Disclaimer: I do not claim any right to the Maximum Ride universe.
Fang stood opposite the door, leaning against the wall. He looked up from his feet as I walked out. His gaze slid over me slowly and for an instant I was reminded of the appraising glances of whitecoats and Erasers. I shuddered and shrank into myself.
"Don't look at me like that," I ordered. His eyes softened for a moment and he nodded assent. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. "I'm not an object. Not anymore."
He pushed away from the wall and indicated for me to follow him. "You never were, Max. It's just good to see you. Real good." We started up a second set of stairs to the attic. We reached a small landing that had two doors branching off of it. Fang pulled a long thin chain over his head and handed it to me. An old style skeleton key was suspended on the chain.
"Try the one on the right," Fang said.
I grabbed the key and slid it into the lock of the door on the right. With the proper application of strength and twist the lock released and the door swung open. Fang stepped close behind me and pushed it open farther. I peered in only to be overwhelmed with what I saw.
The door led to a big room facing northeast. The floors were polished hardwood but the majority was covered by a huge fluffy deep blue rug. An elegant four poster faced the east wall draped in a heavy blood-red duvet with big white pillows. My backpack sat in the middle of the bed, waiting for me to take it up again. I backed up a few steps, almost afraid of the reminder of my desertion. My back hit something solid and warm and I remembered that Fang still stood behind me. His large hands settled on my shoulders. The touch calmed me. The sensation of skin on skin sent a small wave of heat through me.
"We hoped that you'd come back, so we set this up for you," Fang told me. "I'm next door. Iggy's at the bottom of the stairs." A door slammed downstairs, the sound distant in such a big house.
We heard pounding on the stairs and a lot of rustling of plastic bags. Soon Nudge popped into view on the landing. She did have a lot of bags with her. Fang removed his hands from my shoulders.
"Oh, my God," she said when she saw me. "Do you like the room? I picked out the colors. They just seemed so you. Oh, here." She shoved half of the bags into my arms. I almost dropped them and the towel that secured my dignity. Fang intervened, much to my relief. Nudge didn't even notice.
"So I went to this little boutique down the street that I shop at all the time because the clothes fit really well after we modify them and you're about my size so I picked up a bunch of stuff, but in your style. I know that you like simple stuff, but I did get you some cute trendy things. I hope you like them," Nudge ran on and on.
Fang and I exchanged a glance. He dumped the bags he held on the bed and took the rest of them from Nudge. She was saying something about lotions and razors and a haircut, but I was way overwhelmed. I reached out and hugged her tight with one arm while keeping the towel in place with the other.
"Thank you so much, Nudge. I'm sure I'll love whatever you got me," I told her.
She glanced between me and Fang and suddenly wrapped it up. She hugged me back quick and headed for the door. "I'll let you get dressed now and stuff." She bounded back down the stairs, closing the door behind her.
I took a deep breath. "Wow."
Fang chuckled and I grinned in response.
He upended the bags and let what seemed like hundreds of shirts and pants and skirts spill out onto the bed. He whistled. "She really went to town."
Digging through the pile I found a pair of lounge pants and a loose long sleeve shirt. A little more digging revealed some undergarments. Oh, thank heaven. I glanced over at Fang to see him holding up a lacy little bra and panty set. I coughed. Why the hell had Nudge gotten me that?
He glanced up at me, almost startled, and his face flushed. I grabbed them out of his hands.
"Oh. Um…wanna borrow some clothes until we get these washed?" he asked. Smooth save.
I shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
He disappeared for a second, into the other room, his room, I assume, and came back with some sweatpants and a modified t-shirt. The sweatpants were way too long. Oh, well. "Thanks," I said as he tossed them to me.
"Sure, just don't take too long. Dinner's almost done." He smiled at me just before he closed the door and my heart did a funny little hop.
As soon as the door clicked behind him, I threw off the towel and stretched to my limit towards the ceiling. Several satisfying pops drained some tension from my back and I flapped a little to speed up the process of drying my feathers.
I walked over to the dresser on the other side of the bed. Arranged neatly on top was a brush and a picture album. A little dish of hair elastics sat just in front of the big mirror hung on the wall above the dresser. I stared at my reflection, hating the evidence of the past few years etched into my skin in a thousand thin white scars. They marked me as surely as a brand. I wasn't a real person; I was just an experiment.
I turned away and slipped into Fang's clothes. I took a second to breathe in the scent of him which was ingrained in the clothes. He always smelled like the wind and the wilderness and …was that a hint of Calvin Klein?
I took a deeper breath. When did he start wearing cologne? I thought. Not that I minded. I inhaled again. I quite enjoyed it actually. At least he picked something good. Another breath. Something real good.
Do you feel better now, Maximum? the Voice asked.
I nodded absently. I had long ago stopped caring how I looked when the Voice talked to me. It had been the one thing to keep me sane in those last horrible years. I shivered.
I'm glad. You need them, Max. They need you. You got out just in time.
Can we not talk about it? I asked. I did not want to revisit those memories again. I would see them soon enough in my dreams. Any respite I got, I took.
Of course. Forgive me.
I snorted. Like I have a choice.
I squeezed what water I could from my clean hair and pulled it back in a braid. Another deep inhalation of Fang's shirt and I was good to go.