Hey guys- what did I tell ya? Another brand new chapter in less than a week! If you could show your appreciation in the form of reviews that'd be lovely ;) I figure some of you might have a thing or two to say once you see how this chapter ends... enjoy!

-H

It Begins and Ends with a Bang

"Dylan?" I repeated, breathing out a sigh, "I should have known really, and I thought I couldn't hate that girl any more than I already did. I'm still mad at you for that, you know. Replacing me with a poorer version… the first time we met her she tried to replace me and kill me and from then on in she's gone and done more to piss me off. And you snapped her up two seconds after you left."
"I missed you Max. Our friendship, not just my feelings for you. I missed the times when things were simple, before you kissed me on that beach, before New York and then everything that followed. I missed having someone I could connect with and I even thought to myself if I can only have her as a friend I'll take it, but I couldn't have you and I was desperate so I made a rash choice. Plus I knew I'd left you with Dylan, Mr Perfect, and I knew that at one point you would go there because I hurt you and for a while Maia was exactly what I needed… until she wanted more and I realised- no one can ever replace you for me Max. Not just Maia who looks and sounds like you, I mean anyone, I don't think I'm capable of loving anyone the same way that I-"
I looked at him for a long moment and tried to swallow my feelings. I took my hand off of his arm. "Maybe I should go… the flock will be wondering where I am."
"And Iggy will be wondering, just because you two called it off doesn't mean that it's over for good, you shouldn't damage that."
"Iggy and I broke it off Fang, because there are just some things he couldn't understand the way that you… If this world had been perfect and I had been born a normal regular human we would have worked out so perfect because Iggy balanced me out so well… but that's not the life I was given or the one I made for myself when we broke out of the School. Not that this is any of your business."
I turned to leave and he caught my wrist. "I'm not going to push you to fall in love with me again Max," he said and I closed my eyes. It wasn't much of a push if I never stopped. "I went to Maia because I missed our friendship, how close we were that I felt you were an extension of me, part of me and in more than just a romantic way. And I'll do anything, anything to get that back. It doesn't have to be anything more because what we had before we got together means more to me than anything."
I faced him and took a deep breath to try and stop myself from crying, because I felt the exact same. In all my years of aching for Fang while I had wanted his arms around me and to feel his lips on mine, most of the time I just missed his company, sensing him in the same room, knowing he had my back… the way we could read each other like no one else possibly could. Before I thought it through I stepped forwards and put my arms around his neck. It wasn't a hug that was leading anywhere, it was my way of acknowledging the friendship we'd lost and he held me close so that we were wrapped around each other, our wings creating a kind of cocoon.
I'm not sure how long we stood like that, but I never wanted to let go. I felt safe there, I felt more like me and I whispered into his shoulder, "I've missed you so much Fang and maybe one day when this latest threat has passed and we have a moment to breathe we can work on it, because you'll always be my best friend and I want it back too."
He sighed, "You're saying we can work on it once the flock is safe? Has it occurred to you that there might not be that time?"
"We've had three years of-"
"Waiting on it all to come crashing down. I get it Max, I've always understood but I'm worried that you're never going to put yourself first and one day you'll look back and regret just how much you've given up, because they aren't little kids any more and you're not either… I don't want you to realise one day that you have nothing left for you because you gave it all away."
There was a lump in my throat and I was glad he still had his arms around me so that my face was hidden. Was that the reason I was feeling so empty these days, because I was giving everything away? Only I didn't feel empty now, not with Fang because he never took anything from me that I didn't have in me to give.
I inhaled the smell of his leather jacket and he smoothed my hair, knowing he had to let my process, not to push, not to speak. "I do regret some things," I admitted in a barely there voice. "And I wish some things had gone differently. I wish we'd had a proper goodbye, I know why you had to leave and I know it was hard but I almost died the moment I found that letter instead of you. I knew what it said before I opened it and I felt like my heart was breaking and it scared me how easily I was hurt by a piece of paper. It might have killed us to voice a goodbye but promise me something Fang, no matter what, don't ever do that to me again. Not like that."
He squeezed me tighter, "I regret that too. At the time I knew that facing you, seeing the pain in your eyes, it would have been too much, but I couldn't just disappear. I'll forever hate myself for leaving it like that, I promise, it won't happen like that ever again. But we don't know what's going to happen Max, and if you keep making sacrifices for the flock, one day we might have to face that moment where we do have to say goodbye face to face… and that will kill me."
I sniffed and pulled away from the hug and Fang let me go. I pushed my hair off my face and said, "We're going to have to ride out this storm and hope we all at least make it through."
"You'll make it through Max, three years in a comfy flat isn't enough to get rid of the stubborn mutant ass-kicker you've always been."
I smiled and he put his hands behind his neck and took a step away, "I think we might be okay Fang."
"If you say so," he grinned, "I'll see you around Maximum. And I'll get to the bottom of Maia's possible indiscretions."
"I hope so, otherwise I'll sharpen up my old Max skills hunting her ass down."
Fang looked at me seriously for a moment, "If she is working with Dylan, I won't let him away with what he did to you. I won't let her away with it either." "After all this time you've still got my back," I mused and he smirked, "Later, Fang."

And before you all get too excited, faithful readers, that maybe things were starting to look up I was only halfway down the street to our apartment when I received a text to my brand new, apparently untraceable cell:
Who was there to save them, Max?
And that's when our beautiful top floor apartment with my flock tucked safe inside went up in one heartbreakingly humongous boom.