This is the epilogue to Reputations. Cue tears being shed from all around!

Ch. 45: Epilogue:

Max POV

"Max." Fang muttered absentmindedly. I looked up at him, his arm draped protectively around me, his eyes seeming to stare somewhere off in the distance.

"Yeah?" I asked. His eyes flashed down to me, as if just noticing I was there.

"I love you." He stated. I leaned in closer to his side, knowing he was still trying to grasp the fact that I was okay. He had even demanded to sleep by my side the night after I had gotten out of 'captivity', as the police called it. Despite protests from both our mothers, he stood his ground and got to stay beside me. Now, two weeks later, he was still having trouble figuring out that I was, in fact, here.

"Fang." I said stoutly, earning his attention. "I'm here."

"I know."

"No. You don't know. If you knew, you wouldn't be afraid of losing me every two seconds of the day." I told him matter-of-factly.

His eyes seemed to visibly flash. "Max, I did lose you. I'm sorry if I don't want it to happen again."

I sighed, knowing this would go nowhere. "I know. I know. I don't want an argument, okay?"

Fang nodded, his hold around my shoulders pulling me closer to him than I already was.

"Fang… I'm sorry." I said suddenly.

His face took on a quizzical expression. "For what?"

"For not believing you." I explained. "This whole mess could have been avoided if I had just trusted you about Zack." I said fiercely, the wave of anger that I had built up against Zack finally rolling out. "He's a filthy, scummy, awful, trai-"

"Max, stop. This whole mess still would've happened if you hadn't had trusted Zack. Ari would've found another way to get to you. Trust me."

"I do trust you."

"And I trust you. Now, hold on." Fang said, closing his eyes in concentration.

"What are you doing?" I asked, stifling a laugh at his expression.

"I'm closing my eyes to see if when I open them in a moment, you'll still be there." He explained as if it was the most rational and logical thing in the world to do. I let out the laughter I had been holding in and his eyes snapped open.

"I'm here all right." I said, tauntingly putting my finger in front of his face.

And he bit it. You got that right. He. Bit. It. I cried out in shock (not pain) and pulled my finger out of his mouth.

"That's gross Fang!" I cried, wiping my finger on the leg of his jeans. "What was that for?"

"You put your finger in front of my face – and they don't call me Fang for nothing." He grinned proudly.

"You are… such an idiot." I said in between laughter.

"But I'm a hot idiot, no?"

"No." I said stoutly. "You are the ugliest human being that has ever roamed this earth."

Fang just smiled and whispered, "You sure about that?" into my ear.

"Yes." I said crossing my arms and defended the hugest lie I had ever told.

"Mmhmm." Fang murmured, as if mocking me.

I turned to face him, but as I did so, he planted one on my lips. One hand on my back, he pulled me closer to him. The kiss got deeper and deeper and deeper and-

"Ew! Gross guys!" I snapped out of my kiss and turned my head towards the doorway. Ella stood there, smirking and crossing her arms just as I would have if she were in a similar situation to mine. The entire Flock stood behind her, watching with amusement.

"Oh come on. It's not like you haven't thought of doing something like that with Chase." I said, referring to her newest crush.

"Oh, shut up." She muttered, blushing.

"But honestly, guys." Iggy started up. "You two need to get a room."

I gaped at him just as Fang quirked an eyebrow and said, "We had one until you guys came in."

The rest of the Flock filtered in the room, sitting down lazily on the floor. One by one they took their turns teasing either Fang and I or Ella.

As Nudge took her turn teasing Fang and I, I had to roll my eyes.

"Oh come on. It just as well could have been you and Iggy in this situation." Her cheeks heated up as Iggy let out a lazy, "Yeah," earning a slap on the arm from Nudge.

"So, I've been wondering, Max," Angel piped up. "Whatever happened to José?"

I smiled. "I donated him to the Children's Hospital that needed more toys. They said that the fact he was missing an eye didn't matter."

"And they completely disregarded the fact that it held a stalker's note before?" Iggy asked.

"I may have forgotten to mention it." I said casually, sending laughter all throughout the room.

"Wow." Gazzy stated. "So much has happened in just a few months."

"I know." I snorted.

"There was you coming," Nudge chimed.

"Then there was you dating Dylan." Angel pointed out, making Fang grit his teeth.

"And Cara made Fang go insane." Iggy stated, making me grit my teeth.

"And then you two finally got together and let your raging hormones roam free." Ella said simply, not looking up from her fashion magazine. Laughter erupted throughout the room at her comment and I smiled.

A lot had happened, from player Fang to Ari and Zack to Tess to… just everything. These couple months had been the longest of my entire life, that's for sure.

I closed my eyes and snuggled in to Fang's side once more. It was so nice to just know that I was back and that everyone was safe. It makes me sound like such a mush, but I really cared about the entire Flock. I'm Maximum Ride. And that's all I really know how to be.

With a start, I realized that after the last couple months, one thing about me was still the same. My reputation. I was still the badass the cute boyfriend.

Honestly, I could care less about the reputation now, but I guess in everyone's eyes I would always be the badass with the cute boyfriend.

And I don't think I could ever be happier about it.

That was *sniffle* the end!

My (final) answer to last chapter's question: 10! I'm very attached to this story, it being Cake's first fanfiction and all.

The final question: What did you think of the epilogue?

Goodbye my loyal readers!

~Cake.