Author's Note: Ah hah! I have made it to my fourth chapter! Yay! By far my longest story ever (especially considering the others are one-shots...) But a big thanx to my two reviewers this past chapter: firefox and EdwardAddict. (out of 200+ readers...I got 2 reviews. C'mon now ppl, are you really that short on time?) But I would like to say thank you to you two. I feel loved when I see you review! On with my chapter!

Fang: ...must i?

Lovie: yes, you must.

Fang: --sighs very loudly-- Lovie does not own the Maximum Ride plot or characters...or the majority of the dialog. Actually, she only owns the thoughts in which she call mine...but she's wrong...they're not mine.

Lovie: LIAR! I found them all written in this notebook, in the bookbag in which you brought from EdwardAddicts! So there! --sticks tounge out--

Fang: --blushes-- ...I have no comment.

Random Quote #4

Confuscious say man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day!

-Anonymous

Chapter 4: The Makeover Results and Beach fun

I can't believe what I got dragged into. Okay, yeah, the hair thing was totally awesome. The creepy girls giving me strange looks, almost as if they were hungry-not so much. Kind of awkward. Shopping was even less than thrilling, but I survived it with my black clothing. Life is good when you wear all black. Well, onto the flock. Iggy had gotten his ear pierced, which was wicked awesome. But I wasn't jealous, no I was not. I don't want anymore holes in my head, thank-you very much.

I saw Max shake her head at something that Angel had held up...a tutu. The little girl had her hair done up in cornrows and was dressed up like one of those mannequins that we had seen in the store windows on the street. Nice looking comfy shirt with rather baggy pants and a big jacket. But it worked for her.

Max's normally long blond hair had been whacked off-shorter than usual-and was streaked with hot pink. She had make-up on and...wow. Let me tell you, she actually looked like the girls our age that we had seen walking down the street, but better. She looked...wow. There aren't any words in my vocabulary to describe how she looked. It was amazing to see how feminine she looked, even though she was still a tomboy at heart. I won't tell you what ran through my mind when I first saw Max come out of the room she had been getting 'taken care of' in. Those thoughts would probably make a tomato blush in embarrassment...and Max would kill me if she ever found out that I had thought those thoughts. I caught myself staring at her several times, astounded that Max could look that good. Part of me was thankful that her back was to me. But there was another part that wasn't so thankful that her back was to me...if you catch my drift. I can still picture it in my mind. The jeans she was wearing were-NO! Never mind that last sentence...that wasn't supposed to come out. Just ignore it...like it were never there. Why did I write this in pen? Max is so going to have my head for that when-and if-she reads this. But you see why it was her version that got put into the book and not mine?

Anyways, we finished up there and walked out onto the street, still slightly wary because we weren't exactly positive how successful these transformations were going to be.

"There's a little park up here," I said, knowing that Max would want to leave as quickly as possible, and a small, slightly darker park was way better than a crowded, well lit street when it comes to take-offs. Five minutes later, we were all air born. It was so great to be in the air again, my huge wingspan stretched as far as it could go. Max apparently thought the same thing as she did huge arc after huge arc. I was sure that she would have dived and swooped had there not been a big city below us where there were tons of people...with cameras.

After an hour and a half of flight, we landed on a beach that looked pretty empty and underdeveloped. No parking lots, no garbage, boulders on each end to keep the people out...pretty nice for a couple day stay.

"Looks good," I said as I scoped the area out after we had landed. I didn't want to happen upon any surprises. In my history, surprises are always bad news. They always end up badly...badly is bad...I don't like it when things are bad.

"Home, sweet home," I heard Max mutter dryly as she removed her book bag, passed out dinner, and sat on the sand. I noticed that night when we laid down for sleep, that Max was out for the count the moment her head hit her sweatshirt pillow. 'Man,' I thought, 'she definitely needs to get more rest and stop pushing herself so hard. That can only end badly. I hate when things end badly.'

The beach is a great place for some R & R. I now know why so many people flock to the beaches for vacations and to relax. When all this is done, I want to live somewhere like this. Secluded, smelling of salt, quiet...very relaxing. Max, Iggy, and I were all up on the sand, well out of the reach of the water, munching on cookies, while Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were all exploring the water and crabs and such. Max was doing something strange with the cookies...rating them on a scale of one to ten. What she was comparing them to, I haven't the slightest idea, but hey, whatever keeps her aloft. You know, when you're a bird kid, not too much really seems 'abnormal,' except a normal life...so Max rating cookies was a .0015 on the Richter scale of weirdness.

"What do you think?" she asked me as she finished off eating her cookie, her brown eyes looking at me with curiosity and undercurrents of amusement.

"It's fine," I said, and Max rolled her eyes at me. Okay, well, not physically, but she did mentally. Her body language said it all. I didn't need the power to read minds, I could read body language!

"I give it a seven out of ten. Though warm from the oven, they lack a certain je ne sais quoi. My mission will continue," she said. Iggy laughed as he searched the bag for fruit, and I swallowed my snort of amusement with the rest of my cookie. It was then I realized that this was how it was supposed to be. The family thing, I mean. All of us relaxing, not worrying bout where our next meal would come from, or whether there was an Eraser nearby. We had no cares here, only laughter, and exploring-we were acting like the family we never really experienced. All that was missing were the dorky adults that were supposed to play our parents. ...man that thought can really ruin a moment. I shook the parents bit from my head-it was a headache waiting to happen. I watched Iggy walk off with Nudge and nearly smiled at the interaction between them all.

"They're happy here," I said to Max, not taking my eyes off of the flock. Max nodded in agreement-which I only saw out of the corner of my eye.

"What's not to like? Fresh air, peace and quiet, the ocean. Too bad we can't stay here." she sounded upset at that thought. I pondered it for a moment before replying.

"What if we were safe here?" I asked. Yeah, it was highly unlikely, but a guy can hope...right? "Like, we just know no one would come hassle us. Would you want to stay?" I looked over at Max. I know that I'd stay if given the chance...but only if Max did too. I couldn't picture a life without her. She has been around me for as long as I can remember. (Partly because of the fact that she's older than me, but hey, she's still always been there for me!) Max was surprised-the astonishment was written all over her face. I returned my gaze to the flock as she replied to what I was saying.

"We have to find the Institute," she said stubbornly. I think that she was missing my point. "And if we find out anything, the others will want to track down their parents. And then, do we find Jeb and confront him? And who's the Director? Why did they do this to us? Why do they keep telling me I'm supposed to save the world?" she was all but yelling by the end, and I wanted nothing more than to hug her...but I refrained because that would totally freak her out more than she already was. I held up a hand to stop her rant so I could fit in my two cents worth.

"What if," I said slowly, half not believing what was coming out of my mouth, but wanting her to understand it none-the-less. "What if we just forgot all about that?" I saw Max's jaw drop in amazement. At either what I was proposing, or the fact that I had said it at all was up for debate. I know that she thought I was nuts right now, but I was so sick and tired of running away from the Erasers and worrying about if they'd take Max again or not. I can't tell you how many valuable hours of sleep I lost over the last one there. I was tired of running-or flying-away from everything and here...here was perfect.

"What are you-" she was cut off by the Gasman dropping a live hermit crab in her lap, and Angel requesting food. That was fine with me. She needed time to think about what I'd asked her to do...heck I needed time to think about it. But it didn't come up again that day...or any other day in the recent future for that matter. Morning came without incident and I, being the nice little-or big, your choice-bird boy teenager I was, went and got the New York Post for Max and myself. I was feeling way better than I had in a long time, and I placed the paper at Max's feet with a bow, 'cause I was feeling like I needed to tease her some today. I backed away from her reach quickly so she couldn't smack me for my playfulness...but couldn't hide my quick grin. Max, however, didn't notice it. She had become engrossed in the paper, which was a relief. You'll never hear me admit this in person-especially when she's around-but Max's punches hurt! She's like a freaking beast or something when it comes to getting hit by her.

"Well, good for us," she said after she read an article. "We've gone two days without causing a huge commotion in a public place and getting our pictures splashed all over the news." I snagged the paper away from her as Nudge announced that she was going swimming, followed by Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy. I read the paper thoroughly, looking for anything abnormal as I ate peanuts...which were pretty good by the way. I noticed Max seemed overly stressed, but about what I had no idea. She looked at me, and when I glanced up, she opened her mouth, then shut it again while blushing. 'What in the world...?' I had no idea what was going on in that head of hers, but I wasn't about to pry. I noticed her staring out at the flock and wondered what was going on with all of us. Max groaned and dropped her head into her arms, which were resting on her knees. I looked at her slightly alarmed.

"Your head hurt?" I asked quietly, not wanting the slight breeze to carry my voice to the others. No use in getting them all worked up over something we can't control. But I was worked up anyways when it came to Max being in pain. She sighed before shaking her head no and looking out at the ocean. I followed her gaze and saw Gazzy looking around the water, scared and alarmed. He looked up at Max and there was panic etched all over his eight-year-old face. Max lunged up and began running, me right beside her. Angel was underwater somewhere...and had been for a long time.

"Angel!" Max yelled as she plunged into the water and up to Gazzy. I was right behind her, scared that we had just lost our youngest again. The underwater currents were strong; I could feel them tugging at my legs, wanting me to slip so that they could pull me out to sea. "Where did she go down?" Max was asking, trying not to sound panicked. Boy, she was failing at that one. The Gasman pointed at an area nearby, and I stared into the water trying to find any part of our missing child. "This would be an excellent time for one of us to develop X-ray vision," she muttered, and I tried to ignore the fact that if Angel was lost at sea then I may lose my angel. Angel was Max's baby...kind of...in some weird way. Max spoiled that girl mercilessly, but I turned the other cheek when it came to noticing.

I was sweeping my arms through the water, feeling down as deep as possible, as I stared into the water for any sign of Angel. We spread out some, but there was no sign of the girl. I noticed Max glance up at the shore towards Angel's bear, but didn't take much notice of it as I continued to search the waters. The sea salt stung my eyes horribly...as did the glare. But nothing could compare to what I was feeling deep down. It was as if somebody had turned off my air supply. I couldn't breathe right, but I forced myself to continue anyways. I had to find Angel for Max. The School incident was still fresh in all of our minds.

"Do you see anything?" Max cried to me, and I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the water. I didn't want to look at Max right now; it would be very painful, in the emotional way. It hurt to know that Max was terrified. Yes, I was terrified too, don't you start thinking that I only care about Max. Angel could have been under the water, struggling for breath right then, and I couldn't do anything about it because I couldn't see her. I refused to allow myself to think about it though, trying to convince myself that she was okay. Our little angel was okay...I just wasn't entirely sure where she was being okay at. I noticed Max running away from where the rest of us were, and I glanced up to see her running toward something. Angel! I hurried after Max, arriving shortly after they started to hug, and heard Angel say that she could breath underwater. It was all I could do to not glare at the girl. Relief was flooding my body right now, and I couldn't really spend that much energy on looks when I was concentrating on standing. That girl gave me the heart attack of the century, and she had been figuring out a new skill. Lucky girl. Lucky that I was too tired to give her a 'stern talking to'...which is what Max calls me yelling at the flock for doing something stupid that scared me. And trust me, I had been scared. Angel was so gonna pay for not popping up and saying something...she was so toast later. But for now, I let her be happy with her ability and Max.

Author's note: hey there, it's done! And i am very tired. I wrote the last five paragraphs off the top of my head because I ran out of pre-written stuffs, so there it is, sorry if it's suckish. My attempt at writing without a first copy. Hope it's not too bad. The kiss should be in the next chapter or two...not too long for those of you who are waiting for it! Im not exactly sure when I'll get chapter five up, I won't have much computer access tomorrow (my sister's coming home, and since i usually update late at night and she sleeps on the couch...prolly won't happen) and I work saturday night. I'll try to get it up saturday, because from sunday to friday i will be out of state with little to no internet. I'm going to visit my friend peril...and her computer is fried. I will however, bring my book and notebook so that i will hopefully have something written out for you guys when I get home. So I will bid all of my readers a fond farewell, and until my next update!

-Lovie