:D You have no idea how wide my grin is. I can't convey with a simple smiley-face how absolutely wonderful I'm feeling today. It's sunny and beautiful, and I get to write and listen to my music for another day before my mom is looking over my shoulder all the time :D! She's not TOO bad I guess, but she's kinda a control freak and just wants to make sure I'm okay. As her daughter I don't mind if she's in my business at all (I'm not up to, or into, anything I shouldn't be) but as a writer it drives me bonkers! ANYWAY, It's beautiful and I feel like writing on this story today, so lucky you guys, you get a chapter.

P.S. I wanted to say to the reviewer that called Fang a knight that I loved your comment, and found it funny, because just before I read it I'd decided to make Fang's last name Knight :)

P.S.S. Thank you guys so much! I checked my email after only one day and had 46 emails from FF. They were all 'Story Alerts' or reviews and such. I was very happy!

Disclaimer: I'm trying to think of something clever to use...but I'm drawing a blank. How am I to survive in a society of writers if I can't think of something clever and witty off of the top of my head ;P I don't own Maximum Ride, but I own the first three season's of Invader Zim on DVD :D Hence: My Name: YourMoosyFate

Max POV

"Max? Are you okay?" I turned to look at Fang, trying to keep the almost-smile off my face. It didn't work. I finally made eye-contact with him. Eye contact, a connection, with another human being. Quite frankly, I'd almost forgotten what that was. I nodded in answer to his question, and held his eyes with mine for a moment.

Fang's eyes were dark brown, but they seemed to have discovered a hue that never existed before him. They were deep, and almost black. Suddenly, I felt like I was falling. There was a mystery behind them, one that I almost had figured out once. I felt a blush rise on my cheeks as I looked into his eyes.

He seemed to see the spark in my eye. The moment that I finally acknowledged him again. He fought a slow smile spreading across his face.

"So Max," He began, a challenging tone in his voice. "How do chocolate chip cookies sound?" I could feel my eyes widening. I hadn't had Mrs. Knight's chocolate chip cookies in two years! My mouth was practically watering! I nodded enthusiastically.

Fang stepped ahead of me and opened the door for me (A/N AW isn't Fang a gentleman!!). I stepped in and inhaled so deeply that I thought my lungs might burst. The smell of chocolate chip cookies was almost overwhelming. I glanced back at Fang and headed for the kitchen.

As I walked through his house, I felt a pang of...something. I'd been missing something crucial for two years. This feeling, it was like sadness and happiness all at the same time. A warm, longing, aching feeling in the pit of my stomach and surrounding my heart, that was spreading through my entire being. It washed over me in less than a second, almost drowning me. I sucked in air, and closed my eyes.

Two years since I'd seen Mrs. Knight. Two years since I'd walked these homey hallways. Two years since I'd had the familiar sense of leading Fang to his own kitchen. Tears unwillingly began to spring to my eyes. Two years since this longing, aching feeling had been present.

Back then, the feeling was welcome. I knew it, and acknowledged it often. At the time, I knew what it was. Now, it was different and strange. It scared me. The power of this...this...movement.

I leaned against the wall behind me for a moment, trying to catch my breath. I wrapped my arms around myself. If I didn't, who would hold my insides together? If I didn't, who would keep me from falling apart from the sheer force of this...thing?

"Max?" Fang asked, seeing tears roll down my cheeks. I looked up at him in fright. Why was this happening now? I'd worked so hard to bury this happiness, this joy. I knew that I wouldn't know it again. I buried it deep, to keep it away from Walter, to keep it away from myself. Now here it was, slapping me in the face.

And I knew. I knew it couldn't last.

Fang took a slow step towards me, but I ignored him. I focused on my arms, keeping my emotions in as much control as possible. Suddenly, strong arms were around me, helping me hold myself together.

I sucked back a sob. I would not break down. Not again. I clenched my teeth. My throat constricted with effort, while my knees started shaking. If Fang saw me crying again, he would see how weak I really was now. I took a shuttering breath, trying to keep the tears locked inside of me.

It was too much. A sob ripped through my throat. It pulled from the soles of my feet, wracking my body, and escaping into Fang's shoulder. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, trying to hold myself steady. He pulled me into a tighter hug, and that was the straw. I broke down, again, sobbing into Fang in the middle of the hallway.

"It's okay, Max. I promised, didn't I? I promised." He was whispering into my hair. I slumped to the floor, no longer able to stand on my shaking legs. Fang sat next to me, keeping my face in his shoulder.

"I promised." He told me again. I nodded, trying to pull myself together. I took a few deep breaths and tried to bring myself back to myself.

I caught another whiff of cookies and glanced up to see Mrs. Knight standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She'd been watching this scene, and had tears of her own streaming down her cheeks. I stared at the floor in embarrassment.

"Cookie time?" Fang asked me, breaking the silence. Cookie time. The familiar phrase brought back that pang, but it wasn't as strong, and I shoved it aside. I gave Fang a 'Heck yeah, it's cookie time!' look, and he grinned, immediately lighting up the dark hallway.

Fang stood, grabbed my hands, and helped me to my feet. I looked at Mrs. Knight again from the corner of my eyes. She was watching us with a funny look on her face, her mouth pulled into a lopsided grin. She caught me looking and grinned for real.

"Well, I have to run to the station and get a few more things sorted out, but help yourself to as many cookies as you want. Max, it's good to see you sweetie." Fang's mom gave me a one-armed hug, before slipping through the rest of the narrow hallway and out the front door.

"Great, now you're going to overdose on cookies because my mom gave you permission." Fang said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and continued leading him into the kitchen.

It was just as I remembered it. It was a small, but very colorful, kitchen. The table, chairs, and kitchen cabinets were a bright, lime green. The counters and other various surfaces were a dull orange, it blended with the green to bring it down a bit. The glass, French, doors were open, letting fresh spring air and sunlight into the room. The wooden floor was so clean, it was shining.

I briefly remembered having a flour-fight with Fang, in this very kitchen, when we were 9. His mom made us clean the whole mess, and we scrubbed all day, though we kept getting distracted. The floor had been the hardest part, and we tied sponges to our feet like the kids in the movies. It didn't work, and we ended up tearing up the sponges too.

"Hi there. You must be Max!" I glanced up to see a young girl, probably ten, walking into the room. She was dark and had curly, unruly, brown hair. "I'm Nudge, Fang's sister! I've heard all about you. I've been dying to meet you. The way Fang talks about you, and trust me he doesn't talk often, but when he does it's usually important or about you. I'm not saying that you aren't important, I'm just saying-" Fang finally crossed the room and slapped a hand over the girl, Nudge's, mouth.

Since when did Fang have a sister? I momentarily compared Fang's dark olive skin to her much darker skin. Then it clicked. Before my father's death, Fang's mom and dad had been trying to adopt. This must be the girl they were trying to get.

"You've probably remembered by now," Fang started, "but this is my adoptive sister, Nudge. We call her the Nudge Channel. All Nudge, all the time. She's worse than you when you found out that Sally Earnst stole your crayons in the first grade." Fang rolled his eyes and removed his hand from Nudge's mouth. I put my hands on my hips, but Fang ignored me.

"Who's Sally Earnst? Was she nice? Pretty? You talked like me? Wow, Fang says it's impossible for anyone to talk as much as me. This one time, he bet me that I couldn't be quiet for a whole day. He told me that, if I won, he'd give me five dollars. I lost, but it wasn't my fault. He turned it to the History Channel! I mean, who watches the History Channel? It's so boring, all they were talking about was Marine Biolol...Biolin...Biology! Marine Biology! I mean, normally that stuff isn't too boring, but then they started talking about- mmmffff." Fang's hand slapped over Nudge's mouth again.

"Mute." He ordered her. He looked back at me apologetically. "I haven't found the volume or off buttons yet." I felt a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. "Nudge, meet my best friend in the world, Maximum Ride. Max, meet Nudge."

I was slightly surprised that he still introduced me as his best friend. If I was still his best friend, why didn't he come find me sooner? As in, before now? Why had it taken him so long?

He handed me a cookie. "Max, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do." He told me. Then he took his hand away from Nudge's mouth.

So there! I added Nudge. I thought about it forever! Finally, as I was writing one of the last chapters (yes, I did wrote one of the last chapters, just not the stuff leading up to that yet) it hit me! Anyways, I hope you don't mind me giving Fang a functional and loving home. It seems like, in every other story, he has a bad home life. I decided that there was too much dysfunction in Max's life...plus I like the idea of Fang having a happy home.

I know this chapter was kinda chalked full of emotions. Sorry. I didn't know how else to explain what Max is going through. Trust me though, no matter how strong you are, abusive parents leave a huge mark on your thinking process and feelings for a while.

It was also 4 pages in word...but it seems so short on here. Oh well.

Twenty points and a free virtual cookie to anyone that can name/identify the longing-aching feeling that brought Max to tears and why it did :D Thirty points and a free virtual cookie if you can identify/explain the look on Fang's mom's face.

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...........................................................................................YourMoosyFate