Longest chapter yet, guys, yay! It's information, but, you know, important information. And not too terribly boring, either. In fact, there's a bit of Fax-- you might kinda like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride!

The next day, we were standing on my mom's doorstep. Fang and I didn't know whether we should go ahead with the mission or take a break for a little while, so we decided to crash at my mom's for a few days while we thought it through. Now, though, it had just occurred to me that I'd be introducing her to her grandchildren, and my stomach was flip-flopping around.

I extended my trembling hand toward the doorbell, telling myself to just ring it, to rip it off like a Band-Aid. My hand paused about an inch from the doorbell, and I stared at it. Just as I was about to force myself to press it, an olive hand grabbed mine and brought it down.

I looked at Fang. Devin was on his hip, looking more comfortable with being there than usual. He was beginning to trust Fang; it must be the strong and silent characteristic they shared.

He squeezed my hand, and when I tried to tug it away, he pulled me closer to his side. The flock was watching us, so Fang leaned down and talked right into my ear, low enough so that only the two of us could hear. "Max, calm down."

"Calm down? My mom is about to meet my kids I didn't know existed, and you want me to calm down? Listen, you don't--"

"Max." Fang released my hand to put his on my shoulder. "Your mom will accept them just as easily as she accepted you."

I took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled slowly, shifting Gracie to my other hip. She giggled and stuck a finger in her mouth. "You're right. Let's do this."

I turned back to the door and rang the bell. Ten seconds later, I heard the lock turning, and then my mom's smiling face was in front of me. "Max!" she exclaimed, pulling me into a tight hug. She let go almost immediately, though, as she felt Gracie being squished between us. Mom's eyes widened as she looked at my daughter. "She looks… just like Fang…"

Then she glanced at Fang, and saw Devin, the spitting image of me except with Fang's eyes, and her jaw dropped.

"I'll explain inside," I said hurriedly, before she totally freaked out. Mom nodded and turned around, stepping back into the house. I followed, Fang right behind me, then the rest of the flock.

"Is Ella at school?" I asked as we all sat around in the living room. Fang and I sat on the couch together, our kids on our laps, and Iggy and Nudge squeezed in beside us. Angel and Gazzy sat on the floor by our feet. My mom nodded and slowly sat down in the chair across from us. Her eyes shifted from my face to Fang's and back again. Finally, she said, "So what's all this about?"

"A week or so ago, the School captured us," I said carefully. I heard Mom take a sharp intake of breath when I said the world 'School.' "As we were escaping, we found a cage with… them in it." I gestured to Gracie and Devin. "And we figured, obviously they're ours, so we rescued them, and… here we are."

"Oh, wow," she said, putting a hand to her mouth. "Wow."

An uncomfortable silence followed while we waited for her next reaction. On either side of me, I felt Fang and Iggy both tense. Then Mom smiled at us, and I relaxed. "Can I meet my grandchildren?"

"Sure," I said, surprised, and put Gracie on the ground. She got a scared look on her face and looked up at me, grabbing onto my hand. I gently shook her off and nodded at my mom. "Go talk to your grandma, Gracie," I said. "She's nice, too. She won't hurt you."

Gracie shook her head and hid her face in my knee. I sighed and stood up, scooping her up and crossing the room to dump her on Mom's lap.

"Oh, Max, I don't want to scare her," she said, as Gracie stared at her in fear, then reached toward me.

I stepped back and shook my head. "Just be nice to her for a minute, and she'll trust you."

Mom looked doubtful, but leaned toward Gracie anyway and started talking quietly to her. After just some nice words-- "You call me Grandma, Gracie. You're so cute, you look just like your daddy"-- she asked, "How old are you?" in that way adults have when asking questions to little kids.

My first thought was that Gracie wouldn't know, and I opened my mouth to say so, but then she grinned toothily and held up three fingers. I immediately glanced at Fang, and he nodded, meaning he'd seen it too. I thought back, but couldn't remember telling either of the kids that I was saying they were three years old. Apparently, the whitecoats were keeping them more up-to-date with their personal data than they had with the six of us.

"Three?" Mom said, in that same voice, like she was impressed that she was three years old. Maybe impressed that she survived in that hell hole for three years, I thought dryly.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, you're just such a big, pretty girl," Mom cooed, and I tried not to gag. I loved these kids, both my own and the flock, but I never talked to them like that. It was just… not me.

"Uh-huh, and Daddy said my wings were pretty," Gracie said. My eyebrows shot up, and I looked back over at Fang. He smiled, just a little, and looked down at the top of Devin's head.

I walked back over and sat down beside him again. "Full of yourself much?" I asked, smirking, since Gracie's wings were just like his.

Fang shrugged. "Nope. Just telling it like it is. My wings kick ass; that's one lucky kid to get them."

I laughed, tilting my head back, and he chuckled. Our eyes met, and his were full of something familiar and foreign at the same time. For that one moment that seemed to stretch into forever, it seemed like the gaze was the only thing happening in the universe, and--

"Devin."

I broke eye contact, my face flaming, to look at Gracie, standing in front of Fang and tugging on Devin's arm.

"Go talk to Grandma," she told him.

He took a long look at her, then at Mom, narrowing his eyes. When he didn't budge from his spot on Fang's knee, Gracie huffed and forcibly pulled him down. As Devin tumbled to the floor, I saw a change in his usually stoic expression-- his eyes turned wild, even fearful.

Oh my gosh, I realized suddenly. It's the School. Those scum made him afraid of anybody who hurts him at all. Oh, man.

Devin shoved Gracie off of him, and she kicked him in retaliation. There was one irresponsible second where I thought about my kids being good fighters, and then Fang and I lunged forward, prying them off of each other. I ended up with Devin in my arms. I expected him to wriggle out of them, but he shocked me by burying his face in my neck and starting to cry.

At first I didn't know what to do. Gracie had been so bubbly, and he'd been so emotionless, that it hadn't even occurred to me they were normal toddlers who would cry and throw fits from time to time. Then my motherly instincts kicked in, and I embraced Devin, rubbing his back and murmuring in his ear.

Over his shoulder, I saw Fang's dark eyes on me as he held Gracie's arm. Behind him was my mom, biting her lip as she watched. When I had finally calmed Devin down, she said, "Max, can I talk to you and Fang?"

"Sure," I said, walking over to Iggy and placing Devin in his lap. "Watch everybody, Ig."

"Got it," he said, and Fang picked up Gracie, placing her on the other end of the couch, away from Devin, just in case. Then Fang and I followed my mom into the kitchen.

Mom took a deep breath. "Look, I don't want to tell you guys what to do, but are you sure you can handle this?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but she continued. "I know you've taken care of the flock, but… these are little kids, Max. And… they're really yours."

Fang shot a glance at me, expecting me to react poorly, but shockingly enough, I didn't. This was exactly what had gone through my own mind. I sighed and leaned back on the counter. "I know. And I feel really… stressed about it. But I don't know what else to do."

Fang came closer to me and started rubbing my shoulder, trying to relax me. He'd done this for as long as I could remember, but I could sense my mom watching us very carefully. She said, "What about adoption? Or staying with me?"

I immediately shook my head. "They can't be adopted by regular people; they have wings. And if they didn't, I think the selfish part of me would keep them…" I swallowed. "The best thing for them would be to live with normal people, lead normal lives, but it just can't happen."

Being the awesome parent she is, my mom understood. "So I guess that applies to staying with me, too, huh?"

I smiled apologetically at her. "Yeah."

Mom started to say something else, but a ringing sound started coming out of her pocket. She reached for her cell phone and turned it one way to look at the caller ID. Once she'd read it, she didn't answer, though.

"Who is it?" I asked.

She looked up at us. "Jeb."

Fang tensed beside me, his hand pausing in its motion and just kind of resting on my shoulder. Mom hesitated, and then pushed a button and held the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

Even though I couldn't make out what Jeb was saying, I could hear his panicked voice, and I definitely didn't overlook the way my mom's eyes went wide about three seconds into the conversation. After another couple seconds, she looked at me and Fang and held a finger to her lips. I nodded, and she carefully put the phone on speaker.

"--cannot put into words how important these experiments were, Valencia. They're arguably the most vital pieces we have to study, and they're gone."

"Well, I don't know where they are," my mom said calmly. "I don't even know what they are. Why are you telling me this?"

"I think Max and the flock are involved," Jeb said. "The School had captured them, and they broke out the same day these experiments disappeared. Have you seen them lately?"

"No," Mom lied easily. "Why would they be interested in these experiments, anyway?" She was piecing the questions together carefully, fishing to make him state what we already knew.

He exhaled loudly, breath crackling through the phone. "The experiments are Max and Fang's children. They were created in test tubes with DNA gathered before I helped them escape."

The factuality of it, hearing it in another person's voice and not my own, shocked me enough that I gasped quietly and put a hand over my mouth. Fang took my arm, pulling me closer to his side and trying to calm me. One look at his clenched jaw, though, told me that he was just as unnerved at this situation as I was.

"Oh, Jeb, honestly," Mom sighed into the phone, trying to sound surprised at what he'd just told her. "I can't believe you did that."

"It wasn't my idea. I was against it. I--"

"Look, I really have to go," she said. "I'll tell you if I see any sign of the flock, alright?"

"Okay. I need to know where these two experiments are, Valencia. It's very important."

"Yes, I know," she sighed. "I'll let you know. Bye, Jeb."

Even before he had responded, Mom was ending the call and shoving it back in her pocket. I gently pulled away from Fang, and he squeezed my arm before letting go completely.

"What were you guys planning to do?" Mom asked. "Stay on the run?"

I shrugged. "I think so."

She sighed again. "Well, since you have all this media attention now, with the air shows and the blog and all, that's probably not the best idea. The School is going to be doing all they can to get your kids back, so you can not be seen on the news or anything. You need to stay in one place, one hard to find."

"Like… a home?" I asked, the word sounding almost foreign to me.

"Exactly. What about one where you used to live? In the Colorado mountains?"

I closed my eyes momentarily, thinking about that. Me and my flock and my kids, my family, safe and sound. But there was one major thing standing in the way. Where exactly were we supposed to get a place to stay like that?

"The CSM could pull some strings," she said, as if she could read minds and had heard my question. "I'll see what I can do."

Actually, this plan sounded really, really good to me. I was ready for a break. I turned to Fang. "That sound good?"

He nodded at me. "Sounds good."

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