Title: Eavesdrop
Author: Nachtregen
Disclaimer: Nothings belongs to me so please don't sue me.
Muse: The Challenge by Marykey. Details: At NWP we realized something: Max never told Logan that Alec had been her breeding partner (at least, there's no explicit proof of this) and she never told Logan Alec is Ben's twin. So, I would like to read a story were Logan finds out any of these two secrets, and how he reacts. The story can be a comedy or drama, you can ship one thing I ask is for Logan to find this out by eavesdropping on someone else's conversation; Max should NOT be the one to tell him. Your choice who he eavesdrops.
A/N: I don't know if it is what MaryKey hoped for, but it was a lot fun to write it. I'm a totally M/A-shipper. MaryKey betad the story and I owe her huuuuuge thanks for that. Without her it would've never come so far. XD I waited a long time with posting this story because somethng still felt off. Now i changed some things again and so here we go.
Eavesdrop
Do you ever wonder how long it takes to change your life? What measure of time is enough to be life altering? Is it four years like high school? One year? An eight week rock tour? Can your life change in a month, or a week, or a single day? We're always in a hurray to grow up, to go places, to get ahead. And when you're young, one hour can change everything.
Logan nervously took a look around and drummed his fingers in a steady beat on the steering wheel of his battered car.
The alley he was parking and waiting in was dark, empty and close.
He had sent Alec and Max on an Eyes Only Mission to enter a data carrier, full with significant information, into his possession. On that account he had infiltrated them with fake ID's into an event of Seattle's corrupt High Society, and had optimistic hoped, that the purloin of said stolen goods would go entirely unnoticed.
He glanced once more at the luminous dial of his wrist watch.
Thirteen minutes past eleven. Thirteen minutes too late.
The back doors of the car opened simultaneously and two breathless figures let themselves sink nimble onto the backseat. "Let her rip!", ordered Alec, yet before Logan's shock could turn into relief.
He did as he was told and they dashed out of the alley, just in time to prevent their scowling followers from reading the serial number plate. The strained atmosphere eased up only when Logan had weaved his Bessie unnoticed into the flowing traffic of Seattle's main artery road.
"Did you get it?" Logan asked without turning his eyes away from the road.
"Sure!" Max leaned forward and placed the small package, that didn't look like it was worth all the trouble, next to Logan onto the pillion seat. "Without a scratch."
He turned his head in Max's direction and gave her a gentle smile. "Thanks."
"We're alright, too," Alec smirked from behind. "Thanks for the concern."
"You're two X5's. A few guys in suits shouldn't pose a problem," Logan said with a grin.
"The people at Superman, Buffy and the Turtles were always extremely grateful for their heroe's help. Why does everybody act as if our superpowers came as natural as walking and sleeping? That's so unfair!" sighed Alec theatrical
"That's because they are," Max snorted. "Stop acting like a five-year-old, Alec. In any way you just don't get tired of listening how gorgeous you are."
"Hey Logan! You heard that? Max thinks I'm gorgeous!"
Max glared at him, than returned Logan's grin through the rear-view mirror and a comfortable silence fell between them, as they slid through the nightly streets of Seattle.
Within the warmth of the car they could almost pretend to be safe and let the outside world pass by.
Logan watched Max in the rear-view mirror. She had propped her head against the window and looked outside.
The passing lights slid over her face and showed its most diverse facets.
Logan could have stared at her like that for hours. They've become closer again recently and he had a hunch that she had finally opened him a back door to her world. Sitting in the darkness, he could almost forget everything that separated them. Right now everything seemed possible.
Max slightly turned her head and returned his glance with those big soft brown eyes of hers and he felt like she understood.
He turned off at the next road and after a little while they parked outside Sandeman's old house.
Alec said good bye and disappeared towards of the old house, closely followed by Max who wanted to check on Joshua briefly, while Logan remained waiting in the car watching the enlightened windows of the house.
He realized that he still had the two-way radio in his ear, with which he had wiretapped Alec's and Max's talks during the mission and which he had turned off towards ten.
He pressed a small button and right off the bat the voices of Alec, Max and Joshua were clearly audible as if they were still sitting in the car next to him.
One of them must have forgotten to switch off the microphone. "- little fella?" Logan recognized the deep humming voice as Joshua. Alec and Max laughed. Logan stared at the living room window and wished he knew what they were talking about.
"Maxie finally had the chance to learn the high art of conversation." , teased Alec. "Apart from all the bickering and bashin."
-Smack!-
"Ouch! See what I'm talking about?" Alec moaned.
Joshua grunted his dog-like laughter. "What is 'art of conversation'?", asked the big fella.
"If you ask Alec it is a blatantly series of pick up lines. As a matter of fact, there's something more to it than that."
"Hey!" protested Alec. "It's not my fault when all the bored upstarts can see the true beauty behind those hazel eyes."
Max snorted "Yeah, right. You wish!"
"Don't listen to Maxie, Josh. She's just jealous because tonight I'm the better looking one."
Aggrieved, Logan followed the banter between the three. He was used to the fights between Max and Alec but he couldn't get rid of the feeling that it was somehow different when he was around. In the safety of Sandeman's house, there was barely hostility and the tone of their conversation was filled with something like … intimacy.
"Hey Maxie! Did I tell you what one of the women asked me?"
Logan brought his attention back to the ongoing talk.
Max probably shook her head because Alec continued after a short pause.
"She asked where the two of us had met."
"So?" Logan just knew Max had rolled her eyes in that moment.
"I used my conversational skills and told her we were both employees at the same big company and that the executive floor created a new concept of efficiency enhancement. That's why they've chosen us to become 'partners', trusting that our… collaboration would lead to good results."
Max laughed. She truly did. Logan was surprised by that. And because he didn't know what she was laughing about. Did he miss something?
"But medium and little fellas have made breed in Manticore?" a confused Joshua asked.
"And that exactly is conversation, Josh! I couldn't exactly answer: 'We are the gene projects of a secret research laboratory that decided we should be breeding partners in order to create a big, new bunch of test objects. Right?", Alec triumphed.
A short silence followed, that rang in Logan's ears. Alec had been Max's breeding partner? Why hadn't she ever told him that? And Joshua had said something of them making "breed". Did that mean…?
Logan didn't dare to finish that thought. He wondered if Max had refrained from telling him about hers and Alec's past intentionally.
The nauseated voice of Max brought him back to the present.
"Still, that 'breedingpartnerthing' was disgusting!"
"Oh, come on! Would there have been a better choice than picking the identical clone of your beloved dead brother to be your breeding partner? I don't think so!" Alec teased amused.
Joshua barked.
Logan couldn't believe his ears. Alec was the twin of one of Max's siblings? He swallowed hard but the feeling of a big stone lying on his chest didn't vanish.
"I gotta blast.", said Max now, "Logan is waiting outside. See ya!"
Logan was aware of the sound of footsteps, but he just stared numb at the wooden front door, breathless, waiting for it to open.
Warm light flooded over the porch.
"Hey, Max." Alec's broad figure came in view, standing behind Max in the enlightened door frame. "I'm sorry about what I said 'bout Ben. I didn't have the right to-"
"Never mind," Max interrupted gentle and put a hand on his arm. "It'just… . It's still hard, you know, to think about him. It has nothing to do with you."
With a raised eyebrow, he tilted his head to one side.
She smiled. "Not anymore."
Alec nodded. "Okay"
He briefly squeezed her hand and went back inside, leavin Max and the darkness outside
Logan couldn't have taken his eyes from the scene, not even when a twinge spread in his heart and his blood pumped through his veins. This scene, as innocent as it might have been, was personal and not meant for him to be a part of.
Ben. So that's what Ben had looked like. The same face as Alec's. Ben. Max favorite brother; The one sibling she had never wanted to talk about. At least, not with Logan.
Ben, whose name she had never mentioned since the incident with the priest. At least, not to him.
When Max moved towards the car, Logan regained his ability to move all over again. Quickly, he switched off the radio set and ripped the cable out of his ear just in time as Max opened the door, put the stolen box with caution in the glove box and settled down on the seat next to him.
Her face did not expose anything related to the dialog that had just taken place.
Logan didn't trust his voice, so he just started the engine and took off.
His thoughts circled around in his head like in an utter pandemonium.
He almost had to laugh due to the irony of the situation.
Fifteen minutes ago he had felt closer to her than ever. And now, when she was sitting less than half a meter next to him, she couldn't have been yet farther away.
Max sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment.
"Everything alright?" asked Logan, in the hope that she would talk to him; would tell him everything, would simply trust him.
She glanced at him with the same expression as before, when she had been watching him through the rear-view mirror. He couldn't look at her. Her eyes were too full of reservation and kindness. Why hadn't he noticed that before?
"Yeah. I'm just a bit tired"
Logan ignored the fact that Max never was tired and just nodded and they remained silent till they arrived at Max's apartment block.
"Max," he called as she reached for the handle. She let go of it and turned to face him. "You know you can tell me everything?"
Her facial expression didn't give away what she was thinking. "I'm always here for you. You know that, right?"
She nodded. "Thanks."
"So, if there's anything you haven't told me yet, cause you thought I wouldn't understand…" He didn't finish the sentence and wished she would understand, but she just nodded repeatedly and left the car.
Then she turned around, bent down through the open passenger door and assured him: "I know that. Trust me, you know more about me than anyone else does."
She shut the door and left.
Max wasn't lying to him. Her eyes had been full of sincerity.
She wasn't keeping anything from him. She had simply forgotten to tell him those facts.
And the worst part of that disaster was: She did not even realize it.
The End
Thanks for reading.