Comfort
Disclaimer: Dark Angel was created and is owned by James Cameron, 'Chick' Eglee and Fox. I only dive and swim amongst them for the pleasure and enjoyment of being with Max, Logan and all the others.
A/N: Thanks always to Kasman for the betas and who has tried to make me a better writer; she had her work cut out on this one. Thanks to Kyre for answering my questions. This story has been a long time in coming to fruition and has been sitting on the burner for about a couple of years but just could not come to the boil. Here it is now though. Hope you enjoy. S1
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Chapter 1
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Logan's Apartment
Max lay down on Logan's couch, shaking uncontrollably, in obvious discomfort. Logan stroked her hair out of her face
"What can I do?" he asked, concerned
"Stay with me, please?"
"I'm right here."
"You won't leave?"
As Max drifted off to sleep, the occasional shudder wracked her body. Logan reached forward and brushed a lock hair from her forehead, "I'm not going anywhere." he said.
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Dream flashback
Max was curled up, her knees to her chin, her arms clenched around her legs as she tried to control the violent shaking of her young body.
"Hey! What's wrong with the kid, she got some kinda fever or what?"
"I don't know." the girl standing next to the man said, a look of concern on her face.
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Max woke shaking violently, "Where ?" she gasped.
"Here, drink this," Logan said, offering a glass of white liquid.
Max hesitated, then forced herself into a sitting position, reached out and took the glass, sipped and spilled some of the liquid. "Sorry," she said, trying to wipe it up with her hand. She paused for a second, "Yeah, a bit," took another sip from the glass. "Milk, how'd you know?"
Logan smiled slightly, the frown disappearing, "You didn't mention if you'd scored any Tryptophan." Logan gestured towards his computers "Did some research."
A grimace passed across her face, quickly gone. Dammit, he can find just about anything about me on that thing, except how to cure what's wrong. Manticore and their super soldiers - they sure screwed up.
"You sure you're okay?" Logan asked, his head to one side, as he watched Max, finish the glass.
She returned his smile as she put the glass on the table. "This will help, thanks."
"Looks like you were having a bad nightmare. Is that usual?" he enquired cautiously
Max looked over her shoulder at the overcast sky outside the picture window behind the couch "What time is it?" with a pensive look.
"It's ten."
Max shot out of her seat "Why'd you not wake me earlier," she demanded angrily grabbing her jacket off the back rest of the counter chair.
Logan backed hastily out of her way as she stormed pass. "I was just about to make something to eat…nothing fancy," he quickly added.
As Max hesitated on her way towards the front door, Logan swiveled his chair and smirked, "I'll write you a note."
"Fancy sounds good," Max replied, with a slight smile. "I'll deal with Normal," she added. A note may come in handy. With a shrug, she walked towards the kitchen, throwing her jacket on Logan's
work-out table as she walked past.
With a shake of his head, Logan headed for the kitchen.
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Max and Kendra's Apartment
The late night air was chill as it wafted through the gaps in the badly sealed window frames and over Max. She had a pensive expression her face as she lay on her back staring at the ceiling of her unfinished room.
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Flashback
Max and Maria rode up the drive way of the small farm. Facing them was a timber frame house with a wrap around verandah. To the right of the front door was a swing-chair. As the bike came to a halt, a large tabby leapt off it and darted around the side of the house.
"Max, they have a cat!" Maria exclaimed with delight.
Max smiled, "Did I mention the pony?"
"About six times already," the younger girl said with a grin, which disappeared quickly to be replaced by a worried frown.
"And they have a pond with ducks, Logan says," Max added, missing the frown as she got off her bike.
Maria remained seated as Max took a step towards the house. "Max?" she asked hesitantly.
At the tone Max turned and noticed the worried look in the younger girl's eyes. "What's up?"
Maria swung around and faced the older girl, "I…I was in prison," she said with a quiver in her voice.
"Yeah, so?" Max asked, puzzled at the change in attitude of the girl sitting on her bike wringing her hands in obvious discomfort.
"Well, you know…" her voice trailed off.
Some of Logan's words came back to Max from the day before, "You were the one who cared enough about this girl to go in and get her out. You did a good thing, Max." She knelt in-front of Maria and enclosed her hands, with her gloved ones. "These are good people, they don't care where you're from"
"That's not it Max…the warden…"
Max cut her off, "The warden's gone and what happened back there wasn't your fault, and these folks will make sure nothing like that happens to you again." Max glanced towards the house as the front door opened. "If you need to talk, you can call me anytime, but give them a chance, 'k?" Max stood, pulling Maria off the bike to stand beside her. "Wish I'd had some luck," a note of wistfulness creeping into her voice as they faced Tom and Shelly, standing on the porch.
Maria looked up at Max. "You've got Logan, right?"
"We'r…" Max began to say. "We're in the LCBDWSC and LA," she continued with a smile.
"What's that?" Maria asked puzzled as she mouthed the letters.
"A pain in the butt sometimes, but it has a great food plan," she said pulling Maria towards the porch.
"You trust him, right?"
Max stopped and looked down at Maria and cleared her throat, "Yeah…" But I'm not comfortable with him, maybe not with anybody, as long as I'm what I am," …yeah I do."
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Max sighed, stretched, rolled off her bed, walked over to her window and looked out over her slice of the city. I kept moving…that's what we were taught. Max turned away and went over to her closet and took down her bike gear, headed into the living room. She lifted a set of Kendra's underwear off the handlebars and tossed them towards the closet by the door before beginning to push her bike out the front door.
A few minutes later, she was roaring through the city.
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