Lie Tonight – Chapter 13
By MyNameIsCAL
Everyone had gone home now, leaving Max to talk to me alone. I told her what had happened, filling in what Iggy and Nudge had missed when they were unconscious.
"I think Angel saved my life," I said, finishing.
"Is that why you opened up to her like that?" Max asked.
"I guess so."
"Well, I'm glad she didn't run off again."
We sat in silence for a while.
"If Angel had come to you telling you what was going on when you were still mad at her, would you have helped her?" Max suddenly asked.
I shook my head. "No, I'm not going to lie. I don't think I could have, not unless she sounding convincing, not unless he had a good reason for me to go."
Max shrugged. "I guess if I were you, I would feel the same way."
I winced, adjusting the sling around my neck.
"You should rest," Max said, leaning down to kiss me. "I'll be here in the morning when you wake up."
"Alright, goodnight, Max," I said.
"Goodnight, Fang," Max smiled. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Gazzy hid away from the paparazzi for the next few weeks, keeping Angel at his place and hiding his injury from the media. Angel seemed better now, but hesitant about everything. I knew the others were hesitant about letting her back so quickly. But I knew that if I hadn't opened up to her, letting her back, she would have ran off and we would never see her again.
Max was twenty weeks pregnant now. It felt good to finally be free of all of the things we had been worrying about. We were looking for a house now, some place good to raise a child. I wanted a huge backyard, but somewhere still close so we could get food at Iggy's place still. He seemed flattered when Max told him that.
"Oh, I can't wait to make clothes for it," Nudge said, leaning against the counter. "I can start a new line of clothing for babies and little kids!"
Max laughed. "Iggy, you better watch out, Nudge is going to start designing children's clothes…"
She stopped midsentence.
"What's wrong?"
But she smiled, taking my hand. "Fang, do you feel that?"
Max pressed my hand against her stomach. Something bumped my hand. I felt myself smile at Max.
"What?" Iggy asked, sounding confused.
"The baby's kicking," Max explained, taking his hand now.
And for a moment, we all stood around Max in awe.
I leaned on my side in bed next to Max, my hand on her stomach.
"At this rate, you'll never get any sleep," I said.
Max grinned. "Our baby's definitely a fighter."
"Like you," I added.
She shook her head. "No, like you."
I laughed, amused.
"So I say tonight, we think of names," Max said, smoothing my hair.
"Well, let's not name it after us," I replied. "I'm pretty sure our kid won't want their name to be Fang the Second or Fang Junior. I mean, our names should be its middle name? Let's say it's a boy. Give me a name."
Max took more time to think than I did. "Well, I was thinking if we had a boy, I wanted to name it after Ari."
Ari, her half brother. He expired. We had spent so many years hating him and he had helped us in the end. A sentimental touch I suppose. "Alright, so Ari Fang Maximum Ride? Nah, that sounds sorta…"
"Ridiculous," Max finished for me.
"Well, yeah," I shrugged, relieved she felt the same way. "But yes, Ari sounds good to me."
"And if it's a girl?" she questioned.
"We'll name her after Mom then," I found myself answering right away.
"I thought picking out names would have been harder." Max took my hand under the blankets. "Are we looking at houses again tomorrow?"
I turned off the light. "Yes. There's a few in Iggy's neighborhood and then one down the street from the restaurant."
"I bet he and Nudge would love it if we moved next door," Max joked.
I laughed along with her and we talked late into the night, like things had been three years ago.
Alright, things are wrapping up now. Probably another two or three chapters should do it, unless I think of something else. Thanks for reading!