A/N: Hello again, my lovelies! So sorry for the lateness…I bought a Mac, and for the longest time I had no word processor…until now, of course. Funny story, I actually started this chapter the day I put out the last one. Haha…okay maybe not so funny. Anyways, I don't have much else to say for this chapter…just that I love love love RestrainedOnTheLeash, frenchflower, cerealkiller16, Demented Whispers, FunkyIsMyMiddleName, The Illusionist's Wings04, Captain Mockingjay, BarcaGirl116, Lilylovesbooks& WhiteWinterAngel for following/favouriting/reviewing the previous chapter! :D OH and also I don't plan on doing any chapters in any other character's point of views anymore, just Max's!

OH AND DOUBLE ALSO. I still haven't read Nevermore (have to get my hands on a copy ASAP, parents are being difficult) so don't say anything!

OH AND TRIPLE ALSO. I could think of no better name for the chapter, leave me alone :$ If you think of something, let me know! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own!

Chapter 11: Nudge & Ella

I wasn't even in my room before I got a text from Nudge. What's with all these interruptions? I can't even get to my room without getting attacked my every other member of the flock first! Can I not have one peaceful moment? My phone vibrates in my hand again.

I guess not.

I scrolled through my texts. There were like, six of them, all from Nudge. Apparently she'd been texting me all morning.

Morning, Max! No plans, can I come over? – at 10:00am

Max? Maaaaaax? – at 10:15am

Why am I even asking your permission? Should I bring everyone else? – at 10:17am

Are you even awake? I'll just wait for your reply…- 10:30am

OMG MAX! I just heard from Angel! What went on with Fang?! – at 10:45am

I'm coming over…SPILL! – at 10:46am

Spill? Spill what? I didn't realize there was anything to spill... I poised my thumbs over the keypad on my phone, ready to answer the most recent text.

Um, 'kay? But what's there to spill?

Just as I was about to click send, I heard a sound from another part of the house. I cocked my head, lowering the phone. My muscled tensed, as I listened for any more sound, bracing myself. I heard a sound like pounding feet on the ground running around the house, towards me.

"Max!" I turned, eyes widening.

"Nud-" I couldn't even finish saying her name before she flew into me, the force of her hug throwing us both to the floor. She beamed at me, as if she didn't just painfully body slam me like a freaking sumo wrestler. I groaned. "Hey," I muttered, "Mind getting off me, Monique?"

She grinned at me calling her by her other name. I rarely did so. I think Nudge suits her better. But she seems to prefer "Monique" for some reason.

Nudge jumped up and stretched her hand down towards me, her many bracelets jingling. I grabbed her and pulled myself up. It was then that I noticed Ella standing behind her. She also smiled at me, her hand over her belly.

"Hey, Ella! How ya been? Feeling okay?" I looked pointedly at her bloated abdomen. She nodded cheerily. That's my Ella.

"Everything's great!" she assured me, "But I didn't come here to talk about me!"

"Huh?"

Nudge lifted a finger to her lips, jerking her thumb to gesture behind her shoulder. "Fang's still here, right?" she whispered. I nodded. With that, she began speaking loudly, in an exaggerated voice. "Man, I need a coffee! Don't you, Ella?"

"Oh yeah!" Ella replied, equally exaggerated. I smacked my hand to my forehead. Could they be anymore obvious? "Take us to that place you always tell me about, Max!"

"What place…?" I start to ask, but they both quickly silenced me with a look. Nudge grabbed my hand and dragged me back through the kitchen, towards the front door.

"Hi, Fang! Bye, Fang!" Nudge and Ella called simultaneously behind their shoulders. I shook my head. Those two spend way too much time together.

I stopped to grab my shoes and managed to catch Fang's very amused look. He gave a two finger salute and I smiled at him.

"See ya later!" I gave an exaggerated mock-salute back.

"Bye, Max." he replied, softly. So softly it made me stop and really look at him. Wait a second…

"You're not planning on packing up and leaving before I get home, are you?" My eyes burned into his. He shook his head.

"Of course not, Max. I mean, you were right. We really do need to talk." I searched his eyes silently, looking for a sign of dishonesty. I didn't find it there. I gave a quick nod, a small smile, and a little wave. Then, I was on my way.

The girls stood impatiently outside. Nudge raised an eyebrow at me.

"What was that about?" My mouth quirked, I couldn't help it. To be honest, it's been a while since we've all really hung out like this. Before I was too much of a dead weight to really be a part of anything. My smile made Nudge's serious disposition melt into a more relaxed one and I shook my head.

"It was nothing." I assured her. She shrugged.

"Well, whatever! At least you two seem okay now!" I probably looked surprised because she laughed. "Don't think none of us noticed how awkward you two were yesterday! What was that about?" I laughed, trying to brush it off. But she wasn't going to let me have it

"You have to tell us everything! Tell us what's going on!" She took my hand in one of hers, and Ella grabbed my other. We strolled down the sidewalk, swaying our hands backwards and forwards like a pendulum. I realized they were pulling me in the direction of our favourite ice cream place, Cold Stone Creamery.

"Ice cream? In the morning?" I ask, partially avoiding Nudge's previous statement, "What happened to coffee?" Ella laughed.

"I'm a pregnant woman, Max. I have my cravings. And right now I'm craving ice cream." I smiled.

"Alright, alright. I get it. Never deny a pregnant lady her ice cream!"

"Max." Nudge glared at me, not quite finding this whole ordeal as funny as Ella and I did. We quickly shut up under her burning stare. "You're avoiding the subject." I let out a puff of air.

"Let's get that ice cream first." I suggested. I was suddenly craving some, too.

Nudge sighed, "Whatever you say, Max."

A while later, we all had our ice cream in hand and were scooting into one of the tables outside. It had a nice little yellow umbrella perched on top of it, gracefully preventing us from being blinded by the already-blazing sun. We sat in quiet, which at first had been perfectly fine, but quickly morphed into a very uncomfortable silence as Nudge stared me down. Coughing awkwardly, I looked at Ella for help but she provided none. She just leaned back in her chair and smiled innocently. I raised my eyebrows at her, hoping she'd get the hint. But she just smiled wider.

"Okay, okay, I give!" I let out a loud puff of breath and eyed Nudge who now grinned widely. I groaned, deciding to get straight to the point.

"Alright, well, you know Fang came back, duh. So, we started talking, and then, of course, I blew up but at first he was understanding and all 'there's my Max'," I said this in a really bad imitation of Fang's deep voice, not caring how pathetic I sounded. I knew I was babbling, and probably sounded like some high-strung sorority girl, but I couldn't really stop myself. "But then Fang's Fang, right, so after a while he blew it too, and then h-he told me he…he got married," I practically spit the word out, "to Max II and had a son. Wait, no. He said he had a beautiful son, like it was the best thing in his life. And at first I was all cocky and like 'you only liked her because she's me' but then he got all defensive and was like 'she's nothing like you' blah blah blah…and he really believed it too! It wasn't just some bullcrap he was pulling! And you know, I think, even though he said he loved me, and he never stopped loving me, I think he was lying. I think he loves her." Just I said it, I realized it was true. The way he had stood up for Max II or "Maya" as he now called her, saying how different she truly was…he really did have feelings for her. I let out a loud sigh. Shaking my head, I looked up at Ella and Nudge and gave them a weak smile. They seemed absolute stunned. Nudge's jaw looked like it had unhinged. I couldn't help it; I laughed out loud, if only to make them stop with the staring.

"You guys look liked you just witnessed a flasher in all his naked glory." That did it. They both laughed along with me. "So what do you think? Pretty wild, huh?"

They both nodded vigorously.

"So, let me get this straight," Nudge started, exchanging a look with Ella, "Fang got married with your doppelganger and had a kid, while you…you sulked, for the past 20 years?"

"No need to make me sound so freaking pathetic!" I exclaimed, partially teasing.

"Well, it's true!" she replied with a groan. "And you had Dylan, someone who loves you, at your side the whole time. And what…nothing?" I scoffed. Hardly. We're engaged. I think. Oh yeah, I never got to talk to Dylan about that.

"Fang certainly got busy." Ella mumbled. Nudge nodded in agreement.

"I'm not sure if I should be proud of him for moving on or accusing him of being a man whore. I mean, really? Your clone? Is that the best he could do? And then coming back and kissing you…I'm right in assuming he kissed you, right?" Nudge batted her eyelids innocently. My cheeks heated up.

"Maybe." I mumbled, suddenly taking a deep interest in my cookie dough ice cream. I took a bite of it, savouring the taste.

"Does he still got it?" Ella asked, her eyebrows raised. I choked on my ice cream. Does that even make sense?

"What kind of question is that?!"

"Just answer it, Max!"

"Okay, maybe. Alright, yeah! It was a damn amazing kiss!" I could feel my face heat even more, but I stood my ground. Nudge and Ella both giggled and I slouched, trying to make myself smaller in my chair. Then Nudge cleared her throat, back to business.

"And he said he loved you, too! Urgh, what a jerk!"

"I know. But this is Fang, you guys. Fang. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." I threw back my head and sighed.

"But there's more, isn't there?" Nudge asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"How would you know that?"

"I know Fang, Max. And I know you. This decision wouldn't be so hard for you if there wasn't something else." She's got me.

"Yeah, well. My ego was pretty bruised after he had said all he said. So I kinda..maybe..um..I said some things…."

"What, Max?" Ella asked, as exasperated as Ella could be.

"I told him I was engaged to Dylan." Wait for it…three…two…one…

"WHAT?!" Nudge screamed. She leaped up and her chair flipped over. People turned to stare. I reached out towards her.

"Nudge, calm down. Your making a scene." I gestured for her to fix her seat and sit down, all the while smiling at the people with the curious eyes, trying to assure them nothing was up.

"Max, why would you lie?" Ella was a little more calm, although her eyes seemed to pierce mine.

"Um, well, I didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"I didn't lie." I whispered. Nudge's eyes doubled in size, and Ella and I had to grab her hands to keep her from jumping up again.

"What the hell, Max?!" she seethed, "Your effin' engaged to Dylan?!"

"I thought you wanted this! You were the one who always told me to move on from Fang!"

"Yeah, but I didn't tell you to marry him! You're not completely over Fang, so how is that fair to Dylan? And how did I never hear about this?" Oh man. She was completely livid.

"I'm sorry, Nudge, okay? It's just...we had this whole deal. (A/N: This is all in my other one-shot called The Deal Is Sealed. It's super-short, so check it out!) Basically, he asked me to marry him and I was all, no way! Because I was going to see Fang soon so like, why would I? But then Dylan was convinced Fang wouldn't show and he was emphasizing how much he loved me and all…and so we made this deal where if Fang didn't show up, I would give Dylan a chance and maybe marry him. " I pulled the ring out of my pocket. I had taken to carrying it around, although, I'm not completely sure why. I placed it on the table in front of us, and they both stared at it, wide-eyed. As if the ring somehow made everything that much more real. I took a deep breath before continuing.

"So, as you can imagine, when Fang said he was married and had a beautiful kid," once again, I said this bitterly, "I just wanted to lash back out at him so I said what I said."

"Wait, wait, wait," Nudge interrupted. Well she certainly seemed to have cool down. This ice cream must work miracles. "Since Fang came back, doesn't that mean you're not really engaged to Dylan anymore?"

"Urgh I don't know!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in frustration. "I mean, Dylan and I never really talked about it since Fang got back. Okay, that's a lie. We did. And he was all understanding and crap, saying how he knew I was confused and he'd give me time and even if my answer was no, he'd still be there for me. I mean, with him saying things like that, how could I possibly hate him? Trick question. I can't!"

Ella and Nudge looked at each other. Again. Urgh, I hate when they do that.

"What?" I grumbled.

"Max, sweetie," Ella started. Uh oh. This wasn't gonna be good. "Have you ever thought maybe, juuust maybe, even with Fang back, you could maybe, I don't know, give Dylan a chance?"

"WHAT?!" It was my turn to jump up. The two traitors scrambled for me to sit down. I shook my head. "Are you kidding me right now? Weren't you both just scolding me for being kinda engaged to Dylan in the first place? What is this?"

"Well, yeah." Nudge replied as if it were the most obvious thing, "I mean, I was just mad you hadn't said anything to me. And I still don't think it's a good idea for you to be married to him. At least, not yet. But you said it yourself. You can't hate him! He's always there for you, you know!" I closed my eyes and ran my hand over my face. This sounded familiar. Oh yeah. That stupid effin' voice.

"And Max. You can't deny that you have feelings for Dylan, too." Ella said quietly. My eyes snapped open and I glared at her. I knew she was right, but still. It's none of her business.

"Please, Ella. It's not like you can read my mind."

"No, but I know you. Come on, Max, stop acting like a child. Your freaking old now!" Nudge snorted. "And besides, if you really didn't feel anything for Dylan, you wouldn't have even considered marrying him! You know I'm right!" She waggled her eyebrows. I made a face.

"Okay, first off, I'm not old." I growled. She laughed. "Secondly, I'm not going to decide anything yet. Okay, maybe I didn't write Dylan off immediately. Maybe that means I m-may have f-feelings for him." I stuttered, "But I need to have a talk with Fang first, about everything. See what's up and how he feels and then maybe I'll decide. If he doesn't up and leave before we ever get the chance to." The last part I said under my breath.

"What do you mean, if he doesn't leave?" Nudge asked.

"This morning, when I woke up, he told me he was going to go back to his family. Because he felt he wasn't "wanted". I managed to convince him to stay. But I still feel unsteady about the whole thing. He left me once, I have no doubt he'd do it again. Only this time, if he does, I won't become a huge heap of pathetic." Nudge raised her eyebrows at me, but said nothing.

"I'm serious," I stood up for myself. I stared her down. She looked away first. Heh. I couldn't help the smile.

"Anyways, point it, everything is 'effed up right now, and I'm dealing. Okay?" They nodded. "Good. Glad we're on the same page."

"One more question," I let out yet another groan, "Why do you carry that ring around with you?" I coughed. Then shrugged. Nothing more. They sighed in unison, probably realizing I wasn't going to say anything more. What's with the synchronization thing with them today?

But I do admit, even if it wasn't exactly fun, this talk did help. I looked down at my cone, which was now a tiny piece that I popped into my mouth, totally satisfied.

A/N: PLEASE READ!Reading this chapter over, I realized that Max was slightly OOC with all her babbling, and I'm sorry for that! So haha, I was reading over my first like, 6 chapters and realized how bad, and short they were. I apologize for that! I wish I could do them over but it might screw things up for people who already read them. Sigh. Oh well.

Anyhoo, I wanted to ask something important. The fate of this story depends on you guys! Who do you prefer; Dylan or Fang? The one with the most votes will most likely be one ending up with Max. I know I've already asked this before (I think) but I want this to be more official now.

Also, I realize this chapter seems like somewhat of a filler…and it kinda is. I wanted to have a chapter before the whole Fang/Max discussion and the revealing of Fang's past. I wanted this chapter to be light but I guess it didn't really turn out that way. Sorry if it was a bit boring (the recap).

So, hope you liked it! Don't forget to review! Until next time, my lovelies!