I do not own Maximum Ride.

Mom read quickly, eager to hear about Jeb's sudden reappearance in our lives.

Chapter 117

I stared with the fiercest, most righteous anger and hatred as Jeb Batchelder easily moved through the crowd of Erasers, paring them as if he were Moses and they were the Red Sea. It was still bizarre to see him – I'd been so used to mourning, not despising, him.

Ari paused, his rank and deadly mouth open over Fang's neck. Fang was unconscious but still breathing.

"Ari!" Jeb said again. "You have your orders." "Which were what, exactly?" I asked suddenly, aware of his eyes hardening in pain.

"To harm, not kill," He said, his voice a tense whisper.

I bit my tongue (tres mature, no?)

Jeb walked toward me, keeping one eye on Ari. After endless seconds, Ari slowly, slowly drew back from Fang, leaving his body crumpled unnaturally on the sand.

Jeb stopped in front of me.

He'd saved my life more than once. He'd saved all our lives. Taught me to read, how to make scrambled eggs "That you still burn…" Iggy said, laughing.

"That's why you're in charge of meals, Ig," I said with a smirk.

How to hotwire cars. Once I'd depended on him as if he were the very breath in my lungs: He was my one constant, my one certainty.

"Do you get it now, Max?" he asked softly. "Do you see the incredible beauty of the game? No child, no adult, no one has ever experienced anything like what you're feeling. Do you see why all this is necessary?"

The Eraser holding me peeled his finger away from my mouth so I could speak. Instantly, I spit hard, clearing my mouth and throat of tears. I hit Jeb's shoe.

"No," I said, keeping my voice steady, though everything in me was shrieking, desperate to run to Fang. "Is this where your feelings started?" Ella said with a snicker.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," I said causing Mom and the girls to laugh.

"I don't get it. I'll never get it. I want to get out of it."

His heartbreakingly familiar face looked strained, as if he was losing patience with me. Tough. "I told you, you're going to save the world," he said. "That's the purpose of your existence. Do you think an ordinary, untrained fourteen-year-old could do that? No. You've got to be the best, the strongest, the smartest. You've got to be the ultimate. Maximum."

I yawned and rolled my eyes, knowing he'd hate that, and Jeb's jaw tightened in anger. "Do not fail," he said, a hard note in his voice. "You did okay in New York, but you made serious, rather stupid mistakes. Mistakes cost you. Make better decisions."

"You're not my dad anymore, Jeb," I said, putting as much annoying snideness into my tone as possible. "You're not responsible for me. I do what I like. I named myself – Maximum Ride."

"I'll always be responsible for you," he snapped. "If you think you're actually running your own life, then maybe you're not as bright as I thought you were."

"Make up your mind," I snapped back. "Either I'm the greatest or I'm not. Which is it?" "Seriously," Nudge said. "'Cause you're being a little moodswingish right now and it's slightly confusing as to what you want to s-" Gazzy leapt across the tree limbs (reminding me of a squirrel) and slapped his hand over Nudge's mouth, almost toppling the pair of them both out of the tree. We laughed for a moment before mom returned to the reading.

He motioned with his hand, and the Erasers let me and Iggy go. Ari turned and smirked at me, then blew me a kiss.

I spit at him. "Daddy always loved me best!" I hissed, and his face darkened.

He took a fast step toward me, paws coiled into fists, but was pushed along by a rough, hairy wave of Erasers. They swept him up and shuffled off around the large boulder at the end of our beach. Jeb was with them. No, he was one of them. Jeb received the book from mom and, as he started to read, I had a brief flash of a memory of what happens next. I blanched in horror. Fang felt me stiffen and I could only guess that he could remember what happened next as well as his arms froze in place.

"If I can guess at all about what's in this chapter, it's gotta be some Fax," Ella said with a giggle, that intensified rather than diminished as Fang and I glared at her.

Chapter 118

Stumbling badly, my shoulder feeling like it was on fire, I made my way down the beach. Before I moved Fang, I felt his neck to see if it was broken. Then I carefully turned him over. Blood trickled from his mouth.

"Fang, you have to wake up," I whispered.

The others ran over. "He looks really bad," Gazzy said. "He should see a doctor."

Nothing seemed broken – maybe his nose – but he was still out cold. I lifted his head into my lap and used my sweatshirt to dab at the bloody stripes on his face. "Well done, Max," Mom said, smiling proudly at my minimal first-aid skills. Smiled lightly back at her.

"We could carry him, you and me," said Iggy, his long pale hands floating over Fang, cataloging bruises, lumps, blood.

"Where to?" I asked, hearing my bitterness. "It's not like we can check him into a hospital." "Not yet, at least," Iggy said and the flock gave a collective shudder at the memories. Nudge sighed, and I could hear the half-regrets in there. Her wishing we hadn't left, yet knowing we had to because Anne turned out to be not worth our time at all. We'd gotten comfortable, but that was ages ahead… in the books I mean.

"Huh?" Ella asked, grabbing Iggy's hand. "I don't understand…"

He shook his head.

"No hospi'l," Fang mumbled, his eyes still shut.

Relief flooded through me.

"Fang!" I said. "How bad?"

"Pre'y bad," he said fuzzily, then, groaning, he tried to shift to one side.

"Don't move!" I told him, but he turned his head and spit blood out onto the sand. He raised his hand and spit something into it, then opened his eyes blearily.

"Tooth," he said in disgust. "Feel like crap," Fang added, touching the knots on the back of his head.

I tried to smile. "You look like a kitty cat." I made whisker motions on my face, indicating where Ari had raked his. He looked at me sourly. I snickered briefly then was silenced by memories.

"Fang," I said, my voice breaking. "Just live, okay? Live and be okay."

With no warning, I leaned down and kissed his mouth, just like that. "Wait," Ella said, blinking fast. "That's it? That was your first kiss? No details! No nothing!" She cried.

"Just wait till you hear his reaction," Nudge said with a resigned sigh.

"Ow," he said, touching his split lip, then he and I stared at each other in shock. "Wow," Ella said, "I didn't think I could be disappointed by a Fax kiss, but darn guys! Come on." I sighed and Fang rubbed my arm. I looked into his eyes and he kissed me.

"That's more like it!" I heard Ella say as Jeb cleared his throat and Mom let out a little giggle. I leaned into Fang's chest and noticed my flock's exasperated expressions. Jeb however looked a little mortified at having to read his daughter's first kiss. I smirked.

Mortification heated my face. I glanced up to see Nudge and the Gasman gaping at me. Luckily, Iggy was blind, and Angel was getting Fang water. "That was so annoying," Iggy said with a huff.

"Sorry we weren't in the Arctic when it happened Ig," I said and the flock laughed. Mom, and Jeb, were slightly confused, but Ella was in the loop. She rubbed his hand as she laughed with the rest of us.

Gazzy looked from me to Fang to Iggy, clearly thinking that he was sunk now that I had obviously severed all ties with reality.

Slowly, Fang levered himself into a sitting position, his jaw tight, sweat breaking out on his face. "Man," he said, and coughed. "This feels pretty bad."

It was about the most he'd ever admitted to, painwise. He stood clumsily and took the water from Angel. Taking a swig, he rinsed his mouth and spit it out onto the sand. "Gross," Ella said.

"I'm going to kill Ari," Fang said. Jeb handed the book to Total and patted his head.

"We should do this more often," Total muttered. "At least I get attention when I pass the book."

I smiled at him and rubbed behind his ear as I took the book from him and started to read…

Chapter 119.

Well, guys, 2 uploads in one day? I hope I can slowly win back your trust.

I have a special treat for you: A little request was made to me in one review and that was that I write the kiss from Fang's perspective. Now, I know it was short in Max's, but Fang's a little more perceptive, sometimes, and he's got more in his thoughts than just "ow." So let's find out what those were, shall we?

FANG'S pov:

Ugh, what…just…happened? I thought to myself. I couldn't move, couldn't open my eyes. I was trapped with my thoughts and right then the main thought that was going through my mind was ouch.

My head pounded in four different places, not including the strips of fire or my face. My lip was split, I was sure, and I thought I felt a tooth that had gotten knocked loose.

"We could carry him, you and me," I heard a voice, Iggy's, make a way through the fogginess in my head.

"To where?" My Max said, her voice tight with worry and bitterness pulling me back toward her. "It's not like we can check him into a hospital."

Hospital? I'm not about to let my family blow our secret by taking me to a hospital.

"No hosp'l," I mumbled. Ugh. I mumbled? What am I 5? Actually, I think I could talk better than that when I was 5.

"Fang! How bad?" My Max called, relief flooding her words. I took a second to just let that sink in, her words, her worry for me.

"Pre'y bad," I muttered, trying to sit up and spit out the blood from my mouth so I could speak right. I felt slightly dizzy.

"Fang! Don't move!" She tried to tell me. Like I would listen to her. She may be the leader, but she knows she can't really tell me what to do.

I spit on the sand and felt the inside of my mouth with my tongue. I was right.

"Tooth," I said as I spit it out. "Feel like crap." I felt my head, finding the bumps from Ari's pounding. Max gave me a weak smile.

"You look like a kitty cat," she said, making whiskers on her face. Her eyes, though filled mostly with relief, were still flooded with worry. I glared at her. "Fang," She said, her melodic voice breaking a little. "Just be live, okay? Live and be okay." Then with no warning, she kissed me.

It didn't last long, but it made my throbbing lips ignite with some form of electricity. I wanted to say something profound, but all that came out was "ow." I'd meant to saw wow. That would've summed it up better than ow. Her lips, so soft on mine, opened to form a little 'o' in shock as she registered what she had done.

I stared back, equally shocked, and for a second, I was glad that Iggy was blind; he never would've let me live that down if he'd seen our kiss. I mentally smiled. I pulled myself into a sitting position and the small movement had my head throbbing beyond belief.

"Man, this feels pretty bad," I said, coughing a little. Angel walked up to me and I stood to take the water from her. I rinsed my mouth, stood a little taller and said, "I'm going to kill Ari."

REVIEW and tell me what you thought of the Chapter AND of my version of the kiss from Fang's perspective. ^_^

Thank you!

~Jezi Raewin