For the DAR Challenge, in honor this weekend's shift from Daylight Savings to Standard Time, and our gaining a 'free' hour to spend as we choose. The Challenge, in its entirety: "Write an S1 M/L fic in an hour."

A/N: The characters are premised on those in the AU cross-over stories Concurrent Jurisdiction and Minimum Contacts: Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) of NCIS and Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly) of Dark Angel are cousins. The story is set in DA's time, the year 2020. Moosh is involved. (And as DST will be extended a month on each end next year, let's assume it will be a November change in 2020, too.)

DISCLAIMER: DA and NCIS characters lovingly borrowed; no profits made.

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Turning Back the Clocks

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November 28, 2020

At 10:50 p.m., the lights in Logan Cale's penthouse were dimmed, the music, low and sultry ... after more than a week of missions and projects and Normal's pleas for overtime coverage keeping Max and Logan too busy to breathe, they had finally found a piece of Saturday night that they promised to each other.

The dinner Logan had prepared had surpassed even his usual miracles; his dessert was sublime. And now, as the flickering candlelight cast shadows on their folded linen napkins, empty china plates, and their two forms sitting near each other at the corner of Logan's dining table, Max leaned toward the chef, and slipped her hand under his. "If this is what happens after not getting to see you for a couple weeks..." She lifted his hand to her mouth and nibbled one of his fingers provocatively. "Maybe I should stay away more often..."

Logan's smile crinkled upward, and he let his hand slip around to cup her jaw, his thumb gently tracing her bottom lip. "Don't even say that..." He leaned closer now too, gently brushing his lips across hers. "You can't begin to imagine what I have planned for tomorrow..." He pulled back, looking into her eyes hungrily, and added, an eyebrow lifting suggestively, "and there are chocolates on the pillows..." he tempted her.

She smiled, widely ... 10:54 P.M. "Oh, you do know how to sweet-talk a girl," she purred...

10:55 P.M. And suddenly, the phone rang. In spite of himself – for only the barest second – Logan's – Eyes Only's – eyes flickered toward it, expectantly.

But Max caught it. "Ohhh, Logan..." Max groaned, her shoulders dropping a little. "Not tonight..."

He rallied, and looked back into her eyes, tuning out the telephone as his voice began reciting his 'out' message from his machine. "Just us, Max," he vowed. "We promised tonight would be just..."

"Hey, cuz...!" came the unmistakable voice through the small speaker.

Logan blinked, surprised, given the time difference. "Tony?" he murmured.

Max sat back, shrugging resignedly. "You'd better get it..."

"I wonder what..." Logan frowned, imagining bad news.

"...I know you're there..." Tony was speaking over them, oblivious, from Logan's message machine. "Or are you digging for..."

"The timer!" Logan sat up as if he'd been struck, eyes wide; he slapped his wheels and suddenly shot backward, away from the table and pivoted out toward the kitchen. "Max, get it, please! We change the clocks tonight!" he crowed.

Looking at Logan as if he'd abruptly gone around the bend, Max simply got up and grabbed the phone, cutting off the machine as she did so and lifting the receiver to her ear.

"Tony?" She fully expected him, at this point, to be just as looney, out of the blue, as Logan apparently was...

"Max, that you?" The familiar voice bellowed in her ear.

Her grin rose again, despite the unexpected turn of events. "How many other women have you caught here in the middle of the night, Tony?"

"Pleadin' the Fifth on that one, Max. How are you?" She could just imagine those DiNozzo dimples in play, and she laughed.

"I'm good. You?"

"Perfect. And let me guess – the phone ran Logan off to the kitchen, where he's digging for..."

"'The timer,' he said." Max finished for him. "I'm guessing he's not bringing in the one he usually uses on his stove. Don't tell me this is some whack Cale family holiday, 'the changing of the clocks?'" she rolled her eyes, hearing Logan going through drawers, apparently for a rarely used – and portable – timer.

There was just a slight pause before DiNozzo spoke. "He didn't tell you about it, then?" At her response that he hadn't, Tony spoke again, his voice a bit softer, and he spoke more quickly. "Look, he can tell you the details – but since I'm calling in the middle of the night, you deserve at least a reason I'll be keeping him on the phone for an hour..." He drew a breath, and said, "It was something his mother started, long before Logan was born, when I was a kid. I must have been maybe seven or eight years old and ... I think it all started at a family dinner, talking about 'changing the clocks' and gaining an hour when the time "fell back." All the adults were joking about what they'd like to do with the free hour they gained, and all of a sudden, Aunt Sara said she'd like to use that hour to talk to me. Well, I thought she was just being nice, bringing me into the conversation, like always ... but she really did it. She called me, cross-country, 2:00 A.M. my time, and my parents woke me up to talk to her. I had my 'free hour' on the phone, with Aunt Sara. And she called, every year after that ... every year Mom or Dad would wake me up until I was old enough to get myself up and awake enough to find the phone. After Logan was born she still called, and pretty soon he was old enough to join us in our calls. The calls saw me though high school and college ... through every year, 'til she died. And that first year, after she was gone... I called Logan. And I've called every year, ever since. We use our free hour to talk to each other."

Max stood, silently, unmoving, until, all at once, she was aware that Logan had come close, timer in his lap, waiting, a soft, melancholy smile on his features. She blinked, and felt the moisture that had pooled in her eyes suddenly spill out of one corner. And she knew then, from his expression, the tears pooling there had given them away; Logan knew that Tony had explained the call. Blinking again, rapidly, Max swallowed and, not taking her eyes off Logan, said to Tony. "That's one of the best whack family holidays I've ever heard of." She smiled for her lover, reaching out for his hand. "Logan's ready for you, Tony; he's here – he found the timer."

"Max?" Tony was speaking again. "You know you're welcome to join us."

"Thanks – maybe next year." She smiled, knowing the cousins still had so much to say, absently wondering how it would have been last year, an hour of conversation between an injured Logan and DiNozzo, who didn't yet know then that his cousin had been shot. "You boys have fun."

"You're the best, Max," Tony said. "I promise to use at least half of the time telling him that."

She laughed, the sound an emotional hiccup. "I'll hold you to that. G'night, Tony..." Max lowered the phone to hand to Logan. "I'll get the jacuzzi ready. And if you're lucky..." Her smile widened, "I'll leave you some of that chocolate."

Logan took the phone and before lifting it to his ear, took her hand with his free one and pulled her close, saying softy, "I love you, Max..."

"See? Was that so hard??" they both heard come though the phone, loud and clear.

Chuckling at the interruption, Max leaned in to kiss Logan and pull back. "Enjoy your party."

"Thanks, Max. I'll be there at midnight. And we can do some clock changing of our own..." Logan promised, with a devilish grin. Max straightened ... smiled as she took another long look, admiringly... and turned to walk on in to the bedroom. And as she did, she heard the man she loved crank the single knob of the old-fashioned timer around one time and smack it down on the table as he lifted the phone. "Cuz...!" he crowed...

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The End

'Night, everyone!

-S-