I sighed and leaned my head against the doorframe as I knocked on the wood of the door with my knuckles.

Nudge opened the door and saw me there, looking nervous and sad. She gave me an encouraging smile. "I'm pretty sure he's back to normal, Max. Don't worry."

"Did you do him last night?" I asked.

She frowned and shook her head. "He didn't want to."

I heaved a giant sigh and walked into her apartment. "Then he's not back to normal. But it's okay. I mean, how bad can it be?"

I smiled at her, trying to look confident but on the inside I was worried. What if I ruined Iggy and Fang's friendship? What if Iggy didn't want me as a sister anymore?

I walked over to the bedroom and slowly opened the door, peeking in. Iggy was sitting on the bed, a notebook in his hand. He was reading.

I quietly cleared my throat and rapped my knuckles against the wall, sliding into the room. "Can I come in?" I asked when he looked up at me.

"Why should I answer? You'll come in anyway," He said, setting the notebook on his lap, still open. The statement should have been bitter but Iggy couldn't do that to me, I knew he couldn't. Even if he was angry, he wouldn't be that cruel to me.

I walked over to him and sat next to him. "Listen," I started.

But I didn't finish. We just… sat there. In silence.

After a while, Iggy nodded, lips pursed. "Well, that was interesting. What a great talk." He looked at me and smiled. A real smile, not a fake one.

I smiled back and hugged him, knowing I was forgiven. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before," I mumbled. "I didn't mean to embarrass you or upstage you-"

"You always upstage me. I mean, I'm the bass and you're the lead singer. Everyone notices you, no one pays any attention to the bass."

I looked up at him. "I do." I smiled at him. "The bass works with the drums and keeps the beat. Without them the song is in shambles." I rested my head on his shoulder, our arms still around each other. "And I'm sorry you had to see me and Fang like that…" I blushed. "And I swear we weren't playing any games, running around. We were going to your room-"

"Ew!" His expression showed his disgust.

"-to get him some clothes." I finished.

Relief showered over his face. "Oh, thank God!"

"Iggy, I wasn't going to do it with Fang in the same room you did it with Nudge in: ew."

He laughed. "I guess I was just mad that you didn't seem upset that I was moving. I mean, we've always been around each other, right next door." He looked down at me. "You do know that was one of my hardest decisions; leaving you."

I rolled my eyes. "I would have been fine on my own. Plus, you'd have Nudge 24/7- what more could you want?"

"I know families are supposed to fight but you have been one of my best friends for the longest time. Yes, being with Nudge was and still is amazing but I'm so used to living with my baby sister. We've been insufferable since as long as I can remember and having you grow up and not need me anymore," he shook his head. "it's life but there's times when I remember whenever there was a thunderstorm and you'd run to my room so we'd both go to Mom and Dad," he smirked. "I always got up to go make sure you were okay but you beat me to it by running to me. I guess you've always been grown up, I just…" he sighed. "I just don't want to see it, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I understand. But you have to remember, Iggy," I leaned up to give him the biggest bear hug. "I'll always be your little sister." I kissed his cheek as he hugged me back. I leaned back and cleared my throat. "So, this apartment is going to be pretty cluttered with two people. You'll look like packrats."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. But we don't have a spare room to put all the extra stuff,"

I suddenly smiled and he looked at me warily.

"What?"

~~!~~

"Thanks, Max!" Nudge hugged me around the neck as Iggy carried boxes into the apartment. They were moving in across the hall where Gazzy and Angel's parents used to be. No one had rented it after they moved so it was easy to switch them.

"That's all of them," Iggy wiped his hands on his jeans and put his arm around Nudge's tiny waist. "Thanks, Max, really."

I smiled. "Now you have room to move around." I laughed as Nudge yawned and as Iggy picked her up like a princess. "I better go help Ella with her stuff." I turned around and walked into my apartment, closing the door behind me.

Ella was in Iggy's old room and she had her furniture already in there. All she needed to do was get her clothes and things unpacked. I walked in and started folding a sweater at her bed, smiling at her.

She was sitting cross-legged on her mattress, making piles of her clothes, sorting them so putting them away would be easier. She smiled back at me. "Thank you, Max."

"I've gotten those a lot today," I told her, chuckling. "But you're welcome. I'm glad you were able to move in with me,"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, you are. You just wanted Fang to be ready at all times."

I laughed. "Well, that's a plus." Ella threw a shirt at my face. "You know you love me,"

We were folding for a while, almost done when Fang walked in. "Anyone want pizza?"

"Me," Ella and I said in unison. "Cheese, please." We looked at each other. "Okay, that's creepy…" I blinked and shook my head as Ella hit her forehead.

Fang chuckled. "I knew what my two favorite girls wanted so," he held out a pizza box, eating a slice. "half cheese for you two, half chicken for me." He ate a slice.

We left Ella's room and went to the kitchen. Ella sat on the couch, putting her legs across the entire length. Fang sat in the recliner after setting the pizza box on the coffee table. He pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me to keep me from falling. I bit into his slice of pizza before grabbing my own.

"Okay, I may sound like Nudge here but you two look amazing together," Ella noted, smiling at us. "You guys look like a celebrity couple or two models."

I laughed. "You should have seen us in high school. Everyone was talking about how both of us should be together and then have babies left and right to make the perfect children."

Fang laughed. "Little did they know that they would be demon children since Max is the devil,"

I raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be talkin', Fang." I shook my head at him. "He was the school's hot badboy." I made air-quotes around hot badboy.

Fang shrugged. "It's just because I didn't like people messing with me or my friends," He nuzzled his nose in my neck as he said it, making me smile. "Of course, I never needed to defend Max."

I laughed. "Yeah. I was horrible in high school when someone tried something." I smiled. "But there was one time when Fang became me knight in shining armor." I kissed his cheek, near his lips since there was pizza sauce there.

He smirked. I'm thinking he put it there on purpose. But it died when he thought back to what happened. "Yeah. That was the first time I was afraid for you."

"What happened?" Ella asked as Fang held me closer, me eating the pizza out of his hand without him wanting me to.

"There were these guys at the mall," I started.

"And Max was meeting me and Iggy,"

"This was back when I was a freshman,"

"And I was a sophomore,"

Ella was looking back and forth between Fang and I as we alternated.

"I rounded a corner to get to the entrance and they grabbed me. I couldn't fight them off since there were three and I was small,"

"I heard Max scream and ran near the sound. There was shouting too. By the time I got there, Max's clothes were ripped and she was clawing away, bleeding."

"They had hit my head against the wall," I explained. "So, they had been attacking me- torturing me- before Fang showed up."

"I almost killed the bastard,"

"Iggy had to pry him off the guy when the cops came. So, there I was on the ground, bleeding, almost naked from how much my clothes were ripped,"

"I wrapped my jacket around her waist, using the back of it to cover her legs and I took my shirt to put over her torn one."

"He went with me to the hospital shirtless," I laughed. "just to make sure I wasn't lying when I said they only grabbed me."

"Why would you lie about that?" Ella questioned, making Fang seem stupid.

"Believe it or not, people lie about it. Because of fear, depression, self-disgust." I explained. "But they did a scan and when I came up okay, I had realized something," I looked down at Fang, smiling with my eyes. "That was the first day I saw you as more than just my brother's friend; the day I saw you as my absolute best friend in the world."

He smiled at me. "That was the day I realized I liked you. I had no clue what love was back then so I didn't really understand."

I smiled as he pulled my head down to his so he could kiss me. But in the kiss, I didn't feel any passion. None at all. It was completely devoid of it.

But there was love. Just pure love, almost blinding me. It was a soft kiss, no tongue, just lips, slowly molding together. It didn't last long, maybe only thirty seconds, but it didn't need to.

I gave Fang my small smile that only he ever really saw and he almost smiled but he held it back to nip my bottom lip. I laughed softly. "Is everything put away in our room?" I asked him, seeing Ella taking another piece of pizza.

He nodded. "Yeah, but some of my shirts and pants are mixed with yours since there wasn't much room left."

"That's fine." I looked at the clock, seeing it was almost midnight. "Ella, time for bed, you can finish your room tomorrow, I want you to get some rest, alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Mo- Max." She stuttered as she stood. She bit her lip and blushed.

"What were you about to say?" I asked, confused. I had a hunch but I was probably wrong."

"Nothing," She answered all too quickly.

"No, really, Ella, what'd you say?" I let my confusion shine through. Fang was tracing the back of my bra through my shirt, following the straps on my shoulders.

She sighed and looked at me. "Mom,"

Fang's hand froze and we looked at her.

"Why would you call Max mom?" Fang asked.

Ella shrugged. "Well, it's just that you've been amazing to me and I've known you since I was a toddler. You've taken care of me since my real mom died. You aren't just a teacher or a friend, Max. You're like my second mom. And Fang is like the father I never had." She blushed, looking down. "It was a stupid slip-up. I'm sorry."

I got up and hugged her tightly. "That means a lot to me, Ella. It really does."

She hugged me back. "I want you and Fang to be my parents now…" She whispered to me, almost a whimper. "But when you and Fang get married," the thought made me blush. "you'll just become my aunt instead…"

I hugged her even tighter. "It doesn't matter the relation. I'm closer to you in your heart than what genetics or society say."

She gave one small laugh and I could tell that she was crying. "I miss her so much," She cried into my shoulder quietly.

I rubbed my hand up and down her back. "I know. I miss her too. But here's the thing- it doesn't matter if she's dead or alive physically. Her spirit is in you and she's alive in your heart. She can see you and hear you and I'm sure she's proud of how amazing you turned out to be." I pulled back, wiping her tears away. "But then again, she's your mom; how can you not turn out amazing?"

She laughed and smiled at me, the tears gone. "I love you, Max,"

"Love you too, Ells." I hugged her again before sending her into her room.

When her door closed, Fang hugged me from the back, his chin on my shoulder. "You're going to be an amazing mother…" He mused into my ear.

I blushed. "Let's… go to bed."

~~!~~

Knock, knock.

Go away…

Knock, knock.

I groaned and rolled out of the comfort of Fang's arms. Checking the clock, I noticed it was three o'clock in the morning. I made sure I still wore Fang's shirt and shorts and walked out of my room, heading over to the apartment door. It was probably Iggy- maybe he forgot something and he was already up…

I opened the door and my eyes widened, my jaw dropping by the slightest.

"Dylan…"