Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! You guys rock. Here's the next one!

A couple days later, I sat down heavily on the couch, exhausted. We were staying with my mom for a few days until a CSM member could prepare their out-of-the-way mountain vacation house for us. The flock had been so excited about having a home again that they'd been practically bouncing off the walls. Not to mention Ella, who was ecstatic that we were there in the first place and that we'd brought her niece and nephew. They'd actually been a much bigger handful than the three-year-olds.

After Mom was done talking to Fang and I about our next move, she'd insisted on going out and buying Gracie and Devin some toys and the whole flock some non-Wal-Mart clothes. I'd been reluctant-- I didn't want them to become used to it, since there was no guarantee I could provide that kind of thing in the future-- but Fang convinced me to let everyone have some fun while they could, and I consented.

Now my kids were playing with these jumbo Legos, sitting close together and sharing. I was glad they appeared to be so close; all I needed was a couple of mutant bird kid twins who hated each other.

"Yo."

I looked up to see Fang sitting down beside me. "Hey."

I suddenly felt so tired, and without really thinking about it, I leaned against him, resting my head on his shoulder. At first he stiffened under me, but then his fingers slowly started to run through my hair.

Was it just me, or was the tension between me and Fang melting away? Ever since the first time he kissed me and I ran, things had been awkward between us; we hadn't been as comfortable with each other as we once were. Now, though, things seemed to be somewhat resolved.

I liked it.

"The flock wore me out," I told him.

"It's four in the afternoon," Fang said, sounding amused.

"They've been insane," I sighed, closing my eyes for a second, then opening them so I could watch the kids some more. Fang chuckled.

At one point, Gracie stood up and grinned toothily at me. "Mommy, can I get another cookie?"

I smiled at her. "Sure, sweetie."

With that, she trotted into the other room, and Devin followed her. Suddenly my throat felt tight. By the time I'd met my kids, they could already walk, already talk in complete sentences. Most mothers got to see their children's first steps, hear their first words, but not me. The only people who heard that from my kids were a bunch of evil scientists. Hell, they created my kids and their speech-- I knew from experience that the whitecoats used special methods to get their experiments to talk earlier in life, since most of them didn't last long.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Fang asked with quiet alertness.

I gritted my teeth, annoyed that he knew me so well. "Nothing."

"Max."

"Fine." I peered up at him. "It's just, you know, I missed three whole years of their lives, and I never got to see their first steps or smiles or anything. And I feel like a rotten mother because they've been in that freaking hellhole, I should have gotten them out, and--"

"You didn't even know they existed."

He was right, of course. He was always right. Still, I couldn't help feeling like I'd done something wrong. "I know."

"Stop being so hard on yourself," Fang ordered.

"I will." I sighed. "It would have been nice to see those first things, though."

"Don't think about what you missed," he said. "Think about all you're going to see. They're part of the flock now, Max. And we fight for the flock, no matter what. Now that they're here, they're staying."

I nodded, then smirked up at him. "That was quite a speech, O Silent One."

He ignored this jab. "We'll get to go through their whole lives now, Max." Brushing a piece of hair away from my face, he softly added, "Don't worry. It'll be okay."

0000000000

Fang was trying. He really was. I could tell, my mom could tell, even Iggy could tell, as he whispered to me, "Is he attempting to be comfort your daughter?" But he just didn't have the natural parental instincts that I did, and it was harder for him. Both the kids really loved him already-- especially Devin, who didn't trust anybody else as much as Fang, not even me. Still, he was taking on more responsibility than he'd ever taken on with parenting the flock, and he was struggling.

Even as he tried to help with Gracie and Devin, though, he hadn't directly acknowledged that the kids were his. Like not saying it out loud would make it easier.

A couple days into our stay at Mom's, we didn't see much of her. She was either at work or on the phone, trying to make arrangements on our house. On Saturday, when Ella didn't have school, we convinced Mom to let us go out to eat. After a long warning-- "You see anybody that looks like they have a camera, you come right home"-- she gave us some money and had Ella show us this restaurant just down the street. The nine of us went, minus Mom, and I just prayed that Gracie and Devin wouldn't choose that time to throw a fit. That was one first I could live without experiencing.

About halfway through our meal, Gazzy let loose one of his "gifts"-- I'd been stupid enough to let him have two bowls of chili-- and everybody groaned, holding their noses. I turned away from helping Gracie eat without spilling ketchup all over herself to say, "Gazzy, seriously."

"I can't help it!" he exclaimed, all wide-eyed innocence. "It's a natural bodily function!"

"That you go to extreme lengths to initiate," I told him. "Stop."

I turned back to Gracie, but I had just dipped a fry in the ketchup when another fart ripped through the air.

"Gazzy, honestly," I snapped, dropping the fry and reaching across the table for the chili. "That's it. You're switching meals with me."

"No!" He grabbed his bowl and held it tight to his chest, twisting away from me. "It's my chili!"

"And I'm trying to save my sense of smell!" I got out of my chair and went around the side of the table, starting to wrestle Gazzy for the chili while everybody watched and laughed. "Give… me…"

"Max," Ella said suddenly, and something in her voice made me snap my head up. "Max--"

"What?" I released Gazzy and looked over at her. "What is it?"

"Gracie's gone!"

I looked over at the two high chairs at the end of the table. Devin was in one, and the other was turned over on its side, the restraints loose.

Fang jumped out of his chair and came over to my side of the table. Together we started scanning the room, but it was crowded, and Gracie was so small she could have been hiding under any table, chair, or otherwise.

"Oh, man," I muttered, my heart pounding in my chest. "Not here, this is bad, so bad--"

Fang took my arm and started to lead me away. "Calm down, Max. She can't have gone far. She's here somewhere."

"Or they took her!" I shrieked. "Back to the School!"

He didn't answer, but tensed and held my arm tighter, and I knew he was thinking about that possibility.

We walked around the restaurant for about five minutes, checking in every nook and cranny, but there was no sign of Gracie. The rest of the flock and Ella was scattered around the restaurant, searching as well, but to no avail. I was really starting to panic when a frazzled-looking waitress dragging Gracie along by the hand hurried up to us.

"Is she yours?" she asked, mostly to Fang, since Gracie looked exactly like him. Normally, Max the Leader would have taken charge and taken my little girl and gotten out of there, but… I just felt like this was Fang's turn. So I stayed quiet, silently willing Fang to answer the waitress and really take responsibility for his child for the first time.

"Yeah," he said finally, and my heart swelled. I watched as he extended a hand, folding Gracie's tiny fingers within his large ones. "She's mine."

I don't know if I like this, but, whatever. The last scene is necessary.

Please let me know what you thought-- review!