UNSTOPPABLE

A/N: This was originally written in response to a fanfic challenge on a certain Dark Angel board. Unfortunately, I was banned from that board because I posted a review of the board owner's fanfic that she didn't like. So, I am offering it to the readers here.

Part One

If we had this night together
If we had a moment to ourselves
If we had this night together, then we'd be
Unstoppable
       -- The Calling, Unstoppable

Max left the lab tech, still confused by his pronouncements and their implications. Almost in a daze, she went back to her apartment, changed clothes, and applied a bit of makeup. If she was going to share the news with Logan, she wanted to be armed.

And hour or so later, butterflies still in her stomach, Max stood outside Logan's door. She glanced at her pager, which she had set as a stopwatch. It read 10:51:01. Almost hesitantly, she knocked.

Logan opened the door, surprised to see her and especially surprised that she had knocked.

"Got a minute?" Max asked.

Logan opened the door further and ushered her in silently. He noted that she held a bottle of wine, and had a strange expression on her face. They sat down in the living room. Max took off her coat, revealing an outfit that she would never have worn to work. It was Logan's turn to wear a strange expression.

"What did you want to talk about?" he said.

"Let me ask you a hypothetical question," Max began.

"Those are my favorite kind" Logan replied with a smile.

Max continued tentatively. "Supposing...just supposing...I found a temporary cure for the virus."

"Is there such a thing?" Now Logan was puzzled.

" That's where the supposing part comes in," Max explained.

Logan decided to play along, not sure where the conversation was heading. "Okay. Uh, hypothetically, how long would this temporary cure last?"

Max checked her pager. "Ten hours and fifty minutes."

"You're serious." Logan could scarcely believe what he was hearing. But Max nodded. "So we can touch and nothing will happen?"

"I don't know about nothing, but you won't die," Max said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Logan was overwhelmed. "Oh, my..." he sat back to think. "...Max..."

"We have to think about this. Because when it's over, it's over. No repeats." Now Max sounded discouraged.

"We'd be back where we started," Logan continued the thought.

"Exactly. Ten hours seems like a long time, but it isn't. Not really."

"It'll have to be long enough," Logan stated.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Max sounded relieved. "We've got ten hours."

"Evidently."

" We've been waiting for the right time. Here it is."

They both stood up. Logan slowly walked over to Max and held out his hand. She slowly took it, and they both smiled shyly. Logan stroked her face and leaned in to kiss her. She stopped him.

" I don't...I can't believe I'm gonna go girly on you, but...I don't want to blow this on a quickie. It should be perfect." The rest of if was left unspoken.

Logan smiled down at her. "Perfect. How about a perfect quickie?"

Max laughed and handed him the bottle of wine. "Open this."

Logan went into the kitchen, followed by Max, to get his corkscrew. As he opened the bottle, Max seated herself at the counter on one of the stools.

"So, how did you manage to obtain this ah, temporary cure, Max?" Logan asked, a twinkle in his eye. He poured a glass of wine and handed it to Max, deliberately touching her hand, as if he were testing the cure. Then he poured himself a glass.

"Found a lab tech who promised me he could help, but he charged me an arm and a leg. So I pulled a caper with Alec. Remind me never to do that again. We were stuck in a closet together."

 Both of them sipped their wine, reveling inwardly that they could do such a simple thing together once more.

"So how long were you and Alec stuck in the closet?"

"About an hour. He was yapping the entire time." They both laughed.

"He's a yapper," Logan chucked. "Yeah, stuck in the closet with Alec--you're pretty much describing my worst nightmare."

Max looked at him intently. "It was worth it, though. It got me here."

They looked at each other. "It feels like old times," Logan said sincerely.

"Better," Max replied, clinking her glass against his.

*****

Do you think that this is right, or is it really wrong
I know that this is what we've been wanting
And all this is burning in my soul, it fills up to my throat
It fills up till my heart is breaking

 Slow, sensual music played softly in the background.  Max and Logan danced slowly, holding each other close. They both were smiling. It was as if they were sharing a dream dance like long ago.

Finally, Logan spoke. "Max...there's something I've been wanting to tell you...for a long time."

"Yeah...me, too," Max admitted. She paused. "You first."

"Max, I— "

In a spectacular show of bad timing worthy of Zack himself, Joshua burst into Logan's penthouse and interrupted them. He was highly distraught and shouted, "Stop getting busy, please!"

Logan and Max abruptly stopped dancing and stared at him.

"Joshua, what are you doing here?" Max queried, puzzled by the interruption.

"Gossamer," Joshua replied, as if that explained everything.

" What?"

" On the loose. He's hurting people." Joshua's explanations left something to be desired.

Logan said, "Gossamer. Okay. What is that, some kind of Manticore thing?"

Joshua nodded, his head bobbing up and down excitedly. "Max and Joshua have to stop him. That's the plan. So come." He reached for Max, but she pulled away.

" No! Joshua, not now! Can't this wait –" She checked Logan's watch. "– nine hours and twenty minutes?"

But Joshua shook his head and pulled on Max again. She resisted again.

"No! Now. Now." The dog-man was insistent.

Max protested. "Joshua, you don't understand –"

 "Now. Now." Joshua repeated it over and over.

Logan stood there, watching the struggle between the two Manticore escapees. He finally shut off the music reluctantly. "Hey!"

Max and Joshua stopped tugging back and forth and looked at him.

He said to Max, resignedly, "Look. If this thing is hurting people, then..."

Max sighed. "Can my life suck any harder?"

Still unconvinced, or reluctant to be convinced, Max asked Joshua, "You're sure he's dangerous?"

Joshua shook his shaggy head with conviction. "Max, he's hurting people."

"Then we have to stop him," Max said with a sigh of resignation.

Logan added, with his usual practicality, "Well, first we gotta find him."

But Joshua had the answer to that. "He's in the sewers by my house."

"That makes sense," Logan said. "If it can't move in plain sight, it'd have to use the sewer system to move around."

Max scowled. "Doesn't exactly narrow things down."

Logan asked Joshua, "Where'd you catch up with it?"

Joshua was still agitated. "Little -- Little Debbies," he replied cryptically. Max translated, "Bakery. Sector five." It was the nearest bakery to Joshua's place.

"Well, our best bet's probably to start there and backtrack towards Joshua's place," Logan suggested.

"That's a lot of ground to cover," Max said, her lack of enthusiasm still in evidence.

But Joshua was eager to get started on the search. "Max and Joshua can cover ground."

Max shook her head. "No."

"Oh, yeah." Joshua was determined to help, despite the obvious danger.

*****

An argument ensued, with Max steadfastly telling him that he couldn't go, and Joshua equally determined to accompany her. " No! I can't chase this thing down and worry about you, too! You know it's not safe for you out there."

Joshua growled a sigh and sat in the corner to thumb through Logan's books. It looked for all the world like he was sulking.

"Should I ask for Alec's help?" Max asked, then her eyes lit up as if she had a brilliant idea.

"Logan replied, "That's an idea. I'll talk to Matt Sung, see if there's any other reports about this thing. Maybe I can figure out its M.O."

Max checked Logan's watch and murmured, "We've only got eight hours and fifty-three minutes. I've got an idea." She picked up Logan's cell phone and punched in a sequence of numbers. "Speaking of Alec…" she said cryptically, her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline. She walked away from Logan and Joshua.

A voice on the other end of the line answered, "Hey."

"Hey, Alec, Max here. I need a favor."

"Max, I'm in the middle of something here! Can't it wait?"

"No, it can't! Put your clothes back on," she commanded. Logan looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Max, how…Never mind." There was a deep sigh from Alec. "What's up?"

"Alec, there's a gossamer loose. Apparently it's hurting people."

"And I should care about this why?"

"Because I'm at Logan's and Joshua's here all upset about it. He wants me to help him track it down."

"Sounds like a plan to me," came the flip reply.

"Alec, LISTEN TO ME!" Max practically shouted over the phone. "I'm at Logan's …remember?"

"Oh, right. Good old Logan."

"And I intend to STAY at Logan's. Ya got the picture?"

"I'm beginning to…" Alec replied.

"Alec, I cut you in on a good deal yesterday. You know that. You also know that that you owe me – and Logan – big time. I could have let that thingy in your neck explode and kill you. But I didn't. I spent the money that was supposed to go for a cure for this damn virus to keep your miserable ass alive. You owe me."

"Well, Asha's passed out on my couch…"

"Good. Then she's not going anywhere soon. You can do this for me and still be there to greet her when she wakes up. Besides, you were at Manticore longer than I was. You know more about the gossamer than I do," she said, bringing up a touchy subject.

"Max…" Alec continued to protest.

Max's voice got dangerously soft. "Alec, you're always complaining about me and Logan NOT getting it on and saying that's why I'm so cranky. This is your opportunity to fix that. We have a little less than nine hours left. Do you want to hear me whine for the rest of your life, or do you want to help me do something about the situation?"

There was silence on the other end for a few minutes, and Max could almost hear the gears in Alec's brain turn. Finally, he spoke. "OK, I'll do it. I'll be over in fifteen minutes and pick up Joshua. We'll track down the gossamer for you. But you have to do your part."

"And what would that be?" Max asked.

"You gotta trim Logan's horns. I'm not gonna be able to stand being around either one of you if that doesn't happen."

"Well, Alec, I'll do my best if you do yours. Deal?"

"Deal." Alec hung up.

Max returned to Logan and Joshua. "He'll be over in fifteen minutes, Joshua. He'll help you track down the gossamer. It'll be okay, Big Fella."

"Thanks, Little Fella." Joshua plopped down on the couch to wait for Alec.

*****

As promised, Alec rang the doorbell to the penthouse fifteen minutes later. When Logan opened the door, Alec stood there, scowling.

"Come in, Alec," Logan said, motioning him into the hallway.

"You ready to go, Joshua?" Alec asked by way of greeting.

"Ready, Alec," Joshua replied as he got up from the couch.

"Here are printouts of the sewers and subway tunnels near Joshua's. You may need these," Logan said, offering Alec a handful of papers.

"Uh, thanks, Logan," Alec muttered at the unexpected assistance.

"It's the least I can do."

Alec, papers in hand, ushered Joshua out the door. "This better be worth it," he said to Max, as he turned in the doorway. "Have fun, people."

"Thanks." Max closed and locked the front door. "Now, where were we?"

*****