If It Weren't For You –Chapter 6

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

I sat in the waiting room at the hospital, trying not to feel so self conscious about myself. It was just down the hall that Max was giving birth to her baby. Fang was with her, but since I wasn't family, I had to stay out here. Gazzy and Angel were on their way, but they wouldn't be here until tomorrow. Not that I wasn't happy or anything for Max and Fang, but I could see my chances of getting Fang already slipping away. Even though they had decided they weren't going to get married, I knew the birth of their kid was only going to bring them closer together.

If I had a penny for every time I could guess the time correctly, I'd be poor. But Fang came and took a seat next to me some time later before letting me rest my hand against his face, his hand around my wrist like always as I did so. I knew I always had to be the careful one, to guard my feelings from him, but it was hard to do when he did that.

"It's a girl," he said. I swear I could feel him smiling.

"That's great, Fang!"

"We named her Ava," he went on. "She's beautiful, Iggy. I wish you could see her."

Me too, Fang. Me too.

I sat in the kitchen with Gazzy and Angel. Fang was bringing Max and Ava home tomorrow, which still left us an entire day to occupy ourselves. Somehow I got the feeling that Angel wanted to be here because she didn't think that Fang, Max, and I could take care of Ava by ourselves. Although the truth was, I couldn't really look after her anyway and well, Fang, he could be unpredictable, as Angel had put it.

"Why don't we go out to lunch?" Gazzy suggested. "We'll find somewhere that's not too crowded, how's that sound, Iggy?"

"Sure, sounds great."

"What's gotten into you?" Angel frowned. "You've been upset ever since we've arrived."

I shrugged. "Just tired."

Gazzy's phone erupted into some atrocious ringtone. He excused himself outside onto the balcony.

"Tell me, Iggy. I'm not a five year old anymore."

"I guess I'll always see you that way. I'm sorry."

"I'm used to it." She let out a laugh. "But really, what's bothering you?"

"It's nothing, Angel."

"Well, if you change your mind, you can tell me anything you want."

I gave her a small smile. "Thanks."

Time seemed endless. Gazzy and Angel left a few days after Max and Ava came home. I was left to keep myself occupied because Max and Fang were busy with Ava. Not to sound insensitive, but it was hard to be excited about something that cried, screamed, and kept you up at all hours of the day. Fang had actually been doing most of the staying up.

But I finally ventured out of my room one night, hearing him talk to Ava as he sat on the couch, trying to coax her to sleep.

"Shh, it's okay, Ava," he whispered. "Daddy's not going to let anyone or anything hurt you. I promise."

Still, she was crying. But you know, that was what babies do, right? They cry because they don't understand. Even I felt like doing that sometimes.

"You've got your mom's eyes, you know," he went on. "I think my complexion won you over. Well, I don't know, it's not like it matters to you right now. You won't even remember me talking to you like this when you're older."

I leaned against the doorway, picturing Fang sitting on the couch, Ava in his arms.

"I know things are uncertain right now, but you know, I think you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me," he said. "And I want you to know that I love you, Ava."

It seemed she had stopped crying now. The springs on the couch squeaked and I retreated back to my room, listening to Fang walk uneasily down the hall and past my door.

The footsteps came back down, and I thought Fang was heading back to his room, but he stopped outside my door.

"I know you're awake, Ig."

I sat up. "I was going to come out to see if I could help, but—"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have some coffee with me."

"Of course."

I got out of bed and followed him into the kitchen. He pulled out some mugs and started up the coffee machine. It used to be my job to make coffee every morning, but I told him how to do it, and what to put in, and it was getting to the point where his coffee was better than mine. I had to stop myself from smiling.

"Max says I can bring you food shopping tomorrow," he said, placing the mug in front of me. "Be careful. It's hot."

"So what'll I be cooking?"

"Whatever you want. That's why I'm bringing you. I just have to get some diapers and stuff for Ava." I heard him sip at his coffee. "Well, you're coming too because I don' trust myself enough to go anywhere alone."

"C'mon, Fang, you can't think that way."

"It's the only way I've ever thought." He sipped his coffee again. "But you're probably right."

I started to drink my own, wishing I had better things to say to him, wishing I could tell him things would be okay.

"It'll be alright," he said after a while, almost as if he could read my mind. "That's what Max says all the time, isn't it?"

Pretty much putting this at all the end of my fics that update over the next week or so: I finished Nevermore. I thought it was a brilliant ending for the series, but I won't go into much detail now. If anyone wants to share thoughts, feel free to message me.

But yeah, the series is over. It's a lot of emotions, but most of them good and some of them bittersweet. I feel that there's still a lot more to be said in the fanfiction universe about this series, so as long as people are still reading, I'll still be writing. New ideas are spinning already.

Until my next update! Thanks for reading!