A.N- Hey guys, I finally updated! I think I haven't updated in almost a year and I suck for that:/ Sorry. Well I've gotten a lot of suggestions for how to do this next part, so thank you and I'll be sure to incorporate your ideas.

Hermaphrodite?

Fang had held true to his word because that morning he was still beside me when I woke up. He'd been watching me sleep and it made me feel very special, and only a little creeped out…

"Good morning, Max." He whispered.

"Good morning." I say back, as I sit up in the creaky hotel bed to scan the room out of habit.

Fang gets up slowly and stretches, "They're all down stairs getting complementary hotel breakfast."

I turn to him from scanning the room, which was in fact empty of people. He'd walked around the bed and over to my side to offer me a hand of assistance in getting up, off the bed. "This hotel has free breakfast?" I ask, surprised, as I take his hand.

"Why else would anyone come to this dump?" He asks as he helps me up.

I really hate getting helped, but my stomach was getting so big that it was just getting ridiculously hard to get up- or to do anything for that matter. I rub my stomach for a few seconds after being helped up. "Is Kate's stomach even close to this size?" I ask, looking up to his face.

He looks at mine for a second and placing his hand on it he says, "Well you have to remember that he does have our DNA. …even if he's Dylan's, he still has our DNA and he will develop a whole lot faster than Kate and Ratchet's baby."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." That was something that you'll probably never hear coming from my mouth again…

I'd forgotten about that whole accelerated growth and development thing. We'd noticed that we actually start developing a bit slower as we get older and we think that the older kids (Iggy, Fang, and I) will look our age soon. Iggy had the idea of our development possibly stopping after a certain age, but I just thought that was ridiculous. Then Fang brought up the good point of the white coats always causing things they didn't intend, so I guess the stop ageing idea might still be possible.

I start a fast pace to the door, "Come on slowpoke, I'm hungry!"

He makes a little snort sound behind me, and then follows.

After everyone ate their fill, as quickly as they could, we left. We filled one plastic supermarket bag with all of the left-over medical supplies we had and booked it. After seeing the amount of food we ate, the hotel workers would've surely called the cops on us or something. I really didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

Our van was filled to the brim again, as per usual, but I wasn't too bothered since we'd finally get to go home.

We stopped at a gas station to fill the tank up all the way, and so we'd be able to get a better map and start on our journey back to our current home in New York. I didn't pay too much attention to Fang and Jake in the front talking about the rout they should take, but from what I could- hear it was going to be a long ride…

About half an hour into our trip back home, I remembered my comment to Fang earlier, about how I thought my stomach was bigger than Kate's. I was sitting to her left so I took the opportunity to inspect her baby bump and compare it to mine.

My stomach did in fact look bigger, but it was only by a little bit and was most likely due to the quicker development thing, so I let it go. I continued looking out my window, to the cars that sped by, wishing we could just fly to places; like the old days, when our group was smaller and I wasn't as heavy.

When we finally got to our destination, we ditched the car a few miles away from our home and split off into small groups. This way we wouldn't attract too much attention. I walked the second quickest route to our dwelling with Fang and Nudge. Kate, Ratchet, and Iggy took the fastest route home.

We'd all take different ways and get there at different times so that anyone following us this far would at least get confused. After we'd gotten home, we realized we hadn't been followed. For now at least, we were safe.

The part of our group that'd stayed back welcomed us happily, relieved that we'd gotten there safely. We all talked for a few hours, filling each other in on what had happened to us, while those of us who had just arrived took turns taking showers in the two small bathrooms we had.

Nothing interesting had happened back here, in New York. They'd been careful not to let our enemy interfere with any signal sent to or from this place, and so hadn't had much contact with us.

After a long talk, Jake got up from his seat and stretched a bit, "Alright, I think we should check Max and Kate out. Just in case anything was missed. We have all the equipment we need here and we can make sure the babies are okay. If that's okay with you two, of course." He said.

Kate and I nodded in agreement.

I'm normally all squirmy (to put it lightly) about doctor stuff, but when it came to this baby and Jake's group, I just felt like I was getting treated by my mom. I was still a little scared, but I could deal with it. Plus, I felt a really strong urge to keep this baby safe and just getting checked out was nothing compared to what I'm willing to do for him. The kid isn't even out of me, yet I feel so close to him. It's strange, but I like it.

Jake and Livy went into one of their medical rooms, and it was a while before they came out again. When they came back out they told Kate to go and I was told to try to relax as much as possible.

"I'm not even stressed out…" I mumbled.

Fang looked over at me, "You're gonna break the chair, miss relaxed-pants." He commented.

I looked down at my hand, which was gripping the recliner arm pretty tightly. I released my grip and stuck my tongue out at Fang.

So maybe I was a little tense… what of it? It's not like it really matters… I look around the room and see that Nudge, Fang, and I are the only ones left. Everyone else had called it a night and gone to bed early. Nudge sat sideways on a love seat that faced the TV. She was on her laptop with her legs sitting comfortably on Fang's lap, who was sharing the couch with her, watching TV. I sat on a nice dark-leather recliner facing the TV, but not watching it.

I couldn't help but notice how messy everything was. It was like the guys who stayed behind hadn't cleaned a bit… Did anyone ever clean this place? It didn't really look like it. There was dust everywhere, the ground was full of dead leaves, dirt, newspapers, jackets, and shoes were lying all over the floor. It was so bad that it gave me, Maximum Ride, the urge to clean… That was just sad.

"You okay, Max?" Fang asked.

I took my eyes away from the mess and looked over at Fang. Nudge looked up from her laptop, a little scared. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… Has anyone ever cleaned this place?"

They both looked at each other. Fang answered, "Um, yeah. Jake makes people clean it once in a while. Why?"

"It all just seems so dirty. I don't like it." I say, and get up. "I'm going to clean while I wait for Jake."

Nudge takes her legs off of Fang and sits straight, "No Max, you shouldn't strain yourself! Someone else can clean up tomorrow!" She tells me, worriedly.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to dust a little bit and stuff."

Fang gets up, "Don't bend down too much. I can help you. I'll pick stuff up from the ground."

I nod, not really paying attention. I go into the kitchen and get a rag. I dust the TV, the counters and tables, and even on top of the fridge once I run out of visible places. Fang had hung up all the jackets in the closet that had been laying on the couches and floor and then took the shoes to everyone's rooms.

After everything was a little more cleaned up, I felt better. It's like the filth was making me stressed. There was still a lot of dirt and crap on the floor, but I didn't want to vacuum and wake people up, so I planned on doing it the next day or at least get someone to do it.

I went and sat next to Nudge, who was still on her computer. She lifted her feet up to let me sit and then placed them back down, on my lap. She scooted her feet as close to my knees as possible, probably afraid of even touching the stomach that held her to-be nephew. "You know, some women get the urge to clean when they're about to have their child. It's their way of 'tiding their nest'… get it?" She laughed at her own joke.

"Very funny Nudge." I say, laughing a little as well.

"I am serious though. I just found it online, See?" She said, leaning over and turning her laptop's screen so I could see a page which literally talked about women having urges to "tidy their nest" before having children.

"That's weird, Nudge." I told her, after reading. I then yawned a long, satisfying yawn.

"It is though, isn't it? I mean if I were pregnant I wouldn't want to be out about, straining myself trying to clean. I'd be making other people do it for me. Like, who would ever want to clean? …Well I guess there are some people who just hate messes and stuff, but wouldn't they be tired and stuff if they were pregnant. Unless they were guys, since they can't get pregnant. It'd be weird of they could get pregnant. Can guys even get pregnant? I don't think they can. I know this doesn't really count but, I remember on of my classmates at the last school we went to once talked about some hermaphrodite-"

"It's getting late, Nudge. Maybe you should go to bed now." I tell her before she can go any further with this. "I'm pretty tired myself."

"Alright, Max. I am a little tired. I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well when you finally get to. Good night!" She says, turning her laptop off and getting off of the couch.

"Night, Nudge. Sleep well." I say, as she walks to the stairs that lead to everyone's rooms.

Fang gets up from the black-leathered recliner and walks over to the love seat to sit by me. "If you're really tired, I'm sure Jake won't mind checking you tomorrow morning."

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm sure they're about done with Kate by now." And right as I say this, I hear a door open and Jake call my name. His impeccable timing was almost scary.

Fang got up and helped me up, slowly. "Do you want me to go in there with you?" He asked.

"I'll be fine. You go get some rest so you can wake me up tomorrow morning, okay?"

"I'd rather wait for you so I can know if everything is okay." He tells me.

"Alright, Fang. I'll see you in a bit." I say as I walk away, not wanting to argue it.

I spent almost an hour in the room, but it felt like ten minutes. During this time, Jake asked me a lot of questions about how I was feeling, what I'd been eating, if I felt any pain or movement in my lower stomach, and even weird things like what color my pee was. Jake took some small blood samples and then Livy felt around, where the baby was.

"Everything feels normal." She said. "He's getting pretty big though, so he'll be ready to come out soon." She told me with an excited smile. "This is so exciting, Max! He'll probably be here before Kate's baby."

I was a little scared by that thought since I was kind of counting on Kate's baby coming before mine so I could have a little more knowledge of what was to come. I soooo wasn't ready for this…

"I can tell you're scared, Max, but don't be. We have everything you'll need. You're safe here and everyone here is ready to help in any way possible." She tells me with a smile.

"Thanks, Livy." I smile.

"So have you thought of any names, or are you just waiting until you see his face?"

"I've thought of some possibilities, but I'm deciding when I see him." I tell her.

Jake gets up from his chair, after writing some things down on paper. "Well, you're all done now, Max." He tells me. "Your baby seems to be doing fine and as are you. He'll probably be ready to join us in less than a month. Maybe a couple of weeks even. I'll get Livy to talk to you about a few last things within a week to help prepare you more if you feel like you need it, but I have faith that everything will go fine with you and that there won't be any complications." He reassures me. "Do you have any last questions?"

I think for a second. "When do you think Kate's baby will come?"

"I believe it'll be a little after yours. So maybe like a month or so." Jake tells me. "Any other questions?"

"No. I think I'm good. I'll see you all tomorrow. I'm heading to bed." I say, and they each wish me a good night as I leave.

When I walk out of the room, I see straight black hair falling over the couch arm and go towards it.

Fang was laying there, perfectly still while sleeping. His hair was all on the couch arm and away from his face, revealing a nice and relaxed expression on his face. He looked so peaceful in his sleep that I didn't want to wake him up. I was about to turn and get him a blanket from a shelf, when his eyes suddenly opened and I jumped.

"Good Lord, Fang. Where you awake the whole time?"

"I woke up when I heard the door open." He tells me, slowly sitting up from the couch. "You going to bed now?"

I sigh. "Yeah, I'm pretty beat."

Fang gets up and stretched a bit before he starts walking towards the stairs with me. "So was everything okay?" He asks while we walk.

"Yep. Everything was hunky-dory." I say. We finally get to the room doors and I'm exhausted. "Good night Fang. Get some rest, okay?"

"You too, Max. Good night." He says, and kisses my forehead.

Fang walks away towards his shared-room, and I walk into mine that I shared with Nudge, Kate, and Star. I lie down on my bottom bunk and fall right into a dream-filled sleep.

Love you all and have a nice day,

~Lucy