Hello there, my beautiful, amazing, stunning, faithful, great, lovable readers! I have some major sucking up to do! I am so sorry about the long wait for this chapter! I have been busier than I thought I would be over Christmas break! I know some of you even thought I might be giving up on this story! NEVER! If you guys are faithful to me, (by keeping on reviewing), then I'll be faithful to you (by keeping on updating). Until this story is complete, which is not in the near future. I still have more ideas I would love to throw in here. Anyway HAPPY NEW YEAR, beautiful people! This chapter is my new year's gift to you! What's my resolution? I just want to be happy. Anyway, please REVIEW! You guys have been amazing on that! I finally reached 100 reviews! WOOO! So keep it up! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! I'll love you forever!
KarleeRay
"Hey champ," I say, walking into Trent's hospital room after a long day of school. I drop my backpack at the door and pull up a chair to the edge of his bed like I always do. He's lying down, which I've come to know translates that today has not been a good day health wise. "How ya feeling, spud?"
Tired eyes flicker up to mine, and Trent offers a small smile. It's been two months now, and things just keep on getting worse. I should expect it, I know. They told me this would happen, but the Maximum Ride in me refuses to believe there's something that she can't fix.
"You hang in there, okay?" I murmur, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder.
"Doin' my best," He counters. His voice is raspy, tired. His skin isn't even human colored anymore, not really. It's basically purple, so purple that I could reach out and trace every vein on his bald head. His fingers tremble, a constant reminder that a person can only hang on for so long. His lips are always dry and cracked, and the nurses and I do our best to force him to wear chap stick. Trent doesn't like to listen, though. He's a very prideful person. I guess that's something else we have in common.
"Have you eaten?" I ask him as I do every day. Trent doesn't answer me, and I give an impatient huff.
Thankfully, Christie walks through the door. I turn to her, exasperated. "Has he eaten?"
"Yes, Max. I do my job quite well, and starving your own patients is kind of a big no-no," She inquires while checking Trent's vitals.
"Well did it stay down? I mean all of it?" I know. I know. I sound like some overprotective mother, but this is my best friend we're talking about here!
Starting about a month ago, Trent started having issues with keeping his food down. If he ate, you sure as hell could bet your money he was going to throw it right back up. It was just another obstacle in the road. The doctors tried everything really, tube feeding and all. Trent hated that, though, so I told them that option had to go, and they actually listened. For a while, Trent would eat nothing, claiming there was no point. That was when his health really started to slide. Then, by a stroke of luck, they found a medicine that worked, for the most part. There are still some meals that just don't like being in Trent's stomach, but with the medicine and knowing what's compatible with Trent's digestive system, we are doing fairly well with the eating.
"Yes, Max. All of it," Christie mutters, distracted and not willing to deal with me at the moment.
Trent smiles, softly. "Relax, Max. Stop giving her a hard time."
"You shut up," I tell him, kicking my feet up to rest on his bed. "Mind your own business."
To my delight, a small chuckle escapes his lips. Admittedly, it sounds a little more like he's choking, but still. I knew he was laughing, and that's all that matters.
"So, I took your advice and smoothed things over with Carter…"
"Really?" Trent asks, skeptically.
"Yep…it's all good now." Recently, Carter had been acting angry and just downright mean towards me. I told Trent about it, tired of dealing with her when I had so much going on. He, developing some kind of new found inner Doctor Phil, pinpointed exactly what the problem was just by what I had told him. Carter was, simply put, jealous. When I confronted her, she literally yelled at me at the top of her lungs in the school hallway in front of everyone. She told me that I was an awful friend, that I had abandoned her, and that I didn't care about anyone but Trent and my flock. Surprising even myself, I stayed calm during her entire rant, only defending myself when I had to. Trent told me she would blow up on me and not to get too angry at her. So, I waited until she finished before I calmly explained to her why we were not spending as much time together as we used to. I told her that she was still one of my best friends and tried to get her to understand about Trent and my flock. Amazingly, she did. She went from screaming to crying in four minutes. Now, since we hung out after school that day, I assumed everything was okay.
"Wow. I'm proud of you, Max. You're growing up," Trent jokes, and I have to smile. His jokes are rare now, and every joke is music to my ears.
His eyelids begin to droop, and I snort at his refusal to let sleep overtake him. "Go to sleep, Trent." A guilty expression splashes across his features. "What?"
He shakes his head, and I glare at him. "What is it?"
"Could you… stay…. Just for a little while longer…" Trent asks, looking reluctant and even slightly sheepish.
I take his hand. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here when you wake up." Inwardly, I grimace because I just made a promise and broke one at the same time. I was supposed to be home for movie night with the family, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Gah, things are just so complicated.
I walk in the door to my house at around 10:15. I'm late, way late. Trent had slept for a while longer than usual, and I had stayed even after visiting hours were over. Every minute with Trent, awake and talking, was just precious. I had to cling to him while I could. Plain and simple, Trent didn't have long, and if I had the chance to spend time with him, I would take it.
I trot into the living room, walking in on the very end of Pitch Perfect. I know automatically that Nudge got to pick again. Inwardly, I am cringing, waiting to see how they react to my absence. Nudge, Angel, and Mom all sit on the carpet, watching attentively, while the boys are taking up the recliners and couch. I have to laugh at their bored expressions.
"Look alive, Ig!" I tease, smacking him on the side of the head.
"God-dangit, Max!" He yells, jack knifing into a sitting position. His arm comes out to hit me, but I quickly dodge, making him glare harder in my general direction.
Everyone seems to acknowledge my presence now, and they all chirp their hellos. My eyes roam over the room, landing on Fang who is fast asleep in the recliner.
I instantly feel the need to be close to him, but I quickly shrug it off. It would be wrong to wake him up when he looks so peaceful.
"We were just about to head up to bed, Max…. You're really late. Everything okay with Trent?" Mom asks, looking up from where she was painting Angel's nails. There's just a hint of reprimanding in her voice, she doesn't like me skipping out on family time, and I send her a pleading glance, one that says 'please don't do this'.
"He's fine. Awake and talking, even eating," I tell her, sitting down on the small portion left of the couch and pulling a half-asleep Gasman into my arms. He sighs, contentedly, small hands clutching the fabric of my shirt as he nestles his head into my chest.
"How much longer does he have?" Nudge asks, without thinking, before clapping a hand over her mouth. My jaw tightens for a split second, and I swallow hard before I relax. It's not like she's spitting lies. Trent is going to die, and asking how much longer he has to live is a reasonable question.
"Nudge," Angel chastises lightly, not looking up from her painted nails. Her blue eyes flick to mine to see my reaction.
"Max! I'm sorry. I didn't mean…. I mean uhh maybe there is a donor out there and he won't um… Look, just don't answer that! Just forget I said anything and-," Nudge rambles, frantically trying to make up for what she'd done.
I sigh heavily, pinning her with my stare, and she immediately shuts up, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. "Don't cry, sweetie," I tell her, softly. I attempt to comfort her with my eyes since I can't just drop the Gasman, who is now dead asleep on top of me. "You didn't do anything wrong…." I take a deep breath and try to stop my jaw from clenching as I continue. "I don't know how much longer he has… not long probably… which is why I'm always late nowadays. You guys understand. I need to spend time with him while I can, you know?"
Everyone in the room nods but says nothing, each of them sitting with their own private thoughts, which is why I am beyond surprised when Iggy, of all people, pipes up and says, "We're here for you, Max."
For a moment, I can only stare. Comforting me, or anyone for that matter, was not something Iggy normally did, so this was extremely out of character. My lips quirk up into a small smile, and I reach out and grab his hand in thanks. He gives my fingers a small squeeze before returning his hand to his side.
I look around at my family, at the Gasman sleeping in my arms, at Angel and Nudge arguing over which pink would look better on Nudge's skin tone, at Iggy and Ella curled up together on the couch, arms fastened around each other as if the other is their lifeline. And lastly, I look at my boyfriend, dozing softly as only he does, never letting his guard completely down. After years of being on the run, you tend to pick up a few habits. Sometimes, very rarely, I can catch him actually sleeping, as in completely relaxed and peaceful. It's one of my favorite things to see, and the fact that most of those moments that I get to see him like that are when he sleeps with me, just makes it all the better.
I sigh. I don't know what's ahead, what's in store for me throughout my life, but I know that with these guys by my side, I can do anything.
Sleep refuses to come tonight. I've been lying in bed for hours. I don't bother turning the TV on. I'm really not in the mood, so I just lie there in the darkness staring up at the ceiling.
My eyes flick over to my alarm clock, and I feel my eyes widen in surprise as I realize that it's four in the morning. I groan, sitting up and raking my hands through my fair in frustration.
My eyes dart to the door when I hear a slight noise coming from the hallway. My breath hitches slightly, and I'm just beginning to get out of bed to go check things out when my door opens and a dark shaggy head peaks inside.
I exhale, sharply. "Dude! You scared the crap out of me, you jerk!"
Fang does a double take when he hears my voice, and I know he didn't expect me to be awake. "What the…?"
"You friggin scared the piss out of me!" I reprimand him, but instantly climb out of bed. I grab him by his hands and pull him back towards my bed, happy that now I'll have something to do besides stare at the ceiling.
Fang looks at me, amused, but lets me push him onto my bed and cover us both up in my comforter.
"You know one of the things I love most about you?" He asks, putting his arms around me and playing with my fingers.
"Hmm?"
"You never fail to surprise me. I've known you my whole life and trying to predict you would be impossible…. While we're on the subject… what the heck are you doing awake?" He examines my face, closely. "Wide awake, at that."
"I can't sleep when I'm stressed. You know that," I tell him quietly, breathing in his scent. "But I could ask you the same question. Not only are you awake, but you came down here to my room to do God knows what to me while I'm sleeping."
Fang chuckles softly at my complete exaggeration. "You just wish I was that attracted to you."
"Oh I know you are… I can tell you like it when I do stuff like this," I murmur, kissing his neck. "Or like this." My lips trail up his jaw line. "Or maybe even like this?" I slowly press my lips to his, waiting to see how long he could contain himself.
About 4 seconds later, Fang gives up, speeding up the kiss and slipping his tongue into my mouth. I moan softly. This was the best distraction ever.
Things begin to get extremely heated, so heated that I'm not sure we'll be able to stop until the deed is done. Breathing erratically, I pull away. "Thought you weren't that attracted to me?" I huff.
Fang stares at me, at my half naked body. "I take it back."
I smirk as his eyes roam to dangerous places. "My eyes are up here, Fang," I tell him pointing to my eyes. He gives me a killer half smile, picking up on the fact that I don't think we should go all the way tonight. He pulls me back down onto him, and I curl into his side. "Hey why did you come in here in the first place?"
"To make sure you were okay. I didn't get to see you when you came home today. Sorry about that," He murmurs, playing with a strand of my hair.
"Never be sorry," I tell him, throwing his words back in his face. His grip tightens on me, and I feel him plant a kiss to my forehead.