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"Of course, love. But, first, I'm going to have to track them down, of course."He said. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what he'd said. I was going to see my flock!
"Yeah, and god knows you are an expert at that, huh?" I said. Huh, I kind of felt silly, mentioning that to him.
"Yeah, those where some good times. Well, besides us hating each other and always fighting to the death." He laughed, and then I remembered something.
"Ari, how did you used to find us so easily?" I asked. That was something I'd always wondered.
"You all have built-in tracking devices. We used them to tell us where you where whenever we needed to know. And for me, whenever I thought about you." He smiled, and I'd returned the smile.
"So, when can we track them down?" I asked, already anxious. He grinned, and said, "Right now, if you want." Yes!
"Let's do it!" I said, already on my feet. Ari got up and reached out for my hand. I took it and he lead me downstairs. We went down into our brand-new looking basement-not a cellar type thing, more like a little apartment- and went into one of the little rooms. He reached into a really high shelf and pulled out a tiny gadget.
"Would you like to do it?" Ari asked, seeing how anxious I was. I nodded.
"How do you do it?" I asked as he handed it to me. There were only a few buttons, but I didn't want to break it.
"All you have to do is select a flock member, and then press the 'locate' button. Got it?" He asked, making sure I knew what to do.
"Yeah." I replied, and selected Angel. My sweet little Angel. Then, I pressed 'locate' and it started to locate her. Finally, the word, 'Hamden, Connecticut' showed up. Hmm, Connecticut?
"Hamden, Connecticut. Hmm, what's in Connecticut?" I asked. Ari shrugged, then said, "Well, you're not going to like this, but we're flying there on a plane. It will be here tomorrow at about eleven o'clock."
As much as I hated planes, especially for trips this long, it was worth it! I was going to see the flock! "That's fine. Thank you SO much, Ari, you don't know how much more happy you made me!" I said, wrapping my arms around him. He hugged me back.
"Well, I know that if I had a family that loved and cared for me, I'd want to see them." He said. That made me feel kind of guilty. Ari really didn't have any family, did he?
I looked up at him. "You have me, and baby, and other than us, you do have Jeb." Oh yeah, Jeb. I wasn't sure if I liked him or not. But if Ari wanted to see him, I wouldn't care.
"Jeb never really loved me. He always loved you, and rarely ever noticed me. I was just a little baby who got Eraserfied." He said, but he didn't seem all that sad.
"That's not true. He loved you and was probably very proud of you. I mean, he was probably very impressed about you planning all of this. And by this, I mean getting me, the most stubborn girl in the entire world to come here, and then fall in love with you. He probably brags about you all the time." I said, trying to cheer him up.
"I'm not so sure how much of that I believe, but thank you for being optimistic and trying to cheer me up." He said, knowing that that was what I was doing.
"Well, anyway, you don't even need him. If he isn't smart enough to recognize all of your wonderful qualities, then, that's his loss. You have me, and Mari/Ari Jr. And, maybe, the flock." I said. I really hoped they wouldn't be mad that I'd left them…
…
The next morning, I was up at nine-which was early for pregnant old me- and fully dressed. I scarfed down a bowl of cereal, and was on a roll, but then Ari had to rain on my parade, and calm me down.
"Max, honey, you rushing through breakfast isn't going to make the plane get here any faster. Just relax." He pulled me over onto his lap, and I put his hand on my tummy. The baby kicked when Ari's hand touched my stomach. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder, and then kissed him on the cheek.
"I know, I just haven't seen them in so long. To tell the truth, I haven't been thinking about them much lately, what with the baby and all." I admitted, and his face looked a little off.
"I'm sorry, Max. That's all my fault; I should have brought you to see them sooner, I just… I didn't want you t try to escape. That's not what you're trying to do right?" He looked a little worried then, but I looked down at my stomach.
"I'm definitely not going anywhere any time soon. Besides, it was different before. I'm in love with you too much to leave now." I kissed his cheek again and smiled. He returned it, and pressed his lips to mine gently.
"I love you, Max. Always." Ari said, and I knew he meant it. After all we'd been through; he'd loved me the entire time.
"I love you too. Oh! Was that the plane?" I asked, leaping off of his lap and over to the window. "Yes, it is! Come on!" I was really excited!
"Okay, okay, don't jump too much, you might hurt the baby. I stopped jumping, and grabbed Ari's hand. He squeezed it lightly, and led my outside to where the plane was. We got on, and as soon as we took our seats in our private plane, it took off. This was going to be a long flight.
…
What seemed like a million years later, the plane landed in New Haven, which was a larger town right next to Hamden. I checked the locator thingy again. Yup, they were still here. We got off the plane, and watched it take off again, then I spread out my wings.
"What do you think you are doing?" Ari asked, and I was completely puzzled. What had I done wrong?
"Uh, unfurling my wings so that I can fly…" I said, still a bit confused. We were flying there, weren't we?
"And risk baby getting hurt? I don't think so." Ari said, and once again, scooped me up into his muscular arms. My caring man.
"Uh, whatever you say, Daddy." I said. He smiled, and took off. Since we where only one town over, it only took about twenty minutes to cross the town-lines into Hamden.
"What now? We're in Hamden, but how do we find them?" I asked.
"Take out the locator, and press the coordinates button. It will tell act as a navigation system, and bring us right to them." Wow. That was schmancy. I did as he said, and it told us exactly where to go. It turned out they were in a cave on a mountain called the 'Sleeping Giant'.
"Look, there they are!" I yelled, and Ari flew to where I pointed. He landed inside the cave with a thud, and put me down, but still held onto my wrist. Five surprised heads turned toward me.
"Max!" They shouted in unison. They all smiled except for Fang, who was scowling at Ari.
"Hi guys. How have you been?" I asked, having so much to talk about. They looked at me, and Angel said, "We were fine," and Nudge continued with, "but how about you? We were worried sick about you!" She said, coming up to hug me, but hesitating because of Ari.
"Can I have my hand, please?" I asked, and he looked down at me and nodded, and then let go of my wrist. I hugged Nudge tightly, and then went around hugging everyone. Nudge, then Gazzy, then Iggy, then my Angel, and lastly, Fang. I'd missed then all so much.
"So, what have you been up to? What brings you to Connecticut?" I asked, and they told me all about what they'd did while I was gone, how they'd looked for me, where they'd stayed, and all kinds of other things.
"I'm so sorry that you were worried about me. But, I'm glad that you all look healthy!" I said. They nodded.
"You look healthy, too. It even looks like you've put on a few pounds." Said Gazzy. Then I remembered about my little nudger, and blocked the thought from my head.
"What are you hiding from me, Max?" Angel asked, noticing I was hiding something. Should I tell them? "Tell us what?" Angel pressed.
"Um, well… I'm…pregnant…" I said, barely managing to get the words out. Everyone except Angel's jaw dropped, and she was jumping up and down. That was because she still didn't know how babies were made.
"Pregnant? He raped you?" Asked Fang, turning to Ari, even angrier looking than before. "You sick bastard" He said. Ugh, I was going to have to tell him, wasn't I?
"Uh, well, not exactly…" I said, not wanting to say what really happened in front of the little kids.
"Iggy, take the kids out to go hiking or something, I want to talk to Max." Fang said, and Iggy nodded.
"Come on, kids. Let's go for a fly." Iggy said, waiting for them to one-by-one jump off the cave ledge, and then he brought up the rear.
"So, let me get this straight. He didn't rape you, but yet, you're pregnant. Like, with a baby?" He asked, and I didn't exactly like where this was going…
"Yes, that's right." I said, trying not to be afraid, but not succeeding.
"You had sex with Ari? How could you do that? He's tried to kill us numerous times, and he probably abused you, didn't he? Did he force you to have sex with him?" At this point, Fang was furious.
"No, Fang! Ari would never do that to me. He loves me, and doesn't have any interest in hurting me." I said, standing my guard.
"Oh, so now you're all lovey-dovey with Ari, huh? Well, what about us? We had something Max, you know we did. What about that?" Fang asked, and I could tell that Ari didn't like where this was going, either.
"There is no us anymore, Fang. I…I married Ari, and we are very happy together. There, I said it!" I practically yelled at him. A shocked expression washed over his face.
"Married? You got married?" I nodded. "Oh, yes, well I'm sure you're very happy, being trapped on some island with this monster." His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he pointed at Ari. Ari was pissed at this point, and to be honest we all where. I didn't know what to do…