Catch and Release

Chapter 16

Fang woke up cold. Freezing cold. Like ice cold.

This wouldn't have been so odd, had he been sleeping like he used to, when he still felt safe. Now he slept in his jeans and hoodie, which also served as an attempt to hide his scars from whoever decided to randomly pop in. Not to mention it was fall, nearing the end of October. Cool weather was to be expected, had he not slept the way he did now.

Anyways, the point is that he should not have felt so cold. At all. Shooting his eyes open, he found that he was alone in his bedroom, the light off and blinds drawn, giving away nothing as too his cool temperature.

"Max?" He whispered. No, no, Max and Carter weren't there. They had gone home last night. He remembered walking them to their car. Then what? What did he do after that?

Work. He had gone to work. After that was all done, it was back home, which happened around seven AM. So what time was it now? Glancing at the clock, he found it to be nearing noon. What was he missing? Something had to have happened between-

Morning meds. He had forgotten his morning medication. Yeah. Duh. God. Pushing himself up, Fang headed over to his dresser to take care of that.

Although, the more that he thought about it, the more that he realized in all of the times that he forgot to take his medication, it had never resulted in waking to cold. He might begin to feel cold along the way, but that was typically when his anger or fear turned numb, freezing the feelings out until he felt nothing. No, this was something weird. Something was wrong. Not in an obvious way though. Just in one of those ways where you can feel the bad things before they happen. What are those called?

"Premonitions."

Jerking his head up, Fang found his bedroom door was now open, revealing who else, but Angel. Sigh. He did not feel like dealing with her cryptic answers and double weighted questions.

"Can we just skip the code talk today, Angel? I seriously don't feel good." Then, frowning, he turned to look at her again. "Hey, wait a second. Nudge told me that you couldn't do that anymore."

"Do what anymore?"

"Get into minds and stuff," he said while counting out three of his big, orange pills. They always gave him a funny aftertaste. "What gives?"

"I guess we all have secrets, don't we, Fang?"

"I said no codes, alright? So if you're gonna accuse me of something-"

"I'm not accusing you of anything." When all she got as a response was a stare, she insisted, "I'm not."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Nothing. I honestly mean nothing. I don't know why Nudge told you that. I don't know why she does anything that she does. We're not exactly seeing eye to eye."

"What else is new?"

"You never taking off your clothes."

He nearly choked on a pill. "Excuse me?"

"You know what I mean, filthy mind. What, Max still not giving you any?"

"Watch your tongue before you get kicked out of here too."

"I wasn't kicked out of Val-" She paused after she got a look from him. "I wasn't kicked out of Dr. Martinez's house."

"I don't get it." He cleared his throat as he turned to face her. "Then why did you leave, huh?"

"Ever think that I just wanted to?"

"Oh, no, it's not that. You did get kicked out, didn't you?"

"Your 'savior' and me weren't seeing eye to eye," she said, using air quotes and all. Fang just stared at her. "I'm serious. We just have different views on things."

"Like what? She likes to work for her money and you like to just take others?"

"Touché, Fang."

"Shut up."

"No, seriously, I'm impressed." She stepped aside when he came to the door, walking out to the kitchen. He was kind of hungry.

"Cut the sarcasm, alright? I get enough of it from Max. I was serious about not feeling well."

"I know you were. You're cold, right?"

"Stay out of my head."

"You're shivering, idiot."

"Watch your mouth."

"And you watch yours! I'm not a little kid anymore, you know? I don't know if you've been suffering through culture shock or what, but you don't command me anymore. You just don't."

"No one has ever commanded you, Angel. Ever. Not even Max. You always do what you want and I'm kind of sick of it."

"I haven't even been around for that long."

"And when are you heading back, anyhow?" Fang asked as he made it to the kitchen. "Don't you have a job and a life there? Don't your friends miss you?"

"I have an open life, Fang. My house might be there, but by no means do I live in New York. I travel wherever I want. I don't understand why you choose to live any differently." She snorted as he got one of Carter's juice boxes out of the fridge to drink. "Unless, oh God, please, no. You really think that you can be…to her? Is that what you think?"

"You on thin ice, Angel."

"I know how to swim."

"What I do in my life isn't any of your business."

"Oh, but mine is to you? Newsflash, it's not. Whatever I choose to do is just that. My choice. No one else's."

"What is this even about, huh? Why won't you just tell me why you're here? And if it's for money, just come out and say it. I don't have a lot, but-"

"You want to get rid of me that bad?" She looked off for a second. "It's not about the money. I mean, hey, if one of them would loan me some cash, I would greatly appreciate it, but it not about that. It's about something more…personal. I'm here for personal reasons, okay?"

"Then why won't you just tell-"

"God, if you were as important to all these women around here as you think you are, you'd think that they'd have mentioned it before."

"Mentioned what?"

She just shook her head before turning on her heel. "You should really rethink your game plan, Fang. It's not working out so hot."

He just stood there for a few minutes after she left, left as always with the job of decoding rubbish. If it wasn't Carter's baby talk or Angel's lengthy ciphers, it was Max with her dark past tales, trying to cover something up. As much as he disliked Ella and Sebastian, because oh he did, at least they were always honest with him. Always. There was no bull with them, just complete and utter-

"Hello?" He answered his cell when it rang, switching it to the other hand so that he could get to work on making a sandwich.

"Where are you at?"

"Home. W-"

"I'm picking you up in five mintues."

"But I just-"

"Bye."

It actually took ten minutes for Nudge to show up, but Fang would cut her some slack, if only because it took him that same amount of time to get dressed, finish his breakfast, and get downstairs to meet her.

"Where is he?"

"Huh?" She looked up from texting on her phone as he slid into the passenger's side.

"Your baby. Evan," he said in that dubious tone he had when it came to Nudge and her airheaded tendencies.

"Oh, him," she said with a flip of her hand. "Max is babysitting today."

"Oh, great. Can you take me to her-"

"No," Nudge said all slow. "God, Fang, what do you think I am? Your driver?"

"…Then why are you here exactly?" Besides to piss him off, that is. Yeah, that part was pretty dang obvious.

"I'm taking you to lunch."

"I just ate a sand-"

"After you help me with something."

"What do you want help with?" He asked after letting out a long sigh.

"Spying."

"Spying. We're spying on someone."

"Yes."

"Great. Why couldn't one of the girls have done this with you?"

"Because then someone would have to watch the kids and Ella's at work."

"I could have watched them while you and Max-"

"Max said not to bother you today, that you had a rough day yesterday, so I figured that I shouldn't go to you to help babysit."

He blinked. "If you're not supposed to be bothering me, then why did you call me, make me meet you out here, and are trying to get me to help you spy on someone?"

"You know, Fang, you sure do ask a lot of dumb questions."

He waited for the dumb answer.

"I'm helping you relieve some of your stress."

Right…

"How, exactly?"

"By spending a relaxing day with me, spying."

"Relaxing?"

"You're missing the point. I need help with this. You said that you would always help me, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't mean-"

"Come on, Fang. You let Angel stay with you, you basically live at Max's place so you can watch her kid, and, well, you leave Ella alone like she wants, so you help her out in that way too. What about me?"

"What about you?"

"How come you never do anything for me?"

Did him babysitting a high multitude of times count for nothing?

"Fine, Nudge, what are we doing?"

"It's not so much what I'm doing, as it is what you're doing."

"Fine, what am I doing?"

"You're gonna hide in the bushes of this guy's house and look in his windows. I'll be waiting in the car, down the block."

And this was her idea for a stress free day?

"What? No! I am not doing that."

"But, Fang," she whined. "If you don't do it then I'll have to."

"Good. You should do it. It's you that wants to know…what exactly is it that you want to know about this guy?"

"If he has a girl in there."

"So essentially if he's cheating on you."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"I hope he is, Nudge. You have a baby. You do not have time for-"

"Max has Carter and you two sure have been shacking it up a lot recently."

"We have not been 'shacking it up', Nudge."

"Well, you could have fooled me."

"You-"

"Come on, just do this for me, huh? I'll buy you lunch afterwards."

"No."

"Please?"

"No. I am not doing it."

"Please? Please, Fang? Please?"

"No."

"Fine, then I guess I'll have to do it myself."

"No, you shouldn't be doing it either."

"One of us has to," she told him, getting ready for the ultimatum. "It's either me or you. Which is it?"

How did he end up here, crouched down in some guy's bushes, trying to peek past the binds? How, huh? It made no sense.

"Roger, are you there?"

"Nudge," Fang hissed, grabbing the stupid, toy walkie-talkie she had given him and turning it down some. She had gotten them from Seb, who hadn't used them in forever. Fang had been hoping that they wouldn't work, but luck be danged, they did. Did God hate him? Or was it just the women he was stuck living with?

"Roger's what you say when you're signing off," he complained to her, holding down the button on the side. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, black Eagle."

"No one is going to intercept our messages, Nudge. You can just call me Fang."

"That's no fun."

"You're over twenty-five. You're no longer allowed to have fun."

"Oh, shut up. Do you see anything?"

"No. He has the blinds down."

"Then move to another part of the house, Fang." She huffed on the other end. "God, you'd think that you were a little kid, needing my direction every five seconds."

He was the little kid? Who was the one checking up on their significant other secretly? Huh? Not him. He knew where Max was.

"If I get caught, I'm killing you," Fang whispered to himself, scooting along under the bush, looking for a clear view into the house. "You know that, Nudge? Killing you. Killing you dead." And yes, he knew that was redundant.

"Do you see anything now?" Nudge's voice crackled over the speaker. "Fang? You there?"

"You're going off," he mumbled, turning the walkie-talkie all the way down. "You brat."

With that, Fang went back to trying to see into the windows, but it was mostly impossible. What did Nudge want him to see anyways? Huh? Because if he saw this dude's dick down some chick's throat, he was gonna be pretty pissed. And not for the same reasons as Nudge.

"Nudge," he complained, turning the walkie-talkie's volume back up. "I don't think that anyone is home."

"You sure?"

"No, but-"

"Get back to the car."

"What?"

"Hurry!"

Groaning, he took off from the bushes. Once he was back in Nudge's SUV, which was parked down the road, he asked, "What was that all about?"

"If he's not there, then we have to catch him in the act."

"Nudge-"

"We'll find him. This town isn't that big. Let's hit the park first."

"No. No park."

"Fang-"

"No park."

"Fine. Let's drive around and look for his car."

"I don't want to."

"Fang, we have to."

"Nudge, if you think that someone's cheating on you and are that seriously worried about it, then you guys just shouldn't be together. It's that simple."

"It's simple for you, Fang, because you don't have to worry about Max trying to be with anyone else. She, like, hardly even wants to be with you."

"What?"

Nudge bit her tongue, pulling away from the curb. "Nothing-"

"No. What did you mean? Why doesn't Max want to be with me?"

"You know."

"No, I don't know. Now tell me what you meant."

"I just-"

"Now, Nudge." He buckled his seat belt. "Why wouldn't Max want to be with me?"

"She does want to. It's just, you know, after everything that happened… I just meant, that if you had died, it probably would have taken her years to get over it. Years and years. She would have probably died alone. She was ready to die alone. Then you just showed back up and ruined that." Nudge sighed, turning down the radio. "Not ruined. I don't mean ruined. I just mean…it's been hard for her."

"It's been hard for me too."

"I know."

"No, you don't know. None of you do. You guys keep trying to fix Max, but she's not broken. And even if she is, she's mine, not yours. She's always been mine, so just leave her the fuck alone."

"You know what, F- Oh my God!"

His head shot up. "What?"

"There's his car!"

"How can you be sure? Which…oh." Then Fang saw it. This nasty, purple rimmed, yellow sedan. No way. Nudge was dating someone who… no way. Then he glanced at her. Yes way.

"He must be in that restaurant."

"Nudge-"

"Come on." She pulled into the parking lot. "We'll just- Oh."

Fang glanced at the doors of the Denny's to find some short, stocky white guy walking out, his arm around a girl. "Him? We're stalking him?"

"He must…I mean…how could he?"

Fang groaned. "He looks like a fag with his hair cut like that."

Nudge ignored his slur. "How could he do this to me?"

"You have bad taste in men."

"You have bad taste in men," she rebutted.

"I'd hope so!"

A ten minute drive later, which was filled with Nudge's tears and Fang wishing he could blow his brains out, they arrived at a fast food place.

"A burger?"

"Five, thank you. And two large fries."

"Fine. You bought me five burgers and two large fries as a reward for that? For stalking that little white punk?"

"I loved him, Fang," Nudge complained from her seat across him. They were eating in, mainly because Fang refused to let her drive anymore until she calmed down. "Like, deep inside, ya know? I just-"

Fang glanced the way she was looking as she stopped short. "What?"

"Oh, my God. He's looking at me."

"Who? That guy? Is he here?"

"That one," Nudge hissed, pointing. "Don't look," she exclaimed when he followed her finger.

"Stop hitting!"

"God."

"The one with the Mohawk?"

"Yeah. He's hot."

Fang frowned, watching the guy behind the counter. "I hope that he didn't handle my food. His hair could have gotten in my burger. He shouldn't be allowed to wear his hair like that."

"Shut up, grandpa."

"I'm not old, I'm just being…Oh, God, you're right."

"Having Carter in your life has made you such a pansy. You're, like, so uncool now. I'm glad Evan didn't do that to me." Nudge took a sip of her drink. "I'm gonna go talk to that guy. You need a refill?"

Fang could only shake his head as he sat there, staring straight ahead. Was he? Was he really uncool?

"Oh, good, you're here. Carter wanted you to watch a movie with her, but I told her that you weren't coming over today."

Fang sidestepped Carter when she ran to him. "Can't today."

"What do you mean?" Max asked, letting Nudge into the apartment to retrieve Evan. "Why are you guys together anyways?"

"Jake was cheating on me," Nudge complained. "Fang and I stalked him."

"What?" Max closed the door. "Why?"

"Because he's a manwhore."

"Nudge! I meant why did you stalk him, not why did he cheat. And watch your mouth."

"See? She's uncool now too," Nudge said as she lifted Evan up off the ground.

"What?" Max frowned as Carter began to headbutt her boyfriend. "Fang, pick her up."

"No. She's all dirty."

"That's never bothered you before."

"But, Max…it's not…I can't walk around in dirty clothes. That makes me…" He looked to Nudge for help, but she was too busy bouncing Evan to care. "Uncool."

She blinked. Then she blinked again. Finally, she turned to Nudge.

"Thanks a lot, Nudge. I told you to leave Fang alone today, but for some reason, you came back with him as a total dickhead."

"Okay, so how is manwhore worse than dickhead?" Nudge asked, frowning at Max.

"Shut up."

"Fine. I think this is our cue to leave. Come on, Evan." Nudge headed to the door and Fang stepped out of her way. "You're not coming back with me, Fang?"

"I-"

"No, he's not. You make him act like a douche. Now pick Carter up, Fang."

"Owl." She was whining now, thinking that something was wrong. Why wouldn't Owl be nice to her?

"Max, that'll make me-"

"Do it."

"Gotcha," he mumbled, lifting Carter into his arms, who immediately tried to kiss him. "Stop it."

"Owl?"

"Kissing me doesn't help anything, Carter. You don't want an uncool dad, do you?"

Max groaned, closing the door behind Nudge before she had a chance to say anything else. "You're not her dad."

Fang frowned at Max. "I'm something."

"Oh, you're something alright."

Carter kissed his cheek again, thinking that he was just grumpy. Mommy got grumpy sometimes and a kiss normally helped that. "Owl?"

He hated how her voice sounded. "Carter, I'm not doing it to be mean. I'm trying to help."

"What did Nudge tell you, exactly?"

"Well, first she said I was uncool and a pansy, but then on the ride over here, she started telling me about how guys don't normally spend so much time with their kids, they have other male friends and stuff, and like watching sports instead of Teletubbies and Barney. And it makes sense, Max. That's what I used to like doing. That's what I did like doing."

"You can do both, but you can't choose to be a douche and not…whatever you normally are."

"Owl." Carter rested her head on his shoulder. She hadn't seen Owl all day and had been missing him. "Car'oons?"

"Carter, I don't want-" He glanced at Max, who was giving him a death glare. "Fine. Cartoons."

"No more hanging out with Nudge alone. I mean it."

"Don't tell me what to do," he mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I wanna watch the movie with the lion that gets to be king."

"That's what I thought."

After they were all settled on the couch, Carter engrossed in the movie, Fang allowed himself to nod off a little bit. At one point though, Max awoke him by shoving his shoulder, complaining that he was snoring. Carter was staring up at him, her fingers in her mouth, curious about the noises coming out of his mouth. Fang just leaned down, hugging her to him, which meant getting her spit on his shirt, but he didn't care about being cool at the moment because finally, finally he felt warm again.

Maybe that was what was wrong. It wasn't his medicine or Angel that made him feel so sick the first time he awoke. It was that he was without Max and Carter.

God, Nudge was right, he wasn't cool anymore…

"I've been feeling really weird recently."

Max glanced up as Fang as she got into bed. They had just put Carter down for the night and instead of leaving, he had followed her into her bedroom.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know."

"Have you been taking your-"

"Yes."

She shrugged. "Tell your doctor. They might have you on something weird. Is it your head?"

"I guess so."

"That's probably it." Max laid down on her stomach, letting out a long sigh. "Mmmm, come here for a second."

Fang collapsed next to her on his back, his wings coming out on instinct. "And what?"

"And this," she mumbled as she got closer, laying partially on his wing, partially on his chest, her face next to his. Fang sat up slightly as she lowered her mouth onto his, happily going along with her. About ten minutes into making out, they found out it was a little too happily.

"Sorry," Fang mumbled as Max pulled back, her leg having somehow found its way to between his, coming into contact with something unexpected during the process. "It's just…I can go…"

"Shhh." Max kissed his cheek, keeping her leg placed strategically against him now, rubbing slightly. Fang had been afraid that she would have a panic attack the first time they were like this again. Oh, nope, wait, that's just him. Sigh.

"Are we-"

"Why do we have to define what we do or plan it out? Huh? If something happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

"I just meant…I don't have any…"

Max groaned, staring down at him. "What is it with you and condoms, huh?"

He gave her a look. "I'm trying to be responsible."

"Maybe I don't even want to go that far."

"Maybe I do."

She shifted her knee. "I know you do."

Fang huffed. "Well, if you're gonna be like this-"

"Shut up, Fang. God. What? Am I not 'cool' enough for you?"

"I didn't say that."

"Apparently Carter's not."

"Max, it's not that. It's just…I have to change to be with you guys."

"No one's made you change. You've made you change." She finally got off him, laying on her stomach on the bed once more. "God, Fang, you ruin everything."

He felt his breath catch. "You-"

"Not like that, idiot. I meant this." She gestured to him. "What was wrong with what we were doing? Nothing, that's what."

"You know, for someone that's always making me give up for her, you sure don't give up for me."

"Give or put out?"

"Don't even play that with me, Max." He stared up the ceiling, trying to keep his mouth in check. He wanted to lash out at her, but knew that would just get him kicked out and not talked to for a week. He didn't want to go without her for a week again.

"Don't play what with you?"

"You guys all act like I've been some sort of horn-dog that's been pressuring you into shit, but I haven't. I could have been, but I haven't. I never have. Not even when we were kids. So you know what, Max? You can go screw yourself, 'cause I sure as hell don't want to." With that, he moved to get up, but she was suddenly back on him, pinning him down to the bed.

"Get off!"

She just stared down at him, her legs now straddling him.

"Max-"

"Who's been acting like that?"

He sighed. "Everyone. They act like it's me moving our relationship this fast. It's not. It's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I mean, sure, we haven't slept together yet, but we've about done everything else. You let me stay over, you let me play dad to Carter, you let me keep stuff over here. I wouldn't have done any of that without you wanting me to."

Just like that, she was up and walking off.

"Max?"

"Come on. Come here."

"What?" He pushed off the bed, readjusting himself before following. Max went into the bathroom and, after a moral decision, he went in after her.

"What are you-"

"Sit down." She pointed to the edge of the tub.

"Max, we really should do this in your room. Carter-"

"Ew, idiot. I'm not gonna blow you."

"Shhh! She can hear…maybe…"

"Just sit down."

He reluctantly did so, watching as Max went over to the sink, taking a washcloth with her. "Uh, Max?"

"Shhh. Take off your shirt," she mumbled, grabbing a bar of soap and rubbing it into the washcloth. Figuring he now knew what she was doing, Fang did so, opening hs wings also. He could only watch as she came closer with the now soapy washcloth, poising it to rub his left wing.

She sat on her knees in front of him as she went to work on his wings, being very diligent and gentle as she caressed the feathers while simultaneously lathering them up. Fang could only sit there and watch her, randomly running his hand through her hair. When she was about done with both wings and was getting up to get another washcloth, one with only water in it to wash off the soap, he grasped some of her hair, holding her down.

"Fang, I still have to wash them off. Then I have to do the back."

He just stared down at her face, his own unreadable. "You don't need them."

"What?"

"Your wings. You don't need your wings, Max."

She tried to pull away now, not wanting to ruin the moment by talking about that. "I don't-"

"I'm serious." He leaned closer, staring harshly into her brown eyes. "I am sorry that it happened to you and I'm sorry that I can't fix it, but it's okay. You know that, right? We'll be okay without them."

"It'll be weird."

He relaxed his grip on her hair, now moving to cup her face. "I know."

"Usually, when we're…my wings would be…"

"It'll be new for us, yeah, you not having them, but everything's been new recently, hasn't it? Everything. Nothing in this world is supposed to be easy, you know." He kissed her head. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Washing my wings." His thumb stroked her cheek. "Maybe…maybe now that you don't have any, you can do this from now on, huh?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, it took everything in her being to whisper back, "Maybe."

Fang leaned his forehead against hers for a minute before letting her go. "Hey, Max?"

"What?" She got up to go get that other washcloth.

"I, um, uh…"

"Me too. With all my heart."

"…Good."

"Yeah," she sighed, turning the sink faucet on. "Good."

Clearing his throat, Fang asked, "So is anyone going to tell me about Angel?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I really don't." Max came back to him, ready to wash off the front of his wings. "You mean why she always needs money? Why she's down here? What?"

"A lot of things, actually."

"Name one."

"What's up with her and Nudge?"

"It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me."

Sighing, she stroked one of his wings before beginning to rub it with the wet washcloth. "Well, you know that they're both very strong personalities."

"Okay."

"And before I even showed up, they had been arguing over how Angel treated everyone. Angel had just lost her powers or something." She glanced at him. "Like I said, I wasn't around them, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details too."

"Go on."

"You know Nudge. When she thinks something, she says it. She said that Angel deserved to lose her powers or something, that it was only fair. After all, she and Gasman had gotten off easy, never having to go back to the School. Then Angel told Nudge, bare with me now, Angel felt persecuted at that point-"

"Don't make excuses."

"I'm not. I'm reasoning."

"Just get on with it."

She thumped his chest. "Angel told her that it was her fault that you died. That we died. That you sacrificed to save her. And then how dare she be such a…slut, when you laid down your life for her."

Fang blinked. "Angel's a real bitch sometimes."

That got him another thump.

"Anyways, that's what's up with them. They've just never gotten along since that day."

Watching her work on his wings for a minute, he asked, "So spill. What's up with her and her powers? You guys keep saying she lost them, but this morning she was in my head."

Max sighed a little bit. "It's complex."

"You think everything's complex."

"She has them still, its just…I don't know. You'd have to really ask her. I knew that she can't control people anymore. Or so she says. And I've seen no evidence of it, so I'm nearly a hundred percent sure that one's done. She can still breathe underwater though. I guess she can still be in your head. I have no idea. She's never been in mine, not since I've gotten back."

"Hmmm." Fang ran his fingers through Max's hair, watching the brown strands fall as he got to the end. "What's next?"

"With Angel?"

"With your hair. What's next?"

"I don't know. Do you not like it like this? Does it have to be…red?" She smiled up at him. "That's what color that woman's hair was yesterday, right? That's what you said, last night, huh?"

"So what?"

"Nothing. I just think its funny, that's all."

Fang frowned down at her. "Can we move on?"

"To what?"

"Back to Angel."

"Ugh. What about her?"

He shifted slightly. "How come her and your mom don't get along? Let me guess, it's complicated?"

"No." Max snorted. "That though? You really don't know?"

"No."

"Really? It's kind of obvious. Unless…you do know, right?" Max stared up at him for a moment. "About Angel?"

"What about her?"

"Oh, God, Fang, you are clueless."

"What?"

Max just shook her head. "You're cute, Fang. Cute, but really dumb."

"Tell me."

"Okay. It's not that hard to figure out though, for those of us with brains."

"Max-"

"If you'd shut up, I'd tell you."

So he sat there with her, listening as Max washed his wings. Once again, Max knew something he didn't, but what else was new?