And yes to The Layman. Fang did find his mother in DLM. If you refure to chapter...19 or 18, I mention how a lot of my plot suddently shows up after I decide it. I hinted at this.

And not just this, but the PLOT! You might not get it now, but you will. That's all I can say. I came up with the plot at the beggining of the story!

ATTENTION!

You may notice that March 18 entry is gone. But I still have it saved on another document! If anyone can tell me how to get it in the right spot, I can return it. But I don't have it in a spot for three months later!

Journal NOT a Diary!

Max's Journal

June 11, 2010

I woke up the next morning in sweat. I felt like I held a wet rag to my face and held it there. Analie was still asleep in the bed beside me, Fang was still lying there, his eyes open, back of his hand resting on his forehead. I slid out of the bed and walked over to him.

"Hey," he whispered. His eyes shot to Analie. "She still asleep?"

"Yeah," I whispered back. "She had a big day yesterday. We all did?"

"Tell me about it. And this couch bed doesn't help a sore back." He chuckled silently. "Lunch today at Mary Lou's."

"She's your mom."

"I'm not calling that wack woman Mom. Twice was two times too many. I can't even call Analie my little sister, or half sister." He shook his head. "William. I can't believe my name is William. Eh, better then Guy." He rubbed his eyes.

Analie's eyes opened as she sat up. "I had the weirdest dream," she murmured. "I met my brother and -" she saw us. "It was real?"

Fang nodded. "Yeah, Analie. We're going to your mother's for lunch."

"She's your mother, too, William."

"Call me Fang. Please."

"Okay, Fang. What now?"

"Get dressed," I said. "We're going shopping." Fang looked at me like I was from a distant planet. "We need new clothes. A little shopping won't kill you, Fang." I stood up and brushed off my knees. I don't know why. The floor wasn't dirty. But I stretched, wishing I was still in bed.

He groaned and sat up. "I'd rather be back in the Ritz-Carlton."

Ten minutes later we were in a shopping mall, looking for open shops. When we reached Abacrombie & Finch (or however you spell it), Fang shielded my eyes from the shirtless guy flexing his muscles. I just laughed.

Analie eyed Victoria's Secret. "I always wanted to go in there."

"No, no, no," I said. Then I saw she had her ears pierced. "I'll take you in Clair's , buy you some earrings."

Her eyes lit up.

"You two go," Fang said. "I'll meet you meet you in the food court in thirty minutes." He ran for the other side of the mall. I frowned when he was gone. I took Analie's hand and walked for Clair's. I shook off that strange feeling that was hanging over me, I don't really know how to describe it. I don't even know what it was for.

"Max?" Analie asked. "Are you dating my brother?"

"No. He's trying to convince me that - never mind." I decided to leave that out, that he was trying to convince me he loves me, since she would probably go straight to her mother and tell her that Fang's about to get married or something.

"Well, he likes you," I looked at her. "I see the way he looks at you. Same way my father looked at Mom before she divorced him."

Huh. I pulled her into Claire's, not wanting to discuss Fang anymore. But is it weird that a five-year-old knows something I don't? I shook my head. Forget it. Doesn't matter. If Fang wants to spend all his energy on proving something that can't possibly be true, let him. Not my problem.

We met him just in time to go to Mary Lou's for lunch. Fang had a small silver bag in his hand, not a gift bag, but it didn't have a store name on it, in his hand. I decided not to ask. There's been enough drama the past few days. It was probably a present for his mother anyway.

Mary Lou attacked Fang and Analie as soon as she opened the door. "I've missed you guys so much!"

"Mary Lou - Mom - we've only been gone a day," Fang said.

"William, I have sixteen years to make up!"

Fang frowned. She called him William again. "Okay them. What's for lunch?" He rubbed his hands together greedily. I noticed Fang hadn't given her the bag. Don't people normally present presents before the meal? Eh, we've never been caught up.

"In the car. I'm taking us all out of lunch." She stepped out with her keys and went ahead of us to her car.

Analie tugged on our sleeves. "She's not a very good cook!" she whispered. I cracked up. Fang glared.

We went to Ruby Tuesday's. We got a booth, Analie and Mary Lou on one side and me and Fang on another. Our waiter was...strange... just listen. "What would you like to drink?" he asked, taking out a ticket and a blue pen that wrote in red ink.

"Coke," we all said at once.

"Cherry coke," Fang said. We all glared at him.

Our waiter smiled. "Okay then. I'll be right back with that cherry coke, now!" Keep in mind, this is a DUDE. Sometimes you don't even have to ask. Fang shook his head and looked back to the menu. (FUNNY A/N This same thing happened to my dad when me and my parents went to Ruby Tuesday's. He asked for a to-go box and Mom said something about the way the waiter said 'I'll be right back with that!' I looked at Dad and said 'Wait till he finds out you're married!' I've never heard Mom laugh so hard)

Mary Lou bursted out laughing. "Sorry, Fang, it's just funny!"

Fang froze. "You called me Fang."

"What?"

"Fang! You called me Fang instead of William!" He was trying not to show emotion, but it was hard not to see the grin. I knew he hated his name. It just didn't fit him!

"Oh..." Mary Lou said, looking away, as if she just realized a mistake. "I've just known you as Fang longer. I read your blog! You and Max, and Iggy and Gazzy - they're the ones your trying to find, right? - Nudge and Angel! And Total!"

I nodded. "Iggy and Gazzy. They ran off after they were sick of being boxed in the house after -"

"MaryEllen? Yes, I've read about that on Fang's blog. And Cindy. And Bella and Is."

I raised an eyebrow and frowned at him. "Really? You put all that on your blog?"

"Not any of the interviews or things you said, Max! Tney probably saw that on TV."

"Yeah, if they live in Arizona." Fang shrugged and looked away. His foot nudged me and he looked under the table, then hit the middle leg of the table. I rolled my eyes, and saw the little silver bag under his chair. I saw a little bit of what was inside - a little rectangle box covered with black velvet and gold hinges.

-line-

Two hours later we were in Mary Lou's car headed back. Analie was begging to come with us. "PLEASE. He's still my brother and I've only got to be with him one day!"

"No, Analie. You can't go with them every day."

"I only have once!"

"Analie, no, and that's final."

Analie crossed her arms and sat back between us. "I hate you!" she said softly.

"What?"

She huffed. "I hate you!"

Mary Lou pulled over the car and turned around. "I will not have that language in my car, young lady! Or home! Now I said no! Do I need to wash that mouth out with soap?"

"I still hate you!"

"I will take you out of this car!" She undid her belt and held it up!

"You always do that! You always threaten me to get me to do things, but you never do them! I've heard that called blackmail! You never go through with your threats, ever! And I'm sick of it! You NEVER do anything!" She huffed and pursed her lips.

"I am your mother and I will not be spoken to in that way or tone!"

"Well you won't do anything about it!"

"Get out of the car!"

"No!"

"I bet William would this to me!" She looked at Fang with daggers. "Would you, William?"

He shook his head. "I wouldn't have even said that to Max. Mainly because she goes through with her threats."

"See? Now I will not be spoken too like this in my car!"

"Fine! I don't ever want to be in your stupid car again! And it smells like lunch meat!" She crawled over me and opened the door. She jumped out before I could grab her and ran across the highway. Cars stopped suddenly and honked trying to dodge her, and she ran into the woods.

"I'll get her," Fang said. He jumped out of the car and ran after her.

"I can't believe it!" Mary Lou whispered. "Analie has never done this before, blown up like this! She's always had a temper, don't get me wrong, she she's never just...blown up, especially at me!" She buried her face in her hands.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "She was bound to sometime. All the kids her age have both a mother and a father. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is! I divorced him! I should have kept up with him or something. She wanted so much to go to one of those father-daughter dances. She even had a dress picked out on the Internet when she was two. I was so happy she was looking forward to it. Not many kids do."

"He had to do something to make you divorce him."

She slowly nodded. "I caught him cheating on me. Me and Analie both did. We walked in on them making out on the sofa. Without his wedding ring."

"See? It was his fault. You had right to divorce him!"

"Maybe. There's not a day that I don't wonder what would have happened if it had ended up differently. If I had stayed in touch with him. Analie is still our daughter, both of ours. I bet he's remarried with more kids. Analie probably has more half siblings she doesn't even know about."

"And maybe it would be better if she doesn't know about them. You say he cheated on you, a cheater is a cheater. Who knows he won't cheat again? She might as well not get attacted to her step mother if he's going to divorce her. He's creating so many connections between children and wives he can't keep!"

"I know. But she still deserves to know who her father is. I'm a bad mother!"

"You're not a bad mother, Mary Lou! I've seen children much worse then yours! More temper fits, bad language, just rotten. You should see those mothers, freaking out and not knowing why their children are like that. They have a part in it."

She patted my hand. "Thank you, Max. You're a good girl." She turned back around. We sat there in awkward silence until Fang returned - without Analie.

He opened the side door. "I'm sorry," he said. He whipped his sweaty forehead on the back of his hand. "I ran around the woods for an hour. She's fast and got a head start. We could run all night without finding her." He took a deep breath and slid in the seat, closing the foor behind him. "File a missing person's report."

"Mary Lou," I said. "If it helps, we could search for Analie while we look for Iggy and Gazzy."

"Thank you, Max." She fished in her purse and gave me one of Analie's school pictures, her sitting cross-ankled on a stool with a waterfall scene behind her. "This is the most recent picture I have of her. I hope it's okay." She caught my nod and turned back around to start up the car again.

After Mary Lou dropped us off, we spent the rest of the day in unsuccessful Iggy/Gazzy/Analie search. We were tired and went to bed immeadeatly after we came back to the hotel. So I didn't have time to write in this. Nothing has happened so far since then, just searching.

But we're running out of money, fast. We haven't heard a word from Mom and the girls. No one has seen Iggy and Gazzy, they could be anywhere in New York. And Analie... who knows how long a five-year-old can last alone in New York City, without food or money?

Days are running out. We're loosing time.

-Maximum