Around five o'clock Gazzy radioed in and said that he saw the girls heading back. They were all laden with shopping bags, (mostly for Nudge and Angel, I'm sure).

I told Gazzy to get back inside and get ready surprise her (Max) when she came in. We had covered all the windows and all the lights were turned off, so hopefully, they couldn't see a thing inside. Nudge and Angel would probably stall her for a few minutes with something trivial, so we all had to get into our positions.

When she opened the door I turned on the lights and we all shouted "Surprise!"

She decked me.

It wasn't her fault, really. It was my own fault for standing right next to the door when she opened it. (I don't know if you can tell, but she doesn't really like surprises, we all don't. Comes from being on the run for months.)

When I picked myself I saw that she was crying. I thought, 'Oh crap, what did I do', when she suddenly grabbed me and hugged me for all she she was worth.

"Thank you," she said as she gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Come on, you've gotten us through more hell than anyone has a right to go through, you deserve to get something out of it," I said, trying to pry her off of me. "Now could you please let me go? You're crushing my rib cage."

"Sorry," she said, letting go.

"Hey, who wants food?" Iggy asked after about a minute of awkward silence. Everyone cheered as they rushed into the kitchen, ready to devour whatever food they could get their hands on.

When we were all sitting at the table Iggy brought out the plate of brownies and a couple large bowls of popcorn. As he brought them in I could see Gazzy eyeing him mischievously, looking like he was going to trip him or something. Fortunately, he had the good sense not to do anything to Iggy before he brought to food to the table.

"Thanks, Ig," Max said, eyeing the food hungrily, "did you do all this yourself?"

"Actually, I had a little help," he said, giving Gazzy a high five. Then he turned back to Max. "But that's not all, wait right here," he said went over to the fridge. He opened it up and took out another brownie. It was about a third of the size of the big pan, and about a quarter inch thicker than the other ones. As he brought it to the table I saw that there were white chocolate chips in it, and a pair of wings made out of powdered sugar on top. (How he pulled those off will forever be a mystery.)

"Happy Birthday, Max," he said as he put it down in front of her.

"Thanks, Iggy," she said, hugging him. She then sat back down and proceeded to devour Iggy's brownie like the world was ending tomorrow. We all followed suite and in two minutes there was nothing left on the table but empty plates and bowls.

We then migrated to the living room, reminding each other about all the good times (as well as the bad ones) that we'd had with Max. After about an hour Max said, "I want to open presents now!" raising her arms in the air as she did.

"Ooh, I'll be right back," Angel said excitedly, presumably hurrying off to get her gift for Max.

"She's sooo cute," Max said, laying back on the couch, "isn't she, Fangypoo?"

FANGYPOO!?!? Well, it was her birthday, I guess I could let this one slide.

"Come to think of it," Total mused, "I'd better go get my gift too," and he darted after Angel.

"OK," I said slowly. "While we're waiting for those two, I guess I might as well give you mine," I reached behind a pillow on the couch (the other couch) and took out a heart shaped package I had hidden there early. I handed it to her, "Happy Birthday."

"Awwwww, thank you Fangy!" Ok, something was wrong. Not "guns 'n blood" wrong, but normally even Nudge isn't this girlie. Anyway, she unwrapped my gift and gasped. I'd gotten her a heart-shaped picture frame. Inside was a picture of her I'd found on the Internet. I'd ran it through Photo-shop, putting in some pink hearts and adding the bloom effect. On the frame was written "To Max My Girlfriend".

"Hope you like it," I said simply.

"Oh, I love it," she said, sounding like she was going to break into tears again. Then she stood up and put her arms around me, "And I love you." She then planted a big, wet, sloppy kiss right on my lips.

Now she and I have only kissed a few times in all the time we've know each other, but this was different. It was like she only vaguely knew what she doing, like she was drunk or something.

A minute later she pulled away, leaving me speechless with an expression of surprise and confusion on my face. She just had a huge goofy grin on hers.

"I love you thiiiiiis much," she said dreamily, spreading her arms out unevenly and flopping back down on the couch.

OK, know I definitely knew something was wrong; she'd only ever said anything like that one other time, when Dr. Martinez had given her Valium to calm her down during an operation.

Oh my God, Max was on Valium, or something like it.

"This water bottle is just soooo amazing," she said, staring at the water bottle in her hands.
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Author's note; Like it so far? Well, more hilarity ensues next time, in chapter three!