Max sat on the couch, kicked his feet up on the coffee table and unfolded the news paper. This was the first day he was given off since his honeymoon two months ago and he fully intended to take full advantage of relaxing. All he had on the agenda was going in and out of consciousness, eating, and hopefully some necking with 99.
Max was halfway though the morning paper when 99 descended down the apartment stairs carrying two huge boxes. Max glanced up at her and smiled. "Morning, Sweetheart."
"Good morning, Love. Are you ready for today?" She asked as she bounced off the last step.
"Ready for what?" Max asked, turning his attention back to the paper.
"Max, don't tell me you forgot."
"Uh, 99, I haven't a clue what you're talking about."
"Max you promised you'd help me get rid of things we don't need today." She said placing the boxes on the floor and going over to the couch.
"99, I haven't had off in two whole months. I'll help you next off day." He said, glancing back up at her quickly.
"Max, you promised. This needs to get done. Please just help me with this spring cleaning. We have so much stuff! From wedding presents to the merging of two households... it's ridiculous and needs to get taken care of." 99 said, getting ready to turn her charm on.
"99..." He said, putting the paper down. "I'm so tired. I just need a day to relax. Why can't we partake in other spring activities all day? Like, snuggling, kissing, and... well, you know." He winked at her. 99 sat next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. She lent close and started gently kissing his neck.
"Max, please." She whispered. "All this stuff from me moving in, I feel like we're suffocating. It's been months." 99 continued placing soft kisses on his neck. "Please help your wife." She murmured, her lips flush against his skin.
"Darn you." Max said, defeated, tossing the paper onto the coffee table. "Fine. But it's going to cost you."
99 sat up, "Ok. Let's hear it." She said, smiling.
"I'll help you with your spring activity but you'll have to help me with mine." He started smiling sheepishly, "For every hour I help you down here I get ten minutes up there." He said pointing up to their bedroom. 99 laughed.
"Just ten minutes? Max, give yourself some credit."
"Flattery won't work, 99."
99 stuck her hand out. "Deal." Max took her hand and shook.
"Deal." Max shook his head. "What''s happened to you, Smart? Fall in love with a beautiful, voluptuous tall brunette with lips to die for and all of a sudden you're cleaning on your day off." He muttered to himself as he got off the couch.
99 smiled, "I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"Alright. Point me in the right direction."
"First the closet. We need to go through everything in there and clean it out. Then I figured we could tackle our bedroom closet. It'd be nice to have a place to put my clothes."
"99, you already have a closet in the bedroom."
"Well, I know Max but I need more space."
"So what you're telling me is you need your closet and my closet?"
"We're married." She started walking towards the closet next to the front door. "What's yours is mine." 99 opened the closet door and sighed. "Look, we couldn't put another thing in here if we tried." Max picked up the boxes and carried them over to 99.
"So the boxes..."
"One for the dumpster and one to donate." 99 reached into the closet and pulled out the croquet set Chief gave them. "What do you say we keep one and get rid of the other?" 99 asked.
"Fine by me." HE agreed, shrugging. Max reached in and grabbed the embroidered Niagara Falls pillow 99's mother gave them. "What about this swell pillow? Gosh, we should probably display it for all our guests to see what exquisite taste your mother has." He said sarcastically. 99 laughed.
"I think we can both agree the pillow can go."
"Are we really going to subject it to another family? I think the dump would be a better place for it. Or a fire pit"
"Max." 99 scolded, smiling. "Donate." Max tossed it in the donation box. Forty five minutes later Max and 99 had the closed cleaned and organized. Max ran the box that was for the dumpster down and emptied it. When he got back 99 was no where to be found.
"99?" Max called.
"In the bedroom, Love!" Came her reply. Max took the empty box up into their room and sat it on the floor.
"99, I'm not ready for my payment yet." He joked. "I haven't even earned 10 minutes."
99 rolled her eyes. "As if I'm really going to hold you to the ten minute deal."
"You mean, I'll get as long as I want? Without helping you?"
"You still have to help me but yes, as long as you want." She said winking at him. "I can't deny my favorite husband."
"I better be your only husband, lady." Max said, pointing at her. 99 smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"Of course you are. Your my one and only husband." Max squinted his eyes at her, as if he didn't believe her.
"Hmm. I don't quite believe you, yet."
"What can I do to convince you?" She asked, softly.
"Another kiss might help." He admitted, resting his hands on her hips. 99 pulled him close and kissed him again. "Ok, I think one more should do the trick." Max mumbled, leaning in. He pressed his lips tenderly against hers. When he pulled away she was smiling at him. "I think I believe you, now."
"You think?" She raised her eyebrows.
"You could tell me how much you love me, that could also help." He grinned. 99 playfully rolled her eyes at him.
"Max, Darling, I love you more than anything in the world."
"Well, it was a little anticlimactic, but I'll take it. I love you too, 99. Next time you could build up to it a little, though." He joked.
She laughed, "You are something else." 99 removed her arms and Max released her. "Help me with your closet." She started, trying to get them back on track. "Unless you want me to toss everything?"
"Well, not everything but I'm sure a lot could go." Max said glancing into it. "I mean, other than my suites I don't really use anything in here."
"Ok, well, I'd still rather you tell me. Just so I don't toss anything important." Max and 99 started going through Max's closet. The majority of items pulled out were discarded. Max's suites were put neatly onto the bed. They were just about finished when 99 noticed a lock box on the top shelf. She reached up and pulled it down. "Max, what's this?"
"Huh? Oh. A lock box. I'm not even sure what's in there. I'd assume things like my birth certificate and Control paperwork." Max went to the bedside table and opened the drawer. He dug around for a key and tossed it to 99. "Open it up and lets take a look."
"Are you sure you want me to?"
"I have no secrets from you, 99."
99 placed the key in the lock and turned it. The box opened and 99 thumbed through the contents. For the most part Max was right. There was his birth certificate, social security card, important paperwork from when he was hired at Control. Towards the bottom there was an envelope full of pictures. 99 removed it and looked at Max. He shrugged and she opened it. The first picture was of a young Maxwell Smart, clad in his Marine Corps uniform with his arms around a very beautiful young girl. She was thin with long black hair, deep green eyes and a similar, yet more feminine, nose like Max's. She looked to be about 16 in the picture and smiling broadly at Max. 99 looked at Max. "Well I'll be." He muttered taking it from her.
"Max, who is she? She's very beautiful."
Max smiled a sad smile. "99... this is my sister."
"Your sister?" 99 asked surprised. "I didn't know you have a sister."
"Had." Max corrected, not taking his eyes away from the picture.
"Oh Max."
"It was a long time ago."
"May I ask what happened?"
"You're my wife. Of course you can ask." Max's eyes were still locked on the picture. He gently traced his sisters face with his finger tips. "I had almost forgotten how beautiful she was." HE said softly. "Her name was Margaret. Margaret Elizabeth Smart. She was almost sixteen in this picture. I had just gotten home from serving in the Marine Corps and my parents threw me a surprise welcome home party..." Max's voice trailed off. 99 was curious, that she could not deny, but she also didn't want to pressure Max so she just sat there silently. "She died three weeks after this picture was taken." Max said, finally looking at 99. "It's odd, looking at this picture it seems just like yesterday but I know it was so long ago."
"Are you OK, Love?" 99 asked, noticing tears in his eyes.
"I don't know if you're really OK after losing someone you love," Max started shrugging. "You just kind of learn how to live differently."
"If you don't want to talk about it-"
"No. No, I do. I think it's time." Max went over to the bed and sat down. 99 sat next to him. "99, you have to promise me you won't think of me differently after I tell you."
"Oh Max, you don't have to worry about that."
"I mean it, 99. It's not all pretty. The last thing I want is to tell you all about this and then have you not love me anymore because of it.
"There isn't anything you could tell me that would make me change my opinion of you or make me not love you, Max." 99 said looking into his brown eyes. "I promise."
Max inhaled deeply, "Ok. Well, like I said, this picture was taken the day I got out of the Marine Corps. It was at a surprise welcome home party my family threw for me. It was the last good memory I have with my sister..."
Max grabbed his sack and swung it over his shoulder. He was finally home. He was home and he never had to go back. The elation he felt was unprecedented. There were moments when he thought he'd never make it back and now, here is was. Home.
Max scanned the crowd at the airport looking for his family. He had just about given up when he was blindsided by a young girl running and jumping into his arms. Max smiled, picked her up and spun her around. "There you are!" He said, laughing.
"Oh Max! I'm so glad you're home!" Margaret said. "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Maggie." Max put her down and held her at arms length, getting a good look at her. "Jesus Christ, you look so old."
"Well I am almost sixteen!"
"Yeah, practically an adult!" He said, laughing. "Where's mom and dad?"
"Who knows. They're around here somewhere." She said looking around. "I lost them when I saw you. I, of course, had to be the first to welcome my big brother home."
"Of course. And your big brother is glad his first state side hug came from his little sister. Now where are they? You clearly didn't drive yourself."
"Back for five minutes and already being a bully." She said, smiling. "Come on. Let's find them. I last saw them by the news stand.." She said, grabbing her big brother's hand and leading him away. Max and his sister finally found his parents and after a tearful reunion they loaded into his family's car and headed back to his childhood home.
When he left he was a mere eighteen years old. Still a kid, if you'd have asked him. He was now 21 years old and unsure of how to handle being home and now, being an adult. He had no place of his own so he would be staying with his parents while he got accustomed to civilian life. Max wasn't sure what the future held but he was sure glad to be done with the Marine Corps. Max had an especially rough time. Max didn't see a lot of combat as he had had contracted blackwater fever fairly early on in his service and was hospitalized for over a year in New Zealand. He was lucky to be alive. There were several times the doctors had all but given up on him, with a 90% death rate, Max was one of the lucky few. Though, he often didn't consider himself to be lucky. Sure, he was thrilled he was still alive but almost everyone in his unit perished. The guilt he felt ate him alive some nights. The doctors had told him his recovery was a miracle and that there was no logical reason he should still be alive. But he was and once he was healthy enough to travel he was discharged and put on a plane home.
Max looked out the window of the back seat as they drove around his old neighborhood. Everything looked just as it did when he had left and he smiled.
"Why are you smiling like an idiot?" Maggie asked.
"You should be nice to me." Max said laughing. "I was just thinking everything looks the same."
"That's because it is. It's SO boring." She said dramatically. Max rolled his eyes at her.
"So dramatic."
"You know you missed me."
"I did. Probably more than you will ever know." When his parent's car turned onto his street Max eagerly looked down to their house. What he saw brought tears to his eyes. His front yard was full of tables, people, food and a big sign across the front of their house that read 'Welcome Home Max!' Maggie was examining his face.
"Do you like it?" She asked excitedly.
"Like it?" Max asked. "I love it!" The car pulled to the side of the road and the foursome got out and Max was bombarded by friends and family. They all spend the afternoon and night catching up, eating and drinking. Max had never had a better day in his life. It was so good to be home and with his friends and family.
"The next day I found out that Maggie had orchestrated the whole thing and I had never felt luckier in my life to have such a wonderful little sister." Max said. 99 listened intently. For as long as they knew each other and how well she thought she knew Max this was a part of his life she knew nothing about. She knew he was a Marine and that he got really sick but that was it. Max always told her he didn't like talking about it and 99 never pressed the matter. As far as his parents, he rarely talked about them. As a matter of fact, the only thing she knew about them, other than their names, was that they were gone. 99 could tell you Max's favorite way to eat eggs, and how many sugars he needed in his coffee, and his morning routine. She could tell you all the intimate details about who Maxwell Smart was but only if those details were from when he joined Control to present day.
"It sounds like you were lucky to have each other."
"She was my best friend. Even with the age difference. God, I remember when my parents brought her home from the hospital. Once I laid eyes on her there was no one else." HE said, smiling. "I knew I had just met someone I was going to love the rest of my life."
"Oh Max." 99 sighed, his statement warming her heart.
"And she was. We did everything together. As we got older our relationship changed but it never expired. I would drive her around, she'd make fun of my friends, I'd pick on her for her crushes... she was... special. Special to everyone who met her. She just had this way about her. Everyone who met her fell in love with her. The only other person I've met that has ever had that same effect on people is you."
"I don't know about that. But I'm flattered you think that. Especially with how highly you think of Maggie."
Max smiled. "You two are the only two women I've ever loved with my whole heart in my life. I mean, it's a little different because you're my wife and she was my sister-"
"I think I know what you mean, Max." 99 replied sweetly.
"Anyway, I can honestly say that that day, the day I came home from the service, was the last good day I had in my life. Until I met you."
"Max, we met when you were nearly thirty. You mean to tell me that for nine years-"
"I was a wreck." Max admitted. "It all happened so fast."
"What did?" 99 asked.
"Losing her." Max looked at 99. "The next two days I spent seeing friends, looking for jobs and just trying to get used to being home. It was a big change from being in the Marines and being hospitalized for so long to being home. On the third day, everything changed..."
"Max," his mother started coming into the kitchen. "Will you pick up Maggie from her dance class tonight? I have to work late and Joey can't."
"Who is Joey?" Max asked.
"My boyfriend!" Maggie said, laughing.
"Jesus Christ, you have a boyfriend?"
"Maxwell Smart! You watch your language!" His mother scolded.
"Sorry. I mean, you have a boyfriend?"
"Well, yeah. For like, four months." Maggie said matter of factly.
"Oh wow, real serious." Max said sarcastically.
"He's cute and he has a car. Lay off me." Maggie said, laughing.
"Max, please," HIs mother interrupted the sibling banter, "I need an answer, I'm running late."
"Yeah, of course. What time?"
"Five. Now you two behave and Maggie, Joey is NOT to be over until your father or I get home. Understood?"
"Yes mom." Maggie said rolling her eyes. Max laughed at her.
"See ya later, mom." Max said.
"Bye. Love you, two." She said before rushing out of the house. Max looked at Maggie.
"This Joey guy lays his hands on you and he'll answer to me."
"Yeah, ok, whatever. I'm going over to Carol's house. Her dad is going to take me to dance so just make sure you're there at 5, ok?"
"I'll be there, kiddo." Max said smiling. Maggie gave Max a quick kiss on his cheek and then left the house. Max spent the day bumming around town with his best friend Don. Before he knew it it was five o'clock and he was just dropping Don off. A short five minute drive and he was sitting in front of Maggie's dance studio. Minutes ticked by and there was still no sight of her. Finally, around 5:30 Max got out of the car and headed inside. The studio was empty, except for the instructor.
"Max, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"Looking for Maggie. Is she here? I was supposed to pick her up." He looked around.
"She left at five."
"She did?" Max asked. "I mean, I know I was running late but it was only five minutes."
"Maybe she walked home. Or Joey may have picked her up. She did mention tonight going on a date with him."
"Yeah, that's probably it. Thanks. Sorry for bothering you."
The instructor smiled at Max, "No bother. Have a good night."
"Yeah, you too." Max said. He headed back to his car and got in. Max took the most direct route home, the one Maggie would most likely be walking if Joey didn't pick her up. When Max pulled into his driveway his father was outside mowing the lawn. He stopped and looked at Max.
"Where's Maggie?" His father asked, walking towards Max.
"I don't know. I guess she had Joey pick her up instead. I got there at like, 5:05 and waited a half hour or so. Her teacher said she had left." Max shrugged.
"Figures. She never was good at letting us know what was going on." Max's father said. Just then a silver sedan pulled up the the curb. A handsome blonde young man got out and started heading towards them.
"Hey, Mr. Smart. Hey, Max. Maggie around?"
"What do you mean is Maggie around? Isn't she with you?" Max's father asked Joey.
"No... she told me to meet her here after dance. She said you were picking her up." Joey said looking at Max. With those words the color drained from Max's face.
"You-you're sure you haven't heard from her?"
"No, not since I saw her and Carol around lunch time."
"Oh holy shit." Max said starting to panic. He turned to his father. "We have to go look for her." Max's father stood there, frozen. Max looked at his dad and realized he'd have to take the lead on this. "Dad, go inside. Call the police. Let them know that Maggie's gone missing." Max turned to Joey, "You know her friends better than I do. I need you to go around to their houses and make sure she isn't there or see if they've seen her."
Joey shook his head and ran back to his car. He started it up and sped away. Max turned back to his father. "DAD! YOU NEED TO GO INSIDE AND CALL THE POLICE!" He said loudly, trying to snap him out of it. His father slowly shook his head and, almost zombie like, went into the house. Max ran back to his car, started it up and started back tracking to her dance studio. Max took every route he could think of and then started going around town, checking local hang outs, movie theater, anywhere he could think that she would go. There was absolutely no trace of her.
"I looked everywhere." Max said. "Everywhere that made sense and everywhere that didn't make sense. Our town wasn't huge. It was your typical Main Street USA. There weren't too many places for her to go and everyone knew everyone."
"And no one you asked saw anything?" 99 asked, slipping her hand in his.
"No. Nothing. It was as if she had vanished out of thin air. I spent hours looking for her. Joey did, too. By the time I got home there were police cars all up and down my block. I met with them, told them what I knew, and then went and picked up my friend Don and we both went out again looking for her. The police, neighbors, everyone was out. We searched for days. And the days turned into weeks and there was no sight of her, no trace of her, nothing."
"Oh Max, how horrible."
"It was horrible." Max said. "And what's more, it felt like it was all my fault. If I hadn't been late..." He trailed off.
"No." 99 said. "Oh Max, no. You know that's-"
"I know that now." He interrupted. "But then? It's all I could think of. And though they never admitted it, I think my parents thought the same." He said, his voice cracking. 99 gently touched his cheek and forced him to look at her.
"I'm so sorry, Max." She whispered. "It just breaks me heart knowing you went through all that." 99 gently kissed him, trying to take the pain away.
"I think this is one of the reasons I've always been reserved. Especially about my feelings for you. I've lost everyone I've ever loved." He shrugged. "Maggie... my parents... I was alone for so long. And then you came into my life. The last thing I wanted was to lose you, too."
99 kissed him again, "I understand. It all make perfect sense." Max sighed heavily, getting ready to continue the story.
"After three weeks I went to the police station to see what they had learned..." Max started
"What in the hell have you been doing about my sister?!" He yelled. The Chief of Police stood up from his desk.
"Now Max, I know you're upset but we're doing everything we can."
"Bullshit! You called off the search parties a week ago and have put our case on the back burner. I'm telling you she didn't just run away! That's not like her. You know her!"
"Max, we don't know that. How do you explain no sign of her?"
"Something happened to her. Someone took her and she needs us to not give up!" Max said, pounding his fist onto the desk.
"No one is giving up, Max. We are still following any leads and keeping our eyes out for her. But Max, the leads are few and far between. We have exhausted our suspect list. It's looking more and more like she just took off."
Max ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "No. No she didn't. Maggie wouldn't just leave! I have spent every waking moment since she disappeared looking for her. I suggest you get off your ass and do the same!" Max demanded. Just as Max was about to rip into the Chief of Police some more an officer ran into the office.
"Sir," The Chief of Police looked at his officers face and then turned to Max.
"Max, if you could excuse me."
"What? What is it? Did you find something." He asked eagerly.
The officer spoke up, "We aren't sure yet."
"Where?" Max asked.
"Max-" the police chief started.
"I ASKED WHERE?"
"Max, go on home and we'll call your house if it pertains to Maggie." The police chief said walking out of his office with the officer. Max quickly went to his car. Instead of going home he hung back, waited for the squads to pull out and he followed them. He just knew that wherever they were going, it had to do with Maggie. They drove about three miles outside of town and stopped on a dirt road, just off the main drag. Max parked behind the squads and got out. He looked towards where they were walking and there he saw what they were interested in. Right in the ditch line, in the tall grass was a figure, with black hair. Max's heart sank and he started sprinting towards them, screaming his sister's name. The officers turned around, towards Max just as he was approaching them. One tried to grab his arm to stop him but Max ripped out of the officers grasp and kept going. Max fell onto his knees.
"Maggie!" He yelled, tears streaming down his face. She was clad in jeans and a blue blouse. Her feet were bare and she was filthy. Her hair was full of tangles and her body covered in bruises. Max gathered her in his arms and sobbed, rocking back and forth. His sister was dead. The next thing Max knew is he had three officers trying to pull him off Maggie. Max was hysterical. They finally managed to drag him away.
"Max," the police chief started, "Son, this is a crime scene. You can't-"
"She's still warm." He said wiping the tears off his face. "She's still warm! My God." He moaned, burying his face in his hands. "This whole time she was still alive and alone and scared and... she's still warm..."
The police chief knelt down next to Max and put his arm around him. "Son, I am so sorry. Once the scene is secure I'm going to take you home and meet with your folks, ok. We'll get your car back to your house, you don't need to worry about that."
"I'm not leaving her." Max said, looking towards his sister's lifeless body. "I can't leave her here. She's my baby sister and she's alone."
"You're parents will need you, Max."
"SHE NEEDED ME!" He yelled, pounding his fists into the ground. "She needed me and I let her down. I can't leave her."
"Max, there isn't anything you can do here. We need to get her to to coroner... you don't want to see her like that. Like this."
"She's my baby sister." Max said, sobbing again. The Chief of Police put his arms around Max and Max cried into his shoulder. Max screamed, he wailed. He cried as loud as he could as if he were loud enough his sister would hear his screaming on her way to heaven and come back to him.
99 wiped the tears off his face. "How long..." 99 didn't know how to finish the sentence. Max knew what she was going to ask so he finished it for her.
"Had she been dead? An hour or so." Max said. "I was an hour or so too late."
"Max, I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything, 99."
"Do you want to stop?" She asked, putting her arms around him to try and comfort him. "You don't need to continue."
"Yes, I do. There's still so much more." Max wiped his eyes. "I want to tell you everything."
"If it's too much you can finish another time. I hate seeing you upset."
"I'm ok. I'll feel better once you know. I don't like keeping things from you and this... this is a huge part of who I am today."
"Ok, only if you're sure you want to keep going."
Max shook his head. "I'm sure. The next few hours after finding Maggie are still a blur. They always have been. The police chief eventually got me to go home where he broke the news to my parents. They... were destroyed. As a matter of fact, they might as well have died right along with her that day. The coroner did an autopsy. Determined that she had been through quite an ordeal. Torture, rape, strangulation. Official COD was asphyxia, and like I mentioned, she had died less than two hours before we found her. There was one other thing that no one could figure out."
"What was that, Max?" 99 asked curious.
"On her back there was... cuts, I guess, that made a picture. I had no idea what it was at the time but I had never seen it before. It was a voucher, sitting on top of a globe with four letters across it."
"Max are you telling me-"
He shook his head. "KAOS."
"KAOS killed your sister?"
"KAOS killed my sister." Max confirmed. "It took me a good portion of a year to figure out what KAOS was. I did my own investigation, the local police were useless. It led me down dead ends, to people who refused to talk, people that had already died. Even with all the dead ends and unanswered questions I never gave up. It took me forever but I finally found someone who knew what KAOS was."
"Who?" 99 asked.
"Chief." Max said. "I had found my way to DC in my quest to find my sister's killer. I was at the pentagon asking anyone who would listen if they knew what KAOS was. They all looked at me like I was crazy but by that time I had already learned it was some sort of secret organization. Chief was there and he overheard me. As I was leaving, defeated, he pulled me aside, gave me a card and told me to call him. I did. I explained who I was, what I was doing and he agreed to meet me. Two days later I met with Chief, he told me about Control, told me he had heard about a girl who was murdered by a KAOS agent and told me the KAOS agent's name."
"Did he say why they chose your sister?"
"No. He didn't know. I left our meeting thinking I'd never see this guy again. It took me seven months but I finally tracked down my sister's killer."
"Did you... did you kill him?" 99 asked.
"I did." Max confirmed. "I got the information I wanted from him, like why he did it. Why her. Was she brave. Did she ask for me. And then... I destroyed him. I killed him. It wasn't quick, and it wasn't painless. If he would have had a family I would have destroyed them, too." Max said.
"I can't say I blame you." 99 started. "What... what were the answers to your questions?"
"He killed her because he made a mistake. He was in town, on a mission and was supposed to grab a tall woman with black hair. He grabbed my sister and only after he left did he realize he grabbed a child. So, he tortured her, raped her, kept her alive as long as he felt and then killed her so she could never tell her story. It was a mistake. He told me she was the toughest girl he'd ever met, that only at the end did she ever show fear. And he told me that she did call for me. Right before she died she told him that I'd find him and kill him."
99 sat in silence, absorbing everything Max had told her. He examined her face, trying to gauge her reaction. "Do you love me less?" He asked, afraid of her answer.
"What?" She asked, shocked. "No! I love you even more." 99 said. "Oh Max, I don't know how you did all that. You are so strong."
Max shrugged. "I needed vengeance for Maggie. Once Chief heard that my sister's murderer was also murdered he knew right away who did it. He called me, how he got my number I still don't know, and offered me a job. He said he couldn't believe that a civilian could track down and kill a KAOS agent even when his own men couldn't. I had nothing to lose so I accepted."
"So, you got into the spy business because of your sister?"
"Yes." Mad admitted. "It has been my biggest motivation throughout the years. Taking care of KAOS, even one by one, means that no one else has to lose their Maggie."
"Oh Max, I had no idea. It never occured to me to ask why you chose the spy business."
Max shrugged, "I never thought I'd be doing it but it seemed logical. Seemed like something good could come out of this ordeal. And something good did come out of it." Max took her hand in his and kissed it. "If that never happened, I would have never met Chief, who would have never gave me a job. And a few years later I was assigned a partner. You. The only good thing to ever happen out of all of this is that I met you. Losing Maggie was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. There were days I didn't think I'd survive. So after you came into my life every time KAOS would capture you I was brought right back to that ditch line. I can't even tell you how terrified I was every time that I'd lose you too." He shrugged. "That's why I'm so protective of you. KAOS took from me one of my girls. I can't let them take the other."
"I understand." 99 said. "Chief knows all of this I'm assuming?"
"He knows the main points. He doesn't know every detail. But he does know enough."
"And your parents?"
"They tried to pull themselves together for me. But I was an adult. Their baby was gone. My dad put a bullet in his head on the year anniversary of Maggie's disappearance and my mother, well, she went a little crazy. I had to put her in a mental institution. The grief from losing Maggie was too much for her to handle. She died a few years after my dad."
"How horrible."
"It was," Max admitted. "Within five years I lost my whole family. I threw everything I had into being a Control agent. Shut myself off from anyone. It was easier being alone. This also explains how I acted towards you for so long. It was easier being alone than losing someone I loved. And I did love you, from the moment I saw you."
99 kissed him, "You don't ever have to be alone again."
"I know. The worst thing to ever happen to me led me to the best thing that ever happened to me. As screwed up as it is, I've never been more thankful. She led me to you."
"Well, it sounds like you looked out for her. It was her turn to look out for you."
Max smiled sadly, "I still miss her."
"I don't think that ever goes away." 99 admitted.
"No," Max agreed, "I just wish I knew who she would have been, you know?"
"I know. I'm sure she would have been a wonderful person."
Max smiled, "She would have adored you."
99 returned his smile, "You think so?"
"Oh, I know so. She was very much into fashion. She probably would have borrowed your clothes and never gave them back." He chuckled.
"If she was anything like you I'm certain I would have loved her."
"I wish she was here. I wish you could have met her."
"I do too, Love." 99 said before kissing his temple. "Listen, why don't we finish decluttering some other day?" 99 asked, not wanting Max to get too overwhelmed.
"No, I'm ok. I feel a lot better now, actually." Max admitted, a smile coming across his face.
"Are you sure? Max, you had a pretty emotional last few hours, it'd be ok if you just relaxed the remainder of the day."
"I'm ok, 99. Honestly, I feel great. Telling you all this, feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." Max grinned, "And besides, a deal is a deal."
99 laughed, "Alright, Max. But first I'm going to make some lunch. I think a break is in order." She said, smiling. 99 got up and headed for the door.
"99?" Max said, as she opened it. She turned to look at him. "Thank's for helping me clean out my closet."