A/N- A slight warning for this chapter. Towards the end it gets a little hot and heavy if you know what I mean. It's not graphic and I don't explain anything, but I thought some people might not want to read it. If you don't want to, skip everything after the talent show and you'll be fine. By the way, the winner of the poll was Hawaii, Here we Come so I'll post that one first and then Freaky Fangday. Enjoy the long, by my standards, chapter.

Dancing in the Dark Chapter 21

Iggy POV

Finally, it was the day of the talent show. We were so excited that we woke up about an hour early. Ella and I went down to the kitchen to get breakfast. As usual Fang was there, but I was surprised to hear Max's nasally, still kind of sick, breathing too.

"Glad to see you're feeling better Max." Ella said.

"Yeah, I think I'm good enough to get to school, but I still can't do the show with you guys."

"It's fine, we've got it covered. We're just glad you're better." I said.

"So, what are you making for breakfast Iggy?" Fang asked. I really didn't feel like making it though, so I decided to play a joke on him.

"Well, close your eyes and it'll magically appear in a minute." I didn't know if he did, but I just went with it. I pulled out some bowls and cereal and put it in front of him.

"Ta-da. Sugary cereal appeared from thin air. I wonder how I did that."

"I'm rolling my eyes Ig."

"Really? Won't they get dirty on the floor?" I was on a roll this morning.

"Whatever, it's better than nothing I guess."

"Do you guys want some cereal too?" I asked.

"Can you put some milk in it?" Ella asked.

"Sure, what about you Max?"

"I already ate some crackers, but thanks anyway Ig."

"Okay then." And just to irk Fang some more I said, "Cereal, appear!" as I poured my bowl.

"Do you really want to be messing with the guy who is a key to the show today?" Fang asked.

"Do you really want to go in that tank of water?" I took his silence as an answer. "That's what I thought."

"What? Who's going to do it then?" Ella asked.

"Oh, I am." I said.

"You can breathe underwater too?"

"No, but I can hold it long enough with my better lungs to do the trick."

"Are you sure?" Ella sounded a bit nervous.

"Yeah, totally, I'll be fine."

Max POV

Since I was no longer in the show I got to watch it from the bleachers. The teachers decided to have it after lunch, probably since no one does anything Friday after lunch anyway. Iggy, Ella, and Fang's act was going to be towards the middle of the show. Before them was a girl who told jokes, a guy who did jumps and tricks on a pogo-stick, and a band. I forget what the name was, something like Stuck in Your Radio or something. They were pretty good. Anyway it was time for the good part. After the host announced what they were doing the stage crew rolled the curtain back to show Iggy standing in the middle of the stage. He was wearing a hat and cape, and a vest with dark blue sequins on the side. He also had a microphone around his ear so everyone could hear him.

"Okay, then." Iggy started. "Does anyone in the front row have a quarter I can borrow; we're going to start of small." Someone flipped him a quarter and he caught in flawlessly. "Hmm, I need another one." He muttered as he put the quarter between his thumb and index finger. Then suddenly he snatched another quarter from under that hand. "That works I guess." Everyone clapped at his first trick. I knew he had it roll down his sleeve. Then he started doing the thing where he flips the coin around his hand on both hands. I still don't know where he learned how to do that. After the applause died down Iggy started talking again.

"Okay for my next trick I need the help of my lovely assistant, come on out Ella." Ella came out wearing a purple sequin unitard, fishnets, and a magician's hat. Now I know why she hid that from me. You could hear all the guys whistling and doing cat calls. Luckily, Iggy was on the ball. "You guys can whistle all you want, but she's my girlfriend." He said with a sort of smug grin, but not too much that it was jerkily smug. "Now, for the trick. I'm going to make a bird appear out of a plastic egg. Ella, if you would." And she gave him the egg. Iggy said, "Shazam!" and open the egg but nothing came out. "Maybe that was the practice egg. Give me another one Ella." So Ella gave him the second egg. This time Iggy said, "Wah-la!" but nothing happened still. "I don't know what's going on. It's getting warm in here." Iggy took off his vest and cape.

"Okay, this is the last egg, that bird better be in there." And Ella gave him the last egg. Iggy opened it without a word while at the same time extending his wings. Everyone but me gasped.

"Oh, good it worked." Iggy said. "I thought it was going to be another dud." He added feinting ignorance, and everyone laughed.

Ella POV

After the trick with his wings, Iggy called Fang out onto the stage.

"Most of you know who Fang is, especially all you girls out there." Even from across the auditorium he can take a shot at Max. "But sorry to say we're going to make him disappear. Ella, can you grab the other end of that cloth?"

"Sure." I said.

"Now, as the people who built the stage know, there are no trap doors up here. Now we're going to throw this cloth over Fang's body, and when we pull it back he won't be there. Ready, Ella."

"Ready."

"Okay, 3, 2, 1, now!" and we pulled the cloth off. I could still hear him breathing but Fang was completely invisible. The crowd clapped and cheered for us. Then Iggy spoke up again.

"And know, because if I didn't his girlfriend would kill me, I'll make him reappear over on the other side of the stage." He didn't say fiancé because he didn't want people all over Max about it he told me later. To make Fang reappear on the other side we had to hold the cloth while we walked so Fang wouldn't be seen. Iggy and I stopped walking and Iggy counted down again and we dropped the cloth to reveal a fully visible Fang. The crowd cheered even louder. Iggy then signaled for the stage crew to roll out the water tank. "For my last trick, I will be suspended upside down underwater and will try to escape from shackles put on my legs." He said. Then he took off his microphone and had the stage crew set him up. We decided Fang would be the one to hold the rope that was attached to Iggy so he could pull him up fast if he had to. When it was all set up Iggy had Fang hold the rope so we were face to face even though Iggy was upside down.

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just make sure you drop the key where I can catch it."

"What if you drop it?"

"Then Fang will pull me out. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"Okay." I said. Then without thinking I kissed him on the lips just in case something went wrong. I could barely hear the whistles since my heart was beating so hard. It seemed like forever but Fang finally had Iggy over the tank. I was standing on some stairs connected to the tank so I could drop the key. Right before Iggy was lowered in I saw him mouth, "I love you." And then he was lowered in. I didn't drop the key in until he stopped moving. It floated down slowly. An eternity later Iggy caught it on the first try. Using his extraordinary upper body strength he bent up and unlocked the shackles, but instead of coming straight up he started doing flips and tricks in the water, showing how long he could hold his breath. He came up about a minute later.

"See, no problem." He said.

I laughed. "You said see." He splashed some water on me and we both started laughing.

Iggy POV

Even though I thought our show went really well we only got 2nd place. The kid with the pogo-stick, I think his name is George, won. Must have been really good with it.

"It doesn't matter, at least we had fun." Ella said.

"Yeah, you're right. At least school is over now." We flew home with no problems. Angel even said that her and Gazzy won their talent show. Gazzy sang and Angel pretended to be a fortune teller with her mind reading powers. Their teachers were the judges and they said they tied.

Later that night, after dinner, Ella and I were sitting on one of the beds talking.

"Why didn't Fang want to do that last trick even though he can breathe underwater?" Ella asked.

"Well, the whitecoats would always try and test him underwater for some reason. My guess is that they might have known that he would eventually be able to breathe underwater like he does now. Fang's not afraid of water, he just doesn't like to be completely submerged."

"Well I think it was very brave of you to take his place." Ella said and then she kissed me. I kissed her back harder and that's when things got interesting. We kept going back and forth awhile when Ella started taking my shirt off again. Not wanting a repeat of last time, I took that as a cue to help her with her shirt. We kept kissing and eventually we got on our sides lying on the bed. One thing led to another and we ended up in our underwear with Ella on top of me. I was about to go for her bra when I remembered what Dr. M. said.

"We can't do this." I said.

"Why? Don't you want to?" Ella asked sounding disappointed.

"Of course I do, I just don't have any, you know, protection. I don't want your mom to kill me."

Ella got off me and walked over towards a corner of the room while I sat up. When she came back she said, "Well, it's a good thing I got these at the store the other day." And wouldn't you know it, it was a box of condoms. I hesitated a bit. "What's the problem?" Ella asked.

"It's just that, I've never done this before. I don't know if it'll be any good."

"Well, I guess this will be a new experience for both of us, since I've never done it before either." Ella said wrapping her arms around me and giving me a peck on the cheek.

Now I won't gross you out with the details, but I'm pretty sure you all know what we did. If you don't, don't ask anyone, you don't want to know, trust me. When we got done we we're both laying on our backs under the covers.

"Wow." I said not being able to think of anything witty.

"Yeah." Ella said back.

"So um, how was it for you?" I asked after a while.

"It was wonderful." She said turning to face me. "I'm glad the first time was with you."

"Same here." I said holding her closer. "Not to change the subject or anything, but are we going to tell anyone other than your mom and Angel who probably already know?"

"They'll find out eventually, but don't think of it as a secret. If it gets out, it gets out."

"I like that philosophy." After another while it was time for us to sleep. "I know it's kind of obvious, but I just can't stop saying this, I love you Ella Martinez."

"And I love you Iggy whatever-your-last-name-is." We both laughed. "But, really I do Iggy, more than anyone."

"I love you more." I said kissing her forehead. "And my last name is Griffiths by the way."

"That sounds weird."

"I know, I'll probably take whatever my wife's last name is." Iggy Martinez sounds good right about now.

A/N- If anyone can find any of the references to things I put in this chapter I'll give you a shout-out in the next chapter. There are two that I know I put in there. 132 days until Nevermore. Fly on, prosper, and may the odds be ever in your favor. (The movie is AWESOME!)