It was shocking enough, having discovered Iggy. But now here she stood before her second bird kid in two days. Iggy didn't even know about Fang. And Fang didn't know about Iggy either, she realized. Max gazed back toward her house, the farthest window on the second story where Iggy was staying. Should she go an wake him up? She contemplated it for a moment before dismissing the idea. Max wasn't even sure about Fang. Yeah, he head wings. But did that make him safe? She turned back to him and they both seemed to be sizing each another. Neither knew where to begin.

Max, never one for patience, was the first to break the silence.

"Why were you following me earlier?" Fang looked at her as though the answer was obvious. She frowned, silently demanding an answer. He had started following her without a word.

"Did you really expect me to see you and keep going the other way?"

"Well, you could have said something!" Max growled as she fisted her hands against her hips in agitation, "I see you coming at me from bloody miles away and have no idea what you are," he looked ready to make a comment but then seemed to think better of it. "A 'Hey, neighborhood birdboy here!' would have been nice!"

"Are you done?"

"Yes," Max snarled, suddenly agitated beyond belief and so very done, "Yes, fine, I am very much done! Goodnight." She made it two feet before his hand landed on her shoulder. It wasn't enough to physically restrain her, and she told herself that was the only reason he wasn't going to lose it.

"Wait a second, Max." He adopted an apologetic tone, pitched low and pleading, "talk to me. Please?" Max's temper soured and try as she might she couldn't keep it up. With a sullen sigh, Max gave a silent nod. She winched a bit as it sent her head spinning, which was made doubly worse by turning around to face her unwanted companion.

"Make it quick," she insisted. Fang didn't seem entirely sure what it was he wanted to say. He looked anywhere but at her while he struggled with words that stalled out before they even left his mouth. He raked a hand through his hair and gave a breath of frustration.

"I-," He stopped before finishing lamely, "I didn't know there were others."

"Well, now you do."

"Will you stop that?" Fang snarled and Max rolled her eyes, marveling in the way it made the trees dance and spin before her eyes. They probably weren't supposed to be moving like that.

"What, being angry?"

"Yes!"

"Fang," Max wondered when his name had become so natural, "You dropped me out of the sky." Despite the dark she could almost swear he turned a slight shade of pink. He scuffed the ground with his boot in an admittedly cute display of guilt.

"I'm sorry, honestly. It was an accident." Fang seemed to notice she wasn't altogether focused on their conversation when she had no immediate rebuttal. He took a step closer and bent so that they came face to face, studying her unfocused eyes and how she seemed to have broken into a cold sweat without noticing. He muttered an expletive. "Max, why didn't you tell me you weren't alright?"

As he attempted to place a steadying arm around her shoulder she stepped away, which resulted in an almost immediate loss of balance. The arm on her shoulder she had been trying to avoid was forced to slip around her waist in an effort to keep her upright. She evidently was reaching her limits, because as soon as he did she became deadweight.

"I'm fine." She huffed as he resorted to picking her up again. She thought about struggling out of his grasp, decided it was a fine idea, but the message didn't seem to make it to her limbs. They hung like the weight of the world was pressing down on them. Whatever adrenaline high she'd been experiencing earlier was well and gone, it seemed. "I just need a second, is all."

"Which room is yours?" She shifted her gaze from the spinning trees to Fang before following is gaze. Looking at her house she saw all the windows were dark, save a little light shining dimly from a lamp in her room. She pointed to it.

"The one with the light." He started toward it and she was mildly concerned how he was going to manage hauling her up to the second story along with himself without waking her sisters. It was also worth mentioning, perhaps, that she did tend to get a late night bed bug who might be surprised to find a boy sneaking her into her room. Not to mention the wings.

She jerked slightly and was pulled from her thoughts as Fang jumped, followed by a heavy succession of black beating wings. It was never easy to make it into the air from a standstill and that was more or less what Fang was doing. She was faintly impressed when five more strokes brought them to her window, where she reflexively pulled herself through. Fang followed her in, apparently unconcerned with matters of appearance.

Max sank onto her mattress and watched as Fang turned around and shut the window, although she thought it rather silly. That was how he was getting out, wasn't it? They were lucky enough she had decided to leave it open when she'd left a couple hours previous. She turned her attention from the window back to Fang, only to find him watching her. She belatedly returned to their conversation. Feathers, wings, and bird kids- oh my!

"Yes, alright?" In the wake of this utterly eventful day she really just wanted to go to sleep. "I have wings. I'm like you." He stepped across the room, indicating silently to the bed beside her and she nodded. Sinking onto the bed she noted he was mindful to keep a respectable distance between the two of them. She doubted her mother would find much merit in the fact, but she supposed it would suffice.

"Your parents and your sister… are they?" He seemed surprised by the negative.

"They're normal. No wings, no tail feathers." His eyes widened at this and she rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Honestly, I don't have tail feathers either. Take a joke, sheesh." His expression calmed and he even looked a little sheepish.

"My parents died when I was young," he explained, "Uncle never talks about my dad. Don't think he knows much about my mom." He shrugged. "Dad's a black sheep in the family so no one ever does. Didn't know if it was because of, " he gestured between the two of them, "or just because he ran off and married mom." Max nodded thoughtfully.

"Nothing strange about my mom in the least," she offered with a shrug, "only interesting thing about my dad is that he's a flake." Fang grimaced and nodded his condolences. Again she shrugged. They both remained silent for a few contemplative moments before Fang broke in with the dreaded question:
"Ever met anyone else like us?" Max thought hard. Fang was the same as her and Iggy. While a moment of honesty didn't negate the possibility that he could be up to something, Fang wouldn't really be able to oust her or Iggy if he wanted his secret to remain that way. She could probably trust him, if only because telling her secret would only mean his was revealed as well.

"Yeah, pretty recently, actually." Realization dawned, although how he pieced it together she wasn't entirely sure.

"Iggy." His lips curved into a perplexed frown. "Can he fly? I mean," he stumbled over the words, seemingly not sure how to phrase it without risking Max's ire, "he's blind," he finished lamely.

"He can." Max nodded, "I don't really know all that well how he manages it myself, but he does alright. Had a heck of a time catching up to him when we first met, actually." Fang snorted softly, seeming able to picture the scene with decent clarity.

"No others, then?"

"Nope, and you?" Fang shook his head.

The two sat in silence for a little while after their last exchange. When all was said and done there really wasn't all that much to discuss between two birdkids, no matter how amazing their meeting might be. They could fly, they had wings, they did or didn't know any others. That was about all there was to their predicament unless they wanted to get into the fundamentals of aerodynamics.

"I should probably get back," Fang decided finally while he slowly stood. She nodded, watching as he made his way back over to the window, pulling it up with a quick tug.

"Thanks, uh," so eloquent, Max, she berated herself, "for back there. Y'know, before you dropped me."

"Don't mention it."

"You live in Springfield, right?" She inquired, knowing if he needed to fly back to the other town he would likely find the poachers again. He nodded.

"Living in the dorms," Max's brows drew up at this. She hadn't even realized the school was the dorm-y type. It wasn't a public school? Did public schools have dorms? Talk about weird. Where the dorms co-ed? It was definitely a co-ed school, so surely that meant there were girl and guy dorms. How had she failed to notice that earlier? More importantly… "how the hell does a school with dorms not have a gym?" Fang snorted at the abrupt change in topic.

"Renovating the gym this semester." Ah.

"Ah." Well, she supposed that was a simple if not ridiculous explanation. By his expression Fang seemed to agree. "I suppose you need to get going then. They check up on you guys in there, don't they? Make sure you haven't run off to the girl's side?" He grimaced at the notion and Max smirked.

"They normally don't but they like to see us up early in the morning."

"Good night then," Max gave a wimpy ass wave of farewell.

"I'll be seeing you at school?" Max rolled her eyes.

"Hell no," Fang was surprised at this. "I got a concussion, remember?" A smirk worked its way onto her lips, "I'm milking this as long as I can." Fang snorted softly and shook the hair out of his face.

"Of course you are."

"Watch out for Iggy for me, will ya?" She said it nonchalantly, as if she couldn't be bothered with his answer whatever it may be. He smiled softly.

"I think I can manage."

"Good."

"Night." Max, having already bid her farewell twice now, wasn't sure what to do with herself. Fang, taking the initiative, climbed through the window and jumped. He managed to keep himself aloft with several quick strokes and when Max made it to the window it was to find he was already out of sight. She made quick work of shutting the window and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning Max awoke to curly blonde hair tickling her nose. Cracking open an eye she spied Angel hovering over her with a cheerful grin and laughter bubbling in her throat.

"It's time to get ready for school, Max." The brunette in question closed her eyes again and mumbled something incoherent, already planning the spiel she would give her mother to convince her she wasn't well enough to attend school today. Angel giggled again. "I'll tell Mrs. M you're not feeling good."

Max cracked open the same eye as she watched the blonde bounce out of the room, wondering how the little girl could catch onto her act so fast. Sure Max wasn't the most intelligent thing in the morning but the girl had picked out her plan almost as soon as Max had thought it. Clever girl. Still intent on playing up her injury Max dozed peacefully until her mother entered and came to sit at the edge of her bed.

"Max, honey?" Another eye crack, "Are you feeling any better today?" Prying her hand from underneath the depths of her pillow she made a so-so gesture. Her mother nodded and ran her finger's through Max's hair, careful to mind the sore spot. Max closed her eyes again and enjoyed the sensation. It was something her mother had done constantly as a child and while she had since grown out of such displays of affection it didn't negate the fact that it felt wonderful. "I'll let you stay home today," her mother decided.

Score! Max fought to keep her expression neutral and relatively pitiful.

"Don't think I can't tell you're trying to play this up, Maximum." Both Max's eyes popped open and darted sideways to meet with her mother's. Max gave a sheepish half smile and her mother rolled her eyes. "I think a bit more rest will do you good, especially considering your tendency to get up to mischief." Max shrugged her agreement. Her mother turned stern, "get that rest today, young lady. You will be returning to school tomorrow."

Max sagged into her mattress and let out a weak "yes, ma'am." Satisfied that Max understood how her illness was to be treated her mother got up gently and giving Max a last pat on the head informed her there would be food in the fridge as well as the microwave whenever she found need of it. Deciding to stay in bed until the house was clear, lest her mother change her mind about letting Max stay home if she saw her puttering around as usual, Max figured it would be another thirty minutes before she went down.

She ended up sleeping another three hours.

When she finally did get up it was only because the need to pee had become too strong to ignore any longer. Slumping into the bathroom she did her business and washed her hands before making her way downstairs. By now everyone was already off to their respective school or job and Max had the house to herself. Sitting down at the table after acquiring the breakfast burritos she'd found tucked away in the microwave, Max pondered Iggy.

She was rather sure Fang would want to talk to him sometime today. At the same time Ella, if she had anything to say on the matter, would be stuck to him like a leech. Max imagined her sister would also have qualms about being referred to as a parasitic amphibian. Koala bear, then. Those were cute, right? Short of the long, it would be an interesting day for Iggy.

Max shrugged the notion off as she became far more interested in the food sitting before her. Halfway through scarfing down her third burrito she popped back into the kitchen long enough to grab a glass of orange juice before returning to finish of the rest of them. Deciding a snack was in order she then raided the pantry for a bag of chocolate chip cookies and pulled another glass from the drain to supply her milk.

Max took in the splendor of an entire box of chocolate chip cookies – Ahoys, because what else could be better? – before ripping them open and grabbing her first taste of heaven. She turned to her milk and promptly drowned her cookie in it. Counting to five in her head Max pulled it free and plonked it into her mouth, savoring the sweet sensation on her tongue.

Gosh, she loved these things.

Never as good as her mother's home made chocolate chip cookies, Max would certainly be the first to proclaim, but they could work in times of need. And boy did she need these after the week she had seen. She still had another three days to push through, but she would manage it even if it did require a chocoholic boost.

She polished off the entire box in a little under an hour. Generally, any other food she could have decimated in half the time but she had long since realized cookies were something to be savored. Still, even an entire box couldn't last forever and soon even the crumbs were gone. Tucking the empty container into the trashcan she looked at it sadly for a moment before downing the rest of her milk and tossing all her dishes into the sink. Afterwards she found herself sitting in front of the tv, remote in hand, huddle beneath an old blanket she was glad to see had made the transition from their old house to the new.

Flicking on the television she flipped through the channels, watching them briefly before clicking to the next. She loved her tv but sometimes it was a sad matter of nothing decent being on. Unfortunately, this appeared to be the case. Tuning in to a national news station Max flopped onto her side and listened as the anchorman told the tale of a heroic child who called 911 when his mother fell off a latter and knocked herself unconscious.

The forecast came on next, promising clear skies and happy sunshine for the next several days. Content to listen to the man chatter away Max drifted back to sleep. It wasn't every day she had the entire house to herself, and what better use than to sleep somewhere so comfortable? Idly she contemplated the comfort of her couch and how it could be on par with that of her bed. The thought remained until she drifted into deeper sleep.

A hysterical woman woke her with a start.

"He's been gone two weeks now and we don't know what to do." With bleary eyes Max looked around in confusion before her eyes settled on the television. Right. Laying her head back down she stared at the woman on the screen, trying to discern what her antics were about and why she looked so familiar.

"Where did you and your husband last see your son?" Oh, their kid had run away. Oh boy. The news anchor looked at the woman with tender eyes and gave her a moment to dab her eyes and collect herself. A bit over the top, Max though, but supposed she had to be reacting pretty strongly if her kid was gone.

"We left him at home with his younger sister," the woman explained with hiccupping sighs, as though she were barley keeping it together, "we had gone out to celebrate our anniversary – we thought they would be okay alone–"

"I'm sure we all expect our children to be safe in their homes," the anchor woman comforted and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder in a display of comfort. "He was gone when the two of you returned, though?" The woman nodded tearfully.

"We checked on his sister as soon as we realized, but she was in bed and everything seemed fine."

"And what makes you so sure your son was abducted, rather than having run away, ma'am?"

"He's blind, you see." Max bolted up and looked at the television with wide eyes, finally noticing. The lady was thin and pale, face covered in a faint splattering of freckles. All underneath a primly styled head of strawberry blonde hair. "Ignatius has been blind from birth and he just can't get around well on his own." The tears started welling up.

"Someone's taken my baby."

Full disclosure: it remains to be seen if I'm 'back' or 'back'. I've kinda been sitting on this chapter for a while- the cleanup on the beginning was a little grueling so I kept putting it off. Sorry guys.

I have one more chapter prepared for you guys, minimal editing this time, so I'll try to have it up fairly soon. After that I may cut down on word count for chapters, with the intent of updating way more frequently.

Anyways, cheers!