Dark Angel 1. Red Cordial

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing at all. All characters belong to someone, I'm sure they are important but I don't know their names or anything like that. I think something belongs to Fox. I don't mean to steal or gain profit from this in any form, in fact if someone sends me money, I will send it straight to the good people of Fox. To fund a 3rd, 4th and possibly 5th season of Dark Angel.

Authors Note: Right, well this is my first dig, I actually plan there to be a lot more going on in this story, this is just the beginning and it is already a lot longer than expected. I don't expect much from you people, even if someone does read it, I just thought it was about time I put something up there for my own purpose. If someone does happen to read this, I don't care what you say about the story, hey you don't even have to read it, I was just wondering is someone could explain the 'shipperness' and 'fluff' concepts. Please forgive the typos and etc. I have proof read it myself a time or two but we all know reading your own work never works. So deal with the mistakes, if there are any. Ha.

Story Notes: This is based at the end of Rising, I'm very depressed with what is going on in the second season, it makes me sad. I haven't actually seen it all, since it hasn't all been shown yet, I'm getting close to the end and not liking what I see and hear. I hope to progress greatly with this story, to great lengths and as I said before I'm pretty sure (even though I'm not certain what it means) I am a big shipper (if that's right) of Max and Logan. As yet this chapter doesn't digress into such matters but trust me it will come, it's the reason I started to write it.

Slinking along silently through the dark, she thought to herself 'Why does this sort of thing always happen? As soon as we get somewhere, talk about something that isn't Eyes Only or Manticore related, something manages to pop up that is. It happens all the time. Someone out there just doesn't want me to be happy.'

Realising that she had been standing at her target location for a few minutes doing nothing but staring blankly at the wall, thinking, she decided a bit of action was required. 'What's happening to me? Since when did I think this much about Logan and I not having time together? And since when did I care so much? Damn, I am turning sentimental.'

"Ok girl, lets focus on the job at hand." Sometimes a verbal reminder is the only way to get your head back in the game.

"And what job is that?" Came a smug reply from an overweight un-cleaned security guard.

'Brilliant! Next time save your thinking for the Space Needle, no more mid-mission philosophy.' Max berated herself for being so careless. There was however, still a job to do and an obnoxious over-weight miscreant to deal with.

Turning to face the security guard straight on, she regarded her situation. How many times had she done this sort of thing for Logan, and why did she keep doing it? She enjoyed getting out at night, with something more to do these days than just riding her bike around, which got expensive when it came time to put some fuel in it. Maybe it was because she felt so comfortable doing this sort of thing, after all she was made and trained for it. That thought didn't sit well, the fact she did this as a manner of keeping in touch with her inner-Manticore-soldier-self.

'No that isn't it. It can't be.'

A now very angry Max didn't even leave herself time for a smart comment, the security guard – of course – didn't know what hit him, assuring his colleges days later (when he finally remembered who he was) that there must have been a group of them and she was a mere decoy.

Standing over a now very unconscious body Max was fuming.

'How can I be doing this? I am turning back into the monster they created…'

"Shut up Max, just shut up." She was now half talking half yelling at herself, the anger quite apparent in her words.

"Great now I'm talking to myself. Well I suppose it beats all this absent minded thinking." She muttered whilst bending down to check out the security guard. She could hear a faint buzz, he had a radio strapped to his belt that suddenly came to life with a static encrusted questions. "Hey Bob, what's going on over there? Did you see anyone?"

'Can this night suck anymore?'

Trying her hand at a little vocal imitation, she picked up the radio and keyed the mic.

"Yeah what do'y want?" she drawled. Try as she might and even being a genetically engineered soldier, there was no way her angelic voice would pass as that belonging to the body laying next to her. She cursed again and took off for the building, contemplating turning back for a second, until she remembered Logan's words. "Little to no security, and what is there is made up of a couple of uneducated slack-jawed idiots."

'Well at least there is now only one uneducated slack-jawed idiot to deal with.'

On the other end of the radio sat Stan, a very solidly built man. Apparently Max's attempts at sounding like an idiot seemed to actually pass, of course it could have been due to the ridiculous amounts of static present on the radio. Stan sat and looked at the radio for a bit. 'Was that a woman's voice? I don't think so. Right what options do I have at this moment?' Stan considered his options. 'Is this Bob playing smarty-pants? The batteries are due for a change soon, maybe they're flat. 'Course we could be under attack from a covert team of operatives wanting to steal our… crappy T.V.?' 

He chuckled slightly at his last thought then made his decision and sat down again. 'It's too damn late to play games with you now Bob, get stuffed.' With that he returned to his re-runs of Dragon Ball-Z.

Problem was Stan had no idea why they were guarding this place, sure it was a heritage building but it was in the middle of wilderness, where even the desperate of society didn't come from fear of the chemicals that went, missing, when the pulse hit. Of course, missing indicated that the companies didn't have a very good plan for mass disaster so when all the power went out, so did the chemicals. Out, into the surrounding landscape creating the wasteland it was today. Stan and Bob didn't mind, all they knew was the amount of money they were getting for sitting in a nice old building watching TV.

Logan on the other hand did have a slight problem. Sitting in his car, having long lost sight of Max as she disappeared into the black night, Logan kept his windows firmly closed and an emergency bottle of oxygen on stand by, just in case. What he had come looking for was something he had been researching for a long time, longer than he knew Max. There were strong rumours suggesting that in the heritage building was a store of weapons. Not your standard guns, but advanced weaponry that was so atrocious in the manner of execution that the second it had been designed, even before that, when the first person consider the possibility of this style weapon, it had been banned from ever being made by the Geneva Convention. Of course, the American government had to create a small stockpile of these weapons, just in case someone else had developed them. Problem was, as it always is, no one expected a massive electromagnetic pulse to hit the country. As with most modern technology of '08, hitting it with a huge dosage of electromagnetic radiation was a sure-fire way to kill it, and kill it quickly. So in this old building in a hidden basement, which of course Logan had heard about, sat the stockpile of these decommissioned defunct guns.

"So what the hell am I going in there for?" Max had asked him, in a playful aggressive manner. A manner that would have scared him a while ago but he felt as if he were coming to know Max a lot better these days. He still couldn't figure it out, he was sure he liked her, he enjoyed her company, he enjoyed having a genetically engineered killing machine at his disposal, especially since his accident.

Jumping back to the present, Logan considered his situation with Max and the conversation only a few hours ago, which had followed an exciting evening on Max's motorcycle.

'Now what's going to happen Cale? You can walk again, not very well but you know it's going to get there. What are you going to do about Max?'

"What am I going to do about Max?" He stated out loud this time, hoping it would make more sense, all it got him however, was more confused. He felt helpless sitting there, in the dark, not doing anything but waiting. 'I think I spend too much time waiting for things to happen.' He tried that one on, he didn't think it fit too well, maybe it's something else. 'Do I feel guilty about asking Max to risk her neck for me all the time?' Nope, he knew, that she knew, she didn't have to do it. She was a big girl anyway and this was a pretty much nothing mission in regards to physical exertion. Of course - as it always is - it was the scoop of a lifetime. The radioactive material in the weapons was still quite active and there were rumours of the guns being moved and repaired. Logan had to get solid proof that the guns existed so that he could do a convincing hack and stop them before they were repaired and used against someone.

Max was admiring the 16th century architecture of the building, and the size, this place was huge. The secret basement was hidden underneath the middle of the ballroom floor. Upon entering the room she suddenly had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, it then hit her. This was nearly exactly the same room Logan and her had danced in that peculiar shared dream. Of course there were no lights on and it was all pretty dusty, yet it still made her shiver a little. She smiled, then slowly waltzed around the room with an imaginary partner, until she came to the middle. Bending down, she noticed the very slight seam in the floor.

"Well this looks like it to me." She stated to no one in particular as she jimmied the trap door open.

'What the hell am I doing? Waltzing around the room like an idiot.'

"Good thing no one is here." She declared haphazardly as the trap door finally opened revealing a staircase.

What she didn't notice was the sound of a truck pulling up outside.

Down in the basement Max had soon discovered the stockpile of guns and was happily taking photos with the digital camera Logan had given her. 'I think I need a picture of Logan, maybe I'll get one when I get back to the car.' The thought of Logan posing for a photo made her grin. 'Well I might have to sneak one then.'

At the front of the building Stan noticed the truck pulling up and went to investigate. On arriving at the door he noticed a group of very important and professional looking soldiers approaching, following a surly looking man. Behind the man and soldiers came a very nervous looking lab tech of some description carry some strange looking equipment. Stan put up his hands in a gesture of denial and spoke to the group. "Look, I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave, this is a restricted area." Just as he had finished his little speech, being amazed that his voice sounded so assertive given the situation, the man in the front of the group raised his gun and shot him.

"What did you do that for? We hired the security guards, there was no need to shoot him." The lab tech had made his way to the front and was addressing the surly man. The lab tech's voice was squeaking, he was extremely nervous about this whole situation.

The other man knew this and so took advantage of the situation.

"Look Roberts, he was here, anyone who is here knows too much about this place already, even if everything is hidden." He knew he didn't have to shoot him, but it was the kind of man he was. Angry and disgruntled with his life and the people around him., ever since his wife and child had been brutally taken from him, he felt that is how life should be for him now, brutal.

As soon as Max heard the gunshot she took off, not wanting to be trapped in this lions den. 'Damn, what is that? I mean I know it was a gunshot, but why? I hope Logan wasn't itching to use his legs and decided a little walk was in order.' Scolding herself again for letting her mind wander whilst doing a mission she ran up the stairs and started to close the trap door.

Problem was, the trap door was gas charged, so try as she might to hurry it along its way, it only slowly descended towards the floor. Considering what to do, she finally heard people talking in the next room, the main security office Logan had told her about.

"Right men, you know there shouldn't be anyone here, no one knows about it. I do, however, not want you to lapse into a state of relax, you are here for a purpose. Do not forget that."

Hearing the movement of feet, Max decided it was high time to get moving. She knew she had at least 20 seconds before anyone reached the room she was in, but she didn't want to risk it. Running towards the window she had climbed in, she surveyed the small patch of land she could see around the window.

She was standing in the window frame and about the jump to the ground when she heard the crunch of heavy boots on the pavement surrounding the building. Looking down she saw two heavily armed soldiers coming around the corner. Deciding she wasn't in the mood to be shot at, she scaled the drainage pipe that always seemed to be placed next to the windows in these old 16th century buildings.

Upon reaching the top of the 5 story building she surveyed the ground below her. There were a lot of soldiers around. Immediately she panicked, thinking that Lydecker had tracked her down, then she noticed that the emblems on the soldiers shoulder pads were not Manticore, but resembled the Military Special Ops. 'Oh, that's right, they are probably here for the guns, thanks a lot Logan, yet again your source screwed up and I am facing something more challenging than what I had planned for. If I knew I had to deal with this lot, I would have insisted upon a bath first. Oh well, lets get out of here before someone sees me and so I can kick your arse.'

Just as she was beginning her decent down the other side of the building when the roof door opened and three soldiers moved smoothly out into the dark morning air. Max heard this and looked in the direction of the door, seeing the soldiers split up and move towards the corners of the rooftop. She knew they couldn't see her, it was 4a.m. and still very dark only she had genetically enhanced sight. 'Well I'd love to stay and chat boys, but I've got to be off now.' She waved to them playfully and turned to slip down the drainpipe.

What she didn't realise was that these soldiers, while being created in the normal manner, were not entirely normal. All had electronic equipment and night vision. One of the soldiers couldn't believe his eyes when he spotted a girl standing on the edge of the building smiling and waving at him. It took a while to register the fact, but as soon as he did, he didn't hesitate to level his gun and start shooting. 

Max noticed the soldier's sudden change of stance and the movement of the gun, swinging around in her direction. Being half way over the edge of the building she knew going back up wasn't an option and if she hung around on this drainpipe any longer the soldiers on the ground would be alerted to the fact there was a girl hanging off the side of the building. Without a further thought she let go of the drain pipe, leant back and pushed off, bringing her knees momentarily to her chest then letting them out again, completing a very nice back flip with tuck. The mid air acrobatics would have been suicide to anyone else. Of course, Max isn't anyone else and as she continued her very fast journey from the 5th floor to ground level she could feel her muscles relaxing and her senses heightening. She was pumping with adrenaline. With a normal person when they are full of adrenaline they acquire a boost in strength, however the other sense seem to dull quite a bit, only being able to focus on the task at hand and the whole world seems to shoot by a lot faster. With Max, as with the other X5's, her adrenaline was designed in a unique manner. Her strength and speed would increase dramatically, all her sense were heightened to such an extent she could see almost everything as if it were daylight and hear the sounds of all the soldiers in the compound and even faintly the noise of Logan's car running off in the distance. She could also smell everything more, the sweat of the soldiers the blood of the shot security guard and the vague stench of over cooked meat. This momentary amplification of the senses were designed to last as long as the adrenaline was cursing through their bodies. They could have easily designed them to have these features all the time but decided it would make normal movement and daily activities impossible. 'Thanks for all this feline DNA Manticore' Max thought to herself as she landed unharmed and breaking a part of the concrete walkway. Getting up from the crouched position she had landed in, she started to run, and run fast. By the time the soldiers on the roof had made it to the edge, they could only vaguely make out – with the aid of their night vision – the movement in the distance. They shot wildly not expecting to hit anything but trying all the same.

Max could tell the soldiers had reached the edge of the building as she noticed their running footsteps had stopped, she knew the shooting was about to start. 'Run Max run' she encouraged herself. Not really expecting to have any trouble since she was already a few hundred meters away from the building by the time the shooting had started. She slowed a little as she felt she had no real need to run fast anymore, she had left them ages back and by the time they figured anything out she would be long gone. It was still around a mile back to the car so she settled into a comfortable jog.

Max could feel the adrenaline slowly draining from her system. Suddenly she heard an engine start and then another, she looked back towards the compound and saw two motorbikes starting up. "This is just great, motor bikes." Max said in a defeated tone. 'Oh well guess I better hurry up then' she thought as she once again ran with phenomenal speed. 'I can't believe Logan did this to me again. I am going to kick his arse when I get back to the car. "No security", good one.' Max again was developing a slight rage due to this mission and Logan's lack of planning. Only a few hours ago, he stood in front of her, then they were on her bike. Problem was the bike ride ended and when she went up to have a drink, things got uncomfortable.

"So, what has Logan Cale man of mystery got planned now that he can walk again?"

"Oh, I don't know. What ever he wants." Logan replied grinning like a mad man, he couldn't believe how happy he was, all he could do was walk again – and not very well – he didn't ever remember being this happy before the accident. Of course he hadn't known Max before the accident, so that could explain some things. He also had just been driving her bike around, with her on the back. He still couldn't quite believe it, she wanted him to drive, her baby, and she trusted him enough to sit behind him. That thought would bring a smile to his face for many years he was certain.

"Really? And what does he want?" Max asked mischievously pouting at him.

"I can think of a few things…" He let that one trail off as he went into the kitchen to fix a drink.

'God man, what are you saying, this is Max remember. I know I didn't actually say anything but the implications were as blunt as a bus through a plate glass window.'

'Whoa girl, slow down a little. What are you doing with him now? You don't know do you? Maybe I should just leave, before I say something or do something he and I regret.' As Max turned to leave she heard Logan speaking again, just the mere sound of his voice caused her the recoil from the door and turn to face him. 'God I'm in trouble.'

"Max? You going somewhere?" Logan asked, returning from the kitchen with two glasses of something a very bright red colour.

"Um… No, well kinda I was thinking it's late and…" Max stumbled her way through the excuse before Logan cut in.

"You were thinking of leaving? Because it's late, you don't sleep, I'm not tired, hey maybe all this revved up Manticore blood of yours is doing more than just make me walk again, you are rubbing off on me." He added to try and lighten the mood but still not able to fully shake the slight hurt in his voice. "At least have a drink, freshly mixed red cordial.

"Red cordial? Are you serious, what happened to all the Pre-Pulse wines and exotic fruit drinks?" Max asked playfully trying to regain some form of composure and cheer him up a little, she had picked the slight change in his voice when he caught her trying to leave. She also enjoyed having a go at Logan when he appeared to slip to the levels of the average poor person.

"Are you saying you've actually had red cordial? I know I haven't for a long time." Logan asked her.

"Well, no but it's a kids drink isn't it?" She asked seriously, trying not to sound to naïve, like she had been brought up away from society. She hated when things that seemed so obvious to other people took her by surprise.

"And milk isn't?" Logan retorted, then noticing the look on Max's face decided on a different direction.

"It might be, but I like it and that's all the counts." Max smiled at him and took a sip.

"Wow, it's so sweet. Must be made of sugar with some red food dye thrown in." 

"Not too far off. Now I'm going to have to watch you, people have been known to have some serious side effects after having red cordial." He stated in a far too serious manner. Max was a little worried, considering it was her first time at red cordial, maybe it would affect her in some way. 

"What sort of side effects?" Max asked, as she looked at Logan. She was worried and concerned that Logan had quite obviously put her in danger with something she didn't know anything about.

He could see she was worried and tried to correct his last statement but still wanted to play with her a little more, just for the sake of seeing her pout. He was starting to believe that sub-consciously he did things on purpose to get her a little miffed, just to see her pout, god he loved that look on her face. He decided however that this wasn't a nice thing to be doing to such a lovely girl.

'Quick Logan, say something, she is getting quite anxious, you just staring at her like that isn't going to help anything.' His inner voice reminded him that whilst thinking – contrary to popular belief – time still did go by.

'Yeah but it sure is nice.' He explained to his inner voice. He then realised what he was saying to himself.

'My god, did I just say something, which was a form of admission to my feelings for this girl?' He was still standing there looking at Max, his face had turned a little worried at his internal struggle and Max picked up on this.

'Oh damn, he has just realised that this red cordial is going to have some serious side effects with my screwed DNA. What do I do?' Max was really panicking and it was quite evident on her face, especially in her eyes.

"Max, don't worry, really it's nothing. It's just that as kids when you drink quite a bit of red cordial you get full of sugar and go completely nuts. This was referred to by the parents as 'having a serious side effect', just us kids going nutty and stuff. Nothing serious. Sorry I scared you Max." Logan ended that quietly, hoping that Max would forgive him, by means of a smart remark or even better would be one of her smiles.

Instead.

"Logan, how could you do that too me?!" Max half yelled at him, Logan could tell she was really pissed but there was also something else, she was hurt. He couldn't believe he was so stupid to do that to Max.

"First you say it might have some serious effect on me, then when I ask you about it you just stand there and look at me for ages not saying anything!" The volume was steadily increasing, and by the end of this comment Max was shouting, something she hadn't done since Manticore, that upset her.

She then finished by saying in almost a whisper, her voice full of hurt and pain. "I thought you cared about me."

'Oh god, did I just say that?' She had finally told him that she cared, in a manner of speaking, she assumed he was smart enough to figure that out since she was so upset by the fact that he didn't seem to care about her.

This last statement took Logan completely off guard.

'What have I done, all the nights of cooking, paging her for no apparent reason, I was finally getting to see the real her, and was getting her to open up. Now in one swift and very stupid move, I've destroyed the relationship we had. Damn I'm an idiot.' Without actually thinking about what he was going to say, he realised it had already been said.

"Max, I'm so sorry. I do care about you. A lot."

Max had been ready to hear what he had to say, then disregard it, and leave swiftly. She was very angry with Logan, and hurt. But hearing him say that he cared for her, and a lot – that was very unexpected but delightful if not a little scary – melted through her established bitch armour and also managed to warm her up at the same time. She also slipped and looked at his eyes, she saw the sincerity and angst, knowing he had hurt her, the eyes seen by millions yet only really seen by her, she knew it too. That always made her feel good but that's not what she wanted at the moment, she was desperately trying to hold onto the quickly diminishing anger she held for Logan at that moment.

She failed.

So there they stood, in his kitchen at 2:30 in the morning. Neither one of them saying anything, just standing there embarrassed by each others presence and the knowledge that there would be repercussions to what was confessed tonight. Logan was sitting on the kitchen bench, Max leaning against the counter, not 3 feet away, they were sipping the red cordial they had, each one trying desperately not to look at the other. When they had finished their red cordial, they just stayed where they were, this sitting in uncomfortable silence was becoming unbearable.

"So…" they both said in unison. Another few minutes of sitting in silence waiting for the other one the say something followed.

"So…" another long silence.

'Oh god, what do I do now? I can't just leave without saying something else. Should I say something, should I just jump him, no that would be a little too forward. I need to know how he really feels. I think…' Max's thoughts trailed off, not really knowing where she was going, but not liking the sentimentality it was implying. She was really scared now, this was completely foreign territory, no training she ever had has prepared her for something like this, she was really really scared.

'Well this is a dilly of a pickle you've got yourself into now Logan. You finally told her that you like her, well cared for her, it's the same thing isn't it? Thing is, you said you cared a lot, which generally means more than friends. I wonder what she is thinking, I know, she is going to run again, something needs to be said. I have to tell her that I want her to stay for the night. Not in a smutty way, just so we can talk, we really need to talk properly about this.' Logan still had a stunned expression on his face, at what he had heard and especially what he had said.

When both of them seemed to have worked up the courage to say something, the phone rang.

'Thank god' they both thought in unanimity, they knew it wasn't a good thing, they needed to talk but it was a much easier way out for the moment. Anyway talking was something that could be done later. They both agreed with themselves that they were definitely going to have to talk about this.

Wrenched from his thoughts, he saw a small convoy of military vehicles moving into the compound.

"Oh no, this isn't good, Max is going to be angry with me again." Logan said to himself. 'Well at least you will probable get to see her pouting at you again.' That thought made him smile a little, then he realised that this rogue section of conscious was going to get him into serious trouble one of these days.

When he was sure they were in, he started the car, he didn't go anywhere, he just started it, to be ready.

Back in the compound Max was making some incredible speeds towards Logan's car, however the bikes were still going faster than she was. It was only a matter of 30 seconds for them to catch up to her.

Thinking quickly – which is the only way to think when you are full of adrenaline and your brain has be genetically tweaked to deal with situations exactly like this – she waited until they were about 20 feet behind her, then without turning around, she stopped her amazing speed, on the spot and jumped into the air, so her body was at about shoulder height. Her figure flattened out, so she was in the air horizontal facing the ground and her legs went out, into the splits. Knowing she was on the money when she was catapulted forward at a great speed since both motorbike riders' heads had conveniently come into contact with the heels of her feet.

Somewhere in the distance she heard a Hummer starting.

She quickly rolled out of her 'superman' flight, got up and ran back to the bike riders both of which were recovering from their encounter with Max's heel's. She ran over to the closest soldier, ripped his helmet off and squarely punched him in the face, knocking him out. The other soldier had already removed his helmet and was coming over the Max with a large blade drawn.

'At least he doesn't have a gun, I hate those things' Max thought.

"You ready to dance girly?" The soldier sneered, and with obvious hope, he was huge, stood at well over six foot and was about 3 foot wide at the shoulders.

"Dance? With you, nah thanks I'd like to keep my feet and you look the clumsy type. I mean you can't even stay on your bike can you?" She said in an innocent tone, which she knew always pissed her opponents off.

"You are dead girl." The soldier snarled as he lunged at Max.

She deftly stepped out of the way, stuck her leg out and shoved him in the back, he feel very hard.

"Had enough dancing for one night? I mean you really are clumsy, you can't even stand properly with out falling over." She added with a sarcastic smirk. She then noticed that the Hummer she heard starting was racing towards them with at least 4 armed soldiers in it. At the same time, the soldier got up off the ground and started towards her again.

"Stay still this time girly."

"You really are thick aren't you, but if you want me to stay still I will." She confronted him, knowing this had to be over quick.

He ran towards he with the knife in front of him and a manic look on his face. When he was about 3 feet away, Max spun around and jumped up, her left leg hit the knife out of his hand, then she followed through with the right leg and hit him square in the head, with this hit she noticed a lot of blood splatter on his face. 'Whoops, maybe a little too hard there Max.' she thought to herself. 'Well at least he is down and I can get going again.'

She turned and shot off in the direction of Logan's car again, this time with bullets being shot by the approaching Hummer bouncing off the ground around her feet. 'These guys are pretty good, well there's the wall, I think they will have a little trouble getting through that.' She thought as she approached the 15 foot high solid stone wall that surrounded the grounds and enclosed the building.

With one swift jump she was up and over the wall, of course she couldn't see what was on the other side but she new it was where Logan's car was, her memory was good.

Splash, she had managed to land in a puddle of filthy muddy water. 'He always parks next to puddles doesn't he?' She thought to herself sarcastically. 'That's it, I am so pissed at Logan right now.' Then she looked up and saw him sitting in the car, face full of concern for her. 'Great, for the second time tonight he has smothered my anger.' 'But he's so cute when he is concerned. Damn, did I just think that, I really need to get myself into order.' She got up and raced around to the passenger door and leapt in, Logan immediately sped off.

Max looked down and realised she was covered in chemicals of some description. 'Great there go my clothes.' 

She was steadily becoming angry with Logan again, and this time she wasn't going to let him win by looking at him. She just sat there and mulled over the loss of her favourite cat-suit and was getting angrier at Logan. This whole mission had been a complete bust. No security, then a damn platoon of specially trained operatives come in, just great.

'Now all my clothes are ruined.' She was getting really pissed now.

"Ma…" Logan began.

"Don't you dare try Logan." Max spat.

They just sat there in silence Max covered in chemicals Logan feeling incredibly pathetic again. He couldn't believe he did this to her again, he was angry with himself. He looked at her in a desperate attempt to see if she was really angry, that meant looking at her face and into those deep brown eyes.

As he looked over he noticed her head turned and leaning against the window. 'That's understandable I wouldn't want to talk to me either, ever again most likely. God I'm an idiot.' Logan couldn't believe how many stupid things he had done tonight, the red cordial, then leaving the do the Eyes Only mission when something more important needed to be dealt with, and now this. Here she was again, covered in filth after another Eyes Only mission went completely sideways. He was starting to feel sad, he had a horrible feeling that she wasn't going to want to see him after this, he knew he deserved it but he couldn't handle the thought of it.

He looked over at Max again and noticed she had slumped more against the window.

"Max? Are you alright?" He asked a slight panic in his voice.

'There is nothing ever wrong with Max, she is always fine. This isn't good.' Logan was starting to panic a lot more now.

It was then he noticed the large pool of blood around her feet, she was bleeding heavily from her lower leg.

"Max! Can you hear me? Wake up Max." Logan was beside himself now, she wasn't responding, she just sat there unconscious, hunched against the window.


	2. All or Nothing

Disclaimer: Same as usual, I own nothing, I wish for no profit, etc.

Authors Nots: Well to say I was overwhelmed by the reviews I received would be an understatement. I can't believe I received so many, so shortly after posting it and they were pretty positive, another bonus. Just a few things some people have mentioned. I am from Australia and so spell things the Australian way, i.e. colour, with the 'u'. I apologise for the time it took to up load this. I sort of jumped in the deep end with the first chapter, posting it with out having any other back up chapters to slap up quickly. Don't worry I will write more, it just takes me some time. I am also fairly busy. Thank you all for the reviews, I am touched. You may have noticed, I need a beta. If anyone is interested, I offer 50 an hour with full health benefits.

Story Note: Right, well I've had a few people point out that there was a reference to Red Cordial made in the story – although I can't understand why – at some point. Here's the thing, I will explain why Logan has Red Cordial instead of the American equivalent which is something in the order of a Kool-Aid drink or something to that effect. Please just deal with it until I get around to explaining the Red Cordial situation. Until then, every time red cordial appears, just know that it is a Kool-Aid style drink, but nicer and Logan has it.

Chapter 2 – All or Nothing

"Max!" Logan was pretty much screaming at her now, while still trying to maintain some control of the car.

'Oh god, what's wrong with her. Well obviously she has a dirty great hole in her leg somewhere and she is losing blood. Too much blood.' As Logan thought this he decided pulling over and checking her out was the best thing to be done.

A few more kilometres up the road he noticed a reasonably busy pre-pulse fast food restaurant.

'Well I'm sure that those army guys won't come to look for us in a crowded place.' He assured himself as he drove around the back and found a quite place to park so he could get out and check on Max.

On stopping the car he flung his door open and jumped out, only to have his legs buckle under him, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Damn! I need you guys to work now." He addressed his legs through gritted teeth.

Slowly but surely he could feel the sensation flooding back through his muscles and his feet start to twitch as he sent orders to them, orders to move and move fast.

'Come on, come on. Max needs me, she's unconscious or… Well she has to be unconscious she was only talking a while ago.' He tried to change the subject on himself so he didn't have to address the issue she could be a little more than unconscious.

Meanwhile Max sat in the car, still slumped against the window, not moving.

Finally Logan got his legs into order and stood up. Gingerly he made his way to the other side of the car, it was then he noticed to smell of over cooked meat coming out of the kitchen behind him. 

He moved around to Max's door and opened it.

Max's body fell out and onto him.

'Logan you idiot, you saw she was leaning against the door!' He berated himself as he tried to get out from underneath Max, apparently his legs didn't agree with the idea that they should be able to support someone else's body weight just yet.

Max began to stir ever so slightly atop of Logan.

"Max? Max, are you alright, what happened?" Logan had noticed the movement and was attempting to rouse her back to the world of the living.

"Huh? What happened? Logan we need to get going, those soldiers are right behind me." Max managed to get out, although it took some time and was somewhat slurred. She had forgotten she was very angry with him, now she was only concerned for his safety and also wondering why she was lying on top of him in a dimly lit area.

'What the hell is he trying to pull. Damn he feels fine underneath me. Whoa there you go again girl, cool it.' The internal debate was quickly finished when Logan managed to worm his way from underneath her and uncertainly get to his feet. 'Oh well it was fun while it lasted.' This thought brought a slight grin to her face, a grin that quickly faded when she tried to stand and feel over.

"Damn." She sounded more embarrassed than anything.

"Max, are you ok?" Logan asked from his position on the ground, his voice full of worry and compassion.

"Yeah, sure, just a little light headed." She responded, obviously trying not to draw too much attention to the fact she had just fallen over.

"Well you've been bleeding all over the place, it's no surprise." Logan responded, trying to make an excuse for her whilst lightening the mood.

"At least now it's not only my clothes that are ruined." Max pointed out as she got to her feet and was able to stay there. Logan looked down and noticed that when Max had landed on him, some of the chemicals and quite a bit of her blood were now soaking nicely into his clothing. 'Oh this isn't good.' Logan thought with a sense of impending doom. 'No time for this, Max is still bleeding.' He deliberated as he looked over and saw the steady stream of blood still flowing from her lower right leg.

"Max, did you notice that you'd been shot?" Logan asked carefully, thinking it was a pretty stupid question and so expecting a sarcastic reply in return.

"What? Logan I've already had enough of you jerking me around tonight." Max started, there was a level or anger in her voice, anger and hurt remembering what had happened earlier that morning.

"Max, look at your leg, there is a hole in it and blood all over the place, I'm assuming that's why you lost consciousness." Logan tried, although quite tentatively knowing she was thinking about earlier and how much he had upset her.

Max did a quick scan of her senses, testing all the important muscles by stretching them a little. When she got to her right calf muscle she winced. 'Great just what I need a hole through my leg.'

Without asking she went to Logan's car and got the small medical kit that always accompanied them on their little late night excursions. She got some gauss and bandages out and tied them around her leg, blocking the bleeding.

"Max, shouldn't you clean that first?" Logan asked, a little puzzled knowing Max had a great knowledge of mid-combat first aid.

"Nah, it's not worth it. As you said before I'm already immune to all the chemicals made before I was, I'll be fine." She wasn't too happy with what she had just said, she hated reminding Logan that she wasn't just a normal girl, that she was a creation. Logan's next comment didn't help.

"Well super-girl, do you think you could give me a little hand? My leg's have given up for the moment." 'Damn I'm an idiot, I just keep putting my foot in it tonight. I know she doesn't like being reminded she is different, it's so obvious, she gets all shy and sullen.' Logan wasn't happy either anymore. The elation from realising Max was alright was quickly stifled by him saying something stupid… Again.

Max bent down and picked him up, a little too hard, sending him a foot or two above the pavement before his feet came down and again buckled, this time however he fell onto her, and she caught him.

For a fleeting moment they just stood there, Max standing erect,  Logan slightly bent, both at eye level.

'Her eyes are so deep, there is such great brooding of emotions. These are the most amazing things I have ever seen. I now know, I really like this girl. Why does she keep looking at my mouth?'

'His eye's, they're so intense, so many mysteries I need to unravel. He knows everything thing about me and I know that he is Eyes Only, and that he is amazing. I think I'm glad I kissed him that time, maybe I could just…'

A hoot from one of the people populating the restaurant brought them back to earth, both very embarrassed with their current proximity to each other. Max, nearly dropped him in an attempt to get away from the situation then she realised Logan still needed her for support. She helped him back to the car then got back into the passenger seat. They left in silence, each one in a world of their own, of course each world was the same, they just hadn't realised it yet.

When they got back to Logan's apartment, he offered her a shower. 

"Yeah sure, these clothes stink, you owe me…" Her sentence was cut short when she noticed that Logan was also covered in chemicals, and appeared to be sweating a lot more than usual. He then lurched forward and fell, hitting the hardwood floors with a resounding thud. In her attempts to stop him Max also nearly fell over, it appeared that her shoes were still wet and wet shoes and a hardwood floor didn't lend themselves to a high coefficient of friction.

When she finally got to him, he was having coughing fits. She flipped him over and lay his head on her leg – she was by this time also on the floor with Logan – and felt his brow.

"Logan, you're cooking, we need to get you cooled off…"

"Max, you're so pretty." Logan stated in a childish tone with a huge grin on his face.

Max blushed deeply even though she new he was hallucinating. 'Although they say people often speak what the truly feel during an hallucination.'

"Yeah, what ever." She wasn't quite sure if she was replying to Logan or trying to stop her own over imaginative thinking.

It was then she realised Logan had taken a chemical bath and wasn't as immune to them as she was. 'Oh god, he could die now.'

She bent down and sniffed the shirt Logan was wearing.

"Sodium, Nitrate, Hydrochloric Acid, oh something very pleasant, which is you isn't it Logan? Damn! Ammonia." Max listed the chemicals on his shirt and when she got to the last one, she started to get really worried. Ammonia was a very nasty chemical to come into contact with, in a gas form it can kill in only a few minutes, however she was pretty certain this wasn't a gas so there was still a very good chance he hadn't inhaled any. Of course if he had ingested some there could be some real trouble.

"Logan, try and answer me. Did you lick your lips or anything?" She was trying to establish if he had in fact consumed any. Her thought was interrupt by some more coughing, this time more serious, and blood was starting to splatter the floor.

"Max!" Logan yelled, this made her jump a little, as she wasn't expecting such an outburst.

"Yes, I'm here Logan, it's gonna to be ok. I just have to clean you up a little. We're taking a shower." With out thinking what she had actually said, she picked him up and carried him towards the bathroom.

"Max?"

"Shhh, it's going to be ok Loga…" Logan interrupted her.

"I was lost Max."

"Where, what?" Max was becoming increasingly confused and distressed with the state Logan was in, she noticed he was shaking now.

"I was lost, in your eyes. You have the most amazing eyes I've ever seen. Can you be mine?" Logan said, again in a childish voice before losing consciousness.

"Logan, Logan! Wake up!" Max was shouting at him, there would be time to consider what he had said a little later, even though it had been a hallucination she still liked hearing him say that.

They arrived at the shower and Max dumped him in, taking his shirt off in the process.

They didn't hear the door opening.

Max turned on the shower and tried to direct the spray at Logan, it wasn't working too well. The corner he was slumped in was just out of reach for the showerhead, so only his lower legs were getting washed.

"That won't do." Max said to Logan's unconscious form, she knew he needed to get cleaned quickly.

She took her jacket off and jumped in the shower with him and picked him up. 'Well I need to wash off too.'

They stood there in the shower – Max stood holding Logan at arms length slowly turning him around (and admiring the view) to get all the chemicals off his upper body, Logan hung, suspended by Max and flopped around as she only had hold of him mid chest. The room was filling with steam and Logan appeared to be breathing a little easier, at least the shaking and coughing blood had stopped. Max moved closer to him, she told herself it was because her arms were getting tired holding him at that length, in truth she could have held him at that distance for over a day, she just wanted to get closer. Max had only intended on bringer herself a little closer but she slipped on the soap and nearly hit her head on the shampoo caddy. 'Lucky, that would have hurt like the dickens' She thought to herself, then she noticed that instead of a nice little buffer of half a foot she had intended on, they were now squashed up against each other. Her first reaction was too jump back but that little part of her conscious, the one she knew was going to get her into trouble, seemed to have taken hold of her body. Not only did it not let her to jump back, it made her push herself against him more. 'This is crazy, he could regain consciousness any minute now and find me rubbing up against him.' 

However she didn't stop, she enjoyed being this close to him. She then bent her head so her nose was only an inch away from his shoulder. Max inhaled deeply, sucking up as much of his scent as she could. God she loved the way he smelt. 

She could feel someone looking at her, she looked up and saw Logan gazing down at her, a slight look of confusion but mainly one of desire. Max let him stand on his own now but still didn't change position. She slowly raised onto her tiptoes, looking him in the eyes the whole time.

"Hey you." She barely whispered.

"Hey yourself." Logan replied still a little confused with the situation but enjoying it none the less.

"I keep forgetting how tall you are." Max said, again it was barely audible

'Her eyes are so deep and full, looking up at me, up, I'm standing. Anything's possible now.' Logan could see the compassion, the insecurity, the fear but mainly the desire, something that he was sure his own eyes were betraying as well.

'Maybe I should kiss her, just to see what this relationship is about, I mean I can walk maybe she doesn't see me as such a charity case now. And I really want too.'

'I can't believe I'm still pushing myself against him, I should really just stand back and let him clean himself off. Those eyes, they're not letting me move, I can't believe all the mix of emotions that can be seen in his eyes. He is torn so many ways. He want's the kiss me, I can see the desire, why doesn't he kiss me? I want him too.' As Max said this, she again looked to his mouth while slightly inclining her head downwards while pushing herself up onto her toes.

Nothing.

She lowered slowly to the balls of her feet again, then changed her mind. 'It's worth another try.'

So again she pushed herself back onto her toes inclined her head and kept glancing between his wonderful eyes and his mouth.

This time she was rewarded. Logan leant down ever so slightly and kissed her gently.

'Oh my god! He kissed me!' Max was going insane, she pushed herself further up to deepen the kiss, Logan responded by lowering his head more towards her, the intensity increased.

'Oh god, I kissed her. This is amazing, I can't believe it.' Logan was about to lower his head to kiss her deeper when he was pleasantly surprised by the movement of her face towards him. He considered it for a moment and then put his arms gently around her lower back, just resting them there, trying to tell her that she was welcome to stay and not real desired to leave.

Max thought she heard something, then decided that there was nothing more important than what was going on here.

'Maybe I should put my arms around his neck.' Max entertained the idea then concluded it would be a little too much for the moment.

She knew if they didn't break the kiss soon, it was going to get too difficult to deal with, at the moment she didn't know what she was going to do afterwards.

Slowly and very grudgingly she withdrew from his embrace and stepped back.

They just stood there and looked at each other.

"Wow." Max barely said, so quiet because she didn't want to speak in case her voice didn't work properly.

"Yeah, wow." Logan replied

They stood there for a while, not really knowing what to do and trying to avoid eye contact.

"I should just…" Max began, speaking quickly and obviously embarrassed, using her thumb to point over her shoulder.

"Yeah, let me just finish up here, then you can have a proper go." Logan said, also rather rushed with his face turning a shade of pink.

When Max got back into Logan's room –they had some how ended up in his ensuite – a familiar smell assailed her nostrils. 'Now what were you doing here?' She thought to herself.

"Oh well, they're not here any more, the smell is probably still hanging around from earlier and I didn't notice when we got in." Max said, 'Why am I speaking to myself? My god I've been doing a lot of thinking tonight, first with the Red's then Original Cindy, but mostly Logan walking again. And now there is this.'

"Face it Max, you're in trouble." As she was saying this she remembered Logan had more than one shower. 'No point waiting around.'

She got up –she was sitting on Logan's bed, if she had actually realised this more thoughts would have invaded her mind – and went to the guest room the jumped in the shower.

'Nice work Cale, you've managed to destroy another excellent friendship. Max is either going to deny it again, not want to talk to me, or run. At least if she runs I know that she does actually care and is just afraid of getting involved again.' Logan's thoughts depressed him.

"Look at it this way, she seemed to want to kiss me, I mean she stood on her toes and was looking at my mouth the whole time. Maybe she did want it to happen." 'Yeah right, nice try there Logan, you know that you are no where near good enough for her. You can walk, so can everyone else. She is just such a good person, how do I stand a chance to compare…' Logan was becoming increasingly depressed, falling into an abyss he felt certain never to escape from.

Then.

"Right enough of this filth." He angrily told himself. 'Just get a grip and remember that you both kissed, that's all that counts. Also regaining consciousness only to discover the perfect woman pressed up against you, staring into your eyes, hers full of compassion and concern for your well being.'

With this a huge grin spread across his face and stayed there.

Max was in the guest shower, unable to remove the silly grin off her face.

'I can't believe he kissed me, I can't believe he put his arms around me. I can't believe I was willing to stop.' She just stood there for a small while, allowing the warm water and pleasant memories to flow over her. After a while however a dark reckoning started to creep in. 'Oh god, what's going to happen now? He's going to be waiting when I get out of the shower, what are we going to say and do? Should I walk up and sit on his lap?' Max discarded that idea pretty quickly although it appealed to her the most. 'Maybe a quick peck on the mouth or cheek.' While still appealing she noticed the slide she was taking. 'I think the best I can hope for is acknowledgment of what occurred and it won't be put down to being "real emotional".' She was getting upset now. 'No, he's going to pretend it didn't happen and just forget about it.' Panic was setting in, Max didn't think she could handle not being 'like that' with Logan now, not after this. She felt a great weight in her chest and a swelling in her lungs. 'Oh god, he's not going to want to see me again, he's just realising that he has kissed some science fiction freak, made in a lab, he is going to be disgusted with himself.' With out realising it, Max was sobbing, shoulders rising slowly then dropping sharply and dramatically. She felt torn and lost, and that's how she looked.

"Stop it Max, you are showing weakness." She told herself, in an attempt to regain some composure and she slipped back into Manticore mode. This really started to piss her off.

'Right so he doesn't want you, you're a freak get over it and move on.' Max was addressing herself internally, with great aggression. 

It was then that she noticed the pain in her leg. She looked down and saw that the wound was recovering nicely, probably only needed a few more hours to be fully functional again. 'Oh that's right, wonder boy screwed up again, cost me my clothes and got a me a nice hole through my leg.' She was steaming now, Logan was going to get a chewing out for this. All of it.

Logan fell out of the shower and crawled into his closet. Usually this would have really hurt him emotionally and physically but at the moment he still had a stupid grin plastered on his face and thoughts of Max flooding through his head. He got dressed, then discovered that his legs were killing him, happy as he was the feel the pain, he knew he had over done them tonight, so he got into his wheelchair and went to the kitchen and fixed some food.

As soon as she stepped out of the shower she could hear Logan in the kitchen preparing food, she also noticed she had nothing to wear because her cat suit was ruined and all she had with her, in that room, was a towel. Of course that hadn't stopped her before and if she wasn't so angry it would have stopped her now. Considering the circumstances.

"Logan!" She yelled from the guest room as she wrapped the towel around her. 'Ok Max, remember start off on something nice and safe, him screwing up at the Manner tonight.

"Little to no security, now where have I heard that before?" She yelled sarcastically as she made her way down the hall to the kitchen. She stopped and looked at him with an expression able to shatter rock.

"Max, I'm so sorry about that. I didn't know they had planned to ship the guns out tonight. That was always a bit dodgy I'm really sorry." Logan was pleading, he knew there was serious grovelling to be done. 'It's making it hard to come up with something decent to say with her standing there in a towel, I mean, god she hasn't even dried herself off so everything is glistening.' Logan was having a very difficult time concentrating.

"Well it looks like, again, you screwed up and I had to pay for it." Max attacked, happy with the fact she could look at him – not his eyes yet – and not crumble to lose her well airted anger.

"Max, I…" He began but knew he had no chance. 'Hell hath no fury like a womans scorn', seemed to come to mind, then he added, 'Yeah well mine is genetically engineered, that's real trouble'. Trying not to smile, not only at his thoughts but also at the fact Max was attempting to be threatening and scary looking, which would usually work, however seeing her wrapped in a towel – a short towel he noticed – and with her body glistening with drops of water it was impossible for him to feel like he was in trouble. He recalled a night not too dissimilar to this only a short while ago. He'd upset her then and he didn't care, he was completely wrapped up in Eyes Only to even notice she was telling him she may never see him again, that time she wore nothing but a towel as well but it hardly registered. Now, he was fighting with all his might to hold in the grin that was threatening an appearance. The sensation of earlier in the shower was replaying itself again and again in his head, which also wasn't helping the situation.

"Look at you!" Max yelled snapping him back to reality, he hadn't been paying attention but not because of Eyes Only, this time it was the woman in front of him, numbing his senses.

"I was right, you don't even care about me, you just sit there ignoring me. All you want me for is so you can have a genetically engineered killing machine to do your leg work for you." Max had been ranting on for a while and when she hit the hard stuff, stuff concerning her and Logan, she started getting upset, noticing that he wasn't paying attention didn't help either. 'He doesn't even care, I was right, he's disgusted we kissed he hates what I am. He hates me.' Struggling with the urge to either cry or smack Logan back into the last century now occupied her thoughts. She was furious but more than that, her heart was breaking. 

'Serves you right Max, what did you think you'd get? Happy families? You're a freak, nobody want's anything to do with you, not even Logan.'

"Are you done?" Logan asked flatly.

"What? How dare you." Max said, all the potency gone, it was more of a whimper.

"I said are you done? Got everything out? Good." The questions were more rhetorical.

"Look Max, I know I screwed up tonight with the whole Eyes Only case and the red cordial business." He was going to mention some of the stupider things he said but decided against the emotions it was bound to evoke within Max.

"But." He began, this time he grabbed Max by the chin, not roughly but swift enough to catch her a little bit by surprise.

"I don't know where the rest of this rubbish came from."

"Rubbish? That's all I am is it, rubbish?" Max snapped.

'Right, that didn't go to well. I suppose it's all or nothing here Logan.'

"What I mean by rubbish, is what you were saying was rubbish. I could you possibly think that's what I think of you? If you weren't standing there in a towel I might actually be a little hurt by that." An attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work a little, Max's expression softened and for a fleeting moment Logan was sure he saw a small quirk at the edges of her mouth.

"Max." He dragged her chin around so she was looking him in the eyes.

'Damn I lose.'

"There is no way I would do anything like that on purpose to hurt you, we both know I screw up but I would never intentionally hurt you." There was a deep sincerity in his voice, and a sad look in his eyes.

"I don't think you'd have a chance. I'm genetically engineered remember?" She tried that to see if he was repulsed at the reminder she was made in a lab. His expression changed dramatically although not in the way Max was expecting.

Logan's face dropped, his grin gone, he felt very useless again. Not because he couldn't walk, just helpless and upset that Max had been hurt so bad by him.

"You know I'm not talking physically, I'm talking emotionally, you know feelings and stuff?" Crap, big mistake asking that question.

"So you mean that because I'm created I don't have feelings!" Max screamed at him, jumping back and breaking the hold he had on her.

"How could you Logan?" The difference in volume levels and emotion were staggering, one minute she is screaming at him, full of rage, now it looked as if she was about to break, her voice sounded like she had.

"Max, I do care about you. A lot…" Logan began

"You already said that. I bet you say that to everyone you want help from. Pity I don't have emotions I might care." She cut in, her voice dripping with sarcasm and pain.

"Max, I never meant you didn't have emotions or couldn't care, I was trying to lighten the mood, apparently to no avail. I do care about you, I only tell people I care about that I do." Logan tried again, pleading with her.

"I also like you a lot. I think I want to spend more time with you on matters not related to Eyes Only and Manticore." He was being as honest as he could, also very cautious he was laying a lot on the line here. He didn't know where to look, he could feel Max's eyes boring into the top of his head, he was too scared to look at her, so he just occupied his gaze with the intricacies of the thread in his socks.

Max softened greatly when she heard this. 'He does like me, he said he wanted to spend time with me. Not with Manticore or Eyes Only but me, maybe I'm not such a freak after all.'

She decided that he was forgiven for the second half of the night, since she had concocted most of it psychologically before leaving the shower, her clothes on the other hand… 'I think it's time to have a little game with him.'

"So you finally realised did you?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm but there was something else there as well, Logan wasn't quite sure. He slowly looked up at her and saw the stern look on her face.

"Real-realised what?" He stuttered, there was nothing for him to do but panic, he had just given up all his feelings for Max – well maybe most of them and to certain degrees – and she was still as pissed as ever.

"That I'm wearing a towel this time." Her voice changed and it was the happy playful Max again, a huge smile gracing her features.

"W-What?" Logan still hadn't quite recovered.

"The towel, the un-dried body. I thought it might not work since the last time I did it, you didn't even notice. I didn't think you were that different from other men." Logan sensed the mood so decided to join in.

"Well you know, that towel is actually due for a wash, so if I can just have it I'll send it down the chute." He challenged her with this.

"Ok." Max simply responded.

'Oh god I didn't expect that, Logan was torn between the excitement of the impending view and the embarrassment which would accompany it. Excitement won quite easily.

"But first, I need some clothes.' Max had bent down and was leaning on each hand rest of the wheelchair, their faces inches apart.

For a moment they were locked there, each other's eyes confessing their secrets and resounding apologies, each imploring forgiveness for what they'd said and done.

"There's some in my room, closet somewhere." Logan finally said.

"Cool.' She got up and trotted off to his room, secretly a little disappointed that he hadn't taken the opportunity to express his 'care' for her but still elated with the outcome of the conversation or more accurately confrontation.

She came out of his bedroom and Logan was a little disappointed to see she had found a small stash of her own clothing. He really wanted to see her in his clothes.

"Guess what I found?" She asked playfully.

"Um… My favourite tank top, you must promise you don't stretch it before returning it." Logan said, also playfully.

"So got any breakfast for me? I'm starved."

"Let's see, how about… this." He performed, before retrieving two plates from the oven, keeping them warm. Each plate had a healthy serve of scrambled eggs on it.

"Real eggs. You served me real eggs?" Max was a little stunned, real eggs were hard to find in the city, and when you did they were very expensive.

"I have a personal supplier. This is only the beginning of my grovelling." He replied.

"Grovelling?" She asked, completely unaware of what he was talking about.

"Yeah, you know, the whole Eye's Only mission this morning, resulting in ruined clothes and a hole in your leg. God, I forgot let me have a look at that."

Max came over to where he was, and put her foot up on the counter, making a nice right-angle with her legs. Logan peered up – he was still in his wheel chair – and was amazed at what he saw.

"Max, that's only a scab, you were shot right?" Logan asked just to be sure, the puzzled look on his face was priceless.

"Yeah, just one of the perks of being a genetically engineered killing machine."

"Well as long as you're alright." He stated, again checking the wound.

"I'm fine." A wicked idea suddenly sprung to mind. She put on her best pout.

"But it hurts so bad to walk on still. I think I need a lift back to the dining table." With out waiting for a reply, she flopped onto his lap and grabbed the plate of food.

"Now mush, this girl is hungry." Logan just barked and wheeled them over to the table.

"Again Logan you surpassed yourself as a cook." She stated, standing up and taking the plates to the sink.

"It was probably the real eggs that helped." He replied, there had been something he was trying to bring up all breakfast but couldn't quite pluck the courage. 'Ok Cale, it's now or never.'

"Max, about… before." He heard dishes breaking, apparently dropped. 'Oh dear I think she's taking it the wrong way.

She had. She was leaning over the kitchen sink, trying to breath. 'No, how can he, he told me he cared, now he's just going to take it back again.' Max was very upset and responded trying not to let her emotions seep into her words.

"What about it?" Logan winced he could tell she was hurt already. 'Ok spit it out Logan.'

"You know how I was saying I wanted to spend some more time with you, without Manticore and Eye's Only?" He asked.

'Oh god, please don't let him take that back, it's all I have keeping me going at the moment.'

"Yeah." This time she didn't bother trying to hide the tears in her voice, the distress and pain.

"Well I was wondering if you'd like to have the long weekend with me. At my families cabin. Dizzying heights, mountain climbing in the Catskills, bushwalking, shmoors by the fire. It could be fun."

Max nearly collapsed, she thought she was being given the brush off, instead she was being invited on a long weekend retreat with Logan, only Logan not Eye's Only or Manticore. She bounded in the room and without thinking kissed him on the cheek.

"Sounds great." She said reddening quickly with what she had just done.

"We'll talk about it later" She said as she straightened up, Logan made a desperate attempt to grab her arm but missed.

"I've gotta blaze, I don't want to lose my job." She said as she bounced towards the doorway, literally brimming with excitement.

"Max? Your leg seems fine from here." He said as she ducked out the door.

She popped her head in and said.

"I just wanted a lift."

He thought that was the case.

That grin was back with a vengeance.


	3. A Fresh Chicken

Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing, I wish not to gain profit from my musings. If I did own… No I won't get my hopes up. Nothing, that is all I have.

Authors note: Not much really, looking for someone to beta for me, if they have the time, as I hate reading and hence posting things with errors in them. There will most likely be a large break before chapter 4. This is due to personal reasons and holidays etc. I may, however, find time. So you can still check, it never hurts to check. Merry Christmas all.

Story Note: Righto! The second chapter was a little, well, boring, however I felt it necessary. I'm not sure if anyone noticed but the first two chapters are based on the night/morning Logan and Max go for a ride on her bike, after Rising. So now, we obviously continue into 'The Kidz Are Aiight'. I would like to point out in advance it isn't going to carbon copy the episode, so don't complain about the incorrectness of dialogue. If I mention a scene I will be doing speech but it's for the feel, not to replicate. This is also where I will start to board the great ship that is Max and Logan and head off into the un-known, although I have some ideas regarding later episodes so you will notice it slipping back into the show story line every now and then. Enjoy.

Chapter 3 – A fresh chicken

Logan was still grinning like an idiot when his body reminded him that he couldn't carry on like this. He made it the excruciating distance of 2 feet to the couch before falling unconscious, the grin still plastered to his face. 'So this is what feeling content is like?' He mused before finally succumbing and falling into a deep sleep, full of wonderful thoughts. All of them Max.

In the lift Max was still bouncing around, amazed at the feeling she had and not wanting it to stop, ever. She also noticed that despite her earlier conceptions the wound in her leg was still a little sore but nothing she couldn't deal with. As she walked out into the lobby she saw her reflection in the glass door. She looked like hell. It was then she remembered that she was lucky to be alive, especially with that crazy metal insect stuck in her brain. 'Oh well, I'll be fine by tonight. Oh god, am I supposed to be coming back? He didn't ask maybe he want's some space…'

"Oh shut up Max, this sort of thought has already nearly ruined everything." She addressed herself, she was trying to be strict but her head was still spinning with the excitement of Logan asking her away with him, so it came out more playful than anything else.

"My, my. Haven't we been a dirty little party girl?" Normal said. Apparently quite pleased with the way she looked, knowing she was probably not in a good mood. He loved annoying the bike messengers.

"My god, look at your eyes. What were you drinking? Gasoline?" He stated now actually a little shocked at the way Max looked. He's always liked Max, it's why he was so hard on her.

"I had to have amateur brain surgery to remove a neurological implant from my cerebral cortex before I had a chemical overload and died." Max stated, as if she were reading a medical journal, knowing no one would ever believe that story. Well maybe one person, or two. The second just walked in the door.

"How 'bout you leave her alone, maybe she don't feel so hot." Original Cindy said, in a sympathetic manner, knowing what Max had been through, not just last night but her whole life.

"Well, ingesting petroleum products will do that." Normal muttered, knowing his fight was lost. He could never handle Original Cindy. He always did try though.

"Anyway… Hey, hey what are you doing here, this is private property and you're trespassing." Threatening them seemed to have some form of effect most of the time but now it was quite an empty threat, he knew it and so did she.

"I want my old job back…"

Original Cindy got her job back and was now with the rest of the crew again, kicking it at Jam Pony.

"I can't believe they killed your super." Max was feeling bad, she had cost Original Cindy her place and her job.

"Not that he didn't deserve it… I can understand the rest of the people wanting me out, bringing in a bad element."

The thought struck her.

"Come and stay at my place. Kendra isn't there anymore, she's moved into her cop boyfriends love nest."

"I don't know." Cindy like that idea, but didn't want to impose.

"We'll move you in at lunch." She was so happy, however she was trying to restrain some of her joy, since while Cindy moving in was a happy event, if she really let herself go, there would be some serious questions to answer.

"Logan? Logan?" Bling was looking around Logan's apartment for him. 'Hmmm, maybe he's out with Max somewhere on one of his missions.' He assumed.

"Hello, what's this?" He noticed the digital camera sitting alone on the table. There was something about the way it was just there by itself that caught his attention. He picked it up and had a little look. Deciding Logan wasn't around he scrolled through the pictures, not expecting to find much interesting since it was just a tool of Eye's Only.

The first picture however caught his attention immediately, it was a picture of Max in her cat-suit running off into the dark. 'Well, well, he's taking pictures of her now. Nearly there Logan, nearly there.' He still couldn't believe that for a gifted man, he could be so stupid. Also Max, a genetically engineered soldier trained and designed to pick up on human emotion and body language didn't notice.

"Ah well, maybe I'll just have to lock them in a cold room for a week or so. That should sort them out." He was chuckling slightly at the reaction both Max and Logan would have if he did something like that, whilst absently flicking through the boring photos of some guns or something.

Then.

"Baaaahhaha." Not quite sure what the noise was, Bling was desperately trying to stand up. The picture displayed on the little LCD screen had stunned him so incredibly much that it took him a good while to remember how to breathe. Then a grin to rival that of Logan's broke across his face.

"Looks like they don't need any help." He stated. Staring up at him from the LCD screen was a picture of Max and Logan. That would have been enough to give him a little surprise but the fact that in this picture they were in a hot steamy shower, Logan without a shirt on and Max pushed up against him in a deep and passionate kiss nearly did him in.

'I've got to get copies of this.' He ran into Logan's study and plugged the camera in and then printed off 5 copies of the photo in A4 size. It looked a lot better this big, he could see the emotions in each others eyes as they kissed, both terribly scared – Max a little more so – and both excited.

"This has made my day." Bling said to himself, nearly shouting he was so excited for the two.

"And what's that Bling?" Logan asked.

When Bling had entered the apartment Logan was hoping and half expecting it to be Max, of course he couldn't be sure as it might be another wonderful dream. Then when nothing had happened he just assumed that it was a dream and he was still in it, laying there waiting for something to happen.

Then he heard the printer. 'Right, well I know that's not part of my dream. I can't recall ever having any dreams containing the melodic sounds of a printer.' He thought sarcastically as he dragged himself up and climbed into his wheelchair – the legs were still not up to anything serious.

"Well Bling?" Logan asked again, quite suspicious that he was in the study printing something.

"Ahh, nothing." Bling replied, he was getting a little nervous, if Logan found out, he would have to forfeit all his pictures, something he wasn't willing to do just yet.

"Whatca printing?" Logan tried this, obviously he had been printing something and it was this that had made Bling's day.

"Oh just some stretches and work out routines." Bling replied hoping his pathetic attempt at lying would work.

"On photographic paper?" Logan asked, knowing he had him there.

"Um, yeah, I didn't notice it was already in the tray." This part was true and Bling himself began to consider why there was photographic paper in the print tray.

"Well can I have a look, since they're obviously for me?" Logan asked, that was it, he was getting to the bottom of this, then going to get some more sleep.

Bling replied with a smile.

"It's nothing you haven't already done."

"Oh, ok then. Well I'm going to bed, I've been up all night with Max." Logan replied finally giving in, he was curious but more tired than curious at the moment.

"I bet." Bling replied, this time a smile breaking through his calm façade.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan wasn't really angry, in fact he was very close to boasting about his early morning activities but decided there was a reason it was called a private life, also Max probably didn't want him gabbing about it with people and he'd already done enough this morning to upset her.

"It means you look like hell." That's not what Bling meant but it was a very easy way of getting out of that question, as Logan did look like he hadn't slept for a day or two.

"Well I'm off to bed, do you mind coming by later today? When I've rested a bit." Logan inquired, already wheeling himself to his bedroom.

"Yeah, no problems, see you later Logan." Bling replied cheerfully, letting himself out with a manila folder in his hand, one he had not arrived with.

Now Logan was by himself again he allowed the manic grin to return to his face, trying to suppress it in front of Bling was one of the hardest things he has even done. 'Well Logan, now it's time to get some rest and have some pleasant dreams.' He flopped onto the bed and that's exactly what he did.

"Ok girl, there you go, all moved in." Max said as she dumped the last box on the floor of Original Cindy's new room.

"Thanks Boo, this is great." Cindy replied, she was really happy to be moving here, this place was nicer than her last one. Even though the living wasn't entirely legal she still preferred it much more to her old dump.

"We can set this all up later, we need to get to the market first, there are some things that need replacing." Original Cindy stated.

"Ok." Max agreed, she was looking back to usual beautiful self again and her leg had healed up completely. Original Cindy noticed the chirpiness of Max's voice and smiled to herself.

As they were walking through the market Original Cindy kept picking up clothes and holding them against Max.

"What the hell are you doing girl?" Max asked, a little confused as to why Cindy was paying so much attention to her clothing and apparently appearance since most of them revealed a lot of skin and had cuts that weren't designed for functionality.

"Oh nothing. Original Cindy is just trying to find a replacement for the clothes you ruined last night."

"It was Logan's fault, not mine." Max pointed out. She had informed Original Cindy of the mission they went on last night, and that was all she had told her. At the time Max thought that Original Cindy was a little nonplussed about the whole affair, she just sat there listening with a neutral expression on her face. Then Max remembered Original Cindy had had a very big night, with the Red's and discovering Max wasn't exactly human, well that's what she put it down to.

"Oh wow." Max exclaimed as she saw a fresh chicken sitting on a stall. She grabbed it and payed.

"Now what do you want a dead animal for." Original Cindy asked.

"So Logan can cook it, you should try some of his food. It's amazing." Max's eyes started to glaze over as she remembered earlier that morning, she was a very happy girl. Then she realised what she was doing in front of Cindy, so decided on a nice escape plan.

"And you know how much I like food." Max looked at her, hoping she hadn't been discovered day dreaming.

All she got from Cindy was a flabbergasted look and a slight "Mmmhmp. What ever Boo."

As Max stood in the elevator going up to Logan's apartment she started to panic a little. 'Oh man, is this going to stop, it's getting a little annoying. But it is exciting.' She thought, then decided that Logan and her were on a mutual ground at the moment so there was nothing to be scared of.

"Logan, Logan?" She called out as she entered his apartment. 'I can smell him everywhere, god I love this place, everything smells like him.'

"Oh hey Bling, Logan around." Max approached him, he noticed the cheeriness in her voice. 'Good, he didn't stuff up like last time and take it back.' He could tell they were both in this now, he was happy for them.

"He went for a walk." Bling replied, the satisfied tone in his voice had nothing to do with Logan walking, he was very pleased that Logan could walk again, but at the moment he was happy him and Max had finally seemed to get together.

"A walk?" Max asked surprised and very happy to hear Logan was out and about on his legs. She knew that meant the world to him.

"Down by the water front. What'cha got there?" Bling interrupted her thoughts.

"A fresh chicken." Max said as she displayed her treasure.

"I was hoping Logan would perform one of his culinary miracles on it." She stated, in a little bit of a daze, she was becoming a little overwhelmed with the whole situation.

She placed the chicken in the fridge and was on her way out the door to find Logan when Bling called her back.

"Hey Max, I need a word."

"Yeah?" Max turned and walked back to him. She was a little curious with what this 'word' was all about.

"So what is happening with you and Logan?" He came straight out and asked the question.

"Nothing, we're just friends with a convenient business arrangement." She declared, a line that was all too familiar and getting a little tired.

"Ah-huh." Bling replied, he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a classic 'you're not telling me everything and I know it' look.

"Why do you ask Bling?" Max was a concerned, had Logan been bragging? Was that all she was to him another conquest?

Bling picked up the confusion and mist forming on Max's face, he was getting a general idea what she was thinking now.

"Oh, no reason, Logan hasn't been saying anything, it's just…" He let it trail off, considering if he should have actually broached the subject with Max, he was just so eager to tell someone and she happened to be the first person he met.

"Just what?" Max asked, a little snappier than was called for.

"Oh, nothing." Bling said, in an airy tone that was bound to inflame the situation.

"What Bling, tell me." Max had reduced herself to pleading, and there was no person alive who could withstand this. Her hangdog expression, the depth of her eyes, the sadness and worry in her voice.

Bling crumbled fast.

"You already know, you were there." With that he produced one of his A4 sized photos of Max and Logan in the shower.

"Oh." Was all Max could say as her cheeks went a healthy scarlet colour.

"Where did you get that Bling?" Apart from being incredibly embarrassed she was also worried that someone was able to sneak up on her with out getting her attention. Then she remembered the noise she heard. 'Ah so that's what it was.' She was glad that she stood by her decision, there is nothing she could think of that would have been an acceptable excuse to stop kissing him at that moment and now she knew it was Bling she felt more relaxed about it.

"When I came in this morning I saw the camera and was just looking through it waiting for Logan, but when this little doozey presented itself, I just knew I had to make some copies." Bling had interrupted her reverie, she didn't really pay much attention, then what he said sunk in.

"What do you mean you just found it on the camera?" Max was panicking again, there was someone else who has seen the photograph.

"Like I said the camera was just sitting on the table and I picked it up and went through it and found this." Bling repeated, he was a little concerned with Max's reaction, he could tell she was worried about something.

"Come on Max, if it was anyone important or serious, like Manticore, they would have done more than just take a photo of you and Logan kissing, in the shower, with him half naked." He dragged that last bit out on purpose, the girl needed a reminder and it was fun saying it. His plan had obviously worked since Max's face brightened and she again blushed but this time Bling noticed her trying to gain control of her mouth, which seemed to be twitching at the corners.

"So you and Logan are together now?" Bling asked, he was truly curious with what had happened after the shower.

"No, we're not even like that." Max gave the stock 'Logan and Me' answer.

Bling just held up the picture again for Max to see and gave her a puzzled look.

"Ok, so you're not like that but you enjoy spending time together, in the shower, kissing, with Logan half naked." He had to slip that in there again, just to make his point.

"I… we… I don't know Bling, it's complicated." Max replied honestly, she had no idea what was going on.

"God you two. You make the simplest things so difficult don't you? I mean you are in the shower, with Logan half naked, kissing and you seem to be pretty damn close if this picture tells no lies. And yet you still maintain that each one of you doesn't want that kind of relationship. It's easy just go on a date, kiss more, be a couple." Bling shouted the last part, not in anger, just purely exasperation, these two could be very infuriating some times.

"It might be simple for other people but I've got a government agency on my arse and Logan's got his whole Eye's Only thing." Max was trying to make excuses, they felt weak and pathetic.

"Anyway, what if he doesn't want me?" Max had gone quiet and introverted again, sounding like a small lost child, scared of everything around her. Her voice was full of worry.

Bling consider her for a moment. 'This girl really is unstable emotionally. Of course if I had the upbringing and life on the run like she has I'd be worse.' So deciding yelling it into her wasn't going to work, he tried a little reason and compassion.

"Max, come on, this is Logan we're talking about. He's crazy about you. Just don't tell him I said that." He finished, thinking it might spark her up a little. It seemed to work.

Max just stood there not knowing what to say, and still not believing Bling all that much.

'Right, I'll try something else.' Bling thought.

"Remember that time you had to leave the city?" He asked, Max looked at him and nodded.

"Well Logan was completely cut up, he missed you so much and it had only been an hour or so. He didn't even care that he was going into surgery the next day, he just sat there." Bling pointed to the window where Max would often stand and look out upon the city. "…and did nothing, just sink further into his depression and loss." 'Right if that doesn't do it I give up.' Bling concluded, getting a little antsy with Max, god she was stubborn.

Max just stood there thinking for a while. 'I knew he would miss me, he told me that. I did kiss him, he didn't seem to distressed with that, I could see he was upset, I know I was. But then at the hospital he just forgot it so easily. I suppose I started that then however. This time is different though, we didn't blow it off, he invited me away for a weekend, he must like me.' Max enjoyed the fact she started off with bad thoughts and then progressed to something more positive for a change. Just as she was about to thank Bling and go and find Logan he cut in.

"And besides, you're not a bad looking female and Logan is still a male underneath. That at least would make him want you for a while." When Bling said that he had a cheeky grin on his face, Max could see he was just joking around with her.

"Ok, I'm going to find Logan then." Max said and started to walk out of the apartment. When she was approaching the door a wicked idea came to mind, she turned around and headed back to the kitchen.

"By the way Bling, Logan invited me to his families cabin for the long weekend." Bling cut his finger, then dropped the knife and what he was cutting.

Max got out of the elevator and headed straight for the waterfront, she knew Logan was there, she could smell him. It was something she didn't like to tell anyone, that she could smell them out, not as good as a dog, but still pretty well and with Logan very well. As she was wheeling her bike along her mind was abuzz. 'He likes me, he must, I know he does. This is so cool.' Not really thinking anything in particular, just floating over past encounters with Logan – chiefly the kiss when she thought she had to leave him – and planning further encounters.

"A girl could get used to this." Just stated happily.

She saw him and her heart fluttered a little. 'Wow, I didn't believe people when they said someone made their heart skip. This is cool.' Max was revelling in the feelings she was experiencing from something she had been running from and feared for so long. She was happy now she had let go, mostly.

"Hey this is a restricted area, you're not allowed in there." She said playfully, the radiance in her face increased ten fold when Logan turned around and addressed her.

"Take off your shoes and come here."

'Oh wow, he does want me, he wants to go walking along the beach bare foot. He better kiss me again.' Max's brain was working over time.

"I left something for you back at your place." Max stated, at the thought of Logan's place her spirits soared, that whole confrontation with Bling had been really good for her. In reply to her statement Logan just looked at her, asking with his expression, he was curious.

"A fresh chicken." Max stated.

'Ah excellent, a perfect excuse to get her over again.'

"I see a Prulayshay-Cale in your future with a bottle of Pre-Pulse red, say around eight o'clock?" This was a request, a question, he was dieing for her to say yes.

"I was hoping you'd say that." She really was.

She had taken her shoes off and was standing a little bit back from Logan, not wanting to put her feet in the water and wanting him to make the first move for a change.

"Aren't you cold." She pointed out, just making short talk, not trying to show how much of a hurry she was in to get close to him again.

"Freezing." Logan replied, but he was happy, very happy and he turned around and looked over the water again.

"For the first time, in a long time. I feel like anything, and everything is possible." He turned and gazed at her with the last few words.

"Come here." He held out his hand for her.

'Not that easy boy, you are going to do some work this time.' As she said this, proud with her self-composer, she looked him in the eyes and felt it slipping. Just as she was about the bound over to him, he picked up his walking stick and used the hooked end to grab her arm and pull her to him.

Now her feet were in the water but she didn't care, she'd had colder. Max realised that Logan's arm was around her, she couldn't believe it, he actually made the first move. She loved being this close to him, she could smell him more intensely again. Her head was swimming.

Logan was suitably impressed with himself, not really understanding what had compelled him to bring Max into this embarrassing position with him. Then he looked down into her eyes, the fear had gone, all that was there was excited expectation. Like a child promised something terrific that they had never experienced before. The fact that he was responsible for this sent Logan into an incredible new plane of joy.

'That's it, I'm going to kiss her right now, I don't care who sees or knows, I want to be with her.'

'We're going to kiss again, I can't wait, god I want him to kiss me.' Without realising it Max had arrived on her tiptoes again and was looking deep into Logan's eyes. She looked at his mouth again.

"This is a restricted area, this is a restricted area." A hover drone announced. 

"Damn, I hate those things." 'On a whole new level now!' Max turned her head and placed it over Logan's shoulder, so the hover drone wouldn't get a picture of her face. Even though she was disappointed with the ruined moment, she was still enjoying herself immensely being this close. Having her head on his shoulder made such a huge difference, they felt so close, so warm. Max was delirious. 

Logan was equally miffed with the arrival of the hover drone but also happy with the way Max ended up, her hand on his back, head on his shoulder, it felt so right.

Max didn't want to move, Logan on the other hand had already started moving towards the road. She begrudgingly followed, not really wanting to leave that spot on the sand, where such wonderful things had nearly – and actually had – happened.

Max was putting her shoes back on and thoughts of kissing Logan were still running through her mind. 'He'd better kiss me now, before I go back to work.' She stood up and went straight to him, much closer than they would have got with each other before.

"So I'll see you around eight?" Logan asked.

'Hmmm… That is looking a bit like a farewell, I want my kiss. Maybe a little reminder.' Max just moved in closer, stood on her toes, inclined her head and looked at his mouth.

Nothing.

'Damn, why doesn't he kiss me? Maybe I'll try again.'

So again, she propped herself up on her toes, inclined her head and looked at his lips. Her face was rife with anticipation and nervousness. This time.

Nothing.

'Oh well, I suppose I can't expect us to go from nothing to kissing all the time over night.' Max conceded. She was still feeling a little goofy from the waterfront. Logan was also feeling goofy, and a little embarrassed.

'Oh, god. She wanted to kiss me, that's the same thing she did in the shower. Why didn't I kiss her?' Logan couldn't understand but finally put it down to the fact he was a little stunned at the sudden change in Max, extremely happy and excited, just a little stunned. They both walked off in the wrong direction. Realising this they turned around and had the face the embarrassment of going the wrong way for very obvious reasons.

"Wrong way."

They both left, Max back to Jam Pony and Logan to his apartment.

Logan was having a hard time, his legs were working remarkably well and he was thankful for that. Problem was he couldn't find anything to wear, and he didn't think he cared about this sort of thing. 'Is this a date? I don't think we said anything different to when she usually comes over for dinner. However things are quite unique today.' Realising him and Max had only started talking about this sort of thing at 2:30 that morning. 'Ok so she's coming over, you amaze her with your cooking, then you ask her out on a proper date, or even ask if this can be a date. Then you kiss her.' He had it all planned yet he had never felt so ill prepared before in his life.

Max had never been more nervous in her life as she was right now, standing in the lift slowly making her way to Logan's apartment. 'Oh god, what do I do? What do I say? Is Original Cindy right? Is this a date? I think I want it to be a date. I don't know.' She was panicking but she knew it was worth it. Apparently part of the excitement of dating – she wasn't sure if this was dating but it was close – was getting all dressed up and nervous. Well she'd been through every garment of clothing she owned, even a few of Cindy's and she was very nervous.

_Bing_.

'Ok Max, just take it easy, you're just having dinner with Logan. You have dinner with Logan all the time.' Somehow that didn't really help, as she walked out of the elevator and to Logan's door.

Ding 

'Oh dear, I never ring the bell. What's going on, man I'm nervous.' Max was concerned with the different manner she was treating this meal.

Logan opened the door, happy and shocked at what he saw. Max standing there in front of him, wearing a brighter coloured top than usual – with a small strip of skin visible at the bottom – and her lips were shinning. God she was an attractive person, he still stood by what he said the first – well second – night she was at his place.

"The singularly most beautiful face…" He hasn't been proven wrong since then and he knows there is no way he ever will be.

Again realising that whilst thinking time did go by, he remembered that he had been standing there staring at her for a longer space of time than was usual.

'Oh god, why is he just standing there staring at me? I thought he might like me a little girlier. I shouldn't have worn this top, or my lip-gloss. I just thought he might like it a bit.' Max's levels of nervousness were increasing steadily – even though she didn't think it possible – and she was embarrassed with the way she looked.

"Hey." Logan had blinked himself out of his stupor.

"Hey." Max relaxed a little at the sound of his voice.

There was a little more standing and staring in nervous silence, this was going to be a fun night.

"Come in." Logan gestured with his hand. Max walked in but had the feeling she was in way over her head.

Meanwhile in a freshly filled grave an X-5 lay unconscious.

"So." They both said simultaneously. It was very difficult again, now that they had had time to think things over a little, they realised what they were getting themselves into tonight. Original Cindy and Bling didn't help either.

"So." They tried again, their words clashing, so they just sat there sipping their wine.

The oven made a soft noise. 'Ah saved by the bell, again.' They both thought as Logan got up to get the food.

Before he left he turned and looked at Max, wanting to say something but unable, she just sat looking at the glass of wine she cradled.

Logan got up to get the food, when he was over in the kitchen Max drank all the wine in her glass in one swift movement. 'I hope that helps.' She thought, knowing it wouldn't since being an X-5 it was almost impossible to get drunk.

"Oh no." Logan exhaled rather loudly. A puzzled Max got up to investigate what was going on.

"I don't understand it's just…" Logan was fiddling with the buttons on the oven. Max got there and noticed that the chicken wasn't cooked, not even warm. They just stood there, with the chicken and oven door between them and looked at their uncooked meal.

"Chicken tar tar?" Max asked politely, joking around with Logan. It was nice to see he wasn't immortal when it came to the kitchen. They laughed, it felt good to laugh after all the sitting in anticipation and nervousness.

The phone rang.

"Can you…" Logan asked, pointing to the phone.

"Yeah. Turn the oven on." As she said this she leaned in a little to Logan, partly to make her point, mainly because she wanted to smell him again.

Max picked up the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Max. Look, Original Cindy is sorry to disturb you and hot boy, but there's this new club, my girl just called and we are going to check it out. If Original Cindy isn't home when you get here, which she hopes you won't. That's where Original Cindy will be. K?"

Max was surprised that Original Cindy had rung, although pleased since knowing her and Logan she was expecting it to be an on the run X-5 or an urgent Eye's Only mission.

"K, Boo. See you tonight." Max said this to make the point that she would be coming home.

"Bye Boo." Original Cindy said as the phone was already on it's way down. Max was sure she could hear a woman's voice in the background. She just smiled and put the phone down.

"Who was that?" Logan asked coming over to the phone, expecting it to be someone he should be calling back, also coming closer to Max since he liked being close to Max.

"It was just Cindy…" Max started as she turned around to face Logan. What she didn't realise was Logan was right behind her and when she turned around they were face to face – well close enough since Logan was a quite a bit taller than her. In a reflex motion she placed her hand up on his chest, then got control of her motor functions so she didn't end up pushing him through his wall. Her hand just lay there.

"She's going to check out a new club, just telling me so if I go home and there is no one there I wouldn't worry." 'Ahh! I hope he didn't pick up on that 'if', god what is coming over me?' She couldn't believe she had said that, 'if I go home'.

"Oh, that's very responsible of her." Logan stated, trying to stifle his laughter, he couldn't believe Max had said 'if I go home'. 'Well that has to be a good sign, doesn't it?' Logan thought, still smiling at Max.

Max was becoming increasingly uncomfortable again, in attempt to ease the moment and get into a position that wasn't so close to Logan – she noticed that during this little exchange her hand had stayed on his chest and she had in fact leaned a little closer to him – she asked him about the food.

"So how long is that chicken going to be? I'm hungry already." Max asked, then walked over to the oven and looked in, trying to cook the chicken with her intense gaze.

"Ah…" Logan was a little flustered from the situation, Max's hand had been on his chest, she had said 'if I go home'. It took him a while to work out the question, process it, then supply some form of answer.

"About 3 hours." 'God, what are we going to do for 3 hours. I can think of a few things… No, that wouldn't be right, it would be nice but not with Max.' Logan thought a little worried. He looked over to Max and noticed she was thinking nearly exactly the same thing.

"3 hours? Are you serious, that's ages." Max complained, then turned around and pouted at him.

"But I'm hungry now Logan." She said in a spoilt small child voice, Logan nearly collapsed.

He regained his composure then replied to her comment.

"Well it's the slow cooking that makes it good. So you are going to have to wait." He looked at Max and noticed that the pout had deepened. He was sure he could hear his resolve running down the street in fear.

"In the meantime how about some more wine?" Logan asked, desperately attempting to control his voice so it wouldn't break. He walked over to where they were sitting and poured the remainder of the bottle into the two glasses. Max had followed him and sat down again.

"So, Original Cindy moved in with you did she?" Logan asked, glad this time he could actually think of something to say.

"Yeah, she was kicked out of her last place because the Red's killed the super…" Max told Logan about the entire event that was moving Cindy into her apartment. Something she normally wouldn't have done but she was desperately trying to use up some time before dinner.

They noticed that the wine was finished, thinking that it must be a lot later now, they both looked at the time, it was only 10 mins after they had started drinking it again. Time hadn't flown, they were just drinking quicker.

Max took the glasses of wine and walked into the kitchen again.

"Back in a sec."

Logan sat there a little puzzled since all the red wines were in the wine rack, in the other room. He chuckled slightly when he saw Max returning with two large glasses of red cordial.

"Bit of a sweet tooth are you?" Logan asked playfully.

"No, well, yes but I thought it might be nice to have another drink of this wonderful cordial." Max stated, she sat down and gave Logan a glass.

"Max, I don't want to sound patronising but where did you hear about cordial? Since it isn't actually an American product." Logan asked hesitantly. Max just looked at him sideways, he could see she was getting embarrassed. 'Damn, I shouldn't have asked that. It's just another reminder of how different she is.' Then she spoke and Logan was taken completely by surprise.

"Well, when I lived with my foster family, Lucy my foster sister would watch really old movies and so would I." Max explained.

"One of the movies was called 'Merry Poppins', I don't know if you've heard of it because it's before your time even." Logan responded.

"I know Merry Poppins."

"Well, in that movie the kids had medicine and Jane's tasted like lime cordial." Max finished and was embarrassed that she admitted to watching those sorts of movies. It kind of damaged her tuff-girl image.

"Well, that's not what I was expecting but hey, since you know what it is, there you go. You see America used to have Kool-Aid before the pulse, well we still have it but I don't." Logan was explaining, Max was a little confused with what he was trying to say, she didn't in fact know what Kool-Aid was but she felt it best not to raise the issue. 'Another reminder that I'm not a normal girl.' She told herself.

"You see among all the food and clothing that came in with the Aid packages after the pulse, there was cordial. As soon as I tried it I loved it, couldn't get enough. So now that America has started producing Kool-Aid again I've had to start importing the stuff, which isn't that easy or cheap but I reckon it's worth it." He finished, his explanation completed and Max just accepting the information for what it was.

"So… You like Merry Poppins?" Logan asked, a little cautiously. He could see Max going red again.

"Yeah. It's my favourite." She added quickly.

"Good, then I have an excellent idea how to pass the time waiting for this chicken to cook. Go into the other room and make yourself comfortable." Logan said, pointing into the adjoining room. Max got up, a little puzzled.

"Logan…" She started.

"Just go and sit." Logan cut her off.

Max was completely confused but complied none the less, sitting in an armchair so she could see out the window. Logan came in a few seconds later carrying their two glasses and a jug of red cordial on a tray.

"No, wrong spot, sit here." Logan said as he placed the tray on the coffee table in front of the double seater lounge. Then he left the room again.

'Oh, maybe he's had enough of mucking around and want's to cuddle or something.' Max thought hopefully, then realised she wasn't sure if she wanted something like that first. She thought they might need to talk first. She decided that either way she wanted to be close to him, so she sat in the middle of the lounge, so which ever side Logan sat he was most likely be touching her. She couldn't believe she was doing this.

Logan returned and sat next to Max, happy to see she was sitting in the middle, knowing that he would be close to her whichever side he sat on.

"You ready?" He asked as he turned the lights very low.

'Oh god, he want's to make-out on the lounge.' Max was very nervous and getting anxious. She had never done this before, she had kissed men but only when she was in heat and after one thing, never on a lounge in a nice apartment in the near dark. She was completely unprepared for this. She felt like a little girl.

"Um…Ok, I suppose." She managed to stutter out. She thought about it for a second then decided. She closed her eyes and leant towards Logan. She was shaking slightly.

Beep****

****

She was ripped from her mindset and her motion towards Logan. The movie had started.

'Whew, that was close, I nearly made a complete idiot of myself, lucky he can't see in the dark.' Max leant back again and set in to enjoy the movie. Max couldn't believe she hadn't picked up on the fact Logan was messing around with the TV and it's related appliances, the images flooded back into her head as she thought about it. She was so anxious about the making-out that she didn't notice what he was doing. Now she felt a little stupid but was glad he hadn't seen her, that probably would have resulted in her leaving, to do something in an emergency she had forgotten about.

Max looked down and grabbed her drink and had a sip. Still relishing the flavour she put it down and decided it was time to complain about something.

"Where's the popcorn? I thought you were supposed to have popcorn when you watch movies?" Max complained playfully in a spoiled brat voice.

"You'll ruin your dinner." Was all Logan said, speaking as if he were addressing a child.

"Hmpp." Max playfully added as she crossed her arms. The title screen was coming up, it was of course Merry Poppins.

"Why the red cordial?" Logan asked out of the middle of nowhere.

"Like I said, I like it. Also last time we had cordial…" Max stopped herself, not exactly knowing where to go with it. Logan picked up and finished the sentence.

"We actually talked about something that wasn't Eye's Only or Manticore?" He asked, he knew that's not exactly it but he didn't want to blatantly ask if was about them saying they cared for each other.

"Yeah." Max just replied in a half whisper. She slowly leaned towards him again, still focused on the screen but moving her body a little closer.

"The sound is pretty good in here, much better than all the other TV's I've watched." Max stated, wanting to talk to Logan now and not focus too much on the movie.

"Yeah, I have it set up how I like it, it's pretty much the same as going to the movies."

He said, he was always quite proud of his home cinema set up. He also wanted to talk to Max, he enjoyed talking with her about things that weren't important.

"So we're at the movies?" Max asked a little playfully.

"Yep, might as well be." Logan replied.

"And there still isn't any popcorn?" Max added.

"No." Logan laughed. There was a pause each one not really knowing what to say. Then Max spoke.

"So… Are we in the back row?" Max hadn't been to the movies but she'd heard. She couldn't believe she'd asked this question, it's implications so obvious.

In response Logan just looked over his shoulder.

"Ahh, I'd say so." He flashed a smile at Max, she could see the whites of his teeth so clearly in the dark, she could actually see pretty much everything of Logan at the moment. The adrenaline had returned, it was there in response to something Max had planned to do. She asked a question.

"Aren't you tired or something?" Logan was a little puzzled then it hit him.

"No." He stated, Max was very disappointed. She was considering a break to the ladies, so she could leave the embarrassing situation then come and sit at the other end of the lounge before she did something to embarrass herself more. Just as she decided that sitting here in this uncomfortable silence was going to destroy her, she heard Logan yawning.

Logan knew what she was asking about with her question, but decided he would make it a little bit unexpected, now that she had asked. So waiting a while he could sense Max tensing and thought she was probably about to leave. 'Better do it before she goes.' He told himself.

So he yawned in the traditional manner, extending his arms above his head to stretch, then as he was bring his arms back to their original resting place one managed to go astray and land around Max's shoulders. He was sweating, he had never been this nervous before. Max was shaking again, a bit more now. She couldn't believe this, they were sitting in the 'movies' and he had his arm around her. She leaned in a little more until she was just touching Logan, leaning on him slightly.

Neither of them knew what was going on in the movie, they were just sitting in a stunned silence with their position.

'Now, what?' Max thought, at least she thought she thought that, it turned out that she actually spoke these words.

"I thought you'd know what happens next." Logan stated, he tried for playfully but he was just too nervous.

"It's the making out part isn't it?" Max asked equally nervous, not really knowing why she asked the question, it was probably due to just how nervous she was.

In reply Logan just nodded and looked into her eyes. They just sat there for a while staring into each other's eyes, amazed at what they saw. The emotion, the passion, the fear and the depth.

Slowly Max turned so she was sitting sideways on the couch, shoulders facing Logan a little more. She leaned in and closed her eyes. Logan bent his neck to meet her, eyes open drinking in what he saw in front of him. He's arm slipped from her shoulders to her waist, he pulled her body closer to his. Max could feel the strength in his arm and was pleased with where his arm actually was.

Their lips were about to meet, in an action that would completely change both of their lives.

The phone rang.

"Damn!" The both said together as they jumped up, both aware of the situation and embarrassed immensely again. Logan got the phone.

"What!?! Oh, sorry. What?! Ok, where are you? How many… Hello! Cindy!" Logan started the phone conversation very gruffly, then on hearing the panicked voice on the other end quickly apologised before they started speaking to him, very fast and incoherently. The line went dead before he could hear the rest of what Cindy had to say.

Max was sitting on the lounge waiting for Logan to come back and incredibly angry with the person on the other end. Then when she heard Cindy's voice, full of fear and half screaming she knew something was wrong. She was up and halfway out the door before Logan put the phone down.

"Max, you don't know where she is." Logan called.

"Good hearing." Was the reply shouted by Max as she was already halfway down the stairs, there was no way the lift was fast enough.

"Oh great." Logan said, he grabbed his keys and ran out the door, deciding on taking the lift.

When Logan got to the car park he could smell the smoke sitting in the air and see the black line slightly smouldering on the ground. He heard faintly the scream of a motorbike being pushed a little too hard.

Logan jumped in his car and took off in the direction of the address Original Cindy had given him.

Original Cindy had been enjoying the club that her girlfriend had introduced her to until a sleazy little man came up to her and decided that she was going to be his for the night. He was used to getting what he wanted since he was head of one of the largest gangs controlling the Seattle district. Original Cindy had told him she didn't feature males and walked off. This wasn't good enough for him so he followed. In the ensuing argument Cindy had threatened to put a smack down on him, he laughed and decided it was time for a little game. He dragged Cindy outside and was followed by his gang who knew what was going on. Cindy ran when she got outside and managed to make a phone call to Logan's. When she was still on the phone she was hit across the face. When she turned around she noticed a large semi-circle of people watching and cheering. She then noticed that the person who had hit her was a woman, about her size and build. Cindy put up a good fight and managed to lay this one down, thinking it was all over she relaxed a little, however. Another girl came out of the crowd and started hitting Cindy, this girl was bigger and seemed to be trained in some fighting discipline roughly.

Cindy was in a bad way, she was being beaten badly, then she heard the familiar sound of a motorbike approaching.

"You all in trouble now." Cindy said, smiling through the blood on her face. In response everyone just laughed.

Max heard laughing in the alleyway next to the one she was in. Seeing no way to get her bike in there she dismounted and jumped up onto the wall. What she saw took her breath away. There were at least 20 people surrounding Cindy and an opponent in a form of brutish fighting. She also noticed that there was already an unconscious form on the ground. 'Nice going girl.' Max thought, she jumped down and landed next to Original Cindy.

"Nice going girl, looks like you could use some help." Max said nodding towards the girl on the ground then looking at the crowd surrounding them. Cindy just smiled a little more then collapsed. Max got very angry.

"So what the hell is all this about? 20 against 1? Not very fair, you can leave now or I can hurt you all." Max said, knowing it would only provoke laughter. It did.

"Kill them." Came a command from the small greasy man.

Max was angry because Original Cindy had been beaten up and because the moment between her and Logan had been ruined, again.

Two girls approached Max from either side, thinking they had her pretty much covered since she was smaller than her friend. They were wrong.

Max flung out her arms and managed to connect to each girls jaw at the same time, hearing a snap on each occasion she reminded herself that breaking people badly wasn't that nice. The girls fell hard.

More people approached and Max was dancing around playing with them, flipping over and sliding under. Slowly – actually quite quickly – there was only a small number of people remaining.

"Ah, Max." A panicked voice called for her, she looked over and saw Logan standing there, only problem was the man standing next to him with a gun pointed at his head, she could see the tendons in his arm moving, he was going to shoot.

Max was making her way over to him very very swiftly, however on the way someone else decided they weren't quite unconscious enough and so thought fighting Max again might actually work. She was still 20 feet away from Logan, dealing with an aggressor when she heard the shot.

"Logan!" Max screamed, blood was rising to her eyes, she had never been this imbued with anger. She looked over and saw the man with a grin on his face looking down at Logan's lifeless body on the ground. He heard the girl scream and so turned to shoot at her, his gun was pointing directly at her. Max was still 20 feet away.

Max could see the tendons in his arm moving again, he was going to shoot, she didn't care, the rage inside her was so intense. She made her way to the man in less than half a second. She ran straight at the gun, then ducked under it, placing his arm over her shoulder, she put her arms back and grabbed the gun hand and pulled down whilst pushing her body up. The arm snapped loudly. However Max was blind with fury, she wasn't done yet. She punched him in the gut so hard that she ruptured his spleen and stomach. She then brought the gun hand down by his side then pushed the arm upwards and dislocated his shoulder. The man was screaming in agony. She then put her hands on his shoulders and jumped up, then came down on both his kneecaps, snapping both his legs. The man was on the ground, rolling around in pain, screaming for mercy. Max was still angry but she was also terribly upset, she could feel tears on her face. She didn't let up she kept hitting and kicking the guy on the ground.

"Max!" Original Cindy yelled as she ran up to Max and pulled her off. Max turned and pushed Cindy away.

"He killed Logan." Max just said, as she looked away into the night sky, attempting to ebb the flow of tears and trying no to notice the smell of her blood. It was her blood she could smell because it was coming from Logan and mixed with his.


	4. Shampoo

Disclaimer: Again I own nothing, nothing at all, not even my soul, which I sold in a desperate attempt to gain a third season to this show. It didn't work.

Authors note: Well I'm back after an extended hiatus of Christmas break and various other events. I still need a beta, if someone would like to offer or something I would be happy.

Story notes: Well wasn't the last chapter too long? You're damn right, I was running out of things to write then bam I went much longer than expected. In reference to the last chapter I'm really sorry for leaving another person in a pool of their own blood I will change the end to chapter 3 when I post chapter 5. That's right chapter 5 has already been started, amazing isn't it. I hope you enjoy this one. Don't hate me for my attempts to write Original Cindy.

Chapter 4 – Shampoo

Logan had arrived about 10 minutes after Max and found a small walkway into the alley where he could hear the angry screams of people trying to catch an opponent who completely outmatched them. This made Logan smile a little, knowing that his Max was so special, so perfect. His Max, he really enjoyed the sound of that.

Logan walked in to the small arena, hands in his pockets. Feeling slightly cocky that it was his friend out there, doing all that damage and making it look, well, quite easy and a little boring. It seemed to be something that Max could have been doing whilst having a conversation with him, or even beating him at a game of chess or something similar.

He just stood there and watched Max for a while, he came along to help out but there was nothing he could do at the moment except get in the way. Logan was amazed at the speed Max was moving and the graceful flows of her body as she danced around her opponents and then knocked them out. He kept forgetting she could do stuff like this, he always just saw her as a normal girl – not entirely normal, as she was without doubt the most amazing creature he had ever seen – he supposed it was similar to the way she would comment on forgetting how tall he was.

"Well at least this wasn't anything big." He exhaled. When he answered the phone there was a gut-wrenching chill that splintered his stomach, he had expected something Manticore to rear it's ugly head, he knew Eyes Only stuff would be put aside but anything to do with Max's siblings was always a matter of immediate concern and a sure way to ruin a night. He wasn't impressed with the whole situation however, what he saw appeared to be a primitive form of match-up fighting 20 against 1. Not very fair. Then there was the fact that the moment between him and Max was, once again, completely destroyed and he knew that was a problem. This time was different to every other time they had been that close, they meant to be there they knew entirely what they were doing, they knew that when it finished they were still going to be there.

"Well there's the nice destruction of a fine pivotal moment." He commented, there was however still the niggling sense of joy. He knew that it could – and if he had anything to do with it – would happen again, and soon since they had to be home in time to get the food out of the oven.

'Look at it on the positive side Cale, this is passing the time until you can eat.' He thought

'But we were about to kiss, that would have passed the time.' He was a little concerned with all these internal battles he seemed to be having lately, maybe he was insane.

"No, it's just an affective method of sorting out a situation." He told himself aloud, his conscious seemed to agree with him, so the battle continued inside his head and outside with Max and the few remaining gangsters.

'If you tried to pass the time kissing… There is only so much kissing you can do before it leads to something else.'

'And what's wrong with that?' This response caused Logan to smile slightly, he knew he wasn't insane now, this wasn't a struggle between to separate parts of his brain, it was between his brain and his libido. Now that he knew this, he was quite able to beat his libido into submission.

'Because it's Max, and I respect her more than to do something like that the first time she gets involved in a relationship. That would destroy her and I'd never see her again. I couldn't do that to someone I love.' The realisation sunk in very quickly, everything made sense now. Logan's levels of happiness and satisfaction skyrocketed.

'I love her.' He thought, yes it did make sense. It was so perfectly simple that he couldn't believe it.

"I love her." He said quietly with a broad smile on his face. However as he came to the end of this sentence he felt something cold and hard pressed against the back of his head.

Hemall, a small weaselly character who was a new recruit to the gang and trying to make an impression for himself noticed Logan arriving. He decided that he wouldn't try taking on the girl since she had already broken all the hands of people that approached her with a gun and thought he might be able to sneak up on the new arrival who appeared to be quite captured by the girl who was beating up the entire gang.

'I need to be careful, he could be just as nasty as she is though.' He sneaked around through the rubbish that was always lying all over the place and managed to come out right behind Logan.

Assuming Logan was one of these ninja freaks he decided to shoot first and ask questions later, he swiftly moved up behind him and pushed the gun against the back of Logan's head.

"Ah, Max." Logan was panicking, there was a gun pointed at the back of his head and he could hear it being cocked as a bullet slid into the chamber.

Logan saw Max's head snap around, there was a small battle grin on her face which quickly faded when she saw him. Their eyes meet and Logan saw she was panicking as well, she was worried for him.

'Well at least she's the last thing I'll see.' He thought defeated, then he noticed the amazing speed Max was making towards them, he couldn't actually focus properly on any part of her body, it was a blur. Then someone tried to fight her, this slowed her down, not much but enough.

Logan heard the gun go off, his legs collapsed and he hit the ground. Everything went black.

'Ha, these ninja guys are pretty easy. You're next girly.' Hemall thought as he pointed his gun at Max and started to pull the trigger to his gun again. This time however there wasn't anyone in the way to stop Max. Hemall's finger was only halfway back by the time she reached him. He didn't understand what was going on, one second he is looking down the barrel of his gun at this girl who is 20 feet away, the next thing he knows is she is right in front of him and under his extended gun arm.

Before he could feel the pain he heard his arm break, then all the wind was knocked out of him and his gut suddenly boiled. The pain from the arm had just caught up with him. He screamed in agony, she wasn't finished however. She grabbed the arm and dislocated it, then broke both his legs at the kneecaps. He was done, he lost consciousness.

When Max had arrived Cindy's body flooded with relief, all the adrenaline that was keeping her standing faded, she fainted.

When she regained vision, sound, and motion she noticed that instead of the 20 something jeering onlookers to her torture, there was now mostly unconscious bodies strewn around the place. She looked up and noticed Max finishing off another few, she couldn't quite focus yet and her hearing was hazy. She blinked and Max had disappeared, she looked over and noticed that in the time it had taken her to blink Max had moved 30 feet, she was in a hurry for some reason. None of it made sense, so she closed her eyes for a bit and tried to stand. She was halfway up when she was jerked back into the real world by a gun shot, she heard Max scream and tried to focus on where it came from. By the time she looked over Max had moved again. This time however she was stationary, well except for the fact she was laying into someone. Cindy made her way over, not taking her eyes off Max. She started to run when she saw what Max was doing, she had completely lost it, the guy she was beating on was being punished like nothing she had ever seen before, it was making her feel sick she could hear the bones and sinew snapping. 

By the time she reached her, the guy was on the ground and Max was still laying into him, hitting and kicking him repeatedly. This had to stop.

"Max!" Original Cindy wasn't sure what to do. Max looked out of control, she might hurt her. 'No this is Max, she knows who she is and she knows who Original Cindy is.' Original Cindy told herself.

She grabbed her arm and pulled her around, she could see the tears staining her face.

"He killed Logan." Was all she said, although it was more of a whimper.

Original Cindy looked down and saw Logan lying on the ground, the small pool of blood spreading from his head.

"Oh boo. I'm so sorry." Original Cindy said, trying to comfort Max, as she embraced her. Max just sobbed into her shoulder.

"It's… not… fair." Max squeezed out between sobs. Original Cindy just held her and rubbed her back.

"He's my friend. I need him." This last part stunned Cindy a bit, she knew Max liked Logan but she never thought she'd see the day Max admitted it.

Max heard movement and a moan coming from the ground. She got angry again and was ready to put this guy to sleep permanently, she noticed however that he hadn't moved.

"Logan?" Max asked tentatively. She moved over to him and slowly rolled him over, running her fingers through his blood soaked hair and placing his head in her lap.

"Logan?" She asked again. Just as she was moving her fingers to feel his pulse, something she didn't want to do because it could only tell her for certain that he was dead, his eyes fluttered open.

"You're so pretty Max." Logan said, smiling slightly and looking into her eyes, all pain was gone, all he could sense were her eyes and how they were looking at into his.

Max was ecstatic to see Logan looking at her again.

"You say that every time your head is resting on my leg." She didn't really know what to say, this seemed like a nice way to break the silence.

"Hey I was hallucinating then, that doesn't count." Logan smiled at her.

"You… What? I should smack you." Max stammered, she couldn't believe it, he knew what he was saying.

Original Cindy just stood there and looked at the two. They were happy together, they fit so well with each other, and everything seemed so natural. She could see now, the way Max looked at him, she did need him and he needed her. Perfect.

"What's this Original Cindy hears? _'Every time your head is on my leg'_? Have you two been getting busy and not telling me. 'Cause girl if you've been hiding this from me after denying it for so long, I'm gonna put the smack down on yo' ass." Original Cindy crashed into their world.

"We're not like that." They both said in unison.

"You what!? Don't even try that on me. Look at you." Cindy couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was yelling at them.

"Fine, whatever. I know you are lying. I'll be waiting in the car." Cindy just walked off in the direction Logan had come in from. Leaving Logan on the ground, head on Max's leg and in her arms.

"So…" They both said at the same time after an extended silence.

'Oh, this is ridiculous.' Max thought.

"Logan. Why aren't you dead? That guy had the gun right against your head and there's all this blood." Max asked, a little confused. Without realising it, when she asked if he should be dead, she pulled him closer protectively.

"Well…" Logan began, he seemed a little embarrassed.

"It's nothing spectacular, just these stupid legs of mine, they gave out at the last moment and I fell over, I decided to go with the flow so our friend here." He pointed to the unconscious form on the ground a few feet away. "Would believe he had actually got me. The only problem was I seemed to hit something on the ground or my way down, I'm not too sure, which knocked me out and apparently cut my head open a little." He finished, starting to sit up slightly, with the help of Max of course. Not because he needed it really but because he liked to be close to her.

Max let him sit up then she examined the cut in the side of his head, it was fairly substantial and would require a few stiches.

"Right, you need some stiches in that head of yours." Max said to him.

Logan wasn't really paying attention he was looking over at the man laying near him. He could see he was in a very very bad way.

"Yeah, ok we can get it done at the hospital." Logan said a little distant. Max didn't notice this.

"Hey, I can do it myself, you've got all the right stuff at your place." Max pointed out, unsure as to why he would want to go to hospital. Logan got up very cautiously and approached the man on the ground. He bent down and examined him.

"Max, what have you done?" Logan whispered, barely audible.

Max could feel a huge black pit open in her stomach, she had turned back into a Manticore monster. Logan was never going to want to look at her again, knowing what she had done.

"I was upset." She tried to defend herself.

"I thought he killed you. I kind of lost it."

She knew this wasn't a good excuse, not now Logan was alive.

"We need to get him to a hospital pretty quickly." Logan stated.

"I'm so sorry Logan, I didn't mean it." Max had completely broken down, something she never thought she would do in front of Logan. He was taken aback by the sorrow in her voice, she was pleading with him. He didn't really understand.

"Max, come on it's alright. All we need to do is get him to a hospital and he'll be alright." Logan said, trying to reason with her.

"Logan, look at me, look at what I did. I'm a monster. You see it now, don't you? You've just realised that I'm a genetically engineered killing machine, now you know I'm a freak. How can you even look at me with out feeling sick?" Max was going through another shift of emotion during this statement. She was angry to start with yelling. Then towards the end, she softened and looked completely lost and hopelessly upset.

"Max… I…" Logan wasn't quite sure what to say, sure he was shocked with what she had done but he didn't think she was a monster and he most certainly didn't feel sick when he looked at her.

He made his decision and walked over to Max to confront her. She just stood there, arms hanging by her side and head bowed awaiting her conviction.

"Max." Logan simply said.

She looked up, into his eyes, dreading what she was going to she. She was so nervous she didn't even notice Logan wrapping his arms around her. Max looked deep into Logan's eyes, expecting to see disgust and… compassion, worry? What was going on she is a freak she just destroyed this man, and Logan was looking at her with compassion and worry for her well being. It was then she noticed Logan had his arms wrapped around her. He pulled her in closer, then bent down and kissed her.

'Oh, god. My last kiss from this amazing person. Why do I have to be so different.' Max was upset, knowing this would be the last time Logan would ever touch her again, he was merely saying goodbye Wasn't he? After a few seconds Logan broke the kiss. Max had to know.

"What was that for?" She asked, voice full of worry expecting an answer she knew she wasn't going to enjoy.

"For being, 'real emotional'." Logan stated quite happily.

"What?" Max asked, completely confused.

"Well remember the first time we kissed, then you put it down to being 'real emotional'? Well I figured you were being real emotional again because what you were saying wasn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. So I figured I should kiss you, since that's what happened last time. It's also a nice way of shutting you up, you can rattle on sometimes." Logan finished, apparently quite pleased.

Max just stood there and considered him for a moment.

"But… what I did, I'm a monst…" She was halfway through saying this when Logan kissed her again.

"Look I'm going to keep doing this as long as you keep rambling on nonsense." Logan said after breaking the kiss.

'Wow, could he mean it. He doesn't see me as a monster, my god he is a great guy. I love the way…Wait, love the way, what is that all about. Since when have I used that word with Logan in the same sentence? Well I'll just sit on that one for a while. In the meantime…' An idea came to mind.

"I don't know Logan… " Max began, this time in mock seriousness.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the greatest most hideous monster ever to be placed on this planet." She was a little nervous but smiled slightly at him.

"Oh, you are going to pay for that…" Logan said. And she did.

A good five minutes later the kiss finally broke. Max noticed blood on her hands – she had been running them through Logan's hair – and a stirring in the background. Some of the thugs were waking up.

"We'd better go." Logan stated, a little out of breath and feeling very flustered.

"Yeah." Max agreed, sounding and feeling a little goofy. It was the longest she had ever kissed someone, a record she felt needed to be broken.

"Can you…" Logan pointed to Hemall, who was stirring slightly.

"We don't have to stay with him or anything, just drop him off." Logan finished.

Max nodded agreement and picked up the man carefully, she could tell immediately that he would be feeling this for the rest of his life.

"Sorry." She whispered, the man attempted to recoil from the person who had done this to him but being in her arms made it difficult. He just let himself succumb to the pain coursing through his system and lost consciousness again.

When they got back to the car Original Cindy was already sitting in the passenger seat asleep. Logan opened the hatch and Max put the man in, he was still out of it. Now that Max wasn't encumbered with the man she moved closer to Logan, who had just shut the hatch door. Logan turned to face her and was pleasantly surprised to see her right in front of him, on her tiptoes again with her head inclined and looking at his mouth. This however could wait for the time being. They still had to get the man to hospital and more importantly back to their meal and movie. The mob were also on the move again.

"You can follow us there on your bike." Logan said, he could see Max was disappointed but he knew they couldn't spend all night in this place.

"Ok." Max simply said, she was a little worried with the way Logan treated that situation, then she remembered what she had done and was just happy he didn't say. 'You can just get on your bike, ride off and never see me again.'

On the way to the hospital Max was in a reasonably playful mood thanks to Logan. She was making slow deliberate circles around Logan's car. Overtaking him, then moving over to the other side, slowing down then moving back to the other side and overtaking again throwing in a wheelie or nose stand here and there.

Logan was horrified, he knew Max had perfect control of her bike, but when she went passed waving at him apparently not paying attention to the road in front, only on the front wheel of her bike he worried for her safety.

"You like her don't you?" Cindy was awake. She had been watching Logan for a while a small grin spreading across her face when she noticed how concerned he was with what Max was doing.

"She's a good girl." Logan said a little facetiously, while a small grin played his features.

"So explain this." Original Cindy said, producing a photo of Max and Logan in the shower, kissing.

Logan almost ran off the road.

"Where… How?" Logan was spluttering, this was a completely unexpected occurrence.

"The other night, when you and Max were out doing your whole 'save the world' bit. Original Cindy went to her home after a night out at Crash, to find an eviction letter. So Original Cindy goes over to Max's place to see if she can crash the night, only she ain't there. Then it occurred to me that she was most likely at your place and since Original Cindy now knows where you live, I went over to see if my girl was there."

"So you decided to sneak in and snoop around with a camera." Logan said, not really meaning to sound as accusing as he did.

"No, Original Cindy was about to knock when she noticed blood on your door and on the floor leading to it. Thinking something bad might be going down I came in quietly instead of knocking. When Original Cindy got inside there was all this blood and funky smelling stuff all over the floor, then another blood trail to somewhere else."

"So you followed the trail of blood?" Logan asked, it was starting to sound quite reasonable.

"Well what would you do? As Original Cindy followed the blood she heard a shower going. Original Cindy walked in to your bathroom and noticed that you and Max were having a nice little shower and everything seemed to be under control."

"And you happened to have a camera with you and decided to take a photo?" Logan said, again it was a little more scathing than he really intended. He just felt slightly invaded. Max was the only one allowed to break into his apartment. It bothered him that someone else had done it, he wasn't quite sure why but he knew it did.

"No. Original Cindy noticed the little camera of yours on the way in and decided to get some proof of this 'just friends' and 'convenient business relationship' rubbish that you two keep spurting. Original Cindy was just hoping to get a picture of you two together, then when I walked back in, you two were well and truly together." Logan smiled slightly at this and reddened considerably, the memories pleasantly flooding back over him, he could also see Max riding her bike around, which helped to reinforce the image. He could see the girl existed it wasn't some wonderful dream. He pinched himself furtively just to make sure.

"So Original Cindy took the picture then used your computer to make some copies." She finished off. Logan was a little worried about the copies part.

"How many copies." Logan asked seriously, apart from the embarrassment a photo of Max floating around usually wasn't a good idea. Original Cindy knew this also so she reassured him, although it wasn't that reassuring.

"Enough… Don't worry Original Cindy hid them. Ain't no black helicopter dudes going to get them." Just as she finished her statement they pulled into the hospital, Logan hadn't really noticed the cut in his head, but when he got out of the car, his legs failed again. He put it down to being hit in the head.

Max was already there and nearly caught Logan before he fell, she got him about halfway then hauled him up again.

"You probably shouldn't have driven with that bump on your head." Max said playfully. Logan just smiled and enjoyed the closeness of their bodies. They stood together for a while, then Original Cindy walked over bringing Logan's wheel chair. Logan looked angry at the sight of this.

"Look roller boy, Original Cindy knows you don't need this but for the sake of going into the hospital just sit. Otherwise they is going to think that you put the hurt on this boy.

Logan sat down, it made perfect sense but he hated it. Hated being back in the chair.

"What's to say I couldn't have done this to him anyway?" Logan asked, a little defensive.

"Well all the foot marks for one." Max said, trying to lighten the mood and get this over and done with.

"Ok, well I think it's best if you pretend to be his girlfriend…" Logan began talking to Original Cindy, it was time for a little pay back for that photo. Original Cindy looked disgusted with the prospect.

"And you were coming out of the club and got jumped by a group of gang bangers."

"And where do you two fit in?" Original Cindy asked.

"We are just concerned citizens who happened to be passing by and offered a hand." Logan stated, Max was a little disappointed with this, she was hoping that for the charade they might have been a couple returning from dinner or something nice like that. Of course it wouldn't make much sense why she was on bike and he was in a car, she just like the idea, for a charade she told herself. She knew it was for more than a charade however.

"And why do you have blood all over your head?" Original Cindy asked.

"Um… I was there first helping you up and Max here thought I was an attacker so she knocked me on the back of the head with a brick or some other device." Max was slightly hurt by this but it did make a good story so she decided to go with it, she would however have to complain first.

"Sure make me out to be the bad guy." Max pouted at Logan. He nearly fell over, which was a considerable impact since he was sitting in a wheel chair. He recovered nicely however and responded with a joke.

"Well you ride a motorbike, unsavoury bunch you are, motorcycle riders."

"What ever." Max replied.

"Ok, Original Cindy is going to go running and screaming in there now, you guys should probably just wait here or something, they'll bring out a stretcher." Original Cindy headed to the hospital doors, wanting to get this done with.

"So am I really an unsavoury element?" Max asked, she was being quite serious and sounded hurt.

"No." Logan simply said, this was a straightforward question and required a straightforward answer, something that couldn't be misinterpreted in anyway. Max shifted uncomfortably, Logan could tell she still wasn't quite sure. He turned around, grabbed her arm and pulled her down to his height then looked at her, deep into her eyes so she could see the truth.

"No." He said again, this time with a little more conviction. The word didn't really matter it was all spoken in the eyes. He could see she was worried again.

After a small while Max could tell Logan was serious about this, she was still a little worried about being a freak but there was no real concern, she could see the compassion.

Logan knew it had worked, as he was staring into the depth of her eyes he could see the change, she was becoming happy again, there was a small dancing light a vibrancy.

Max wanted to say something but they were locked in each others gaze, all she could do was move forward, closer to him. They were mere inches away, this kiss was going to be different, Max didn't feel the tearing anxiousness in her stomach or the nerves that often made her shake a little. She felt relief, something she didn't expect but understood why. She thought her performance tonight had turned Logan off her completely, that he'd never be able to look at her again, now she knew that was wrong. It felt so right that it scared her. Their lips had only lightly brushed when a screaming and wailing Original Cindy interrupted them. Her performance at the front door had begun, there would be a crew of doctors and nurses rushing to where they were any minute now carrying a stretcher. Max straightened and went to the back of Logan's car to pretend to care for the battered man. Logan wheeled around also but kept his distance from Max so as to appear not to know the girl, one of the hardest things he had to do for a while.

They finished off at the hospital and were heading back to Max's place to drop Original Cindy off.

"Will you be alright?" Logan asked Original Cindy.

"Yeah I'll be fine, I just need to have a shower and go to bed." Original Cindy replied.

"You must be tired." Logan stated a little playfully.

"Why?" Original Cindy responded perplexed.

"That's the first time I've heard you speak that wasn't in third person." Logan said.

"You got a problem with the way Original Cindy speaks?" She asked, back in full swing.

"No, I was making an observation." Logan stated, still quite playfully. He was happy, Original Cindy could see that.

"So what you got planned for my girl?" Original Cindy asked, wondering what was going to happen for the rest of the night between Max and Logan, she had never seen Max so nervous before going out.

"Well, when we get back dinner will just be ready, so I guess we'll eat." He said.

"And then…?" Original Cindy pressed, it sounded as if she was teasing him.

"Maybe a game of chess, then Max will probably leave." As Logan said this he was being perfectly honest and sounded a little depressed. He was so used to Max coming around, eating, playing chess on some occasions, and then leaving when they didn't have something Manticore or Eyes Only related to talk about.

"I don't think Max is going to want to leave after a nice meal and a game of chess tonight." Original Cindy said honestly.

"Why?" Logan asked, he had an idea why but he wasn't sure why Original Cindy would have an idea.

"She really likes you Logan. Look I don't know if I should tell you but you two really need a good shove along. When she thought you were dead, she was really upset. Not just angry but upset. She said it wasn't fair that you died, and that…" Original Cindy wasn't really sure if she should continue but then she decided that these two really did need all the help they could get. Logan was pestering her anyway.

"She said what?" Logan asked. Nervous but a little excited.

"She said she needed you, and she does you can see it in the way you two interact, how happy she was when she knew you were alright." 'There I've said it, I just hope Max doesn't kill me now.'

"She really said that?" Logan was a little shocked, he couldn't understand why or how Max could need him, she was the super being, he was the cripple.

"Straight up." Original Cindy answered. They had arrived at Max's apartment block and Max was approaching the car. Before she got there Original Cindy bent over and spoke to Logan.

"Don't you dare hurt this girl, she is fragile, more than she seems." Logan was again dumb struck.

"Thanks for the lift." Original Cindy perked up, and opened her door then jumped out.

Max came over to Logan's window, which he wound down.

"I'm going to see her up, make sure she's alright. I'll meet you back at your place. I'm really starving now." She added, then turned on her heel and walked to the building with Cindy.

Logan just smiled then headed back to his place.

When he got there, the chicken still had 15 mins to go.

"Perfect." Logan said to no one in particular.

He went and checked the table was still set, then got the red cordial from the TV room, threw a lot of ice blocks in then laid the glasses out on the table. He was going to select a wine but this seemed far more appropriate and he was getting addicted to it again. He was starting to get nervous. The formality of the dinner was what it was he told himself, even after tonight's events he wasn't sure what was going on between him and Max, he knew something was but it was very scattered.

Max was in the elevator again, nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"Take two." She said to herself.

She had changed out of the clothes she was wearing since Logan's blood was on them, now she wore something far more Max, she felt. She decided the door bell was where she went wrong last time, so she just barged straight on in like she always did, calling Logan's name on the way.

"Logan?"

"In here Max." He replied from the kitchen, he was placing the food on their plates.

"You can take a seat." He said pointing to the table.

Max walked in took her jacket off and sat down, pleased to see the red cordial was served to drink but decided to have a go at Logan again.

"So this is my fancy dinner, chicken and red cordial?" She asked.

"I'll have you know that Prulayshay-Cale goes perfectly with a nice cold glass of red cordial." Logan retorted from the kitchen. He walked in and presented Max with her meal, she gasped slightly at the aroma.

"I'll have to take your word for it."

They finished their meal and Max was well and truly stuffed. She looked at Logan with the intent of asking what was next, when she noticed that his hair was sticking out at strange angles.

"Oh god Logan, I forgot completely about your head, that needs stitching." Max said, rather worried, she was already halfway up out of her chair. She went over to him and picked him up a little out of his chair.

"Max, I can manage." Logan said, laughing a little.

"I'm so sorry Logan, I can't believe I forgot about it. Well I'm going to do a first class job, you be assured of that." She finished, desperately trying to regain some merit after forgetting he had a gash in his head.

"Max when has anything you've done not been first class?" Logan asked seriously.

Max didn't say anything, in response she just grabbed him be the elbow and dragged him into his bathroom.

She noticed the blood was soaked into his shirt collar and most of his hair.

"Right, sit." She said, as she walked out of the room to get the medical supplies.

She came back with a needle, some thread, some spray and a bottle of saline solution. She deftly removed the dried blood with the saline solution and put a towel around Logan's shoulders so the bloody water wouldn't run all over his back and chest.

"You're lucky, the cut is on your part, so you don't get a hair cut." Max said playfully.

Logan just responded with a nervous laugh.

"Don't worry Logan, I know what I'm doing, you won't even feel anything except for a slight tugging sensation." Max was trying to reassure him.

"I just don't like needles." He said nervously.

"What, even sewing needles?" Max responded showing him the needle she had.

"You have to get the anaesthetic in there somehow don't you?" Logan asked, the nervousness in his voice raised a little bit.

"Oh no, we never used anaesthetic, it slows the senses and dulls the mind. It will only hurt for a little bit." Max said quite seriously she was only joking but Logan was in such a state that he believed her.

"Max!" Logan yelled, as he jumped up and spun around to look at her.

She just cocked her hips and held up the bottle of saline solution whilst putting on a tremendous pout.

"Just sit down Logan, it will be alright." She said again joking.

"No, I want something for the pain." He was getting a little hysterical.

"I could just smack you in the face." Max suggested, quite enjoying the game.

"I… What, you wouldn't hit me. Would you?" Logan asked a little concerned, being smacked by Max wasn't something he really wanted.

This statement definitely killed Max's mood.

"You still think I'm a monster, something that only knows violence." Max said, quite angrily, but more than angry she was upset.

"No I don't, I just don't want you to smack me. That's all." Logan pleaded, not wanting to upset Max, he was beginning to understand what Original Cindy had said to him.

"Look you don't even trust me, you're backing away." Max stated, this was true, Logan was backing away.

"Only because I don't like needles and you want to put stitches in my head without anything for the pain." Logan said.

"I was only joking Logan, I've got a spray." Max said, a little angry and still a little bit hurt.

"Oh." Was all Logan said, he sat back down in front of Max again. Max was happy with this.

"Now be a good little boy and stay still. And if you are extra good, you may get a little surprise." She told him.

"What sort of surprise." Logan asked, this statement caused him to completely forget about the needle and the gash in his head.

"Well then it wouldn't be a surprise." Max simply said as she started to sew Logan's scalp together.

"Right, all done, not bad if I do say so myself." Max stated. Logan had been perfectly still the whole time, hoping to get a surprise for being good.

"Was I good?" He asked, trying to sound like a little boy, it worked,

'Oh, he's so cute. What am I going to surprise him with? I could do something a bit naughty, we've been kissing quite a bit tonight. No that wouldn't be appropriate. I know.' The idea hit her.

"Ok mister, stand up." He did, in a fashion similar to a robot. Trying to stay perfectly 'good' until he received his surprise.

Max grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and pushed it over to the sink.

"Ok, sit here and take your shirt off. I'll be back in a sec." Max said, the connotations were endless.

'Whoa, what sort of surprise is this?' Logan thought as he delicately removed his shirt. Max returned carrying a towel.

"Right, head back." He leaned his head over the bowl of the sink, he knew what was going to happen, it wasn't what he expected but he still couldn't believe it.

Max got the detachable hose from the sink and started to rinse Logan's hair thoroughly. Logan relaxed and would have closed his eyes but that would have meant missing out on the sight in front of him. Max, the perfect woman was standing over him washing the blood out of his hair. He couldn't believe it.

Max walked over to his shower and retrieved some shampoo. She began to massage it into his scalp.

"Tell me if you're stitches start to hurt, the anaesthetic might wear off." Max told him. Logan had forgotten he had just had stitches put in his head, he was too busy in heaven.

"Mmmm" was his response. Logan had closed his eyes now, he looked completely relaxed and comfortable with where he was. This made Max happy, since he was willing to relax with her standing over him when he knew that she could easily kill him if she wanted to. She was very happy, all these thoughts of being a freak and a monster held no ground with Logan, she could see it now.

Max got some of the shampoo and dabbed it on Logan's nose. This she thought was tremendously funny and burst into fits of laughter. In response Logan put a finger to his head and got some shampoo and dabbed it on Max's nose.

"Two can play at this game." Was his response. Max had a mischievous idea.

"Not if I do this." She said as she dragged both cupped hands across his head, getting all the shampoo out. She then got her handfuls of shampoo and smeared them onto his chest.

"Oh yeah." Logan replied, with a grin on his face. He grabbed Max by the arm and pulled her down onto his lap. Then he hugged her into his chest. They were both now covered in shampoo.

"You just love to ruin my clothes don't you?" Max said playfully.

"I'll get you some more." Logan responded.

Logan suddenly looked to the doorway. Max noticed this and was a little worried since she hadn't heard anything.

"What is it?" She asked, very quietly and seriously.

"I was just checking that Original Cindy wasn't there again with a camera." Logan said.

"So it was her that took the photo? I'm going to have a word with her." Max replied.

"Max, how did you know about the photo?" Logan asked, he hadn't told her and since she didn't know Original Cindy had taken the photo, he was curious.

"Oh, Bling found the camera they were on and printed off some copies. He showed me one." Max replied.

"So Bling's in on it too huh? I'll need to have a word to him." Logan said.

Then there was that awkward silence again.

Logan had made a decision, he was going to tell Max his realisation from earlier that night. His head was getting light and he couldn't feel his extremities properly. He had never been this nervous.

"Max… I, need to tell you something."


	5. Wanderings

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, it's Fox's or some such.

Authors note: Hoorah!! I proclaim. There is now a wonderful person to beta my work, so less typos and sentences are starting to make sense. Who'd have thought. This is killing me, inspiration appears to have deserted me. I might be moving onto another concept soon, Red Cordial is well… I don't know.

Story note: This chapter, well I thought I was on a roll then I hit a wall, yes again, and so it slowed considerably. I hope you enjoy and so on, it may be my last. It seems a fairly relevant spot to leave it, so I may.

Special thanks: Milla, my wonderfully fantastic beta reader, who has made a lot more sense of my rag-tag sentences. Thanks Milla.

Chapter 5 – Wanderings

Logan had just gotten out of the water and was lying on his towel enjoying the pleasant warmth of the sun, the smell of the air and the sensation of the pristine golden sand between his toes. He loved it here. He was on an island off the east coast of Australia, a place that held dear childhood memories. It was immaculately clean and had the added bonus of being on practically the opposite side of the planet from the broken world he had left. He propped himself up on his elbows and what he saw made him smile. Everything was so clean; it took him a while to get used to the purity of the sand and the glass like transparency the water possessed. He saw happy families playing games and building sandcastles, each with an intricate matrix of tunnels through and underneath them. Out beyond the surf he could see the trawlers moored, their bellies full of fresh prawns and sleeping fishermen. Past the boats he could see the same old rock that had always been there, covered in a multitude of bird life and surrounded by recreational diving vessels. It was a perfect day.

He looked over to his side and everything he had just seen was forgotten. Next to him embodied all that there was to his happiness, something so wonderful that it wouldn't have mattered if he were back in Seattle with the rain, crime and the filth. Next to him quietly laid his happiness. Next to him laid a beach towel… a beach towel that belonged to Max. Logan sat there looking at the towel and reminiscing on the past few days. It was only three days ago that Logan told Max he loved her. It was only three days ago that Max reciprocated. It was just two days ago that Max agreed to come away with him. It was only yesterday they left Seattle and spent an entire wonderful 15 hours on a plane together, doing nothing but holding hands, talking and staring into each other's eyes. It was only this morning when they arrived that Logan bore witness to the most amazing site he had ever seen, the brightness and joy Max displayed when she saw where they were and how magical this place was.

Logan was still daydreaming when he noticed that there was a thin gap of sand between his towel and Max's. He delicately dragged hers over until it slightly overlapped his.

He turned his head and again all previous thought was forgotten, and what he was doing stopped immediately. Max was coming out of the water.

Logan sat there dumbfounded; watching her walk towards him was hypnotic. His weren't the only eyes following her he noticed. Nearly ever male on the beach and a large quantity of the female population were staring, awestruck by the beauty of this bikini-clad creature.

"Hey," Max said, as she finally made it to where Logan was. He was torn watching her approach, not sure if he wanted to watch her walk toward him all day or for her to be with him instantly.

"Nice swim?" Logan asked. It was mostly rhetorical since Max had been in the water for over 2 hours and every time Logan went in she was zooming around him like a little kid and telling him how beautiful it was and how much fun she was having.

"Yeah, the water's great," Max exclaimed as she lay down on her stomach. He had never heard her sound so relaxed, it pleased him immensely.

Logan lay down again and closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to stop the sun from blinding him.

"Logan?"

"Yeah?" Logan turned his head on the side and looked at Max. Their faces only inches apart. She smiled at him.

"Can you see my barcode?" she asked him, not really worried; it was just as a matter of interest.

He sat up so he could have a good look from all angles just to make sure. When he looked down his mouth actually hung open, he couldn't think and the barcode was very quickly forgotten. In front of him lay the completely naked back of Max, with beads of salt water glistening in the sunlight. He knew she had a beautiful back – a beautiful entire body actually – but the difference of not having the thin piece of swimmer cord across the middle was astounding. He was sitting there gaping when Max brought him back to his senses.

"Logan? Can you see my barcode?" she asked again, a little annoyed that he was taking so long to answer.

"A-Ah… No," Logan stammered.

"Max, did you know that the bottom half of your top is undone?" Logan wasn't being cheeky – well maybe a little – he was merely wondering if she had noticed, as it could be an embarrassing situation for her later when she turned over and discovered that her top didn't go with her. Logan knew it would be fun to watch but he would end up paying for it since he saw her back and should have told her.

"Oh, yeah. That's what you do to get an even tan isn't it?" Max replied, a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, just checking," Logan replied as he lay down again. He couldn't help but think why she needed that part of her back to be tanned, and a smile spread across his face.

They lay there for 10 minutes or so before Max started fidgeting around.

"I'm hungry, Logan" Max said finally.

"I thought you might be soon. Do you want to go back to the house and get some lunch?" Logan asked. Of course he knew the answer and was already sitting up and gathering all their gear.

"Yep." Max was by now standing with her towel over her shoulder and shorts on.

They walked off the beach and up the hill along the road that lead to Cale holiday house.

When they got there Logan went over and turned the hose on and handed it to Max.

"Here you go, you can wash the sand off your feet with this," Logan explained.

He couldn't help but watch her hosing her feet and shins down. He felt ashamed the entire walk back because he couldn't help from constantly looking at her, she was just so incredible.

'It's alright, you love her, she loves you. You're allowed to look.' Logan thought on that for a moment then grinned a little. He was, wasn't he?

His pleasant reverie was rudely interrupted by Max; she had decided it would be very funny to turn the hose on him. The cold water startled him.

Max had been sitting there a while, on Logan's lap just looking at him. She knew he wasn't in any real danger; he was just tired and had a nasty knock to the head. She could let him regain consciousness himself. She was enjoying this newfound intimacy with Logan a lot…it was scary, but worth it. She wriggled a little closer and laid her head on her arm that was over his shoulder, giving a perfect view of his profile. He appeared to be having a dream, a nice dream, since he was smiling. Max hoped she was in there somewhere and maybe even a contributor to the smile.

'What's going to happen with Logan and me now?' she thought. It was a good time to think about Logan now, since he was unconscious and wouldn't distract her, and because she was sitting on him, that helped. 

'Are we a couple or whatever? I'm pretty sure he would like that. I'm pretty sure I want that.' Max was making some good progress, but then she hit a topic she didn't expect to crop up so soon.

'I know I like him. I need him. Do I love him?' The last bit stunned her. Even though it was in the safety of her mind, it was still an embarrassing and exposing thing to think. Max wasn't too sure what love was, she had never seen it or experienced it; however, she knew it was something with Logan because she had never felt this way before.

'Can I love anything? I might not be able to.' She was getting worried; her Manticore upbringing hadn't prepared or designed her for something like this.

'I love my bike and I really love food but that isn't the same is it? It's the same word but it's a completely different thing.' Max was getting completely confused.

"Max." Logan was speaking in his little sleep, Max noticed that when he said her name his smile doubled and he appeared to glow a little.

Max suddenly knew the answer.

'I do love him.' She couldn't believe it, a huge weight suddenly lifted from her shoulders, and all she had done was admit to herself that she loved Logan.

'Oh, god. What if he doesn't feel the same way? Should I tell him? There's no way he could love me. I know he likes me but I can't be loved I'm a science experiment.' The weight had returned, and it was heavier now. Max also realized that Logan had been out of it for a little too long. So to stop brain damage she tried the rouse him.

"Logan? Logan?" Apparently saying his name wasn't going to work. She was about the slap him, which had always worked for her. Then she recoiled disgusted with herself. How could she hit him when he had got such a fright when she joked about it a little earlier? She really was a monster after all.

Max noticed the hose she had been using to wash his hair, so grabbed it and turned it on his face. She also decided to get off his lap, something she did with great regret but at the moment she felt Logan wouldn't be happy to wake up and find a genetically engineered killing machine sitting on his lap.

"Stop it Max," Logan spluttered playfully. He thought this was still part of his dream, and he had no reason not to since it had been so vivid. Max took this the wrong way and thought Logan was angry with her since she had been expecting him to be.

"Sorry," she said sullenly as she turned the hose off and put it down. Logan was suddenly confused by his surroundings, and the way Max was looking at him. Well not at him, but down near her toes.

"Max, you're dressed," Logan stated. He hadn't really meant to say that but the transition from dream to reality was still being processed.

"Of course I'm dressed Logan," Max replied, a little upset. Now she knew that's all he wanted her for; there was no way he could love her.

"No, you're right, of course you are, I just had a… dream," Logan replied, wanting to throw terrific, wonderful or spectacular in, but decided against it. Max stood there. She didn't know what to say or do. Logan thought about what he had said and decided to elaborate a little.

"Actually it was a pretty nice dream, I was at the beach." Logan looked up at Max, rubbing the back of his head. Max couldn't help but notice Logan sitting in front of her, no shirt and with water and shampoo all over his shoulders and finely toned chest and stomach. Her mouth opened a little in appreciation. Logan was sitting looking at Max; the same smile, glow and with a dazed look on his face. Max relaxed a little and berated herself again for jumping the gun, although there was still a slight lingering doubt. Nevertheless she had now recovered some of her spunk and playfulness.

"So why wasn't I wearing any clothes in this dream of yours?" Max asked seriously, although she couldn't help but express a slight mock pout.

"You had clothes on, just not as many. You were at the beach with me," Logan explained whilst reddening considerably. It was a very embarrassing thing to admit to be dreaming about someone, especially a girl and especially a girl that you liked.

They were in that position for a while, Max trying to imagine herself at a beach with Logan but finding it difficult since the small bit of filthy sand in the restricted area at the local waterfront kept springing to mind. Logan was becoming more and more embarrassed, knowing what Max would be thinking about and hoping desperately that the chair he was sitting on would somehow swallow him up or act as an effective camouflage.

Suddenly it hit her. 'Logan said he was going to tell me something and it sounded very important.' Max thought. She knew she didn't want to think about it too much, because it could very well be something she wouldn't enjoy at all.

"Ah, Logan. Just before you drifted off to dreaming about me in a swimsuit you said you had to tell me something." Max enjoyed saying this, and she didn't really mind the idea of Logan looking at her. She knew she enjoyed looking at him and there was always a hope that he might like her a little more, or think she was normal because she looked normal. Well, it was Max's opinion that she looked normal. Logan did enjoy looking at her but when he did he couldn't help but be reminded she wasn't normal. There was no way that someone that amazingly beautiful could be normal. She was special to him, not a freak, just special. Max also enjoyed the way Logan turned from red to scarlet when she said that.

'He had been dreaming about me in a swimsuit.'

Logan freaked when she said this, the chair wasn't going to hide him. He could feel his face burning and he wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible. There was no way in the world he would be able to say what he was originally going to say before passing out. He made up something else, and he felt weak and a little pathetic for backing out.

"Yeah, there's something for dessert," Logan said, slowly standing up.

Max was incredibly disappointed. She was happy to hear there was more to eat but was hoping Logan was going to say something a little more 'special' than that. She was pining for a request to have a date, or something said sweetly to her.And something she didn't really expect at all and wasn't too sure how she'd react to: an 'I love you'. It would have at least removed that niggling sensation she had.

"Cool," Max finally replied, smiling sweetly.

Logan had grabbed the towel and was drying his upper body, removing all the suds and water.

The movements of his arms and the way all the muscles responded and became infinitely more defined transfixed Max, and she was again standing in a state of awed shock, her mouth slightly agape.

"Max?" Logan's voice called from the end of a very long tunnel.

"Huh?" Max wasn't really paying attention. She was too transfixed with the sight in front of her and she hadn't even noticed that he had stopped drying himself.

"Max," Logan said a little louder this time, a smile in his voice.

Max was shocked out of her daze and became immediately aware of what she was doing and how obvious it was. Blushing deeply, she responded to Logan.

"What?" Her response was quick and snappy; not angry, just embarrassed with the situation.

"Thought I lost you there for a bit, you seemed to be in a daze or something. Are you feeling alright?" Logan asked. He was a little playful but genuinely concerned, since the only times he had seen Max space out like this was before a seizure.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Max was still in a state of intense embarrassment.

Before Logan could respond she spoke again, regaining a little composure but still pink of cheek.

"So are you going to feed me or just stand there half-naked?" Max asked auspiciously.

"Well, I was thinking about it. Although I dare not incur the wrath of a hungry Max," he jested.

"You're damn right," was her response as she headed out the door and toward the kitchen.

"So what culinary miracle do you have for me now? You usually don't make me dessert, so this must be a special occasion." Max was saying this playfully, again having a small dig at Logan for holding out on dessert so often, until what she had said sunk in. 'This is a special occasion isn't it? Or it was supposed to be until that whole thing with Cindy and me nearly killing someone.'

Logan had just been smiling, bemused with the direction of Max's statement. 'Of course she's complaining about food again.' Then when she said this must be a special occasion the embarrassment of earlier returned. Bling was right, it was different this time. He knew that himself when he had prepared the cheesecake; their dessert. Logan hoped it would be subtle, but Max in her usual way just jumped right on in.

So now they were back to the uncomfortable silence, sitting there eating the apricot nectar cheesecake. Max was so nervous from her statement and the sudden formal air to the evening that she hadn't even asked what it was she was being fed, she just accepted it and began eating.

Logan couldn't help but replay images from that night and the night before, the mindset and mood the dream had put him in was still hanging around and strange as it was pleasant, he still looked up every now and then and expected Max to be wearing a bikini. A small curl started to form on his lips, the memories real and imagined were too overpowering, and he couldn't help but be happy. He noticed Max was still nervous, she was very quiet – a precious rarity – and she was eating her food slowly, something else that was very uncommon. Logan was surprised at how cute she looked, trying to avoid looking at him, glancing around the room in a wide arc that excluded him. An idea came to mind, something that would probably break the ice, again. Logan thought of all the times they needed to break the ice tonight; more than he has ever needed to before with a woman. 'Max is different.' he reminded himself, and his smile increased and the idea was too delicious to pass up.

"Anyway, you weren't in a swimsuit…" Logan stated casually, eating his cheesecake. Max was shocked out of her embarrassed daze and finally looked at Logan, unsure of what he meant by that statement and what it was leading to.

"You were in a bikini, it's completely different," Logan finished triumphantly, like someone who had made an excellent correction to a very important statement. He went back to his cheesecake, apparently unbothered by what he had just said, but shining pink on the inside.

"Oh, really?" Max asked playfully, looking at Logan straight on with a large smile on her face.

"Really," Logan replied, putting his fork down and crossing his arms slightly, joining in with Max's stare. Of course as it always was, they didn't know what to do now and the phone wasn't ringing. More awkward silence was on its way.

Logan was in too good a mood, still left over from the dream and Max sitting on him – he really enjoyed that – to succumb to the stillness that was steadily encroaching on their evening. He noticed Max was looking downwards again and very shy. 'God she is pretty,' Logan thought, as he took a moment to reflect upon this girl. 

"Right, up you get, enough of this," Logan said suddenly, quite seriously as he himself stood. He was looking at Max sternly and was quite serious with what he had just said.

'Oh god, he is getting bored with me already, frustrated because I don't know what to do. Why do I have to be so different?' Max was sad and panicking.

"Logan, I'm sorry…" Max began pleading, but Logan cut her off with a raised hand.

"Come," he said, as he walked off into the other room.

By the time Max had walked in – she had taken a few minutes to prepare herself for what was to come – all the furniture had been moved.

"Logan" Max began again, this time beseechingly. Logan didn't say anything, he walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her to a particular position in the room. To an onlooker it would have appeared rough; however, there was such tenderness and soothing in his firm touch that Max could just see herself daring anyone to accuse Logan of mistreatment. Logan turned on his heel, happy with Max's position and started to walk off. Max saw this as an excellent chance to apologise.

"Logan, I'm sorry I'm so different. Please don't give up on me. I just haven't done this before so I don't know what I should be doing. I don't mean to be so boring." Max finished head bowed, amazed at what she had just confessed but then realising that if she didn't express herself properly right now she would probably never see him again.

"What?" Logan half yelled from the other room as he swiftly made his way back to Max. She took this the wrong way and thought he was angry with her now. Logan had just arrived in the room as she began to speak and walk toward her window.

"It's just…" She hadn't even moved a step when Logan interrupted her.

"I didn't say you could move," he interjected, moving toward her slowly.

"What?" Max asked astounded and a little pissed. She couldn't believe he would treat her like that, like a child.

"I put you in that spot for a purpose." Logan spoke softly, as he finally closed the distance and now stood directly in front of Max, so close that nearly every part of their bodies touched.

It was then Max heard the music softly starting, and she immediately felt giddy and much better about herself and Logan.

"Dance with me," Logan simply whispered into her ear.

"Okay," Max squeaked, nervous as any schoolgirl.

Logan slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around her, as if she were likely to crumble to dust at any moment. Max leaned into Logan, again getting as much of his scent as she could. She smiled at how gentle Logan was being.

"You know I won't break, I'm pretty tough," she said to Logan, smiling and laughing slightly. She was immediately rewarded as Logan hugged her tighter and placed his chin over her head. Max felt perfectly safe and snuggled in. The music was soft and gentle, someone singing, but she didn't really care because the mood was perfect.

"So, why dancing?" Max asked in a slight whisper, but the whisper belied her emotions. Logan could tell she was very happy, relaxed and comfortable. Logan was attempting to think of something witty to say; play the rich playboy a little bit more for the fun of it. 'Because I just saw this fine lady sitting across from me, obviously not interested in my cooking, so I thought I could wow her with my abilities to cut a rug.' Logan was pretty sure that was about right, nailed perfectly the mood he was in: playful, happy and willing to show off. Since he had something great to show off. However, as his lips were parting, the words on their way out, he changed his mind.

"I figured it was my turn to ask." Logan smiled big as he looked into Max's eyes. There was something about her he had never seen before. She made him happy, he felt complete, and as stupid as it sounded to say, that's how he felt, whole.

The music gently changed into another song. This time it was classical, slow, whimsical and perfect waltzing music.

Max could feel her head slipping off Logan's shoulder, and she tried to remedy this but noticed that his body was moving away from hers.

'What? That can't be it.' She realised soon that he wasn't breaking apart to stop dancing, just creating a gap. His arms had moved from around her back, one to her waist the other taking her arm and extending it in front of them.

Max felt very special when she finally figured what was going on. She had never danced like this – not physically anyway – but this was special. She also realised that she had no idea what to do.

"Logan I don't know how to do this," Max said quietly, hoping he would teach her because she really didn't want this to stop.

Logan smiled at her.

"Sure you do." With that he took off, slowly making the star shapes he had been taught at school when he was seven; some things never change.

Logan pace suddenly quickened and before long they were zooming around the entire flat, being snooty and turning their noses up at the imaginary onlookers and having a terrific laugh. The song finished and so did they, slowing until they were standing in front of each other again. Max couldn't take it any more, and she leapt at Logan and held him tight, burying her face back into his shoulder.

"Better." He heard her mumble from the muffled position she had taken.

Logan had been transported to a new plane of happiness, gently stroking the top of Max's head, and all of a sudden the moment seemed right.

"Max, I meant to tell you something earlier." As he said this, he bent back a little but still had his arm around her so she knew he wasn't leaving again. He gently placed his other hand under her chin and directed her gaze at him. The eyes were big and expectant, worried and scared, happy. She was happy, it was the perfect time. Logan stared into the infiniteness of her beautiful hazel eyes.

"I was going to ask you, if this could be a date." 'Damn, that's not it Cale. Pull yourself together and tell her before you lose your chance.'

Max couldn't help from being a little disappointed; she knew Logan wanted to say more. His eyes betrayed him, staring down at her with such intensity, such purpose. She was still flattered and very pleased with the question, if not slightly relieved, because now she wouldn't have to ask that later.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. I was kinda thinking the same thing," she admitted shyly, looking down at his chest.

'Right Cale, tell her, tell her now.' Logan was psyching himself up like never before, like his life depended on it. He speculated that his life probably did depend on it, on her.

"Max, there's something else," he spat out. Now there was no turning back. As soon as Logan spoke Max's head snapped up and she looked straight at him, into him.

'I knew there was something else.'

Logan felt his legs go weak. Made sense he thought, nerves like this didn't come around every day. It was only when the sensation in his legs started to fade and the effort required to merely lock his knees in place increased, that he realised something was wrong. 'There's no way she can love me now, not that I'm a cripple again, damn legs!'

"Max, I was… I…" Max was getting very excited and nervous. This was it, he was going to tell her that he loved her… well, liked her at least.

"Max, I… think you should leave," Logan said gruffly, obviously not happy.

"What?" Max asked, stunned to the core.

"It's just… just not right. You should go before you do something you regret," Logan said, very slowly letting go of Max, it was killing him more than the pain in his legs as they were being asked to move.

Logan managed to move back a whole step before stopping, knowing he couldn't move anymore and remain vertical.

Max stood there by herself, only half a foot away from Logan but never feeling more isolated.

"Fine!" She yelled.

"How could you?" she begged, full of sorrow as she walked away. Away forever.

Logan stood there and watched her go, a stoic expression playing his features. It was the result from a mix of determination not to fall over and the breaking of his spirit watching her leave. He knew she wouldn't be coming back, not from something like this. 'Well there she goes, you won't see her again, you know. Yeah, but it's better for her this way, not to have some cripple to hang around with. You can't be romantically linked with a guy in a wheelchair.' He was trying to make himself feel better about his decision. It wasn't really working too well since it was just making him more depressed. His conscious was also trying to make itself known. 'Call out to her, you love her. What does it matter if you can't walk?'. 'It matters because she was never this happy when I was in the chair.' The point hit home, shut up his conscious and made him feel even more miserable. He heard the door close and he broke, legs buckling and spirit shattering into more pieces than the table he had just put his fist through.

As much as Max thought she hated Logan right now, she knew it was a lie. If she hated him it wouldn't hurt so much to walk away from him. All she felt was dirty and inhuman; she was, after all, not even human. 'Well mostly human,' she heard herself saying. 'Ha,' she thought bitterly, knowing now that if you weren't all human, you just weren't human at all. And that's what it came down to, the fact had finally dawned on Logan, and he finally understood, standing there with her, that she just wasn't a nice normal girl, she was a freak and she was cold. A coldness like she had never felt before. It started when Logan had pulled back, when he said he didn't think this was a good idea. The cold had stabbed her in the stomach violently then spread to the rest of her body, seemingly only to return and weigh heavily in her chest. Then as he separated their bodies, the cold attacked from the outside, and there was a great vastness, a loneliness now his body was no longer wrapped around hers.

She started to slowly walk to the door, being desperately quiet in case Logan decided to call out and tell her it was all a joke. She'd kick his arse but at least she could kiss him better afterwards. That thought, the thought of happiness like she had never experienced before, a happiness brought about by the man who had turned her down and whom she was walking away from, made her terribly upset. She didn't want to cry, to break down right there and bawl like a little baby, but it's how she felt and she could feel the sting at her eyes. She had to keep herself together because if she slipped at all it would all come out.

As she opened the door, the magnificent redwood door, whose inside she would never see again, she felt the hot sting and a tear rolled down her cheek. Halfway through the open door, her shoulders shook involuntary; it had come and she couldn't stop it. Quickly she slammed the door behind her and sat on the floor, leaning against the door, curled up in a protective ball, trying to recover some the warmth that had been constantly draining from her body. It was no good; nothing was as warm as Logan.


	6. Blood

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, there are a lot of 'borrowings' that occur in this chapter, not directly just… inspired by. Authors note: This chapter happened a lot quicker than I thought it would, for reasons see thanks section. I have succumb to my story again so there is already a seventh chapter in the works, although it isn't finished and I seemed to have hit that synonymous wall again. 

Story note: This chapter spells pretty much the end to the roller coaster ride of emotions that seem to continually plague our two favourite characters. But is it a high or a low where we have levelled out? Only reading will tell. (I know I crap on). Enjoy the chapter, I'm pretty happy with it, well the end half anyway.

Special thanks: Again my marvellous beta reader Milla, it's so refreshing to go through and see all the errors before it is displayed to the public. Thanks. Also a big note going out to my boss, who managed to find nothing for me to do for three days so I sat and wrote this chapter and started the next, let's hope it happens again soon.

Chapter 6 – Blood 

Logan sat on the floor for a while, with his arm still through the table. Stewing in his self-pity. He noticed the room growing colder and starting to move around. He glanced down at his arm, where an unpleasant sight met his eye. The arm was cut up pretty badly from going through the glass tabletop and now he was bleeding profusely. He knew it needed attention, the amount of blood he was losing was to be considered dangerous and a serious threat to his health. Problem was, he didn't care any more. 'Who is going to care that you die? No one, that's who. Max might be upset that she has lost her meal-ticket and only decent source of information on her brothers and sisters, but she won't care, not the way I want her to.' Logan was angry, bitter and self-destructive, and he hated his body. He was frustrated by the fact that he couldn't walk, but then was able to again, only to have it taken away from him at the most crucial moment. Logan sat there in an uncomfortable position and waited for the darkness to take over. Eventually it did, and with it slipped all thought and meaning.

Max was still balled up outside Logan's door, not wanting to move because it hurt too much. Trouble was, not moving hurt too much as well. At the moment everything and nothing hurt too much. Her pager went off. Max quickly sorted herself out, stopped crying, straightened and stood up. The pager going off was as if someone could see her and she was desperately trying to hide her feelings, like always. She looked down and noticed it was Original Cindy, and on reflex she turned to go back into Logan's and use his phone. This action brought forth a fresh set of tears; however, she didn't buckle this time. She just stood in front of the door, her hand extended only a few inches from the handle as tears gently rolled down her cheeks.

Max looked at her reflection in the elevator door, and then wiped her face and eyes to try and cover up what she had just been doing. She pressed the button and stepped into the elevator. On the trip down she was trying to think about why Original Cindy would have paged, that thought lasted about 2 seconds before Logan and what had just happened came flooding back through her mind. 'Why doesn't he want me? I thought he didn't care that I was genetically engineered. Probably because I'm just not a good person, I've killed, I steal, and that's not the type of thing he goes in for. I can change for him, all he had to do was ask.' Max was deepening her depression, thinking about all the times she had done things with Logan, not the Eyes Only and Manticore stuff, but everything else. The time she had a seizure and he stayed with her, the wedding, and when he asked her to go away with him, which she knew wasn't happening now. How could it?

By the time the elevator stopped in the garage, Max had composed herself, and walked out with a stern look on her face. She knew it was terse, it would take only one little thing for her to break down again. Max rounded the corner and saw her bike. 'Good, made it the whole way here without losing it and acting all girlie again. Least now I can go for a good ride and get my mind off this.' Before her thought could finish, she lost it and started to cry again, and she was getting pissed now. She had never been this emotional before, and while she didn't want to believe it was her Manticore upbringing telling her that she was being weak, she still didn't like that fact she was crying so much. The trigger had of course been Logan's car, which was parked right next to Max's bike. Just looking at them sitting side by side – like old friends – had been more than enough to make Max lose control again. She couldn't help from thinking. 'Logan's big and I'm small. It's like us, it's how we should be together.' The metaphorical state of their respective forms of transportation had her bending down again, drawing her knees to her chest and clutching them.

After a small internal debate, discussing whether or not she should stay balled up crying in an attempt to regain some warmth, or to leave. She finally stood and walked over to her bike and jumped on. Gazing longingly at Logan's car she started her bike and put on her sunglasses then left.

Max was out on the street now and didn't feel better at all; she just felt more miserable as she got further away from Logan's apartment. She noticed a phone and remembered Original Cindy's page.

"You page me." Max said flatly.

"Sorry to get you out of bed, boo." Cindy joked with an underlying tone of mischievous implication.

"But we gotta be a work pretty soon, don't want you getting fired because you too busy getting nasty with your squeeze." Original Cindy finished, very happy.

At the mention of Logan, Max had to holdback more emotion and bite her lower lip so it didn't wobble.

"We're not like that, and we never will be," Max said, sullen and quietly. Original Cindy could hear the pain in Max's voice and the tears in her throat. She was about to say something when Max cut her off.

"See you at work." She quickly hung up and rode off, only now realising that the sun was in fact up.

After she had phoned Original Cindy, she rode around on her bike for a while, then eventually stopped and went to the Space Needle, deciding she needed to get all of this out of her system and that was the only place she knew of to be alone. When she got to the top and stood there looking over the city nothing happened. She was empty, she felt hollow and rejected but not like crying any more. So she stood there, looking over the city and the people far below.

Max strolled into Jam Pony an hour or two late. Normal was about to abuse her until he saw the look on her face. He didn't consider himself a weak man but facing up to Max when she obviously wasn't in a good mood – and judging by her face it was an extremely violent and edgy mood – he decided to back off and just observe her as she walked past.

Max's face was set in a grim determined look, but above that was a fury; an unbridled fury. Her eyes were cold and dark and she was glowering. People were actually giving her a wide birth for fear of retribution.

Everyone was peering around to get a look at Max, waiting for her to explode. Sketchy was doing some tricks on his bike and hadn't noticed Max's arrival, until he fell on top of her as she walked past. Everyone gasped in anticipation and horror.

"Uh, sorry Max, I didn't see you there." Sketchy stammered. He had picked up on the mood of the rest of the employees of Jam Pony by now, so he began to cower slightly.

"Huh? Oh, that's alright Sketch," Max said distantly, and continued to walk to her locker.

"What the hell did that male do to you?" Cindy ranted, as she saw Max approach. She wasn't talking about Sketchy and Max knew it.

"Nothing, it was my fault. I just…" Max wasn't really sure what she was saying; it appeared to be a collection of the first words that came to mind. It didn't matter since Original Cindy interrupted her anyway.

"I'm gonna put the smack-down on his ass. He'll be hurtin' so much when Original Cindy is through with him." Original Cindy was up by this stage, pacing and gesticulating madly.

"Don't OC," she heard Max whimper. She didn't realise it had been this serious; Original Cindy had just thought he did something stupid again and ruined another meal. This, however, was a lot more serious than a meal.

"Oh boo," Original Cindy said sympathetically as she walked over and hugged Max.

Without knowing what was happening Max was crying again. It was mostly due to Logan but part of it was because she had never been comforted before when she was upset, it was always 'Shake it off soldier and get moving…' or something to that affect. Some of the warmth was coming back.

"What happened?" Original Cindy gently cooed into Max's ear.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," Max stated flatly. She had regained her composure and stopped crying but was still hanging onto Cindy.

"Okay boo, don't you worry, Original Cindy is here now," Original Cindy replied, noticing the walls of defence going up again around Max, and knowing it best not to try and break through them, especially at a time like this.

After a small while Max backed away and attempted a weak smile.

"Thanks," she whispered coyly, as if embarrassed.

"No big dealio, you know I got your back, boo," Original Cindy stated seriously.

Max walked off and headed over to Normal.

"You got a run for me?" Max asked. Normal was taken aback a little since she wasn't being smart. It sounded as if she were just asking, something none of his messengers had ever done before. He hesitated for a moment.

"Ah… Sure, here you go." He handed her a package then scurried off in case it had been some form of plan to get at him.

Max took the package, looked at the address and headed out.

Bling arrived at Logan's about an hour or two after Max left and headed for the bedroom to wake him up. An overwhelming sense of déjà vu hit as he was about to knock on Logan's door. 'They had a date last night, maybe I shouldn't intrude, say if something were to have happened.' He thought about it for a moment and then decided that knowing these two they probably did just have dinner then leave it at that. He spoke loudly as he knocked on the door.

"Logan I'm here for your morning session, if you don't want me to come in just say so. Oh and good morning Max." He threw that bit in for some fun, knowing Logan's reaction would be great.

There was no reply so he knocked again and called, still no reply. He went in and found Logan's bed as made as it had been when he had left the other night.

"Strange," Bling said aloud, a little puzzled.

He walked into the kitchen and noticed the glasses of red cordial and all the dirty cooking equipment sitting out. 'Unlike you Logan,' Bling thought as he proceeded into the dinning room. Again he was surprised by the plates still being at the table and with some very melted dessert on them. He looked to the side and noticed that all the furniture in the living room had been moved around. 'What the hell did they get up to last night? Maybe they went out afterwards and he's at her place,' Bling thought hopefully.

When he got further into the room he saw Logan, sitting propped up against the table, with his arm through the top of it covered in blood.

"My god," Bling said, shocked, as he ran over to Logan's body.

He picked him up and laid him on the floor, and then fingered for his pulse. He couldn't feel one; he was getting angry and upset now. 'What happened here? Where's Max?'

Bling noticed that he could now feel a throbbing sensation, so he relaxed a little, but not much, since it was incredibly weak and Logan was very white and cold. He ran off and got some towels, to try and stop his still bleeding arm.

When he wrapped them around the injured arm Logan stirred a little.

"You're going to be okay buddy," Bling said, not sounding very reassuring.

"Don't tell Max," Logan gasped out, and then lost consciousness again.

Bling had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean but Logan did seem fairly adamant so he decided to respect his wishes for the moment. His first response was to ring Max but after Logan's request he decided that he was quite capable of getting Logan to the hospital himself.

Bling picked Logan up, put him in his wheelchair, and then rushed out to the lift and Logan's waiting car.

Max was riding along, trying to keep her mind on the task at hand, but there was only so many times you could internally repeat an address before you went insane. Just when she let her mind wander and do whatever it wanted, she felt a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck, and her skin felt as if it were crawling. She also had the sudden urge to call Logan. 'No, he won't want to speak with you,' she thought bluntly, then went back to internally reciting the address she had to go to.

Bling rushed into the hospital carrying Logan – he noticed his condition had deteriorated on the ride over and so wasn't willing to take the time to set up Logan's wheelchair again.

"Help!" Bling yelled. A nurse looked over and saw the tall dark man standing there. It looked very dramatic. There was a tall muscular man, with a torn and pained expression on his face, carrying the limp lifeless body of his friend, whose arm was hanging down with a towel wrapped around it, and out of the towel, droplets of blood were forming a small pool on the ground at his feet.

She quickly barked some commands and a team of nurses and a doctor came over with a gurney, placed Logan on it and took off to the E.R., with Bling closely behind.

Max had stopped to get a drink, when again her skin started to crawl and the hairs on the back of her neck and down her spine seemed to be doing a little dance. This time the urge to call Logan was stronger. Yet, she shrugged it off and continued to her next drop.

Bling was standing outside of the emergency room waiting anxiously. A nurse came out so he accosted her.

"My, friend. What's happening?"

"Ah, yes Mr. Cale is it? He had some pretty nasty cuts on his arm, no real problem patching them up, and no tendon or nerve damage. He has lost a lot of blood, however, and there is still a huge blood shortage in the city. I'm off now to check with the blood bank," the nurse replied. She nodded curtly then quickly walked off, in search of more blood.

Bling looked nervously into the room where Logan was.

Normal was still being careful with Max, but was suitably impressed. She had done more runs today than most riders did in a week, and it was only 2 in the afternoon. 'Should break up with their boyfriends more often,' he thought, then turned around to find Max waiting for another package. She didn't look angry or impatient. She was just standing there quietly waiting for another run.

"Max, here you go," Normal said as he handed her another package.

"Wait a minute. I've noticed you have done a lot of runs today. In fact, if you do any more today I'm going to have to start paying you more. So in that case this can be your last run for today, and you can have tomorrow off too." Normal didn't want to appear to be going soft on his employees. The payment issue wasn't really true, but he could see she was hurting and so decided some time off from work was in order.

"What?" Max asked, in a daze. She hadn't really been paying attention, until the 'rest of the day off and tomorrow off too' part.

"This is your last run for today Max, and tomorrow. You've been working too hard. Can't have my new star employee overdoing it," he said softly, leaning towards Max so no one else could hear.

"But Normal, I'm fine, I don't…" Max began.

"Look, just take the time off, no penalties. Take this afternoon and tomorrow off. With all the runs you've done today we can manage," he said again quietly; so quiet Max had to direct her full attention to the man.

"Okay." She finally conceded, then grabbed the package and left for her last run.

'Look at it this way, at least you got some days off work out of this.' That didn't help at all, and she was still too miserable to try and see a positive out of this morning's event.

Bling was still waiting anxiously outside Logan's room, and the nurse hadn't returned. He suddenly heard the dreaded sound of pieces of medical equipment going into fits of warning, beeping and toning quickly and loudly. He looked in and noticed the doctors looking worriedly at Logan's very still body, which was still very pale and lifeless.

"He just doesn't have enough blood," he heard a doctor saying.

"Give him more plasma," another doctor commanded. The order was over-ridden by the first doctor.

"No, his blood is so diluted with plasma at the moment, more of it won't help. He just needs more blood." The doctors continued to argue for a while, and then they seemed to decide on something and one of them injected Logan with something, which at least returned the monitors to the regular operating sounds.

The head doctor walked out and Bling approached him.

"Doctor, my friend, what's happening?"

"Your friend has lost a lot of blood, I mean a colossal amount, and it's amazing he's alive at the moment. He needs some more of his blood type for a transfusion but all the blood banks are tapped out, which is no real surprise since it's the hardest blood type to get. We just need to find someone with his blood type, or something compatible soon; otherwise, I don't think he'll last much longer. I'm sorry." The doctor finished, placing a reassuring arm on Bling's, and then he walked down the hall to another emergency room. Bling knew what he needed to do. So what if Logan asked him not to. If he was going to save his life, it was worth going against his wishes.

Bling grabbed Logan's phone from his jacket pocket and then realised he didn't know Max's number. On further inspection it turned out that Logan's phone address book was encrypted, and there was no way he would be getting a number out of that. Not knowing who to call or what to do, Bling just returned to his vigil outside Logan's room.

Max had been home for about half an hour, she'd had a shower and made herself something to eat. She didn't really feel like going outside; she just wanted to sit and be alone, since that's all she felt she deserved.

Max was sitting on the couch, with one leg propped up and her hands and face resting on the knee, looking out the window at the rain. 'I suppose that's one of the positive aspects of living here. At least the weather is always right if you want to be in a gloomy mood,' Max thought, and let out a big sigh as she watch the beads of rain run down the glass. She was just sitting there, tracing the course of the water as it trickled down the window, not thinking anything in particular, when she got that strange sensation again. Her skin began to crawl and the hairs on her neck and spine were moving violently, and only now when she was bothered to concentrate on it did she know what was happening. It was Logan, he was in trouble again. This is exactly how she felt the last time he nearly died. A terrible thought struck her. 'Oh god, I've been having these feelings for a few hours now, what if it's too late?' Max panicked, forgot completely about what happened that morning and leapt for her phone.

Max was rushing around the house getting clothes on with the phone stuck to the side of her head; it had been ringing for quite some time now. She was fully dressed and standing in the middle of her apartment waiting for the phone to be answered, her expression darkened when it finally rang out. 'Where the hell is he? Oh no…' Max realised very quickly, and the numbers to Logan's mobile were already punched in.

Bling had been getting more and more anxious as he stood there waiting for something to happen. He didn't want to leave Logan now, and he didn't hold much hope of finding Max anywhere. A nurse who had just been checking Logan over walked over to Bling and spoke to him.

"How is he?" Bling asked when she was still a few strides away.

"I'm going to be honest, it doesn't look good. He has lost a lot of blood, it amazing that he lasted this long, but he also doesn't seem to be trying very hard to stay alive." She stopped here and looked at Bling, who was looking over open eyed at Logan. He knew it had to be Max's stem cells and Manticore blood that were keeping him alive, but he also knew it was only a matter of time before he just ran out. The nurse began talking again.

"Have you noticed your friend suffering from depression?" Bling was taken completely by surprise. Logan had been the happiest he had ever seen him only last night.

"No, why do you ask?" Bling was getting a little edgy that the nurse was implying something.

"Well, he's wounds are conducive with an attempted suicide and the way he seems to be just laying there, not trying too much…" the nurse replied. She didn't want to ask this, but it was her job. Suicides never made sense to her; she always saw how much people cared, how much pain the act caused. She hated it.

"Sorry, I just have to ask that question." The nurse apologised politely then turned to leave.

"Thanks," Bling said to her retreating form. He knew it wasn't an easy thing to do, ask people if the person in bed actually wanted to die. It was one of the many reasons he got out of being a nurse.

A shrill noise and vibration in his pocket caused Bling to jump suddenly.

"What the?" Completely shocked for the moment, Bling slowly realised it was Logan's phone. He quickly pulled it out and opened it. Looking at the little display he saw 'Scrambling', Bling knew what it was doing, it was probably an Eyes Only contact. They were the only people who were scrambled, them…

"and Max!" Bling yelled into the phone, as the thought occurred to him.

"Bling, why have you got Logan's phone? Wait, don't worry I know, just tell me which hospital." 

"Harbour Lights. Hurry Ma…" Bling responded, but the phone had already gone dead.

Bling pocketed the phone, stood there for a second, then realised some action was called for. He ran off in search of a Doctor.

"Doctor Carr," Bling said as he was halfway into his office.

"Yes, what is it Bling?" The doctor asked, as he stood up and went over to the man at his door. He knew there must have been something wrong with Logan, so he walked past him toward Logan's room, waiting for Bling to catch up and start speaking.

"What happened, has his condition worsened?" Sam asked hurriedly as he made a sharp turn down another corridor.

"No, we need to get him ready for a transfusion," Bling said quickly.

Sam slowed and turned to face Bling, his face dropping.

"Bling, I'm sorry but there's no blood available, and people have to be screened for that sort of thing," Sam said quietly, trying not to upset the man.

"No, it's alright. It's from the same person he got it from last time, you don't need to screen her," Bling replied, as he started to walk toward Logan's room again. Doctor Carr followed him and ran to catch up.

"You're sure she isn't infected with anything, or have any blood anomalies I should know about?" Sam questioned, knowing she probably didn't since last time Logan got blood from a girl – a girl he assumed was the same one coming to donate again – it was amazing the effect it had on him. Bling turned to face him and his lips curled slightly into a grin.

"No, I'm sure her blood is clean," Bling said defiantly, completely avoiding the question of blood anomalies, and then walked into Logan's room. Sam stood there and looked at the back of the retreating giant. 'Well, he is going to die otherwise, it's the best hope we've got.' With that thought he walked into the room and started to prepare Logan for his transfusion. Not that there was much to do, but set up a line for the person who was about to arrive.

Max had never travelled faster on her bike. It was screaming in protest to the treatment but still flying along. Max had managed to break through every sector checkpoint between her place and the hospital. Most times the checkpoint guards only heard a screaming engine approach, and then before they knew what was happening the flimsy wooden barrier was broken and the screaming engine sound was disappearing. At one checkpoint, however, they had been warned of her approach and set up metal guardrails with large spikes. As Max turned onto the street with the checkpoint at the end, she noticed the guards preparing the area for blockade, and knew by the time she got there it would be fully blocked off.

"Damn," she mumbled angrily. She stopped the bike to consider her options, sitting there getting very impatient. Max looked around and noticed a service elevator just off to her side. She turned her bike and rode into it, taking the lift to the top floor. When the doors opened, she exploded out of the elevator and headed up the stairs. A few stunned residents popped their heads out to see a girl riding past on a motorcycle.

When Max managed to get onto the roof, she looked across and smiled. Most of the roof tops here were joined or spaced only a few feet apart, and all the gutters had little ramps onto the next roof; probably so the people could wheel their shopping trolleys around.

So once again she was speeding towards the checkpoint, but this time she was 5 stories high.

When she got to the end of the joined rooftops, which happened to be where the checkpoint was, she looked out and noticed that there was a large warehouse across the way. The problem was it was a good distance from the building she was on. She decided quickly, jumped off her bike, ripped the door that was an entrance to the roof from its hinges and placed it over by the ledge, making a small ramp. She jumped back on her bike and rode toward it, hitting it at a great speed. As she shot into the air and across toward to warehouse, she could hear some gunfire so she looked down and noticed that the Sector Police were firing at her wildly. When she looked back in front of her, the side of the building was coming up fast, but she had placed herself perfectly so she managed to crash through a large window, down a desk, which was placed next to the window, and onto the floor. She stopped for a moment to admire the view she had just created and the distance of her jump. She then turned and sped off, out the back of the warehouse – after taking a few sets of stairs – and into the streets.

Max arrived at the hospital and parked her bike in the underground parking lot. She ran up to the entrance of the hospital at an incredible speed, and then as more people came into view she slowed down to a regular pace, but still faster than most people. After nearly breaking the automatic doors – which were working far too slowly – she ran straight to the receptionist.

"Where's Logan?" she pleaded, not really making much sense since she was only asking for someone with a first name, but she was desperate and panicking.

The receptionist looked up and was ready to give this person the standard, 'Stand here and wait while I check' line that usually lasted a good 10 minutes, even though she knew there was only one Logan here, because she had witnessed his dramatic arrival. However, when she looked up and saw the anguish and pain of the girls face and eyes she immediately told her.

"Down that corridor and to the left, room 415." The nurse stood up as she was saying this and pointed in the direction of Logan's room. Max nodded and ran down the corridor; it was the hardest thing she had done, trying to run slowly enough not to blur.

Bling had moved out into the hall and started pacing impatiently waiting for Max to arrive. Logan was slipping away very quickly now, and the doctor was in with him but there was nothing he could really do.

Max ran around the corner and down the other corridor, she immediately saw Bling so knew she was headed in the right direction. She didn't even want to think why he was standing out in the corridor and not actually in the room with Logan.

"Bling, how is he? What happened?" Max asked as she approached whilst starting to take off her jacket.

"He's bad and I was hoping you might be able to tell me what happened," Bling replied curiously.

"What, you think I'd just leave him like that?" Max replied sharply. Bling quickly apologised and went to stand by Logan. Max followed and walked over to Logan's bed, she was sad as soon as she saw him. 'Look at him, he's nearly dead and he's been through so much in the past few days.' Max's face was dark and sad, and she felt like she may cry again, but this time because of how Logan looked; he actually looked like he was dead.

Sam had heard the two approaching so he quickly stood up and started talking as he got the needle out, preparing them for the transfusion.

"Okay, all you need to do is sit here and I'll just put the needle in and then… You?" Sam had finally turned around and saw Max standing there looking down at Logan, face full of sorrow and pain.

"Yeah me, don't worry there are no cops after me now," Max said as she grabbed the needle from his hand and jabbed it in her arm. Sam was standing there gawping, not too sure what had just happened. He turned to look at Max who had taken the seat next to Logan's bed. She had fished out his undamaged hand and was holding it in hers and she was looking at his face. He could see she was very upset.

"Um, okay then. It might take a while since Logan has lost a lot of blood, I'll come back in about 20 minutes to check on you. If you start to feel nauseated in anyway, use the buzzer." He indicated to the wall then slowly walked out, suddenly feeling very out of place. Bling also had the feeling he was interrupting something significant, so he walked over to Max quietly.

"I'll be outside if you need anything, just call," Bling said softly into Max's ear, as though he would disturb something important if he spoke too loudly.

"K, thanks Bling," Max replied, never taking her eyes off Logan.

Bling turned and finally let out a breath he had been holding for far too long. He turned to look at them again as he was closing the door. 'Logan will be alright now, Max is here. Damn he is a lucky man. I really need to tell him that some day.' This thought sprang to mind as he saw a single tear roll down Max's cheek, as she leaned in and gently stroked his face and whispered something.

"You know if you die on me I'll kick your ass," Max whispered to Logan, as she stroked his face and the tears started to fall more frequently.

"Well thanks a lot Logan, you've opened an emotional time bomb, all I can do is cry now," Max joked with him. Well, at least she tried to joke but it came out in shallow bursts, interrupted by the irregular breathing her crying had induced.

Max had been sitting there for about 5 minutes before she started getting tired, and discovered that the chair she was sitting on was incredibly uncomfortable. She looked at Logan and noticed there was quite a large gap on the bed next to him. She desperately wanted to climb up and lay next to him, but with everything that had happened that morning she didn't think Logan would appreciate it. She wasn't sure how he would take this, waking up to see her there, giving him more 'genetically engineered freak blood'. He'd probably be disgusted. Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle movement of Logan's hand. Max noticed he tried to squeeze hers, but was so weak that all he could manage was a slight movement. 'He probably thought I am someone else anyway, he wouldn't want to hold hands with me.' Just then Logan sighed, but with his sigh Max could hear her name being said, and again Logan's features changed and he smiled and a little colour came back to his face. This had an effect on Max too, she felt a little warmer.

Her mind was made up, she slowly and lethargically climbed into the bed with Logan, resting her head on his shoulder and quickly falling asleep.

When she awoke the hot rays of the sun were beating over her and the bright light was blinding her. She slowly sat up and was overcome by the smell of salt water and fresh air. As she looked around she realised this must have been the beach Logan was talking about. She now understood, it was nice. Not being able to help herself she looked down and smiled; she was wearing a bikini. She then looked up for something had captured her attention. Logan was running out of the surf toward her; he was smiling and seemed very pleased to see her.

Max felt happy again.

As Logan approached his grin broadened, and he was jogging towards Max slowly. When he was a few feet away from the foot of the towel she was lying on he 'accidentally' tripped.

"Whoops," he said, making quite a production of it, as he came to land over the top of Max. He didn't land directly on her, but hovered over her, supporting his own weight. He was staring intensely into her eyes and noticed her bottom lip disappearing behind her top lip.

"Hey you," he said, smiling.

"Hey," Max replied quietly, a shocked pleasure with the situation. Logan began to move, so he could lie down on his towel next to Max.

"Don't," she said, gently grabbing his forearm to keep him in place. Logan looked at her, asking a question with his eyes. He was full of joy and playfulness so the gaze appeared cheeky.

"The sun was bothering me, this is much better," Max stated.

"Really?" Logan asked smiling wide, exposing his teeth.

"No, not really, it just makes this easier." In a deft movement Max knocked both of his arms out causing him to fall straight on top of her. Max loved the closeness and the pressure of his shirtless body on hers. She ran her hand along his spine from the small of his back, up into his hair and then pulled his head down to hers, and their lips met. 

Logan pulled a way after a few minutes, and Max smiled lazily and murmured appreciatorily.

"I should probably get off, because I think we are causing a scene," Logan said as he reluctantly rolled off.

"Mmm," Max answered as she drifted off to sleep.

Logan had been awake for some time now and noticed Max curled up next to him, her face pained as she held his hand. He could see the stain of tears on her face. 'God I'm an idiot. Good thing she keeps coming back, giving me another chance. I really need to do something nice for her soon,' Logan thought, completely forgetting he couldn't walk, but he knew now that it didn't matter. Max was with him anyway, worried for his safety, lying there with him, holding his hand. Logan noticed that her grip had slipped, so he gently squeezed her hand – which produced a smile from Max – then he gently let go – which received a scowl. He moved his arm around so Max was on the inside of it, next to his body and nicely cocooned. Max's features lit up and she murmured something in her sleep as she wiggled closer to Logan.

Sam came in and saw the two lying on the bed. At first he thought something was wrong but then he saw Logan, with his face full of colour and he was awake, looking down at the girl in his arms lovingly.

"Okay, well you're full by the looks of things. She probably will sleep for a while to regain her strength. Would you like me to get another bed brought in for her?" Sam whispered, trying not to disturb Max. He knew the answer to the question but wanted to see what Logan was going to say.

"No, she looks pretty comfortable where she is," Logan stated happily as he hugged Max a little tighter and protectively.

"Okay then, I'll be back in a while to check on you both," Sam said as he withdrew the needle from Max's arm. She barely flinched.

"Thanks Sam. Could you ask Bling to come in please?" Logan asked as the doctor was leaving the room. Sam merely nodded and headed out of the room.

When Max woke she was still a little groggy and disorientated. When she realised where she was and why she was there, she looked up and saw Logan peering down at her.

"How do you feel?" they asked in unison.

"Good, probably because I've got some more super blood in me. And you?" Logan replied first, and then smiled down at Max, looking apologetically into her eyes.

"Warm again," Max said, as she smiled up at him, Logan could see the relief and calm in her eyes as she looked at him.

"I've got something for you," Logan said promisingly as he leant over and retrieved something of the bedside table. Max looked at him puzzled then smiled when she saw the glass of red cordial he presented her with.

"My favourite. How ever did you know?" Max asked playfully.

"You told me, remember?" Logan spoke back, smiling at Max and laughing slightly. He felt whole again.

Max took a few big sips then handed it back to Logan, who placed it back on the bedside table.

"I'm still kinda tired," Max said. She wasn't really, but she didn't want to leave her position.

"That's okay, go back to sleep, you gave me a lot of blood, you need your rest," Logan replied.

Max smiled at him then bent her head down to rest on his shoulder and slowly closed her eyes, a huge grin on her face.

After a while, when Logan thought she had fallen asleep again, he slowly bent down and kissed the top of her head. He knew she wasn't when he saw her teeth bared as a beautiful smile graced her features.

Logan looked out the window and noticed it was dark again. 'Perfect, another night,' Logan jested with himself.

He then bent down and kissed to top of Max's head again.


	7. All Things Warm

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Dark Angel, it belongs to Fox and some others. This is for entertainment – hopefully.

Authors note: Managed to write this chapter fairly swiftly, next chapter is already written, and so should be up pretty shortly. Depending on a few things. Like if I want too, and if I have time.

Story note: I think from here on in the characters are starting to slip a little, but I figured you need to have that. I mean if they were in the same character as in the show, well they would never get together, which they might be doing in this chapter or the next one. Might.

Also I am undecided how something should turn out, so at the end of this chapter is a little question. I am loath to putting unrelated story stuff at the bottom, but if I put it up here, well it would give away the entire chapter. So if you feel like responding to it, you may. Depending on the amount of responses for either case (it's a 'do this or do that' situation), then that is most likely how the following chapters will eventuate. Enjoy the chapter, it is far too long, but that's the way it turned out.

Special thanks: My incredible beta reader, Milla. Who manages to find the time to pour over these lengthy chapters, and find all my mistakes, which is good for all those who read it.

Chapter 7 – All things warm

Max had just woken up, her face was hanging limp, and it became obvious to her that she had been in a very deep sleep. Something she wasn't used to at all, but she enjoyed the feeling of waking up like this. Max looked up at Logan; it was early morning now so she had been asleep for quite some time. Logan looked peaceful and happy as he lay there sleeping, arm still around Max protectively. She slowly picked Logan's hand off her waist and sat up. Looking down at him again she smiled then regretfully got off the bed and walked out of the room. 

Logan awoke shortly afterwards noticing that the bed had moved slightly and he wasn't as warm as he used to be. He then realised that his arm was lying beside him but there was no Max wrapped up in it. 'Oh man, I suppose I deserve this. I just wish she had stayed for a while, so we could talk. Hell, I just like her being here.' Logan thought, more depression sinking in. She had come again and saved his life, then just as quickly she had left once more. Logan held his good arm up and looked at it, it was still warm from Max's body. He then dropped it in frustration; it was such a powerful reminder of the wonderful girl who had spent the night there and he felt sharp needle-like pain stabbing his arm where it was cooling down from Max's warmth. He knew he didn't deserve Max, or for her to save his life. The way he had treated her was unforgivable, and he made a deal with himself that he was going to try to make it up to her somehow, but he felt there was nothing he could do to ever deserve an apology. As his mood was darkening and he was rethinking the way he had blown Max off, Logan heard the door to his room open. He didn't look up since he figured it would be Bling or the doctor.

Logan had never been more pleasantly surprised when Max perched herself on the end of his bed facing the window. She turned to him.

"Morning. How'd you sleep?" she asked lightly.

"Never better. You?" Logan responded.

"I don't sleep remember," Max replied.

"Well you slept last night that's for sure," Logan challenged. Max looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"What proof have you got mister? I may have just been laying there with my eyes closed." Logan just smiled at her and pointed to a spot on the sheet.

"Do you generally drool when you're just lying down?" He asked, victorious and laughing a little. Logan watched as Max went a healthy scarlet.

"Whoops. I must have been pretty tired," she said, as she smiled at him. Then she turned back around and looked out the window.

Logan noticed she was doing something, and then it dawned on him.

"You're eating my food again aren't you?" Logan asked light heartedly.

"No, yours is over there, this belonged to some nasty old lady from down the hall," Max replied over her shoulder.

"But since you thought I was eating yours, and you didn't seem to mind too much…" She lent over and placed the empty container on the table and picked up Logan's.

"I might as well. I hate to disappoint." With that she began to eat Logan's meal.

"You've never disappointed me Max," Logan said, suddenly very serious. Max turned to look at him, her smile had gone and she was looking anxious and sad again.

"Logan I'm sorry I'm different, I can change…" Max began to tell Logan that she was willing to change for him; her voice was weak and quavering. Logan interrupted her exceptionally quickly.

"What? You have nothing to be sorry for. It's me who is the idiot. Look at how I treated you yesterday morning, and you were still willing to come back and help me out. Max, look at me." Logan gently grabbed her by the chin; she had turned away again when she was speaking. Logan was sitting up and had Max's chin between his forefinger and thumb, but as he pulled her around to face him, his hand flattened and he ran it along her cheekbone until he held the side of her face. Max couldn't help herself, she closed her eyes and leant into Logan's hand a little. Logan smiled when he noticed the effect he was having on her.

"You're not going to make it this easy for me are you?" He jested, this caused Max's lips to twitch slightly and she opened her eyes.

"Logan…" Max tried to speak again but Logan moved his thumb lightly her lips, causing her to stop speaking.

"I'm not finished yet," Logan stated. 

"Max, there is nothing at all for you to be sorry about. Yesterday morning was completely my fault, I should have told you what was going on not just send you away." Logan was looking intently into Max's eyes; she could see the worry and apologies that kept flooding through his.

"And another thing. I wouldn't want you to change at all, you're amazing Max, and if you tried to change to please me in some way it would probably only upset me. You are remarkably unique individual, which is the way you always have been. I don't want you changing for me or at all." He stopped speaking and looked at her more intensely.

"You are perfect Max, just the way you are." Logan was done speaking, and searching fixedly Max's deep brown eyes for some form of positive sign. He got it.

When Max heard what he said – and had time to get over the initial shock and digest it – she beamed. Her eyes lit up and she couldn't hold back a huge smile that bared her brilliant white teeth, which she quickly tried to hide for reasons of embarrassment. She noticed Logan's hand was still on the side of her face, so she moved her hand on top of it and held it there.

"Thanks." she said quietly, embarrassed with the situation since she wasn't used to such serious compliments. She still had a big grin on her face though.

Just then the door noisily opened.

"Where the hell is that pathetic excuse for human life?" Cindy yelled as she stormed the room. Max couldn't help giggling when she saw the look of horror on Logan's face.

Original Cindy rounded the curtain and saw Max sitting on the end of Logan's bed. He was sitting up and it looked as if he had been talking with her. Probably doing the typical male thing and saying it was an accident and it will never happen again.

"What did you do to my boo?" she ranted as she walked over and grabbed Max off the end of his bed and held her protectively.

"I…" Logan began but was cut off by Max.

"It's alright now girl." Max tried to reassure Original Cindy.

"Oh no. No it ain't, I seen what this male did to you. He ain't gettin' out of it that easy." With this Cindy's eyes narrowed in the direction of Logan, then she quickly made her way to him and slapped him over the head.

Max swiftly grabbed Original Cindy's raised arm before she could land another strike, then guided her out of the room.

"But Max, he made you cry and Original Cindy knows home girl don't cry that much over anything. Are you just going to forget that?" Original Cindy turned to Max as they arrived at the outside of Logan's room.

"Yes," Max stated simply, closing the door.

"Uhh, what? Why?" Cindy looked completely dumbfounded; she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Because. I l…" 

'love him. I do don't I? I'm not sure if I want to tell anyone this yet. I don't even want to say it yet, it can stay my dark secret for a while.' Max thought mid sentence.

"…like him, and he's a good friend. He just made a mistake because he was upset." Max ended with an attempt to conceal a smile. Original Cindy had noticed the slight pause in Max's sentence. She also now noticed the way Max looked. Not at all like she did yesterday, distant, hollow and deeply upset. She was happy now, happier than Original Cindy had ever seen her and she was bright and electric. Original Cindy could almost feel the aura now radiating from Max.

"Aiight boo, if you say so. Remember just because you… like him doesn't mean he can treat you bad. If he put you in a state like Original Cindy saw you in yesterday, I'm gonna do a lot more than just put a smack down on his ass." Max just smiled at Original Cindy's empty threat. She also noticed the pause around the 'like' situation, the same place she had paused herself. Max then noticed the small smile threatening to escape Cindy's stoic expression.

"Well I gotta bounce, got work soon," Original Cindy announced as she turned and started to walk off.

"Hey, wait for me," Max called after her, then remembered Normal had given her the day off. Before she could say anything Original Cindy stopped and turned to her.

"You got the day off 'member? Normal told me. How about I tell the man you are still in dark depths of depression and need another day?" Cindy asked Max. Max was taken completely off guard by this question. She thought Normal had given her the day off because of all the runs she had done. Well, she suspected it may be because she was upset but she didn't expect Normal to admit to anyone something like that.

"Normal told you he gave me the day off because I was upset?" Max asked Cindy, not really believing her.

"Yeah he did, must be going sweet on you or somethin'. Better watch out, might have another boy following you around all gooey eyed." Cindy jested, and she was smiling again.

"Yeah that'd be nice, thanks," Max said simply, ignoring the previous statement. She was a little shy in responding because she knew what it meant, and so did Cindy.

"You leave it to Original Cindy, you be havin' a nice extra long weekend now." Original Cindy was back to her full flavoursome self again. She smiled at Max then turned and walked down the hall.

'Wow, an extra long weekend with Logan now, if he wants too. Wait, even if he doesn't want too.' Max smiled to herself slightly at this thought as she turned and opened the door to Logan's room.

'And then another long weekend next week, and this time we are going away. Life's pretty good.' Max was finally back to the state of delirious happiness she had experienced only a few nights ago.

As Max closed the door she could hear Logan quickly sucking in a pained breath. She knew he shouldn't be in any pain, but she realised he would have heard the first part of Original Cindy's rant as she guided her outside.

'So he is nervous, anxious, upset with the way he treated you. He'll probably be falling over himself trying to apologise. I don't think I want to go through any of that again. This could still be fun though.' A wicked idea had come to mind, Max was feeling particularly playful.

Logan was dying; he had heard what Original Cindy had first started saying to Max. He knew he had stuffed up but it was only just starting to sink in how much he had actually upset Max with his latest stunt. He couldn't believe he had made her cry, and cry a lot if what Original Cindy had been saying was anything to go by. He was panicking a little as he heard Max softly pad towards his bed. There was a wrenching in his stomach, a pull from the deep pit of fear there. He had done something very wrong, but could see no possible way of making it better. What was worse, though, was that he'd made Max cry.

Max slowly rounded the edge of the curtain, head hanging low. She had to have it bowed so much to cover up the smile that just wouldn't leave her face for longer than 3 seconds.

Logan watched her approaching slowly, he saw her head hanging and knew she had just been reminded of his actions, the way she had felt when he told her to leave. He could see she was regretting coming back.

"Max, I'm so sorry…" Logan began to plead but was cut short by Max.

"Don't Logan, just… don't." She was acting well now, although she was sure she could hear the laughter behind her pained and sorrow filled reply.

Logan wasn't willing to interrupt, and he didn't want to do anything against her wishes at the moment. He realised that the sound of his voice probably sickened her. Max got to the edge of the bed and stopped, head hanging down again. Nothing was happening so Logan tried to speak to her again.

"Ma…" He hadn't even said her name when she jumped up on the bed, straddling him.

"I said don't," Max told him as she placed her finger on his lips, her face an inch from his. Her tone by this time was entirely sparkling. She couldn't help it. They were in that position for a few seconds, Logan lying like a stunned fish, Max on all fours over the top of him.

"I've had enough of an emotional roller coaster the past few days to last me a life time Logan, can we just stop it and be happy?" Max asked, and then before Logan could answer she bent her arm so her top-half lowered a little, allowing her head closer to his and her mouth to touch his. At first Logan was completely stunned so he just lay there not really knowing what was going on, but then after some gentle persuasion by Max's lips he realised he should be responding in some manner. He started to kiss her back, which Max had been waiting for, and she pushed her face closer to his, forcing the kiss to deepen. Logan automatically got his good arm and placed it on the small of Max's back, which was particularly curved due to the way she was kneeling over him and her top-half was almost lying on his. Just as Max had lowered her chest onto Logan's and was gently slipping her arms around his neck she heard a familiar sound and bolted upright.

"You know, if you two are just in a convenient business relationship then I'm quite glad my working relationship with Logan isn't convenient." Bling said, standing a few feet away from the bed with the same camera held to his eye. He took another picture, and this one was good. Max was straddling Logan, face flustered and intensely embarrassed.

"Bling!" Max and Logan yelled in unison, Logan sat up in bed at this moment, causing himself to come into contact with Max. Instinctively Max put her hand up to Logan's chest to push him away, then caught herself before she did. Max realised in this situation she should have gone with her instinct because Bling took another photo, before Max pushed Logan back down onto the bed. She looked down at him and spoke.

"Just stay down, or do you want him to take more photos?" Max commanded aggressively, Logan could tell she wasn't really angry just immensely embarrassed. As Max was looking down at Logan and speaking to him, her hand still on his chest; they heard the camera go off again.

"Bling!"

"You two are priceless. Well thanks for the photos, got to go and make some copies. Bye." Bling hurriedly made his way to the door, knowing that the two people behind him wouldn't want any copies of these photos lying around. He heard the bed creak, so he looked around a little, but was distracted by a swishing sound. When he looked back to the door Max was standing there, arms spread out defensively across the door frame behind her. This time she didn't look cool and collected, a soldier ready for any situation. She looked desperate, nervous and still highly embarrassed.

"Bling, give me that camera." Max said sternly.

"Once I'm done," Bling replied, lips still set in a grin.

"We can do this two ways. You give me the camera or I can take it from you. Now what's it gonna be?" Max had resolved herself a little now and was looking far more menacing. Bling knew it wouldn't be a good idea to mess with her; after all she was about 5 times stronger and quicker than he was.

"Spoil all my fun," he complained defeated as he handed the camera over to Max, then walked out the door, shoulders hunched in a huff.

Max began walking back over to Logan when she started to look through the photos, with the intention of deleting them. However when she got to the first shot, Logan and her in the shower, she didn't want to delete it. The photo brought back such great memories, she stared at it for a while and started going a little tingly. Now she had a picture of Logan, and even better she was with him in the picture. As she scrolled through she realised that she had more than one picture of Logan, and she was in all of them, the smile on her face was getting bigger.

"Max, give me the camera so I can get rid of those photos." Logan interrupted her perusal from the other side of the curtain divider.

"I didn't get it, he managed to slip past me," Max replied as she slipped the camera in her bag, which was sitting on the bed next to Logan's, behind the curtain screen.

"What do you mean he slipped past you, look at the size of him?" Logan was getting quite hysterical now; Max couldn't help from laughing a little. She gently pulled the curtain aside and walked over to Logan, placing her hand on his shoulder to lower him back to bed – he had been quite excited by Bling's exit and so was sitting up again.

"Just relax Logan. What damage can he do with those photos? It's not as if he is going to post them in the paper or anything," Max said reassuringly as she went to sit down on the end of the bed again. Logan looked at her completely baffled.

"You, you don't care that he has photos of you on top of me in a bed?" Logan asked seriously, still a little deranged from his panic.

"Well maybe a little, but we can always get them back later. Like I said, he isn't going to go around showing them to everyone on the street," Max replied, and she couldn't help from grinning when Logan mentioned the part about her being on top of him. Logan looked flustered and confused; he didn't understand why Max was taking this so lightly. Eventually he remembered that he needed to be nice to Max because of the way he had treated her, which was still eating at him, but only since Max had stopped kissing him.

"Okay, if you say so," Logan simply responded, sounding a little defeated but trying to be happy about it.

They both sat there for a little while, becoming embarrassed by their closeness and each of them didn't really no what to do. Finally Logan spoke.

"So where did Original Cindy go? I thought she'd be back in here to beat me around some more," Logan asked humorously.

"Oh, she went to work," Max replied, looking at Logan. Logan just stared back, an expectant look on his face. When nothing happened he spoke.

"You know, this is usually about the time in the conversation where you have to blaze, bounce or jet in order not to lose you job." Logan stated, looking at Max and smiling a little. Then he realised she might think he was waiting for that and so started to worry again.

"You trying to tell me something?" Max responded teasingly, hoping this would make Logan react quickly.

"No, no of course not," Logan quickly stammered.

'Perfect.' Max thought, as her smile increased.

"Normal gave me the day off, and it looks like I'll have tomorrow off too. So I get an extra long weekend. And at the moment I've got nothing better to do than sit here," Max said happily, whilst curling her feet up underneath her.

"Well as long as you have nothing better to do," Logan replied, playing along with Max. There was a small pause.

"So why did Normal give you the day off? I thought he was pretty strict with you guys." Logan asked pretty seriously, after he had time to think about it a little. This question caused Max to look down at her crossed legs, and then quickly around to the window; anywhere she wouldn't have to look at Logan.

"Um, no reason. Well, I did a lot of runs yesterday," Max replied, not very convincingly since she had avoided looking in the direction of Logan the whole time after he had asked the question.

"Really?" Logan asked, knowing there was something else and asking Max with the tone of his voice.

"Well… Look do I really have to tell you?" Max replied, still not looking at Logan and sounding a little desperate.

"No of course you don't. I was just interested, and concerned," Logan responded simply. Max quickly glanced around at him then went back to looking out the window.

"Okay, it was because I was upset and he could see that so he gave me yesterday afternoon off and today. But don't worry I'm not upset anymore so it doesn't matter." Max quickly admitted the whole reason she had been let off work. Logan had suspected something like this but it still tore at him when he heard it. He looked up at Max and found her looking at him again, her eyes keenly focused on his.

"Don't worry Logan. Remember what I asked you? Let's just be happy, that's all I want," Max said quietly.

"I know Max, but it's going to take me a while to get over what I did to you. Even if you say you don't care and it's all in the past, I still know what I put you through and I won't be able to forget it for a while. I still need to make it up to you some how," Logan quickly spat out before Max could interrupt him. Max just looked at him and smiled, she knew he would need some time to get over this. Funny that, she was the one crying like a baby all the time because of something he had done, yet he was the one that needed time to come to terms with it and recover. She put it down to the fact the he liked her a lot. That thought made her happy.

"Fine, you can make me a nice dinner. With no interruptions." She said, knowing Logan wouldn't be satisfied with just that but at least it was a good start, and she got dinner out of it, which was always a bonus. There was another pause.

"So why do you have tomorrow off then? You said you might. Is there a strike or something?" Logan asked. Max looked shyly down again but Logan could see the smile on her face.

"No. Original Cindy is going to tell Normal that I'm in such a state that I can't possibly make it in tomorrow." She confessed, looking up at Logan and smiling; he could see that she was embarrassed.

"Oh, right. So you don't feel uncomfortable deceiving your poor boss?" Logan jested. Max just looked at him and smirked.

"No, not this one time. But I can go back to work if it really bothers you," Max responded, again playing on Logan's attempts to make her forget about the other morning.

"No, don't go. I was just asking." Logan again stammered quickly. There was another slight pause, but this time Logan was getting a little cocky and feeling better about himself.

"So, you get a four day weekend? Sounds pretty good. What are you going to get up to?" Logan asked, looking directly at Max. Max reddened slightly and shifted nervously.

"Well I thought, that you and I could… hang out, you know and do stuff." Max felt like a complete idiot with that response, but at least she had told the truth. Logan was touched and incredibly pleased, he couldn't believe she wanted to spend the weekend with him, and then she actually admitted it.

"I think I can fit you in somewhere. Will be a good opportunity to catch on some Eyes Only stuff." Logan responded. Max looked at him, her features had dropped and her mouth was hanging open in amazement. Just as she was about to abuse him, Logan started speaking again.

"I'm only joking Max, I don't have anything on for the next four days, and if I do, I don't anymore." Logan said sincerely as he reached down and squeezed her socked foot, it being the closest body part. Max looked at her foot then at Logan and smiled shyly. It was everything she wanted.

"Cool," Max said. As her teeth were uncontrollably bared in a giant smile.

Just then a nurse with a clipboard walked in the room.

"How are we this morning Mr. Cale? Doctor Carr asked me to come in and check on you." She walked over to the side of the bed and observed the many pieces of equipment that were still attached to Logan in various places.

"Well…" She said clearly puzzled, and then rechecked all the machines.

"What's wrong?" Max quickly asked, the panic evident in her voice. Logan squeezed her foot again to try and comfort her, which got a small smile from Max but she was still distracted by the nurse. The nurse hadn't responded yet so Max was glancing nervously between Logan and the equipment the nurse was observing.

"Nothing, he's fine dear. It just amazing how quickly he has returned to health," the nurse stated, still a little puzzled and so having another look at the machines.

"Oh," Max quietly responded.

"Good blood," Logan said smiling, the nurse turned to him thinking he was talking to her, but when she faced him she noticed his eyes fixed on the girl on the end of his bed. Max looked at him and smiled weakly.

"Well it looks like you are ready to go home actually. So I'll just go fetch you a chair." The nurse interrupted their staring, and walked out of the room.

"Looks like you get to go home mister," Max said to Logan playfully.

"Yeah," Logan responded solemnly; it was just another reminder that he couldn't walk. Max picked up on this quickly; so bent in and kissed Logan on the cheek, hoping it would have some form of positive effect. Logan turned to her, face lighting up, and he had a big smile on his face.

"Thanks," he said, squeezing Max's foot again, which he hadn't let go of since the last time he grabbed it. Max got up and just finished packing their bags when the nurse came back in wheeling a chair in front of her. Logan looked at it disgusted; Max saw this and walked over to him.

"Don't be silly, you need to get out of here somehow. Come on, I'll even push you," Max whispered into his ear, and he smiled a little at the closeness. The nurse closed the curtain so Logan could throw on some clothes. Max had been entertaining the idea of Manticore giving them X-Ray vision at the time. Opening the curtain, he seated himself in the char, and the nurse walked up behind Logan and started to push him towards the door. Max didn't take too kindly to this, which Logan noticed and had to stifle his laughter.

'How dare she start to move my Logan around?' Max stopped here and thought on that for a second. 'My Logan, cool.' She didn't smile, however, but her features darkened as she moved towards the nurse. Max moved coolly over and placed her hands on the handles of the wheelchair while speaking.

"It's alright we can manage." She was trying to be calm and level headed, she knew it was the nurse's job but she still didn't like her being that close to Logan. Instead of moving away the nurse tightened her grip on the handles and looked at Max.

"No, I'll take him out, it would be my pleasure," she said, dripping with something Max didn't like.

'You bitch. Let go of Logan.'

"Really, it's alright, we can manage," Max said again, her tone hardening and grip tightening. Logan was having small fits trying to stem his laughter. The nurse glowered at Max, and then in a very stupid manoeuvre swung her hips to bump Max out of the way. Before the nurse's hip had a chance of coming into contact with Max's, Max had hooked her foot behind the nurse's leg and swept it up. The nurse didn't understand why she had fallen on her arse and that bratty girl was casually walking out of the room pushing the patient. Once in the hall Logan couldn't contain himself anymore. He burst out laughing.

"Thanks for sticking up for me back there. You know that could have been very quickly resolved if you just told that nurse where to stick it," Max said to him angrily as she pushed Logan quicker and quicker out of the hospital. She was expecting a humorous response from Logan, something along the lines of 'And miss out on that wonderful show', but instead she got silence, and she knew why.

When Logan had heard Max, the tone in her voice he knew he had disappointed her again, the cold chill and gut wrenching fear had torn through his stomach again and was sitting in his chest making it hard to breath.

"I'm… so sorry Max, I didn't meant to…" Logan was desperately depressed again and Max could hear the regret and sorrow in his voice.

"No big dealio, I was only joking anyway. It's nice to kick someone's ass every now and again." Max tried to convince Logan and lighten the mood, which she knew wasn't working.

"Logan I know you feel bad about the other morning, and I know you won't feel better until you make it up to me in some ridiculously over the top manner. But for now, to make me feel better don't be so gloomy. Remember all I asked was for us to be happy. Not just me and not just you, but both of us. And at the moment, you being all pissy and depressed is holding down your end of the bargain, so it looks like you'll have to stop or you'll just let me down more." Max finished, with a strange sense of logic that seemed to make sense. Logan smiled slowly when he realised what Max was trying to do.

"So you expect some huge over the top gesture as a form of apology?" Logan asked playfully.

"I don't care, as long as I get a dinner out of it somewhere," Max said as the walked out of the front door of the hospital.

"A dinner? The rate you eat I was expecting an entire gala day of food," Logan stated mischievously. They had just turned the corner and were going down the ramp into the car park.

"You know I can let go if you want? And with that busted arm of yours I don't see you stopping too quickly," Max retorted.

"I'll be good," Logan said smiling.

"Good boy," Max said, playfully patting him on the head. There was silence for a little while. This time, however, it wasn't unpleasant or embarrassing. Logan was thinking, and so was Max.

"You know…" Logan began.

"Yeah?" Max responded casually.

"You seem to always refer to me as a dog, which is kind of strange since you are mainly feline right?" Logan stated, his tone matching the peculiarity of what he had just said.

"Excuse me?" Max asked startled at the oddity of the sentence.

"Well you know, cats don't like dogs traditionally. So you should really not like me that much," Logan stated, not seriously, just making absent conversation.

"Are you trying to tell me that you don't like me either? I seem to recall this dogs and cats thing working both ways." Max played back, a slight inclination to her voice.

"Well dogs like to chase cats, and I must say I don't really mind following you around." The conversation had plummeted from light playful banter to underlying – but quite obvious – compliments. Max didn't mind, she just felt warmer, so decided to continue with it.

"You can chase me any time Logan. In fact, I welcome it."

"Really?" Logan's voice twinkled as he turned around and gave Max an incredibly cheeky grin. Max let go of the handles and let the wheelchair coast a little, since they were on level ground by now.

"Really," Max stated as she stopped walking and cocked her hips. She looked at Logan slowly rolling in front of her, a grin spreading across her face.

"So chase me. I need a run, I've been lying around for ages now, and my body needs a proper stretch." With this Max took off, not too fast. She had only gone a small distance when she realised the seriousness of what she had just done. Logan would still be sitting in the same spot, in the middle of the car park in his wheelchair, thinking he wasn't good enough because he couldn't walk. Max turned around to where she had left Logan and the wheelchair. What she saw took her breath away. There sitting in the middle of the car park was an empty wheelchair, with her and Logan's bags on the ground in front of them.

"Logan!" Max yelled, panicked as she rushed back towards the chair.

"Logan!" Max was becoming more frantic as she made her way towards the chair; she wasn't moving fast but trying to observe her surroundings a little more, listening for the sound of a car or a struggle. All of a sudden arms grabbed her from behind, Max swung around on instinct and hit the person in the middle of the chest, knocking them back into the pillar they had been hiding behind. Only as the body left the end of her fist did she realise who it was. It was too late, all she could do was look and desperately try and get to Logan as he went soaring through the air and hit the cement pillar with a dull thud and a slight groan. Max knew it was him before she saw him, she could smell him and feel him, but not soon enough. Max reached him just as he had almost hit the ground and caught him halfway. He already had his good arm clutching his chest, trying to regain some of the air that had been knocked out of him on impact.

"Logan. What the hell was that?" Max said, attacking him the way a mother scolds a child for playing near a road. It was purely out of concern, and anger that she could have lost him. Logan merely sucked in a breath and grinned weakly. Max was kneeling down in front of him and had her hands on his shoulders, supporting him against the pillar. She only then noticed that Logan had stopped clutching his chest and now had a solid grip on her ankle.

"Got you. I forgot that there is usually a little bit of violence between the cats and dogs. Problem is my cat is no normal cat, so I come off second best." Logan smiled at Max through gritted teeth, desperately trying not to show the pain in his chest, but still ecstatic he had won. He had chased her and got her and he still had her.

"What? That's what this is about?" Max asked him, bewildered and still a little angry.

"Well you told me to chase you. Who am I to disobey, I was just being a good dog." Logan now managed a full smile at Max, his eyes were sparkling and his skin was glowing. Max smiled back at him, relieved he wasn't injured, and stood up then patted him on the head.

"Good pooch. You just wait here while I get our stuff and your chair." Max hadn't even realised that Logan was at least 30 feet from where the chair lay. She hadn't thought about how he had come to be there. She turned to leave and nearly fell over, because Logan was still hanging onto her ankle.

"Hey, let go," Max turned and said to him. Logan smiled and shook his head.

"Nope. I've got you now, I'm not letting go."

'Wow! What the hell was that?' They thought simultaneously, both extremely shocked with what Logan had just said. Logan was nervous about it, thinking Max would get nervous and uneasy about the situation. Max on the other hand was going gooey on the inside.

"You sure do. But you can let go of my ankle," Max said to him, as she smiled big. Logan smiled back, a little nervously and slowly loosened his grip on her ankle. Max walked off towards their gear, buoyancy in her step like never before. Logan watched her go, happy that things were really coming together for him. Everything he wanted was happening and nearly all of it was Max, and all of it had to do with her. He got to his feet surprisingly quickly and followed her quietly.

Max had just got to the gear and was putting their bags on the seat to take back over to him. Logan reached out to tap her on the shoulder, but just before he touched her he started speaking.

"Don't hit me this time Max," he said jokingly as he lightly touched her shoulder. Max spun around amazingly quick, her face completely startled. She looked at him for a moment. Logan was standing behind her, bandages on one arm and the other in his pocket. He was standing, Max couldn't believe it. His legs were slightly parted and he stood completely erect, and he appeared like he hadn't been in a wheelchair ever in his life. His stance was so strong and steady; not like a few nights ago when he required the cane or he just couldn't move swiftly or smoothly. Even though he was stationary Max could tell purely by the way he stood that his step would be effortless and suave.

"What? Why, why didn't you tell me?" Max asked, her voice breaking a little. She was overcome with the situation.

"Oh you know, the usual. Wanted it to be a surprise and all. Also only just figured it out for myself a few minutes ago," Logan stated casually, although Max could hear the tone. He was excited and happy with life again. Max's reverie was interrupted as Logan continued to speak.

"Didn't you wonder how I managed to get all the way over there, when the wheelchair was still here?" Logan pointed casually over his shoulder towards the pillar he had only just recently been leaning against. Max blushed a little at the seemingly obvious fact Logan had just reminded her of. She had to try some kind of excuse none the less.

"Well, I nearly killed you, I figure that's a pretty good excuse for not realising something like that." She wasn't sad or upset about hurting him, just embarrassed from not noticing.

"Nearly killed me? Well I'll have to be more careful when I sneak up on you next," Logan said laughing a little whilst rubbing his chest with his good arm. As much as he was trying to ignore the pain, it was still there. Max smiled at him weakly and looked at the ground.

"Sorry about that," she said softly. Logan studied her for a moment, then his smile increased a little more.

"Well it's not as if I'm allowed to die on you anyway. You'd kick my ass remember?" Logan said inquisitively, whilst trying not to laugh at Max's face when she heard what he was saying. She looked up at him, her face embarrassed and flustered.

"You, you heard? And you just happen to be sitting on this information to spring on me later?" Max was blushing; she couldn't believe he had heard her say that, and hoping that he hadn't heard anything else she had said to his unconscious form. Logan smiled at her knowingly and his eyes twinkled, but suddenly a shadow crossed his face, as something else Max had said to him while he was unconscious was coming back. '…thanks a lot Logan, you've opened an emotional time bomb, all I can do is cry now.' His excellent mood had just been invaded and was steadily slipping. Max had just got the gear and was wheeling it back towards Logan, she saw his face and realised that he had heard everything she had said.

"Don't you dare," Max said threateningly as she approached him. Logan looked up at her and saw her face set in a determined expression, a look he had never seen before. He wasn't sure what was coming. Max was walking towards Logan, thinking about what she should do to make him realise.

'This guy is so dense; I need to get it through to him some how that I'm over it already. He needs to be.' Max had an idea. She wasn't sure if it would work but she had to try. It was a daunting idea but she had a feeling it might resolve the issue, so she strode towards him, face set in an unwavering manner.

Max walked up to Logan, long since leaving the chair behind, and grabbed him by the sides of his face and pulled him down to her lips. It was with this act, so blatant and obvious that Logan finally realised that Max did in fact like him, after everything they'd been through in the past few days. With this kiss he realised what it all meant. This was what the past few days had been leading too. They had admitted to each other that they liked each other, they had even shared moments of passion on several occasions, but this was different. It was so brutal, so delicate, so strong and so weak. There was no hesitation, no gentle lead up or emotional situation. It was just the ultimate expression of emotion. When Max had first grabbed Logan's face, he knew what was happening, so again forgot about everything, and he grabbed the back of her head, pulling her face closer to his as his fingers got tangled in her silken hair.

And just as quickly as it started it had stopped. Max was still hanging onto Logan's face, and he still had his hand on the back of her head, but this time there was no silent recognition, no small embarrassed whispers. Max quickly pecked him on the lips again, then gently slapped the side of his face, and smiled at him.

"Don't be an idiot." She turned and grabbed the wheelchair and started walking over to Logan's car and her bike, again side by side, like they always should have been. Logan stood there a little dazed for a while, and then ran to catch up with Max, smiling a little at how naturally his legs were working again.

"So, what do you want to do first on your long weekend?" Logan asked as he caught up with her." Max looked at him and smiled seductively.

"Oh, I can think of a few things," she said in a low sultry voice.

"Really?" Logan responded to the loaded question, leaning a little closer to her.  Their banter was interrupted by the realisation they would probably be going home separately. Then Logan remembered his arm was still bandaged.

"Max, I can't drive with this arm," he said simply, leaving it open for Max to decide what to do. He didn't think she would want to leave her bike here for much longer as it wasn't very secure.

"No big dealio," she said lightly, then went around and opened the back of Logan's car. He wasn't quite sure what she was up to so he stood back and observed. After opening the back door Max walked over to her bike then wheeled it over to the back of his car. She lifted the front and placed the front wheel up in the back, then she bent down and picked up the rest of the bike and pushed it in. It fit perfectly. Logan just stood back amazed; he constantly forgot she was capable of things like that.

"Well, that solves that problem," he said lightly, as he walked over and got into the passenger side of the car.

Max had been driving for a while, both sitting in silence, until Logan spoke.

"This is weird," he said quite suddenly. Max got a little worried since she had been thinking about Logan and her, and thought it was going really well. In fact she hadn't been happier, something that seemed to be constantly happening in the past few days.

"What?" she snapped, not angry but a little worried. Logan looked over at her and smiled. At least he wasn't the only one worried about what the other one was saying.

"Being a passenger in this car, I'm not used to being on this side and not driving. It's just weird that's all," Logan said. He had actually found it a bit weird, sitting on this side of the car, with Max on the other side. He usually always drove her places. Logan looked over and saw Max's face was a little grim. He reached over and grabbed her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze then continued to hold it.

"You're not weird Max," he said simply, then kissed the back of her hand and continued to hold it. Max felt better and couldn't help but grin.

They walked back into Logan's apartment and Max dumped her gear on a chair, and then flopped down on the couch. Logan headed for the kitchen, fiddled around for a little bit then came back out. He walked up behind Max and gently massaged her shoulders with his good hand. Max murmured appreciatively and closed her eyes.

"Well I'm going to have a shower, try and remove some of this hospital smell," Logan announced. He was itching at the thought of suggesting Max join him again but knew it wasn't the right thing to do, not yet anyway. Max turned around and looked at him.

"What am I supposed to do then?" she asked, trying to sound like a bored little kid. Logan was already walking off toward his room.

"I'm sure you can think of something, you know this place pretty well by now," Logan replied, laughing slightly at Max's tone. Max sat there and wasn't sure if she was annoyed or glad that Logan hadn't asked her to join him in the shower again. She eventually decided she was glad; things can't happen that fast.

Max got up from the couch and walked around Logan's apartment slowly, she noted that there was a slight stain of blood in the middle of Logan's living room, and the glass coffee table was no longer there. 'Well that explains the arm.' she thought to herself as she continued walking around, looking through his books, when one particular volume caught her attention. 'How to waltz in 15 easy steps huh? Sounds interesting.' Max picked up the book and started flicking through it.

Logan got out of the shower and threw on some pants and a shirt. He noticed he had acquired quite a bruise from his encounter with Max. He didn't mind, in fact he kind of enjoyed seeing it there, like a scar that held pleasant memories. He knew it wouldn't last, so for the moment he just enjoyed knowing that Max had touched him, and that was enough. When he walked out looking for Max, he found her in the living room, with a book extended at arms length. She appeared to be concentrating very carefully on its contents and at the same time the position of her feet. Logan had to stifle a chuckle when he realised what the book was and what Max was doing.

"You know, it's a lot easier if you have someone show you how to do it," Logan said, interrupting her concentration and making her flush pink. Max looked at him and tried to remain cool, but it was hard. Logan was looking nice and fresh after his shower, and his damp hair was doing radical things, all of which seemed to be right according to Max. Not to mention she was embarrassed being discovered trying to dance with a book.

"Oh, really?" she responded, smiling a Logan slightly. Logan looked at her and smiled.

"Really. Miss Guevera, may I have this dance?" Logan asked, as he walked over to her and bowed low, sweeping her hand into his.

"I thought you were out of action with that arm of yours?" Max said, ignoring her own question as she moved closer to Logan, enclosing herself in his warmth. Logan looked at her and smiled.

"You know, it's the darndest thing. There are only a few little stiches in it, and none of them affect its ability to bend or function correctly." Logan replied, placing a hand on Max's hip – which caused her to involuntary shudder – then gathering her hand with his other. By now their eyes were locked, and there was nothing but them to see.

"Shouldn't we have music?" Max whispered to Logan, moving a little closer to him. Logan looked at her, and she noticed the twinkle in his eyes hadn't disappeared since the hospital, and seemed to be growing stronger.

"Yes we should. But it's all the way over there," Logan said, turning himself and Max, so their extended arms pointed to the sound system.

"So let us away Sir Cale," Max responded, Logan looking at her and smiling. He led them lazily over to the sound system. When they got there Logan looked at her.

"What son…"

"Sibelius," Max quickly said, before giving him a chance to answer the question. She looked down a little embarrassed at her eagerness.

"I was about to suggest that actually," Logan said, as he moved over to Max and assumed the dancing position again. Max smiled a little and went tingly from where he touched her.

Once the music had started Max rested her head against Logan's chest and closed her eyes. She let the music and the memories sweep her away, to a time long ago, when she only started to fully realise how much Logan meant to her. Very similar thoughts were going through Logan's head at the same time.

"Logan…" Max whispered, looking up into his eyes. He didn't respond but smiled at her.

"I like this," Max said quietly, and then placed her head back on his chest. Saying that had taken a lot out of her. Logan looked down at her head and smiled, he wasn't completely sure what she was talking about but had a fair idea, and there was one way to find out.

"Yeah, it's a nice song, and there isn't much to beat a nice waltz," he responded light-heartedly. Max looked back into his eyes, and he could see she was worried; no she was nervous about something. He knew then he had been thinking the right thing. After all, it was how he felt as well. 

"No, this," Max said, indicating between herself and Logan.

"I like being close with you, it's… nice." Max had finally said it, she enjoyed being with him like a couple. She sighed slightly then placed her head back onto his chest, thinking if he didn't accept what she had just said, she better get something nice out of it first. Logan looked down at the top her head, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"Me too, more than anything," he replied, as he kissed her on the top of her head. A big smile spread on Max's face, and without knowing why, a single tear rolled down her cheek, coming to rest in her hair. The feeling was similar to something she recalled from a wedding, which they attended once. This time was better though.

After a small while their song had ended, so they didn't feel too much like dancing any more.

"You got some food for me?" Max asked as she pulled away from Logan. He smiled at her and chuckled.

"Of course I do. That's why you're here remember, meal-ticket." He didn't let go of Max, but held her around the waist and headed to the kitchen. Max couldn't remove the goofy grin on her face.

"So what do you want?" Logan asked, looking at Max, as she jumped onto the counter.

"I don't know, you usually just give me something and I eat it," Max replied, sitting there looking at Logan expectantly.

"Okay then, well I have an idea but it will take some time to make, so you might have to wait a while. In the mean time…" He went into the fridge.

"…you can have this," he said producing a large pitcher of red cordial. When Max saw the red liquid her face brightened, and she quickly grabbed a pair of glasses to fill. Once her glass was full she sat back on the table, watching Logan chop up various ingredients and simmer certain mixtures. The smell was starting to have an effect on her stomach, which made it self quite audibly known with a loud rumble. Logan looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going as fast as I can," he said, walking over and patting her stomach. Max just shrugged at him, a little show of red in her cheeks, and then jumped off the counter and went to ransack his pantry. When she had just started to open the door, Logan came up behind her and playful smacked her on the bottom with a wooden spoon he happened to have handy.

"Hey!" Max practically squealed as she jumped around to face him. Logan looked at her sternly.

"Like I said last time, you'll spoil your dinner." Max looked back at him and pouted. Before she had a chance to speak Logan had crumbled.

"Fine you can have two cookies, and only two." He was trying to be assertive but he knew he had no chance against her pout. Max flashed him a smile.

"Thanks." Then she turned back to going through his pantry.

After dinner they had retired to the living room and were sitting on the couch, both pretty stuffed from the meal.

"That was really good Logan. So do you feel better yet? Now that you've given me a good meal without any interruptions?" Max asked looking over at him. Logan smiled weakly at her and shook his head.

"Max, that doesn't even count. There is going to be a lot more than just that in store for you," he responded, moving a little closer to her, resting his arm on her leg.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, and her voice had taken on a very sultry tone.

"Yeah," Logan replied, his tone becoming incredibly husky as he moved closer to Max again, his arm slipping around her waist. They lent in slowly and lightly kissed, then pulled back a bit and smiled at each other. They moved in again and kissed once more, this time with more passion and intensity. Soon Max had her hands in Logan's hair and Logan had one at the back of her head, and the other one slowly moved underneath the bottom half of her top, so he could feel the smooth skin of her belly. Max loved the sensation of his hand on her stomach. It was both smooth and prickly, gently soothing and exciting her skin as he moved it in small circles around her belly button. His hand then slipped around her side, so it caressed her waist, where his fingers could reach the edges of her back. Max was slowly moving her hands down so she could run them along his broad shoulders and down his back.

Logan was enjoying himself. It was incredibly nice, the feel of Max's skin underneath his fingers and the sensation of her lips on his and the gentle caress of her hands along his back. He loved being this close to her, he finally had what he wanted, and it was only Max; he only wanted to walk so he could have her. He didn't think she would want him when she knew he couldn't walk. But she had proved him wrong there, so now being able to walk again was a bonus.

They were in this position for a while, just enjoying the sensation of each other. Suddenly Max flipped Logan over and straddled him, quickly ripping his shirt from his body, and tearing it into several pieces. He looked up in her eyes and saw a strange glint there.

Max knew what was happening. She fought it and jumped off Logan and ran into the bathroom, telling herself she was going to stay there and not come out. She had told herself she didn't want this to be going any faster, so there was no way she could go back out there. Not now she was in heat.

Story note: Ok, here's the basic question. Should Max stay in the bathroom, or go out to Logan?


	8. The wonders of science

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Dark Angel. I don't want any money from this. It is here for entertainment.

Authors note: Here we are, practically the end of the story. The next and final chapter is written. It's been quite a bit of fun writing this and I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed. They were really nice.

Story note: I am quite happy with this chapter, I went over it a few times before posting, so I think that there is a fairly nice flow and mix of words but if you don't think so, well that's what you think. This is the second last chapter, I've written the last one, which turned out the be very, very short. Enjoy the reading.

Special thanks: Milla the marvellous beta reader (she's marvellous every chapter, I hope you've noticed). It really is great the work she's done for this. Thanks Milla.

Chapter 8 – All things warm

Logan was still sitting on the couch dazed, his shirt lying in tatters around him. He had a small grin on his face as crazy thoughts ran through his head.

'So what was that all about? And where did she go in such a hurry?' He realised again that it wasn't his head doing the thinking, but another part of his anatomy, as the next idea slipped into mind.

'Maybe she is going to 'freshen up' a little before…' His brain had caught up with the rest of him now.

'Before what? There's no way you are having sex with Max now. She definitely wouldn't want that to happen so quickly.' Logan thought to himself. Now that he had control of most of his body parts he started to think that something was wrong with Max. He didn't understand but he felt different somehow. It was like he had just realised that Max was the world's most beautiful woman, and he happened to be a guy. Logan quickly put this aside and was becoming concerned with the way Max had acted, how she just jumped off him and ran into his bathroom slamming the door behind her. Something was definitely up.

Logan stood and walked toward his bathroom door. He noticed that his shirt hadn't been ripped; it had been completely shredded, so there were bits and pieces still hanging off his arms and chest. As he looked down at the remains of his shirt he noticed that his bruise was gone, and it had only been an hour or two since he had seen it last.

'Must be some excess cells of Max's floating around and cleaning up the old system.' Logan thought happily as he reached the door. He bent his head in and listened intently, trying to gauge if Max was in any kind of immediate trouble. After a while he could only hear heavy breathing so decided to knock.

Max was curled tightly on the floor of Logan's bathroom. She had her nose between her knees, in an attempt to block out his overwhelming smell, and her arms wrapped tightly around her ears, desperately trying not to hear his voice or the footsteps coming toward the door. She knew this was bad, and she knew it was the worst possible timing for it as well.

"Max, you alright?" Logan asked quietly as he rapped on the door. Max's head snapped up and looked at the door longingly. She could feel her body starting to stand and slowly make its way over to open it. She resisted and sat back down in a tight ball, again trying to not focus on anything at all since all her thoughts seemed to be twisted into something to do with sex. Make that Logan and sex.

"Max? Are you okay?" Logan asked again, this time louder and with worry in his voice. After another short pause where he didn't receive any answer he spoke louder still and started to turn the handle.

"Max, I'm coming in," he announced, just in case she was doing something she didn't want him to see.

When Max heard those words her world crumbled; she knew she was done for now. She sat there waiting in dread but still a vehement desiring for Logan to come into the room.

Logan gently turned the handle and pushed the door open slowly. He stood in the doorway and looked at Max huddled on the floor at the other end of the bathroom. Max didn't look at him; she had one option and she was going to try it. Very quickly she jumped to her feet, and started to run out of the bathroom. Her intention was to run straight past Logan, then out of the apartment. She knew it would hurt him, but she decided it was best to explain this whole thing to him after it was over. Problem was when she looked up to see where she was going, Logan was standing there with little bits of cloth hanging off his upper body. Max's mindset changed but her speed didn't. Logan watched her running straight at him, getting a little worried at the speed she was going and the decreasing distance between them. He wondered if she would stop before she knocked him over. When Max was about two feet from Logan she jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist, grabbing the back of his head and hungrily devouring him. Logan staggered backwards into the hallway – a mix of shock and the sheer momentum of Max's body – and started to fall. He had a feeling that he was about to become very close to his hardwood floor again, since his arms were quite occupied with Max. She didn't seem to be letting up either as he felt his body become more and more horizontal. Just when he thought he was going to smack into the floor, he stopped. Max had stuck her legs out and was still holding – and kissing him – by the head and neck, so she lowered him gently the rest of the way to the ground, and continued to kiss him passionately.

Logan was completely stunned with the situation but his libido fought for control, and his brain didn't think it was that bad a thing to be happening, so he just let himself go with the flow.

'Well what the hell. Max seems to be fairly into it, not too concerned with taking it slowly. I suppose her whole life has been formed around making split second decisions.' With that thought he wrapped his until now pretty inanimate arms around Max and pulled her tighter, even though there was some part of his mind trying to remember what it was he was doing wrong, because he knew this just wasn't right but he couldn't pick it.

Max's mind was going berserk. Logan felt so good against her, underneath her, around her, and yet she knew there was something not appropriate about it. She felt it back there, trying to fight through the heat and the frenzied passion but it was in vain, there was nothing here to stop her now. The sight of Logan standing in the doorway without a shirt on would have been enough to make Max stop and consider jumping him on a normal day, but now that she was in heat her mind had them doing very different things, involving a lot less clothing.

Just as Max had broken away from Logan's mouth and was feverishly kissing down his chest and stomach, then licking and biting the way back up to his lips again, the door opened.

Both their heads snapped around and they looked at the person coming through the door. Logan looked over, his face clearly expressing that he was very pissed off with whoever it was for interrupting this. Max's face flooded with relief, and her grip on Logan eased slightly. She hoped she could make a getaway now that someone else was here. Then, realizing who the intruder was, Max held Logan protectively tighter and her eyes narrowed. When Logan realised who it was, he got even more pissed off.

"Valerie. What the hell are you doing here?" Logan half yelled at her. The pain from their last visit was gone, replaced not so much by anger, as by plain distain. He usually wouldn't have been so unwelcoming, but being interrupted in a situation like this was frustrating, and to be interrupted by his ex-wife, who had caused him so much grief, was even more infuriating. Max slowly straightened up, kneeling over Logan, and studied the woman more closely. She realised that Valerie was and had been crying a lot and she had a big bruise on the side of her face. Max didn't look down at Logan, still struggling not to throw herself on him again, so she just spoke, still looking at the woman at the door.

"Something's happened to her, she's shaking and is bruised all over," Max stated, as she slowly and very grudgingly got to her feet and stepped over Logan so she was no longer straddling him, and made her way to the woman at the door. Logan was still lying on the floor, completely confused with the situation, and had been drumming his fingers for a bit, expecting Valerie to get the hint and shove off quickly. When Max stood up and spoke to him he realised he needed to do something. He also couldn't help feel a slight twang of guilt when he heard something had happened to her. Even though she was his ex-wife and had treated him badly so many times, he felt like he should be able to protect her a little still. Logan slowly got up and walked over to Valerie. He noticed Max was standing near her, but not touching or saying anything to her. He couldn't quite read the expression on her face, but it looked as if she were relieved and disgusted at the same time. Max felt exactly like this, she hated what this woman had done to Logan so many times, but she was relieved that Valerie was in this state and felt she could come here for Logan's help. Since it meant Valerie would have to stay and be treated and cared for a bit, it made it easier for Max not to jump him. Max decided right then to stay for a few reasons. Mainly because she had a feeling that if she left this place she would somehow hook up with some stray male off the streets, something she definitely didn't want to happen now. And secondly, because Valerie had turned up, and Max felt she needed to protect Logan from this wicked evil woman.

Max tried not to watch as Logan made his way to Valerie and placed a reassuring hand on her back. She was a little jealous that he was touching another woman but the main reason she averted her eyes was because he still wasn't wearing a shirt, which would cause Max to most probably indecently tackle him again.

'The wonders of science.' Max thought pathetically as she fought the again rising urge to attack Logan. She slowly turned – away from Logan – and headed toward the kitchen, trying to make herself forget about Logan standing there without his shirt on comforting his ex-wife. It didn't really work too well since she kept getting stuck on the part with Logan and no shirt. She moved to the fridge and opened it, hoping to stem her desire with something else, but since they had just eaten she wasn't really hungry. She did, however, on impulse pull out the red cordial and pour herself a glass. Max moved over to her window and looked out on the city and the people far below, immediately concentrating her vision on every set of pants that walked by, thinking things that she knew she shouldn't be thinking.

'At least you're up here and they're down there.' She reminded herself as she continued to look with open mouth and flushed cheeks. Max heard a door closing somewhere in the apartment, and could hear Logan's footfalls coming closer to her, as well as smell him. He approached her quickly and wrapped his arms low around her waist and lifted her up – the mood from earlier hadn't changed much for him. Max stiffened, and was impressed that she was still able to control herself when Logan had his arms around her. She could feel the skin of his stomach rubbing against her lower back where her shirt had been raised a little and she felt herself slipping. When Logan whispered in her ear and gently bit it, she was completely gone.

"Hey you." Logan whispered in her ear as he picked her up. He thought he had done something wrong because Max felt very stiff, but then she managed to wiggle around in his tight grip so she was facing him. Once again, she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him fanatically. Turning slightly to set Max on the countertop, Logan moved his hands around to her shoulders and dragged them down to the bottom of her spine, eliciting a slight sigh from Max. He still couldn't believe this was happening. Max suddenly pushed him back, and he noticed the demonic glint in her eye again as she pulled off the shirt she was wearing and threw it over her head, leaving her in a bright coloured singlet. Before Logan had a chance to realise what was probably going to be happening in his kitchen with his ex-wife in the other room, Max had grabbed him again and was pulling at him frenetically, trying to get as much of his body pushed against hers as she could.

As Max was lifting Logan up to join her on the counter they heard a glass smash. They both quickly looked around and saw Valerie standing there stunned, with a small pile of what was once ornamental glass shattered next to her. Valerie had decided to fix more of the positive energy flow in Logan's apartment and was on her way to ask him if she could move the object to another room, since it was a serious block to his Chi.

"I… oh… sorry," she said quickly, feeling very embarrassed with what she was seeing, and uncomfortable with the situation. There was Logan, her ex-husband, climbing on top of that girl he had introduced as a friend, in the kitchen. It was completely out of character for him, and it was a very strange sight, since the last time she saw Logan he as in a wheelchair. All Logan had ever said about her was that she was a friend and they did some work together occasionally.

The affect of Valerie interrupting them was similar to someone getting a large bucket of water – with many ice cubes – and throwing it over them. Although starting to get undressed and pulling Logan on top of her were pretty intense actions, Max was again relieved that Valerie was there and that nothing too serious had happened. Logan just looked very embarrassed and quickly slid off Max and moved a few feet away, trying to indicate with the space between them that nothing had actually happened. Logan was floundering, and he had no idea what to say.

"V… Val, you remember Max?" Logan said as his cheeks continued to change from a flushed passionate pink to a deep scarlet of embarrassment. Max looked over at Valerie and smiled a little, her face also going a healthy red. When Max hopped off the counter she noticed she was missing a shirt somewhere. Max again looked at Valerie and smiled shyly.

"Hi," Max said in a pretty small voice. She wasn't quite sure why she was so embarrassed in front of this woman, since she didn't like her at all. Max just walked further into the kitchen on the hunt for her shirt, hoping that everyone would forget she was there. She felt better now because of Valerie's arrival, so that had to be a good thing. Even though she had gotten some of the pent up energy out of her system,  she realised it had just built up more of the burning animal passion.

Logan walked over to Valerie and started to pick up the broken shards of glass. Valerie bent down and started to help him.

"I'm sorry for just barging in like this Logan, but I didn't know where else to go. He's after me." Valerie apologised to Logan in a low shaky voice, still traumatised from her earlier experience with her husband. Apparently he didn't take too kindly to the fact that Valerie wasn't willing to leech any more money from Logan or his rich relatives. When she explained that last time was definitely the last, he became abusive, and started to hit her around. He was in trouble of his own, as he had a nasty gambling habit and kept losing big, and now there were some debt collectors after him. Valerie had managed to escape down the fire stairs while he was preoccupied on the phone but he noticed pretty quickly and started to chase her. She had run and hidden in a truck that happened to end up making a stop in Logan's sector, so she got out and made her way to his place to hide out. She figured it was the last place her husband would look, since it was the last place Valerie wanted to be.

"It's okay, you had no choice," Logan responded. He was by now over the fact that she had barged in and was truly worried for her well being, so there was compassion in his voice. Also, now that Max was a fair distance away from him, he felt a little more… normal. 

"I can get you out of the city and to your sister's place in about hour. He doesn't know about your sister, does he?" Logan asked, realising that he had already arranged for Valerie to go to her sister's without consulting her first. Logan then straightened up and walking over to deposit the glass in the bin.

"No, not many people know about her," she replied as she looked at Logan and considered him. He had been so good to her and all she did was throw it in his face again and again.

"Thanks Logan," she said in a small and genuine voice to his departing form.

"Don't mention it," Logan replied. Valerie wasn't sure if he had meant it, because he felt sick helping her out again, or because he was being the lone soldier once more.

Logan had just dumped the glass in the bin when Max approached him – thankful for the nice buffer of the island counter in between them.

"Logan we need to talk," Max said quietly, although it was laced with seductive undertones that she was desperately trying to shake.

"Yeah, sure," Logan replied, again feeling a little more amorous now that Max was near him. He realised that there was a pleasant scent in the air, something he hadn't smelt before. It then occurred to him it was emanating from Max, which surprised him as she told him a while ago that the X-5's were made to not have an distinguishing odour. 'Oh that's Manticore for you, we don't smell, you know, so dogs can't track us.' Max had explained to him a while ago when he asked her about it. Snapping back, he noticed Max's eyes quickly skim over to where Valerie was still standing. Logan turned around and addressed her.

"Um Valerie, can you give us a few minutes?" Logan asked, and Max quickly interjected.

"Five minutes. Come back in here in five minutes," she said quickly and jerkily. Logan had no idea what was going on now. Valerie looked at Max a little puzzled, but nodded and left the room. Listening as Valerie wandered around the living room, Max  looked at the ceiling, then the floor, then the table separating her and Logan.  

"Logan. There's something I need to tell you. About me. It's something to do with how I was made. You know, another miraculous flow in the grand design," Max said in a sardonic tone. She was pretty happy she hadn't jumped Logan that second Valerie left the room, and even happier still that she had managed to get straight into confessing her terrible secret. Logan looked at her concerned and started to make his way around to her.

"What? Is there something wrong? Do you need something?" Logan asked desperately as he made his way around the counter to Max. She interrupted his movement.

"Don't move, stay where you were please," Max whimpered, because she was really struggling now. The urge was there and growing stronger by the second. Logan didn't take his eyes off Max as he slowly made his way back to where he had been standing.

"Max, what's up?" Logan asked worriedly. He had never seen her like this before; he could tell by the way she looked she was fighting with some great internal battle.

"You know how I've got a lot of feline DNA in me? Well, along with being able to jump high and run fast I've also inherited some other traits that cats have." She was leaning forward now gripping the edge of the table; Logan could actually see the wood starting to crack under her grip. Max was itching terribly to get at Logan, and trying to force her body not to move was becoming near impossible. Logan looked at her, a little puzzled with her statement but also worried.

"You know, mating cycles." Max finally got it out. It seemed to finally dawn on Logan.

"You mean you go into hea…? Wow." Max nodded coyly at his question. Logan felt incredibly relieved, since he thought there was something wrong with Max similar to seizures that she hadn't been willing to tell him about.  

"Now it makes sense," Logan suddenly said, Max could tell he was talking about something else than her attacking him constantly.

"What?" she asked softly. She was still not able to look at Logan, and was barely hanging onto the side of the counter.

"Well, you know how you are… you know. It makes sense that I've been so… well… willing to go along with you. Not just because us males are all like that." Logan started explaining but was becoming very embarrassed with what he was saying, so he started to observe the shoes he was wearing.

"What are you saying Logan?" Max asked. She unwillingly started to climb onto the counter top and stalk over to Logan.

"When… cats go into heat, it's not just the females that get a bit… different. They let off a lot of pheromones that have an effect on the males. I can still remember losing our male cat for a week, only to be phoned by the lady down the street telling us that our cat was there along with a lot of other male cats. They were all fighting and surrounding her cat's cage." He had just understood why he was so much more into Max at the moment, it all seemed to make perfect sense. Well, perfect sense except for the fact that a person was going into heat.

"Oh." He heard Max say in an incredibly sultry and suggestive voice, only a few inches from his ear. Logan's head flicked up and he saw Max was now on all fours on the countertop, as apparently she had crawled – or more accurately, prowled – over to where he was. She didn't wait for him to say anything else, and as soon as his head had come up and she could see his eyes, or more importantly his mouth, she flung an arm around his neck and pulled him closer and started to kiss him passionately again. For a minute or so Logan went along with it, enjoying immensely the sensation and the red cordial taste of Max, then his conscious fought for control and he tried to gently ease Max from his lips. It wasn't working too well, since Max was a lot stronger and had the upper hand. He tried a little more forcefully and finally managed to pry Max's mouth off his. She didn't seem disappointed or even put off remotely, because she just hungrily started to kiss his chest and neck. Logan was having a very hard time keeping control of his hands, but eventually managed to push Max back onto the counter, and he moved to stand a fair distance away. Max just looked at him, an intense fire in her eyes.

"Look Max, it's not as if I'm not enjoying myself. I just think that maybe this… whatever, may make you do something you don't really want to do," Logan said. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be right, but he knew that Max needed to think about it. He glanced over and noticed she had retreated to the other side of the counter again and was looking down at her feet sullenly.

"I know Logan, but it's so hard. I have this uncontrollable urge to just… well… you know." Max smiled weakly, since Logan did know, as he had been the recipient for a while now.

"Max, I'm not sure I can say I fully understand how you feel, but it's making it difficult for me too. I mean you smell terrific and I usually don't notice how you smell, even if I try." Logan thought about what he had just said. That sentence was definitely not supposed to head in that direction. Before Max could say anything he spoke again quickly.

"Is there anything that will make this go away, or a little more bearable?" Logan asked, thinking maybe there was a heat tryptophane or something similar. Max slowly looked up at Logan again.

"There's only one way I know of," she said, her voice dripping with insinuations and desire. Logan looked at her and could feel his own resolve slipping.

"But you just said you don't want that Max. Would it be best if you went home?" Logan didn't want her to go, and on reflection it was only the second time he had ever suggested she go home, and the last time he did that… well, he didn't want to do it again.

"No!" Max practically yelled at him, her voice full of pain and concern. Logan was stunned.

"Okay, sorry," Logan apologised quickly.

"You don't understand. If I go outside, and if I see some guy, it doesn't matter who they are. As long as they are male, I'd end up jumping them. And not all men are as decent as you Logan," Max explained in short burst. The mere idea of hooking up with someone else at the moment brought her great pain. She felt she had explained, but not fully, so she continued.

"I don't want that to happen with anyone else." She couldn't believe she had just said that all she wanted was Logan, and she wanted him more than just the heat. All she had to do was leave out the 'else' part and it would have been perfectly plausible. But now Logan knew, and Max knew, since this was the first time she had admitted it to herself fully. Logan was equally stunned, and he was sure his mouth would have hung open if he hadn't had such a strict up bringing.

"Then what do we do Max?" Logan asked, only this time it was _his_ voice that held traces of implication and a slight huskiness. Max couldn't shake the tone of Logan's question, so she leapt over the counter in a swift movement and was on top of him again, and this time neither one of them wanted it to stop.

Five minutes was up and Valerie walked back into the kitchen. She couldn't see Max or Logan anywhere, but heard a scuffling on the floor, so she went over to investigate. If she had another ornament in her hand she would have dropped it. There on the floor in a tangle of limbs were Logan and Max in the throes of passion. Valerie cleared her throat and both Max and Logan stopped what they were doing and looked up at her almost sheepishly. Valerie noticed that Max had Logan's belt in her teeth and Logan held the scrunched up cloth of Max's shirt in his hand.

"Um, you told me to come back in after five minutes, and it's been five minutes. I can go if you want though," Valerie said awkwardly, nervously placing her hand on the counter to steady herself.

"No, it's alright. We were just…" Max had begun a standard "Logan and her" response but realised it was worthless since she had the spit Logan's belt out to speak. Max quickly grabbed her shirt from Logan and stood up, putting it on, and then quickly walked out of the room. Logan was still lying bent at the bottom of the cabinet he had been wedged against, a dazed dreamy look on his face. He slowly got up and put his belt back on, and then looked at Valerie and smiled.

"Ah, thanks. I'm sorry you had to see that," Logan said, not really sure why he was sorry, since this was Valerie and she didn't really deserve an explanation.

"Um, that's ok Logan," Valerie said quietly, then walked out of the kitchen into the guest bedroom. Logan thought about it for a second, considering following her and explaining things a little better, but he felt he was right. She didn't need it. So instead he went in search of something far more important, Max. He found her in the living room, sitting on the back of the couch and staring out of the window. His first urge was to go straight over to her again, but decided it wasn't wise.

"Hey," he said from the other side of the room. Max looked over to him, the faint stain of tears streaking her face. Immediately Logan started walking over to her; he  hated seeing her upset like this.

"Max. What's wrong?" he asked as he sat next to her on the back of the couch, moving the hair from her face and brushing away the tears with his thumb.

"I don't want you to see me like this. It's not me, it's Manticore and I hate it," Max said, with a voice that was still sad even though she had long ago stopped crying. Logan just rubbed her cheek with his thumb. Max was feeling very emotional for some reason, and also had a great desire to tell Logan everything.

"I, I want to be with you Logan but I don't know what to do. And I don't want it to happen like this." Max spoke softly but with determination. Logan's eyes bulged slightly when he heard what Max had said, and his heart fluttered slightly. This couldn't be true; it seemed too perfect.

"But I want to be with you too Max, and I don't think anyone ever knows what they are doing. I don't know what to say about the other part though. I'm not saying this just because I want to get you into bed, but if you and I both want to be with each other, I don't see why we shouldn't. I know it's rushed and everything but I can't see any other way around this… heat business. I mean if there is, or you want to try and hold out, just say so and I will be more than willing to help you out. I want you to be happy Max, whatever that means." Logan felt terrible for saying that, because he felt like he was trying to coerce sex from Max. He hung his head and let out a long sigh. Max, however, was ecstatic with what she had just heard. She couldn't believe Logan wanted to be with her, and he didn't care at all about her being in heat, and that he was just worried he'd do something to upset her. She made her mind up and kissed him on the shoulder, quickly getting his attention.

"Okay. I do want us to be happy, and the only way to get over this bitch is to… well. If you're willing to donate your body for a while I can get it out of my system, and then we can forget about it and carry on from where we were." She was trying to lighten the mood, and she noticed Logan laughing a little with the 'donate your body' part. Then she got very serious, and quiet, and very shy.

"This can't… can't count or anything. I mean, if we are serious about… each other. It needs to be special or something." Max was desperately trying no to sound girly about the whole situation, but she did want the first time she had non-heat related sex to be something special, and since it was Logan she knew it always would be. Logan looked at her, and this time no matter what his up bringing, his jaw hung open. Max had just asked to have sex with him. He couldn't believe it; you could have knocked him over with a feather, even half a feather. Then there was the part about wanting to be serious with him, which he realised meant more to him than the sex. He could still smell her and it was warping his judgement slightly. All his dark fears had just been flushed out and completely eradicated. He looked at her and smiled warmly.

"Okay Max, if that's how you would like it to be. How about we say we've been… going out since our last date. You know, so you don't feel like this relationship started because you were in heat and wanted some man meat." The last part caused Max to laugh and gasp at the same time. That was perfect, and Logan's suggestion made everything so much easier. All her previous relationships had started because she was in heat, but now this with Logan had started beforehand, even though they hadn't admitted it at the time. Max went incredibly warm and fuzzy inside and the heat was completely forgotten for a moment. In her excitement she lent in and grabbed Logan and kissed him. Logan could tell this was a different kiss, because for starters she didn't have a desperate hold of his head and her tongue wasn't thrashing about with his. This was a soft, delicate and loving kiss. He rubbed her back tenderly, then broke away from the kiss. Before he could say anything Max spoke.

"Thanks Logan. I've wanted something like this for so long… nearly as long as I've known you," she conceded shyly. Logan looked at her as his heart swelled greatly.

"Max. You make me so happy, and I'm so glad you tried to rob my place." Max laughed a little at this and bent her head, again embarrassed with the compliment. Logan stood up and walked off.

"Now I'd better get a shirt on," he said walking towards his bedroom.

"I think maybe it should count," he heard Max happily saying as he reached his bedroom door. His smile doubled. Max was watching Logan, so completely happy and perfect, not even feeling the heat urging her to attack him. Even though now it wouldn't be an attack, and this made Max a little nervous, since she had never actually thought about sex before she did it. It just seemed to happen and then she'd be left feeling like crap for the next week or so, cheap and dirty. Max knew it was going to be different this time, and even if it wasn't, she knew what she was feeling now was more than worth it. Max was still watching Logan as he opened the door to his bedroom, a pleasant fulfilled smile on her face, but then she saw the corner of Logan's bed and immediately the heat was back with severe vengeance.

As Logan was opening his door, completely in another world of pleasure, he decided to tease her by playing the "relationship game", so he turned to ask her what shirt he should wear. As he turned around he was caught by Max, who was mid-flight and heading in the direction of Logan's bed, and now she had him with her. Before they even landed on the bed Max was already kissing Logan again, panting slightly and continually moving her hands over his body. Logan was still in a fairly sane state of mind, but knew it wouldn't last long. He immediately closed his mouth tight and tensed his entire body, something that generally would receive a severe scowl and most probably offend one's partner. Max didn't really care though; she just left his mouth and kissed down his chest and stomach again, ripping his belt off with her teeth once more. Logan realised that laying there motionless wasn't going to work, so he reached out and grabbed the sheet and rolled over a few times, cocooning himself in the sheet.

"Ahh, get out here!" Max yelled at him, as she started tearing the sheet from Logan's body.

"Max, we have to wait. Valerie is still here," Logan responded, a little panicked. Max had by now completely removed the sheet – although in bits and pieces – and had Logan on his back again looking at her. He could see the fire in her eyes, as if she was possessed, and without thinking he reached up and slapped her across the face. he immediately covered his own face with his arms. He didn't really understand why he had just slapped Max, but he had run completely out of ideas. Logan stayed with his arms shielding his face for a few seconds, expecting Max to either hit him back, or continue ravaging him.

"Thanks," Max panted, and she sounded completely relieved, almost like someone who had just been pulled from a burning car. Logan slowly moved his arms away and looked at her suspiciously.

"Sorry Max, I didn't mean to hit you. I just panicked I guess." Logan was desperately trying to apologise for his actions, because he had just hit Max, and that didn't feel right at all.

"No, really thanks. It's the only way to stop me," Max said happily as she climbed off Logan, and again had to retrieve her shirt from somewhere in the room. Logan sat up and looked at Max again.

"I'm really sorry Max, I… I can't believe I slapped you." Logan was very worried now and his voice was sad. He had let her down, and himself. He had become something he never wanted to be, a man that hits women because he couldn't think of anything else to do. Max just walked over and sat next to him on the bed, placing a reassuring hand on his arm.

"Really Logan it's alright, remember I'm no normal girl. You think you puny mortals can hurt me." She ended with a mock evil laughter, then stood up and headed out of the room. Just as she got to the door, she turned to him and spoke.

"Don't do it again though, or I will have to kick your ass." With that she smiled happily and left the room. For some reason Logan felt a lot better now that Max had threatened him, and he was still smiling a little from Max's mock evil laughter. She had really changed in the past few days, and he liked it, even though he didn't want her too. He realised the change was him coming to appreciate her more, and she was so much more special than he had ever thought.

Logan had found a shirt and walked out of his bedroom, a little worried with how to pass the time until Valerie left and… well, he was a guy, and it was hard not to get excited, but he felt mainly nervous. Max was the perfect person, and he didn't really feel adequate at all, but then he saw Max, and she smiled at him warmly and knowingly. Their secret agreement, continually discussed with the gazes they shared.

Max was back in the living room, sitting on the couch again. She was so happy she couldn't explain all the sensations running through her. She was nervous as well, since Logan had never experienced anything like what he was getting ready to, and Max was worried that he'd be shocked and scared with what happened. Knowing that she was different from normal people didn't help either. Surprisingly, neither of them had even spared a thought for Valerie in the other room.

"You want something to drink?" Logan asked Max as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yep, you know what," Max responded simply, as she turned and smiled at him.

Logan had just poured the glasses of red cordial when the phone rang, so he walked out and handed Max hers as he made his way to the phone.

"You're sure? Okay, thanks." Logan put the phone down again and looked at it a little put out. He walked off to the spare bedroom. Logan returned a few seconds later with Valerie. Max looked at her hopefully.

"You're going?" Max asked, voice as hopeful as her expression. She was feeling a little more normal, so she decided to be rude to this woman, as she deserved it. Logan smiled and shook his head behind Valerie's back at Max's comment.

"Yes, that was my contact on the phone, says he is in the basement ready to pick Valerie up." Logan replied to Max's question, as Valerie was getting over the initial shock from the way Max had addressed her.

"Oh good," Max replied. Logan smiled again, still shaking his head a little.

"Problem is, my guy says that Valerie's husband is down in the car park waiting, because he somehow managed to find she was here," Logan responded, looking at Max and smiling triumphantly. He had managed to get a pout out of her since she knew what this meant.

"So I have to escort 'her' and kick some bad guy's ass?" Max asked a little annoyed, but not really since she was so excited about what would be happening afterwards.

"If you don't mind. Of course Valerie could just stay here until he gets bored and leaves," Logan replied to Max, and smiling cheekily. In response Max glared at him slightly, then jumped off the back of the couch and grabbed her coat.

"Come on, Val," Max said, emphasizing her name, for no other reason than to be nasty to her.

Valerie was completely confused with this exchange, and even more so when Logan had without thought suggested Max, the little girl, take her down and protect her.

They were in the lift on the way down, Max shifting from foot to foot, and her mind had skipped forward about 20 minutes and she was getting edgy again.

"Thanks for this. I know you don't really like me," Valerie spoke quietly.

"That obvious is it?" Max replied sarcastically.

"I didn't mean to hurt Logan so much…" Valerie tried to explain to Max, but she interrupted her.

"Look, Val, I don't really care what you have to say. You've done the damage now, and apologising to me isn't going to fix anything. Let's just get you out of here so you can never bother Logan again." Max spoke innocently, but in a tone that Valerie was sure was completely faked. Valerie was getting a little angry with the way Max had been constantly treating her.

"So now you're after his money are you? You have a lot to learn, little girl," Valerie attacked scathingly. Max was about to respond, because the idea of smacking Valerie across the face for a bit seemed to appeal to her, but the lift doors just opened. As soon as they did, Valerie's husband barged in, wielding a baseball bat.

Max didn't give him opportunity to speak. She was a little pissed with Valerie, but her main reason was to get back to Logan. As soon as he got through the lift doors, he went flying back out again, courtesy of Max's foot. He hit a car, and was out cold. A van approached the two ladies, and out jumped a man, addressing himself as Logan's contact, and Valerie jumped in the van.

"Um, thanks," Valerie said, humbled a little by the fact Max had just protected her.

"Don't mention it. Please," Max responded as she headed back to the lift, and more importantly Logan. The urge was back stronger than ever now, and she was excited for a change because it was going to happen with Logan. It seemed that he was making everything exciting and great these days Max thought as she pushed the button for the penthouse.

Up in the penthouse Logan was frantically preparing his room. He got a new sheet, lit as many candles as he could find, got some red cordial and placed it on the bedside table. 'We will most probably need a refreshment every now and then.' Logan thought cheekily as he put it down. He considered dimming the lights, but it was useless since there was still a substantial amount of light coming from the sun. After all, it was still the daytime he reminded himself. Now he was getting nervous, as the pheromones had left with Max, and he was just sitting waiting anxiously.

Max, now clawing at the walls of the elevator; wished it would just hurry up. A few floors up, an incredibly attractive pizza deliveryman hit the button and waited for the lift, also on his way up.

* * *


	9. Spilt Cordial

Disclaimer: No ownership, well maybe to the vague idea this story portrays, but the rest, character, locations etc belong to Fox. Or some such.

Authors note: It has come, the finale. I really don't want to say this, but I was pretty disappointed with the lack of response to the last chapter or two, which I deemed possibly the best. In my opinion anyway. I understand the site was down when I posted and everything, and I do know that in my very first chapter I said I didn't care about review, but all of you who did review ruined me for that idea. It's just… I feel like I've done all this (excessive I know) writing, and only 3-4 people are reading it. And I really put quite a bit into the last two chapters (this is one of them). So at least this is the end, no more need to be concerned that I am not getting any reviews. I hate what I've become, an author that spends all their time complaining about reviews, but it's just this once. Also it's the last chapter so I can waffle on as much as I want, since this chapter is decidedly shorter than anything I've written. I was just after a small idea of the number of people who actually read this story, and if I should write the next idea I have broiling away.

Story note: The 'Pizzaman' concept was a very last minute chuck in, which may have been an accident since it seemed to draw everyone's (well the 4 that reviewed) attention away from the rest of the chapter, which I was pretty happy with. I suppose it's the price you pay for constantly leaving things on the edge of a cliff, a cliffhanger if you will. I know I use them far to often, in fact nearly every chapter. Well at least this chapter is resolved, it ends, of course it could end on a particularly sour note. Maybe you should ponder the title a little. Ah well, enjoy, or don't. Your decision, I'm not going to tell you what to do.

Special thanks: Big thanks go out to the wondiferous (it's not a word) beta reader I have in Milla. Been a huge help, thanks a lot.

Chapter 9 – Spilt Cordial

Logan was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes ticked by. Since Max had left his apartment the intoxicating scent she was emanating had started to wear off, and Logan was tensing.

'What do I do when she gets back? What is going to happen afterwards?' Logan's face was quite twisted as he sat on his couch considering all these points.

'She'll probably be disappointed with my performance, and me. She'll probably just be disappointed that we ended up having sex.' Logan's panic and worry had turned into self-conscious anxiousness. He then noticed that he had been sitting there for quite some time waiting for Max to come back, and he realised that it was the first time he had ever dreaded seeing her. 'That's a new one. I wonder what's taking her so long anyway.' Logan started to worry a little so he got up and headed towards the elevator.

The pizza deliveryman was very pleasantly surprised with what hit him when he got into the elevator, and the pizza he was carrying was soon forgotten.

Logan was impatiently waiting for the lift to arrive, becoming more and more concerned with how long Max was taking. Thoughts of her being captured and dragged away by Lydecker kept springing to mind uninvited. Logan had noticed that the lift had arrived on his level. As the doors opened he was hit with the invigorating and enthralling aroma of Max, but she wasn't in the lift. All that was there was a pizza box. He assumed that Max's fragrance was still lingering from when she was in there earlier, so he stepped in and pushed the button for the car park, not really thinking too much about the pizza on the floor as other things were going through his mind at an incredible rate.

The pizza man stepped out on the ninth floor in a dreamy state. He knew he was supposed to be here for some purpose, but had completely forgotten everything when he had stepped in the elevator, and had that wonderful musk fill his senses.

Just as the elevator doors closed at the penthouse Max burst through the stairwell door to the side, panting slightly. She had decided to take the stairs after travelling one floor in the elevator, as they would have been quicker, and being in the confined space of the elevator was driving her insane. Problem was when she started up the stairwell there were numerous obstacles in the way. All the doors that gave access to the floor sections had been locked, and one set of stairs only goes up 6 floors before you have to walk down the length of the hall to the other end to take the next set up. It caused a major slow down. She was still furious with whoever had decided to lock all the doors, as going this way was usually much quicker than taking the lift for her, but only because she could jump several flights of stairs at a time and run very fast. She had started off picking the locks quickly to each door, but after doing that a few times her patience had run out. So she just ended up charging at each door and breaking through it. Max was still desperate to get back to Logan, she had never felt it this strong before and she only had a few mild ideas as to why she would be now. At first she put it down to the fact that her and Logan had already been getting pretty physical today, and so it was just building up. Then she realised that it was only this strong a sensation when she was thinking about Logan. Max knew after a while why she was feeling like this, since she had just walked back into Logan's apartment. It was because he made her feel safe, and they knew each other long before this had come along. Not like with all the other men she had been with, who she only met as a result of being in heat. With Logan it was the other way around. She had known him for a good time before hand, and they had started to get really close in the last couple of days, even before she was in heat. Max could smell Logan everywhere and in everything around the apartment, and so she was pining to see him again. She went on the prowl, looking and sniffing the air delicately. After a while Max knew that Logan wasn't in the apartment any more, which confused her and made her a little worried. 'He has probably left because he doesn't want to do this with me.' Max considered sadly. She had thought Logan was happy with the situation, since he sounded pretty happy to Max when she finally told him what she wanted to do about it. Her prowl had turned to a slow walk, with her head slightly bowed. As a last hope, she walked into Logan's room, and suddenly felt very giddy and anxious. Hundreds of candles were burning and there was the slight scent of something Max didn't really know hanging in the air. Max noticed the red cordial sitting on the bedside table and smiled. It all seemed perfect, so much more than she could have hoped for. There was still a problem, however. Where was Logan?

Logan arrived at the car park, a goofy dazed look on his face due to the perfume still wafting around in the elevator. With a broad grin on his face he stepped out of the elevator and looked around for Max. He immediately noticed the man lying unconscious against a largely dented car and the baseball bat on the ground a fair distance away from him. Logan could tell that Max had been here, but it still didn't explain where she was now. He dismissed the idea that it was the work of Lydecker, since he was hardly the type to leave witnesses lying around. He then walked over to his car and noticed that Max's bike was still sitting in the back, so she obviously hadn't gone anywhere, well… far at least. Logan headed back to the elevator, knowing that he should be more worried than he was, but he couldn't help it. As the doors closed again his grin increased with the smell that enveloped him. He was going back to his apartment with the intention of calling some people, checking the security system to see if something serious had happened in the parking lot, and to get his keys. He considered paging Max but knew that her pager was still sitting on his table, where she had left it earlier. So he waited patiently for the lift to return to his floor, not really wanting to have to get out at the other end.

Max had ended up on Logan's bed, with his pillow firmly placed over her face, and inhaling deeply. She couldn't seem to get enough of his smell. Max heard the elevator arrive, and she quickly got off the bed and straightened the sheets out a bit. 'God, I've already messed the bed up.' Max thought angrily as she tried and tried again to get it neat. After a few seconds she realised what she had said, and got very nervous and embarrassed.

Logan stepped out of the elevator and through his front door and knew that Max was back in the apartment, since her wonderful smell had just increased. When Logan had closed the door he turned around and found Max standing at the end of the hall . She was looking uneasy and shyly at the ground around his feet.

"Hey," Max said quietly.

"Hey yourself. Where did you go?" Logan asked, smiling broadly at her.

"Oh, I took the stairs," Max replied meekly once more. She hadn't looked at Logan and so was doing pretty well at resisting the urge to charge him. Before Logan could speak again, Max did.

"Logan, are you sure you want to do this? Because we don't have to," Max said, trying to sound reassuring in that she could actually stop herself. Logan smiled again.

"Hey, I thought the guy gets to ask that question," he replied light-heartedly, as he slowly made his way over to Max. She had now dropped her head so she could look at her own toes, and tried not to noticed Logan's scent wafting over to her, and the intense sensation of his body heat that she could feel radiating from him. Logan placed his hands on Max's arms, and held her there.

"Max, I'm fine with it. But it's not up to me, it's your decision," Logan said warmly, then he bent in and kissed her forehead. Max felt very comforted by his words and the sincerity in his voice.

"Okay, but we are a couple now. Since the other night, because that was our first real date," Max said defiantly as she looked at Logan. She couldn't help the sultry undertone that slipped in because she had just seen him standing there and the heat had risen in her again.

"If we must," Logan said in a mock whine, making quite a production out of it. Of course there was nothing else in the world that he wanted. They stood there for a little while. Just as each of them were about to say 'So', Max changed her mind, and let herself relax a little. This meant the desire became stronger and started to take control of her body. Max leapt into Logan's awaiting arms; her legs coming up so he had them supported under the knees with one arm, the other arm was around her upper back. Max had her arms firmly wrapped around Logan's neck and began kissing him. They were in that position for a while, then Max pulled back a little and looked at Logan nervously.

"You okay?" Logan asked, a little concerned with the way Max was looking. In response Max nodded timidly and Logan noticed her cheeks reddening.

"Can we… um… go to your room now?" Max asked quietly. Logan had never seen her this shy and introverted before, and he found it incredibly cute. He kissed her on the nose and started to walk slowly to his bedroom, with Max smiling up at him. Max was feeling more and more desperate as they walked towards Logan's room, but somehow it felt different, and she seemed to be enjoying it this time for a change. They entered the room with Max already having removed Logan's shirt and was kissing his chest and neck; she was nearly completely gone to her lust. She managed to stop herself, and looked at Logan and smiled.

"This is perfect Logan. Thank you so much," Max said glancing around the room and as she noticed the red cordial sitting at the side of the bed she smiled inwardly. 'You've been here since the beginning haven't you?' she thought happily. She looked back to Logan and his sparkling eyes, a broad smile playing across her face.

"It's not much, but I'm glad you like it," Logan responded, smiling affectionately at Max. He walked them over to the bed and placed her on it. Before he had a chance to do anything else Max grabbed his head and pulled him down to her. Logan was taken so much by surprise that he half fell towards Max, losing control of his arms as they flailed frantically to keep balance. With his wild swinging motions he managed to knock the tray the red cordial was sitting on, which sent the brightly coloured liquid all over them.

"Oops, looks like I've spilt something," Logan said playfully, not thinking about the now very stained sheets. Max looked at him and smiled mischievously.

"Now you'll taste even better," And with the she licked a splattering of red cordial off his cheek, before pulling his mouth to hers. Lips and teeth clashed as they let themselves go to their want; both of them glad they were with each other. 

Both of them happy.

End…


End file.
