Hi! I'm sorry I'm lazy and haven't updated yet. I'm kinda burnt from the whole Seven-Chapters-In-One-Weekend thing. But here's eighteen. I hope you're not mad at me or anything

:(

Chapter Eighteen

Fang

I knew I'd screwed up bad. I didn't need the constant reminded. But I knew it would be a while before they started to let up. I found Iggy in the woods in a tree about a mile out. His legs were pulled up to his chest and he was glowering at nothing. It was a lot darker under the canopy of the trees. And it was already getting cold in the November air. I landed on the tree limb with him, the tree branch easily holding my wait.

"Hey, Iggy," I said. He jumped and almost missed the branch on the way back down.

"Dammit, Fang! Would it kill you to make some noise!" he screeched. "Anyway, I don't want to talk to you."

"Yeah?" I said, slightly bitterly. "Well, I wanna talk to you." I scowled at him, too frustrated to care that it was wasted. "I know I screwed up, but I fixed it, didn't I? I came back."

Iggy stood up on the branch. His flawless balance surprised me. "If you think you've solved all our problems just by showing up again, you're even dumber than I thought." With that, he jumped off the tree branch and flew off toward the house. I stayed on in the tree.

He was right, despite how much that pissed me off. Coming back didn't change the fact that I'd left in the first place. And yeah, I guess he had a good reason for being pissed at me. I'd screwed up their lives, and then after I left, things only went downhill. How could I have expected them to just welcome me back to the flock after all the crap I'd put them through?

After all this thinking, there was only one thing that I knew for sure anymore: I needed to earn my way back into the flock. And how I was going to do that was beyond me.

I flew back to the house, surprised to see Max standing on the porch. I landed beside her. She didn't look angry, but she didn't look like she was happy either.

"I just wanted to see whether or not you'd actually come back this time," she said. Yep. She was going to hold this against me until the day I died. But all I could think was, was I really surprised? I wouldn't expect any less from Maximum Ride, the girl I knew best, but still didn't understand at all.

"Max, I'm never, ever leaving you again," I promised. That didn't lighten her expression. In fact, she looked even more mad.

"That's what you told me the last time you left and then you left again, Fang! For three years!"

"You know…" I said, preparing for an argument. Then something in my mind clicked and I changed my mind. "You're right. You can't trust me when I tell you I'm not going to leave again. Because I might leave again," I agreed. I gave her a fierce look. "But the next time I do, it'll be in a wooden box."

I saw her shiver at the thought of me being dead. I knew how it felt. That's what I'd spent the last three years picturing whenever I thought about Max. I walked into the bathroom, knowing that was the only place I could get a little privacy, locked the door, and pulled out my new cell phone. I figured out how to access the directory after twenty minutes of fiddling and found the number I'd been looking for.

"Hello?" Mrs. Neill said on the other line.

"Mrs. Neill?" I asked. "It's Nick. How are you?"

"Nick!" Mrs. Neill gasped. "It's so good to hear from you! I take it you got home safe?" she asked. I smiled. Her motherly instinct always triggered something inside of me that made me feel…loved.

"Yep, safe and sound," I told her. I could almost see the smile on her face, making her forehead crease and her eyes crinkle.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said. "Would you like to speak to Allison?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," I agreed. "Sorry I didn't call as soon as I got home, but I had to do some…catching up with my family."

"Oh, I understand completely. I would expect nothing else," she said knowingly. "I'll go get Allison for you." The phone was silent for a minute, then I heard a muffled, "Allison, telephone!" before there were two clicks; One, I assumed, was Allison picking up, and the other was Mrs. Neill hanging up.

"Hello?" Allison said into the phone.

"Hey, Allison."

"Oh, my God! Fang! It's you!" she shrieked. I pulled the phone away from my ear. When she was done, I put it back.

"Yeah, it's me. How's stuff?" I asked her.

"Same, pretty much. It's boring with just my mom and I."

Aw, she missed me. How moving.

"I came back to the flock yesterday night," I told her.

"How'd you get in?" she asked.

"I flew in through Max's window."

"Really?" Allison squeaked. "That's so romantic! What did she say?"

I thought for a minute. "First she told me she was mad at me, then we sort of made out."

Allison laughed, a short, shrieking sound. "Really? That's funny."

"Yeah," I said, not really amused but feeling the need to agree with her anyway. "Then we had sex and now she's mad at me again."

Allison made a sound like she was about to laugh again, but then caught in her throat when it was smothered by a gasp. "You did what?" she demanded.

"We—"

"No, no. I heard you the first time," she assured me, cutting me off. "I meant why?"

"I dunno, it felt good?" I suggested, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Whatever," she said. "Were you at least safe?"

"Safe how?" I asked her. I heard a slap and imagined her hitting herself in the forehead.

"Like, did you use protection?" she asked. My forehead furrowed. What the hell was she talking about.

"Protection against what?" I asked her. I heard her muffled groan.

"I don't know, maybe against getting her pregnant?" she said, sarcasm dripping from her every word. My pulse quickened. Crap, I hadn't even thought of that.

"No," I said. "Do you think that could happen?"

"Do I think it could?" she repeated. "Yes. Do I think it did? Maybe yes, maybe no. Keep an eye on her, though. And feel bad about it, okay?" I could see her brow furrowing and her finger wagging, just like she used to when she wanted me to do something but didn't expect me to.

Great. Now I can screw up Max's life without even thinking about it.