A/N: Chapter Ten is here. This chapter was the hardest to write. Mostly because I was hit with a wave of Writer's Block. I finally managed to choke it out over 37 miles of solid biking at one in the morning. While listening to The Mixed CD of Utter Randomness. It is my all time favorite CD to listen to when I'm stuck because it cheers me up with it's weirdness. My sister's best friend made it. 23 songs that range from Bennie & the Jets, classical piano, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Purple People Eater, My Humps, and my all time favorite song ever, Sunday, Bloody Sunday. It's just so great, and it helped me finally write down this flippin' chapter. I'm still not satisfied with it, but… oh well. Sorry to all the people who are mad about Fang's name+cough cough x Step on Me x+. As for the people who complain my chapters are too short… I agree with you. I promise this chapter shall be long. Ish. Longish.

Chapter Ten:

Whatever Allison Raines had been expecting, it wasn't this.

With an almost dazed expression, she stood up and held out a trembling hand. She tentatively touched his dark feathers and traced the outline of one of his hollow wing bones. Her mouth literally hung open.

"Can… can you…?" she stammered out, feeling the feathers again.

Fang opened his eyes. "Fly? Yeah."

"You're a… a…" the dentist finally became aware that her mouth was open and quickly closed it.

"Human-avian hybrid? Genetically engineered mutant? Freak? Trust me, I know," Fang's voice was flat and cold. With a sudden whoosh, he tucked his huge wings back in. "And if you have a problem with that, then I'm gone and we can both forget this ever happened." Fang crossed his arms. He put up a good act, but I could see his every emotion written in the way he stood, the way all his muscles were tense, the way his eyes were just a little red. Fang sounded like he didn't care, but I knew Allison's response would mean the world to him.

An evil, little chunk of my soul hoped that the dentist would shriek, runaway, and reject him. Sure, Fang would probably be emotionally scarred for the rest of his life, (however long that would be), but at least he'd still be with me.

However, the rest of my soul scolded the other evil, little chunk. Bad chunk-of-Max's-sorry-soul! Fang is our best friend! You should want what's best for him. You should be hoping Dr. Raines will understand, not scream.

Well, neither of those happened.

Instead, Allison Raines hugged Fang with tears glittering in her eyes.

"…Hunter… I could never forget you. I never did," she murmured, little droplets leaking from under her lids. Talk about your Kodak moment.

And get this: Fang hugged her back.

Let me stress this point: Fang never, never, never hugged anyone. Except for me. And that was only when no one else was around or it was an emergency. Plus, he'd known me, what, fourteen years? How long had he known this woman? Fourteen minutes.

That toothache pain started up again, worse than ever before.

"And I never want to lose you again," Dr. Raines continued in a nasal tone. "Never. The first time was hard enough."

Was I totally losing it, or was Fang on the verge of tears? I had to admit, I'd never seen Fang cry before. Not even when we were little kids, still stuck at the School. The fact that a single tear was streaking it's way down his cheek now made me want to cry. Nudge and Angel already were.

"Fang has feelings too, Max. You of all people should know that," the Voice interrupted.

Shut it, I thought. This is definitely not a good time.

Suprisingly, the Voice didn't comment further.

"And I know this is sudden, and we've just barely met, but…" Fang's mom pulled away to look at him. "I want you to come live with me. If you'd like."

I bit my lip. Here it comes.

"I know you're… different… and probably not used to having a mom. I'm not used to having a son. But I know we can make it work. I want to be part of life before it's too late. If you'll let me." Dr. Raines took his hands pleadingly, looking so sincere and hopeful, that for a heartbeat, I actually wanted Fang to say yes. Just for a heartbeat.

C'mon Fang, say something! I couldn't take the suspense much longer. I just wanted this to be over before I joined in with the tear fest. Jeezums, our lives had practically turned into a soap opera.

Fang slowly glanced with dark, weary eyes at each member of the flock, his "family", and then at Allison Raines, his mother. I swear, for that long, terrible moment, everyone in the room held their breath.

Fang shrugged self-consciously, uncomfortable in the center of attention. "I… I need to think about it," he mumbled finally, staring at the ground.

Dr. Raines looked a bit disappointed, but then her expression cleared. "Of course," she said soothingly. "I know this must be a hard decision for you." She looked past him at the rest of us. "You're all welcome to stay until things are settled. But- uh… who are you?"

"I'm Angel," Angel supplied brightly. "I'm six. That's my brother, Gazzy." She pointed across Iggy at the Gasman.

Dr. Raines looked quizzically at the two blonde kids, so clearly identical, and then at the rest of us, all mix-matched.

"We're the only siblings," Gasman added unnecessarily.

"My name's Total," the dog piped up from Angel's lap. I smiled when Allison literally jumped at his voice.

"The… the dog can… talk?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah. I can jump really high too. Pretty cool, huh?" Total grinned wickedly and wagged his tail.

"I'm Nudge," Nudge butted in. I was amazed that she'd been so quiet so far. Thay had to be a record. "My real name's Monique. I think I'm from Arizona, but I'm not sure. Have you ever been out West?"

"I was born in Texas… but I haven't been there since I was little. We moved to Florida just before I turned five." Dr. Raines said slowly.

"Oh. So you've been here almost your whole life? How can you stand the heat? Can you remember what Texas was like, 'cause I've never-"

"People call me Iggy," Iggy interrupted. Thank God. "And before you ask, yeah, I'm blind."

Fang's mom seemed to suddenly notice how Iggy didn't look around or meet your eyes. "I'm sorry. For how long…?"

"Since I was three." Iggy shifted uncomfortably. I knew Iggy didn't like pity so I heroically saved him from further questioning.

"I'm Maximum." I said. "But everyone just calls me Max."

Allison looked at Fang, who had sat back down beside me. "And you're Fang. Do I want to know where you picked that up?"

Fang, Iggy, and I all grinned simultaneously. Back at the School up till he was about four, Fang had a nasty habit of biting whitecoats. Some of the scientists started calling him "Fangs" and it stuck. You may have noticed the plural ending. Well, Fang was originally Fangs, but when Nudge was brought to the School, she had a lisp. (Can you believe that?) She couldn't say his name properly and he decided Fang sounded cooler anyway, so he dropped the "s".

"No, you don't," Fang replied finally.

"Do you… would you prefer if I called you Fang instead of Hunter?" Dr. Raines asked.

"Call him Fnick," Iggy said. Instantly, Nudge, Gazzy, Total, and Angel burst out laughing. I glared at them all disapprovingly, while trying to hold in my own laughter. Since my death glare was wasted on Iggy, I reached around Angel and whacked him on the head.

The dentist looked hopelessly confused. "What?"

Fang rolled his eyes. "That would be nice," he said, raising his voice over the remaining snorts and giggles. "But it doesn't matter much to me."

A full minute of uncomfortable silence followed.

"Uh… any more question?" I asked.

"Are the rest of you… do you all have…?" Allison waved her hand in a vague flapping motion.

"Yeah, we're all human-avian hybrids. Except for Total." I answered knowingly. "And most of us have… special gifts too." All of us except Fang actually. Why was that?

"Fang has his own talents. He'll find them when he needs them."

Thank you for that wonderful insight, Voice, I thought sarcastically.

(Sorry, A/N here. Before any of y'all get excited, no Fang doesn't find his power in this story. However, in my other Max Ride fanfic, A Little Place Called Home, Fang does find his ability later on in that story. And no, it's not invisibility. Gosh, I hate that cliché. Anyway, A/N over.)

"I'm sorry, but you still haven't answered my first question. What happened?" Fang's mom said, interrupting my private, insane conversation.

I sighed. This could take a while. "You want our life story?"

"It's not exactly peachy," Iggy warned.

Dr. Raines put a stubborn face on, so reminiscent of Fang's. "I need to know."

So we told her. Everything.

Well, not everything. We didn't really go into detail about our lives at the School. Or all of the Eraser fights. And we edited out certain events. Such as all that drama at the beach, (both times), and the things the younger kids didn't know about. Like Eraser Max. Fang and I did most of the story-telling, with Nudge jumping in randomly to elaborate on things and the others reminding us about things we'd forgotten. In the space of about two hours, the epic tale of six bird-kids' lives, (revised for the faint of heart), was laid out and examined for the first time by an outsider.

She took it pretty well. Actually, she did cry at some parts. And when we were done, she sat quietly for a while and all she could say was, "Wow."

After that she cooked dinner for us. It wasn't half-bad. Okay, it was awesome. Even better than our resident chef Iggy's cooking. And way better than Anne's. But the best part was just having someone cook for us again. Almost like a mom. Well, she was a mom.

Then she taught us all how to play gin rummy. Which Angel excelled at thanks to her powers. We had to kick her out of the game after she beat us all miserably for the fifth time in a row.

And we all talked some more. About us. About her. Allison Raines told us her life story, though it wasn't nearly as exciting as ours. But we all listened gladly anyway. We didn't really know what a normal person's life was like until then, seeing as how you can't trust everything you learn from television.

By the end of the day, I had to admit it. I liked Dr. Raines. She was kind, funny, smart, and just reminded me so much of Fang. It was pretty obvious he like the dentist a lot too. I couldn't have picked a better mom for him. Plus, she seemed to understand that Fang couldn't be treated like a normal teenager because he wasn't. "I don't really know how to raise kids anyway," she'd scoffed.

Allison Raines really was the perfect parent for him. I couldn't have been happier for Fang.

And I couldn't have been more miserable for myself.

Did I love Fang? Yes.

Did I love Fang? …Maybe.

I knew Fang loved me. But did I feel the same way? I couldn't just leave it up in the air, much as I wanted to. I had to decide. Because Fang could very possibly be gone from my life soon.

Which was why, at two o' clock in the morning, I couldn't get to sleep.

Nudge was snoring on my right- not even quiet when she's dreaming- and Angel was cuddled up with Total on my left. Allison had set up us girls in one of the guest rooms and the guys in another. There was a bed, but we couldn't decide who should get it, so all three of us ended up on the floor. Usually, I have no problem crashing on the ground, but then again, usually I wasn't plagued my thoughts such as, "This could be Fang's room," or "Crap. What am I going to do without Fang?"

So I laid on my back, watching the fan overhead fight a losing battle against Florida's humidity. By the time I'd actually counted it spin around a thousand times, I decided there was no way I was getting to bed and slid out of my sleeping bed as silently as human- mutantly possible. I padded out to the living room and automatically started pacing.

Okay. Seriously now. Did I love Fang? Yes. No. Maybe? Alright, Fang is, (I'll admit it), totally hot and whenever he smiled it made me blush like one of those anime schoolgirls. So was it just a crush? Just a physical attraction that I would get over eventually?

"Max, you've got to think deeper than that."

SHUT UP! I mentally hissed at the Voice.

Though it was sort of good advice. Deeper. Right.

The idea of Fang leaving hurt like hell, but it hurt pretty bad when Iggy left too. I thought and worried a lot about him, but not anymore than the rest of the flock really.

"Sure Max. You keep telling yourself that."

Fine! I worry about Fang more, but only because he's always getting hurs so bad!

"And why does he always get hurt so bad? Because he's watching out for you!"

I know, I know! Just- be quiet!

I paced the living room again furiously, wringing out my hands like a wet towel. Yes, it was true I depended on Fang. He was the person I could always go to when life got too hard, the one I could always trust to catch me should I fall. But you could do the same with your best friend, couldn't you?

Then again, I did kiss him that one time at the beach. Mostly because I'd been so worried. But was that it? I worried about the others all the time too, but I didn't go around kissing them. Of course, they never got beaten to a pulp because they were protecting me, like Fang had.

ARGH! I kicked the couch in frustration. Okay, fine, I give up. You have my permission to talk now Voice. Got any enlightenment for me?

"Sorry Max. I'm in your head, not your heart. You're on your own this time."

Typical! What was the point of having an annoying, chatty voice in your head if it couldn't help you out when you needed it too?

"Well, maybe not some much on your own…"

What? I paused my furniture abuse for a moment. What's that supposed to mean?

"You'll see in a second. I wouldn't kicked that couch anymore though. He might think you've lost it for real this time."

Huh?

"Can't sleep?"

I spun around at the new voice behind me. And, of course, it was Fang. Crap. I really hoped he didn't see me putting dents in his mom's sofa. He'd probably cart me off to the funny farm.

"No," I sighed.

"Why not? Is the Voice bugging you again?"

How did he do that? "Sort of. But really I was just... thinking." Lying to Fang was pointless. I ran my hand distractedly through my hair. Please don't ask what about. Please, please, please…

"Okay…" Fang said. Thank you! "But- uh… why were you kicking the couch?"

Shoot. "The thinking wasn't going to well." Though his face was as perfectly impassive as always, Fang's eyes shone with concern. For me. I looked away.

Which only made him more worried. Moving across the room quieter than I could ever hope to manage, he gently pulled me down onto the sofa beside him. Fang's hand didn't leave my arm, and I couldn't help but blush. Man, was I a cream puff these days.

"Max, are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you'd learned by now not to bother lying to me."

"I have. I am in perfect health. Don't even have a headache."

Fang rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Alright! I'm not alright. Happy?"

"No, not really."

I exhaled tiredly. "Just drop it, please?"

Fang didn't say anything. I usually hate silence, but Fang's silence wasn't silent. Okay, I guess that makes no sense. What I mean to say is, even when Fang's not talking, he's still saying a thousand things. You just have to listen. So, since this silence wasn't uncomfortable, I was perfectly content to just sit and watch the VCR flash 12:00.

Then Fang's slid slowly down my arm and laced his fingers through mine. My blush brightened till I was sure I was glowing like a sparkler, but I didn't pull away. Fang was rarely like this, so… open, so… close, so… intimate, though I never thought I'd get a chance to apply that word to Fang. It was… nice.

So I just relaxed with my eyes closed, soaking in the moment. Go with the flow. The Voice really did have some decent advice. Occasionally. When it wasn't speaking in riddles.

Of course, good things aren't meant to last. At least, not in my life.

"Max?" Fang said softly.

"Yeah?" I asked, reluctantly opening my eyes. Darn. Moment ruined.

"I've been thinking too. About… you know, where I should go from here."

I nodded numbly. The million dollar question.

"And I thought about it a lot. I really did. And I… I made my decision." Fang turned to look at me, but I didn't meet his eyes.

My mind went into total chaos, screaming so many different thoughts, that none of them were distinguishable, except a rising chant of Oh God, oh God, oh God. I swear, my heart was racing a hundred miles a minute, but my breath stood still. Oh, God, please…!

"Max…" Fang said, and something in his voice forced me to look into those dark eyes. He squeezed my hand gently and whispered, "I want to stay."

A/N: MWA, MWA, MWA! I feel so evil! And you know what? It feels good. I don't really have anything to say other than that. Except that if anyone says this chapter was too short, I'm going to scream. Hit that purple/blue/whatever button down there and submit a review! There's just a bit more to go. But it might take a while to update because I'm not sure how I want to end it yet. Well, I have a vague idea. Whatever. Review please! I'm trying to hit at least 60 reviews on this story! Hurry, because Dentistry is coming to a close! Oh, I can't wait to post the next chapter. But I'll have to write it first.