Second Chances? – Chapter 29

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

Max fixed my tie, smoothing out my hair. It had been so hard to get out of bed this morning, but I knew I had to, I had to prove that I was better than my old self, to prove to Nudge that she was the one out of line, not me.

"You like great," I commented, putting my arms around her from behind, kissing her neck.

She smiled, turning to face me. "So do you."

I followed Max down the hall. Alex sat on the couch, waiting for us with Gazzy. She was talking, excitedly, about something, and he smiled at her, amused.

"Alright, are you all ready?" Mom came in, holding the car keys.

They rose up off of the couch and we followed Mom to the car. She handed Max the keys and I got into the back seat with Gazzy and Alex.

"Fang, you have your meds, right?" Max asked, turning to face me.

I nodded, patting my chest where the pocket was inside. "Yup."

She pulled out of the garage.


Iggy and Ella were there with Nudge when we arrived. The place was a small restaurant on the outskirts of town. A woman came over, one I vaguely recognized.

"Max! It's been so long since I've seen you!" she exclaimed.

"Hi, Mrs. Cunningham," Max smiled. "I don't know if you remember my husband, Fang. And you haven't met our daughter, Alex."

"Well, hello," Mrs. Cunningham smiled. I shook her hand. "It's so good to meet you all."

Other people began to fill up the restaurant. There was a table set up for all of us, near the front where a small little podium sat. I took a seat, letting Alex hop up onto my lap. Max was caught up, talking to all the people. Iggy was trying to make his way to our table, bumping into a few chairs along the way. One of them women went over to him.

"Are you okay, sir?"

Iggy laughed and for a moment, it looked like she thought he was crazy.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just blind and can't see," he said, straightening up.

"Oh," the woman seemed relieved.

Iggy just grinned at the woman and took a seat a chair away from me.

"Hey, Alex," Iggy greeted.

"Hi, Uncle Iggy!" she exclaimed, waving even though he couldn't see her.

"Hey, Fang, how are you?" he addressed me with a more serious look.

I took in a breath. "I'm alright. Where's Nudge?"

Iggy took a moment to think. "I talked to her before we came. She'll behave tonight. But, uhm, she'd like to talk to later, not today, but you know, when you're up for it."

I raised an eyebrow. "She wants to talk to me?"

Iggy shrugged. "I think she's stressed out by her work and stuff. And she sees that you're someone she can lash out at, I think. I could be wrong, but she's just letting stuff get to her now. We're all going a little, insane, I guess, with Mom and everything, you know?"

Max was starting to head towards us. "Yeah, I know."


There was no lying that this was planned so all of Mom's friends could have one last time with her before things got bad again. Mom knew this, and you could tell, the way she sadly smiled, as dinner went on. And it felt like everyone knew Mom, people who had pets, people she knew before we had taken over her life. I realized that everyone seemed to know everyone else, even Max and the others in the flock, even Alex. I suddenly felt left out.

"And this is my husband, Fang." Max must have said that at least twenty times already.

"It's good to meet you," a man, stocky with short hair, shook my hand firmly. "I'm Joe."

Max was carrying on a conversation with his wife. Their daughter, Andrea, was a friend of Alex. He took a seat next to me, and I felt this urge that I needed to get away. I started to rub at my sleeve, wishing I could just dig my fingers into the backs of my arms. Was I sweating now too?

"Fang, stop that," Max whispered, taking my hand discretely.

"So you work around here?" Joe asked. He had been blabbering for a while now, but I hadn't really been listening.

"N…no," I stammered.

He leaned in a little. "Well, I'm a cop."

I just blinked at him. Well, no wonder he made me so uncomfortable.

"And now, I'm not accusing you of anything, but the way your hands shake, the way you're sweating, I'd say that you're going through withdrawal, that you can't wait for your next fix."

I looked away from him. "I used to work in New York, as an undercover agent, with the cops. And…I…I…I brought down a lot of drug dealers…But you know to get to them, you have to be one of them and…Well…"

Max suddenly interjected, saving me from more stuttering. "Joe, he's a recovering heroin addict."

Joe looked embarrassed. "I didn't know, I'm sorry. Just instinct to, you know, say something."

I shrugged and he stood, muttering a goodbye. After a moment, I unbuttoned my jacket and with an unsteady hand, reached for my pills. Max uncapped the bottle for me, handing me one.

"I can't even get through dinner," I shook my head, swallowing.

Max smoothed my hair. "Fang, the fact that you can sit through this is good enough for me."

I leaned my head against her, closing my eyes.


I woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat. Max was asleep, peacefully, and I slipped out of bed trying not to wake her.

Inside the bathroom, I turned on the shower. I realized I was still in my clothes last night. Guess I never made it to changing. Although I didn't remember much from dinner except meeting that cop, Joe. It just all seemed fuzzy, like I couldn't focus on remembering it, yet I could clearly remember the car ride there and being in the room with Max before we left.

I must have stood under the cold water for ten minutes before I started to actually clean myself. Once I got out of the shower, I felt better.

"Fang?" Max murmured as I got back into bed.

I moved towards her, slipping my arms around her.

"Max, what happened last night, after I met that cop?" I asked.

She took my hand, our fingers interlocking. "You don't remember?"

"Well, no," I said.

It took a long time for her to respond. "Someone accidently served alcohol to the table, even though Iggy asked them not to, and you were thirsty, after taking your pill to get rid of your withdrawal symptoms. And you know, that doesn't exactly mix the best with alcohol, so you sort of passed out."

"Oh," I said.

"Yeah," she said, sounding tired. "Just, don't think about it."

"Why not?"

I felt her squeeze my hand. "Because you'll only upset yourself."


Next chapter, maybe we'll have a resolution between Max, Fang, and Nudge. We'll also see how Iggy and Ella are doing. We'll get into some serious stuff in a few chapters too. It'll be just a little slow, but things will pick up soon!

Well, thanks for reading!