Maximum Ride: Picking Up the Pieces (A Maximum Ride Fanfic)

Chapter Two: Bliss

Jeb peels my heavy coat away from my body, making me physically colder than I have ever felt towards him. My mother looks at the sterilized steel wall and bites her lip to keep from crying, and instantly I know what she has seen.

She has seen my rather swollen belly.

Pregnant.

And sadly earlier than she had imagined in the past, I'm sure.

Finally, after taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, she utters a croaky sentence, "How long has it been?" She is quiet and shuddering, holding back sobs. I look away from her face, too saddened by her reaction.

"Six months," Jeb says, answering for me and taking a gentle hold of my shoulders. Upon hearing Jeb answer she turns back to me and pulls me into a swift and tight hug. I grunt and she gently lets go.

"Then I want to do an ultrasound," she says, calm and cool. "While we talk." Then she dashes around the room, pulling equipment from closets that, unopened, aren't visibly existent. After a few moments, she tells me to lay down, then sits on a stool with her equipment in front of her. She nods to Jeb, who clears his throat and begins to speak. As he does so, my mother rubs a cold gel-like substance on my mountain of a stomach and lightly takes a plastic wand over the gel-covered area.

"Max has been through a lot. I'm sure I'm not aware of all of the things they have done to her. Obviously, the one thing that has lasted is this baby-"

"Babies," my mother says quietly, cutting him off. He drops his mouth open, then quickly closes it again. "Three of them," she says, answering the question that clearly had popped into the heads of Jeb and me. When I hear a small whimpering noise, I look around, but both of my parents are silent and most likely shocked. I realize the whimpering noise is coming from me.

"You were saying, Jeb?" I croak out. He flinches when I start talking, cringes when I say his name. But he clears his throat and continues.

"Obviously, these babies are the one thing that has lasted besides traumatic stress."

"Can I ask how these babies came to be?" my mother asks quietly. At this question, I look to Jeb for the answer. The scariest fact of all this is that I don't know either.

"They took DNA from Fang," he says simply. I sigh with a little relief at this, knowing I won't be constantly reminded of my torturers by the mere faces of my children.

"Max needs rest and care. And space. Which is why the flock does not need to know about any of this for the moment. All they need to know is that Max is home but needs her space and time to recoup," he says, resting a hand on my head. I close my eyes. Darkness is merciful, even if just for a moment.

"What will we tell the flock? We can't just-" then my mother is cut off by a heart-achingly familiar voice.

"Yes, Jeb, what will you tell us? I do hope it's the truth."

Fang.

When I look into his eyes I see that he is not looking at me, but at Jeb.

"Because of the situation, I will tell YOU the truth, but it must remain secret to the rest of the flock for the time being. Understood?" Fang reluctantly nods. "Sit down," Jeb says, gesturing to a stool next to the table.

Fang then turns to sit in the stool and looks into my eyes as I look into his, and it's as though we have created a portal in each other's eyes. Maybe I can escape through that portal.

Fang sits down and takes my hand tight in his own. He looks me up and down, and I close my eyes again, not wanting to see his face when he realizes what they have done to me.

"Max," he whispers. He gently lays a hand on my swollen stomach and gasps. I cringe.

"There's three of them," my mom says to him and flicks the screen. Another gasp from Fang. I open my eyes and smile slightly as I look at Fang, who is gawking at the screen.

"They're yours," I whisper. His head snaps to my face, then to Jeb's, looking for clarification. Jeb then tells Fang everything he told to me and my mother. Fang, saddened and mortified by everything he heard, buries his face into my hand. I close my eyes again, this time hoping for sleep to settle over me like a blanket, but not before glancing at the screen of the ultrasound machine and looking at my triplets.

They scare me just by being three.

But they also make me happy.

As I drift off into the dark depths of sleep, my face wears a grin wider than any I have had for the past two and a half years.