A/N: these are not my characters. Some of their thoughts are not mine, the plot is mine. The spelling errors are mine too (sorry). The rest belongs to James Patterson.

bows maximum ride is his and his alone.

Iggy Pov:

I felt fang walk up to me, he tapped me carefully on the shoulder.

"Your first watch." He said quietly, i heard how worn his voice was. I nodded, watch wasn't so bad. It gave me time to think without all the distractions. I listened to the flock settle down to sleep, they sounded graceful and strong.

I closed my eyes and leaned against a tree, sinking to the ground.

There were moments where i was happy to be blind, grateful even. Times like this made me value the world in a different way. I could picture my family laying in the grass sleeping soundly. The shadows that the trees and leaves cast on their faces. I felt at one with the world, connected to nature and the air and everything. I didn't need to see any of it, i could feel it.

A sudden snap of a twig made me tense. I could hear somebody gasp, but i didn't know who.

"Nudge?" i said slowly, guessing. There was a pause, and then some footsteps as they moved closer. By the quiet shuffling i could tell it was Nudge.

"yeah." i heard the smile in her voice, and grinned. She always woke up in the middle of the night, sometimes she would try to sneak past me. But i always caught her. She shuffled up to my spot by the tree. I heard her sit down.

"hey." she said easily. I nodded in reply. There was a pause.

"having fun?" she asked, groggy and cheerful at the same time.

"yeah, it is really peaceful and quiet. I like the quiet sometimes..." i cut myself off, not wanting to offend her.

"i know, i mean," she paused looking for the right words, "Sometimes i just need the quiet. Like right now, this is good." I heard her laugh a little, and i smiled.

"What?" she said quietly, not wanting to wake the flock. "just because i talk a lot doesn't mean i don't like silence too." I nodded, i could understand that.

"so," i began, "why are you up?" I turned toward her.

Nudge pov:

That was the last thing i expected Iggy to ask me. I scrambled for something to say, a half hearted white lie.

"i couldn't sleep." I mumbled, pathetically. Iggy snorted in response, trying to stifle a laugh.

"crap. Now tell me the truth Nudge." He said tapping my knee with two fingers. I couldn't lie to him, but i didn't even know why i was awake.

He just sat there smiling, patent. His eyes had a sort of glassy film over them, like they were covered with smoke. He closed his eyes and i just stared at him, gaping.

"what are you thinking?" he asked suddenly, bringing me back to reality. How did he know i was gawking at him? Wait...was i gawking at him? Mentally i kicked myself.

"i was looking at something actually." i said, managing a complete sentence.

"really?" he paused for a second, and then continued. "I was thinking about some things."

"yeah?"

"yeah." he went on, "you know how we were all like engineered and designed for some big plan?"

"yes."

"So I have noticed that we are all in pairs. Max and Fang, as the leaders and opposites. Angel and Gazzy as siblings." I nodded. I had noticed the same thing, but Iggy had probably known for a long time. He was smart like that, almost creepy smart.

"So that left you and me, and i ah, well." he stopped looking at my face with those cloudy, brilliant eyes.

"I wouldn't mind being paired up with you, your really smart, and funny and..." he stopped, his face turned red.

I put my hand on his shoulder, lightly.

Iggy Pov:

I felt her hand on my shoulder, i was blushing furiously. I turned away from her, trying to compose myself. She tugged a little at my shoulder turning me back to her. I was breathing a little heavier than normal, my Adrenalin was racing.

"i get it. Max and Fang, you and me. Some sicko scientist, probably jeb, meant it this way." Nudge whispered. I nodded and tried to swallow.

Something about this second felt wrong and perfect at the same time. I didn't know why but i wanted to run away and hide. Another part of me wanted to freeze this moment and analyze it, figure out what was happening.

Instead i just nodded, and reached for her hand. Holding onto it, trying to breath.

Nudge Pov:

He grabbed my hand and suddenly a thought popped into my head.

I love him.

I froze for a second. I could hear my breathing, his breathing, the wind. Is this what he felt like all the time, feeling everything but never really seeing it?

"what's happening, what do you see?" he asked casually. His face to the wind, the breeze playing with his red hair. Some light managed to glint off his cloudy blue eyes. I looked around, my eyes falling on the most beautiful thing i have ever seen, my family.

"I see four angels sleeping, grey grass sweeping around them."

Iggy Pov:

I could picture it, clearly as i had ever seen anything before.

"and.." i prompted, not wanting her to stop talking, she was painting a picture with her soft voice. Whether it was real or not i didn't want her to stop.

"Max is pale, some of her feathers are moving in the wind. Angel is curled up in a ball, holding Celeste. Fang is still, and almost relaxed. Gazzy," she paused to take a deep breath. "Gazzy is flat on his back, the wind is playing with his hair."

She stopped talking, the sound of the nigh time, wind and leaves were faint, but easy to hear. I could hear her above everything else, the steady in out of air to her lungs. She was looking and thinking about something.

"what." i breathed, never turning my head from her. Her breathing paused for a moment, then i heard her exhale. She waited for me to speak again.

"what were you doing?" i asked, gesturing to the empty space in front of me and the sky above.

"thinking."

"about what?"

"max and fang." She replied carefully, her tone was raw emotion. Confusion and sadness seeped into each syllable.

"hmm." i murmured, nodding.

"Will we, are we.." she studdered for a moment, "do we have what they have?"

I cocked my head to the side, not thinking. My emotions were spiraling, i was delerious, depressed, stoic, excited and nervous at the same second. I had loved Nudge like a sibling for years now, but did i feel anything more? My stomach lurched itself into a knot. Yes, yes i did love nudge, for her clumsy alkwardness and her incredible grace.

My head began to spin, it was the first time i had admitted it, but i knew it to be true.

I love nudge, as more than a sibling, more than an equal.

She was my soulmate, wether pre-enginered or stumbled on by fate. Nudge was my match, my polar opposite and my better half. I heard her breath slow, almost stop.

"Nudge?" i said quietly, i heard her inhale fast, clenching my hand a bit harder.

I knew she was expecting an answer, a reply, some sort of confession. But i couldn't do that, my brain refused to put feelings into words. So i reached out with my other hand, placing it lightly on her sholder. I felt a shiver pass through her body, all the way to her opposite hand. I brushed the tips of my fingers up her neck, carefully. Feeling her muscles tense. I smiled a little, my heartbeat suddenly pounding through my whole body.

I felt her jaw, smooth and perfect. i let go of her oter hand, bringing it up to hold her neck.

I kissed her, wrapping my arms around her back, pulling her body to me. It was like a current passed through my body. I rested my head on her sholder, half nuzzled to her cheek.

Nudge Pov:

I couldn't move or think or breath, iggy was so close, closer than he had ever been.

And by some odd force i could feel his emotions, each and every one. Joy and anxiousness, desperation and a sadness i couldn't place. I wrapped my arms around his sholders. We sat like that for a while, seconds of shared feeling.

Then we pulled back, he looked confused and apologetic.

"oh my god." i murmured, still feeling adrenalin racing through my veins. He was shaking his head, looking torn and sad.

"What happened..." he gasped, eyes wide. His hands were shaking.

"are you okay..." i said slowly, still feeling the emotion from the kiss, both his and mine. he nodded, looking paler than normal, but no worse for wear.

Iggy Pov:

It felt weird, fighting erasers for ten minutes left me a bit hungry, tired. But kissing Nudge left me weak, and confused.

"i am so much older...this shouldn't have...oh my god...what will..." i began to mutter to myself, saying half coherent thoughts as they streamed through my head.

I noticed a quiet, nudge wasn't talking, or even moving, i heard her breathing, shallow and slow.

"what did you say.." she breathed pain and confusion seeping into her tone.

"i am older than you, and we're family, and what would happen to them," i shook my head, waving my arm at the flock.

"if something happened..." i started again, my stomach filling with lead. I heard her stand up and move in front of me.

"angel," she said a touch louder. To my surprise, angel woke up an shuffled to us.

"Nudge." angel said slowly, as easily as saying good morning. But it was about one a.m.

They were quiet for a moment, and i got the feeling that Nudge was talking to Angel. Crud. Suddenly i was pulled to my feet, Nudge's hand in an iorn grip on my wrist. For a few steps i struggled, but Nudge was strong and the grip just got tighter.

"Nudge." I began. she kept pulling me along, i stumbled on tree roots and rocks.

nothing.

"Where are we going." I said louder, not bothering to phrase it like a question. I knew she wouldn't respond until we had stopped. About twenty seconds later we did.

Angel Pov:

Iggy was going to get it. Not a smack upside the head, or even a lecture. Nudge just needed to know what he felt, what he thought about her.

A while ago at the school, Angel had done some thinking. She thought about how the flock was an even split between boys and girls, and about how some of them were so perfect for each other. She had never asked jeb about it, or told anyone what she thought. It was an idea she had kept to herself, because it had never felt right to share.

So here she was, waiting for Iggy and Nudge to get back. She knew this would happen, she could feel other people's emotions but she could read thoughts. It had come in handy tonight.

"Angel, wake up." Nudge had thought clearly. The thought wasn't paniced or even mad, it just was. Like a loud version of Nudge in her brain.

"coming." she had responded, putting the thought in Nudge's head.

"Okay, i am going. Iggy is coming, if we don't come back in a little while get fang." Nudge had instructed clearly.

Angel only nodded.

And here she was.

Iggy Pov:

It was dead quiet for three whole seconds. And then i heard Nudge take a breath, a large deep i-am-going-to-tell-you-what-i-think breath.

"How do you feel about me." she asked slowly. It was a question with so many diffrent answers. My head spun.

"I am your brother, this is my family, our family..." I searched for words, "i am older than you are, if this went badly, what could happen to..." i trailed off, and she jumped in.

"We have been through hell, heaven and anything in between. There are only five people i'd risk my life for. There are only five people i can love, ever." her tone suggested no comprimise. I stood still, absorbing this. She would never change those opinions.

"we can't be normal." I said defeated.

"No, i cannot love anybody but you. i can't exist in that world, normal isn't my life."

"but this was planned out."

"and so were wings, win some lose some."

"but if it dosen't work." I protested. She had shot down almost all my arguments.

Suddenly i felt her close, way close. She put her hands on each side of my face, cradling it. I leaned into her, resting my forehead on the top of her head. She nuzzled into my chest, pulling me into a hug.

"if not us than who." she said simply. I closed my eyes, feeling the lids cover my eyes. She was right, as emotion so often is when presented with a logical argument.

"I love you. You should know." i murmured slowly, holding her for the second time that night.

At that second i realized something. That from a rational point of veiw, opposites cannot mix and do not belong together. But that when you throw reality into the mix it is diffrent. You come to know that opposites, light and dark, logical and emotional, stoic and vibrant can complete each other.

It was Fang and Max to a t. It was Nudge and I. It was the way the world worked, the way we worked, the way it had been planned.

Without the bad you can never find the good.