A/N: Yola! Okay, I know I promised you special guests this chapter, but I lied. You're lack of enthusiasm is causing my sporadic updates. I got, like, one review since last chapter! I'm beginning to believe that you have all given up on me. You won't get anything really good out of me if you don't give me any feedback. I know I took a long time to update last time, but no one reviewed then either! Rawr. I'm might have to start being mean and making you give me a certain amount of reviews before I update at all!

About ten minutes after I had sulked up to my room like the teenage girl I'm becoming, Ziva came to collect me for our "family" shopping trip. Then it took about another ten minutes to get my stubborn butt out the door and in the car. I suggested we just fly there, but it didn't take long for Tony and Ziva to object.

"We are supposed to look like a normal family. We can't risk the neighbors spotting six flying kids and their talking Scottie taking off in our back yard. Plus, I know that if we let you go now, you will probably 'forget' where the house is and 'accidentally' never come back." I suddenly got the sense that this ninja chick knew me already. It was funny, because I'm not the most fun person to get to know. Still, I could not argue with this and endured being squished into the back of a minivan (a black, government version of one, anyway) with the rest of the Flock.

Exactly twenty-two minutes and seventeen seconds of torture later, we pulled into the parking lot of the local mall. Nudge, who had been squished between Iggy and Angel in the middle row of seats, gasped, grabbed the blind boy by the hand, and dragged him out of the car with Angel following closely as the caboose. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and shared an exasperated look with Fang before exiting the little car. Gazzy crawled out miserably behind us. Tony, seeing the little boy's unhappiness, grabbed him by the shoulders, bending down on one knee so he was looking him straight in the eye.

"Come on, Gazzer! It's not every day you get to go clothes shopping in D.C. with two special agents to protect you!" he said enthusiastically. Gazzy looked him up and down skeptically but his mouth twitched up a bit in the corner.

"I guess not, but I don't like shopping. It's too girly. Nudge likes clothes, and she's my big sister. So obviously I can't like clothes." Tony chuckled.

"Well, I'll tell you what; we'll go clothes shopping and get stuff for all of our rooms first. Then, if you want, we can take a little detour to the toy store. How does that sound?" Gazzy's sweet face broke out into a childish, dimply grin.

"Awesome! I saw this cool new Lego spaceship on this commercial…" he went off on a long description of the toy as Tony took his hand, and together they followed the rest of the group.

"I didn't know DiNozzo is good with kids," I muttered to Ziva.

"Me either," she replied, her expression bewildered.

I have officially decided that I hate the mall. As a claustrophobic bird-kid with a tendency to be rashly violent, I did not appreciate being wedged between Ziva and the throng of shoppers milling around the stores. Though I didn't enjoy the atmosphere and the shopping (shudder), I had to admit the smell of fresh-baked soft pretzels and other tasty pastries was quite inviting. We walked and talked and shopped like normal people, stopping in home and hardware stores to get paint and such for the rooms. Vance had told both of the agents that we would get a catalog to order furniture later, so for now we were just picking out fun colors, bed sheets, curtains, etc. It's safe to say that my mood plummeted considerably once that was done.

"Okay, guys, now that we've picked out all of the paint and stuff for the rooms, we have to conquer the dreaded clothing stores." Gazzy groaned, and Nudge squealed. I continued on as if they had not made a sound. "We'll split up into boys and girls for obvious reasons and go off and get some new clothes. Then, in about an hour, we'll meet up at the toy store over there before we go home," I pointed in the general direction of the store mentioned. "Okay?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Oh, and if there's any trouble, remember the safety plan we established earlier!" I called as the boys were walking away. Then, I turned back to my group.

"We should go to Aero postal first! Or we could go to Abercrombie! OOOOOO I know! Hollister!" Nudge squealed, taking Angel's hand in one of her own and mine in the other and dragging us into the "trendy" store with the name Hollister printed above the entrance. I wondered idly when she had gotten so strong. "Okay, let's do this! Oooo, Max, this would look great on you! Look at that! Oh my goodness! Isn't this so much fun?" My groan of protest was muffled by the various items of clothing being dumped on my head.

"Nudge, honey, slow down! We just got here! We have an hour. Chill out." Her cheeks went a little red, but she calmed down considerably.

"Sorry, Max, it's just that we haven't gone shopping in, like, ever, and I forgot how exciting it all is!"

After that, Nudge and Angel went and explored the rest of the store, while I wandered around, plucking experimentally at some items that didn't seem way too frilly. "Nudge was right. That would look good on you." I almost jumped at Ziva's voice from behind me. Then I realized I had still been holding some of the items Nudge had smothered me with. I picked up the piece in question and examined it closely. It was a black pleather jacket with fake diamonds forming a pattern of spread wings on the back. In the front it zipped up in a crisscross, with one side overlapping the other.

"I guess." I shrugged but kept the jacket in my hand.

By the end of our hour of allotted time, the younger girls had at least six bags each, and I had two or three of practical flying/fighting/running clothes plus the jacket Nudge had picked out for me. "Do you both have at least one practical outfit?" I asked for the fifth time. They both nodded in exasperation.

"Max, how many times are you going to ask that?" Angel asked. I chuckled.

"Until it you can be proved liars. I bet as soon as you need something sensible to wear, you'll wonder why you didn't listen to me in the first place." Ziva joined in laughing, shaking her head.
"Hey, Max, I have to use the lady's room. I'll meet you guys by the toy store in a couple minutes," announced Nudge, already heading in the direction of the restrooms.

"Alone?" I asked anxiously. She smiled.

"I'm a big girl now. I know how to go potty by myself," she replied, and I silently cursed myself for teaching her the art of sarcasm.

"Ziva, can you go with her? I don't want her to be alone if something happens." The agent nodded, following my chatterbox to the bathroom. When Angel and I reached the store where we were to meet the boys, they were already there waiting for us. I noticed Tony silently counting heads, ending with a confused expression.

"Nudge and Ziva went to the lady's room. Everything's alright," I assured him. He nodded, his confusion clearing, but after almost a half an hour of toy shopping without either of them, I began to become anxious. I could see identical worry on DiNozzo's face.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" he asked. I nodded, gnawing on the inside of my cheek. About five minutes later, right when I was about to send out a search party to look for them, I caught sight of two familiar faces charging through the crowd toward us.

"Thank God," I muttered, letting out a big puff of air, but as they drew closer, I saw the blood oozing out of a large gash in Nudge's cheek. Her eyes were swimming with tears and filled with terror. Once they reached us, I knew that something was horribly wrong.

"Max, we have to go, like, now!"

A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuuunnnn! So there you go.