Fang looked down at the very precious thing he was carrying; he and Iggy had switched. Max was too heavy for him to carry by himself the entire way to Jeb's. Fang could do it, though; he owed her that much.

He watched as her seemingly lifeless face sat gently against his chest, her cheek squished up a little. Her arm hung loose at her side, the wind swinging it around as they flew. In one swift motion Fang took hold of her hand and pulled her arm up, resting it gently against her stomach. He was careful to avoid the giant piece of old metal that was still embedded in her—he'd had enough training to know that he should never take it out.

As he laid her arm across her chest, he did not let go of her hand. Instead he kissed it gently, feeling the tears threaten to burn his eyes again.

Fang looked down at her again. Her face, always so hard, had an eerie gentleness that he knew was uncharacteristic. He'd done that to her. He was responsible if her heart stopped beating. And even if she did live, there would always be an ugly scar there to remind him of what he'd done.

He let a few stray tears fall, and they landed on her cheek. It looked almost like she was crying right along with him.

"Man, it's not your fault," Iggy said softly, flying up beside Fang. He could sense Fang's tension, and he casually bumped his wing against Fang's. "We have to speed it up, though." His expression was wary. "Her heart…it's slowing."

Fang cast a frantic glance at Max's silent face. It was so hard to believe Iggy when she just looked so…still. But if there was even the slightest chance that he'd get to see her smile again, he would take it.

"Watch the flock, Iggy," Fang said in a quiet voice. "I'm going to fly ahead. We're almost to Dr. Martinez, and hopefully Jeb's there already." If he wasn't, it would mean taking even more time to get him to the house. Max was almost out of time as it was.

Fang waited for Iggy to fly back and tell the rest of them, then shot ahead. Trying his best not to jostle Max, Fang flew as fast as he could. In a matter of minutes Fang was directly over Dr. Martinez's house. He circled in a wide arc, checking to make sure that nobody was watching from the forest to attack—he had no idea if those were the scientists back at the gorge had been the only ones coming after them. Probably not.

With a huge sigh of relief, Fang noticed Jeb's car in the driveway. Thank God, he thought. Wasting no more time Fang quickly dove for the ground and landed steadily on his feet. Without so much as a hesitation Fang flew to the back door and burst through. Dr. Martinez let out a little yelp of surprise and, upon seeing Max, her eyes filled up with tears.

"Wha—?" she began.

"No time," Fang cut her off. "Where's Jeb?" His voice was hard as steel.

"Right here," Jeb said, coming in from the living room. His eyes scanned Max quickly, and then his face became all business. "Hurry, through here." Jeb motioned for Fang to go first, and all three of them hustled into a spare room down the hall. Fang very, very gently laid Max down on the bed, stroking the hair back from her face as he did so.

"You're gonna be alright," Fang whispered, kissing her forehead.

"Fang, are you sure she's not…" Dr. Martinez broke down, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Jeb patted her shoulder then hurried out of the room.

"She's alive," Fang whispered, not taking his eyes off of Max. "Iggy…" he struggled to come up with something to say that didn't sound completely mental. Then, considering that they were all mutant bird-kids, decided that it didn't matter anyway. "Iggy can hear her heart beating," he blurted. Dr. Martinez stifled a gasp. "But she's fading fast. We…we didn't know what else to do. Where else to go…" Feeling horrified at himself, Fang began crying again. Right there, right in front of Dr. Martinez. She came up to him and wrapped him up in a hug.

"Oh, honey," she said quietly, crying right along with him. She shushed him quietly and stroked his head lovingly. "You did the right thing," she said. Fang could feel himself breaking down even more and didn't even care.

However, when Jeb walked back into the room, Fang stood up a little straighter and wiped his eyes on his long-sleeved black t-shirt. Jeb nodded understandingly, then kicked them both out of the room. Once they were out of the room he shut the door and Fang and Dr. Martinez settled on the couch.

Soon, the rest of the flock arrived, one by one, all teary eyed. Dr. Martinez welcomed them with open arms, cuddling Angel and Nudge while patting Gazzy's back and Total's head at the same time. Iggy sat next to Fang, his eyes closed and rubbing his temples.

Fang sat there, feeling numb and looking at the flock he hadn't seen in weeks, and was suddenly very overwhelmed.

"I gotta get out of here," he said quietly to Iggy. Iggy nodded, his expression sympathetic, and Fang stood and left the room without another word.

He was outside and, taking a running start, took off, spreading his huge black wings and carrying himself as far away from that little house as he could get. He didn't know where he was going, or how long he'd be there, but he just knew that he had to get out. His dark eyes narrowed and he brought his massive wings down with a force that shot him foreword.

About a half hour later he saw a huge oak tree, towering over all the other trees, and headed for it. Its leaves provided privacy, which was just what he needed right then. He swooped in, picking the thickest branch and landing on it. For a horrible moment, everything was silent. No bird sang, no creature snapped a twig; there wasn't even wind. Then he lost it.

"Ahhh!!!" He screamed, letting all the rage he'd felt since he'd come to out into a cry that lasted a good three minutes. And after that was over, he screamed again, then again. He continued screaming, falling to his knees and punching the bark until his knuckles started bleeding. His black wings came up around him like a shield, and his throat began to hurt and he thought he tasted blood in his mouth, and yet he continued. He screamed and screamed until eventually his cries turned to sobs, and he was huddled there in the tree crying more than he'd ever cried in his entire life—including when they were all at The School.

Fang gasped for breath, rocking back a forth slightly with the heels of his hands digging into his eyes. "Max…" he whimpered, letting one more grunt of frustration escape from his already raw throat. Please let her be okay he thought to whoever was listening. Please, please, please…. His heart felt like it had been ripped to shreds. No torture that he could think of was worse than this feeling. And yet he remained there, miserable, not willing to move just yet. He deserved this kind of pain. It didn't matter what Iggy said, he should've known Max.

Eventually Fang moved, his muscles protesting. He had no idea how long he'd been curled up on that branch, rocking and crying and muttering Max's name over and over again. He stood, his legs giving a sharp ache of protest, then he leapt from the tree and began his long flight back to Dr. Martinez's house.

As the small home came into view, Fang felt the familiar pang to his heart and he placed a hand over his chest. With a deep breath Fang flew in a downward spiral and landed gently on his feet. He stood and took a minute to close his eyes and prepare himself for whatever awaited him in that house.

As he went to take a step, Gazzy rushed out of the house. Looking a little uncertain, Gazzy paused a few feet in front of Fang. Fang felt hurt but was careful to keep his face blank, like always. "Max…she's breathing," Gazzy reported. He looked down at his shoes, tears brimming over the edges of his big blue eyes. Then, after a slight hesitation, he looked up and threw himself at Fang and hugged him. Fang had to bend just a little to hug him back but when he did he held onto Gazzy tightly. "I thought…I thought you were gone," Gazzy sobbed. "I was so scared." Gazzy cried into Fang's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Fang told him. It was all he could say, so he held Gazzy tighter. "I'm so sorry, Gazzy."

They hugged each other a little while longer before Gazzy finally let Fang go. "Jeb's got Max hooked up to some machine thing. He got the metal out of her stomach and stitched her up." Fang flinched a little but Gazzy didn't seem to notice. Then Gazzy was crying again. "Jeb says she's not in good shape," he confided. "She's breathing but…Jeb thinks that if—if," Gazzy had to pause to sniffle, then collected himself again. "If she's not breathing on her own in the next few days that there's not a good chance…" Fang wrapped his arm around Gazzy's shoulder, leading him towards the house. "She might not make it," Gazzy concluded. Fang stiffened, and Gazzy paused to look up at him. He stared at Fang for just a moment before adding, "But, but she's breathing alright now, on that machine." It was a nice try. Fang gave a half-hearted smile and entered the house.

After checking the family room and finding it empty, Fang continued down the hallway and saw that everyone was crowding around the open door of Max's room. Ella stood a little further back from the mob, crying gently into her mother's shoulder. Seeing Fang, Dr. Martinez smiled sadly and tapped Iggy's shoulder. Iggy turned from the doorway and headed in the direction of Fang's footsteps, a small, hopeful smile on his face.

"There's a chance that she'll make it," Iggy said quietly, putting a hand on Fang's shoulder. Fang nodded, not caring that Iggy couldn't see, and continue forward through the small mob. Angel was curled up on the floor beside Max, crying, and petting Total's head. Nudge held Max's hand and she, too, was crying quietly. Jeb stood on the other side of the room, fiddling with the machine that Max was hooked up to. Seeing Fang come in, Jeb nodded.

"Hey, guys, let's give Fang a minute," Jeb said gently. Nudge and Angel glanced up at him and, without a word, left the room. Jeb paused in front of Fang for just a fraction of a second before leaving as well, then closing the door behind him.

Now alone, Fang looked down at Max. They'd cleaned her up, putting her in a fresh, huge t-shirt and someone had combed the snarls out of her hair. There was a little dried blood still by her temple but someone had cleaned the rest off. She had so many bruises that Fang stopped counting after he'd gotten to 20 and was only on her face, and Jeb had put her arm in a cast. One of her wings—the one she'd gotten stuck in the car—was out and resting gently on a chair. There was antibiotic on it with a few bandages.

Fang sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand gently in his and kissing it, being careful not to damage it further. He looked at the tubes in her nose and the one long one hanging out of her slightly open mouth. He'd thought he'd gotten it all out in the tree and was a little surprised to find that he still had a few more tears to shed.

He sat up and, leaning over her, moved hair off her forehead and kissed it lightly. "I'll stay here, with you," he told her, settling in next to her and letting his arm drape over her stomach gently. He rubbed her arm tenderly and kissed her shoulder. "I'll stay with you until you wake up," he vowed. His dark eyes were on her face.

"I love you, Max."

Kay, sorry I'm taking so long to update. School's almost over and I'm struggling to get all my college stuff together and I've just been running around like a lunatic. Hopefully this appeased you and I'll definitely update sometime next week, pinky promise!

Review review review! Thanks for reading!

Falling Rose Petals