Nudge was giggling when she skipped into Fang's bedroom that evening. He looked up from his homework, annoyed at the interruption until he saw who it was.

"Guess what?" Nudge squealed, practically jumping up and down.

"What?" Fang asked tiredly.

"Well," Nudge began, "Yesterday when I was at the mall with Angel and Ella and Max, I saw the cutest purple boots but I didn't have enough time to buy them, and then we were tired and we decided to get something to eat, and Max and Ella only wanted snow balls but Angel and I went to get a soft pretzel and-"

"Is there a point to this?" Fang interrupted. "I love your stories, Nudge, but I have to finish this."

Nudge nodded. "Just let me finish! So, anyways, we went to get a pretzel and when we got back Ella and Max were talking about some friend of Ella's party- but," she said, seeing Fang's annoyed glance, "Ella basically said that Max has a crush on you, and Max totally proved it when she denied it!"

Fang kept his face impassive. "And?"

Nudge's face fell. "I thought you'd be happy to know that. I mean, it seemed like you liked her." Nudge frowned- she'd been almost sure that for once she had read through Fang's emotionless façade.

"Nudge…we're in danger. We have to be on our guard, always. And as nice as some people may seem, we can't trust them too much, and we can't get attached. Chances are we'll be gone by the end of the year."

Nudge scowled, tears filling her eyes. "Why do you always have to be suspicious?" she hissed. "Nothing has gone wrong here, and yet you're ready to up and leave! We have a home, and food, and we actually have friends but you'd give it all up to go back to sleeping in trees and stealing food out of dumpsters?!"

"Nudge, Anne-"

"Is working for Itex, is spying on us, I know, I know! You've said that! But there's no proof! She's been nothing but nice to us since we got here!" Nudge exhaled loudly. "Sometimes I think you just can't stand not having someone to fight against," she grumbled, and stalked out, slamming Fang's door behind her.

* * * * *

"Max, you can't!" Ella whined. "Sam only said I could bring Iggy because he's my boyfriend! You can't just bring Nick!"

Max groaned. "If I don't, I won't know anyone there except you and Iggy, and you guys'll want to dance or something."

"You know Sam," Ella said.

Max rolled her eyes. "I've met him once. That doesn't really count. And he only invited me because he wanted to hit on me," she pointed out.

"You do need to go out more," Ella said.

Max sighed. "I might not even go," she said melodramatically. "It won't be any fun if I don't bring Nick."

"Fine!" Ella cried. "Bring him! See if Sam invites us anywhere ever again."

"Exactly," Max said, grinning.

Ella groaned. "You can be such a pain sometimes."

* * * * *

"Hey, Nick!" Max said cheerfully as she sat down next to him at lunch. "Do you want to come to a party?"

Nick looked up at her through his hair as he stirred his coffee. "Why?"

"Well, this friend of Ella's invited us to a party and I was wondering if you wanted to come," Max told him.

"Who's party?"

"Some guy named Sam."

"Who all's going?"

"Me, Iggy, and Ella."

Nick thought about it for a minute and then nodded. "Sure."

"Shouldn't you ask Anne?"

Nick shrugged. "She won't mind."

"Great!" Max beamed. "By the way, what's up with Monique? She's been giving you a death glare all morning."

Nick shrugged again. "Dunno…"

* * * * *

Two Weeks Later…

Fang decided that he didn't like parties.

Anne, on the other hand, had been thrilled that he was going. Nudge was talking to him again and was also glad he was going, and Max was happy she'd convinced him to come.

Fang, however, was doubting his decision to come.

Taking a running leap off a skyscraper with his wings tucked in sounded more appetizing than staying at the party.

The crush of people, the loud music, the darkness and overwhelming stench of sweat was all making Fang very uncomfortable. A minute after they'd arrived, Iggy and Ella disappeared onto the dance floor, and as soon as they were lost in the crowd, Sam, the host, came up to Max. He literally dragged her off to God-knows-where, and although Fang was slightly worried about her, he was soon distracted by a drunk redhead named Lissa, who started flirting with him.

But the time he'd ditched her and went to find Max again, he had no clue where he was. He ran straight into a blond who was trying to dance with him, and he wanted nothing more than to get away from the almost-mosh-pit on the dance floor. Luckily, Max saved him from that by grabbing his arm and dragging him away.

"What have you been doing?" She was yelling, but he could barely hear her over the pounding music.

"Trying to find you!" he shouted back. "Where were you?"

Max rolled her eyes dismissively. "Sam wouldn't let me get away," she laughed, and Fang smiled.

Suddenly, someone knocked into Max, pushing her into Fang's chest. She tried to catch herself and her hands ended up grasping Fang's black shirt. She looked up in shock.

Fang leaned in closer to her, his hands lightly resting on her elbows. Max's breath caught as he leaned down closer. Her eyes flickered shut and he could practically feel the vibrating energy in the scant inch of space between their lips. He leaned even closer and-

Crash!

Max and Fang jumped apart as they were soaked by a cooler of melting ice being thrown onto them by someone who appeared to be drunk. Fang swore as he pushed his dripping hair out of his face. He'd been so close to Max, and the moment had to be ruined by this.

Max looked up at him, laughing nervously. "This sucks," she said, trying to wring out her dripping hair. Her shirt was now soaked, and she thanked God that it wasn't white- that would have been embarrassing.

"That's an understatement," Fang said grimly.

They stood in an awkward silence for a minute, before Max looked at her luckily waterproof watch. "It's getting late," she told him. "We should probably find Iggy and Ella and go home."

Fang nodded. "Let's go."

* * * * *

"How was the party?" Dr. Martinez had stayed up, waiting for her daughters to get home.

"It was awesome!" Ella said, and bounced upstairs. Dr. Martinez took in Max's sopping wet appearance and sighed.

"What happened?"

"Someone managed to knock a cooler of ice water onto me and Nick," Max said. "I'm going to head upstairs and dry off."

Dr. Martinez laughed. "Good idea," she said, following Max up the stairs.

Max sighed as her mom walked into her own room. She was so worried about her almost-kiss with Nick. Had he been trying to kiss her, or not? Did he wish they had kissed, or did he just like her as a friend? Her head swirled, and she shook it, hard.

I sound like a cliché teenage girl, she thought with a groan, opening the door to her room. She took one step inside and tried to flick on the lights.

Why won't the lights go on? was her last thought before she was knocked on the head and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Disclaimer: I'm not JP, I don't own MR.

A/N: Go cliffhanger! I think this is a good chapter, and there's some Fax for you (yay!) so I hope you're happy.

On a more serious note…I need your opinion in the form of a review or a vote in the poll on my profile. Now, when I started writing this I was going to make the flock and Ella have wings. Strange, I know, but I liked the idea. But as I've thought about it and talked with Arin Blaire I don't know if that would work. What do you think? Review and vote, because I really am leaving it up to you, my lovely readers!

Anonymous review replies:

ryd4theride- confusing review. Fang is Fang but is using the name Nick, and it switches from being Fang and Nudge to Nick and Monique depending on if it's focusing on Max, who knows them as Nick and Monique, or Fang. I hope everyone got that. I know Fang isn't goth, but keep in mind that when the others are saying that they've never even met Fang, they've just seen him. Trust me, I know people who wear all black and aren't emo/goth at all. -rowena

goldenwingchick- glad you liked the chapter! This was a taste of Fax, and I updated! –rowena

fanfic addict- I'm glad you like the story, and thank you for reviewing! I hope you enjoy this update-I enjoyed your very amusing review! –rowena