Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride. I own this plot.

Chapter 21

Date: Tuesday January 22nd

Location: Ella and Fang's house

"So are you and my brother, like, a couple?" Ella asked shyly. We were lounging on her bed watching movies, as we had been the entire afternoon. We were supposed to be doing Spanish homework but I had convinced Ella that watching a movie was more important. She'd been hesitant until I mentioned my kiss with Fang. That had completely sidetracked her from any thoughts of homework and she'd been digging for information ever since.

"I…I don't know," I admitted. "We didn't really talk about it. We kind of got interrupted." Even though I knew it was technically my fault that Jessica had interrupted—I was the one who was late for our meeting—I still cursed her horrible timing. Ever since the kiss I hadn't known where Fang and I stood. I mean, he wanted a relationship, right? He'd confronted me on three occasions about it, all of which ended in kissing. Two of the kisses he'd started. That meant he wanted a relationship, right? I'd beven confident about that when I talked to Mrs. Carroway, but now?

I didn't know. This was not my area of expertise. I only knew what I wanted. And I wanted him.

"Well it sounds like you guys are together," Ella said sagely. "If not just yet then its coming. Trust me. This is so exciting!" she clapped her hands together and squealed. "Just imagine, if you two get married then we'll be sisters."

I rolled my eyes.

"Ella, nobody's getting married. I don't want to even hear you mentioning marriage for another ten years at least."

"Max," she sighed.

"Ella," I mimicked. "Don't go jumping the gun, I'm not even sure what's happening."

"Well what do you want to happen?" she asked. "Because you're the one who ran away those other times," she said. "And you started the last kiss. I think you need to figure out what you want before you expect Fang to tell you what he wants."

"I hate it when you're right," I groaned, pulling a pillow over my head.

…..

"Hey, Fang?" I glanced into the dark room; I'd never seen his room before. It was, unsurprisingly, dark. The walls were grey and the furnishings were black. The room itself was surprisingly utilitarian; very sparse. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He'd been lounging on his bed after he got home from practice. His coaches had him training four days a week for the upcoming finals. He pulled himself into a sitting position and gestured for me to come in.

"What's up?" he asked as I came to sit on the edge of his bed.

"I…wanted to apologize for Saturday," I said. "My cousin can pick some pretty bad times to barge in on me."

He smirked. "Its fine. I'm sorry I left without saying anything."

"You usually don't," I said. "Say anything, that is. I'd be surprised if you did."

"Bad joke, Max," he groaned.

I felt a smile tugging on my lips. "I know. It's just…look," I sighed, smile slipping away. "I told you on Saturday that I couldn't tell you everything about me. About my past. And I can't. I really can't. And it's not fair to you. I know you said you can wait but I don't know if I can ever explain. That being said, I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me."

He was already shaking his head.

"Max," he sighed, letting his head thump back against the wall behind his bed. "Here you go again."

"Go again? What am I doing?"

"Shutting me out."

"But I'm not! I mean, I'm not trying to! You have to understand! There are just some things that I can't—"

"And I understand that. You've made that perfectly clear. I'm not asking you to tell me everything about yourself; I'll respect your privacy. But I'm tired of you thinking that I'll want to walk away from you because you can't tell me something. I won't. I'm not interested in your past. I'm interested in you. Now. Who you are not who you were, what you've done or where you've been." He reached forward and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Whatever has happened in the past can stay there."

I threw my arms around his neck, crushing myself to him in a tight hug. "I think you're the first person who has ever said that to me."

His arms came around my back, pressing me to him. I believed him. I wanted to tell him everything, I didn't want secrets to exist between us, but for now I'd have to trust him and leave my past behind me.

Of course, the past always comes back to haunt me.

….

Date: Friday, February 1st

Location: ShadowHill Bar and Grill

After my conversation with Fang things between the two of us—and the Flock as an entirety—got a lot better, mainly because I was no longer avoiding Fang and was therefore present more within the Flock.

Fang and I never explicitly said that we were together but not so secretive kisses and shared smiles led me to assume we were.

Iggy had a field day with it.

Mostly because we had not broached the subject with him before he caught Fang and I kissing after school one day.

It had been one of those rare days that I had neither tutoring nor work to deal with. Ella had proclaimed me as up to speed on writing and reading Spanish as she was so my Tuesdays had freed themselves up. I was still, unfortunately, subjected to tutoring with my English teacher on Thursday afternoons but she'd limited them to only two times a month because I was progressing quite well.

So the Flock had gotten together to watch a movie the Tuesday after Fang and I had settled our differences. Gazzy and Angel had come over with Iggy and had made a fort out of several blankets and cushions from the couches and chairs. Half way through the movie Gazzy managed to antagonize Iggy and make him chase him into the fort.

"You better watch out Gasman! I'm coming in!" Iggy screamed as he dove into the fort. It was a pretty big fort, too, taking up most of the living room. Ella, Fang, and I watched amused as we would occasionally see Iggys head or back bump up against the blankets before he dove after his brother again. Angels squealing and Gazzys cackling rang around the room.

"Max! Fang! Ella, help!" Angel giggled from somewhere on the other side of the room. "He's chasing us!"

Ella rolled her eyes and gestured for us to go find Angel without her. "No way am I going in there. It will mess my hair up," she said as we vacated our seats.

"Where are you, Ange?" I called, crawling into the fort, Fang hot on my heels.

"By the lamp!" she called.

"Which lamp?" I asked, coming to the stand of a lamp with no Angel in sight. Inside of the fort it was like a corn maze, bits of furniture, chairs, and cushions making it impossible to crawl in a straight line.

"By the tv!"

"How the he—ck did you get there?" I asked, catching myself before I cursed.

"Go left at the foot stool."

"Which foot stool? What is she talking about Fang? Fang?" I turned around to see that he was no longer behind me. "Great," I groaned. I'd be lost in this damn maze bumping my way around furniture until someone decided to have mercy on me. "I'm coming Ange." I called.

"Surrender!" I heard Iggy cry somewhere to my left.

"Never!" Gazzy replied.

"Max?" Angel called.

"Coming!" Geez, I thought, and I thought subway tunnels were confusing.

I made three more rights and a left and somehow ended up back by the couch on the opposite side of the room from Angel.

Frustrated, I was about two seconds away from standing up and pulling the whole damn fort down.

"Having some trouble?" a deep voice whispered in my ear.

"Eek!" I shrieked, rocketing back on my heels as I held a hand to my pounding chest. "Fang! Damn you!"

He chuckled lightly as he came to sit in front of me.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yes you did," I panted. "Otherwise you would have made some sort of noise."

"I don't make noise," he said with a blank face.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You're such a jerk," I giggled as I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, caught up in the happy moment.

And that's when the blanket creating the fort was ripped off.

"And what do we have here?" Iggy demanded as he looked down at us from three feet away.

Endless mockery ensued followed by Iggys genuine approval of our relationship.

"You know, Fang," I said as I put a menu down on his table, "eventually there will be a day that I can make it through a shift without you, your mom, or any other member of the Flock coming to bother me."

"My mom?" he raised an eyebrow. "When did she come here?"

"A few weeks ago," I answered.

"Why?"

"Well her cover story was getting hungry while shopping for Ella's birthday present, but she really came here to threaten me to be nice to her baby boy. You know, not to rob him of his virtue, be careful with his sensitive emotions." I smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't know how many times I have to convince her I can protect my own virtue just fine."

I snorted. "So why are you here, anyway?"

"I figured this will probably be the only time in our relationship I can convince you to make me a sandwich," he said, deadpan. "Ouch!" he complained as I whacked him over the head with a menu.

"Try again," I said.

"Fine. I'm here to ask you out on a date," he said, serious once again.

"A date?" I asked.

"Is that such a foreign concept?" he smirked.

"As a matter of fact, yes. What is your idea of a date? A lesson at the gym?"

"If that were it then I wouldn't be considering this our first date, now would I?"

"No, it would be a third," I admitted.

"Exactly. I was thinking more along the lines of dinner where I might even make you a sandwich."

"And they say chivalry is dead."

He smirked. "Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes."

….

Date: Saturday February 2

Location: Lake Munez

"Where are we?" I asked Fang as he drove into a deserted parking lot. Wherever we were it had taken a twenty minute car ride to get here, well outside of Navajo city limits.

"You'll see," he said as he got out of the car and came around to my side to open the door for me.

"This is sort of creepy," I said derisively. "And pretty textbook. A boy takes an innocent girl to a deserted parking lot when she's expecting a nice, safe first date. Next thing you know bam! She's cut up into tiny chunks and he's burying the pieces."

"Only one problem," Fang said as he pulled a basket out of the trunk of his Accord. I raised an eyebrow in question. "You're anything but innocent," he smirked.

I slapped him lightly on the arm and followed his lead as he headed up a flora strewn pathway away from the parking lot. Some part of my mind recognized that the plants were different here than most places in Arizona. I was getting used to seeing scraggily bushes and half dead looking trees and flowers. Here, however, I could see a much more lush variety of plants.

"Are you going to give me a hint?" I asked after we'd been walking for a few minutes.

"Nope."

"Please?" I whined.

"Still no."

"You are no fun."

"Spoiling a surprise is no fun."

"I hate surprises," I grumbled.

"Well get used to them," he said. "Because I'm a big fan of them."

"If that is true then this relationship will never work out."

"You don't mean that," he said.

"Of course I do, I'm one hundred percent serious. How could I survive with someone who loves something I hate?"

"Diversity is a good thing. Like a democracy."

"I prefer a dictatorship," I said. "Or a Maxocracy. Where I make the rules and everyone follows them. I'm happy, and a happy Max means no suffering so everyone else is happy. There really are no downsides."

Fangs laughter floated back to me from the darkness encroaching around us.

"You are one of a kind, Max," he said.

"I know. And you know that you like it." He suddenly stopped walking and I ran into his back. His arm wound around my waist, holding me steady.

"I do," he agreed, his breath cascading over my bare skin. I shivered and it had nothing to do with the rapidly dropping temperature.

Fang reached forward into the darkness and I heard the rustling of leaves. Suddenly there was a break in the foliage around us and through it I could see moonlight shimmering on a gently moving surface.

"Ohh," I breathed, moving forward past the tree branch Fang was holding back. I stepped out onto a gentle sandy incline. In front of me stretched a lake, its waters black in the darkness aside from whenever it caught rays of moonlight. On either side of me the sandy ground stretched uninhibited save for a small picnic table near the water's edge.

"What do you think?" Fang asked. I jumped slightly, I hadn't heard him come to stand beside me.

"It's beautiful," I whispered. "I haven't seen this much water in months." I hadn't even had the chance to see the polluted Hudson River while I was back in New York in November. I'd been shuttled from the airport to my hotel and to the court house, no place else, and I hadn't even been allowed to sit near the windows. My short excursion to find Nudge hadn't brought me near any substantial water sources either.

I hadn't realized how much I'd been craving a break from the dry scenery until now.

"I thought you might like it," he said, heading towards the table.

"And why is that?" I asked, following him.

"Well you said so yourself, I'm good at reading you. Besides, I've known you for a few months now, Max. You've never seemed interested in the material things. You're all about the experiences."

"Damn," I whispered. "You really are good at reading me."

His white smile flashed in the darkness.

Suddenly light bloomed from the table. I blinked a few times to clear my vision before I was able to look back. Fang had lit two battery powered camping lanterns and placed them in the middle of the table on either side of the basket he'd been carrying.

"Hungry?" he asked.

"Starving…as always." He smirked as he started pulling things from the basket. Two water bottles, a thermos, two cups, and a plate covered in plastic wrap.

I settled myself on the bench opposite him as he worked.

"Alright, we have water, hot chocolate, and, like I promised, sandwiches."

I laughed. I'd thought he was joking about making me a sandwich.

We fell into comfortable conversation as we ate. He told me about some of the Flocks past escapades and about his history with fighting.

"Your mom said you almost went to the finals two years ago," I admitted as I sipped some hot chocolate. It was wonderful. "But you were injured and couldn't compete."

He nodded. "The guy was throwing cheap shots. He dealt me a blow to the temple and I woke up a few hours later in the hospital. That was only a few months after we moved here, actually."

I winced in sympathy.

"No wonder you're so against my fighting style," I muttered.

"I'm not against it, per se, it's just completely different from what I've been taught. More hard core, if I'm being honest. But any normal sport or competition wouldn't allow for hits like that. Too much risk of injury." I nodded in understanding. He sighed. "When that guy started making illegal hits and the referee didn't call him out I thought I was done for. Complete deja vue. I'm glad you were there," he admitted, "I wouldn't have won without you."

"Yes you would have," I assured him. "I have complete confidence in you."

"Thanks," he smiled. "How would you have handled it if you hadn't realized his injury?" he asked curiously.

"Oh you know, punch him in the face, kick him in the—"

"I'll rephrase," he cut me off. "How would you have handled it, legally?"

"You really should be more specific," I told him, and then shrugged. "I would have done what you were doing," I admitted. "Kept light on my feet, tried to get behind him, use his size against him."

"And then kicked him in the groin."

"And then kicked him where the sun don't shine," I agreed.

"Come on," he said, gesturing to the open lakefront around us as he stood up.

"What?" I asked getting up to follow him.

"Show me what you would have done."

"You want me to kick you where the sun don't shine?" I demanded.

"No," he said quickly. "I just want to see how you would have handled the situation while following the rules." He took up a defensive position in front of me.

"You may regret this," I warned him as I slipped into my own fighting stance.

"I'm sure I will."

I smiled as I launched myself at him.

Its one thing to watch Fang fight and say he's graceful, it's a complete different thing to be fighting him.

He took grace under pressure to a whole new level.

And he was fast.

Every time I struck out at him I would only hit air. After a few frustrating moments I realized my best bet would be to strike where I anticipated him moving.

As Fang moved to my left I struck out in front of him, my fist making contact with his stomach as he ran into it. He looked surprised but pleased as he kept moving.

I knew for sure that if I'd ever fought him in a street fight and he was throwing every blow in the book I wouldn't have stood a chance. He'd probably be impossible to hit. But at the same time I was pretty sure I would have been able to take the blows better than him, I'd spent the past five years of my life conditioning my body for that type of pain while he was only used to localized pain.

The fight ended when I tripped over my own feet as I tried to follow his movements. I went tumbling to the ground and he followed.

"Talk about deja vue," I gasped breathlessly as I took in our position. It was almost an exact match to that day in the gym, the first time he'd kissed me.

"Are you going to run away if I kiss you?" he asked, his lips only scant inches from my own.

"No," I assured him. "I'm quite happy where I am."

"Good," he whispered, and then his lips were on mine.

Okay, so its official: Max and Fang are together. A few other things to take away from this chapter: the Flock is aware of their relationship, some changes in Max and Fangs daily schedules, and the passage of time! A few of you guys were very quick to point out the significance of the trial date last chapter. I'm impressed and happy to see you paying so much attention! To those of you who didn't mention it...did you notice the month the trial is? Is there anything else significant about that time that you can think of? I had some great guesses but nobody was 100% accurate! Also, we surpassed my request to make it to 300 reviews! I'm so excited. Thank you all so much! Review and I'll try to update Tuesday or Wednesday!

Peace!