Caught In Eagle Talons

Chapter 4.2: Nudge!!

The Gasman's POV:

It was almost 12 and Nudge still wasn't here! I missed her and wanted to see her. 

The door suddenly burst open and Nudge walked in wearing a red dress and holding a bottle of wine.

"I'm home and I brought wine!" A series of cheers went up around the house. 

"Help!" Hope said as she ran into the kitchen. She grabbed onto my leg, giggling hysterically. "Uncle Gazzy! Help!  Daddy's trying to take the ragor!" She held up Fang's razor just as he ran into the kitchen.

"Hope! You can't have that! You'll cut yourself!"

"Hope? Are you not listening?" Max walked in and Nudge paled at the sight of her.

"Max?" Her voice was so small. It made me want to grab her and hug her. Can I do that anyway?

Max looked up at Nudge. "Oh my god. Nudge?" Nudge ran into her arms as they both began to cry. 

After a lot of crying, they stopped.

"Who this?" Hope asked asked quietly. Fang picked her up and walked over to Nudge.

"Hope, this is your aunt, Nudge." Nudge looked at Hope, then at Max and Fang. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Is this...?" Her voice drifted off as she stared at Hope.

"This is Hope, my daughter."

"Our daughter babe," Fang said. Max laughed. 

"Right. Our daughter."

Nudge stared at them with her mouth open. "Hi, Hope. I'm Nudge. You're so cute!"

"...Tank you?" Hope said. I laughed, catching Nudge's attention.

"Gazzy! Hi! I missed you!" She walked over, pulling me into a hug. I could feel myself blush. I saw Fang laughing over Nudge's shoulder. 'Shut up' I mouthed to him, which only made him laugh harder.

"Well, I would love to catch up with you guys, but I have a date I need to get ready for."

"You have a date?" Fang asked. "You've been home five minutes."

She shrugged. "My Uber driver was cute."

"Why do you take an Uber? You can fly."

"Yes, but then I wouldn't have a date. Think about that." Fang rolled his eyes as Nudge ran upstairs to get ready.

Fang went into the kitchen with Hope following, but Max stayed.

"Go talk to her," Max said.

"What?"
"Nudge. Go tell her how you feel." I shook my head.

"No, no, no, nope! Bad idea!"

"Come on! If I hadn't told Fang that I liked him we never would've gotten married and we'd never have had Hope."

I looked down at my feet as she told her story. "Max, Nudge doesn't like me like that. I can tell her but then I might lose one of my best friends!" Max walked over to me and put her hand on my bicep.

"You won't know unless you try."

I sighed, knowing she was right, before walking up the stairs towards Nudge's room.

When I peeked inside, I saw her in a pick robe at her make-up table, applying blush. Three dresses were laid out on her bed. One dark green, one black, and one red.

"Nudge?" She startled at my voice, dropping her make-up brush.

"Gazzy! Hi! I need your help. Which dress should I wear?"

"Green," I said without hesitation. She always looked best in dark green. "So, um I need to talk to you."

"Sure!" She said as she sat back down and applied more make-up. "What's up?"

"Well...um...I...I don't really know how to tell you."

She paused from where she was at the door of the bathroom, dress in hand. "Why? You know you can tell me anything."

"I-I know it's just that this is hard to say."

"How about you figure out what to say while I do my hair and put on this dress? Okay?"

I just nodded while she headed into the bathroom.

By the time she was out again, I had run through multiple scenarios in my head but none of them worked.

"Okay, so what did you want to tell me?" Nudge asked as she picked up her phone.

"Um...well, I guess that I wanted to tell you tha-"

"Oh, shit! I'm sorry Gazzy but I have to go, otherwise, I'll be late. Can we talk later?"

"Well not really-"

"Great, thanks," Nudge said, not really paying attention as she headed for the door. This was my last chance! I had to take it!

"I love you!" I blurted.

"I love you too, Gaz, but I really have to-"

"No! I mean I'm in love with you!" Nudge sat there for a moment, silent.

"I-um-I have to go. We'll talk about this as soon as I get back, I promise," She said. And with that, she was gone.