Catch and Release
Chapter 29
Fang woke up with a horrible headache. Horrible. He just moaned, opening his eyes slowly. The first thing he thought was that he was late for work. When he glanced at the clock and saw that it was too late to do anything about that, he threw an arm over his eyes. Groaning, he rolled onto his side, shocked when he found Max laying there, sleeping.
"Max?" He poked her.
She grunted, rolling over. Fang stared at her back for a moment, shocked in his hung-over state to find that her wings were deformed. Then, remembering what had caused that, he poked her again.
"Baby, did I work today?"
Max groaned. "It's Christmas, Fang."
"Oh." He laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. "It's Christmas."
"Yeah."
"…Oh shit." He sat up quickly, which only succeeded in giving him a worse headache. "Max, get up! It's Christmas."
"I know. I'm the one who told you," she grumbled, glancing behind her. She quickly shut her eyes again. "I feel horrible."
"Me too," he mumbled as he sank back down into the bed, holding his head. "What did we do last night?"
"Mmmm…you were Santa."
"Yeah."
"Then we played with the kids," she continued, attempting to piece the night back together, as they both seemed to be suffering from some form of amnesia.
"Then Iggy made that eggnog."
Max rolled over then. "Yeah. And remember? You didn't know that there was alcohol in it. You were so drunk."
"Drunk. I was drunk." He rubbed his eyes. "That must be why I feel so bad. I'm hung-over."
Max shut her eyes once more. "Then I drank some too. That tequila that Nudge brought. Remember?"
"At your mom's?" Fang was in shock. They had that kind of alcohol in front of Valencia?
"No. When we all went over to Nudge's afterwards. Remember? Evan and Carter stayed the night with Mom, so we all went over to Nudge's. Even Ella."
"What about Seb?" Fang usually wouldn't use a nickname for that little bastard, but his head hurt too much to figure out the kid's full name.
"I don't remember." She giggled a little bit then. "You were so wasted. Nudge had to drive us home."
"Mmmm." Fang smiled.
"What?" She opened her eyes again, staring at him.
"Last night."
"You remember now?"
He looked over at her. "You don't?"
"I just told you what…Oh God."
Fang closed his eyes again. "It had been so long since I-"
"God, I can't believe we-"
"Don't freak." Fang shifted onto his stomach. "You liked it. A lot."
"Shut up, Fang."
"I loved it. I remember it now." Fang made another noise in the back of his throat. "Who knew I had to get you wasted to get you in bed? I mean really get you in bed."
"Shut up," she repeated, sitting up. "I need an aspirin."
Fang let out a long breath. "I can't remember much else, Max."
"You probably aren't supposed to drink with your medications." She got out of bed, but Fang missed out on seeing her since his eyes were closed. "God, we're late. You know that? And where are our phones? Someone should have called us. God, Fang, Carter's probably already opened her gifts. Damn it."
"She has not. They wouldn't do it without you. Or me for that matter." He sat up finally, deciding he too needed some aspirin. "Where are our phones though?"
"We probably left them somewhere," Max told him as she pulled on some clothes. Fang, figuring since Carter was out it didn't matter, just pulled on his boxers. "We were wasted."
"Super wasted."
"Where are your jeans, anyways?" Max looked around the room, but couldn't find them.
"Like I would know." Fang left the room in search of the aforementioned medicine. "It's too bright in here. Why do you have so many windows?"
"I hardly have any win- Aw, you're right," Max groaned as she too came out of the bedroom. "Damn."
Fang went into the kitchen to get the pill bottle and some water. "We should get going soon."
"Yeah, I know." She came up behind him. "Mom is gonna be pissed at us."
"You think they told her that we got drunk?"
"Probably," she sighed as he handed her a cup of water. Then, standing there next to each other, both began to feel slightly awkward, Max showing this by blushing and Fang by taking a step away.
"We should probably talk about last night," Max told him.
"What's there to talk about? We didn't do anything really bad. We did exactly what we should have done." He glanced at her. "I've been with you since I was, like, fourteen. And it's not like it was the first time."
"I know."
"Then what's there to be so nervous about?" He smiled at her before walking away. "Let me get dressed and we can go."
Max downed some pills. "God, no. Call someone and tell them that we'll be there soon. I have to shower first. I feel nasty."
Fang just went into the bedroom. "Well, hurry, okay? I'll text Gazzy."
"'kay."
Fang tried very hard to find either Max or his cell phones, but he couldn't find them anywhere. And he didn't know anyone's number by heart, so the landline was out.
"I can't find our phones anywhere," he told her once she was out of the bathroom, still looking very bad. She had bags under her eyes and she was scowling at him for some reason, but he decided to ignore it. "So let's go, I guess."
"Where's your gift to Carter at?"
"Shit." Fang pulled his hoodie on. "We're gonna have to swing by my apartment."
"We are so dead," Max complained as they walked out of the apartment. "Beyond dead even. We're zombies. Hear that, Fang? Christmas zombies."
"Laid Christmas zombies."
She just stared at him. "You're about to never get laid again."
"Point taken," he sighed.
"Where have you two been?"
Max sighed as she walked into her mother's house. "We over slept."
Fang, not caring for being punished at the moment, stepped around Valencia and her daughter, instead heading over to his little buddy, who was busy eating Christmas cookies on the couch.
"Uh-oh, Owl."
Fang leaned over her and rubbed his beard into her forehead. "Did we miss your opening presents?"
"No, Santa." She patted him before looking at the presents in his hand. "Mo'?"
"Yes. More."
"Owl." She kissed him then, on the cheek. "Santa."
"Say my name."
"Fang."
"Good." He looked back at Max, who was still being lectured by her mother before setting his presents on the ground. "Where's everyone else?"
"They left. I let Carter open her presents from them and Seb opened his, but I made her wait for the ones from you guys."
"Santa."
"And she insisted that any ones that said Santa were from you."
"She can read?"
"Nudge read the tags out loud to her and if one said Santa, she wouldn't open it."
She shook her head at Fang. "Wai' fo' Owl."
Fang smiled at her. "Thank you."
Reaching up, she shoved a cookie into his mouth. "Santa cookies."
They were Carter's favorite, sugar, so Max didn't ask for one as she picked her daughter up and sat her on the ground.
"Let's open these presents then, huh, Carter?"
She ate another cookie before looking back at Fang. "Owl."
"I'm com-"
"Hold on, Carter. You open Mommy's, huh?" Dr. Martinez drug Fang out of the room and into the hall.
"What?" His headache was back and he really didn't feel up to discuss whatever it was she wanted to discuss. "I really want to see-"
"You are not supposed to be drinking alcohol with your medicine, Fang. That is not good. At all."
"What?"
"I let it slide when you had some of that eggnog, but I was told by Ella that you and Max-"
"Ella. Ella told on me," he said slowly, watching the woman in questions mother.
"Well, Fang, she was probably worried about-"
"I am a grown man. And I mean no disrespect to you when I tell you that in no way does she have the right to tattle on me. No more of a right than you do to tell me what to do."
Fang wasn't sure what had come over him, but it wasn't good, whatever it was. Still, it was so freaking hard living under everyone's watchful eyes. It would be so much easier if he had taken Angel's original offer and moved to New York or moved to Texas with the guys. Even hanging around Dylan, who Fang was slowly learning might just be on his side, would be better than this town. He finally got his favorite night ever with Carter and Evan and his perfect time with Max, but here comes someone to ruin it all. There was too much to take on here. Way too much.
Valencia's eyes flared. "Fang, you very much are so a child. If you were an adult, I wouldn't have to do so much for you. I had to get you two different therapists, I have to make sure you take your pills, I helped you furnish and rent your apartment. What exactly have you done that proves to me that you're ready to be on your own? To prove that you are an adult? Take care of a toddler? Is that your only claim to adulthood?"
He couldn't think of a time that he had ever felt so humiliate. Since he got back that is. All this time he thought that he was doing good. Now the one person in the world that always had his back was throwing stuff back at him? He hadn't asked her to help him. He hadn't asked her to do all that. She had just done it. So why was she being such a…bitch?
Maybe Angel was right…
"You didn't have to do all of that for me," Fang said, his anger fading and sadness taking over. He hadn't taken his morning or afternoon medicine and he hadn't even thought about it until that moment. Pair that with his hangover and you had a bad flip out on the horizon. And on Christmas no less! "I never asked you to do anything."
"Fang," she sighed, reading in his eyes that he was about done with the whole thing. "I didn't mean it like that. You just-"
"I've tried really, really hard to do things for myself and impress you, but if you're really, really not impressed because one night, one freaking night, I got the one thing that I've been waiting for since, like, I ever got here, then I don't care anymore. At all. The only two people in this world that I owe anything to is Evan and Carter and they think that I'm the best thing ever. The rest of you can all go to Hell."
"Fang-"
"No!" He turned away from her, going back into the living room. Max was watching him, having heard everything.
"Fang, you need to-"
"Shut up, Max." He looked at Carter. "We'll do presents tonight, Carter. Just me and you. I've got to go."
"No. No." She whined. "Owl."
Still, Fang didn't come back, instead walking out of the door.
He didn't need Valencia Martinez. In no way shape or form.
"Oh look, Evan, it's the first name saying th-"
"Nang!" Evan reached out for Fang from his mother's arms. "Nang!"
"Hey, buddy," Fang mumbled, taking him from Nudge. Then, addressing the woman, he said, "I got into a fight."
"With Max?" She took a step back, finally allowing him entrance into her apartment.
"No."
"Oh, good. After the way you guys were last night-"
"What?" He bounced Evan before taking him over to the couch and sitting down.
"You don't remember? God. You too were so drunk I'm shocked you didn't blackout over here." Nudge sat down next to them. "I swear to God you had your hand down her pants on the way back to you guys' place. I didn't drink, so I remember it all."
"You didn't drink?"
"Don't act so shocked, Fang," she said, clearly offended. When Evan reached for her, she took him. "I hardly ever drink these days. Besides, Melissa didn't either. We figured two of us should be sober in case something happened."
"Yeah, well."
"So did you and Max happen?"
"Nudge, I don't believe in talking about-"
"Oh, God you did, didn't you?" She took in his blush and the way he couldn't look at her. "Oh, Fang, I'm so happy for you."
"Stop being weird." He stood up and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. "Dr. Martinez yelled at me."
"Yelled?"
"Well…she told me that I'm not an adult and basically said that she wished I didn't come back."
"She said that?"
Fang couldn't really remember, but he felt like she had. She might as well have. "Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Ella told on me like a little-"
"That whore."
"Nudge," he groaned. "God. You're son is in your lap. Can't you not curse? Please?"
"You're such a stickler and you're not even a father. Yet."
"Yet?"
"Yet," she said. "Now that you and Max have, you know, done it-"
"We didn't do it, Nudge. We had sex."
"That's what doing it is, Fang. God, you've been gone way too long."
"I know what it is. I just meant…You know what? Never mind." He went back into the living room and sat back down. "My whole point was that Ella told on me for drinking."
"That bad word," she said, trying to get Fang to laugh. It wouldn't work. "Fang, honestly, you can't let Dr. Martinez get to you."
"I freaking fought with Angel over her. Why am I even mad at Angel then, if I'm not on Dr. Martinez's side?"
"Because she's a lesbian."
"I told you guys that I don't care. How many times do I freaking have to say that? Huh?" He stood up again. "I don't-"
"Are you still drunk?"
"No!"
"Then what's wrong?"
"I don't…I don't know."
"Have you taken your-"
"Why does everyone think that's their business? Huh? It's not. It's mine."
"It is ours, Fang. The only reason you're even out of the hospital is because your medicine got you out. You're still unstable without-"
"I don't even know why I came here." He headed to the door. "I don't need this. I don't care what any of you say. I am an adult. I can make my own choices."
He slammed the door behind him. After all, he didn't need Nudge either.
"Owl."
"Well, Carter, I just figured that you could use some new shoes."
She put the shoes Owl had given her on her hands instead, clapping them together. Really, they were addressed from Santa, though Max had honestly gotten them. Still, they were keeping the rouse alive and Carter insisted that Owl had gotten them.
"What are you doing, baby?" Max smiled at her daughter. "Shoes go on your feet, silly."
"No." Carter kept clapping them together. "Owl."
Max had taken the gifts and brought them back to her place so that they could open them together, all alone. Fang hadn't planned on Max being there, but hey, it was her daughter. How could he possibly kick her out of her own place anyways?
"Open this one next, silly," he said, sliding her another present.
"Santa." Carter held out her shoe clad hands, waiting for Fang to slip the sneakers off. The second he did, she tore into the gift.
"This one was from me," Max told her.
"Cow." She looked at the set of farm animal toys before handing it to Fang. "Moo."
"Moo."
"Hoo."
He kissed her head. "Hoo."
"Nam, nam, nam." She reached for the next present. "Owl."
"This one is for Owl, huh? You know that though, don't you?" Max looked at Fang. "Me and Carter wrapped your gifts together. This one is from the both of us."
"Oh." He was seated on the living room floor with his girls, the gifts laid out in front of him. "Okay."
"Owl?"
"You can't open it, Carter. It's his gift, not yours," Max told her as Fang unwrapped the present. "Do you like it? Carter picked it out. I thought you'd like it. You used to wear ball caps all the time, when we were kids. I just thought you'd need some more. And Carter liked the little cardinal on it. I know that you don't like St. Louis, but-"
Fang cut her off by kissing her. When he pulled away, he said, "You talk too much."
Carter giggled, taking the hat from Fang. "Wed Owl."
He looked down at her now. "That's a cardinal, Carter. Not an owl. And the word is red. Red. Ra. Not wa."
"Hat." She put the cap on her own head. "Owl 'ike?"
"Owl loves." He smiled down at her. "Thank you."
"Owl next." She grabbed another present and handed it to him. She liked watching Owl open things. "Owl?"
"Silly, this one is from you, but it's to Mommy. Remember?" He handed it over to Max. "Carter and Nudge bought it for you. I don't even know what it is."
"Oh," Max said a moment later. "You bought me a flamingo keychain."
"Car. Car," Carter kept saying.
"For my car keys," Max slowly said, looking at Fang. He just smiled. "How thoughtful, Carter. Thank you."
"Pink." She smiled up at her mother. Her mommy did like pink, right?
Fang just shook his head. "Okay, Carter. Here. Open my gift to you. Well, I mean my big gift to you."
"Owl." She smiled before getting to work on opening her gift. "Ooh."
"Yeah. Ooh." He pulled her and her present into his lap. "See? It's a big book of birds. There's owls and blue jays and red birds. All sorts of birds."
"Owl. Hoo." She ran her hands over the cover, which featured a big owl, one of Fang's main buying points. It was really more of an adult book, full of information on birds that you would need if that was your kind of thing, but Fang figured that Carter would enjoy the pictures. "Owl. Santa. Fang. Love Fang."
He snuggled her to her. "Owlet."
"Owlwet." She leaned up and kissed under his chin. "Owlwet."
Max reached over, gently taking the book from her daughter before opening it. "Look at the pictures, Carter."
"Hoo." She smiled down at her book. Her Owl book. She loved her Owl. "Hoo."
Fang laid a hand on her stomach, holding her back to him. "Hoo."
"You wanna open my real present now?" Max grabbed one and handed it over. It was envelope, with really confused Fang. "You have no idea what I had to go through to get these."
Fang frowned, opening it. Inside were printed out photographs. Some where high quality while others were grainy, but they were all of the same thing. A baby. They seemed so clinical, as most of them were of body parts. Like documentation. And the other people in the room, Fang did not know, but he knew their outfit well.
"Whitecoats," he mumbled.
"They're of Carter. After she was born. The School took-"
"Why did you give me these?" Fang felt sick for looking at them, but even sicker for knowing that he wanted to look.
"I thought…I thought you would want them. You wanted those ones of us, when we were kids. I just thought…"
Fang looked down at Carter, who was now also looking at the photos. When she felt his eyes, she looked at him. "Owl?"
He swallowed before looking back at Max. "Thank you, Max. This is…way more thoughtful than what I got you."
"I just thought you'd want to see. The government kept files and documentation that the School recorded. I started looking for these right after you came back, when you mentioned not being there for her birth. I didn't mean to-"
He leaned forward, kissing her for the second time since they start the present exchange. Pulling back, he said, "You talk too much."
Max smiled, running a hand down his cheek. "Yeah. I know."
"Owl," Carter complained. She had waited all day to open present with Santa, but here Mommy was, ruining it. She had to deal with this a lot, Mommy thinking that Owl was her best friend not Carter's, but not today. Not on Christmas. Not with Santa. "Owl!"
"What?" He frowned at Carter while Max just smiled.
"Are you jealous, baby? Huh?" Max reached over to grab Carter. "You better learn, Carter, that I've been at this game with Owl a lot longer than you. I have much more experience."
"There's something to be said for the underdog," Fang mumbled as he went back to the photos.
"Owl?" Carter leaned back against her mother, figuring the best way to keep Max away from Fang was to distract her. "Mo'?"
They spent another good five minutes going through the rest of Carter's gifts. She was spoiled, but when Fang had brought this up the other day to Max, she assured him it was just because she was an only child. Eventually, when she got more siblings, her gift supply would surely dwindle. Then they had that awkward moment when they realized they would be involved in that process. Now though, after the night before, Fang wasn't so sure that it was a bad thing.
"Okay, Fang, here's your last present. It's from Carter."
"You got me this, Holden?" He picked up the package and shook it, making her giggle. "For me?"
"Fo' Santa. Fo' Owl. Fo' Fang."
"For Fang," he agreed as he began to unwrap it.
"Wait." Max stood up and went into Carter's bedroom before coming back. "It comes with a card. Huh, Carter? I tried to tell her that you do cards for birthdays, but-"
"I love cards. You should make me more cards, Carter," he said, taking the construction paper from Max. It was folded down the middle, like most cards from little kids were. On the cover, written in one of the women's hand writing, were the words 'For Owl'. Underneath, Carter had attempted to write something, but Fang could only make out her name, which she had spelled out in block letters.
"Oh, wow, Carter. You should be a, uh, um, calligrapher," he said, the word coming to him at the last moment. Carter had no idea what that was, of course, but that didn't stop a huge smile from spreading across her face. Owl had complimented her, after all.
Opening it, Fang found that on the inside, she had drawn a pretty hard to figure out picture. "Uh-"
"It's of you and her, doing different things," Max told him softly, as not to discourage her daughter. This was some what unnecessary, considering the fact that Carter's sense of self accomplishment was so over inflated at this point it could be mistaken for a weather balloon. "See? On that one, you're at the park. That's the sandbox and her in it. You're sitting here, watching."
"Oh." Fang kept looking at it. "I guess I see that."
"And this one, you're with Danny, playing in the snow. That's his car and for some reason, you're standing on it. I think."
Fang nodded. "Okay."
"Then here, you're both watching TV. And here, you're at your nest. Then this is an actual drawing of a nest that she saw in a magazine and tried to copy."
Reaching over, Fang took Carter back and put her in his lap once more. "Thank you, Carter."
"Owl."
"I love it very much." Then, wrapping his arms around her, Fang let go of the card and rolled onto his back, holding Carter tightly as she wiggled and giggled. "I love it so much I'm gonna keep it forever and ever. I'm never gonna let it go. Okay?"
"Owl!"
"Never. Never ever."
"Rever tether."
"Yeah, something like that," Fang laughed, finally releasing her. "You're so good at speaking."
"If you have such a reaction from just the card, I can't wait until you see the actual gift," Max said wryly as Fang sat back up.
"I'm sure it's wonderful."
"You'd be surprised."
Fang sent Max a look before reaching for the box while Carter sat the card back in his lap. "What is this, Carter? This is your gift to me?"
"Yes. Yes, Santa." She rested a hand on his thigh. "Owl."
"Oh." Once he had opened the actually gift, Fang just stared at it for a moment. "You bought me a plastic egg."
"That's not all," Max said.
"It's what my eyes are drawn to." He lifted the egg from the box. It wasn't one of those cheap ones that little kids use at Easter, but rather, on closer inspection, a glass one, of a purplish blue hue. "Where did she get this?"
"A garage sale. Ella had her one day and she got it for you. It was awhile ago. She's been waiting and waiting to give it to you." Max looked to her daughter. "Tell him why."
To do this, Carter for some reason felt the need to demonstrate it. So, taking the egg from his hand, he sat it down on the ground before squatting over it.
"Owl tummy hurt. Owl go potty!" Then she looked down and made a shocked face, standing up. "Uh-oh. Owl egg. Owl is no Owl. Owl is owl. Owl is mommy owl."
Fang blinked. "So she wants me to lay an egg."
"Or something like that."
Carter picked the egg back up and handed it to Fang before looking back in the gift box. "Mo', Owl."
Sighing, he sat the glass egg back down before looking into the box also. "What's this? Gloves?"
"She got them at the dollar store with me one day. She said that they would look nice with your hoodie, so I bought them."
"B'ack." She handed Fang the gloves before pulling the last item out of the box. "'ook, Owl."
"And you also got me a necklace."
She nodded. "Yes."
"From…?"
"Another garage sale. Ella loves going to those," Max told him.
"Well, thank you, Carter, for giving me so many things. This was very nice of you."
"Santa."
"Right. Not a lot of people think to give Santa gifts, but you did. Thank you very much."
"Cow. Moo."
"Right. Sure." He looked to Max who was still smiling from Carter demonstrating how to lay an egg. "What?"
"Nothing." She picked the egg up. "You know, Carter, Owl's gonna have to take this back to is nest and care for it like a real egg."
"Yes. Yes, Owl. Owl egg. Egg Owl." She went over to her gifts. Now that she was finished for the day, she could finally get back to what she really wanted to do. Play with her toys.
"Ha ha, Max. I got three gifts," Fang taunted as he moved closer to her and away from the little girl. "All you got was one."
"Shut up." She sighed, staring at him. "So when are you going to call my mom and apologize?"
"Try never."
"Fang-"
"She insulted me."
"She didn't mean it the way you took it."
"Then maybe she shouldn't have said it that way."
"Fang-"
"I am a man. Not a boy. I'm a man. You guys need to learn that." He puffed out his chest. "You got that?"
She hit him in the arm.
"Hey-"
"Take it like a man."
With that, Max got up to go help her daughter open the boxes her toys came in. Fang frowned at Max before getting up and going into the bedroom.
"Here are my jeans," he mumbled as he got into bed and kicked down the covers. They had somehow ended up stuck down there towards the edge of the bed. "And my phone."
"Owl."
Looking up, he saw Max and Carter coming into the room. "What are you guys doing?"
"We want to be with you, Owl." Max was carrying his gifts, which she sat down on the dresser. "At least until we have to go to Mom's."
"I ain't going back there."
"Yes you are. That's what we do for dinner on Christmas. We go to Mom's. So get over it." Max pulled Carter onto the bed when she got in it. "For now though, we can all nap."
"Sure you want to be in bed with me again? After last night? Can you contain- Ow, Max. Stop hitting me."
"You totally deserved that one." She pulled Carter closer to her. "Tell Owl how much you enjoyed this Christmas."
"Love Ciss-miss. Love Owl." She reached out and patted his beard. "Owl. Owlwet."
"Come here, Owlet." He laid on his side, having to pull her up to him so that she was tucked under his chin. "This isn't even the best Christmas yet, Holden. They'll just keep getting better and better. You know that? Not to mention now we get to worry about your birthday."
"Yay."
"Yeah. Yay." He smiled at Max. "That'll be fun, won't it? Her birthday party?"
Max didn't see it that way, mainly because she knew it would just be more money she didn't have on something that her daughter wouldn't remember. Still, she just nodded at Fang, as he was clearly excited over the thought of them spending that time together.
Yawning, Carter snuggled into Fang's chest. "Nap."
"Yeah. Nap."
"Nigh-nigh, Owl."
"Night-night, Owlet."
Carter just giggled before drifting off.
"Hi, Evan," Carter greeted from atop Owl's shoulders. He was leading her into her granny's house, so she figured she better put on a good attitude before her grandmother corrected her about it. And what better way than to address her potential attention stealer? "Hi."
Evan, who was chewing on a block on the floor didn't even look up. Not that Carter cared. The point was that she did it, not that she actually took the time out to make sure the greeting went through. Gosh.
"You want down?" Fang was holding onto her feet, slightly scared that she was too tall atop his shoulders and would hit her head on the ceiling. "Huh?"
"No." Carter wrapped her arms around his head, which was sporting that nice owl hat she had bought for him. He was so thoughtful. Even Mommy had her birdie keychain on her key ring. She was such a great gift giver. Owl might be Fang which might be Santa, but Carter was clearly the queen of all presents. Clearly.
"Fine," he groaned, looking around.
Max had headed off into the kitchen as soon as her sister answered the door, acting completely cool towards her, but that wasn't odd, considering Ella was a little snitch. But what else was new? The girls always had drama going on and always would. Besides, he was almost completely certain that they all secretly loved it anyways.
"Mmmm. Fang and Car'er. Santa and Hold'em. Owl and Owlet."
Fang smiled slightly. "Did I ever tell you that you're my favorite person in the whole world, Carter? Huh? 'cause you are. You're the only one that matters."
She rubbed her nose onto the top of his fuzzy head. "Peach."
"There you are."
Fang frowned as Carter was taking from his shoulders. "Hey-"
"Hi, Nub." Carter patted her face, giggling. "Hi."
"Nudge," Fang frowned, turning to face her. "Carter and I were busy."
"Well, now she wants me. Huh, baby?"
"Yes." Carter wrapped her arms around the woman's neck. "Bye-bye, Owl."
"I'm not going any-"
"Bye-bye." Then, looking up at Nudge, she said, "Owl is Owl."
"I'm sure."
"Owl Call'mill."
"Mmmhmm," she said as she carried to little girl off somewhere else. Fang frowned, but knew without Carter, he was susceptible to another talk with Dr. Martinez. So, as to hide out, he headed out front.
Sighing as he once again sat down one the front porch, Fang took a good look around. The first thing he realized was that, though there was a little bit of snow on the ground, it wasn't that cold. The wind wasn't blowing, which was a definite plus.
The other thing he noticed, however, was that Sebastian was standing out in the street, controlling something. Fang looked around for the airplane that he had almost given to Carter, but couldn't find it. Craning his neck, he found that Seb was controlling one of those cars. One of those real cool ones, like on the commercials. This was even better than the Nerf gun!
Taking a deep breath, Fang slowly stood up before making his way over to the kid. How was he to go about this? Huh? He couldn't just ask for a turn, could he? How awkward would that be? And he couldn't just command the kid to do it. Number one, Fang knew Sebastian. Commands weren't his thing. Well, following them weren't, that is. Number two, if Ella ever found out, she'd probably yell at him and Fang had had enough yelling for awhile.
So, when he finally got over there, he just stood there in that gauche way he always seemed to have until Seb couldn't take it anymore.
"D'you want something, old man?"
"Huh?" Fang slipped his hands into his pockets as Seb continued to face the street on which he was racing his car up and down.
How did Sebastian end up with all of this cool stuff for Christmas when all Fang got was a hat and told to lay an egg? When he had asked Max the other night, before getting wasted, why Carter and Evan just got little nothing toys from the Santa debacle while Sebastian got a freaking airplane, she told him that his other grandparents had sent it. They sent him a lot of things. His father was their only child, so they spent most everything they had on getting Sebastian whatever he wanted.
So why couldn't Fang play with the car then? Huh? Sebastian had the airplane. He should give Fang the car. Yeah. Fang deserved it more anyways. He had been wanting one since he and Iggy were kids. Iggy! Oh, Iggy. If Fang could just get this little brat to hand over the car, he'd get Iggy out here and they could play with it, like they always wanted. Well, Fang could play with it and tell Iggy about it, like he would have if they were kids again. And then the Gasman could stand there and watch, but Fang wouldn't let him play with it because he was the youngest boy, duh. He couldn't play with it for at least another week or two, until Fang had his feel. Them's the rules.
"Did my grandma want me or something? Is there food?"
"Uh…"
"Is it my mom? Am I in trouble?"
"Um…"
"You're useless." Shoving the controller in the man's hands, Sebastian stomped off, leaving his toy out in the middle of the street. That spoiled little… Hey! Now Fang had the car.
"Wow," Fang mumbled, looking at the remote control. This was so cool. He had dreamt of this, as a kid. And now he was living it. It was a real rags to riches-
"What are you doing out here?"
-nightmare. Frowning, Fang turned behind him to see Angel coming out of the house, girlfriendless for once. Turning back around, he began to work the controls, quickly finding out that he sucked at them. This was to be expected, of course, as it was his first time, but first times are always embarrassing when other people were involved, aren't they?
"Nothing. Go away."
"Are you playing with-"
"Go away. I'm busy."
"Fang-"
"Busy. Leave."
"I'm smoking." She came to stand by him, one of those nasty, overly strong cigarettes in her hand. It stank horribly and he just wanted her to disappear. God. If something smells so rank, how can you freaking inhale it? "Isn't that Sebastian's?"
"He gave it to me."
"Why?"
Fang shrugged. "He went inside for something."
"…You just ran it into the curb."
"I realize that."
"Well, just don't break his toy. Lord knows you can't replace it."
"The kid has everything else," Fang grumbled. "Why would it matter?"
"If you ran into some rich person on the highway, would it not matter, because they could just repair their damaged car on this own? No. And it's not his fault that his grandparents care about him." Angel turned to walk away. "And considering the amount of stuff Carter got this year, I wouldn't be throwing stones at someone else's kid."
"She didn't even want anything, freak," Sebastian said a few minutes later when he returned. Snatching the controller from Fang, he said, "What did you want then?"
"Nothing." Fang coughed, taking a step back.
"What?"
"I said nothing, okay?" Turning to head back in, Fang took one last look at his dream toy car before heading back inside.
"Do you know how much sex we've had since Christmas?"
Fang just laughed slightly, moving away from Max so that he could look at her. "Not that much."
"I feel like it's been a lot."
Reaching out, he grasped her hip with his hand. "Do you?"
"Cut it out," she complained a moment later as he came closer again. "You know as well as I do that you can't get it up again."
"You'd be amazed," he mumbled through kissing her neck.
It was New Years Eve and Max was off for a few more hours, so they had left Carter with family so that they could go on a date. As far as anyone else was concerned it was a date. They were both fully aware that they would end up here, at Max's apartment, all alone, with nothing to do, but what they had just done. Honestly, it was once again becoming Fang's favorite thing.
"So would the world. It's impossible. You do realize how old you are now, right?"
"Not that old."
"Old enough."
He just grunted, running his hand now up her back.
They ended up not being able to prove or disprove his ability to be ready once more as it was then that Max's phone rang again. It had been going off like crazy since they started and Max had finally had enough.
"I have to get that."
"But what if it's work?" Fang knew he was whining yet he just didn't care. He didn't want her leaving yet. "Max-"
"They've called four times now. It might be Carter. When you have a kid, Fang, you have to answer your phone."
He just groaned as she got out of bed and went to answer the phone. "If it's Carter, Owl's sleeping."
"She'll be disappointed," Max said as she got the phone off the dresser.
"I'll see her tonight. Right now I just want you."
Max didn't say anything else as she answered the phone. While she did that, Fang checked the clock to make sure he had lasted a respectable amount of time. And he had, considering how long it had taken to work his way up to this point. Or at least, that was the story he was telling. And it wasn't like Max took that long either…
"What?"
Fang tuned back into Max's conversation as he decided worry about his ability to hold it in later.
"Where? What hospital?"
"What's wrong?" Fang sat up so quickly that he got vertigo. "Max-"
"What the fuck did you do to her?" Max was hurrying around the room now, getting ready. "I swear to God-"
"Max, what's going on?" Fang got out of bed too, figuring he needed to get ready also. "Max-"
"Where are you at, Gasman?" Max wouldn't even look at Fang. "I'll be there soon."
"What's going on, Max?"
She didn't answer Fang as she hurriedly finished getting dressed.
"Max-"
"Come on." She rushed out of the room. "Now."
"Wait for me," he called after her. "Max-"
"It's Carter. Now come on."
Carter? "What about Carter?"
"Now, Fang, God." Max was already out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
Fang felt his whole head spin as he forced his shoes on. While he was here, screwing Max, his little Owlet had gotten hurt. But how?
