Through the Eyes of a Servant Chapter 6, a maximum ride fanfic

Through the Eyes of a Servant | Chapter 6 |

by: Rachel / Chapter posted June 28th, 2010.

AU | Max/Fang | PG / 3,719 words

When Max accepts a job as a maid in Fang's household, will it be love at first sight? Or will anything and everything come between them?

The idea for this story is my own, and no one else's. Everything else belongs to Jame's Patterson -although I will be next in line for the throne when he retires xD-. I made no money for writing this story, I simply write for reviews.

Max walked up the stairs happily the next morning, for once not cursing out the world or muttering snide comments about her father. Things had gone very well, she thought to herself. She had gotten Fang to open up a little and had even had fun. Underneath her bright smile, she was as nervous as hell. She had actually worked at fixing her hair that morning, hoping that Fang wouldn't regret it last night.

And then she remembered that no one would know. They had gone out in secret, and Fang had even snuck out of the house so that he could take her out. A part of her was disappointed at no one knowing but her family, Nudge and Angel, but she'd live. Her smile brightened as she walked into the kitchen to find a pot of coffee already made and on the counter.

She nearly jumped a foot in the air when she whirled around to see Iggy sitting at the counter and cheerily drinking his coffee with a smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup, biting her lip and trying desperately to tiptoe away before he asked any questions. "Hold it," he yelled after her, and she swore internally.

Turning back around, he grinned down at her as he stood up and put his cup in the sink. "Looked like someone had fun last night," he said with amusement as Max's blood boiled and her face turned bright red.

"It didn't look like anything to you," Max sneered.

"So I got Gazzy to spy for me!" he held up his hands in defense. "If you weren't so caught up in Fang's emo-ness –which again, Gazzy told me about-, you would have been able to see the blinds cracked from the front window. So, Max," he smirked. "This Fang must be some kisser. I think you're actually happy. I could feel the happiness radiating off your skin." He burst out laughing.

She turned around and started repeatedly beating her head against the wall. She knew she had the strength to put her head through if she wanted, but she didn't want plaster in her hair at the moment. Gazzy walked into the kitchen, still in his pajamas. He took one look at the masochistic Max and shook his head. "Hey, Ig. Do we still have coffee?"

Max turned around, seeing Gazzy. "Hey, since when did you start drinking coffee? A month ago you said you hated the stuff when Dad offered you some."

"Since an eighth-grader named Monica Lynn said that drinking coffee was more grown-up," Iggy chuckled. "Here, Gazzer." He poured Gazzy a cup and turned back to Max. "Seriously, I think Gazzy here's got himself a little crush. You know, young love and all that." Gazzy's face reddened as Max's had done only moments ago.

"So, why are you two up so bright and early on a Saturday?" Max asked. "I have work, but it's the weekend. You don't have anything you need to do. Are your lives seriously so pathetic that you have to rely on my life to have something to do?"

"Precisely," Iggy smiled. "Max, we just wanted to find out some stuff, like how the date went. Traditionally, first dates at fancy restaurants are awkward and horrible for both people, up until the kiss at the end which occasionally happens."

"But there's got to be something wrong with him!" Gazzy emphasized. "Think about it. The guy takes you to a great restaurant, kisses you and you have fun, right? So he's got to have some deep, dark secret about him that's bad. Maybe he has a zit. In a place."

Max rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help remembering the last night at dinner when they were crawling through the vents. Something black had poked out of his jacket, she was sure of it. But it couldn't have been a wing. She was just being hopeful, that there could be someone like her. She probably imagined the whole thing.

"Cut it out," she shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with him, except for maybe his attitude. But I'm working on him, alright? He's just another rich kid that was brought up to not care about the people doing his work. I think I could help him out of it, alright?" She walked to the entrance and slipped on her jacket, then flopped back down on the tiny couch.

"So, Ig, how about driving me?"

"No can do," he rolled his eyes. "There's a new girl coming in to work for us today. She seemed like a real ditz. I have to help her or she'll cry or get fired, and I'm her mentor, which means it'll reflect on me, and I need that job." Max shrugged and folded her arms under her head in a makeshift pillow, closing her eyes for the last few minutes before she would be on that damn city bus again.

Jeb smiled to himself as he looked around the corner at Max, Iggy and Gazzy. This was the way they had acted before all this had happened, comfortable with each other. As Gazzy made kissing faces at Max, taunting her, Jeb laughed quietly when Max leapt off the couch and chased him around the kitchen, knocking boxes of Styrofoam over in the process.

He turned around and looked at the wall across from him, where the first picture unpacked had been placed. He smiled softly at what he saw; a five-year old Max and a seven-year old Iggy, struggling to build a sand castle with their mother watching quietly from the side, holding a particularly small Gazzy. It had only been twelve years, but it felt like a century, or a different world.

God, Val, he thought, I miss you so much.

His eyes traveled back to his children, who were currently grabbing large handfuls of the packaging foam and tossing it at each other, large foam puffs raining down all the while. It spread over the floor and the counters, but Jeb couldn't bring himself to care.

Max saw him standing in the shadows of the hallway, as only she could. And instead of frowning or turning away, she actually smiled a bit at him. She still didn't forgive him, even if she knew it wasn't exactly his fault. But she couldn't bring herself to forgive or to forget yet. There would be a time when she'd be able to call him her father again, soon enough.

Fang sat on the floor of his room, in the low light. I was five o'clock in the morning, but it wasn't as if he'd gotten any sleep to begin with. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like he had made a mistake. Last night, he'd allowed himself to be a person that he wasn't meant to be, happy and free. It just wasn't him. It wasn't who he was, and as much as he liked her, it just wasn't worth it.

And now, there wasn't even Angel to coach him or prod him to do the right thing. He was alone in the early hours of the morning, just thinking of what would happen if he were to be that person again, that carefree…silly…immature person. It frightened him, and he couldn't do it for much longer. He also couldn't risk her job, or her safety.

Most of all, the wings fanned out behind him reminded him of something he couldn't afford to forget. He was different from her, and he wasn't sure he could trust her with his secret just yet. Part of him almost wished he could tell her, but he knew she wasn't ready to hear something that big. And maybe he was foolish for thinking that she could be the one for him.

Today would be an important day for him, but not in the way that yesterday or the day before had been. He wouldn't be asking Max out or taking her out. Today would be the day that he let her go; the best thing that had ever happened to him, even if he didn't know it.

Gazzy and Max got off the city bus in a hurry. It was nothing like a few days ago, but there had been some boys in the back that made Max uneasy, however much Gazzy didn't care. He was more interested on the iPod he had found on the city bus and had planned to download music to from a questionably legal free music website.

"You should return it," she grumbled to him, but he paid her no attention as they walked the few blocks to Fang's house. Gazzy wasn't exactly thrilled to be trailing along with Max, after all. There were probably no maids at the house his age anyway, so it wasn't like he had the opportunity to stare at girls. It would probably all be following Max, watching her fluff pillows and sweep the floor.

"Remind me again why I have to come with you to your stupid maid job?" Gazzy complained as he followed her. He was sure he could find better things to do at home than to trail after his superior older sister and her frequent mood swings.

"Because Dad's out job hunting and Iggy has that thing with his job. Knowing you, you can't be left at home without setting the kitchen on fire," she answered matter-of-factly.

"It was only once," he grumbled to himself.

They arrived at the house soon enough, and Gazzy gasped when they were in the driveway. The driveway alone was a good seventy feet long, and the house was around four stories long, with the greenest lawn he'd ever seen and an elegant flower garden off to the side. The house itself had long white columns in the front, reaching up more than three times Max's height.

"You wait in here, and I have to go change," Max announced as she guided him inside, setting him down on one of the benches and racing away. She scowled as she saw that it was the same short-skirted uniform as always. If Fang's mother didn't want him to date, she shouldn't let the servants dress like prostitutes.

It was only around seven in the morning, and Fang was never up this late. If she knew him at all, he'd be in bed by ten. And if he wasn't, well, she'd just have to run in and get him out of bed, she thought sadistically. She picked up a can of furniture polish and an old rag. Feather duster my ass. Who do they think I am, Cinderella?

Walking back into the main hallway, she walked past Gazzy and removed the flower vase from the table next to him, spraying the table. As she was wiping it down, Gazzy glanced over at her and his jaw dropped. "Uh, Max? Is it wrong to feel conflicting emotions about your sister?" he joked.

Max rolled her eyes. "I didn't choose the uniform, diprod. Hell, for all I know, Fang's mom placed an order for one uniform, but when she wasn't looking, Fang changed I to the cosplay maid from hell uniform."

"That's what the uniforms in hell look like?" Gazzy wondered aloud. "Max, how exactly does one get to hell?"

She sent him a warning glance. "Keep talking and you'll get there." Sighing, she looked back at him. "I have to get on with work. I'll leave you alone here. Screw anything up and I'll beat you to a pulp." She smiled. "So, no pressure or anything."

She left him there, sitting in the lobby with nothing to do. She really should have known better, but she was in a hurry and she didn't want to deal with her little brother with Fang on her brain. So she walked away, not seeing anything bad coming. She was so wrong.

Sitting on the bench and twiddling his thumbs, he didn't notice the little girl staring at him from the staircase. For the life of her, Angel couldn't understand who this boy was with the spiked hair, the tips dyed blue, and the whole one fake earring thing he was trying to pull. With his hoodie and converse, it looked like he was trying to be badass.

But he had something radiating from him, like he could be happy no matter what happened to him. He had a sweet, rounded face with large eyes and a soft nose, and hair that was obviously blonde under the blue thing that he was trying to do.

Gazzy closed his eyes and put his feet up so that he was lying on the bench. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but he figured that as long as he was in a huge house with no TV, he might as well get some sleep. Settling himself and folding his arms behind his head, he tried to empty his mind of thoughts.

Angel snickered to herself as the thoughts left his mind and it clouded over, and she knew he was asleep. In a dream state, the mind was harder to read, like seeing someone through a fog. She crept down the stairs and over to the sleeping boy.

Even in the back of his mind, Gazzy could feel that someone was staring at him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and his skin prickled. He opened his eyes sleepily to see a young blonde girl staring at him inquisitively. He jumped back in reflex, hitting his head on the back of the bench. He yelped and sat up, eyeing the girl suspiciously. She only smiled.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked rudely. "Who do you think you are, watching me while I sleep? God, that's creepy." He shook his head, but she didn't even flinch. She just kept smiling.

"Sorry about that," she laughed. "Just, I don't know why you're here in my house. I've never seen you before. Are you a friend of Nudge's?" she asked curiously.

His thoughts were still swimming around messily, she could tell. She couldn't find anything out about him like this. "No," he said, confused. "I'm Max's younger brother."

"Well, I didn't think you were her older brother," she giggled, taking his height into consideration. "And what's that you've got going on with your hair? You look like a smurf," she said cheerfully. He glared at her angrily. He didn't have to take that.

"I'm Angel, by the way," she smiled. Something about her smile made him uneasy, like she could read everything about him just by looking at him. And strangely, he didn't want to run away or ignore her. Something about her interested him, made him want to stay.

"And, that should just about do it," Iggy stated after taking the new employee for two tours of the small and crowded gas station. She was such an idiot that she clearly couldn't figure it out the first time, so now, two hours later, he had finally managed to teach her the ways of the gas station.

"I didn't catch your name," he said politely, even though she had told him at least a dozen times. She seemed to be quite proud of it.

"Brigid Dwyer," she said with authority. "Don't worry, I won't' let you down!" she said, raising her hand to her head like he was a captain or a war veteran. He did the same with a bit of hesitation, then walked away awkwardly.

Over the next hour, he had her doing minor things like restocking shelves and cleaning the supply room where he handled the register. Even if he was blind, he was sure he did it better than she could. To make sure no one took advantage of him again, Max had bought him some sunglasses that covered up his clear irises, so that no one knew he was blind.

He helped a few people, most of the time just sitting around and chewing gum. Brigid seemed to be taking a particularly long time in the back room, he noted. He had only sent her in there so that he wouldn't have to talk to her, but now he was concerned that she might be hiding a TV in there or playing with an iPod instead of working.

He got up from his seat, left the register, and rounded the corner, poking his head in the back room. And boy, was he in for a surprise. The moment he entered, Brigid appeared, looking as troublesome as ever. Before he could even ask what she was up to, she had him pinned against the wall, despite her being a head shorter.

Even though she was four years younger than he was, she knew a hot guy when she saw one. And despite the sunglasses he always wore, she could see that he had a kind face and a charming attitude. Forget Fang, she had her sights set on Iggy now.

So she put her hands on his chest, pressed him against the wall and kissed him full on the mouth. He gave a muffled gasp and froze where he was, but she kept going. He was still a little stunned from being ambushed and didn't react immediately. Her fingers reached up to tangle in his hair, and he tried to think of a way to let her down easy.

He stepped forward, trying to get around her, but all she did was twist her legs so that they were around his waist and he was carrying her. With her on him like this, he had no idea where he was going. So he staggered out of the room and finally tripped and fell onto the ground. Brigid smiled at him. "Oh, Iggy, I'm so glad you feel the same way." He noticed that he had fallen on top of her.

What have I gotten myself into? He thought with a grimace.

Angel had managed to drag Gazzy throughout the house, showing him this and that, taking him here and there, wanting to share her life with someone. Iggy had Nudge and Fang had Max, so why shouldn't she have a friend, even if she didn't like him like that? They were in the deserted laundry room exploring the dumbwaiter when they heard footsteps.

"Crap, we're not supposed to be up here!" Angel cried, and pushed him in. "There has to be room for both of us in there! If we get caught, my mom will know I had a friend over and she'll never let me have my own life!" Gazzy didn't understand, and he didn't have a chance to ask. Because before he knew it, they were both in the dumbwaiter, and she pulled them down.

The footsteps were heard as Angel and Gazzy sat in the dumbwaiter, holding their breaths. It was two or three people, they couldn't really tell. One spoke, and Angel could tell that it was two maids up there.

"So, you'll never believe what I heard today," one said. The other casually leaned in, the silent gesture that promised not to say a word to anyone else. They grabbed the laundry out of the washer, taking it over to the table to fold the mountain of clothes. "It's about Fang. I've heard some…interesting news," she whispered.

"You can tell me," the other whispered back.

"Well…okay. You see, what we didn't know is that the other day, when she left to have dinner with her friends, well, he didn't exactly stay home."

"Oh, do tell," giggled the other.

"He was out with a girl!" she squealed. "And it gets better. He was with one of the servants from this house! No one knows who it is…yet. But there are only a few options."

"You're right," mused the other. "The only girls his age are Mallory O'Hara, Cynthia Heimmerman, Jessica Simon and Max Bachelder. It's only a matter of time before one of them comes out. Personally, my money's on Jessica."

Her friend shook her head. "You're on. Mark my words, it'll be Max Bachelder."

Gazzy and Angel exchanged nervous glances. This wasn't going to end well.

Around noon, Max was dusting the staircase, just waiting for twelve forty-five when her break came and she could grab something to eat. She had decided to let Fang sleep, because he just looked so darn cute when he did. She hadn't talked to him all day, but then, she couldn't really expect to be around him all the time if they wanted to keep it a secret. Right now, though, there was no one else around, and she wished he was there.

She turned around to dust the other side, but Fang was standing right there. She couldn't help it, her face broke into a smile. He was what she'd been waiting for the entire day. But it nearly crushed her when he came right out with it. "Max, this can't work. I can't keep this a secret from my mother for long, and I won't put your job in danger."

"W-what?" she asked, stunned. "Fang, I don't care! I don't care about the job!"

"I can't do this," he slumped into the wall. "It's just that last night wasn't right. It wasn't who I usually am. It was too open."

Max walked closer. "If you lo-like someone," she stuttered, blushing, but she didn't think she caught it, "You have to be more open with them. Being vulnerable is a chance you have to take," she said softly, knowing it applied to the both of them.

And without meaning to, she leaned in and kissed him. Even though it was like her body was doing the opposite of what her brain was telling her to, she enjoyed every minute of it. And Fang was convinced. Breaking up with Max was not something he ever intended to do.

On the balcony above them, Angel and Gazzy slapped high-fives. Little did he know that Angel had done it all. It was generally easier when you could control minds. She grinned happily. Her idiot brother didn't know what was good for him, but Max did. And Angel was there to see that it all happened perfectly.

How was that? Realize that the last chapter was a fun, fluffy and lighthearted bonus chapter. The real story will be centered around more drama and angsty stuff -ahem- that you love. xD

Also, it meant so much that so many people voted in the poll on my profile to make this story happen. Now that one of my stories is ending, I'd like to do the same thing. So if you want another story like this, please vote on the poll on my profile, open until August 1st, for the pairing for the next story. Even though this one is Fax, the next one will be a less typical pairing.

Thanks so much!

~Rachel