Yea okay Babyangel you wanted another chapter, I don't know about this, but here it goes…(people feel free to tell me to stop)
Chapter Two
Physical Failings
"I still owe you for Brittany, not to mention the chickenpox." he said towards the end of their conversation.
Max smiled recalling Logan's bout with chicken pox, her attempts at taking care of him and not throwing him off out window as he resisted, "What do you have in mind?"
"Dinner tonight?"
"It can't be payback if it's something you already do."
He laughed into the phone, "I had to try. Come for dinner still? We haven't had dinner in almost a week."
Logan was right, it had been six days and stomach hated her because of it, "8?"
"Sounds good."
She hung up the phone and smiled, it was an involuntary reflex she couldn't fight as hard as she tried. "Hey OC," she called towards her roommate's room.
"Sup boo?" she said poking her head out.
"Mind if I cancel on Crash tonight?"
"Plans with Logan?" Original Cindy said aware of the only reason Max ever skipped out on plans besides being sick.
"Just dinner."
"You, him and your dinners…" She shook her head wondering when the hell those two were ever going to get their acts together.
"You're just jealous," Max said faking seriousness, but a smile started to emerge.
"Oh yea…found out my secret boo, I secretly covet yours…All this lesbo shit," she waved a hand, "a big ol' lie so I can steal away your hotboy."
Max made a face, "Logan and I aren't like that."
"Whatever you say boo. Can I go back to my nails now? I at least have the intention of trying to get some tonight."
Max frowned as Original Cindy disappeared back into her room, she got some…It had just been a really long time since she'd gotten some. She'd been in heat, just like she'd been with Rafer, she'd stopped though…Okay well she had the remnants of a pitcher of beer poured on her by Cindy, the point was she'd stopped. She'd started to storm off to Logan's, all wet and sticky; she hadn't wanted to go back to her apartment. She'd realized as she pulled up in front of his building that she wasn't just going there for the use of his shower and sympathy; heat driven thoughts had started to overrule her mind. It had taken all of her willpower and thinking of his date with an incredibly perky little blonde the week before to remember that Logan didn't think of her like that and to not do that to their friendship.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
She knocked quickly on the door before turning and stepping back against the wall; she hit it and then dropped down to the floor. She was pretty amazed she'd made it out of the elevator and all the way to his door. The seizures that had seemed to be under control at her apartment had doubled in their intensity from leaving her bike in the garage to the time the elevator had reached Logan's floor.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
He frowned looking through the peephole and not seeing anyone, it was a little after eight and he expected Max, but she normally just came in. He opened the door, despite his better judgment. He briefly wondered before he stepped out into the hallway if a pipe or a bat was going to be connecting with his head.
Instead he found her sitting on the floor, the pill bottle in her hand as she shook; she smiled weakly as he said her name crouching down in front of her.
"I fuckin hate these things"
"I know," he sympathized brushing back her hair that now streamed in front of her face. "Think you can stand? We'll probably both end up on the floor if I try to lift you." He gave a joking smile to take the edge off the situation.
She nodded, but she didn't know if she was lying as she tried to push herself up with her free hand.
He realized quickly she was too weak and braced a hand against the wall as he wrapped the other around her and pulled her close to him raising them both up. He kept an arm around her as she braced herself along the wall and door walking in before turning fully to him for support as he led her to the guest room.
"Don't leave me" she whispered looking up at him through scared eyes.
"I'm not, I just don't want to burn down the apartment." he said remembering dinner still cooking on the stove.
"It'll keep right?" she asked in an apologetic little voice, she didn't want to ruin their night.
"Yea," he said brushing back her hair.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Her eyes stayed focused on him as he settled into a chair next to her on the bed, leaning forward, watching her, until finally the medication started to kick in and the seizures abated somewhat and she fell asleep from exhaustion.
He slowly exhaled seeing her eyes close and his body relaxed back into the chair. He hated seeing her like this, her seizures came with a frequency and intensity that left him panicked every time, worried she wouldn't pull out of them.
Sleep was always the sign that she was rebounding, she'd wake up weak, but starving in a few hours. It also gave him he chance to look down and curse his legs as his fear settled. His damn legs, the damn exo, all he wanted to do was lift her up and carry her into the apartment, but he knew his balance wouldn't allow for that. Instead, he had to force her to use strength she didn't have to spare.
He would have thought, he had thought that the exo would take away these feelings of shortcomings, but it hadn't, at least to the world he still looked whole. He was grateful for the exo, it had at least somewhat given him back his life, it was pretty sad though that he needed a machine to do that.
Walking though and not being able to feel the ground beneath you…Bling had stayed to help him fully adapt to it, explaining it to be like prosthetics, you feel the ground beneath you, just in a different way, his torso felt the changes in the ground, not his legs. At least he could no longer feel them, that phantom sensation that was lie, a tease as his torso took over the space no longer needed for his hips, his legs, his knees, his toes... His brain once more controlled his legs even though he could no longer feel them, his brain sent messages, just never got any in return. He was almost adjusted to it, finally did more than just concede that this was his life forever, almost, but not quite, not on days like today when he just wanted to be whole.
Just wanted to lift her up close to him and keep her safe.
He was a liability still, even with the exo. Zack had told him that before and he'd known it was the truth then. He almost allowed himself to ignore it, when the triumph of seeing himself standing again had made him feel whole for just a few brief days.
His sanity had returned though. If anything happened to her, he would be the one to blame, he held her back. He couldn't risk it further.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Her eyes opened and focused on him. He was sitting forward with elbows on his legs and his head propped up by his hands, his eyes were closed and she wondered if he actually managed to fall asleep like that.
He hadn't, his eyes slowly opened and returned her gaze in silence for a moment, both of them just watching each other and being aware of it. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly.
"Like shit," she smiled honestly.
"Hungry?"
"A little," she admitted.
The 'a little' worried him, "Want to eat in here?"
She smiled thinking of how worried he must be about her if he was offering to let her eat in bed, "I can make it out to the kitchen." She pushed herself up with one arm and smiled.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
She fell asleep in the guest bed again shortly after dinner, she had been so drained that her taste buds had barely registered the food. Barely had the energy to put on the shorts and tee shirt Logan had left out for her after stripping out of her clothes. She knew he'd come and check on her though so she made the extra effort.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face as she curled up in the bed clutching the comforter. She kept a spare change of clothes at Logan's for all the missions that didn't go according to plan and the late nights, brownouts and seizures that gave her a reason to crash, but not anything to sleep in. There was something about not only wearing his clothing, but seeing that clothing on him later…