A/N Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all reviewers. As for my two beta's, I realise I didn't send the chapter to you, but I've been busy and only just finished it.

Disclaimer: JP owns all canon

Claimer: Everything else is mine.

"Max

"Max!!" called Nudge.

I clamped my hands over my ears in an attempt to stop the ringing. "Must you do that?" I asked her. "How many times have I told you not to yell in people's ears?"

Nudge tilted her head. "Well, there was that first time when we met, and then there was that once when I was screaming at the whitecoat and of course I can—"

"We get the idea Nudge," said Iggy, "now can you please tell us why you yelled so loudly to begin with?"

She pointed off into the distance. "Can we stay there, Max? Please? Pretty, pretty please, Max? Iggy will make cookies for you . . ."

"I'll what?!" Iggy exclaimed, but I ignored him.

Glancing over, I studied the place she was pointing to. About five stories tall with balconied windows at every room. There was still a good layer of paint on the walls and the sign wasn't terrible. Of course the outside could just be a sham, but it was better than some of the other places we'd stayed.

"Please Max?"

I refrained from looking down at Angel. She was doing her puppy eyes, I just knew it.

Instead, I continued gazing at the building. The trees out front would probably block the view of the first few floors and the numerous fire escapes looked promising.

"I want a closer look at it first," I told them, "but it seems like a good prospect."

At my news, Nudge and Angel cheered and raced toward the building. Sighing, I took off after them while the boys brought up the rear. I dodged left right and centre, trying to weave between the people on the streets. More than once I had to stop and help someone that I'd knocked over.

In the end I gave up on apologising; I left that job up to the boys, seeing a few girls among those I'd run down and hoping Fang would keep Iggy in line. I did not need complications right now, especially complications that involved babies.

Nudge and Angel finally came to a stop in front of the building and looked pleadingly at me. I barely managed to break eye contact before they stole my willpower with that evil puppy-dog look of theirs.

Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I stared hard at the building. The paint was better off even than I thought it was and none of the windows were broken. There were, in fact, two fire escapes, and the trees did block out some of the rooms.

I turned my head and waited for Fang to catch up. "What d'you think?" I whispered.

He stood silent for a couple of minutes as he too examined the building. "It's fine. Seems fairly well kept and there's multiple escapes. We should ask for the rooms obscured from sight though."

I nodded. "My thoughts exactly." I turned to the rest of the Flock. "Okay people, this is where we're staying."

"When are we going to France?" asked Iggy.

It was a question that was immediately repeated by everyone except for Fang, who responded, "Within the week."

I nodded in agreement. "Yep, we'll be leaving within the week, but first things first, time to get some rooms."

I strolled into the building and to the front desk, waiting patiently for the receptionist to get off the phone. It was fairly nice inside, actually. Better than I would have thought. The soft glow from the lights was soothing, the air conditioning was on, music was playing in the background and the scent of flowers didn't make me want to puke.

"Yes? May I help you?" she finally asked.

I turned my attention back to her. She was really pretty—I glanced at Fang out of the corner of my eye, but he didn't even look at her. Smiling, I told her, "I'm looking for three separate rooms, each one with two beds."

She nodded and started typing on her computer. "Would you like them to be adjoining, allowing access to all three, or separate?"

I looked over at the others and they replied as one, "Adjoining!" I cocked an eyebrow at them and they added in a softer voice, "Please."

The receptionist nodded and then glanced up at me. "I'm going to need some ID, miss; our policy states that a guardian over the age of eighteen has to be staying in the same room as a child. As seen as you've got adjoining rooms there only needs to be one guardian."

I nodded and drew the fake ID I had received as a birthday gift from Jeb from my pocket. According to it I was nineteen, and certainly tall enough to play the part.

She looked at it for only a second. "How long will you be staying here?"

"A day for now; I'll make arrangements in the morning if it's longer."

She nodded and gave us three sets of cards. "Swipe these at the door to enter and slot them into place once you're inside to turn on the lights and so forth. You're on the third floor on the right hand side at the very end."

I thanked her and pocketed the cards, gesturing for the Flock to follow. We took the elevator two groups. It might have been large enough to fit six normal people and a dog, but not six claustrophobic people and a dog.

I turned to Gazzy and Angel who were in the elevator with me. "So who are you staying with?"

"Nudge," replied Angel and hastily added, "and Total."

"Iggy."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I should have expected as much. Sighing once more, I handed Angel her key card and turned to Gazzy, dangling it before his face, "No blowing things up, okay?"

He simply rolled his eyes and snatched the keys out of my hand. "Yes mother. You told me that last time and the time before that and the time before that and the time that . . ." He glanced up at me. "It's not like we've actually blown anything up yet."

I rolled my eyes and shoved him out the door as it opened. "And you better not start blowing anything up either or once we get to France I'm locking you in your room and not letting you out. And I'm taking away your explosives while I'm at it."

"You don't even know where the explosives are," he replied smugly.

I flashed him a grin and placed my hand on Angel's head as she gave him the most evil smile ever seen on a child. Gazzy turned and fled down the corridor, entered his room, and slammed the door shut. Glancing down at Angel, I gave her a high five.

"I don't even want to know what you two are so happy about," remarked Iggy from behind us.

I turned around. "Iggy, you're staying with Gazzy; Nugde and Total are staying with Angel."

Iggy wolf-whistled and wiped his brow. "Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" He started fanning himself with a hand.

I rolled my eyes at Iggy's oh-so-funny joke as Fang shoved him towards me and I stepped aside, holding out a leg. Iggy tripped and just managed to regain his balance, straightening his clothes and shooting a death glare back at us before making his way down the hall. Gazzy opened their door and just before Iggy disappeared inside, he called out, "Just try to keep it quiet, okay? Some of us actually want to get some sleep."

I turned to Nudge and Angel, rolling my eyes. "Ignore him. And Angel, don't read Iggy's mind, okay?"

They simply nodded. "Probably something perverted," remarked Angel.

Total snickered. "You have no idea."

"Perverted? More than likely. I mean, come on Angel, it's Iggy we're talking about; he was drooling over that chick at reception after Gazzy described her. I mean, come on, what is up with guys anyw—" Nudge's voice was cut off by the door closing.

I glanced over at Fang and held out the key card to him. He reached out to take it, but I pulled my hand back. "I think the sensible thing to do would be to tell the person downstairs that we've changed our minds and only need two rooms so we can lookk after the kids . . ."

He stared at me for a while, trying to figure out if I was joking or not. Finally he sighed and took the keys from my hand. He glanced one last time at me before walking off to the elevator.

I watched him until he entered the elevator, then tried knocking on the girls' door only to watch it swing open.

"You've got him trained better than me." I looked down at the voice and saw Total gazing back up at me. "And I'm fairly well trained."

I rolled my eyes. "Now if only we can get you to talk less."

Total looked up at me with those eyes of his. "Then who would Nudge gossip to?"

I opened my mouth to reply then closed it. I opened it once more, but nothing came out. "Fine, you win," I eventually grumbled.

Snickering, he skipped further into the room. "Guess who ditched Fang and joined us?" he called as he skipped. "You get three guesses."

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled toward a chair with a giant mirror propped in front of it. Alongside it on the ground was a box full of makeup materials. One look and I knew what was about to happen. Which is worse: makeup session or fighting Erasers? Personally, the second option sounds better.

They sat me down and while Nudge brushed my hair, chatting all the while, Angel ruffled around inside Nudge's bag before pulling out a dress.

Reread that last word. Got it? Good, for it does say dress. Me, in a dress. The world will end any second now. Angel advanced with the dress held in front of her. Any second now. . . Nudge took the dress from Angel and looked at me. Any second now. . . Any sec—

"You girls planning on destroying the earth?" I glanced over and saw Fang standing in the doorway. "For if you put Max in that the world as we know it will end . . . maybe the universe, now that I think about it."

I rolled my eyes and threw a brush at Fang. He coolly sidestepped and let it fly out of the room. "If you two are done dressing her up, I'd like to talk to Max."

Angel and Nudge glanced at each other. "As long as you're planning on returning her."

"What am I, an object?" I looked down at Total. "Is this how they treat you?"

He nodded his furry, dark head. "Now you know what it feels like to be me."

I reached down and scratched him behind the ear. "Well perhaps I should stop treating you like an object then." Total simply sat there, unable to reply.

I glanced over at Fang who was still negotiating with Angle and Nudge, trying to get me out. As they talked, I saw Fang flash something in front of them and they immediately glanced over at me wide eyed before muttering amongst themselves in the corner.

I jerked my head in the direction of the girls and cocked an eyebrow at him. He simply smiled and shrugged.

"Don't you ever get annoyed at that?" asked Total. "The way he simply doesn't say anything and does that mysterious smile of his, as if he knows something that you don't know?"

I titled my head. "Not really. I suppose I've never thought of it that way. Plus, I prefer someone who talks less to someone who talks too much."

Total glanced over to where Nudge was, then slid his gaze to Fang before turning back to me. "That's probably just you."

I rolled my eyes and watched as Angel walked back to Fang, whispered something in his ear and then stood back, smirking. Fang stood there, tapping his foot before finally nodding. They shook hands and Fang gestured for me to follow him.

I patted Total on the head before following the bird-boy out the door, closing it behind me. "What was that about?" I asked him.

He simply chuckled and pulled a card out of his pocket, stopping in front of the unoccupied adjacent room and opening the door. All the while I was staring at him blankly. "I can not believe you still have that. Didn't I tell you to get a refund?"

"Apparently, each guest must have a bed to themselves unless it's a large one. And they don't have any rooms with three beds." He shrugged innocently. "It seems like we're staying together then."

I shook my head. "That's where you've got it wrong." Opening the door, I took the card out of the slot and stepped into the room. Fang tried to follow me, but I simply pushed him out and closed the door. "I'm having this room to myself. You can stay with the boys," I called through the door.

I didn't bother waiting for a reply. I ran over to the door that separated the rooms and locked it. A couple seconds later I heard the door handle rattle and I laughed. "A bit too slow there Fang."

"Come on Max, let me in," he demanded.

I shook my head and threw my bag onto the ground next to the bed. "I think not. This is a Maxocracy, remember? I told you to refund this room and you didn't. Consider this your punishment."

"You can't stay in there forever, Max."

I simply laughed. "Watch me." There was a bit more thumping on the door, then silence.

Shrugging off my clothes, I made my way to the shower. I waited until it was hot before stepping in and sighing. Hot water, soap, cleanliness. I leaned against the wall and let it pour over my body. Oh how I'd missed this.

Once I was done, I stepped out and dried myself off. Wrapping the towel around my body, I left the bathroom, whistling a tune all the while.

"You know Max, you can't—" Fang stopped mid-speech. I stopped mid-tune.

We stood on opposite sides of the brightly lit room looking at one another. Both speechless. Both stunned. Both unsure how to react. I glanced over his shoulder and saw the door was closed. Well, that was a blessing at least.

Licking my dry lips, I turned my attention back to Fang. "You got Iggy to pick the lock?"

He nodded, staring at my chest all the while. I rolled my eyes. What is up with boys? At least I had the towel wrapped around my body . . .

I snapped my fingers, grabbing his attention. "You going to leave so that I can get dressed?"

He gave me a crooked smile. "If I leave you'll lock me out again. Can't I just turn around or something? I promise not to look . . ."

I rolled my eyes. "Go get a shower while I get changed, then."

He flashed me a quick smile pulled out some clothes from his bag. I waited until the shower turned on then quickly closed all the curtains and dressed.

Sighing, I threw myself onto the bed. It was soft, it was warm, it was luxurious. Everything a pile of clothes in some dark cave did not offer. Even better was that I didn't have to share a room with Gazzy.

Rolling over, I picked up the remote and turned the television on. I surfed the channels a bit, but in the end I found myself watching the news. It was the usual boring stuff—stock market, exchange currency, weather; you know what I'm talking about.

Turning off the television, I knocked on the bathroom door and called out, "I'm using your laptop!"

The door suddenly opened and Fang stood there, drying off his hair. "I'll grab it for you." I opened my mouth to complain but he brushed past me.

Pulling the laptop out of his bag, he plugged it into the wall and sat on his bed with it. "I'm guessing you want to look up news on Itex again?"

I nodded and sat down next to him. I watched as he scrolled through the usual search. Leaning back, I rested on the bed and allowed myself to relax, minimally. It would take a while for Fang to find the right news article. I listened to the sound of Nudge and Angel chatting away next door, for any sounds of Iggy and Gazzy blowing anything up, as Fang typed away.

There was a light touch on my shoulder and I tilted my head up. "Yes? Found it?"

Fang nodded and turned the computer screen to face me. "Nothing, absolutely nothing happened," he told me. "It reads that the people will be taking a plane in two days time back to their relative countries."

I scanned the article and frowned. "It says that they'll be leaving from the same airport; I think we should go and check it out." I glanced back up at Fang. "And if nothing happens, we can buy tickets to France at the same time."

He nodded. "I'll go tell the others."

I nodded and closed the lid of the laptop, placing it on the bedside table. Leaning back, I plucked a pillow off the bed and stuffed it over my ears in preparation. I barely got the pillow there in time—the next thing I knew, a solid wall of sound blasted into me.

They screamed. They partied. They yelled. They danced. They caused a racket. And even with the pillow in my ear, I could hear them as if they were next to me. I'm surprised no one came and yelled at us to shut up. On second thought, they probably did, I just couldn't hear them.

I probably wouldn't be able to hear anything for the rest of the night. The screaming went up a notch and I rolled over, squeezing my eyes shut.

This is going to be a long night.