They are outside of her mother's house, the screen door is open and the curtains are billowing in front of several partway-open windows. Even from her perch at the edge of the sidewalk she can smell the aroma of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies…or of baking chocolate-chip cookies. Her mom's chocolate-chip cookies; the best cookies in the whole-freaking world… she takes a step back; she won't be drawn in by their voodoo magic; not today anyway. She will not be drawn into that house. She can't be and she won't be… not even for cookies. She won't be the person responsible for wrecking this overly-cheery scene, no matter how unrealistic it is… she won't be the one to wreck it. She just won't be.
But then there is Fang's arm. His warm, reassuring arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders; a safety blanket that serves as a hazard all at the same time. With that arm she feels invincible…like she is sheltered from all the scrutiny and evil of the world… but at the same time that invincibility is a hazard because it also gives her more strength than she needs. More strength than she really wants; his arm is around her and he is urging her in the direction of the house… she is powerless to do anything but go.
"You ready for this?" His voice is soft so as not to carry to the open house just feet away… she knows it's only a matter of time before someone passes by one of those open windows…moves to walk out that screen door… only a matter of time before someone spots them. Still, though, is she ready? Is she really ready to burst whatever preconceived bubbles that the flock has about Dylan? Is she ready to admit to them what had been happening behind closed doors all these years? Can she ever really be ready for that? She doubts it. She highly doubts it.
So instead of whining about how unready she is for this next step, instead of begging him to let her have more time… instead of sitting down on her ass and just flat-out refusing to move, she nods. She nods and he plants a swift kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger there a few moments more than necessary.
"You'll be fine…" His words a caress, his lips still not moving more than a few centimeters from her forehead, "I'll be right there."
She smiles, a grim sort of smile… this isn't just going to be a hard time for her… this is going to be a hard time for him as well. Nobody has seen him since the wedding and even then they had only seen him for a glimpse, not really long enough for it to fully register who they were actually looking at. Sure, by now they all had probably worked out who she was with… either they had done it on their own or her mom had done it for them… but still for most of them it would be a shock. If he's not just as nervous as she is right now then she would be surprised. More than surprised, if he's not at least semi-nervous she would be flabbergasted; completely and utterly flabbergasted.
"Okay." She nods again and together they take their first step, with hands linked they walk up to the door, ring the bell. Someone, Ella, yells for them to come in, they oblige and within seconds a familiar figure comes around the corner covered in flour. Angel.
The girl is speechless for a millimeter of a second, a second during which that Fang looks like an extreme mix between weary and uncomfortable, she wants to give his hand a squeeze but she doesn't dare under the scrutiny of the preteen's gaze. The girl stands there for maybe a second more before bolting at him, a huge smile spread out on her flour-caked face. She reaches him, throwing her arms around his neck before he drops his hand interwoven with her own; he drops her hand and lifts the girl up before spinning her around in a quick circle. There is pure joy on his face and she can't help but flash back to when he told her about his time away from the flock… about how his voice had choked when he told her what it was like to be away from them… seeing him now… it's amazing. It's beyond amazing, it breathtaking, it's breathtaking and she laughs; a beautiful, carefree laugh that she doesn't even recognize as her own. A laugh that does not at all hint at what is to come… but for now it sounds nice… for now it sounds completely right.
Even after her feet are back on the floor she doesn't let go of him, she pulls back slightly but she never loosens her grip. Her words are an excited breeze as they fly out of her mouth, "I knew you'd come back! I knew one day you'd come back!"
There is so much happiness in the girl's voice, so much joy and warmth… it melts her own heart and he can tell by the way he blinks that he is fighting back tears… "Yeah," He nods, "Yeah, I thought I would too."
His words are choked and she puts a hand to her heart to keep it from melting onto the floor. She can't help but think of how much different this must be for him… how surreal this must be. When he left this girl was seven… she was hardly any more than a baby, now… now she's eleven… she's practically a teenager. It must be either incredibly scary or just plain incredible, she's not sure… by the looks of it neither is Fang. One thing is for sure, though, he is incredibly happy.
From around the corner comes Nudge and she can almost see the gears turning in his head… trying to find something that matches the eighteen-year-old to the twelve-year-old that he left behind. It is obvious from the way that the woman halts that she is trying to do the same with him… she doesn't run to him… not like Angel did, but she does make her way to him… cautiously. She puts a timid arm around the neck that Angel has abandoned, once finding that her arm doesn't burn at its touch she wraps the other around and he pulls her to him. Something is whispered between the two but she is too far away to hear properly what it is; when they pull away there are tears in both of their eyes. More than a few tears, actually.
"I missed you, Nudge." His voice is more than a little choked and then the others are around the corner, Iggy and Gazzy, the gang's back together again. He embraces each of them and whispers a quick thank you to Iggy who is grinning hard enough shatter glass. There is no question in her mind now, Iggy summoned him, Iggy put the message on the blog; Iggy is the reason for her savior. When he pulls back from Fang she pulls her to him herself.
"Thank you, Iggy." Tears are racing down her face but she doesn't care, "Thank you for saving me." She doesn't know how he knew... how the one person who cannot see is the only one who actually did see what was happening. She can tell, she can tell by the way he returns her hug, by the way he just nods… he knew, at least to an extent he knew what was happening with Dylan. He had somehow sensed it. He had sensed it and he had posted the message on Fang's blog… he is responsible for her savior. He is her savior, this blind boy that she had known all of her life had saved her; he had saved her when no one else could. She laughs at the absurdity of it but she doesn't relinquish her hold on him.
"You knew didn't you?" Her voice is a whisper so that the others can't hear, not yet, "You knew about what he was doing…you knew and you posted it on Fang's blog, right?"
He nods, and she whispers again, "How?" He shrugs and she nods, the how doesn't matter… what matters is that it happened. All that matters is that it happened.
Her mom and Ella enter the room, now is the time. Her mom is almost glaring at Fang, but she doesn't care, his hand is gripped in one of hers and she squeezes it tightly. Iggy's arm is around her waist; she will be okay… with these two she will be okay. With her two saviors she will always be okay. So, with a shaking hand she reaches up, wipes the makeup off of her bruised cheek, and exposes it to the world.
There is a collective gasp not only from the flock but also from her mother and Ella… she winces, but doesn't blame them, doesn't say anything because she can't. She is paralyzed by fear under their scrutiny; under their horrified gazes.
"Oh, Max," Her mother finally cries and moves forward, taking baby steps as though afraid that the floor will fall out beneath her if she moves too fast… "Max… is this why… this is why you didn't want to get married to him… I talked to you… I yelled at you… and he was… he was hitting you…" Tears rain down onto her cheeks and fall to the floor boards, "Oh, my God, Max… why didn't you…why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know how." She shrugs and tries to be nonchalant about it, but her shoulders are already shaking, "Mom, I didn't know how." She moves forward and suddenly she is in her mom's embrace… she stands there for a moment before the rest of the flock moves and joins them. It is all great, they are all great, but the only person that she feels is Fang. His touch… that's all there is… all there ever was if she is being honest with herself.
He is her future.
A/N: Well, we are slowly, but surely coming to a close with this. Another chapter or two and we should be done… but wow, what an amazing ride this has been. Lol, on a lighter note, what did you think about this reunion chapter? I was going to focus more on Max telling her family about the beatings, but then showing Fang's reunion with the flock seemed to be the better road in the long run. Looking at it now I think I made the right choice, what about you? I know you find it hard to believe but I really do value what you guys have to say… I try to incorporate what you say into the story, too. Sometimes it just takes me longer. So, y'all know the drill, the more reviews I get the more inspired I am, the more inspired I am the more I write… pretty simple stuff. I have to, of course, give those shout-outs that I promised last chapter so I will do that gladly, so, thanks go out to: ChickenNinja, xXfree spiritXx, amynotpond, Brightcloudof the Clans, Live In Today, JealousMindsThinkAlike, and ThatFreakInThePandaHat for reviewing last chapter! The same offer stands for this chapter so please, review, review, review!