Catch and Release

Chapter 7

"Owl."

Dr. Martinez hesitated as she opened the door to reveal Fang. "I really don't think-"

"I just need to get my stuff."

Carter, who was behind her grandmother, held up her arms as Fang passed. "Owl."

Fang nodded to her, holding out something. "I got you this. Before work. It's a toy. For you."

Carter rushed to him, snatching the stuffed dragon from him. "Pa'bla."

"Yeah." Fang patted her on the head before heading further into the house. "Is Evan here?"

"No," the vet told him. "That's actually who Carter is about to go see. Nudge. I have work today."

"Oh, well, I'll be just a minute. I just need to grab my bag."

"Fang…" She followed him to his room. "Ella called us last night and said that you were waiting on her porch."

"I was."

"You're…staying there?"

"She's the one with the extra room."

"I'm not kicking you out."

"No, but Max is over here constantly."

"Max is over there constantly."

"Not nearly as much."

"Fang, you and Max don't have to interact. I just don't think that it's…decent for Ella to have a man move in with her."

"We're not…I'm not…"

"I know, but the way it will look-"

"I won't be there long." Fang looked down at his feet as Carter reappeared, holding her dragon to her. "I'm getting my own place soon. Iggy and I are looking today. He texted me, said he'd help."

"Owl." Carter snuggled with her dragon, watching him intently. "Hi, Owl."

"Hi." Fang lifted up his bag with one hand. "I had better go. Iggy's meeting me in a hour. Goodbye, Carter."

"No. No go."

"If you're with Nudge, you'll see me later."

"What do you mean?" Dr. Martinez asked, standing in the doorway, blocking his exit.

"She said after I see Iggy, she'll take me clothes shopping. I, uh, still have some money from the government. I'm only buying a little."

"Owl." Carter poked his leg. "Mommy."

Fang sighed, shaking his head down at her. "Not now, Carter, okay? I'll see you later, alright?"

"Bye-bye?"

Nodding solemnly, Fang finally had to squeeze past Valencia to head out. Bye-bye. Bye-bye, Max. Bye-bye.

"I like it."

"Fang, you can't say that about every place."

"I do like them." Not to mention they were all in town. This one in particular was closest to Max's place, but he was only concerned with that for Carter's sake. Of course.

"Yeah, but can you see yourself living there?"

"They're all in my price rang, so why not?"

The landlord that had come in with them clapped her hands. She was hot, even Iggy knew that and he was blind. Fang only really knew because of how close Iggy kept getting to her, accidentally brushing against her at every chance possible. She was a bleach blonde, which wasn't normally Fang's type, but then again, Max's hair changed every freaking week it seemed, or at least it used to. So could he really have a type anymore?

"What if you sleep on it, huh?" She asked in that perky tone. She was in her thirties, which wasn't necessarily too old for Fang, which was nice. He was starting to get up there now and though he hadn't been on the dating scene since he was eighteen, he knew that anything younger than him at this point would be a waste.

Not that he was thinking about anything like that. Or anything. Or whatever. So…yeah. There.

Not to mention that Fang wasn't really as attractive as he once was, what with his starved look and scars.

Again, not thinking about it or anything.

"This was the last place," Iggy told him ten minutes later when they were back out on the street, headed towards Nudge's place. "And I have to say, I'd choose that one, just to get at Tammie."

"Hmmm?"

"The landlord. Or whatever girl landlords are called."

"I think it's the same."

"Whatever," Iggy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "The point was that I liked her. I could tell you did too."

"I didn't."

"Right. You were really smooth back there though, FYI. I think you totally have a chance. I'll even give her to you, seeing as I'll be back in Texas tomorrow."

"I'm not interested in her, alright?" Fang rolled his shoulders. "Max and I have this…agreement."

"Agreement."

"Yeah."

"For?"

"Just that we're not going to see anybody else until we, you know, work out what we are to each other."

"After last night, I'd say you're bitter enemies. Unless you guys are still doing that childish flirting fight thing you used to do. Hey, if that's it, more power to you. If not, I'd say that you guys aren't anything to each other. Not anything relationship wise at least."

Fang just let out a long breath. "We're complicated."

"Oh, I know. I've known forever." He elbowed Fang. "Me thinks you two have unresolved tension."

"Me thinks? Sorry, I didn't realize I was talking to Carter."

"Okay, I was using old English. Pick up a book sometime, Fang."

"Whatever." Fang ended it there, deciding not to correct Iggy on his information. Iggy, however, wasn't letting anything go.

"I think you two just need to, you know, screw."

"You're about to get thrown out into traffic," Fang said as he had to grab Iggy's arm to keep him from running into a telephone pole.

Jerking out of Fang's hold, Iggy said, "Yeah, yeah. You know it's true though."

"I don't want…we're not…ready for that."

"What are you? Fifteen?"

"No," he said, his tone coming off as short. "You know that Max is…damaged."

"Yeah, but it's like alcohol."

"What?"

"When you blackout for the first time, the next time you try to drink, your body will try to reject the alcohol. Just the smell will make you sick. You have to choke it down and prove to your body that it's okay, just in small doses."

"…I think you drink too much."

"Yeah, well, it happens," he wais with a shrug. "The point is that you just have to get it in with Max to show her that it's okay."

"I'm never going to just 'get it in', alright? What Max and I have is…special. You can't understand it."

"Oh God, Fang, what kind of dopey pills do they have you on?"

He just shrugged, his jacket feeling a little too tight at the moment. "You don't get it."

"I guess I don't." Iggy almost tripped over a rock, but Fang grabbed his shoulders, a lot softer this time. He released him quickly. "That Cameron was still hot though."

"I thought her name was Tammie?"

"Who cares? Hot is hot."

"You can't even see."

"I can hear though."

"Oh, you can hear hotness now?"

"Uh, yeah, Fang, I can."

Sighing, Fang led him to Nudge's, no longer wanting to hear about Iggy's sixth sense.

"Ooh, you're here!"

Could she be louder?

"Come in, come in," Nudge ushered, taking a step back. "Look who it is, Carter."

"Owl!" She was currently eating a pudding cup, well, kind of, and didn't get up to greet him. Most of the chocolate pudding was ending up on her arms and face, but at least she was trying. E for effort, eh?

"What about me?" Iggy came striding into the apartment with much more swagger than he had out on the street, probably because he was more familiar with his surroundings. "Huh, Carter?"

"Hi. Hi, hi." She jumped up finally, rushing to the men though it was Fang's legs that she wrapped her dirty arms around. "Hi, Owl."

He didn't even care about the chocolate that was now on his jeans. "Hi."

"Owl." She released him only to begin licking her hands and arms, trying to get up all of the pudding. "Yum."

"How did apartments go?"

"Fine," Fang said as he walked passed Carter, now going over to the kitchen to clean of his jeans. "When do you think that we can leave to shop?"

"Oh, as soon as Max gets off to pick up Carter and Evan."

"Max will be here?" Fang frowned at Nudge. "You said-"

"I said, she said, we said. Who cares?"

"Nudge."

"Fang, it'll be okay. She can't still be mad at you and you shouldn't still be mad at her. Just move on. I've moved on. I've already forgotten about how Iggy owes me twenty dollars."

"Really?" Iggy asked, searching around with his hands for Carter's head so that he could pat it.

"No. I was just making a metaphor."

"Nudge, I think you need to learn what a metaphor is."

"Meh."

After cleaning off, Fang went back over to the couch, where he was quickly joined by his little friend.

"Hi." Carter had no indecision about climbing into Fang's lap, her dragon in her arms. "Hi, Owl."

Fang shook his head slightly as she got him dirty again, rubbing her now spit covered hands over his chest. "Why do you always need to touch me, Carter?"

"Wanba."

"Yeah. Wanba." Fang settled into the couch, no longer feeling the need to hold Carter so tightly, no longer having such a fear of her hurting herself. "Is that your dragon?"

"Namana." She rubbed the stuffed animal against his chest. "Namana."

"Have you named it yet?" He asked as Nudge left to go check on Evan in his room, Iggy following. "Huh?"

"No bo."

"No?" Fang ran his hand down her head. "When I saw him, the first thing I thought of was Lockheed. From the X-Men? That's why I got it."

"Lockheed," she said, stressing the ending. "Lockheed."

"Hold up. You can say Lockheed, but you can't say Fang?"

"Owl." She reached up, patting his cheek. "Owl."

"I'm so sleepy, Carter." Fang shifted on the couch, turning to lie on his back. Settling on his chest, Carter took it upon herself to begin licking the chocolate from Fang's shirt. "Stop that."

"Nop bat." She leaned up and laid her head on his shoulder, sighing. "Lockheed."

"That's your dragon's name. Not mine. Mine is Fang. Can you say that yet?"

"Owl."

"I think you're doing this just to annoy me."

That only got a giggle.

"That's okay though. I don't much like my name either." He leaned his head back, sighing. "I don't really like yours either, really. I think you should have a better name. Don't you?"

"Yes." She wasn't really listening to him as she was now licking her arms again. Who knew there was so much pudding in those little containers? "Owl."

"I don't know one yet. I just thought of this. You're going to have to give me time. After all, I did just name Lockheed."

"Lockheed."

"Yeah." Glancing over as Nudge came back into the room, Fang sat up and asked, "When does Max get here?"

"In about an hour," she told him, Evan in her arms. "You wanna hold him, Fang?"

"No." He was still too busy holding Carter, who didn't seem to be planning on leaving anytime soon. Instead, she was burrowing herself into him.

"Hi," Carter greeted Evan, who seemed more preoccupied with drooling on himself. "Owl, hi."

"Hi."

"No. Hi." She pointed to Evan.

"She wants you to say hi to him too," Nudge explained as she sat Evan down on a blanket. "Say hi, Evan. Is that Fang and Carter? Huh?"

Fang just leaned his head back again, listening as Iggy reentered room also. Busying herself with Fang's hands, Carter began to try to pop his fingers. Fang allowed it, not feeling up for moving just yet.

"What are you doing to Fang, Carter?" Nudge asked.

"Owl. Lockheed."

"What's that, baby?"

"Dis!" She held up her dragon, which almost made Fang smile. Clearly his stuffed animal idea was a hit. Robbie would soon be a distant thing of the past. "Owl."

"I know. Dr. Martinez said Fang gave that to you. Aren't you so happy?"

"Yes. Owl." She nuzzled under Fang's hold. "Owl."

"Mmmm." Fang slipped his eyes closed. "Shhh."

"Cat." Carter started wiggling and he finally let her go. After jumping down, she rushed over to Evan, properly greeting him. Sighing, Iggy sat down on the couch next to Fang, shaking his head slowly.

"Lockheed?"

"Well, you know."

"It's okay. X-Men is horribly underrated." Iggy patted Fang's knee, which made him become frigid. What was up with these people and touching? Fang didn't remember any of them touching nearly this much. "Especially Shadowcat. She's hot as hell. I'd be her Colossus, heck yeah."

Fang sighed. "You need to go to a strip club."

"Trust me, I know. It's been so boring recently, my life. Gazzy's too young to do anything fun with. I thought that you and I could, you know, hangout. Like get wasted and party and stuff."

Swallowing, Fang said, "Max wouldn't…like that."

"Max isn't your wife. Or even girlfriend for that matter."

"We are something and that's all that matters," Fang whispered with a frown. "I told you. We have a deal."

"Whatever," Iggy said, ending it before Nudge caught wind of their discussions. Lord knows she would have never shut up about it.

By the time Max showed up, Fang had somehow ended up down on the floor, playing with Carter. Well, she was playing. He was mostly just sitting there, handing her different toys when she asked for them.

"Hi, Max," Nudge squealed as she opened the door. You'd thinks she'd be tired of see Max all the time, but apparently not.

"Hi, g- What are you doing here?"

Fang didn't look up from the stuffed animals. "Nudge is taking me shopping."

"Why?"

"I don't have a lot of clothes." Fang frowned as Carter got up to see her mother. Iggy had already took off at the thought of a confrontation with Max. Fang felt like telling him that at the moment, he was off Max's radar. Fang was her only target now.

"Hi." Carter hugged her mother's legs. "Home?"

"Yeah, home," Max said, frowning at Fang as she came further into the apartment. "What's this?"

Carter had come over to her bearing her new stuffed animal. "Lockheed!"

"That's…Lockheed is purple," she said simply. "Nudge, can you get her diaper bag? And is Evan staying the night?"

"Can he? Then I can go out after I finish with Fang. Iggy said something about partying-"

"You heard that?" Fang asked, finally looking up.

"Heard what?" Max frowned at him. "What did you say, Fang?"

"I didn't! Iggy did." Why did he feel like he needed to defend himself to Max? Huh? He was a man. A single man. He could do whatever he wanted.

"Lockheed!" Carter threw the dragon at Fang before rushing at him, jumping into his lap. "Owl!"

He sighed. "Max, I didn't…we have an agreement."

"You can't take care of me, remember?"

"You-"

"Come on, Carter. Tell Nudge goodbye. It's time to go."

"No. Owl. Owl home? Owl nest?" She smiled up at him. "Owl."

Fang frowned at Max. "She wants to tell me goodbye."

"You can't take care of-"

"Stop throwing last night at me, alright? You pinched me."

Nudge frowned at the two of them. "Guys, seriously? Come on. So last night was bad. Who cares? You haven't seen Fang in years, Max. And you, Fang, haven't seen Max in forever either. You guys should still be feeling lucky to just get to be around each other."

Rolling her eyes, Max finally went and got Carter's diaper bag herself. "I will as soon as he apologizes."

"I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have yelled last night. Especially not in front of Carter. I just…they have me on new dosages, okay? It's very hard, adjusting." He looked down at Carter, who was now sucking on her fingers, no doubt about ready to get him covered in her spit also. "You've had all this time to adjust to your new life. I haven't had this life for long. I don't even have an apartment yet."

Max walked past him, over to Evan. Gently, she picked the baby up and carried him over to his carrier. "You cursed in front of my daughter, Fang. You acted out with my mother right there. It's going to take a lot more than that to apologize."

"What about you-"

"You're also right." She then went and plucked Carter from his lap, Lockheed going along for the ride.

"About?"

"We're not ready yet. Do whatever with Iggy, Fang, because after last night, I'm not going to be ready for a long time."

He frowned. "I'm not doing anything, Max. I don't want…Nudge, could you like…"

"Hmmm?" She was just standing there watching them, not even moving to help Max gather up Carter and Evan's things. It was so awkward, trying to say these things to begin with. Trying to say them with Nudge right there though, it was near impossible.

"Could you give us something…privacy?"

"Oh, no, it's okay, I don't mind you two talking."

Max sighed. "Fang, there's nothing more to say anyways, alright?"

"I don't want to go to…that."

"Go to what?"

Nudge giggled, clearly having been eavesdropping on him and Iggy the whole time. He sent her a look, silencing her.

"Max, I was serious when I told you that I needed time and when I got it, it would be about us. I'm still about us. Alright?"

"Whatever."

"You can't just-"

"Owl?" Carter pointed to Robbie, who had been left discarded on the floor. "Owl?"

"Here." He got up then, taking her the stupid bear. He didn't know why it matter so much to him, Carter liking something that Iggy gave her the best, but it did. "Robbie."

It was then, standing so close to Max, that he remembered that she was shorter than him now and that it hadn't always been that way. He liked this though, looking down at her, but only slightly. Also, he took note of her current hair color, which was a soft brown, darker at the roots. Again, give it a week or two.

"I'll take Evan out," Fang said, taking the carrier from her.

"I can-"

"Go get ready, Nudge," Max said, watching his dark eyes with her brown ones. "Fang will be back up in a minute."

It was a silent walk down to the car. Well, mostly. Carter kept telling anyone they passed hi, which might have been cute, had you not been a guy like Fang and incapable of saying something like cute.

"I don't know how to do this," Fang said as he sat Evan's carrier down. "I can do Carter though."

They switched kids as they began to buckle them in. Max was taking Nudge's car for some reason, but Fang said nothing, assuming the girls already had it worked out. God, not only did they have keys to each others houses, but they also shared car keys? This was almost too creepy for him.

"Owl. Bye-bye." Carter giggled as he sat Robbie and Lockheed next to her. "Bye-bye."

Fang patted her dark locks. "Bye-bye."

Reaching up, Carter grasped his hand in her tiny ones. "Stay?"

"Not tonight. I need clothes." He let her hold onto him for a moment until he felt eyes on him. Looking across the car, he saw Max had finished getting Evan settled, but was still bent over the seat, watching him.

"What did Iggy say?"

"Iggy didn't say it, really, but I said a…naughty thing."

She raised her eyebrow. "Should I make guesses?"

"Not in front of them."

"That bad?"

"No, but you said that she repeats stuff. Your mom would flip."

"Hmmm. Maybe I should text you tonight. Until I guess the word."

"Words."

"What?"

Fang cleared his throat. "Words. It was two words."

"That'll just take twice as much guessing, huh?"

He smiled slightly as Carter let his hand go to start chewing on Robbie. "I guess so."

"You were supposed to text."

"Who cares?"

"I do. I can hardly hear you. Why are you whispering?"

"Evan's in bed with me. He doesn't like sleeping in his carrier."

Fang was stretched out on his bed. "I've got an hour until work. Start guessing."

"Fang."

"What?" He sighed slightly. "You said you would."

"I'm still mad at you. Do you really want me guessing?"

"If you're already angry with me, I don't have a lot to lose, right?" Fang was almost shocked how vocal and fearless he was being over the phone. Maybe that was the key to his new life. He could talk, just not to people's faces. It worked for all those losers on the internet.

"You're so witty, Fang. New medicine, was it?"

He took in a breath. "Guess, Max."

"Um…bar?"

"Nope."

"Sex?"

"No."

"Gay?"

"What?"

"Porn?"

"Ew."

"Oh, like you've never-"

"Keep guessing."

"Handjob?"

"What do you think we-"

"Fuck?"

"No."

"Intercourse?"

"No."

"Give me a hint."

"No hints, Max."

"Why not?"

"It's no fun that way."

"Come on, Fang. I just want to know what the two of you said. Better yet, forget it. Tell me about shopping with Nudge."

"What do you want to know? I bought a new pair of jeans, some socks, a belt, five shirts, a few undershirts, and some underwear. You wanna hear about that?"

"Yes. Were they X-Men?"

"Touché. And what's wrong with X-Men?"

"I just want to know why you bought my daughter a dragon when you can't take care of her?"

Fang sighed. "I can take care of her. Or at least I want to."

"You said-"

"I say a lot of things, Max. I'm still angry."

"At me?"

"At…everything. I'm angry that I wasn't there when you were pregnant, I'm angry that you even got pregnant. I'm angry that I wasted so much time thinking you were dead. I'm angry that you're angry. But you know what I'm not angry about? Carter. I'm not at all. We get along well."

Max snorted. "For now."

"What do you mean by that?"

"She just likes you as a friend right now and you're eating it up. She'll get used to you too, just like the rest of us."

"Nope. We're…different."

"Why do you think that?"

"I'm the only guy in her life besides Sebastian. I'm instantly cool."

"Seb's just a little boy, you're a man. Totally different playing field."

Fang glanced at his closed bedroom door. "He's not little boy, Max."

"What?"

"He said…bad things to me." Suddenly, he was closed up again, nervous.

"What?"

"That first day I met him."

"Fang-"

"He called me a, uh, um…fag."

"…Was that the word? Is this a hint? Is that one of the words Iggy or you said?"

"What? No. He seriously said that."

"Seb?" Max almost laughed. "No, Fang, you must have misunderstood. Sebastian's a very good boy."

"But he-"

"Fang, he's only eleven."

"Only eleven? Max, we had no contact with outside people when we were eleven. Do you remember how bad we were?"

"That's different. Seb helps with the younger kids, he cuts his mom and grandmother's grass-"

"By the way, he does a shoddy job."

"Again, he's eleven."

"Again, I know."

"He also helps clean up around everyone's houses-"

"He probably stores pot."

"Fang!"

"He said that I was castrated."

Max chocked. "What? When? Why? You never said-"

"I'm not!"

"What's going on in there?" Ella knocked on his door. "It's late, Fang. Don't get yourself kicked out."

He cleared his throat as Ella moved on. "I'm not, Max."

"I didn't think you were. I was just going to say that you never said he said any of this. You should have said something. I didn't even think he would know what…"

"I'm sorry," Fang apologized. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, Fang. No. If he's…bullying you-"

"God, Max, emasculate me more."

"Well, I just don't want him picking on you."

"Come on, Max. He's not. I just…I don't want to cause problems."

"What was yesterday?"

"Yesterday was an oversight on my part. I shouldn't have done that. We both overreacted yesterday, right?"

"Right."

"And I'm not here to drive a rift-"

"You're not. Seb needs to learn that you're in our lives now."

"He's just adjusting to, you know, there being another male around."

"Oh, Fang-"

"I'm not trying to demean y'all as women or anything. I just meant…Iggy, Gazzy, and Dylan are never around. He's the guy for all of you. He probably thinks that I'm stepping on his toes."

Max let out a long sigh. "I'll talk to him."

"Max-"

"I am, Fang. Now, what word did you say?"

"I thought you were guessing?"

"You have to start getting ready for work. What was said?"

"Just…" Fang looked around his dark room. "Iggy kept talking about…hooking up, and I said he just needed to, you know, get it out of his system."

"Hooking up were the words?"

"No," Fang said slowly. "I might have suggested a strip club."

"…Okay. Why did I need to know that again? And how would I have ever have guessed that?"

"I just…it was a joke. I'm not going out with him tonight."

"…Fang, you…" She sighed. "Guess who is though?"

"Hmmm?"

"Her and Iggy went out drinking. I don't know how he does it."

"Who?"

"Iggy. He drinks constantly. It's disgusting. Then again, I don't find him all that appealing to begin with."

Fang paused. "What did he call you before anyways?"

Letting out a long breath, Max said, "Let the past be the past, right? Besides, you'd probably flip out if you found out the whole conversation. I don't want you to wake Mom."

Mom…wait. Max didn't know-

"Oh, crap. Evan's crying."

Fang could heard the boy's wails in the background, making it hard to hear Max. His hearing was shot to begin with, but now it was nearly impossible to understand her.

"Max, you know that I'm staying with-"

"I have to go, Fang. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Max, wait-"

She hung up. Well crap. Fang sighed, laying back on his bed to rest for a few more minutes. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it? Max wouldn't care that he was staying with Ella, would she? It's not like anything was going on. At all. Fang and Ella could hardly stand each other. Why would it matter?

So why did he feel so guilty about it?

Short chapter, eh? Anyways, just FYI for anyone waiting on a Forsaken update, I'm kind of...over that story. For now. I plan on coming back to it, but this story's is more interesting for me. Just thought I should let you guys know.