I'm watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and sitting in a car on my way to Beaufort, South Carolina for my vacation as I write this. Sorry, I thought this was some interesting but useless information.

So, I realized the last chapter was completely out of nowhere but It is setting up for the events in the next chapter or two. Just so those of you who were wondering where it came from know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, if I did pretty boy and Maya wouldn't be there. And Fang wouldn't have left. Plain and simple.

Serena

Max's arms tightened around me, a protective stance –like a mother falcon protecting her babies in her nest against prey-, as my eyes found hers. The worry was evident. I think that's what confused me the most.

Why would she be worried for me? I'm not part of her flock. She just met me days ago. I'm part of her ex-boyfriend's flock. I know stuff about her that she wouldn't even be able to guess that I knew. For example, I know she hates mushrooms.

It isn't important how I know that but I know.

"The storm's over. You don't have to relive it anymore." Her voice was gentle, calming as her hand stroked my arm gently. "I know what happened, Serena. But I need to hear it from you." She spoke softly, careful not to push me.

A rough calloused hand found its way to my upper arm. I felt a tight squeeze before the contact was gone. I sat up, pulling away from the comfort of Max's arms and lay back to where I knew Fang was sitting.

Sitting with his arms around me always made me feel better. He was like my brother, I barely knew Max. His strong arms pulled me into his chest. The familiar smell filled my nose and my tears began to fall.

"I c-can't." I sounded wrong, my voice was hoarse from screeching and it didn't sound like me. My throat burned with the tears. My nose felt stuffed up. I clenched my hands around the soft fabric of Fang's shirt as he pulled me closer, his head resting on top of mine.

Third Person

The room seemed silent, everyone held their breath.

"S, please."

Kate didn't beg. Neither did Fang. Serena froze, her breath caught in her throat as the voice repeated what she had said before.

"I know what they did to you."

"You have no idea what they did to me so stop trying to act like you do." Her voice took in a sharp edge as she looked up from Fang's chest and into Max's soft yet determined brown eyes. They held truth but Serena didn't trust them. She didn't trust people. Not after everything that happened.

Serena fell back into Fang's arms. Her tears falling once again onto his chest.

Max would be lying if she said that seeing that didn't hurt her. She wanted to help Serena, she had seen it happen. Not in person, but on tape. She had known of the experiments but she would've never guessed in her entire life that Serena would survive the experiments- let alone make it out and find Fang and his gang.

Kate stood, her legs cramping slightly from the position she had been in for the past few hours.

"S, I'll get you some water. Anyone else want anything?"

Kate was wiped. Her head hurt from trying to find a path into Serena's head, her chest ached from seeing her best friend curl into herself and try to hide the obvious pain she was feeling storm after storm.

Why can't people just tell everyone how they feel? Wouldn't that be easier?

Max stood quickly, following Kate into the kitchen after a few seconds of watching Fang comfort the crying girl in his arms.

The two were silent as Kate stood awkwardly in the kitchen, not sure of where the cups were or if she were to just get a bottle of water out of the fridge. Max sighed, realizing Kate knew nothing about her house before she reached for a cup out of the cabinet behind her.

"Get water from the fridge. You want anything?"

"No. I'm good."

Silence filled the small room as the two worked silently, Kate getting the drink while Max began to put away clean dishes since she wanted to give Fang and Serena a few moments to themselves.

Meanwhile in the living room, a boy held a girl tightly in her arms. He knew that speaking about it may make it worst but he needed to know. Fang had to know what about storms were really all that bad that made Serena go mad.

Just as he was about to tell her to tell him what was wrong she pulled away from him. Wiping her eyes, she shook her head. "You can't know." Despite the fact that it was night and she was supposed to be asleep makeup ran down her cheeks. Thin and thick teal lines ran down her cheeks.

His hand gently touched her cheek, wiping away a few stray tears that fell down her face. "Serena." His voice was firm, yet understanding- it was the voice of a leader- her leader. It calmed her in ways she could never explain. It was like the feeling you get when your brother tells you that he will always be there to protect you.

Kate stepped back into the room, water in hand, while the two sat next to each other. He stared at her, her head was bent so her eyes latched to the floor, not letting anyone see what was going through her mind at the time.

Kate knew, she always knew what Serena was thinking, but she would never look into her mind now. Not at a time like this, not when the older girl was so fragile and broken in the way she currently was.

Comforting words were exchanged between the three, worried looks shared between two while the other tried to keep herself together, keeping herself from falling apart at the seams.

"I'll be right back," Fang stood, is eyes not leaving the two girls until he was out of their line of vision.

He entered the kitchen, slowly walking in to find Max fiddling with her ring finger. No, nothing was on the finger but there could be in a matter of days, minutes, or seconds.

"How'd you know?" She wasn't paying attention. She couldn't hear him. She was too caught up in her own thoughts.

Did she really want to marry Zane? Did she want to live the rest of her life with Zane? Waking up next to him every day? Having kids with him? Starting a family with him?

Nothing made sense to her anymore. In just days her entire life turned upside down. Days ago Max would've jumped at the chance to marry Zane. But, then the one guy that could make her doubt everything, make her change her mind about everyone around her showed up on her doorstep, apologizing.

Why did he do this to her? Why Max of all people, did he have to fall in love with in the first place, and her vice-versa?

Would it really be so bad if she said yes? It wouldn't actually hurt anyone- except for both Fang and herself.

Fang walked closer to Max, seeing the worry etched across her features, and placed his hand under her chin. He tugged gently and brought her face to angle up towards his but he saw her eyes were distant. Her mind was racing in her head and she could barely keep up with her thoughts.

"Baby, Max, what are you thinking?"

It was so gentle, so smooth that her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes locked onto his and her hand grabbed his- which was so conveniently still placed on her chin.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Her voice cracked, not from crying, but from pure frustration.

Fang leaned in but Max wasn't having any of that.

"Fine, going back to my original question; How did you know about Serena- whatever there is to know about her anyway?"

She licked her lips, her mouth forming the words but nothing actually being said.

The next words from her mouth shocked him, although he wasn't quite sure if he understood her.

"I knew that she looked familiar because a few years ago I was sent this video from someone and it was of all the new experiments that the school was doing so that we, meaning the flock and I, would know for when we went to free them and in one of the videos I saw a girl being hit by lightning and I swear she looked exactly like Serena- I would know because the girl's power was to change the way she looks, exactly like Serena- and that's why the storms scare her. They remind her of the tests from the school!"

It was all said in one breath but he knew what she said. Every word.

"Who sent you the videos?"

He didn't want to hear it, he didn't want to hear the one person that he always hated- the one who ruined everything- but he had to. It was the only way to confirm what he already knew from just those few moments Max had been rambling.

"Jeb."

"Hollywood infected your brain, You wanted kissing in the rain, Oh Oh, Living in a movie scene, Puking American dreams, Oh Oh, I'm obsessed with the mess that's America." –Hollywood; Marina and the Diamonds

Beta A/N: Ok I suck majorly.. I took forever to edit these because I am a city Florida girl who is not used to the Country and I can't cope without internet. Blame me not Kate for these not being edited right away. SHE IS AMAZING AND YOU ALL BETTER REVIEW FOR HER!

~Love your lovely beta Kenzi :D The lame-o Bandgeekclarinet14.

*Signing off,

-VivaLaKatee