Cheating Death – Chapter 12

By MyNameIsCAL

Ok, for some reason FanFiction wasn't updating this when I tried switching the documents. So I deleted Chapter 12 and I am now posting it again. Hopefully this worked. I'm really sorry for the confusion.

You know people are worried when they're crowded around your hospital bed, not just sitting around on the couch. Max was asleep against the bed, her hand leaned against mine. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. Nudge was in a chair at the end of the bed, leaning against Iggy. Only Iggy seemed to be awake.

"So what happened?" he asked, sensing I was awake now.

I shook my head. "Angel made me pass out to stop me from telling Max."

Iggy looked surprised. "She can do that?"

"Apparently," I said. "And you're all supposed to think I passed out because I didn't eat anything today."

"Well I know that," Iggy said. "Max seemed to think it was her fault that she neglected that you needed to eat."

I sighed. "It's not even her fault."

Actually, it is.

"Shut up, Angel!"

Iggy frowned at my outburst.

I closed my eyes.

I will knock you out again if I need to.

"You should probably wake Max," Iggy said after a while.

"Max…" I said softly. "Max…"

She stirred, lifting her head slowly, eyes fluttering open.

"Fang!"

I took her hand, pulling her into the bed next to me.

"So exactly what happened?" I asked her even though I could clearly remember everything.

"Well, you passed out," Max said quietly, her head resting against me. "I was yelling at you and I shouldn't have. I mean, the doctor said that you passed out from not eating anything. I neglected to think about you too and you were probably at home, waiting for me, worrying, even though you just took off…"

I squeezed her hand, silencing her. "It's okay, Max."

Iggy was waking Nudge now and they slipped out of the room, probably heading home now. It had to be late.

"I'm sorry," Max said after a while.

"I should know how to feed myself by now," I said, trying to make a light joke.

She gave me a small smile, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight, Max," I whispered.

"Night, Fang."

The doctor let me out the next day, telling me that I better not come back anytime soon. I realized every time I ended up at the hospital, it was the same doctor who treated me.

"After we get some food," Max told me as we made our way to the exit. "We'll come back to the hospital to pick Mom up. The fire department is letting her go into the house to collect all her stuff. Then we'll bring her back to our house."

"Alright," I nodded. "But how are we going to bring Mom back to our house with all her stuff if we don't have a car?"

Max thought for a moment. "Well, Mom has a car. Remember, it was Ella's car in the garage."

"Oh."

I didn't know getting food meant going to Iggy's place. They all seemed tired, but when Gazzy answered the door instead of Nudge of Iggy, I figured out why Iggy would bother having us all over just for lunch.

"How was the hospital?" Gazzy asked. He actually looked like he had gotten up and combed his hair today.

I shrugged. "It's the hospital. What do you expect?"

He shrugged back in response and we took a seat in the kitchen, waiting for Iggy and Nudge to finish with the cooking.

"I'm coming with you today," Gazzy said. "To help Mom and stuff."

"Oh, okay," I was surprised.

But he shrugged again and started to eat as soon as Nudge put food in front of him.

I stepped inside the house. There was a fireman assigned to each of us, in case we started to fall or something. We went around with boxes, picking up everything we could. Mom was so happy to find that all the pictures that had been hanging on the wall had been saved because the fire had never gotten to that hallway. I helped her pull them down and fill the boxes. There was one of all of us from a long time ago, the flock, Mom, and Ella standing together in the front yard. I tried hard not to think back. It hurt too much.

Some hours later, all of us covered in soot, we started to fill Mom's car with the boxes. It looked like she was moving or something, just without any furniture. Most of the things they had, at least the ones that were most important, had been untouched by the fire. Either Iggy and Gazzy were lucky, or they really knew what the hell they were doing.

"There's not enough room for all of you in the car," Mom said, frowning.

"I'll fly home," I offered.

Gazzy nodded. "Yeah, Max can go with you, Mom."

It was like she had forgotten we could fly or something. Max led Mom to the car and Gazzy and I unfurled our wings, taking off and flying above them. The firemen watched in awe as we disappeared into the distance.

"You're not going home?" I asked Gazzy.

"No," he said over the roar of the wind. "I suddenly felt trapped today. I think I'll help you unload the car, and then I'll go."

I nodded. Well, it was good he was getting out.

We loaded the boxes into the garage, the easiest place to get them from the car. Gazzy seemed eager to help, which was a surprise. Usually he couldn't wait to go home. I mean, he was out of his house and the sun was setting now. The last time he had done that was during Iggy and Nudge's wedding.

"Gazzy, will you be staying for dinner?" Max asked.

He looked up at Max, thinking. "Well, no, I guess not. I should get my own food."

"We're ordering pizza," Max frowned. "It's not that much trouble to order another pie."

"Ah, okay, yeah, sure I'll stay," he gave in.

Max exchanged glances with me as she disappeared into the kitchen.

What's up with him? I asked Angel.

I don't know, she replied. I don't go searching through their thoughts unless I have to.

I sighed and carried a pack of soda out of the garage, wondering what had gotten into Gazzy today.