The Final Warning in Fang's POV is up, for anybody interested. : ) It's called The Dark Side of Antarctica.

"You rang?"

Fang sat up in bed-- his own bed-- and glared at Iggy. "I don't know what Max is mad about, but I know you're behind it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Iggy said calmly.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Iggy," Fang snapped. His lips were pressed into a thin, angry line. "She's mad at me, and I don't know why. I need to know so I can make up with her. Need to, Iggy."

For a moment Iggy almost felt sorry for him. Almost. And then he remembered the make-out session he was forced to listen to, and it melted away.

"If it's that big a deal, just talk to her about it," he said, knowing full well that this wouldn't work.

"I tried. She wouldn't cooperate. She yelled and cussed me out and wouldn't give me the laptop back."

Iggy whistled and said, not exactly sympathetically, "Sounds tough."

"You think that sounds tough? You're about to learn what tough is, dude. Because you are my own personal servant until Max takes me back."

"I didn't even do anything!" he lied. "Why are you so mad at me? Or at all, for that matter?"

Fang leaned back on his pillows, folding his arms in his lap. "You've possibly ruined my relationship with the only girl who matters."

A full three seconds passed while Iggy was stunned into silence. And then: "Wow, Fang just showed emotion! Call the press!"

Scowling, Fang quickly wiped the feeling out of his voice and said, "Your first job as my personal assistant is some toast and orange juice. Also, I'll need my own puking bucket. And if you'd go to town and buy a red rose, that'd be great."

"What the hell do you need a red rose for?!" Iggy exclaimed, incredulous.

"You're gonna take it to Max on a pillow," he replied calmly. "You're going to bow and hold it out on a nice white pillow, which you might need to buy, too."

"You sure do talk a lot when you're bossing me around," the blind kid griped. "Anything else, Your Highness?"

"Nah, that's good." Fang rolled onto his side. Just as Iggy was stepping out of the room, though, he added, "For now."

0000000000

"Where are you going, Iggy?" asked Angel sweetly.

"To help Prince Fang get Cinderella back," Iggy grumbled, finishing tying his shoes and standing up. "Gazzy, you're coming. You're half the reason I'm on this stupid trip."

As soon as the boys left, shutting the front door behind them, Nudge and Angel looked at each other.

"Time to talk to Max," Angel said, and Nudge nodded in agreement.

The two got up and trooped upstairs and down the hall to Max's room.

"Max?" Angel called, walking slowly across the floor to her bed. Their fearless leader was curled up on her side, eyes squeezed shut. The six year old wasn't getting any clear-cut thoughts from her: just a general feeling of sadness and anger.

"What is it, Angel?" Max asked wearily, opening her eyes slightly.

"We--"

"Fang isn't cheating on you, Max," Nudge interrupted. "Iggy and Gazzy staged the whole thing. We knew but we told them we wouldn't help. We should have told you what they were planning before you saw those e-mails, so I'm really, really sorry. Really. But Fang loves you! He wouldn't do that to you! It was just Iggy and Gazzy being jerks."

Max believed them. That thing had Iggy written all over it. She'd been too quick to jump on Fang. Reading those e-mails had brought to the surface her hidden fear, and she'd had a knee-jerk reaction. Now, even knowing the e-mails were fake, the fear remained: what if Fang still felt something for Lissa?

"No, Max," Angel said. "It's not like that at all."

"Thanks, sweetie," she said, reaching up to ruffle her hair, then Nudge's. "Thanks for telling me. I'll handle it from here, okay? Go play."

Max thought about how she was going to Fang's room right after the girls left to make up with him, and Angel smiled and hugged her. As soon as she was down the hall and out of mind-reading range, though, she sighed and went right back to her real thoughts.

0000000000

"Is there a clerk somewhere?" Iggy asked.

The Gasman looked around. "Um… there's a girl in a red apron over there."

Iggy's eyebrows shot up. "A girl?"

"Yeah, I guess… she's your age, I bet."

"What's she look like?"

"Why?" Gazzy asked curiously.

"Just. Tell. Me."

"Um… okay," the kid said, cowering. "She's tall, thin-ish, blonde, curly hair--"

"Tell me where she is."

"Uh… twelve steps, at two o' clock."

Without another word, Iggy started off in the girl's direction while Gazzy watched, his eyes wide. He stopped just about the right distance and said, "Hey."

"Hi," the girl said. "Can I help you?"

"Yes you can," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. The girl looked disgusted, but said nothing, and he kept on. "Did it hurt when you fell--"

The girl reached back and swung a birdkid-worthy punch, getting him right in the jaw. Iggy fell to the ground, holding his face, and Gazzy rushed to his side while the girl scurried off in the other direction.

"We belong together!" Iggy called after her from his spot on the floor. "I'm here buying a rose for another girl who could have decked me like that!"

"You were gonna cheat on her?" the blonde called behind her. "You jerk!"

"No! No! It's-- another guy's girl! I mean, I wasn't trying to steal her, it's a long story… I'm not cheating on anybody!"

"Except Ella," Gazzy told him.

"Oh, crap! Forgot about her!"

0000000000

"Dearest Maximum," Iggy said with a scowl as he walked into Max's room, holding the white pillow and rose on top of it. "From Fang."

He knelt beside the bed, as instructed, and stuck the pillow where he thought her nose would be. A moment later, some pressure on the pillow lifted, and then Max gave a croaky kind of laugh.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"What is this, Ig?"

"A rose."

"Really. Hm. Sure looks like a miniature balloon with 'Proud to Be Gay' written on it to me."

"What?!" Iggy thought back to when another worker at the flower store had helped him up and asked what he was looking for, and when he told him he needed help because he couldn't see, the guy had chuckled a little and put something in his hand.

Grabbing the pillow, Iggy ran out of Max's room and down the stairs, to where the kids could barely be heard over the noise of the TV.

"Gazzy! Why didn't you tell me this wasn't a rose?"

"Well, I thought Max might like it even better. I mean, who isn't proud to be happy?"

Hahaha. How does anybody not love Gazzy?

Reviews would be wonderful : )