Catch and Release

Chapter 23

"Who the fuck are you?"

Fang shot up, shocked for a moment before jumping into action. "Get the fuck out of my apart-"

"Henry!" Suddenly, Carter rushed over to the man, wrapping her arms around his leg.

"Carter!" Fang moved to grab her, confused why she knew the intruders name. He had been over at Nudge's apartment, babysitting the two little kids while the women worked. Then, as he was napping on the couch, some huge…guy enters, apparently having a key.

"Owl." Carter let go of Henry and took a step back. "Henry. Owl. Henry. Owl."

"What are you? The babysitter?"

Fang frowned, finally just lifting Carter up. "I'm Max's boyfriend. Who are you?"

"Evan's father," the guy said, pushing past Fang. "Nudge around?"

"No." Fang still hadn't let his guard down and didn't plan on doing so any time soon. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm paying for the freaking place, aren't I?" The guy headed off towards the kitchen. "What'd Carter say your name was? Al?"

"No. It's Fang."

That made the guy stop and turn around. "Fang?"

"Yeah." Fang just glared at the other male. "Fang."

"You're supposed to be dead."

"Yeah? And a dad's supposed to stick around."

Henry snorted. "You got some guts, son."

"I'm not your fucking son," Fang said, letting his filter go off for the time being. Not that Carter seemed to mind. She was too busy cuddling into his arms, whining.

"Better learn who you're talking to, boy," Henry said now, advancing on Fang.

"I ain't a boy either. I'm thirty."

"Like I said. You're nothing but a boy, a stupid child."

"Yeah? Well, Nudge is younger than me. So what does that make you? A pedophile?" Then, feeling slightly like Sebastian, he added, "Huh, old man?"

"I ought a-"

"Fang!"

Both men jumped apart, though it was to be noted that the elder of the two did so much slower.

"Nudge." Fang turned as she came through the front door, Carter now wiggling in his arms. Sighing, he sat her down as Nudge rushed passed them, headed towards her…whatever this guy was to her. Fang knew that Ella, Angel, and Max only referred to him as Nudge's deadbeat or baby daddy, but Fang refused to demean the woman before him in such a way. Besides, for the most part it seemed that the other women were just jealous that Nudge had someone paying her bills. Go figure. Girls…

"Henry!" She quickly moved to hug the man, though he shrugged her off. "It's so good to see you."

"Yeah, yeah." He glanced to the side. "I just came to see Evan. You know for the holidays."

"Holidays. Right. Sure. Here he is," she said, rushing to go get him out of his playpen. The baby protested from being woken up, but Nudge didn't seem to care. Rolling his eyes, Fang grabbed his own baby before heading back over to the couch.

"Owl?" Carter whispered, staring at Nudge.

"Hmmm?"

"Evan's daddy."

"Yeah."

"Evan Owl?"

"That's me."

She patted his chest. "Car'er Owl. Me Owl. Owlwet."

"Yeah. Owlet," he mumbled, adverting his eyes as Nudge handed off her son to his father.

Then, to prove a point, Carter turned and licked Fang's shirt. "Owl wet!"

"…I'm not gonna laugh at you."

That was okay though, because she laughed enough for the both of them.

Her laughed served a second purpose, though, as Nudge turned to glare at them, angry for a moment that they were ruining that grand reunion of father and son. Barf. Fang probably would have told her off right then and there, ask how she dare just let this douche back in her life, why she would let herself be lowered to such standards. Then Nudge spoke and ruined his moment that really, was probably best left to the minds ramblings.

"Oh! Henry, this is Fang. Fang, this is Evan's father. Henry."

The older man nodded before dryly saying, "We've met."

"I'm sure that you guys will get along just great! Fang's good with kids. Especially Carter."

For a moment, they all watched as Carter sat there, still reeling from her spit joke, which Fang was still having trouble with finding humorous. When she noticed that the adults were looking at her though, she let out some sort of high pitch squeal for some reason, upsetting Evan who, of course, began to sob.

"Oh, Carter," Nudge sighed as her ex handed their kid back to her, apparently not one for tears. In certain ways Fang envied him for that, but also detested him for the same reason. "You upset your cousin."

Carter didn't care much about that though and quickly turned back to Fang, licking him again. "Owlwet! Owl wet!"

Blinking, Fang looked back down at her, staring for a moment at her face, taking in all her now memorized features. "I'm still not laughing."

"Is everything an occasion in this family?"

Of course, that got Fang hit in the back of the head by Max.

"Henry is never here, Fang. So what if we have dinner to commemorate his arrival?"

"And you say I talk like an old person," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "And how come we have to eat at Ella's?"

"Heck if I know. Trust me, I don't want to go either."

"I just don't get why if y'all all hate him-"

"Y'all? Y'all, Fang? And you're commenting on me? When the heck were you in the South anyways?"

"My point was that I just don't get why you guys are treating him like some kind of king."

"Gee, Fang, let me freaking spell it out for you. He is Evan's father. We're not going to ostracize him."

"You should."

"Aw, is Fang jealous? It's okay, just because there's an older guy around doesn't mean that you won't always be our little man, Seb- I mean, Fang."

He frowned over at her. "You're about to make this stupid cake by yourself."

The couple was currently standing in Fang's kitchen, Carter passed out from the day's previous activities on the couch, probably dreaming about her 'awesome' joke, or so Fang assumed.

"No," Max complained while reading the instructions on the back of the box for the umpteenth time. "You have to help. You promised."

"I did not."

"Even if you didn't-"

"No, I definitely didn't."

"-I'm sure that you've promised to honor and obey."

"Mmmm, wrong again, Max. Two outs, two strikes, all tied up, bottom of the ninth. It's your last chance, home team. What else you got?"

"Uh…you love me?"

"And a one run homer to win the game." He leaned over, kissing her lips. "Fine. I'll help. Get the eggs out."

"'kay." Before doing so though, she glanced into the living room, shocked to find her daughter still sleeping. "You must have really worn her out today."

"Not really." Fang glanced in there also. "You know, that Jess boy is having his own sleepover now."

"Duh, I know. I'm the one that told you."

"Well, I had a hard enough time at work the first time she stayed at someone else's house, being worried all. We didn't know those people and we don't know these people either! I don't like her not being with us."

"Aw. You're so cute when you worry about nothing." Max shook her head at him as she bent down to open his mini-fridge to get the ingredients they would need out. "Besides, Fang, she loved staying over at Ally's. What? Do you want to build a wall up around her and never let her out?"

"Y-"

"Don't answer that. It was rhetorical."

"Using big words won't get me to shut up, Max."

"Then don't shut up. Just change the subject."

"To what?" He asked gruffly.

"Anything."

"Anything?"

She glanced at him. "Uh, sure. Anything, I sup-"

"Why did you get so upset when you thought Dylan was going to be a father?"

Max sighed. "This? Again?"

"You said anything."

"Fang, it was nothing against you."

"Yeah, you've said that," he responded flippantly. "Why do you care though?"

"If I wanted to be with him, would I be with-"

"Me, yes, you've said that before too. Answer my question."

"I don't know what you want me to say, Fang."

"I want you to admit that you still have some creepy fantasy about-"

"Number one, I'm not dude. My fantasies don't usually involve the same things as you. Number two, ew. And lastly, Fang, the only reason I care is because Dylan and I are friends. We'll always be friends. Deal with it."

He snorted. "You know as well as I do that if I cared half as much about someone getting pregnant as you did Dylan-"

"Nudge."

"…What?"

"Remember? That day when she asked you on the phone about what if she got knocked up? What did you do?"

"That's-"

"Flip out. You flipped out."

"And? It's not the same thing at all."

"Is too."

"I never loved Nudge. Not the way you did D-"

"I never loved him either, so in your face. Besides, Fang, who are you to judge me when you're ultimately no better?"

"You can't-"

"Just help me make the freaking cake, Fang," she ordered, pushing the aluminum cake pan she bought at the store towards him. "Now."

"Where do you get off, ordering me around? Huh? Because you're really starting to piss me off. I mean seriously."

"Don't use bad words."

"Oh, shut up. You've used worse around her when she was actually awake."

"I'm her mother."

"And what am I?"

"A guy that's about to get broken up with."

"Don't toss around threats if you don't plan on following through."

That almost got him hit in the chest, but Fang just grabbed her wrist tightly before tossing her away from him. For a second the two of them just stared at each other, Fang calm while Max was clearly upset, though Fang wasn't sure if it was because he was being so rough with her or because they were fighting. Honestly, he couldn't see how she could be so upset about either, considering that she hit him first and this fight was, really, about nothing.

"Jackass," Max said before walking off, headed out of the apartment. Fang just shook his head before getting to work on that damn cake.

"Get up."

Fang peeked his eyes open to find that Carter was still on his chest, though she was sitting there, watching him. She wasn't the one that spoke though.

"Why? Your stupid cake has been made."

"It's time to go, idiot." She lifted up Carter, sighing. "And you still need your hair combed, Carter. Do you want to look messy?"

"Yes."

Max just shook her head as she walked out of his bedroom. After frosting the cake, Fang had taken Carter into his room to finish her nap. He knew that they had probably let her sleep too long and she would be up all night, but that would be Max's problem. Fang doubted that they would all spend the night together, seeing as Max was already upset with him.

By the time that they got to Ella's, the others were all there, which just made Fang uncomfortable. He really didn't want to see Ella or Sebastian or Henry. He didn't really wish to eat dinner with Max for that matter. In fact, he just wanted to eat mac'n'cheese with Holden and watch some cartoons. You know, like usual. The norm.

"Henry. Seb," Carter began her greetings after he aunt allowed her into the house, Fang and Max right behind. "A'nt Ella. Nub. Evan. G'anny!"

Carter rushed over to her grandmother, holding her arms high above her head, wishing to be picked up. Valencia, of course, followed through with the request before walking out of the living room and into the kitchen. Seb, who was sitting on the couch, sneered at Fang, but the man just ignored the boy, not wishing to deal with him.

"Go set the cake down in the kitchen, Fang," Max told him as she headed over to Nudge and Henry, apparently to greet the prodigal son. Bleh.

"Owl."

Fang glanced behind him once he was in the kitchen, shocked to find that Carter had left Valencia behind for him. "Hi, Carter."

"Owl."

"You know, Carter, we're getting awfully close to Christmas."

"Ciss miss."

"Yeah. Like, Santa and stuff."

"Santa."

"And Jesus, I suppose."

"Jesus."

"Yeah." Fang sat the cake down on the counter before turning to lift her up. Carter, excited by this, kissed Fang's cheek before crawling onto his shoulders. "You wanna stay up there? That's fine."

"Owl." She tugged gently on some of his hair before flattening it out, rubbing his head like she might an animal. "Owl."

He yawned slightly before heading back towards the living room, where everyone was now listening to Henry speak about something, in that very adult, analytical tone he seemed to have when addressing women. Again with the bleh. Taking a detour, Fang headed out the front door instead, planning on hanging out in the front yard instead of with the girls and that jerk that knocked Nudge up.

"Seb," Carter exclaimed, finding the boy sitting on the porch steps, texting on his phone. Fang made a face, but did sit Carter down so she could play with her cousin.

"Hi," Carter greeted, coming to climb into the boy's lap. "Hi, Seb."

"Carter, he complained, though he still allowed her to make herself comfortable there. "Can't you go sit somewhere else? And what are you doing out here anyways, old man?"

"Can ask the same to you," Fang answered with hostility in his voice.

Sebastian just glared at the older man as he headed over towards to the porch railing, leaning heavily against it. "It's my house, got it? I don't answer to you, old man."

"You don't, huh?" Snorting, Fang just shook his head. "Wait until those boys come around again."

"I can take care of myself."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because I wasn't going to be taking care of you anyways."

"Good."

'Good."

"Bad!" Carter reached out and grasped Sebastian's cell. "Owl good. Seb good. Car'er bad. Bad me. Hehe."

"Stop that," Sebastian complained, taking the phone back. Carter bit at him, which caused Seb to shove her out of his lap.

"Owl! Owl!"

"Don't hurt her," Fang ordered.

"I didn't. You know that I didn't. She's just being a brat."

Well, he couldn't very well argue with that….

"Bad! Bad Seb." She spit at him, the saliva landing squarely on the boy's face.

"You little-"

"Ha ha. Owlwet. Wet Owl. Seb wet. Wet Seb," Carter sang as she pranced around the front yard, her cousin chasing after her the whole way. Fang sighed, watching them with a bored expression, though he was slightly happy to be the supervisor for once instead of having to be the playmate.

"You guys stay out of the street," Fang ordered. "I mean it!"

"Don't tell me what to do, old man," Seb called back, grasping onto his cousin the second she was in reach. "Now apologize, Carter."

"No!"

"Fine." He sniffled deeply before smirking victoriously. "An eye for an eye then."

With that, the eleven year old spit a luggie right in the face of his younger cousin, making the little girl squeal.

"That's disgusting," Fang mumbled, shaking his head. "Sick. Cut it out, Sebastian."

"Shut up, old man," he said, letting the young girl go finally, not even watching as she ran to her Owl, wrapping her arms tightly around his leg while rubbing her face into his jeans, trying in vain to clean her face. "Cut it out, Holden."

"Hold'em." Pulling back from him, she giggled loudly before releasing him. "Owl. Seb. Owlwet. Wet O-"

"No more spitting. I mean it."

Carter just laughed again before running off again, trying to entice one of the her guys into chasing her. When Fang and Seb wouldn't comply, she gave up and settled on finding bugs to play with or eat. Whichever. You know, she's not a very particular kid after all. Peculiar, yes, but not particular.

Meatloaf. Potatoes. Corn. Meatloaf. Potatoes. Corn. Meatloaf. Potatoes. Corn. Meatloaf. Potatoes. Corn. Meatl-

"Owl eat slow."

"Carter," Fang complained as she ruined his order, sticking her hand in his potatoes for some reason.

"Shhh," Max shushed, clearly intrigued by whatever the hell Henry was saying now. Even the man's own son didn't seem interested, instead focusing on mashing up his food in a way Carter wished to. Instead, she had been sentenced to eating with a fork. It made her want to vomit. Or bother Owl by touching his food.

"Carter," Valencia cut in. "Get your hand out of his food. Now. I told you that you would eat off your own plate today, with a fork, and I meant it. Sit there and behave or else you won't get to finish your dinner."

Seb sighed loudly as Carter crossed her arms, moving away from Fang. In a manner that seemed beyond the boy, Sebastian asked, "Can I be excused?"

"Henry is talking," Ella said, but her mother just shook her head, waving the boy off. Sebastian, grateful for his escape, took his plate to the kitchen before calling out that he was taking off and would be back around ten. Ella looked ready to argue, but it was too late anyways; the boy was gone.

"-stock gone down, but I can't really judge what that will mean for the future. Stocks are such a difficult thing to understand, as I'm sure you all know," Henry went on, glancing around the table at all the women for their conformation. Fang hated the look of…whatever on Max, Ella, and Nudge's faces. How could they even be interested in this prick? Huh? They never looked at Fang like that… Not that he was jealous or anything. Because he wasn't. At all. Ever.

"I-I need to get some air. Now," Fang whispered in Max's ear as he stood up and headed out of the dinning room, leaving behind a whining little girl. Fang ignored that though as he let himself out of the house, taking a place on the porch steps. It wasn't until he was there that he realized he wasn't alone.

"What are you doing, old man?"

Fang just shook his head, not feeling up to arguing with the boy at the moment. Interested by Fang's lack of an answer, or rather lack of an insult, Sebastian stepped out of the shadows of the porch and came closer, staring down at the man.

"Are you okay? You're not, like, about to spazz out on me are you? Because if you are-"

"Let me be, kid. Go run off and play," Fang grumbled.

"Are you gonna slit your wrist? Throat?"

"I said," Fang began, his tone taking on a darker timbre. "Go play."

"I'm not a little kid! You can't tell me what to freaking do."

Fang lifted his head slightly, though he still faced forward, now focusing on the sky, taking in the orange moon. "No. You're not, are you?"

Confused as to why he now sounded so somber, Seb asked, "Should I get someone?"

"No. I just…I need to be alone."

"What's wrong?"

Fang snorted. "Why do you care?"

"I…I don't."

"Then shut up and go away. You're not my problem, remember? I don't have to take care of you. I shouldn't look out for you. So screw off."

For a second, Sebastian thought that he would have to hit the big, stupid jerk in the back of the head. When remembrance fell upon him, reminding him of Fang's size and stature in comparison to him, Seb found better of it. Instead, he flung himself down next to his enemy, not speaking for a moment.

"You know…I hate him too."

"Hmmm?"

"Henry? He's douche."

Fang blinked, taking in the boy's vocabulary before remembering that although he was eleven, Seb knew a lot more words than he should.

"I hate how they all think he's so great. Whenever he comes back, I have to listen to my mom and Nudge argue over him. It's disgusting."

Fang blinked. "Why didn't you run off?"

"I don't really have anywhere to go."

"What about those guys?"

"They…they're not really my friends."

"Yeah," Fang whispered. "I know."

"My other friends, my real friends, they don't…like me, much."

"That's understandable," Fang assured him. "You're a real asshole most of the time."

"Hey." Seb frowned over at him, making a face. "You can be an asshole too."

"That I can." Fang shook his head a little bit. "You might not be a little kid, Seb, in fact I know you're not, but you're not a man either. I went through that phase too. You'll find your place one day, but I promise you, it's not with those older boys."

Seb wasn't sure how to respond to this, but didn't have to as the front door opened, someone stepping out and coming to stand behind them.

"Are you okay?" She asked, clearly speaking to her boyfriend.

"I am alright," Fang assured her.

"Then come back inside. It's rude to just run off like that. You too, Seb."

"But I-"

"I don't care. Ten is not a curfew for a boy your age."

"I'm not a little kid. And you're not my mom."

"You're lucky I'm not. Now get inside."

Grumbling under his breath, Sebastian stood up and pushed past his aunt, clearly angered by her ordering him around. Still, he followed her command because, deep down, Fang knew he wasn't that bad of a kid. Then again, who was?

"Are you really okay?" Max asked as she filled Sebastian's position on the porch steps, staring straight ahead like her counterpart.

"I'm fine, Max."

"Then what was it? You can't take another male presence or something?"

He let out a long sigh. "I hate him."

"I know."

"Not just because you guys all have that weird, girl lust thing going for him-"

"I do not-"

"-but mainly because…he left him, Max."

"Left who?" She asked slowly.

"Evan. He left him, then came back, then he left again, and then does it again and again. It's sick how you guys just accept-"

"How we accept, Fang? No. I've told Nudge-"

"Yeah, but you give her no other way to survive except the one she's living in now!" Fang was starting to get worked up, but he wasn't sure why. "The money she makes, she couldn't make it even if it was just her. What do you expect her to do, huh? Do you-"

"Shut up, Fang. You have no idea what you're even talking about." Max turned her gaze on him now and Fang forced himself to look her in the eyes, no matter how much he wanted to look away. "You do realize that I have a child too, right? One that I didn't even want."

"Nudge didn't-"

"Nudge laid down with the dog and instead of fleas, she got fucked. That's no one's fault, but her. She could get two jobs, she could stop wasting money on stupid, frivolous things that she doesn't even need. I do it, Ella does it, my mom did it, nearly every women in the world has done it. Are you that stupid that you think that you have to have a guy to pay for your life? Nudge is just a whore and when she gets treated like one, you can't get mad. If you liked getting fucked, you have to also enjoy being fucked over."

With that, Max arose, headed right back into the house. Fang was seething at that point, angry at Max for her words, and angry that some of them could ring true. He wanted to remind her, however, of her acceptance of Angel's life style, which to some was not only immoral, but also impossible to maintain. She couldn't take money from others for the rest of her life. That's no way to live and also no way to sustain your wellbeing. Yet Max just seems to ignore that, giving Angel that never ending free pass, one of her multiple get out of jail free cards, and it made him sick. How could she be that blind?

"Did you sleep with him?"

"Huh?" There Nudge was, mid-bite, when Fang sprung something like that question on her.

"Did you have sex with Henry? Before he left?"

Nudge blinked. "You feeling okay, Fang? Or you just that much of an idiot that you think I'll answer that?"

"So yes. You did."

"…I don't get why you care."

"I'm sure you don't." Fang looked back at his own plate. Nudge had taken him out to lunch, kind of as a way of edging herself back in his life. Henry had stayed around for a few days, which meant Fang made himself scarce around her. Nudge didn't like that, having to choose, but she never had much of a choice, really. She felt like she never had a choice.

"So are you gonna explain, or are you just gonna sit there like a dope?"

"I just don't think…" Fang looked back up at her, clearing his throat. "I just don't find it very becoming, the way that you portray yourself by-"

"Becoming? Portray?" Nudge snorted. "Who told you to take this up with me, huh? Dr. Martinez? Max? Who?"

"No one! This is coming from me. From…my heart and-"

"Oh, God, what is wrong with you? They change your medication up on you again or something?"

Fang shook his head. "You don't get it Nudge. I gave up a lot for you, you know that?"

"You can't throw that back in my face, Fang. I hate that. I hate how you guys-"

"It's like you're whoring yourself out," Fang said, borrowing some of Max's words, not sure how to find his own. "You really should-"

"Did you just call me a whore?"

"No," Fang said, shaking his head. "I said it was like-"

"I can't believe you, Fang. You're just like Max, always in my business, but never dealing with your own. It's sick how obsessed-"

"Sick. Sick. Sick. You know what's sick? Me." Fang shook his head, looking around the nearly empty restaurant before continuing. "I'm sick of the way you guys make every little thing a bid deal. I'm sick of how you all just open your lives to each other as an excuse for never allowing yourselves to be close again. And I'm really, really sick of listening to stories of what you've become. I gave my life for you, Nudge. And I love you, I really love you, but I wouldn't do it again."

Nudge stared at him for a long moment, not speaking. Then, slowly, she stood and rushed to the bathroom, leaving him alone. Shaking his head slowly, Fang went back to his food.

People get so touchy when they hear the truth. No wonder most of the world chooses to live in lies.