Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Maximum Ride universe (not that I would want to after what James Patterson has done to these amazing characters or maybe I do so that I can fix it). Screw him! Anyway, much love. Please review!

Nick wanted to throttle whomever had burst in on them this time, but the urge quickly dissipated as the tall, thin, blonde girl he had seen leaving the house earlier launched herself at him and it took everything he had to remain upright. Her arms wrapped tightly around him and "Angel" echoed in his head as he stared down at her. He glanced back at Max to find her with an odd combination of a smile and a frown on her face.

"Really, Ange? You couldn't have waited, like, 5 minutes?" she sighed. "He only just woke up."

Angel shrugged and grinned at Max. "You're just upset that I interrupted your almost-make out session."

Max flushed a pretty shade of pink and grumbled something about telepaths as she got up and stomped out of the room.

Nick was torn between annoyance and amusement as he stared down at the girl in his arms. "Angel?" he ventured. At once, a flood of images rushed past his eyes, among them were a tiny little girl in his arms that clung to him as he ran down white sterile halls,

She looked up from his chest and smiled. "It's so good to see you again. We've all been out of our minds trying to find you. It seems all we had to do was stop looking."

He nodded silently, unsure of how he fit back in with the kids who were, according to these restored memories, his family. He gently squeezed Angel back and wondered what to say next.

"You don't have to worry about doing or saying the right things with us," Angel said as though she were reassuring him. A young girl burdened with truths she'd rather not know gazed at him from under her long blonde eyelashes. "We've all been where you are. Anyway, you should come downstairs, Fang. We got pizza!"

She bounded away from him, long hair swinging behind her and he stood to follow her with a strange craving for hot dog and jalapeno toppings. But as he reached the top of the stairs, the bottom of his stomach dropped out as his brain registered "Fang."

The name had felt right and it's acceptance had been seamless. More images, more memories flashed in front of him: Max as a raggedy-looking 9 year old screaming his name as he was rolled away on a cart by antiseptic-smelling scientists, Angel looking up at him with wide eyes as she silently begged for the rest of his hamburger, Gazzy and Iggy whispering in a corner and glaring at him because he had told Max about their plans for testing a new bomb.

"Yo!" Iggy called up from the first floor. "You're not getting any if you don't get down here."

Nick shook his head, groaning internally at the throb that spread through his skull again. He couldn't wait until this damn process was over. Slipping into the kitchen, he was hug-attacked again by a stunning young African-American girl, Nudge, and lick-attacked by the Scottie dog, Total. Another young blonde boy slapped him on the back hard, and went right back to stuffing two slices of pizza into his mouth at once. The girls, mostly Nudge, chattered nonstop at him and each other, making his head spin with all their stories. Max stood a little way away from the group doing something on the counter.

She cast him a glance over her shoulder and a small smile stretched her lips. "Okay, kids," she said, rolling her eyes. "Let's leave him alone for now. He's still not back."

He crossed the room, getting slightly uncomfortable under the stares of the others. Moving to lean against the counter next to Max, he was surprised when she handed him a plate with a couple of pieces of pizza on it. She had sliced and scattered a hot dog and a couple of pickled jalapenos over the cheese of one slice.

"I wasn't sure if you still liked it this way, but...yeah," she finished with an uncertain glance.

Accepting the plate, he stared hard at the pizza. "It was weird. As soon as she said 'pizza', this is exactly what I was craving. Thanks." Just being next to her seemed to cause every neuron in his brain to short out. He had to wonder how he had functioned when they had been around each other all the time. He took a bite of the pizza to occupy his mouth before he did something inappropriate in the presence of company.

The rest of the group had already gone back to mostly ignoring him; they did keep sneaking glances every few seconds, but that didn't bother him much. He got the sense that this was how the group dynamic worked anyway. Max was part of it, but kind of above it at the same time. She was the mom, the big sister, the protector, the soother, the leader. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, he saw a soft expression on her face as she watched the rest of them. It wasn't obvious on her features, but he could see the soft curve of her lips and the quiet pride in her gaze.

"There's no one quite like them, is there?" he asked softly.

She cast a sideways look at him. "Nope," she answered with a small shake of her head. "There really isn't." Max tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and chowed down on her own pizza.

All of a sudden, Nudge popped up into his line of vision. "So, where did they stick you? The whitecoats, I mean."

Nick gave her a small smile. "Here."

The skepticism was evident on her face. "Like, here, this town, here?"

"Yep."

"The whole time?" The Gasman chimed in.

Iggy sighed. Nick had a quick thought that he had grown up quite a lot.

"Yep. Born and bred here." The words rang hollow as the smell of antiseptic filled his nose and a strange hollow feeling opened up inside his chest. "Or at least, Nick Munroe was." He felt a pang for the family he'd had. Even though they'd been total fakes implanted in his brain by evil scheming scientists, he still had mourned their deaths, was still haunted by their dying screams.

"Gazzy," Max hissed next to him, her green eyes flashing dangerously.

The blonde looked slightly ashamed, but still put on a stubborn face. "I was just asking…"

Nick shrugged and managed another bite of pizza even though his appetite had disappeared. Pushing away from the table, he followed an impulse and ruffled the kid's hair. "Pretty boring, huh? Good thing it wasn't real."

Gazzy grinned and picked up another slice. He chewed happily for a moment, then dropped it on his plate and looked at Max with an odd mixture of worry and anticipation. "Does this mean we're moving again?"

Nudge gasped. "We can't move! I only just got Peter to be my lab partner and I'm graduating. What if he's the one? What if I never get another chance at a high school diploma? We can't go!"

"It's not like we don't move around anyway," Iggy was saying. "Besides, aren't you a little young for a boyfriend?"

She turned and punched him. "I am almost nineteen, Iggy. I think the boat's sailed on that little milestone."

Max fixed her with a glare. "That had better be the only milestone you've passed."

Nudge blushed lightly and flipped her hair. "We are so not having this conversation again." She took a dainty sip of her Diet Coke and focused her attention on her nails.

"We will have this conversation as many times…" Max growled, her cheeks growing pink with emotion. Her rant appeared to have just gotten started and Nick watched with amusement as the two got into it. But before long the argument had reached a pitch and volume that he just couldn't handle with the constant throbbing pain in his head.

He slipped out through the door next to him, which conveniently led outside to a well-kept deck. Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, he stared up at the night sky and breathed in the cold air. If he concentrated, he could almost feel wind tearing through his hair as he sliced through the open space with his wings. Closing his eyes, the sensations grew stronger, strong enough that he could feel the muscles working in his back, the soft current flowing through his feathers, the pure joy of the knowledge that he was free. Opening his eyes, Nick sighed. He really needed to get this thing over with.