Consequences

Summary: Max and Logan sleep together -- what will happen next? SML included. Conclusion posted.

Rating: R

SPOILERS: S1, I & I and Camera

A/N: Tee hee hee hee . . . I suck at SML . . .

Part .00

It was a mistake, sleeping with him. I haven't seen him for two weeks. I'm afraid to see his face. To hear him give those excuses. The same ones that he gave me when we kissed. The same excuses I gave myself when it first hit home what I'd done.

On the Space Needle, I admitted to myself that they weren't real excuses. They were lies. I didn't want to face those lies coming from his mouth and not running into the back of my head. I didn't want to hear him say that it was all a mistake.

It was a mistake. Of course it was. I mean, we're best friends, aren't we? The way he cooks me dinner almost every day, the way he does me favors and I do his legwork. We're a perfect business pair. So why did we have to ruin everything by sleeping together?

Okay, so maybe it wasn't a mistake. It had felt so right when it was happening. His eyes so blue and soft. So nervous and almost scared, afraid I'd leave. I know he was afraid that halfway through the act. It was sort of funny. I had a couple of almost-formed plans of ideas of starting off and laughing. I didn't, though, because the moment left.

I'm afraid to see his face. To see the lies coming from his mouth and the truth coming from his eyes. I can't stand the truth coming from people's eyes while their mouths are lying. I can't stand their brain's lying and their heart's aching to tell the truth.

I've been ignoring his pages all week. Cindy thinks I'm crazy, but there you are. I just can't see him. I actually contemplating leaving my pager at home and getting a new one, but I can't stand the thought of having people not being able to reach me. Maybe Zack even.

I don't even want to think about Zack.

So why am I cutting lunch at Jam Pony and starting out for Logan's? I left my coat . . . and my panties . . . and my bra . . . All I took when I left were my shirt and my pants . . . thank goodness it wasn't raining.

Foggle Towers never looked so intimidating.

Part .01

Max stood at the entrance of Foggle Towers, seemingly amazed by the doorknob that she was staring at. It was large and brass and had intricate designs on it. After two minutes of staring, she realized that she would look rather odd to any onlookers who found her in such a state. Slowly, her gaze traveled to the ground and her feet. With determination, she reached out to open the door.

"Look, I know you're worried, but I bet she's just fine, she probably -- " a voice said, its owner opening the door Max had been reaching for. Max knew the voice and was determined not to look up. She also knew whom the voice had been speaking to.

"Hey," Bling said quietly to Max. Max's back tightened and she scrunched her shoulders together.

"Hey," Max said, casting her eyes up a fraction of an inch. Logan was there, in his wheel chair, with Bling standing next to him. "So," Max said, lifting her head all the way up, "you paged?"

Relieved, Logan smiled at Max. "Yeah, I did. Why don't we -- "

"Yeah," Max agreed. She walked past Bling and grabbed Logan's chair. Wheeling him around, Max made a beeline for the elevator. Pressing a few buttons, she whirled around and watched Bling leave the building. "B*****d," she breathed out softly. He had left her alone with Logan. She would have to kill him later.

They reached the penthouse. Max let them in the usual way she got in; forgetting that Logan had the key. Logan just sat there and watched as Max deftly picked the lock and opened the door. He wheeled himself in and settled near the couch.

Max stayed in the doorframe, looking around the apartment. There were those art pieces that Logan had, all in the same spot. If she turned her heard a bit and stuck out her neck, she would be able to see his computer desk. Everything was the same, but it felt so different.

"You, uh, left some -- " Logan began uncomfortably.

"I know," Max said. "You leave your panties, you realize it, you know. They were a good pair. I'd better get them back," she held out her hand expectantly, with a smile on her face. Logan stayed where he was. "Is this some kind of game? Do I have to search for my panties?"

"Maybe," Logan said, starting to move toward his bedroom. Thirty seconds later, he emerged with Max's things in his lap.

"Aww, look, he washed them," Max said. "Thanks. Saves me some time and money."

"Are we gonna talk?" Logan asked, handing her the underclothing.

"I thought that's what we're doing," Max said hurriedly, "talking. You know, vibrations in the air make sound . . ."

"Max," Logan said impatiently waving a hand, "you know what I mean."

"I don't want to hear it from you, Logan. I don't want to hear you say it was a mistake," Max used her eyes golden brownness to full power. "Can't we just ignore it?"

"Do you want to? " Logan asked seriously, looking at her with a mixture of hurt and wonder. She had accused him of wanting to ignore it. The wonderful thing that had passed between them.

"No," Max admitted, "but that's the bad thing. I'm not supposed to break, Logan. I'm not supposed to. It's just not good, having a superhero with a weakness. Kind of like Hercules and his wife."

Logan let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Everyone breaks. You're my breaking point. We'll keep each other up. Instead of two strong people, we'll be one super strong person."

"I'm already super strong," Max said, backing away from Logan. "Thanks anyway."

"Not even Manticores are super strong in the way we're talking about," Logan said. "What do you say, we actually talk about it and admit things. Don't brush the kiss away, like last time."

"It was a bit more than a kiss," Max said. "Sucking face is one thing . . ."

Logan grinned. "I know. So, are we gonna talk?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Max sat down. "Shoot."

Part .02

"Boo, you aiight?" Original Cindy's voice came to Max from far away. Max had just come back from Foggle Towers and was sitting, in an almost daze, on the couch at her apartment. "First you bolt out of here when your pager goes off -- after you ignore it for weeks, may I add -- and then you come back at eleven twenty all chipper and ready to talk."

Max wasn't so far out she didn't see the sarcasm that laced Original Cindy's words. She started speaking, with an almost breathless quality to her normally emotionless voice, "Sorry I'm so silent . . . well . . . It's just that, I was at Logan's . . . well . . . Logan and I talked . . ."

"'Bout what?" Original Cindy looked at Max with the eyes of a dragon, fire flashing and everything. Max was greatly reminded of Bling when Logan wasn't telling something.

"We . . . we slept together eight days go. So it wasn't weeks I was ignoring him; it was a week," Max said, pulling back her head. "You dramatize everything, Cindy. Honestly, y -- "

Original Cindy gave Max a huge hug. "You go, boo! Why d'int you tell Original Cindy? It would have been such a great excuse for getting drunk." [Yes, that is the slangy way kids in my area say didn't]

"Like you need any excuse to get drunk and go off with the first girl you see," Max said, laughing. Original Cindy pulled one of Max's curls. "Hey, stop that," Max flicked a hand up toward her head absent-mindedly.

"Original Cindy does not just go with any girl. Her lickety-chick has to be of one fine figure, if your on the same boat as me," Original Cindy said, moving her hands away from Max's hair and turning to the stove. She was making a late night snack for the two of them, something she had suggested on the advice of her grumbling stomach.

"No, I'm on the other boat," Max quipped. Original Cindy hit her playfully. "I forgot how picky you are," Max said, smiling at Cindy's feigned defensiveness.

"How in the world did you successfully turn the conversation away from you and Moneybags baggin' it in the night to Original Cindy?" Original Cindy suddenly turned around and faced Max, her hands on her hips. Max made her famous yeah-right face at Original Cindy, who smiled a small grin.

"I'm good at the game," Max said, sitting down on the couch.

"So, what did you and Mr. Moneybags talk about," Original Cindy said.

"Cindy, he gave up the family fortune, remember?" Max asked irritably. Mr. Moneybags indeed! Logan was about as rich as Normal was. [Darn you, Cat! I can't get Dr. Normal out of my head!]

"Damn, that boy has nothing going for him except charm, intelligence, and good looks. That and him being madly in love with you just doesn't keep a girl warm at night," Original Cindy said with practiced sage-ness. Max rolled her eyes. "So, you guys an item or what?"

Max suddenly felt very silly. She giggled, with then said, with a very slight bit of pride in her voice, "Yeah." She pulled her knees to her chin with a slight hug on her legs. "Logan and I decided that all this -- "

" -- sexual tension -- " Original Cindy ejaculated.

"-- Awkwardness wasn't going to fly so well in our business relationship," Max finished with a grin. "Who could ruin such a wonderful arrangement, Cindy? We decided we had to get together to save the world more efficiently."

"It's perfect, neh? You ain't leavin' Original Cindy to live with lover-boy, are you?" Cindy turned back to the stove, hiding her face. Though she said it with lightness, Max could sense the tenseness in her voice.

"Of course not!" Max exclaimed, getting up. "I could never leave my best boo! You just tore out my heart." Max clutched her left side dramatically and fell on her back, missing the couch by a good two feet. "Oh, that hurt," she rubbed her head. "Little stupid there . . ."

"So, why are you here?" Original Cindy pulled Max to her feet with a jerk.

"What do you mean?" Max fixed her shirt, which was at the moment several inches north where it should have been -- comfortably above her navel.

"Boo, you two badda-bing-badda-boomed, right?" Max slowly nodded in answer to Original Cindy's question. "You ignored him for eight days?" Once again, Max nodded. "You guys make up and talk . . ." Original Cindy's voice trailed off. "Then you just leave?"

Max jumped up. "Of course! I should have boned him!" she cried sarcastically. "Not everything in life is about sex, Original Cindy."

Cindy just shook her head. "My girl's got it bad," she muttered to herself. "She's scared of a guy. Never thought I'd see her get hit with the never-ending bug."

"So you're saying that I should go back to Logan and make his dreams come true again?" Max asked with a yawn, lazily sitting down on the couch.

"Works for Original Cindy," Original Cindy handed Max the veggie-taco that she had been making.

"Yeah, well, this girl has a lot more baggage than you." Max said, with her mouth half-full of taco.

"Girl, we all have baggage. Original Cindy has some weird-a** skeletons in her closet, let me tell you," Original Cindy took some diced tomatoes off the counter and put them on the top of her taco.

"Do yours come in black helicopters?" Max asked sullenly. [My grandad once told me to stop looking sultry. I was laughing so hard I forgot to look sullen.]

"Baggage comes in all sorts of forms; all we have to do is get them put into the order of operation. If it's a three date girl, Original Cindy tell the lickety-chick she's Irish," Original Cindy grabbed more tomatoes.

"You're Irish?" Max said with interest.

"Original Cindy's father is, so that makes her Irish, too," Original Cindy said with a smile.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm not third date material?" Max asked with a wink.

"Boo, Original Cindy never even thought you didn't know . . . her surname is so Irish that she thinks you're a little dense not to have suspected it."

"I'm a little slow, but when I get started no one has more enthusiasm," Max said energetically.

"So move yo' slow a$$ down to Logan's and show some enthusiasm," Original Cindy prodded Max in the side.

"I'm not going to scr -- " Max began, but Original Cindy cut her off.

"Talk love if you don't make it. Original Cindy has a lickety-chick in the other room that might wake up if we keep on talking," Original Cindy gestured toward her bedroom.

"Gotcha," Max said, getting up. Her beeper went off at almost that exact moment with a loud and annoying 'deep beep deep'.

"Gotta blaze," Max and Original Cindy said, each going their separate ways.

Part .03

Once again, Max was outside of Foggle Towers, debating on whether or not she should enter. This time, however, she had a feeling that there wasn't going to be any Blings to open the door and surprise her. Max finally decided that she had better get up there or she'd probably turn to lead for staying in one place so long.

Opening the door, she waited impatiently for the elevator to open. After twenty seconds or so, she abandoned thoughts of the elevator and raced up the stairs. Reaching Logan's door, she tried to open it. It was a habit of hers, though she had never come across a time when it had been unlocked.

To her surprise, it swung open. There was a first for everything, apparently.

"Hey," she said to the apartment as she entered. There didn't appear to be anyone in the hallway. "You paged?"'

Logan was in the living room, with a large brown bag in her lap. Max knew, without asking, that she had forgotten her things ago. "I think it's fate," Logan said, smiling.

"You sayin' my pretty things want to stay in your apartment?" Max asked with a grin. Logan nodded, leaning over and handing her the bag. Max tossed the bag aside. "Who am I to argue?"

She quickly closed the distance between Logan and herself, first by walking toward him, second by sitting down in his wheel chair. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she asked him, "So, are you going to argue?"

Logan stared into Max's eyes. If he had done it before, any time before, she would have been very uncomfortable. The look was intimate. However, Max was quite ready for intimate, again. Slowly, very slowly, he reached up and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. "I'm not very adept at arguing," he said.

Max leaned forward and kissed Logan. In some unconscious part of her mind, her kiss was trying to feed into Logan her feelings of confusion, her feelings of love. After a few minutes, they broke the kiss. Logan was breathless. Max smiled, then leaned forward and touched her tongue to his throat.

"Do we have to stay in the hallway like commoners?" Max asked his collar playfully. Quickly, far more quickly than Max expected, Logan was in the bedroom and [somehow] on the bed. Laughing, Max began to unbutton his shirt. Slowly and deliberately, she unfastened button after button. The expression on Logan's face was, in Max's opinion, priceless. Finally, when she had removed his shirt, Logan reached up and pulled her off.

Max leaned in and kissed him again, this time dragging her tongue out of his mouth and down his neck, then his chest. Stopping at his nipples, she breathed heavily on one, then pulled her head back and breathed again, further away. Logan twitched and moaned slightly. Moving toward his left nipple, Max repeated the exercise.

Logan reached up with a hand and unfastened her bra. Letting it fall off her as she leaned over him, Logan reached up and started caressing her.

"You know," Max said, going further down, aggravatingly away from Logan's hands, "it might work better if we were less clothed." She slipped off the rest of the clothing that she had been wearing, then started to work on Logan's. It took quite a bit longer than her own, because several times during the process she went up to Logan and kissed him, then slowly drug her tongue south. It drove Logan mad and made him twitch.

Finally, both were naked. Logan reached up toward her lips with his hand and started tracing them. Little by little, he moved his fingers softly down. He stroked her breasts, then spent several minutes playing with her belly button. It sent rages of fire throughout Max's body.

Playfully, Max knocked his hand away. "Where in the world did you get that little trick?"

Logan didn't answer, just pulled Max closer toward him. As if on agreement, they began moving closer and closer, trying to erase the distance between them. Putting a hand to her lips, Max reached over and snapped a condom off the bedside table, where she had noticed several.

With a nod from Max, Logan entered her.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Max woke up with a slight start. For a moment, she hadn't any idea where she was. The things that jarred her back into the world were the thoughts that it all seemed oddly familiar. Of course it seemed familiar, a voice in her head told her, and you did it nine days ago.

Turning, she looked on her left side, expecting to see Logan sleeping, as she had those days before. However, he was awake, watching her.

"Now that just gives me the creeps, Logan," she said, laughing a little.

Logan smiled. "I don't think I slept a bit last night," he admitted. "I didn't want to wake up and see you missing again."

Max leaned over and kissed Logan. Snuggling into a nice spot on the mattress, she told him, "I was scared. Not my fault."

Logan looked her in the eye. "Don't be," he said. Max averted her eyes nervously.

"That totally makes me feel naked in front of you," she informed him.

"I don't know how to tell you this . . . " Logan began with a teasing voice.

"You know exactly what I mean, Logan Cale," Max said sternly.

Logan shrugged. "So, do you like your eggs scrambled or fried?"

Part .04

"Boo," Original Cindy started in on Max as soon as she saw her enter Jam Pony, "Original Cindy expected you to come back -- she was thinking you'd be just as you always is. Well, imagine her surprise to wake up this morning next to her beautiful redhead and no Max in the other room. You made my morning perfect."

"And what makes you think that I went at it last night with Logan when I specifically told you that I was gonna be talking to him?" Max asked, putting down her backpack. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail, a cap on her head. She looked no less Max than usual, but she seemed very different.

"'Cuz her home girl's got cheese half the size of Seattle plastered on her face, that's why," Original Cindy waved at a rider, then went into the locker room and started changing.

"Well, as a matter of fact . . . " Max began slowly. Original Cindy grabbed Max around the shoulders.

"Knew it," she said victoriously, shaking Max. "Knew it from the way you was cheesing up the room. Original Cindy ain't never seen you flash those pearlies unless you was cheatin' someone or kickin' their sorry ass."

"Hey," Max protested, laughing, "sometimes when Sketchy falls I laugh."

"Its those big feet of his," Original Cindy agreed, taking a package from Normal. She flipped her hair back lazily, walking toward her bike. She shoved somebody -- who was sleeping on the floor -- out of the way with her toe and an impatient curse. "Move," she ordered.

"Fascinating as Max is," Normal said loudly, "it is time to bip bip bip people."

"We're movin' our butts as fast as we can," Original Cindy said good-naturedly. Max gave her a look. Original Cindy shrugged it off and mouthed something that even Max couldn't make out. It looked to be good, anyway. Original Cindy had really woken up on the right side of the lickety-chick that morning.

"Whatever, just move them faster," Normal tossed Max a package. Max tilted her head slightly to the left, then walked her bike out the door. Sometimes even riding the bike inside was too much on a really bad Normal day. Besides, she had a slight stomachache.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After work, Max was tired. As usual, all day Normal had been riding her ass all day, telling her she didn't work hard enough. Max actually agreed with that part; she didn't work hard enough. She slacked off all day at work, but so did everyone else. What was she supposed to do? Work her tail off and get rewarded with more work? It wasn't exactly her idea of a good thing. Rubbing her stomach idly, she decided to keep it up at her slacker pace.

Max stopped suddenly. She was on her baby, revving down the street, when suddenly she had realized she didn't know where she wanted to go. Usually, she had one way to go, no thought to it. Right on down the street she would fly, turning the corner, then speeding away to her destination. That day was different; she hadn't any idea where she would go.

If she went left, she would most certainly end up at Crash. At Crash, she would slap her butt down on a chair that was at a table of her friends. The table was where she would drink, laugh, and party with her buddies until seven fifty, at which time she would go to Logan's to have some dinner. After dinner, she would go out on some Eyes Only mission and fight the bad guys of the world.

Or, if she went right, she would be heading toward Foggle Towers. She normally didn't go over to his place so early, unless she had something to drop off, but she might be able to squirm her way out of questioning with a smile or a kiss. It would mean that she had a few extra hours to just visit with Logan before he sent her off on a crusade. Or it would mean that she would have a few extra hours on the crusade, if Logan was being an idiot that day.

As Max turned her bike right, she fervently hoped that Logan wasn't being an idiot that day. Sketchy was idiot enough for her day. Hell, Sketchy was enough idiot for her life.

Part .05

"Logan," Max called as she entered the room. "I'm here. Don't you be all whiny I'm here early or I will take myself back to that road and take the left turn."

Logan quizzically rolled out from his computer room. Max hadn't known a man could do roll quizzically, but Logan had done just that. He gave that wheelchair more personality than any other inanimate object in his house. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Max smiled to herself at her thoughts, then replied, with a sort of saucy grin, "I was worried you'd be busy." She leaned down and picked up a dime. Handing it to him wordlessly, she sat down on the couch, half waiting for him to tell her about this all important Eyes Only project that needed her immediate attention.

"I'm not busy; not busy at all," Logan said, watching Max as she took off her coat. "Hey, want to go for a walk? It's too early for dinner, not on the schedule I'm used to."

"Girl can't help it if she wants to kick back with her peeps after a long day of work," Max said in an agreeable manner, putting her on coat once again. "Not like it's my fault you've got the whole working at home thing down pat."

"That true," Logan waited for her in the hall while Max adjusted her coat; she had put it on incorrectly and, consequently, it looked rather odd on her frame. Scratching his nose with his left pinkie, he rolled into the elevator.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The walk, being as most walks in noisy Seattle were, was short and almost hurried. Mostly silent, Max walked along side Logan, keeping her hand on his shoulder. There were a few instances where Max had almost killed a driver, but Logan had stopped her.

"I swear, Logan," she said the second time she and Logan were almost moe'd down by a large SUV, "your boss is going to have to do a huge report on drunk driving."

Laughing, Logan replied, "Yes, but where would he get the fuel for it? Nobody cares anymore. When I was a kid, people were locked up. Now, it's a simple fine, if you were even prosecuted."

"Idiotic," Max said simply, shaking her head in frustration.

"I agree," Logan told her.

A light drizzle had started by the time Max and Logan reached the beginning of Logan's block. Max, with a look of great concentration, opened the door and then darted outside again, leaving Logan near the entrance, wondering what she was doing.

Outside, Max was picking some flowers. Walking inside again, she shyly offered them to Logan.

"Heard you're s'possed to give flowers, so I thought, hey, why not?" she said. Logan just grinned like an idiot. Upon reflection, Max decided she didn't much mind Logan being an idiot.

"Guys are supposed to give them to girls," Logan told her, smiling a more normal smile, one that Max was used to.

"Which is something you obviously forgot," Max said teasingly, as they entered the elevator.

Red rushing to Logan's cheeks, he replied, "Sorry."

"Hey," Max slapped Logan's arm slightly as they opened the door to the apartment, "never say sorry to me and I'll never say sorry to you. I'm tired of apologizing for being a bitch, you should be too."

"Are you implying I'm a bitch?" Logan asked with mock seriousness.

"Naw," Max said, grinning impishly, "wouldn't dare."

"You'd better not," Logan told her, going into the kitchen and beginning to prepare dinner. "I have a few choice names that I'd like to call you if the need ever comes up."

Spinning around, Max cried, "What would those be?"

Grinning with a wicked twist of his lips, Logan replied to Max's outcry, "Darling, sweetheart, perfect, baby . . ."

Part .06

"You know," Max said two weeks later as she entered the apartment, "I should just get my own key here. Hell, I should have gotten my own key here two weeks after we started working together. I'm over here more than I am at my own place."

"I was thinking about that . . . " Logan said, glancing up from his computer. "Why don't you just move in with me?"

"Ouch, that was kind of quick, been thinking about it, Logan? We've only been together two weeks." Max smiled at him, skillfully conveying the fact she didn't want to move in without speaking those exact words.

"I've known you for over a year, you've known me for over a year. I see no reason why we shouldn't be living together. I mean, Max," Logan smiled his pearlie whites and made Max's heart give a curious squeeze, "you said it yourself. The only times you go over to Cindy are to change your clothing."

"Ah huh, whatever. You want to send me flying in the other direction Logan?" Max asked, rubbing her head. She had been having lots of headaches lately. "Look, I'm going to go lie down. I feel about as great as a flattened cat on the road."

"Not a pretty picture," Logan commented dryly.

"Blah blah woof woof," Max said, "wake me up in time for dinner."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Max," Logan shook her gently, "wake up."

"Mmm . . ." Max murmured. "I don't feel like waking up . . ."

Logan put his hand to Max's forehead. "You don't have a fever," he said, more to himself than to Max. He heard Max giggle slightly.

"Of course I don't have a fever, I'm just tired. Normal people get tired; genetically engineered killing machines get tired every once in a while. Besides," Max's voice was impatient, "I told you to wake me up at dinnertime."

"Hate to tell you this," Logan's voice was mirthful, "but it * is * dinnertime."

Max groaned; she hadn't known she'd been asleep so long. It was not fair, in her opinion. "I don't know if I feel like dinner today . . . I'll sleep off this headache . . ."

"You sure you're okay? Do you want me to call a friend . . . Sebastian maybe?" Logan asked, looking down at Max's face.

"I'm fine, Logan, just a headache," Max insisted.

"When have you ever had such awful headaches, Max, besides when you've been having seizures?" Logan took her hand in his and pulled impatiently on her fingers.

"If I don't feel better in the morning, I'll skip work and see Sebastian. It's probably the damn implant;" Max brushed off Logan's worries like a flick of a fly.

"Okay, well, I'm going to eat dinner." Logan reluctantly left the room.

"Go, Logan, and let me sleep," Max said groggily.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning Max did not feel better. Logan could tell by the way she tiptoed around the house, although she denied it. While she was in the shower, Logan dialed Jam Pony.

"Yeah, it Logan, Max wont . . . worse . . . umm . . . Yes . . . wait . . . if you've gotten any of her bodily fluids on you . . . similar, but not quite . . . oh . . . take a shower! Bye," Logan hung up, feeling slightly confused about his conversation with Normal.

When Max gingerly stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, which Logan thought made her look very good -- he was a man after all -- Logan handed her a pair of slacks and a blouse.

"Logan," she said, "I'm okay. I just have a headache."

"Be a dear and get dressed while I call Sebastian, will you?" Logan asked amiably. Max began to speak, but Logan put a finger to her lips. "Humor me. You get a day off. I already called Normal."

"Do you know how controlling you are?" Max asked as she went into the bedroom, looking for her pantyhose.

"Vaguely, yes," Logan said, his phone dialing loudly in the background. "Yes, Sebastian? I'm bringing Max in, she's got some terrible headaches and I'm worried. Okay, we'll be there in a half-hour, if the sector police are nice to us today . . . Bye."

Max walked out of the bedroom, her hair braided, dressed in the clothing Logan had given her.

"What's with you and the whole you're-going-to-the-doctor-so-dress-nice thing?" she asked him, amused, while she was tucking the white blouse into the dark blue slacks.

"Something my mother instilled into me, I guess," he said, shrugging, handing her a shoe. "She always dressed me up, made sure I took a hot bath, had clean underwear, you name it."

"Sounds like she was a perfectionist," Max said, putting the shoe on.

"No, just didn't like presenting a bad image," Logan said, sitting in his chair by the door.

The ride in the car was filled with good-natured banter. Max wasn't in the best mood, feeling as she did about Logan supposedly going behind her back to arrange the appointment. However, she and Logan got into a heated discussion of whether or not Texas should stop using the death penalty.

Sebastian's place was immaculately decorated, as both Max and Logan well remembered. Sebastian ushered them into a room. Max stood there for a few moments, looking at the pictures on the wall.

"Max," came the computerized voice that was Sebastian, "you may step through this door now, the doctors are in there."

"Thanks," Max said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The examination lasted about an hours. Max did the usual pee in the cup, put on a paper gown, get your knee banged, flashlight in the eye thing. Max came out of the room with a warning that she was to stay until the test results came back.

"Gotta stay while they check that I'm not hyped up on any special meds," she told Logan when she left the room, fully dressed.

"Standard procedure to make certain you aren't taking anything that could be causing the headaches," Sebastian's voice reassured her.

Max cocked her head to the right. "Good to know I'm trusted," she said.

A quick hour later ("Sebastian, hate to be a bitchling, but when are we gonna get the stuff?") the techs came out with the folder.

"I have good news and maybe good news," he told them.

Max shrugged. "Give me the good news first, I can brace myself," she said.

"Well," the technician began, smiling. "You are having these migraines because of natural occurrence in your body. It's just a changing of hormones."

"What's the not so good news, buddy?" Max asked impatiently.

"The changing of hormones is because you're pregnant," he said simply.

"Shit," Max and Logan said in one breath.

Part .07

Max snuck a look at Logan. "Wow," she said feebly. "Er, Sebastian . . . I think Logan and I . . ."

"I understand completely," came the computerized voice of Sebastian. Max was sure, by the rather amused expression on his face, that if he could he would have laughed. Logan still hadn't spoken, at least, not after he and Max had spoken at the same time.

Mutely, she and Logan walked out of the building and got into their car. The drive to the apartment was quiet. Finally, while they were waiting for the elevator, Max turned to Logan.

"No abortions, no adoptions, nothings, I'm keeping the kid," she said quietly. "If you don't want it, that's your business."

"I never said that," Logan said. "I'm just shocked. I can't believe . . . my . . . molecule . . . is there . . . in you . . ."

"I can't believe it either. You know guys; they never stop to ask for directions. Must have been lucky," Max said, putting her head on Logan's shoulder. "What're we gonna do?"

"Get married, for one," Logan told her. When Max started to protest, he brought his finger to her lips. "Shut up, we don't need your lip right now . . . we're getting married, we're raising the kid. How does that suit you?"

He waited. Finally, he added, "You can talk."

"Wondering when you'd say that," Max said, while they entered the elevator. "I guess the plan is good . . . only, it's scary . . ."

"I know what you mean . . . I'm afraid too, Max," Logan looked her eye. The elevator beeped, they got out and walked to the door of his apartment. "What do you want me to do? Let you just have the kid and leave you off in the middle of the world, alone? Not me, not to the woman I love. Not to our child."

"Our child," Max smiled softly. "That sounds so weird."

"Look, Max," Logan said, while they sat down on the couch, "I'm not pretending that this is going to be easy . . . it sounds too easy when you say it . . . there'll be diapers . . . "

" . . . and bottles," Max continued for him. "I see your point. But I'm willing. I'm not running, isn't that enough of a sign?"

"Yes," Logan smiled and kissed her. "I'll call some contacts of mine, they'll waver the waiting period, I'm sure. We can get married today, if you want."

"I'm calling Bling and Original Cindy and Herbal Thought and . . . ugg . . . Sketchy . . ." Max grimaced. "I'm going to get the aspirin first."

An hour later, everyone was gathered in the apartment, talking and laughing nosily. Max was standing near the edge of the group, drinking water and taking her aspirin, her hand on Logan's arm. Grinning rather nervously, he was speaking to the man who was to perform the ceremony.

"Boo," Original Cindy called out suddenly, "Original Cindy has a question for you." Max turned around. "Why the sudden change of heart? You call us all here and explain to us that you just feel like getting married. Well, Original Cindy feels like hooking up with a good lickety-chick, but that doesn't mean she just does it everyday. Wait a second . . ." everybody laughed.

"Okay, my point is lost in truth, but I still don't understand it. Three . . . no, four weeks ago it was all we're-just-friends and now its we're-getting-married. Cut the crap, 'cuz Original Cindy doesn't take it well."

Max laughed. "Logan and I are impulsive, that's all, Cindy."

"Mmm huh," Original Cindy said, "and Original Cindy rides the same bike as you two."

"Can we just get married?" Logan asked, suddenly.

Max glanced at him. "Getting cold feet, Logan?" she asked impishly.

"No, I'm just antsy," Logan told her, grinning back.

The ceremony lasted less than five minutes. Max was amazed at how quickly it passed. They had a small party afterwards. Actually, Original Cindy and Sketchy called up some of their people and by the time the morning came, the apartment was trashed.

"How . . ." Logan was apt to start, then never finish, grinning. He and Max mingled. Max was starting to complain, quietly, to Logan, about not being able to drink.

"This is all your fault," she told him, several times during the night. "I could be drinking it up and having a good party. It's all your fault."

Logan just laughed.

THE END

Yes, yes, we all know, they had a kid, it was a girl, her name was [Insert Cat's real name here] Anna and she had dark curly black hair. When she grew up, she cut it short and spiked it. She never had a barcode. She was super smart and super fast. She had a younger sister Jeanne Marie and a younger brother Alexander Frank[enstein]. They all looked alike, except for the fact that [Insert Cat's real name here] had blue eyes, Jeanne had brown eyes, and Alex and green/hazel eyes. Original Cindy and her best lickety-chick settled down and raised a family. On the same note, three infants were stolen from a group home. There, I've tied up all lose ends. Now shut it!

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