A/N: So, shocked reactions… you're all probably thinking 'What is with this mysterious baby?' This chapter will reveal that! Also, some discreet lyrics… thanks for the reviews! And I was going to upload this chapter like 24 hours ago but it wouldn't let me sign in! So here it is…

Chapter 21 – We Can Work It Out

Sadie

"Max?" I called. The three of us sat there staring at the familiar, tall, mop-top sporting, emerald green-eyed fifteen-year-old who just appeared in the doorway and was standing there aloofly. He was wearing his very cute school uniform – dark grey shorts with a purple shirt tucked in and black shoes with high socks.
"How did you know he was there?" Joan asked me. Ah, if only you knew!
"Were you listening?" I asked my boyfriend.
"Uh, no…" he replied. Pft, as if! It wasn't like I couldn't smell him! I could smell him ever since he walked in, but I never picked up on the fact that it actually was him. We were still getting used to the whole picking up scents thing.
"So… what are you guys talking about?" he asked slowly.
"None of your business, Max," his Mum reprimanded him.
He had probably heard everything, but I wasn't going to tell Joan that. He narrowed his eyes at us and then slowly edged away and towards the stairs. I got up and followed him.
"Hey," I greeted, coming up behind him.
"What's going on here?" he turned to face me and whispered, motioning to the dining room with his thumb.
"Nothing, just having a girl chat."
"Rubber Soul," he sang in a sing song voice. Sadie, 8, Max, 6.
He bounded up the stairs in a sulky way and I followed him into his room.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked. Something was obviously bothering him.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" he spun around to intimidate me.
"Uh, Abbey Road and no," it sounded like a question, the way I said it.

He paced the room back and forth, occasionally running a flurried hand through his mop top.
"Max, calm down, what is it?" I half laughed.
"Are you…?" he stopped and looked at me, pointing a finger randomly, "Are you pregnant?"
He choked on the last word. What the hell? How on earth could I be pregnant? It was literally impossible and Max knew that all too well.
"W-w-what?" I was genuinely shocked, and must've looked it too.
"Sadie, don't play those games with me. Remember what I am!"
"What do you mean what you are?"
"A friggin power monger like you!"
"Oh, so you eavesdropped on us?"
"Ah! So it is true!"
"No it isn't! You should know that it is impossible!"
"Who is it? Is it Patrick? Tim?"
My rage took over and I marched right up to him and slapped him across the face. I was actually getting pretty skilled with standing up for myself when it came to troublesome boys. I knew how to hit them… or make them hit themselves. Max looked appalled as I slapped him. But not only appalled – outright shocked. And so he would've been. I mean, we were never violent… towards each other. When it comes to certain bastards, that's a different story.

I spun around to go out the door but stopped and turned back, making a sweeping motion with my hand. Max's bed suddenly moved with a jerk and knocked him over, causing him to be caught off guard and fall over. I was in brief astonishment – I thought I could only move things with my powers that I could move physically! After seeing my 'boyfriend' on the floor, I quickly rushed out the door, slamming it on the way (without making contact with it, if you get what I mean). I ran down the stairs and out the garage door.
"Sadie?" I heard Mum call from the dining room. I completely ignored everyone and everything and just kept running outside. It reminded me of the second time I met Max. We had a mini fight – I don't know why, seeing as how we barely knew each other – and he ran out of the house sulking. But I wasn't sulking. I was angry. I was insulted. I was pissed off. And most of all, I was hurt. How on earth could he jump to conclusions like that? But I know Max and know that he feels guilty after a while. I didn't know if he would feel guilty about this. All I know is that I kept running like there was no tomorrow. I didn't even know where I was…

Max

I picked myself up off the ground. Wow! Since when can Sadie do that? I thought it was only things she could move physically that she could move with her power… oh no, what have I done? I've upset her! That was probably why she was more powerful. We'd always suspected that our powers are affected by our emotions. My guilt was taking over. I opened the door that she had slammed and ran down the stairs and into the dining room. Mum and Martha were sitting in the same spot as before. They had bewildered and concerned looks on their faces.
"Max!" Mum exclaimed, "What is going on?"
"Sadie?" I asked it as if it were a question as to where she was.
"Wait, first tell us what happened."
I shook my head.
"No time to explain! She's gone running, hasn't she?"
"She must have a pretty good reason," Martha gave insight, "I know my daughter, and she's not angry unless she's really angry, if you know what I mean."
"Where did she go?"
"I think she went outside," Mum told me.
I went to go after her, but Mum and Martha stopped me.
"Maxwell Rory Edison, what did you do?" Mum asked me in a warning tone.
"Nothing!"

Oh, it was so obvious that I did something.
"Did you hurt my daughter?" Martha asked me incredulously.
"I didn't mean to!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Mum yelled.
"Okay, fine! Don't ask me how, but I heard you talking…"
Mum looked really astonished, she practically choked.
"W-w-what did you hear?" Mum stuttered.
"Enough to make me furious!"
"You're angry?" Mum looked hurt.
"I just don't see how this could happen, Mum."
"You know how it works…"
"But how could she do this to me?" I was on the verge of tears. I saw sincere confusion flicker in both of their eyes.
"How could she do what?"
I completely ignored them and just ran. Ran out the front door.

Sadie

"'Ello, 'ello, 'ello," I whipped around to face a large burly man with a scruffy beard and bloodshot eyes. It was nearly dark, but I could see his eyes clearly as well as smell the heavy stench of alcohol on his breath. It made me feel sick. I had reached the park near one of the bus stops in the same suburb as Max's house. I guessed I had been running for about twenty minutes, and that's an incredible achievement considering I'm the opposite of athletic.
"Whaddoweaveere?" he mumbled in one word, which I assumed must meant 'what do we have here?'
I ignored him and continued walking at my brisk pace. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another man appeared in front of me, very similarly resembling the other guy.
"Where ya going?" he chucked a beer bottle over his shoulder and I heard it smash.
"N-n-nowhere," I tried to hide the fear in my voice, but it seeped through like a leaking pipe.
"Aw," he patronised, "Is da widdle girl scared?"
I was scared, alright. I thought that only in movies did you bump into creepy guys like this. I didn't think there were any near where I lived either. I tried to dodge around him but he placed a hard-gripping hand on my shoulder.
"I don't think yer getting away that easy."
"Let me go!" I wriggled, trying to pry his sweaty hands off me. But then I remembered what I had done to Max only half an hour ago and that I could fight men.

I motioned with my hands for him to let go of me. It worked. Even though he was as drunk as a skunk, his twisted and warped brain managed to question how that had happened.
"Whaddya doin', Jeff?" the first one slurred, "Get 'er!"
I took off like a lightning bolt then. There was no way they were going to catch me. They were drunk, slow and disoriented bastards.
"Oi, Cal, catch 'er!" I mistakenly looked back at the two, only to look forwards again and run into another drunken bum. He was sweaty and gross and the alcohol on his breath made me want to vomit.
"Gotcha!" he leered down at me, the whites of his eyes not white but yellow. Again, I used the same tactic as before, but this time his whole body went flying across the grass and he landed on his back with a painful grunt. I saw the other two who were chasing after me abruptly grind to a halt. I stared at them and they looked at me with fear in their eyes before running off, leaving their mate (not that I cared). I took off in the other direction, towards the bus stop in which, luckily, a bus heading to my bus stop was just arriving. When I got home, I was a mess. The garage was open, as Dad would be home, and I just ran straight in and upstairs into my room, slamming the door behind me.

Max

I had to go after Sadie. I was being unfair. What if I was wrong? I knew I shouldn't have said Tim – that just made things a hundred times worse. I picked up her sweet and distinct scent easily and followed her trail. It led me… to the pathway behind the houses? Oh no, this wasn't good. I wouldn't go down there in daylight, let alone at dusk! But Sadie would be alright – she had some kickass superpowers to defend herself with. I followed the scent along the pathway until it veered off into the grass. Suddenly, I came to an abrupt halt. Sadie's scent was now stronger than ever and it was joined by three more scents. Suddenly, I felt the pain that I had told Sadie about on the phone the night we had our first kiss. I tried to endure the pain whilst I took off again in the direction of Sadie's scent. After a few seconds, the pain went away. Just to test something, I abandoned my mission and turned around and walked to the spot where I felt the pain. Sure enough, this time I felt it again. Very strange.

After a few more minutes of brisk walking, I came to the bus stop where Sadie's scent seemed to end. I waited for a bus that would take me to her house. When I got off, I jogged down the street, eyeing the familiar house in the distance. When I came to the house, I ran up to the front door and bashed on it furiously. Sadie's Dad opened the door with a sigh.
"I'm assuming something happened?" he assumed.
"Where is she?" I burst out, rudely pushing past him uninvited into his house.
"She's upstairs," he sighed.
I ran up the stairs and came to her closed door. I could make out a song playing…
'Although I laugh and I act like a clown, beneath this mask I am wearing a frown. My tears are falling like rain from the sky, is it for her or myself that I cry.'

I'm a Loser. Is that how she felt about our relationship from the events of this afternoon? I softly tapped on the door, quite the opposite from what I had done to the front door a minute ago. She opened the door surprisingly quickly, but she looked shaken and upset when I saw her. Her round cheeks were tear-stained and it looked like she had been crying.
"Sadie," I choked out, a bit in shock at the sight of her, but also feeling regretful.
She stepped aside and motioned for me to come into her room.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, turning to face her as she closed the door. She didn't answer me, just avoided looking at me. I went over to her iPod docking station and changed the song.
'You don't realise how much I Need You. Love you all the time and never leave you…'
She suddenly had a change of emotion and came over to me, standing in front of me as if she was pleading with me.
"Oh, Max, I was corned by some drunks as I was walking home, and…" she cried.
"So that's how it happened? It's not… Patrick or anyone?" I asked her apprehensively.
"What?" she asked me through glossy eyes.
"That's how you became…" I motioned to her with my hands. She slapped my hands away in annoyance.
"No, tonight! And I told you, I'm not pregnant!" she told me again. Did I believe her? Would she do something like that to me? I guess it wouldn't be her fault if those drunks did something to her…

"Max," she was waving a hand in front of my face. I hadn't realised that I'd gone off into a little daydream.
"Max, did you hear me? I said I'm not pregnant!"
"Huh? Oh, sure darling, I believe you," I reassuringly told her. I swear I saw the corners of her mouth curl into a very small – and unnoticeable to the average human eye – smirk. She had figured out that guilt always gets the better of me. She knew that it had now. But did I really believe her? I mean, why else would they be talking about us two not being used to a baby?
"I'm… I'm…"
"You're what?"
"A virgin."
That was sort of an awkward announcement.
"What's wrong with that? I am too!"
"Yeah, but I needed to justify that I wasn't pregnant."
Obviously it was time for a change of topic.
"I'm sorry that I doubted you," I said to her, "I was so unfair."
She looked at me weirdly.
"You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair."
She mouthed it along with me as I said it. She had her arms crossed and was looking up, moving her head mockingly as if she was sick of hearing something.
"Don't Pass Me By don't make me cry don't make me blue…" we both started singing. I loved how we started random impromptu singing. We worked. We were on the same wavelength.

"The White Album," I sung in the tune of 'Cos you know darling'.
She smiled and then kissed me. But there was still one thing bothering me…
"Okay, if you're not pregnant, then who is?"
She just looked at me sheepishly, probably contemplating a lie for an answer.
"No one!" she suddenly exclaimed, "We were just talking about babies… you know? Just a conversation topic."
"Right…"
"Anyway, you should probably get going. School tomorrow."
She ran her finger quickly over the tip of my nose in a tap.
"We can work this out, Sadie. Every time we have a fight we do. And I only just realised what you said before - some bums attacked you?"
"No, they tried, but I used my powers against them."
"I could smell you and them when I went past. I'll go after them... their scents are there. Are you okay, though?'
"Yes, I'm fine," she said.
I kissed her goodbye and left her room. As I got downstairs, Martha was coming in.
"Oh, Max, we thought you'd be here," she said in relief.
"Yeah," was my lame reply.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, were fine. Sadie will fill you in."
"Okay, well your Mum is waiting for you. She wants to tell you something."
"Okay. Bye."
I went to leave, but she pulled me back.
"Max, you're not catching the bus home on your own at night! I'm driving you."
Then Martha drove me home where I was faced with a surprise.

"Max!" Mum exclaimed as I walked in the door after Martha kindly dropped me off.
"Mum," I said. She came over to me and hugged me.
"Were you at the Parkinsons'?"
"Yeah. Martha dropped me home."
"Is everything alright between you and Sadie?"
"Yeah we're fine… now."
We sat down across from each other at the table that seemed to be involved in everything. I then proceeded to tell her nearly everything that had happened. I left out the part about our superpowers, obviously, but did tell her ashamedly about how I suspected Tim. She gasped and was not very happy with me. After I finished, she looked me in the eye seriously. She took my hands and wrapped hers around mine in a comforting way.
"Max, there's some big news I think you should know about," she told me.
Oh no. Who was dead? Was it Gertrude from across the road? Okay, I shouldn't be so mean…
"Max," suddenly Dad was beside Mum. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Max…" Mum said.
Oh just spit it out already!
"Yes?"
"I'm pregnant."

A/N: Aha! I had you going for a moment there! You thought it was Sadie! Nup, it's Joan! Big brother Maxy! And Sadie's dad spoke for the first time, did you notice? This was the first time I addressed him directly! Anyway, my sweet readers, review and you get your choice of Coconut Fudge, Ginger Sling, Pineapple Heart, Cream Tangerine, Montelimar, Coffee Dessert, Cherry Cream, Apple Tart or the titular treat from my special box of chocolates!