Sigh…. contrary to popular belief, I have not, in fact, fallen off the face of the Earth, or died, ect. It's been a really long time since I've been writing on Fanfiction. I honestly don't know what happened, I just kind of…overdid it, I guess. I lost interest completely. I really don't want to leave this story though, so I am working to finish it. As long as we're being honest here…I haven't written much at all. My best friend's mom had breast-cancer a few years back, and is walking the Three-Day 60-mile walk this year, and I'm doing it with her and my best friend. The training is really hard! Within the last few weeks I've been really, really sick with Whooping Cough (NOT fun…) and have been completely drained. I've also started working really hard on an independent project that an editor I talked to thinks I can get published!! So anyways…(ha, completely random, but I love how ELLEN says 'anyways'!)

Flashback from three chapters ago…

I slowly traced the scars on Angel's hands before looking down at my own.

"Angel? What's going on?" I automatically sounded defensive as I traced her hands.

"Talon, have you ever heard the term 'soul-mate'?" Angel asked me cautiously as she swiped a stray strand of hair away from her eyes.

Talon's POV

Angel stared at me, her blue eyes searching my face for a sign, any sign that I either approved of or was horribly disgusted by her. I brought my fingertips up to rest on my brow and closed my eyes. I couldn't think. Not with her this close, not with her seeming to actually…care. Angel was exactly the kind of girl I pictured myself with when I dared to dream of my future (if one still existed). Especially when Evangeline and Zane were going to parties, or even just around each other, just watching the way they naturally gravitated towards each other gave me sharp pains below my ribs. I always had assumed it was because Public Displays of Affection made me nauseous. Now, with millions of snippets of conversations and memories flying through my head I realized it was because I was jealous.

I shook my head in a desperate attempt to clear it. My father would never felt this way. He would have known exactly what to say, and how to say it. I couldn't even think, much less talk at the moment. I kept my eyes squinted shut and concentrated on releasing air through my nose without snorting or anything stupid-looking. I tapped my calloused fingers against my collarbone, a bad habit left over from middle school. I tapped beats into the smooth skin pulled taunt below my neck. One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three…

Soft fingers covered my right hand, immediately freezing my fingers. I kept my eyes squinted shut, this time because of the fear that I would open them only to find Angel laughing at me. Angel's fingers trailed over my knuckles, pulling my right hand up and around her slender waist. I blushed red, recalling the memory of the last time I was this close to a girl. The girl had been drunk, and had asked me for a ride home. I ended up puked on and laughed at.

Angel raised a delicate golden eyebrow at me, sensing my feelings, but continued to trace her left hand up and around my neck. We were still standing, in an attempt to keep ourselves dry from the dew, which stained the grass until almost sundown.

Angel brought her head down to rest on my shoulder. My shoulders, never deemed broad enough by other girls, seemed giant compared to her slight frame. Smiling, I blew a wisp of Angel's hair out of my mouth as the wind picked up. I opened my mouth to say something, but found her fingers clamped over my lips.

"Shhh. I haven't had any human contact for a really, really long time. Boys are known for saying stupid things at touching moments like this. So I'm just going to tell you now not to say anything." She whispered. I wondered why she felt the need to whisper, even as it was so painfully obvious we were the only ones within miles of each other. Finally, it clicked and I realized she didn't want to break our peacefulness with words, just had to make sure I didn't do the same. I sighed contently as Angel settled back into my chest.

Angel fit perfectly into my arms. I had my doubts, but Angel always knew. She was perfect.

Flashback: Last Chapter:

"How much do you want?" Fang narrowed his eyes.

"Max, darling, you know how valuable you are, right?" My father dearest attempted to reach out and touch me.

"Yeah. Whatever." I shrugged away from him.

"Your very existence is a medical breakthrough."

"So. Decision time. Choose Max, either we keep Talon, and you can keep your DNA, or we can give him back, on the condition you allow us to extract cells from you."

Zane POV:

I laughed from my position stretched out on her bed as Evangeline scurried past me, wearing a tank top and my own grey sweatpants. My sweatpants looked almost comical on her; the ends dragged nearly four inches on the ground and she had rolled the waistband over six times. Holes were appearing around the beaten bottom hem, but Evangeline refused to let me buy her a new pair. She loved those sweatpants more than anything she owned in her own closet. Her dark hair waved down to the small of her back, swaying with every step she took and glistening forward when she leaned to throw something else off the floor of her room into her bag.

I stood up and stretched, turning in a full circle to twist my back. I gasped when my eyes reached her closet door.

"Evangeline! You swore you gave me back my letter-jacket! I've been looking for it for the past three weeks!" I gasped in mock-horror as I clutched a hand to my chest and fell forward onto my knees. "What have I done to deserve a fate such as this? Forever doomed to wander the halls of cruel, cold, high school without my letter-jacket? Meanwhile, the girl who I trust most in the world has been hiding it from me?" I pinched the inside of my arm to keep from laughing as Evangeline rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure, poor Zane gets cold at school. Psh." She continued to scour her room to find materials she might need on the search to find her brother.

I couldn't help laughing this time. She had a very true point: I never got cold anymore. She really was the one who needed that jacket. I laughed as I scooted over on my knees to where she was digging through her drawers.

With my jacket behind my back, I lifted one knee so I was in proposing position.

"Will you, Evangeline Ride, the love of my life, accept this gift of my letter-jacket so you will never freeze out in the cold, dark, world when I'm not there to protect you?" I kept my gaze on her eyes, not having the self-control to contain my smirk.

She grinned.

"I do." With those two words she extended her left hand to me. Spur of the moment, I kissed her ring finger. Someday, I thought, someday.

"GAH!!!"

Evangeline and I both spun in 180-degree circles as we heard a very loud gasp coming from the hallway. We peered out her door (which we were required to leave open whenever we were alone ever since Evangeline's 15th birthday party when I fell asleep with my arm around her. Nothing more than that happened, really, but Aunt Max tends to be a wee-bit overprotective of her children.) And saw Fang staggering away down the hallway, nearly completely bent over. I crossed the distance between us with three steps and laid a hand on Fang's shoulder.

"Are you okay, Uncle Fang?" He continued to pant heavily.

"You…. you get away from me." He gasped. Evangeline's eyebrows came together and she pinched her lips tightly against each other, habits that only occurred when she was upset.

"Dad? What's wrong?" Her eyes filled with genuine concern.

"Honestly, Evangeline, I saw you. I saw him…and you…" Fang's eyes darted around the hallway, I suspected looking for escape.

Evangeline gave me a look. I shrugged my shoulders. I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"Dad, I'm going to get mom, you're kind of scaring me…" Evangeline's eyes darted around the hall while she tried to calm her father. Her eyes landed on me.

"You." She mouthed. "Come here." She twitched her finger at me, motioning me forward. "Watch him." She used her fingers shaped as a 'v' to point at her eyes, and then pointed at her father.

I shook my head. "No!" I mouthed back, shaking my head. "He's going crazy!" I spun my finger at the side of my head for effect. Evangeline shook her head and scowled at me.

"You will." She gave me a last look before sprinting to find her mother. I sighed and dropped down on the floor next to Uncle Fang.

Fang rolled his head over to look at me. He then shook his head, as if he was disappointed.

"I honestly thought I could trust you. You seemed like a good kid. I thought you'd want Evangeline to go to college, to get a job, to at least finish high school before you two settled down." He shook his head again.

I snorted-choked. "What?" I felt my eyes bugging out. Fang's eyes narrowed at me.

"You asked Evangeline to…. to marry you. And she said…yes." He was talking very slow, as if I was the one who was crazy now.

I started at him to confirm he was completely serious before bursting out in laughter. I clutched my sides and banged my head against the wall. Fang scooted away from me, probably thinking I really was crazy.

By the time I could calm myself down enough to stop the tears of laughter from running down my face, Max and Evangeline had arrived, and were both staring at me with ironically the same quizzical look. This made it even harder to control my laughter. When I could finally speak, my voice came out strained from laughter.

"Fang saw me giving you my coat. He thought I proposed." Evangeline turned to look at her dad.

"Really? Have you no faith in me?" Evangeline shot him a cold look before storming back to her room. I was torn between laughing again and being insulted.

Fang sighed as Max shot him looks from across the hall.

"Guess I have some apologizing to do." He whispered to me as he eyed Max, trying to gauge how angry she was.

"Good luck." I whispered back, standing to confront my own problems. Fang and I parted ways and both retreated down the hallway in different directions to console the women we loved.

I know, this was a total filler chapter. I honestly thought about adding more action to it, but I have nothing planned out and just wrote what I felt like. It felt good to write again, even if my writing suffers! Any readers who have stuck with me this far, I absolutely and completely love you. I'm not writing for me anymore, I really am writing for you. Is it a little ridiculous to say that I feel like I could be friends with any of you in real life (…well, you know, like where we actually see each other). Cheesy of me? Sadly so.