Catch and Release

Chapter 9

In all the drama with where Fang was staying and what Angel had said, Max had mostly forgotten about Sebastian being a jerk to Fang. That is until the morning of their date.

Fang had gone out with Dr. Martinez to look at furniture. They weren't buying anything yet, but she thought it was best if he knew how much furnishing the place was going to cost. He almost argued that he could just look those things up on the internet, but knew that he nor the vet had access to it. He was sure that one of the girls would kindly allow him a computer, but asking would be involving them and he couldn't deal with Max and Nudge trying to help him choose his furniture. Nudge had an expensive taste, especially when dealing with someone else's cash. As for Max, he would always go to her for final decisions, as she would be spending a good chunk of time at his place if things went well, but he knew she too had a different style than him. Fang was a minimalist while Max liked junky things.

When he got back to the vet's house, Fang was expecting Carter and Evan to be there with Max or Nudge. Instead, he got Ella, Sebastian, and Max.

"What are you guys doing here?" Valencia asked as she and Fang came into the house. They were all sitting in the living room, waiting. The second he walked in, Sebastian sent daggers at Fang, clearly angry about something. Fang assumed whatever was going on was a family issue, so he began to walk out of the room.

"Wait, Fang," Max called to him.

"Where's Carter?"

"With Nudge. We need to talk."

"About what?"

Ella rolled his eyes heavily, clearly annoyed by something. When her mother asked again what was wrong, she exploded.

"Apparently, Fang told Max that Sebastian is picking on him," she answered in a snippety tone.

Fang frowned. "That is not what I said."

Glancing at him, Dr. Martinez asked, "What happened, Fang?"

"Nothing. We…Max, I told you…" Fang started to backtrack again. Why had Max done this to him? He needed Carter.

"Sebastian told Fang some very…grownup things."

"I did not. He's lying," Seb said, talking over his aunt. "He's the one that's rude to me. Not the other way around."

"I've never said anything to you."

"He threatened to hurt me."

"I did not."

"Fang, don't argue with him." Dr. Martinez ran a hand down Fang's arm, but he flinched away, beginning to rub his wrist with his other hand. "Tell me what happened."

"He…He said…" He couldn't breath right. Why did everything have to be a trial around here? A meeting of the minds? Everyone didn't have to be involved in every issue. Looking helplessly at Max, he waited for her to fix this. She always fixed his mistakes for him, or at least she tried.

"Calm down, Fang. You're not in trouble," Max told him, standing up and walking towards him.

"He threatened Sebastian."

"Shut up, Ella." Max glared at her. "He didn't do anything. Did he, Seb? You know that you did bad, being mean to Fang. I'm not going to repeat what you told Fang, but you know what you said and he knows what you said, so let's apologize and move on, okay? I love you, Sebastian, but Fang's been in my life a lot longer and now that he's in it again, you're going to have to accept him."

Now Max was next to Fang and she grabbed his wrist, holding it in her hand. Fang suddenly wanted to kiss Max really bad, but he just stood there, looking at anything other than the people in the room. Why couldn't Carter be there? Or Evan? Even Nudge would help at this point.

"I'm sorry, okay? Why do you guys have to make such a big deal out of everything? Huh? Huh? It's not freaking fair! It was a joke. He doesn't know how to take a stupid joke!" Sebastian jerked away when his mother tried to touch his arm. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Valencia sighed. "You can go now, Fang. I'm sure Max can take you to Nudge's."

The second he was dismissed, Fang took off, not wanting anything to do with that house at the moment. It took Max a minute or two to get out there, but Fang just waited in her car, trying to level out his breathing.

"You okay?"

He looked up as Max slid into car. Nodding slowly, he moved to buckle his seat belt.

"You shouldn't have done that."

"I had to, Fang. I wanted Seb to know that he couldn't bully you."

"Still. You…you embarrassed me."

"Its okay, Fang." She ran her hand down his thigh, clearly more accepting to touching than he was. "We're okay. No one is mad at you."

"Stop acting like I'm a kid, Max."

She just sighed, sitting there for a moment in silence. "You wanna go see Carter now?"

"Yeah," he mumbled. "That'd be good."

Max laughed softly as she started the car. "She loved her bubble bath."

"Really?"

"Yes. She kept saying how happy she was with Owl." Max was giggling now, pulling out of the driveway. "It's so cute, how she likes you. You two are adorable together."

Fang swallowed. "Adorable?"

"I know you don't like being called things like that, but it's honestly the only thing to call the way you guys interact."

"You're not even there most of the time."

"I know. I'm sure you're even more open when I'm not." Max turned down the radio slightly. "You know, Fang, I never expected you to take to little kids so well."

"Me neither," he mumbled. "Carter's hard not to deal with though."

"I know. She thinks that you're fun though."

Fang nodded a little bit. "She doesn't nap long enough though."

"Ha. Don't I know it?"

By the time they got to Nudge's apartment, Max had succeeded in calming Fang down. Which was good, because when they walked into the apartment, they found Carter in full breakdown mode.

"No!" She was throwing her toys everywhere, a block nearly hitting the television in the process. "No!"

"Stop it, Carter," Nudge tried, holding Evan out of harms way. "You sit down-"

"What's going on?" Max asked, having used her key to come in when she heard her daughter screaming from inside the apartment. Fang, however, didn't care what was going on. At all. Carter was throwing a fit. That's all he needed to know.

"Carter!" He walked passed Max and came over to the little girl. She moved to throw an action figure at him, but he just bent down and grabbed her hand. "You stop it. Now."

"No!" She attempted to bite his wrist, but he swiftly lifted her up and walked over to a corner. "No, Owl! Owl!"

"Sit." He sat her down on the ground.

"No! No tit!"

"Yes, sit." He pushed her down. "You don't throw things. You hear me?"

"Owl-"

"No." He turned and walked away, leaving her screaming in the corner.

"How do you keep her from moving?" Nudge asked Fang.

"Repsect."

"Ha ha. Seriously, how? Do you threaten her?" Nudge glanced over to the corner where Carter was now yelling, but sitting there, in the same spot Fang had put her.

"No, I do not threaten her." Fang frowned. "We have an understanding."

Max rolled her eyes. "How do you get her to stop screaming?"

"She gives out after awhile."

Sighing, Max took Evan from Nudge. "Come here, baby. Did Carter scare you, huh?"

After Max left with the little boy, headed towards the bedrooms, Nudge and Fang went into the kitchen to start on lunch. While they were in there, Nudge asked him, "So where are you taking Max?"

"I don't know. Wherever she wants to go, I guess."

"What are you gonna wear?"

"I don't know, Nudge," he groaned.

"Wear those dark jeans and that black, button up shirt."

'I'm wearing a hoodie."

"Fang-"

"I am. Max understands that."

"You and Max sure do have enough unspoken rules."

"Max is just wearing jeans too, so who cares?"

"You're supposed to impress her, Fang."

"I don't need to impress her."

"But you're supposed to."

"That's sexism."

"That's life."

Fang sighed, glancing back into the living room, where Carter was now sucking on Robbie's nose, though she was still in the corner.

"Carter," he called. "Are you hungry? I made you a sandwich."

"Yes," she whined, taking the bear from her mouth. "Owl."

"Come here."

She got up slowly, but rushed to him once she was standing.

"Say sorry."

"Sowy." She wrapped her arms around his leg. "Sowy, Owl. Sowy, Nug."

"It's okay." Fang patted her head. "Come on, let's eat."

He picked her up with one arm before grabbing a plate with a couple sandwiches on it and heading into the living room.

"Owl." She snuggled against him as he sat the plate down on the coffee table. "Owl."

"Cut it out and eat, Carter." Fang ripped up one of the sandwiches before handing her a piece. "Here."

Leaning back against Fang, she ate her lunch silently, ignoring her mother when she came back. Instead, she focused on rubbing her head back against Fang, giggling randomly. He picked at his food, knowing that in about three hours, he would have to be choking down another salad. Yuck.

"Owl." After she finished eating, Carter wanted to play. Fang, however, didn't have that in mind at all. "Owl. Eye?"

"What is up with you and flying, huh?" He looked over at Max, who was sitting next to him on the couch, also eating. "Now what do you want to do?"

"Nudge probably is tired after watching Carter all day. I think I should take her home." Max looked to Nudge, who was in the kitchen, feeding Evan. "Thank you for babysitting."

"It's fine. I had nothing better to do," she said without looking in on them. "Remember, Fang, what I told you."

He just grunted as Carter clambered up his body, sitting on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

She patted the top of his head. "Hi. Owl. Eye?"

"No. Get down before you fall."

She stroked his hair. "Owl."

"Carter, don't bother Fang." Reaching over, Max took her daughter down before standing. "Are you leaving with me, Fang?"

"Yeah. I, um, need to go home."

"Sure." She sat Carter down. "Clean up your toys, baby. Hurry so that we can leave."

"Baby, Owl."

"Yeah, baby," he mumbled, moving to help her clean up her stuffed animals. Max went and spoke in hushed tones with Nudge about something, but from what Fang could gather, it had to do with Sebastian and Ella. That was one conversation he could do without.

Once they were in the car, Carter started to make random, loud noises. Luckily for Fang, he was able to tune it out. After his experience in the School, he had learned a multitude of tricks to blocking things out.

"Here we are."

Fang frowned as Max pulled up to his apartment building. "What?"

"You said you wanted to go home."

"Oh. Right." He forgot about that. He really wanted to spend more time with Max and Carter, but knew that he could later. Well, he could be with Max later, on their date. This was probably his last time seeing Carter for the day.

"Out!" Carter began to wiggle in her car seat, thinking that she and Max were going with Fang up to his place. "Owl!"

"We're staying, baby," Max told her daughter as Fang got out. Then she looked at Fang. "I'll pick you up at-"

"I'll meet you at your apartment, Max." She was really into throwing her weight around in the relationship, wasn't she? "I'm the guy."

"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes. "If that's what you want, fine."

"Owl," Carter was whining now. "Owl."

"I have to go." Fang shook his head at her. "Goodbye, Carter."

"Owl!"

Max rolled her eyes again as Fang closed the car door. He felt bad for Carter, but knew that he and Max shouldn't spend all day together. When they did, they typically ended up fighting.

When he got up to his place, Fang took a long shower, wanting to smell his best for Max. Then he spent a while staring in his mirror, trying to decide if he should shave his face, or let it grow. His facial hair was in that awkward stage where it either had to be cut or suffered through to get a good beard. He and Max had never really discussed her like or dislike of facial hair, so he was really stuck.

After deciding to keep it, Fang then spent even longer attempting to style his hair in an appealing way. That was a waste of time. He came out looking exactly the same way it always looked.

Afterwards, he went through his bag of clothes, picking out his best looking jeans, which did happen to be the dark ones. And yes, under his hoodie, he wore that black shirt, but so what? It's not like he had a lot of other options.

With the only thing left to do being wait, Fang sat down on his sleeping bag, picking up the paperback book that sat next to it. Dr. Martinez had given it to him and he was reading it only to please her. It was one of those detective novels, but it beat a romance story.

He then killed another hour or so sleeping, but he was pretty restless for some reason. Nervous. Which really made no sense. He and Max grew up together. They had dated before. They'd even had sex before, multiple times. How could this, taking her out to dinner, make him nervous?

When it was time for his mid-afternoon meal, Fang got to eat a salad, but he really didn't want to. He left the apartment in search of one, as he still had no refrigerator. However, he did have a microwave now, courtesy of Dr. Martinez, but all that helped him do was make hot chocolate, which he did last night for Carter and Max. Yum.

After his salad, Fang spent awhile walking around the city until he figured it was time to make his way over to Max's place. When he got there, he did a quick check of breath and hair before knocking on the door.

"Hey, Fang," she answered, all ready and everything. "I wasn't sure when you'd get here."

Fang glanced behind her. "Carter-"

"Is already with Nudge. Now come on." She stepped out before locking the door. "Let's go."

"First word?"

"Ki-ca."

"What?"

"Kitty cat. It's what she called Mom's cat."

"Dr. Martinez has a cat?"

"It died, last year. Carter thinks that it's just hiding. I've tried to explain it to her, but she's not a very good listener. Sometimes, if she hears someone mention the cat, James, she'll start running around Mom's house, calling his name and checking under things."

"That's kind of…funny, in a morbid way."

"It's cute, yes," Max said, noting his hesitation with that word. "Still creepy though."

Fang picked at his spaghetti. "Why this place?"

"Ella and I eat here all the time."

"Mmmm."

"I could have taken you to the all you can eat place, but I figured you wouldn't eat much. Nudge and I go there. She likes it."

"I bet."

Max smiled at him. "We'll have to find our own place though, the two of us."

"Yeah. Us and Carter."

She rolled her eyes. "Either you're good at acting or you really do like my daughter."

"I do. She…gives me something to do."

Laughing, Max took a sip of her drink. "She likes you. A lot."

"I know." Fang sighed slightly. "Max, do you care if I ask to know-"

"No."

"No you don't care or-"

"No as in I don't want to talk about that right now." Her tone was flat again; he had killed the mood. Although, he wasn't even a hundred percent sure what the mood was anyways.

"Sorry, I just-"

"How's work going, Fang?"

Change the subject. Nice, Max.

"I'm just a security guard, so fine," he said after taking a moment to think. "I guess. I've never really worked."

"I know. When we got taken, we had just finished with saving the world."

Clearing his throat, Fang asked, "Um, Max?"

"Yes?"

"…Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but do you know what happened to Maya? Or any of my team?"

She took a bite of her food, apparently also needing to think for a minute. "No," she said, after swallowing. "I haven't even thought about it. After how badly things went-"

"Yeah, I know."

He remembered hooking back up with the Flock because he had news about Angel not really being dead. He recalled finding her and then Max and Maya getting into that fight. Maya took off with Fang's gang, but he stayed. Not for Max, really, but rather for Angel, who had been injured in the School she was being kept at. Her wings had been hurt. She would fly again, just not anytime soon. Someone would have to carry her everywhere. Fang readily took over that position. Also, his return effectively killed that Dylan/Max vibe, but that was just a bonus.

"I'm sure if you looked enough-"

"Only if you're okay with-"

"I can't very well tell you what to do and what not to do, can I?"

Oh, trust him, she could. She had for the first fourteen years of his life. Not necessarily well, but she did.

"If you're sure-"

"I am," she snapped at him, frowning. Okay, so mark finding Maya off his list. It's not as if he had high hopes about that anyways. Really, he just wanted to know if she was dead or alive.

Taking a deep breath, Fang tried to get the date back to where he wanted it. "Let's talk about something else."

She shrugged, taking a bite of her food. "We can talk about whatever you want."

Okay, so she wasn't going to make this easy.

"Where do you work?"

"Grocery store."

Fang nodded a little bit. "That's cool."

"I guess so. Then, I'm a waitress at this burger place part time."

"You have two jobs?"

"I have to."

Fang cleared his throat again. "I'll have to eat there one day, the place you work."

Staring at him for a moment, Max took a second to decide if he was serious before smiling. "Yeah. You will."

After dinner, Max had to stop by Dr. Martinez's to get Carter. Fang went in with her.

"Owl!" Carter was in the kitchen, eating a bowl of ice cream. "Hi, Owl!"

"Hi." Fang stood behind her chair, watching her. "How are you?"

"Eye c'eam."

"Yeah." Fang patted her head.

"Owl?" She held up her ice cream covered hand as an offering, wanting him to have some too. He just shook his head.

"No spoon, Carter?"

"No!" She went back to eating her ice cream. "No."

"Carter."

They both looked up as Max came into the kitchen, already in scold mode, Dr. Martinez with her.

"Are you making a mess?"

"No!" She looked up at Fang. "Owl."

"I'll clean her up," he said, still looking down at the little girl. "Once she is done."

"Owl." Carter went back to eating, now content that she wasn't going to be punished. Valencia and Max left, going to speak with each other in private in the living room. Not wanting to be a part of that, he just stood there behind Carter, waiting for her to finish. When she was done, he washed her bowl before picking her up and taking her to the bathroom to clean her up.

"Are you sleepy, Carter?" Max asked a few minutes later as Fang carried her into the living room. The little girl was now lying with her head against his shoulder, stretching. "Huh?"

Fang bounced her slightly. "You ready?"

Valencia stood up and went over to him, giving her granddaughter a kiss on the head. "Goodbye, Carter."

Whining, Carter closed her eyes. "Owl."

"Yeah, Fang." Max stood up. "Let's go. Thanks, Mom."

She just nodded. "Oh, and Fang?"

He just looked at her.

"Sebastian won't be bothering you anymore."

"Mom-" Max started, but Fang cut her of.

"I…Thank you."

Nodding again, Valencia took a step back, dismissing him without a word. Once they were outside, Fang took Carter to the car and buckled her in as Max came outside with Carter's diaper bag and toys.

"Here," Fang said, turning to take them after he finished with the sleepy girl. "Let me."

Max smiled at him as he put the stuff in the car. "Thank you, Fang."

He just patted Carter's head before closing the car door. Once they were in the car driving though, it became clear that Max was confused on her directions. Or, at the very least, she wasn't taking Fang home. She was going straight to her place. Instead of saying something, Fang just buckled in for the ride, willing to go wherever Max took him, so long as Carter was invited.

"Aw, she fell asleep," Max whispered as they pulled into the apartment parking lot.

As she got her daughter out, Fang took care of the diaper bag and toys. Lockheed and Robbie were both among them, but Fang noticed a few new stains on the dragon, surely a sign that he had been played with recently. Pride swelling for some unknown reason, Fang followed behind his once valiant leader, silent as she cradled her daughter against her chest.

When they got up to the door, Max unlocked it with one hand before walking in, expecting Fang to follow. He did, though it was just to put down Carter's toys and bag before heading out. He had seen Max continue on into Carter's room, but didn't want to bother her and accidentally wake the baby up.

"Fang, where are you going?"

He was closing the door at that point and didn't turn around. Max quickly ran to catch up, pushing him out into the hallway before shutting the door gently behind them.

"You'd leave without saying goodbye?" Max's brown eyes stared into his dark ones, unable to convey the same innocence she had in her tone.

"I didn't want to wake Carter," Fang said, shuffling his feet while looking down.

"Well, now we're out here and she's in there."

Dang it. That reminded Fang that he hadn't done a check of the apartment. They had been gone for awhile. Anyone could be in there with Carter. Anyone-

"Look at me, not the door. What's wrong with you and making eye contact these days?" Max reached up and adjusted his head to her liking. Fang allowed it, as he usually just went along with all of the weird things Max said or did. "That's better, isn't it?"

She was smiling at him, but it wasn't a real one. It was forced. She was trying to put him at ease for some reason, always more focused on others rather than herself.

"Goodbye, Fang."

He stared down at her, wishing she had kept her hands on his face. "Bye."

If he had waited a second longer, he would have missed his chance, as she was already turning to leave when he finally confronted his fears and grabbed one of her arms, stilling her as she usually did him when he was rubbing his wrists. Now the look on her face was real, but it was confusion.

"Wha-"

He cut her of with a quick, too hard kiss to the mouth, like something children do out on the playground. Max stood perfectly still, probably shocked by him initiating the physical contact, and such a cavalier version at that. When he pulled back, Fang also let go of her arm, his nerves getting the better of him. He knew he had just screwed up that kiss, but wasn't sure what to do about it.

Instead of being mad at him for doing that, Max just leaned back against the door and stared at him. After a moment, she spoke.

"How are you getting home?"

"I'm walking."

"You could-"

"I don't have any condoms."

"What?" Max frowned. "I was going to say you could stay on the couch, not-"

"Sorry, I just-"

"Shut up." Max opened the door again. "I'll go get you some blankets for the couch, Mr. Protection."

"I didn't mean-"

"I said to shut up. Carter's sleeping."

Moment over. Way to go, Fang. Sighing, he stepped back into the apartment. At least now he would be able to find any intruders.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh. Checking." He was down on his hands and knees, looking under Carter's bed. "I should have earlier."

Max stood in the doorway of her daughter's room for a moment, watching him, before turning, now going back to making up the couch for him. When he finished with his duty, Fang went back into the living room to find Max gone. Frowning, he then went over to her bedroom door.

"Max?" He knocked softly. "I need to check your room."

"Fang," she groaned. "Come in."

He was hoping to find Max in some sort of appealing nightwear, but she was still dressed in what she wore that day. Dang.

"Hurry up."

After he was certain that no one would harm her that night, Fang told her that he had taken his night medicine before he left that night.

"Why? You were planning this? Then you should have picked up those condoms."

Fang hid his embarrassment, instead focusing on a spot on the wall. "I just…I, um, didn't want to flip out on you, on our, uh…"

"Date," Max finished for him. "I'm just teasing you, by the way. Although, we're still not doing that."

"I just thought that you-"

"Goodnight, Fang," she cut him off. "Kitchen's open to you and your diet needs. Do you work tonight?"

"No. I'm off."

"Ah. So you did plan this date well." She reached out and patted his cheek. "Get me if you need me, but try not to wake Carter, huh?"

"I won't," he mumbled, slowly walking out of the bedroom. "Thank you, Max."

After shutting her bedroom door gently, Fang went over to the couch, where Max had put those sheets he had seen his first day back, when Max thought he would be staying with her. Laying down, Fang cuddled under the blankets she had left for hm, the pillow resting beneath his head. The sheets smelled good, clean. Max, his little homemaker all of a sudden. What was up with that, huh? Doing her own laundry, making her own food, paying her own bills, working two jobs to support herself and her daughter.

"Mmmm." He closed his eyes tightly, not yet ready for sleep, but content in the fact that Max was right there and so was Carter, ready for him to protect them if needed. He hadn't had someone rely on him in a long time, but now they did. It made him feel good, being needed, made him feel whole again.

"Fang?"

Opening his eyes, he saw that Max's bedroom door was open, the light from there casting long shadows into the room. It burned his eyes a little bit, as he had become used to the darkness already.

"What? What's wrong?" He sat up, staring at her. Now she was dressed down a little bit, wearing a shirt and some basketball shorts. "Are you okay?"

"I just…I'm sorry for being mean to you. I know you probably are focused a lot on sex. I don't want you to think that I'm mad at you or anything. I can't sleep when I'm thinking about stuff. So I just wanted to say, you know, sorry for being a jerk."

He stared at her for a minute. "Okay, um, alright."

When she kept standing there, he decided that she was facing her own demons, probably brought on by the topic of sex, and laid back down, though he didn't close his eyes.

"It's just…" She trailed off, but quickly picked back up. "Do you remember the last time we had sex?"

Swallowing, Fang said, "I do. You had been sick for awhile, but when we were finally alone in that room, after they sliced into my back really deep, you said you were feeling better. But you weren't. I didn't care though. I shouldn't have-"

"Shhh. I just wanted you to know that," she paused, "none of that in there counted, okay? At all. The things we said, the stuff we did, how we acted, they all mean nothing now. I don't want you to think that I really hate you."

"You're talking about…yeah. I know." He sighed, remembering how after he finished that day, Max had told him about how much spite she had for him, how tired she was of their situation. Fang told her that he didn't care about her anyways and that next week, Max was gone. Dead, he thought at the time and was told the same, but apparently just transferred. He hadn't brought it up before, thinking maybe Max had forgotten it. Apparently not.

"I just thought you should know." She turned to go, but again he stopped her, this time with his words.

"Max," he called softly. When she waited, he said, "I just want you to know that…it does matter. All of it does matter. It's a part of our history now. It's not just something I can forget or you can forget, but learn from. I'm not better yet and neither are you, but we'll get there together. Okay?"

Still with her back to him, she realized that this whole time since he had been back, she had been taking care of him, watching out for him. Now it was the other way around. She kind of liked it.

"Okay. Goodnight again. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah," he whispered, closing his eyes once more. "I'll see you in the morning, Max."