A/N: This chapter's dedicated to sportychic, who's really our only reviewer. Thanks, Sporty, for helping us get back to work. We know we said that we wouldn't be posting until we had inspiration and reviews... Well, we got the inspiration, and we decided to forget about reviews for a few moments and post this for you. This is mostly fluff.

We spent an hour organizing everyone's ages and birthdays. A whole hour. Sheesh. We haven't done the adults yet, either...

Anyway.

PLEASE REVIEW. :(


Alex, Lucifer, and Dominic had been terrorizing ITEX employees for two months now. They had gained wanted posters and quite a few Specific Area Message Encoding alerts; but for all their efforts they had received no more information, nothing helpful. They were cold and running low on gas and food, so they deemed it time to stop at another gas station. Dom headed for the restroom to wash his face and hair--they were avoiding hotels, and consequently, showers, and Dom was feeling the need to get his face clean.

By the time he got out, Luce had finished filling up the tank and Alex had already piled their groceries in the back of the car. He came to rest near the others, a soda in one hand and a can of Pringles in the other. Luce glanced up at him curiously. Dom didn't acknowledge his presence but to sigh.

Alex took a swig of his Mt. Dew before sitting beside them. He twirled the lid of the drink between his fingers, relishing memories and his thoughts far away. "We need to help our family," he stated the obvious with a blustery sigh. The only ones to contradict him were birds in the distance. "We need to be useful. We have no real plan. We aren't getting anywhere."

There was a rustling as Dom stole Alex's Pringles and Alex elbowed him. "Excuse me, I'm trying to be dramatic." Dom shrugged and rolled his eyes. Alex tried not to smirk. "Well fine then. I'm saying we should make oursleves useful. Scaring peeps is getting us nowhere, and Max could use our help most right now. Do you remember the last call we got from her?" He shook his head sadly.

Luce frowned. "How does helping Max bring us any closer to our 'bring down the government' agenda?"

"Do you see us doing anything now?"

"Skree," Dom said, voicing his displeasure.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Max always has a plan, right? Besides, Max is supposed to save the world, and we can help. Boy does the world need saving."

"I see," Luce said. "So where were they again?"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno. With our luck she's out in Montana somewhere. I was thinking we get hold of the others and see if they know where she is."

The three boys gave wistful sighs and looked out into the middle distance, again thinking of their friends. "Sounds like a plan," Luce said. "You got your cellphone?"

"I got a dead cellphone," Alex grumbled. "You?" Dom and Luce told him that they were in the same predicament. "And there aren't any pay phone... And it's not like we can just use some random person's phone or anything." He bit his lip. "How can we--"

He closed his mouth, and as one their heads cocked to the side. In the distance, they could hear the sound of a helicopter approaching, and the familiar sound of Hummers. Finally, Lucifer spoke. "Either we're being trailed by the Mafia, or ITEX just got classier."

"Either way, we better run."

Dom snapped out his wings only to glance at the others and pull them back, leaping into the driver's seat. Alex dove for shotgun and Luce went for the backseat just as Dom shot the car out of there. Gravel was sent flying everywhere as he burst onto the road, heading away from their pursuers as fast as the vehicle would let them.

"Turn up the radio."

Dom did so obediently, but asked, "Kee-ke-keee?"

"Oh, no special reason," Alex replied, "I just thought I'd say that."

Lucifer was staring out the window at the rear-view mirror, and muttering, "Those aren't Hummers, damn it. Those are freaking Smart Cars."

Dom very nearly laughed. "Smart Cars?" Alex repeated, not sure what to make of that. "A mob of Smart Cars?" He turned to get a look for himself and then sat back, blinking. "A mob of Smart Cars."

"Always knew they were evil," Luce said. "Oh wait. There is a Hummer."

Dom had long since floored it, but the Hummer caught up with them and soon drew level. The tinted window rolled down to reveal men in black suits, sunglasses, with earpieces...and a gun pointed straight at Dom.

All three of the hybrids ducked and Dom let go of the steering wheel; the bullet pierced through the passenger window and went straight through the driver's seat's; the hybrids' car swerved and crashed into the side of the Hummer, nearly killing Lucifer who just barely managed to throw himself into the back of the car before it happened. Dom straightened up enough to grab the steering wheel and get away from the seriously messed up Hummer, but the little Smart Cars were shooting at them as well. The bullets all went through the windows or lodged in the headrests of the seats, and Luce's foot got stuck in Dom's mouth as he tried to pull himself up from where he'd landed when he jumped into the back.

Alex folded the two back seats and pushed them as far back as they could go to give them more floorspace. Lucifer tried to monitor what was happening outside without getting his brains blown out. Dom tried not to get a bullet through his forehead and steer at the same time.

Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes. Alex was thrown forward, and Lucifer smacked his head on the hard side of the car door. Both of their sensitive noses protested at the smell of burning rubber, and they barely managed to scream, "What the hell are you DOING?" before beginning to cough and hack.

"Keee!" Dom hissed, and the Smart Cars and the Hummer shot past them. Dom immediately threw the car in reverse, turned it around, and shot in the other direction. "SKREE KEE KRE-SEE!"

Alex obeyed, crawling into the front seat and leaning over to get the steering wheel from Dom. The car lurched sickeningly, and Dom was thrown against the car door; his hands shook as he unlocked it.

"Dominic, NO!" Lucifer cried, but the door was already open and Dom had jumped out. He hit the ground in an awkward roll, and to save his wings and back and neck the potentially fatally consequences of the bad roll, his arm suffered. He didn't hear the snap but he sure felt it, and for a moment it was all he could do to stand up straight let alone open his wings. He gave a half-scream of anguish as he stretched his wings out and forced himself to take a running leap into the air. His wings caught the wind, and after five seconds of agony the pain dulled and he managed to perform a complicated corkscrew to avoid a rain of bullets.

The car Luce and Alex were in was disappearing, and most of the Smart Cars were slowing to keep up with Dom rather than the others. The Hummer came to a full stop and five men ran out of it, strange guns in hand and trained on him. He screeched, but didn't fight as they fired at him, as he went down in a storm of electricity. His friends would be screaming at him, they'd be trying to get him back. He found himself still barely conscious as he men in black approached him now, kneeling beside him to examine him, talking into their blue tooths, or nudging him with their fancy shoes. He screeched again and bit the nearest one. Kicking him, at least they'd scuff their shoes.

"Damn," one deep voice said. "The kid's gone and broken his collarbone. That's gonna hurt."

Dom wanted to spit at them and tell them it already did hurt, but then someone said, "We've got our orders, let's bring him in," and he was being lifted up and thrown in the back of the Hummer. Typical procedure followed. Someone jammed a dirty, chemical covered rag over his nose, and he struggled a bit, but didn't fight incredibly hard. He hurt, and as much of a rebel he was, he knew darkness would be a temporary bliss compared to everything else he would be going through.

As the chemical he'd breathed in began to take effect, the pain in his neck, back and arm faded away and it left him with a fuzzy, warm, light-headed feeling. His eyes slipped to half-mast, and he exhaled through his mouth. As his mind began to go all sleepy and drunken-like, he felt a warmth and weight settle around his shoulders as if...as if...

His face twisted in his half-slumber, one of the men in black noticed. The man leaned closer and saw the hybrid's lips silently mumble a name...

"Holly?" the man murmured. "Who's that?"


Damnit, Dom thought groggily as he woke. He hadn't wanted to wake up ever again. The inky blackness of unconsciousness had been painless, and his dreams had been sweet. Waking up even slightly brought bitterness and sharp, terrible pain. He groaned and drew his knees up to his chest, cradling his left arm close to his chest. He knew it was his collarbone that had snapped, but his arm hurt too; maybe he'd fractured it or something. His groan grew in volume and turned into a keening whine as fire laced up his side and through his ribs.

"Don't jostle it too much," a voice said. "It's been fixed, but it ain't healed yet, kid." Dom trembled under the touch of someone's fingers brushing against the back of his left wing. "Oh come now, I'm not as bad as that Karen. I won't harm you." The voice was soft and low and comforting, and somehow familiar. "However, you must allow me to touch you, just ever so slightly..." Strong fingers gently brushed aside his bangs and touched his jaw.

Dom whimpered, but his body was in too much pain to resist. "Seriously, Dominic... Just open your eyes."

Dom remembered that he had eyes to open and tried to raise his heavy lids. They were crusty and dry, and it took them a moment to focus on a point somewhere across the room. Once the fog of sleep cleared, he could see that the walls were completely white, but the room was lit with a warm yellow light that softened the hard sterility of an ITEX storage room. He wasn't in a cage, so he figured that this was either a transitional room while they looked for a cage big enough to not-quite fit him, or maybe this was one of those newfangled holding unit. Strangely, he was lying on a mattress, hard and uncomfortable as far as mattresses went but not as hard as the floor, and not as claustrophobic as a cage.

Dom was warm, and though he still ached terribly he knew that he didn't hurt as much as he could. Someone had to have cared enough for his well-being, not just his health, to make sure that that was so.

He hardly dared to breathe, his wings and shoulders shaking, as he slid his gaze to the figure sitting on his mattress at his knees. The man's face was thin and angular, and his eyes were dark brown. He was an older man, maybe in his late forties, and his hair was more silver than white. It suited him, as his face was only lightly lined, giving him a young and handsome appearance. His mouth was the mouth of one who was used to smiling.

He wore a lab coat and smelled like a doctor.

Now that Dom had seen him, he didn't dare even blink. A split second would be enough for the whitecoat to do something--anything--and Dominic would be completely helpless. He was low to the ground, up against a wall, in pain, nearly crippled and the whitecoat was pressed up against his legs anyway.

The man's hand was still resting lightly on his neck, and his fingers twitched; Dominic's skin crawled and his hair practically stood on end at the feeling of being stroked by this man. His lips formed words that he could not speak, a silent, terrified question. Somehow the whitecoat understood.

"My name is Doctor Zenaida. You might remember me as Eric, the man who was in charge of the children at the facility you were born in."

Dominic's eyes widened, but not in pleasant surprise. A chill went down his spine and he felt his eyes sting and bile rise in his throat. This was the man who had not only ordered the surgery on his vocal chords, but also been the head surgeon, the one who had cut him open and ruined his voice forever. He tried to jerk away, his voice coming out in frantic bursts of almost childlike fear. With his good hand he tried to push Eric's away, but the doctor closed his hand around Dom's and pushed him into the bed.

"Calm down, Dominic," he said firmly. "I am not here to hurt you."

Dom's vision blurred with a mix of anger and fear and remembered pain. He had had nightmares of what this man did to him almost nightly. He wanted to scream at this man all the pain that had been inflicted because of him, all the problems that came up because of what he'd done.

"I know what I did," Eric said. "I know that there must have been a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of emotional anguish... You must have had a myriad of problems without a human voice, and I know that you can never--and I mean that you can't possibly ever--forgive me. I can't forgive myself, and I never will. I want to apologize."

The hybrid closed his eyes, and they burned. He felt the hot tears streaking out of the corners of his eyes, and he wished that he were seven again so that he could curl up further and cry his heart out. He wished Sable were there, he wished Holly were alive, he wished he were home.

Eric put his hand on the young man's hair and smoothed his fingers down the back of his head as soothingly as he could. "I'm so sorry," he said gently. "I really am."

But both of them knew it wasn't enough.

Dominic cried until he couldn't cry anymore, and he felt worse than ever. He hurt all over, his eyes stung, his nose was running, his head was pounding, and Dr. Zenaida was still at his side. There had been no improvement in the situation. He was weak and he was helpless, and he was at the mercy of a man who was probably just playing with him to get his guard down and get his scalpel into his skin again...

"Shhh," Dr. Zenaida said gently, still smoothing Dom's hair back. "Are you afraid of me?"

He nodded and licked his lips; they were dry and cracking already.

Dr. Zenaida sighed. "That probably will never change," he acknowledged. "And so I will do what I must, and you won't like it."

Dominic flinched and put his good arm over his head, trying to hide, or shield himself at least.

"There is a procedure that we have been working on that will either return to you your voice, on at least some level, or it will render you mute. I have been given the choice to go ahead with it or not, it's completely my call. I trust my abilities and trust my surgeons. Just thought you should know what we were going to do." The doctor stood, and gave Dominic's shoulder one last squeeze. "Dominic, I hope you can at least learn to hate me. I do not like being feared like you fear me."


Dominic woke to find himself being wrestled to the floor. He screamed and fought them as best he could, but finally he was pinned to the hard tiles, his wings crushed beneath him and scientists piled on his chest. His breathing was frantic and his heart raced in his chest.

"Night terrors," the voice of Dr. Zenaida muttered. "Damn it."

"When are you going to schedule the procedure, Doctor? You know there's only a small time slot."

"Yes, but..."

The voices moved away the hands left his body. Dominic curled up and chewed his knuckles to try and fight off some of the anxiety and panic that still occupied his mind. He could remember all too vividly what had happened in his dream. The pain of the scalpel, of someone messing with his vocal chords... He tore at his hair at the thought, trying to rip it out of his mind. No, no, no, was all he could think. He could hear his own voice warbling and trilling pathetically, like a frightened little boy's voice. He nearly wished that he had a blanket he could hide under, even though he was twenty and anything but a child.

He stood after a time and threw out his wings. It hurt, but not as much as before, and moving around and beating his wings a bit alleviated some of the stress he was experiencing. But the images were still burned into his eyelids, and he couldn't forget that ghost of a feeling... His hand shot up to his throat and clenched it, feeling the scar.

He didn't know sign language. That was his one failing. He had never learned it, and he thought he never would. The people who needed to understand him could. But if this upcoming torture session didn't go as planned--and, he decided, he had to face it, there was no way it would go as planned--he wouldn't be able to be understood by anyone.

"And I must scream indeed," he clicked. He might just go insane without voicing his thoughts, with having to resort to crude gestures and pantomime. It was already hard to deal with people who couldn't understand his language. What would it be like if no one could understand him ever again...period?

He didn't think he wanted to know.

He heard someone walking up to the door, and he leaned closer, trying to hear what was happening. He nearly fell through the door when it opened; another familiar face met him. This one was a woman, with her dark hair stylishly curled and pouring down her shoulders and back. He couldn't make out all her features in the darkness, but he knew she had slate gray eyes and a very pointy nose. She had been the one who fed him and treated him like a human when he was a child. She had also been one of the doctors present for his surgery. It had been one of the biggest betrayals in his life. His heart had broken when he saw her in the blue gown of a surgeon, her gloves bloodied with his own life liquid.

He backed away slowly and tried to get back to his bed, but she reached out and grabbed his right hand. "No, Dominic, I... I wanted to apologize...and... I'm so sorry." She let go of his hand and covered her face, breathing deeply to control her emotions. "Your surgery is in three hours. I had to warn you."

Dominic turned and hugged himself with his good arm and said, "It doesn't matter. I won't be getting out this time."

He knew that there was no way that Luce and Alex would get there in time. They were probably only just losing the ITEX people that were chasing them. They'd undoubtedly turn right around and track them back to the facility... But that would take more than three hours. If he were in surgery when they arrived, they would be forced to wait. They might even be captured. Almost undoubtedly.

There was nothing for him to do except pace. He couldn't sleep, wouldn't risk another nightmare. There was no way he was going to be able to break out with what felt like a couple broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and maybe some fractures in his arm. He had no hope of escape or salvation.

The hours passed.

The door opened.

He shied away from the doctors who came in; Eric Zenaida was last among them, as was the woman who had visited him earlier. To his vague surprise, he found that none of them were armed and none of them had any medication on them--no tranqs or sedatives or hypodermic needles of any kind. Somehow, that didn't make him feel any better. It insulted him, crushed him; he felt anger and terror at the same time. Screeching, squawking and screaming as loud as he could, he threw open his wings and made to attack whoever came near. The scientists, the doctors were intimidated, as expected, and jumped out of the way whenever he got in range.

He didn't know what this accomplished except putting their precious schedules off track. He flapped his wings twice, took two running steps, and lunged at the door. He was planning on barreling through Dr. Zenaida and landing in the hall, but instead of getting knocked down or giving into the knee-jerk reaction of dodging, Eric threw open his arms and grabbed Dominic in a bear hug.

Both were sent to the floor in the hall, and Dom screamed in pain as his collar and arm were crushed. The doctor let go of him and the other whitecoats picked him up. He was placed on a hospital bed and strapped down and a mask was placed over his face. The woman from before dried his face with her sleeve.

They rolled him, crying, down the hall to the operating room.


When Dominic woke up, he felt nothing. Everything was black, and he had to double check to see if he had opened his eyes or not, but he had. As his hand rubbed his face to try and regain any sort of feeling, his memory began to come back to him in flashes. He had been wheeled into the sterile operating room, he'd been prepped for surgery, and he'd fainted at the sight of the operating instruments, the blue robes, the masks, the gloves... After that he'd been put under, and the last thing he could remember before waking up was the feeling of his skin getting sliced open...

He shuddered and his hand went to his throat to find it wrapped in gauze. He had the vague recollection of hands and tools moving inside his throat, like worms...

He wanted to scream, but he was afraid that doing so would ruin his vocal chords. Speaking of which--would he be able to speak? How would he know? How soon could he know? What if...

Tears filled his eyes and his throat worked dryly. That hurt, and it just made the situation even worse.

He rolled over onto his right side and heard paper crackle--there was something underneath him, which upon inspection turned out to be a note from Dr. Zenaida.

"Knock on the door when you wake up."

Dominic crawled off the mattress and stood, leaning on the wall and breathing heavily through his nose as his head spun. Pressure was building up behind his eyes, pounding and painful. It felt like someone was driving nails through his skull, from the inside out, and taking his eyes with them. He let out a silent groan and stumbled over to the door, nearly collapsing against it when he reached it. It opened immediately and two doctors rushed in; Dr. Zenaida and an assistant who Dom couldn't recognize.

Dr. Zenaida supported Dom's weight and helped him sit up. "It's okay, Dominic, just breathe. Do you have a headache? Does your throat hurt at all?" Dominic gestured weakly at his head, and pointed at his throat and shrugged. Eric looked at his assistant, who was even younger than Dom. "Grab some of the pain killers I brought. And..." He drifted off into some medical jargon that Dom couldn't understand, and the next thing he knew his sleeve was getting rolled up and a needle was being inserted into his arm.

He gasped and his elbow jerked painfully, but he couldn't fight back for fear of the needle breaking and getting lodged inside him. That had happened to Kate, and she'd nearly died. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, trying to keep from fainting. "Shhh, it's okay... It's okay..."

Dominic's headache slowly went away, and he opened his eyes again to stare down at his hands. He gestured at his throat and raised his arms in question.

"You won't be able to even try using your voice for maybe a week," Dr. Zenaida said. "You can't make a single sound with your voice, even sneezing and coughing. Just don't talk for four to five days, and then we'll try putting you through some speech therapy."

Dominic felt ice shoot through his veins, and he pushed himself up onto his knees and hand, and he limped over to his mattress and lay back down on it, ignoring Dr. Zenaida calling to him. He pressed his face into the pillow.

Dr. Zenaida stood over him. "You'll be on a liquid diet for a while, so I hope you like smoothies."

Dominic didn't respond. The doctors left.

The days passed.

No one came to save him.


Dom woke after forever and sat up. He ran his fingers through his hair, which had gotten greasy and matted and was starting to smell, and he imagined that Holly would laugh at him and call him Robert Pattinson or something. He sighed.

The door opened and Eric came in, an orange colored smoothie-type thing in a plastic cup in hand. It was Dom's favorite beverage from a coffee shop that was local to Sable's area, and Dominic had never told anyone; mango flavored, with whipped cream. It was a welcome change from the tasteless, terribly textured protein shakes that he'd been force fed the past week or so. He took it in his right hand and ripped the paper off the straw with his teeth as Dr. Zenaida watched.

"Your friend told me that that's what you liked," Eric said, and Dominic nearly choked on his smoothie. His heart pounded. Since when had--

"Sable, that's her name, am I right? She somehow got a hold of my cell phone number and I've been filling her in. She suggested that I get you a smoothie, so I did. By the way, I don't know what number she's calling form and I don't know where she is. I'm not even going to try to figure it out. So you don't have to worry about her."

Suddenly, the smoothie tasted salty and his eyes burned.

"And some more good news. I want to start you on speech therapy today." Dominic's eyes bulged and he started coughing as silently as he could. "I thought I'd get you a Mango Mania to celebrate. I know you're not enthused about this whole thing, but trust me in this matter if you can. It'll be better for you in the long run." He smiled half-heartedly. "Can you make any sound at all?"

Dominic opened his mouth and then shut it. What could he say to test it?

"You--"

His eyes widened and his hand went to his throat. It hurt!

"Try it quieter, like you were telling someone a secret. Don't talk loudly yet."

"You could have told me that before," Dominic hissed, and then it hit him. He was talking. Human.

He jumped up, nearly kicking his Mango Mania over. "I can talk!" he whispered hoarsely. "I can talk!"

"Yes, yes you can." Eric grinned. "Don't strain your voice. You're going to have to be careful until you're fully healed."

Dominic whirled on him, his eyes narrow. "You wait until I can shout," he muttered vehemently. "I am going to cuss your sorry ass to Hell!"

"I don't blame you. I won't. God, am I glad your hating me." He hurried to the door. "I'll get you another shake, see if Sable's called...I'll be back."

Dominic was breathing heavily as he turned and stalked back to his bed, where his Mango Mania was waiting. He sipped at it slowly as he reflected on the sound of his own voice. It was hoarse and garbled with mucus and probably blood, and it hurt even to whisper--but it was deep, and it was rich, and it was epic. He loved it. He considered becoming a Nudge later in life just to hear his own voice--if he ever got used to talking at all. Even with his bird's voice he was considered quiet, more used to expressing himself silently than vocally, more used to keeping his thoughts to himself than sharing them. He was more of an introvert, plain and simple.

But his voice! It was the voice of someone on a radio show, or a narrator, or of a father reading bedtime stories to his children. It wasn't the voice of a wallflower. He had a brilliant idea for how he could use his voice, but it could wait until he was free.

Another thought hit him. Would this be his voice if they had never messed with his throat at all? If he'd remained untouched would his voice be different?

When he recovered--would he be able to sing?

The doctor came back then, a shake in one hand, a phone in the other, and a clipboard tucked between his left elbow and his chest. The phone was to his ear. "Yes, yes, I'm sorry you got put on hold, I was talking to him--of course, I'm giving you—he's right here! Hold on." He handed Dom the shake. "This is for you." He grabbed a pen from behind his ear. "I need to fill out this file. It can wait. Pretend I'm not here." The white coat handed Dom the phone. "This is Sable. She is the reason we need more coffee in the employee lounge."

Dom blinked and put the phone to his ear, and nearly got his eardrums blasted out as Sable shouted, "DOM!"

"Sable?" he asked hoarsely, and he rolled it on his tongue. "Sable."

"Dominic, oh my God." Her voice had lowered and was filled with awe. "Your voice is amazing, Dom."

He felt a blush rising in his cheeks, and he didn't really quite know why. "Thanks."

"You really do sound amazing. Look, whenever they say it's okay for you to go Luce and Alex will be there. We're really lucky these guys developed a conscience. You have no idea how close you were to being sent to one of the other facilities. We all want to kill you for the stunt you pulled."

"Your boyfriend's alive, isn't he?" Dominic whispered.

She sighed. "He hasn't killed himself yet."

Dominic rolled his eyes. "I thought I was supposed to be the emo one, Sabes."

"Right... Dom, you have to come home, okay? I want Luce and Alex to bring you here, meet me, you need to recover in a safe--"

"No, Sable," he said immediately. "I can't. We can't."

"And why not? Dom this is nonnegotiable, you have to—"

"No Sabes."

"But Beth..."

"No."

She was quiet. He felt like he was ripping a part of himself in two when he denied himself a chance to see Sable and Beth, his two closest friends in the world. They were the two people closer to him than anyone else, even his flock mates. More than anything he wanted to hug them again. But he had left them a note when he first left, and he was a man of his word. He had a job to do, and if he ever wanted to see the ones he loved again, he had to do that job. If he let himself see the girls before then... Maybe it was like showing off pictures of your family when you're in the army. Like that Hughes guy from Fullmetal Alchemist that the girls always sobbed about. He didn't know.

He really didn't want to find out that it was possible to jinx things. He didn't want to risk it.

"I'll call you when I can get out."

"...Fine."

Dom was caught by surprise. He hadn't expected her to give in that easily. After a moment, he found his voice again. "What?"

"I'm saying fine. Fine, be a jerk. I'll just talk the guys into kidnapping you and dragging you back here."

A sad smile spread slowly across his face. "You would."

"I will."

"I don't doubt you."

There was an awkward pause, and then he could tell that Sable was probably smiling. "Want to talk to Beth? She just woke up."

"No. Are you insane?"

"...I just woke up, too. I think that explains it."

"You don't say."

After another pause Dom focused his gaze on the scientist. "When can I leave?"

The scientist looked up. "As soon as you can shout without your throat tearing."

"...You want me to leave before then. When? Now?"

"Not now," the scientist said. "Seriously. If your throat tears, it can be disastrous."

"Disastrous how?"

"You could bleed out, possibly die within the hour."

Dominic paled and asked Sable if she'd heard that. She said she had and reluctantly agreed with the scientists. There was another pause. Dom sat down on his mattress and pulled his knees up to his chin, sipping on his shake a bit bitterly. He could feel the tears in his throat again. Crying was becoming too familiar lately, and if he hadn't felt so miserable he would have been embarrassed that he cried this much at nearly twenty-one... He moved the phone away and used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes. When he put the phone back to his ear he gave a blustery sigh.

"Dom..."

"Yeah?"

"Don't shout."

Dominic laughed softly, and the sound was entrancing to both of them--he had never laughed with sound before. It had always been just breathy, gaspy sounds--this was a real laugh.

Sable was very quiet as she said, "Holly would be so happy for you."

Dom felt his throat close up. "I know," he said huskily. "I know."


Luce drove the car around the block. Alex shook his head. "This is cheating. Dom is gonna hate us."

"We're gonna bring him here anyway, aren't we? I need to see her, and it's on the way!"

"And I need to see Nudge, but you don't see me going all stalker."

"Well, just goes to show who likes their girlfriend more."

"Hey!"

"Urgh, you're right though." Luce parked the car down the street and looked back at the house. "Should we stay?"

"You already know the answer to that. She'll kill you if you were this close and didn't stop. She'll find out."

"She would."

"She will."

"But we can't."

"We have to."

"No."

"You made the decision before you dragged us here. Come on." Alex got out of the car. "Let's get this over with."

"You make it sound painful."

"We're going to be glomped to death and you're going to go all emo again. It'll be pretty close to painful."

"…Pessimist."

"And it's true."

Luce locked the car and the boys slowly walked up to Sable's house. Ana's car, and the other cars belonging to various members of the Colorado household, were parked in front of it. The sound of their laughter poured from the house, a pleasant change from the depression that the two boys had been seeped in.

The door opened when Luce tried it, and they walked inside. Their delicate eardrums were promptly met by a plate shattering on the tile floor of the kitchen, which attached to the hallway by the door. Nudge stood there, barefoot amidst the smithereens that had been a plate or bowl. Her eyes were wide, and her face was pale with shock. Alex smiled at her.

"Hey Nudge. May I help you pick that up?"

He stooped to begin sweeping it up with his hands, and she couldn't seem to move, entranced by the mere appearance of him. Her hands dropped to her sides; he stood and got the dust pan and finished cleaning up. After disposing of the last of the glass fragments, he brushed his fingers against her feet. "There," he said gently. "It's safe for you to walk on now." When she still didn't speak he straightened and turned to Luce. "I hate to leave her frozen like this. Want to great the others on your own,or should I throw her over my shoulder and we face them together?"

Her arms were suddenly around his waist, her face pressed between his shoulder blades. Luce slipped away to leave the two lovers alone. He waited quietly for the others to notice him, too busy talking and laughing and enjoying each others company to notice their entrance or the episode in the kitchen. The twins were the first, pausing in their play to stop and stare, causing everyone else to as well.

Sable wasn't there, but everyone else was. He was immediately engulfed in a group glomp, with Beth closest to him, her face mashed against his elbow awkwardly. He hugged them all back as best he could.

"OhmigoshohmigoshohmigoshSable! SABLE!" Beth took off like a rocket and Luce could only laugh to himself and shake his head. He smiled at them.

"Hey."

Ana smiled at him. "It's so nice to see you safe and sound," she said. "When Sable told us what had happened, I was afraid you might go and throw yourself in the ocean or something!"

He rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone think I'll do that?"

"Because you're the kind of person who would."

"Nah. She'd find some way to bring me back and kill me herself if I tried that."

"She would! Oh, there she is!" Ana spun Luce around and pushed him towards the hallway. "Go get her, Romeo!"

Sable was being pushed down the hall as well, but she refused to budge from the doorway and Beth had to dodge around her, running over to the others. Sable brushed her hair out of her eyes. "It's about time you came home."

"I'm sorry it took so long."

"I've missed you."

"I'm sorry for ruining things last time."

"Are you better?"

"I don't know."

"Only one way to find out."

"Ew! Mushy stuff!"

"Yes, mushy stuff," Sable said with a sense of satisfaction, and grabbed Luce by his shirt front.

"Goodness gracious--"

"Out! Everybody out!"

"Ew Alex and Nudge in the kitchen! Other way!"

Lucifer pulled away from Sable and pressed his lips to her forehead, her eyes, her nose. "I've missed you so much," he breathed as he kissed her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too." She pulled him down to the sofa, and sat down carefully beside him without removing her arms from around his neck or her fingers from his dirty, matted, smelly hair. She let him continue kissing her face, and she stroked the back of his neck. "You haven't been gone more than three months and I miss you like you've been gone three years again," she said softly.

"My stay wasn't that long," he whispered back. "How I've missed you."

He kissed her lips again, deeply, cupping her face in his large hands; she ran her hands through his hair and pulled him closer. He broke away, breathing a bit more heavily, and his eyes were wide. "Not yet. Sabes…Not yet. I still don't completely trust myself with you." She growled, pulling herself back to him.

"Don't give me any of that. Kiss me already."

And so he did.

And all hell broke loose.

Parents.

A hand clamped down on Luce's shoulder, and a pair of knuckles rapped across the top of Sable's skull. "What do you think you're doing, young lady?" her father demanded.

"Dad, I'm seventeen! He's been my boyfriend since I was in eighth grade! I'm almost an adult! I think I'm over that entire hormone thingy!" She had both hands on top of her head, and she glowered up at her dad. "I'm pretty sure he's the guy I want to marry--I haven't seen him in ages--he might have died--I think I should be allowed to kiss him!"

"Not until you're married. Apart. Now."

"Come on, do you want me to have to sneak out? Romeo and Juliet?"

Her dad leveled his steady gaze upon her, and she smiled sheepishly. "You and I both know you're too much of a goody two shoes to do such a thing."

"But--"

"You should be ashamed of yourself," he said. "He was being perfectly honorable and trying to be mature about things, and you had to go and seduce the poor bloke."

"Dad! Please!"

But Luce muttered something along the lines of, "It's true."

She blushed bright red. "I'm sorry, Luce!"

"Luce?" Her dad whirled on him. "What's your name?"

A flush sprang up along the sharp lines of Luce's cheekbones, but he met Sable's father's eyes with his own red orbs and didn't flinch. "My official name is Lucifer."

Sable looked down at her hands to avoid her father's glare. "Luce, I kinda told my parents that your name was Brandon so they wouldn't freak out."

Lucifer nodded. "I see."

"...Your boyfriend. Is named Lucifer. And he has red eyes. And you were trying to seduce him. Where did I go wrong?"

"He's one of the Fallen, Dad--"

"I can see that!"

"Dad! You know them, like Blake and Rodney and the Ninjas? They're all Fallen. They were bred to have the red eyes and fangs and--"

"Fangs!"

"They have black wings, but Luce doesn't--I mean--Oh man I've really put my foot in my mouth, I'm so, so sorry Luce--"

"It's okay, Sabes..."

"But anyway, Zachary Moore made him and called him Lucifer to be a jack--I mean a jerk like that, and yeah and...yeah."

There was a long silence. "He has fangs. You really shouldn't be kissing him."

"I completely agree, sir."

"Luce!" Sable put head in her hands. "Dad, but really..."

"The boy agrees with me."

"Fine. He's leaving soon anyway."

Luce blinked. "I am?"

"Aren't you?"

"We kind of didn't have a plan when we came here...Alex called me a stalker..."

Sable groaned. "At least he's truthful, Dad."

Her dad narrowed his eyes. "We'll see."

Luckily for Luce and for Sable, Alex and Nudge stumbled in, lips locked and suggestive noises coming from them. Sable's dad groaned. "Nudge, Alex, really?"

They sprang apart, both blushing furiously.

"OH!"

"You're home!"

Sable grabbed Luce's arm and dragged him off to her room. Her dad glared down at them. "Keep your door open!"

"I know!"

Luce stared at her with wide eyes. "I am so dead." She couldn't find it in her to disagree, and they sat down on her bottom bunk. There was still a mark in the wall where the hole Emma had made had been plastered over, a cruel remind of how the world was out to get them. Luce stared at it. "Emma's a very messed up little girl."

"Where is she, anyway?" Sable asked, her eyes distant as she too gazed at the wall. "She kind of just dropped under the radar, didn't she?"

Luce shrugged. "She's either still living a horrid life at ITEX with Karen, or she got out of it somehow and is planning...I don't know. I really don't know what she'd do."

She nodded and squeezed their joined hands. Their gazes dropped to their linked fingers, and he rubbed his thumb over her scarred skin. "Sable... Do you happen to know the marriage laws in California?"

"Yeah. We could get married if we had parental consent, birth certificates, and a counselor. At least in California."

"...So no way."

"I could look up other places."

"I'd rather not go behind your parents' backs, you know..."

Surprisingly, Sable smiled. "I'm glad."

"But weren't you just being a rebellious teenager?"

"Yes. Sort of. But it's not really me. You know that."

"Of course I do." He kissed her on the cheek. "I know you so well, it's impossible not to love you."

She hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Luce. Thank you so much."

"Thanking the devil, you are messed up," he teased, and received a smack in return.


"So, sweetheart," Alex breathed in Nudge's ear. Even then she knew he was about to sweet talk her into something that would probably annoy her. "Do you have any idea where Max might be?"

Nudge frowned. "Why do you need to know?"

"We need a plan, and she usually has plans," Alex said, and propped himself up on his elbows. "So far, all we know is that we want to take down ITEX, get married to our respective gals, and have kids and lead long, happy lives. We need a little help on the first point."

Nudge smiled. "Max is one for plans...I don't know where she is now, and I doubt the others do either. She still gets word to us sometimes, but you know how paranoid she is. She's never traceable. It's gotten worse now that she's got kids of her own. She's taken them and flown off the face of the earth."

"Have you ever been to Canadia?"

"No." Nudge sniggered. "You?"

"No. There's a first time for everything. Would you care to join us on a trip up to the great Canadia, to find Max, to find adventure?"

"It sounds good to me. Like that Diary of a Lovesick Mutant on Fanfiction or something!"

"But we're not as insane about bacon as them."

"Says you! You blasphemer."

"Yes, I'm a blaspemer. Watchya gonna do about it?" He leaned over her, eyes daring.

She stuck a hand in his face and wriggled away. "We've been in enough trouble. I'll go make you some bacon."

"But it'll make your breath stink!" He wrinkled his nose and trapped her with his arms. "I don't think I'd like to kiss bacon-lips."

She attempted to squirm away again to no avail. "Alex!" She whined. "Sable's dad's on the prowl. He'll catch us and then you'll have to go."

"But you're coming with me, aren't you?" he purred, and he covered her protest with a deep and sweet kiss.

She kissed him back, ending the kiss with a smile. "Maybe. If bacon is involved."

"I'll treat you to bacon once we reach Canadia."

"Then it's a deal."

Alex tangled his fingers in her hair and tilted his head so that he could kiss her even deeper than before, pulling her to him and thoroughly blowing her mind. Of course they had to be interrupted.

"Just because you're a Senator's son doesn't mean you get to make your own rules!"

Alex groaned and smacked his head on the sloping roof of the attic. "Agh..."

"Alex! I told you we'd be in trouble!" Nudge blushed. "I'm going to make bacon. I abandon you both!"

She departed, and Alex found himself facing Sable's father. He was taller than the man by three inches at 6'3", but he felt as small as a four year old around the older man. It was even worse that Sable's father and his own got along perfectly well; they were thick as thieves.

"So..." He coughed. "How much trouble am I in?"

"I'm telling your parents. Both of them. Read: You are dead."

"Please, sir! Will begging work? Have you no mercy?"

"I'm afraid not."

Alex covered his face with his hand and sighed. "I suppose I must resign myself to my fate. Off with me to my last confession and Last Rights! Off to write my Last Will and Testament! Goodbye, cruel world!" He stalked off with a smile on his face.

"Tell your girlfriend to leave me some bacon, dolt!"

Sable's father sighed and shook his head, smiling. He remembered that age... He was even worse than those two kids. Which was exactly why he had to give them a hard time.

It was the job of the Evilest Dad in the World.


Sable looked up at Lucifer shyly, messing with her iTouch. He blinked at her. "What are you doing?" She held up a hand. "Okay then." He put his hands in his pockets and waited. He could hear the distant sound of the music in the auditorium across campus, and while he was glad he wasn't in there he wished that he could at least dance with Sable before he had to leave. A make out session would have been welcome, as it always was, but... Luce wondered if that was all she thought of him. A good kisser? He knew he was one, but... There was more to him. Or at least he hoped so.

He frowned to himself, and didn't see Sable's smile.

"Luce. Wakey-wakey."

"Huh?"

He found an earbud being held out to him, and he took it, realizing what was happening. He put it in his ear and his hands found their spot on her waist, and he held her close to him while she fiddled with her iTouch some more, her arms pinned between them. "There." She slipped the iTouch into his shirt pocket and slipped her arms around his neck, clasping her hands and locking him in.

He smiled down at her. "You're a genius, you know that?"

"After running this organization, keeping my grades up, and organizing this little thing--I can safely say that yes, yes I do know that." She winked.

"That's good." His smile widened, and he leaned to breathe on her neck, showing how much better he was doing. "Do you know you're beautiful too?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm humble, too."

"And that's what I love about you." He was proud, of himself, of her, of the world, of everything. Proud and happy. He tightened his grip on her waist and looked down at their feet. They were just sliding side to side, clicking their shoes together each time they swayed to one side or the other.

"I feel like I'm seventh grade again," she said, and pressed her cheek against his chest.

"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have allowed us to be this close in seventh grade. Not that I ever had a seventh grade."

"Well, you're right on. They wouldn't have let us. I feel so old." She looked up at him again and smiled. "But since you're so tall I don't feel too old." She stood on tiptoes, and she only just came up to his chin.

He put his hand on her head and pushed her back down. "I'll be your brick. You can't grow any bigger."

"But I don't like being so short!"

He leaned down so he was eye to eye with her, and he pressed his lips together in a firm line. "You, Sable, are the cute size. I'm the towering size. Stay the cute size." He kissed her nose and she laughed.

"I was told that once," she said, "by one of the dads of..." Her eyes grew distant. "He was blond... And very, very tall..."

Luce tilted his head to the side and stroked her hair. "What are you going on about Sable?"

She reached up and clasped his hand. "It's a long shot, but James was telling me that his parents lost a baby a few years before him. It might just have been you, Luce."

Luce frowned. "That's really a long shot. Do you really think it's worth checking out?"

"If you want."

But he hesitated. He had never had parents, ever. When he was younger he imagined what it might be like to have them, to have two people to love and protect him, to hug and kiss him and tuck him in at night. But now that he was older, now that he was used to the solitude, now that he was a man himself and had Sable and his Family...

"Maybe someday, but not now," he said. "You're all the family I need."

She stretched up on her toes and he met her halfway, a gentle kiss.

"Thank you."

"Nothing to it."

There was a knock on the door and Sable and Luce dropped to the floor beneath some desks. A flashlight swept across the room through the window, but luckily the security guard didn't see them and moved on. Luce waited for a few moments, then stood and helped Sable up--then he sat down on one of the desks.

Sable found herself pulled onto his lap, and the turned to face him, hugging him tightly. "That was close."

"I've had closer calls." He stroked her back. "When do you want to leave here?"

"I don't," she mumbled. "You have to leave soon."

"Staying here won't help. It'll give me more time alone with you."

"And your dad is going to hate me for that."

"He'll be even more ticked off if we use his classroom." She snickered. "Want to catch a movie?"

"What movie do you have in mind?"

"Whatever is out. Something that's interesting enough to pay attention to if we want to, but something we can ignore if we want each other's full attention."

"You always have my full attention!" Luce pretended to be insulted.

"Yes, only because luckily for me you have the attention span of a gnat. I'm not that interesting, a movie on the other hand…that's made to be interesting!"

He shook his head at her and pulled her close, leaning in so that their noses touched. "There is nothing more interesting than you, Sable. Believe me."

"Aw shucks."


"Get away from that stove before you hurt yourself."

Ella laughed and laughed at Iggy's deadpan face. "Come on Iggy, I'm not that bad. And it's not like it's out to get me."

"You're a worse cook than your sister. Just let me do it. Please."

"Fine!" She backed away with her hands up. "Have at it. Do you even know how to make this recipe?"

He snorted and brushed his fingertips over the mess she'd made, trying to figure out where everything was and what was out. "Now, I've never made it before, but I know how to." He winked roguishly. "I'm epic like that."

"Are you sure you just aren't full of yourself?"

"Oooooh, denied!" Gazzy's voice came from somewhere between them. Iggy smacked his hand against the counter.

"Gazzy! Seriously!"

Gazzy laughed. "What's for dinner?" he asked, leaning over Iggy's hunched shoulders to peer at the ingredients laid out on the counter.

Iggy smacked him away. "Nothing for you if you keep annoying me, kid," he grumbled.

"Jeez, you're all boring now that your paired up." He dodged another swipe from Iggy. "I'm going, I'm going. Who needs something to drink if this is the way I'm going to be treated. Pah."

Ella laughed and moved to sit on a stretch of empty counter, but Iggy helped up a hand. "Oh no you don't," he said. "Grab me some bacon while I get this heated, will you?"

"Bacon?" Ella repeated as she opened the fridge. "Seriously, Iggy, I think this is unhealthy. That recipe does not call for bacon whatsoever."

"Who cares if it's unhealthy? It'll be delicious. Trust me."

She handed him the package, and he gave it his most disgusted expression. "Empty? I could have sworn there was a full pack this morning at breakfast!" He narrowed his blind eyes in comical suspicion, and then he spun to face the giggling of Nudge and Catlyn. "You! I never heard the microwave or the griddle--did you eat my bacon raw?"

"No." They snickered. "We gave it to the neighbors just to annoy you."

Iggy's face fell. "Why? Why would you do something like that? Don't you love bacon? I thought you loved being unhealthy!"

"Hey, we ate it with the neighbors. Didn't you miss us this morning?" Catlyn pouted. "I guess we know how much we're noticed, Nudge."

"Yeah, they're too busy making out and making googly eyes to pay attention to the rest of us." Nudge shook her head sadly. "It's depressing."

Iggy ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "Pot calling the kettle black, Nudgie," he said teasingly.

Nudge blushed. "I hate it when you all call me that!"

"But what about your pet cat?"

"Shut it Iggy! He's not supposed to call me it either!"

Iggy smirked and shrugged. "Right." He turned and looked in Ella's general direction. "Let's go to the store. We need more bacon, and we're out of eggs." She shook her head and grabbed her keys. He turned to Nudge and Catlyn just as he was walking out the door. "How was breakfast, by the way?"

"Baconliscious!"

"Urgh!" He ruffled their hair as he passed. "So, Ella," he said as he got into the passenger seat of her car.

"Hm?" She looked at him once she was buckled. "What is it Iggy?"

"I was wondering what you got me for my birthday."

She rolled her eyes. "Way to be subtle."

He grinned. "That's what I'm best at."

Ella sighed dramatically and stopped at a light. "Do you really want me to tell you the day before your birthday? It's tomorrow, not today, right?"

"Yeah... Oh! You need to help me pick out what kind of cake I want."

"Lots of chocolate."

"Strawberries!"

"If you know what you want, then why did you ask?"

"Because I like asking you." He grinned. "I'll make it chocolate, with chocolate and vanilla icing...or maybe just vanilla, with strawberries all on top. Maybe an ice cream center, just because."

Ella shook her head. "How about we compromise--chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream in the center, with strawberry sauce, frosting, and fresh berries?"

Iggy nodded. "I like how you think!"

She smiled and parked. "Of course you do."


"I can't believe that the bacon actually made the soup taste good! I never thought it could go together with that--that green stuff!"

Iggy laughed and swung his and Ella's joined hands. They were taking an evening stroll to the park together, just the two of them. "I told you I was epic!" He picked her up and swung her around. "Why did you ever doubt me?"

She kissed him as he set her down. "You're turning twenty-three, Iggy! Geeze. I can't believe it..."

"Remember when we first met?"

"Yeah. You'd blown up Max's underwear."

"She ate all the cookie dough! Even after I told her not too!" Iggy gave a pained sigh and he stopped at the edge of the duck pond. A family of them was floating along a distance away, and Iggy brought out a piece of stale bread from his pocket and handed it to Ella. She began breaking it in her fingers, and she frowned to herself.

"Iggy... When did you first realize you loved me?"

He frowned. "I dunno. I remember you started liking me, and I woulda been fine with that, but you were Max's sister so I didn't want to mess around." He shrugged. "I think it was how friendly you always were that got me to stop avoiding you and actually look at you. You are beautiful, by the way. When you laugh, when you sing, when you try to figure something out...it's not so cute when you try to cook. That's frightening."

She scowled and hit him with her elbow. "Thanks."

"Don't I get brownie points for the rest?"

"Only because you make the brownies--oh wait! That's Beth. Sorry, no points for you." He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist as she threw some breadcrumbs into the pond. She exhaled happily and leaned back into his embrace. "I think I first realized I loved you when your refrigerator bomb blew up more violently than you expected and my hair caught fire. You'd gotten pretty banged up yourself, but you still came over and put the fire out before paying attention to how hurt you were."

"So you like how macho and chivalrous I am, ignoring my own pain and taking care of you." He smiled against her hair.

"Maybe." She closed her eyes happily. "Maybe it's that, and how you always seemed to try a bit harder for me than anyone else, once you started liking me. You can be such a jerk." She wrinkled her nose. "And yet you were nicer to me. I like to think it wasn't just because of who my sister was."

He lost his smile. "She still scares me, and I haven't seen her in months."

"Actually, she contacted me last night via email. She had a message for you."

"Well, you kind of need to hear what I have to say first to understand, but she says that the next time she sees you, she's going to kill you." Ella laughed nervously.

"Great." Iggy gulped and attempted to resettle himself in her hair. "Can you cheer me up about my demise Ella? Tell me your news. What did I destroy of Max's this time?"

"You didn't destroy anything."

"What did I do?"

She turned around and looked up at him stonily. "Iggy, we're going to have a baby."

He froze. "...What?"

"We've had sex a million times, Iggy. It's not like you haven't been ready for something like this. Right?" She gave him a dubious look. "I know you know how biology works, you used to tease poor Fang about it all the time."

"Yes, but...it's just...we hadn't...so I didn't think we would..." His hands dropped down to her stomach. "How long...?"

"Only a couple of weeks."

He had the good grace to blush. "When are we going to tell everyone?" He could feel the weight of her silence and her exasperated smile pushing at him. He groaned. "They all know, don't they? I'm the last to find out!"

She snickered and nodded. "They're making bets on the sex and the birth date." Ella looked up at him shyly. "Max also said that I should ask you to marry me, take the lead, wear the pants in the relationship..."

"Max is being her dumb, impatient self." He kissed her forehead. "Give me a chance to get a ring first, and then I'll ask you."

"Who're you fooling, Iggy?" Ella asked rhetorically, and she laughed at his expression. "Kate saw you come home with it."

He beamed. "Well…you see, I don't have it with me…" Ella jabbed him in the chest.

"Fork over my ring, Iggy."

He fished around in his jacket pockets, and in his jeans, and he patted himself down, a perplexed look on his face. "I'm serious," he said in reply to her eye roll. "I had it in my pocket, but..."

Now she frowned. "Are you sure? Could it have fallen out, or one of the others have taken it as a joke, or...?"

"No, they wouldn't do that..." He turned. "I felt someone touch my ass, but geeze, I thought it was an accident. I didn't think it was a pervert thief. Do you remember that guy who brushed past us--smelled like cologne?"

"Yeah. He was wearing a really ratty coat and--there he is!"

They took after him. After a few moments, Iggy ripped off his jacket and handed it to Ella, and then he unfurled his wings and shot after the thief. Now, he wasn't a supersonic flier like Max and he wasn't a speedster like Dominic, but this was important. He managed to get an extra burst of speed and he caught up with the smelly guy. "Hey, jerk! I was about to propose!"

The man's unsteady footsteps helped Iggy pinpoint exactly where he was and tackle him from the air. "Give it back!"

The guy grunted frantically and rolled away, and Iggy heard him draw something metallic. Ella shouted, "Knife!" but Iggy had already guessed and dodged an attack. He ducked under another swipe and rammed his shoulder into the man's solar plexus; the man had the air knocked from his lungs and he wheezed, giving Iggy enough time to grab the blade and toss it away. His hand stung terribly because he'd gripped the knife by its blade on accident, but no matter. He grabbed the guy by the collar and lifted him into the air, doing his best to glare at where he thought the man's eyes were.

"Grab the ring, drop it on the ground, maybe I'll let you live."

The man gasped and Iggy could hear him struggling, either trying to get the ring or to get away he wasn't sure. Then he heard the clatter as something fell to the ground. His voice was like ice. "Ella, was that the ring?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Sir, I am going to let you go now. Run. If you try to hurt us, or take the ring, I will not let you get away again." Iggy dropped the man and waited for the panicked, labored breathing to fade away with the man's presence. Then he dropped on all fours and began searching for the ring. "Where'd it go?" he muttered.

"I got it." Ella helped him up, and then jerked her hand away. "Your hand's bleeding, Iggy--"

Iggy took the ring from her despite the pain in his hand, and he got on one knee. "I am doing this right now, before anything else happens to stop us!" He took a deep breath, and, taking her hand again, held the ring out to her. "Ella Martinez, will you marry me?"

"Yes, you stubborn pyro. Now put the ring on my finger and stop staining my shirt." He grinned at her, slid the ring onto her hand, and stood to kiss her. Then he slid his hand across her chest suggestively--getting blood all across her clothes. "Iggy, you jerk! My mom got this for my birthday!"

She chased him all the way home.