook my head. "My code name is BBQ!" I said excitedly. "It's short for Badass Beauty Queen." I added with a whisper.

Max snickered. "Suits you."

"And I'm FISH! It stands for Flying Ingenious Super Human!" Wake added, raising his eyebrows up and down.

I gaped at him and burst into laughter. "How do you come up with this stuff on the fly?"

He sighed as if it was obvious. "Because I just said I was a Flying Ingenious Super Human! It's in the name!"

Max was laughing so hard she almost dropped him.

"Alright, what's your name, Max?" I asked seriously. I fiddled with my shirt and squeezed out the extra water.

She shrugged. "I'm Leader, So Do As I Say?"

I sounded out the first letters, then frowned. "I don't think ILSDAIS is a very good code name."

"Neither do I." Wake agreed. "How about we change it just a smidge. Like... Do As I Say, You!"

"DAISY?" I asked nodding. "Sounds great."

"I am not a flower!" Max said, offended.

"DAISY it is!" I chirped happily. I dove down to avoid a playful kick from Max, and glided to the shore. I came to a pounding halt. I turned to watch Max come in. I forgot how hard it was to land while carrying someone, and Max saved herself the struggle by dropping him into the shallow end.

She landed beside me as Wake froze up, standing out in the water. "Max!" I yelled. "You can't just put him in the water! He's terrified!"

"What?" She asked, confused. "But he was the one who went in for you."

I waded out to him, and dragged his stiff body out of the ocean. "Wake up, Wake!" I said shaking him lightly on the sand. His muscles relaxed.

His eyes rested on mine. "Water sucks."

Max muttered just loud enough for me to hear, "Some FISH we have."

Gazzy raised his eyebrows. "Max, what are you-?"

Max pointed at him. "And Nudge told me that you've been plotting evil plans with her imaginary friend!"

He held up his hands in surrender.

"Um..." Iggy said quietly. "Not to butt in, or anything... but I've got a new power."

Everyone got quiet and turned to stare at him.

Max POV

We were in a new hotel. After the kidnapping incident, we were all sleeping with a buddy. Without talking to me first, Angel arranged the hotel manager's room plan.

"For the three boys." She said handing the card to Iggy. Gazzy grabbed his hand and pulled him down to the elevators. Wake traveled close behind.

"For the two girls." She held out a card that Nudge quickly snatched up. She and Angel sprinted for the stairs racing the boys.

"For the Miss." She gave a card to Kazin. No one trusted her, and I wouldn't allow her to sleep with any of the flock.

Fang held my hand in his right, and reached out for our card with his left. "And lastly, for the couple." The lady sang. Fang grabbed the card and pulled me outside behind him. He had us fly up to our terrace, and opened the tiny glass doors.

"I bet we beat them all." He said smiling.

I walked out and stood out in the hall, making sure everyone made it safely to their rooms. Sure enough, we'd been the first up to our floor. After everyone was settled down, I walked back to my room. Fang glanced up from his place on the bed, his arms folded carelessly behind his head.

"I still don't see why we didn't just stick with the rest of the flock." I said tiredly. I rummaged through my bag for sleep clothes. "Angel doesn't need to be judging this kind of stuff."

Fang stayed quiet.

"You're helpful, mister dark and mysterious. Can you believe Ig's new power?" I asked, dumping the rest of my bag out. "I mean, being able to see whatever someone else see's as long as he's touching them? I wonder if he sees in black and white if he touches a dog." I bit my lip, looking at the mess on the floor. "Uhg! I don't have any more clothes!" I threw the empty bag at him.

"So." He said. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Typical Fang.

"I don't know!" I hissed. "But I've been wearing this same shirt for the past three days, so It's not going to matter if I shower and then put it back on!" I rubbed my temples in impatience. "Either way, you'll end up having to sleep next to me no matter how bad I smell."

"I could sleep on the couch." He offered.

"Fang..."

He waved me off. "Chill out. Wear some of my clothes." He pulled his pack from beneath the bed. He tossed me a black t-shirt and sweatpants.

I looked at him funny. His clothes? I was supposed to wear these?

"What?" He asked.

I shook my head, and took the black outfit into the bathroom. After taking a quick shower and actually combing through my hair for once, I stepped from the restroom and launched myself onto the bed, bouncing the already-asleep-Fang onto the floor.

He stood up groggily. "You smell... nice." He commented, sliding back into the covers next to me.

"And you smell like a dog." I said slyly. He rolled his eyes and turned on his back.

I nudged my way into the crook of his arm. It didn't even take him a second to respond by tilting my head up and brushing his lips against mine. He laid back after only a few moments, and I frowned. He was toying with me.

"That's it?" I asked, glaring.

"Only if you don't do something about it." He said with a smirk quickly growing on his face. "I can't be the one who always makes the first move."

"You do not..." I said fading out, realizing what he said was pretty much true. And then I remembered an exception. "Well, there was that one time..." I started again, but suddenly lost myself in his eyes as he tilted his head. How does he have the power to do that?

His already big grin almost reached his ears.

"Just kiss me already." I whined.

He paused only a moment to think about it before he pulled my body against his. His unnaturally hot lips met mine gently. I closed my eyes as they traced my jaw, and slowly trailed down to my neck, leaving spots of warmth.

"It's been a while." I said as his hand slid up my back to eventually tangle in my feathers.

He smiled against my shoulder. "Like two days."

"Still." I whispered. I locked my fingers in his hair.

"I know what you mean."

There was a sudden knock at the door, and I sighed. "We didn't even get started."

Fang pushed my hair back from my face and sat up. "Later." He promised, and kissed me for one more long second, before helping me off the bed.

"You two love birds get out!" Iggy slammed his fist against the door. "Angel said that Jeb is coming, and right now."

Yah, Kazin. No one likes you!

And Iggy? Do you really have to ruin the moment?

Now... Are ya'll satisfied? Do you like this chapter? Yes? No?

Tell me in a review! :D

Oh, and does anyone else have such a difficult time making toast, or something stupid like that?