Author's Note/Disclaimer: I don't own Sam and Max, they belong to Steve Purcell. I'm just borrowing them, please don't sue me.

Let the drama begin!

Also, thank you, CrazyCartoonChick236, for the nice reviews. I admit, chapter one was a little rushed. I'll try to pace myself better in the future. Also, Sybil's baby will be showing up in the next chapter, so you'll get to see then what I have in mind for it. Tee hee hee.

Chapter Two- Tempers Flaring

Max paced the lab as Momma Bosco and Darla busied themselves with experiments. Sam had taken the discovery rather poorly, taking off in the DeSoto on his own shortly afterwards. His only explanation was that he needed to clear his head, to really think about what this could mean. He had been gone for almost two hours now.

Momma Bosco kept glancing over at Max, concerned about the little guy. There had been a noticeable rift between both Sam and Max since the Elder God incident, and the situation now was only serving to make it even more painfully obvious.

Max continued pacing, unaware of Momma Bosco's surveillance. He wasn't really sure how he felt. Was he angry? Was he sad? Was he just gassy?

He still faintly remembered when his future self, and with him, future Sam, had pulled him and his own Sam from the original timeline. The two pairs didn't get along then; he wasn't really sure why he thought it would work any better this time around. He hadn't even known he would be replacing himself, and yet he'd come anyway. He just didn't know what to do with himself without Sam.

"Argh!" Max punched the wall, his eyes stinging with tears of frustration. Momma Bosco was about to get up and try to comfort the lagomorph when someone came in the front door.

Sam's plodded listlessly as he made his way to the elevator, riding it down to join the others. Max stood motionless, watching him, but was still too upset to want to rejoin him. He wanted to hug and bite Sam at the same time, but for totally different reasons than usual.

The lab was silent, all eyes fixed on Sam as the three waited for him to speak. For several moments, he just stood there, saying nothing.

"Sam…" Momma Bosco trailed off. She didn't really know what to say.

"Darla," Sam began, but the girl cut him off.

"Just call me 'Geek'. Everyone else does," she replied.

"Um, okay. Anyway, I just wanted to know, does your machine… Does it track only living things?"

"There's a switch, actually. Right now it's set for…" The Geek trailed off as she checked her invention. "Um… living. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been changed since before I tested it with Max's DNA."

Sam said nothing, mulling this over. Momma Bosco spoke up in his place. "What kind of range did you say this device has again?"

"It's only supposed to have a range of ten miles, but if what you've told me is true, it either must be a lot more powerful than I thought, or Max is somehow a lot closer. Well, or his signal is being boosted somehow, but that's ridiculous. I've been working on refining that calculation."

"Still, it seems Max has somehow survived." Momma Bosco looked to the big dog, trying to gauge his reactions, but she wasn't sure what he was thinking. "Sam? Honey? Are you going to pursue this?"

Sam heaved a sigh before looking up to face Momma Bosco, eyes hard. "Of course. My little buddy is out there, somewhere, and he probably needs my help. I have to."

"Hey, what about me?" snapped Max. "You're just going to toss me aside like a mouldering loaf of bread? Don't need me anymore now that you've got the original model back?"

"Of course not, Max. But I can't just leave Max, either." Sam paused, his brows furrowing as he grew confused. "But what am I going to do with two of you?"

"Why do you need him when you've got me, anyway? You were perfectly happy before." Even as he said it, Max knew this wasn't true. Sure, it had worked at first, but something was wrong. He and Sam no longer seemed to mesh quite the way they used to, and it was throwing off their whole dynamic.

Even Sam had noticed it. Yet, the lagomorph's anger surprised him. Sam couldn't understand why he was so upset, not realising that this was the whole problem. "You know I can't just leave him, Max."

"Yeah." Max's voice and demeanour became suddenly subdued. "Yeah, I do."

Sam said nothing for several minutes, just watching Max, the lagomorph staring back. He had no idea how to deal with this situation, and it was driving him crazy. He didn't like feeling so out of sorts with his best friend, not one bit. In the end, he tried to ignore it for the time being. Maybe something would come to him later. Instead, he turned to Darla. Max's expression darkened in response, and he stomped off.

"How long do you think it'll take to figure out exactly where Max is?"

The Geek looked up from where she had been recalibrating the Directional Bioradial Signature Locator. "I think I've almost got it now," she replied. "Gimmie a sec…" The girl did something before twisting a knob and pointing the device in the air. Once it began to beep, she looked at the readout. "I think that's got it. Annnd… according to this, Max is roughly 100,000 miles away, give or take 10,000 miles or so." Darla looked up from the screen, facing Sam. "He's somewhere in space, halfway between the Earth and the moon."

"I can breathe in space? Cool!" exclaimed Max from where he'd been listening on the other side of the room.

Sam couldn't help but smile. Max was already back to acting like his usual self. Perhaps he'd already forgotten everything from earlier. "I don't think it works that way, little buddy. At least, not without a paper bag."

Max never got a chance to reply. Someone else entered the lab, drawing everyone's attention. As far as Sam and Max were concerned, everyone who should have been there was, so neither of them knew who was coming.

Another Sam, obviously one of the clones, was making his way to the elevator, some weird machinery clutched in his hands. He seemed a little confused when he noticed the gathered group as he came down to join them. Max immediately went for his gun, but Momma Bosco swatted it out of his paws, waggling her finger at him.

"Stop that, Max. He's my lab assistant."

"Assistant? I thought he was an escaped experiment. That would have been awkward!"

"Well, there's certainly some experimenting I wouldn't mind trying," Momma Bosco muttered before catching herself. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I would appreciate it if you didn't shoot him."

The clone, reaching the bottom floor, set down his equipment and scratched at the back of his neck nervously. He was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with white text reading, "Bow ties are cool," and a pair of simple blue jeans. A set of oval, silver rimed glasses sat on his snout. In Sam's opinion, the whole outfit really didn't suit him.

"Hey, there." Sam offered his hand to the clone. "I apologize for Max. You understand how high strung he can be."

The clone accepted the offered handshake. "Yeah, I know." He chuckled uncertainly.

"So, what do we call you?"

"Um…" The clone shrugged, face going red from embarrassment. "I don't really have a name. My ID is DN-13-S, if that helps?"

"What, Momma Bosco doesn't call you Sam? Or Sweetcakes? Or Hotstuff?" Max turned to Momma Bosco, his expression incredulous, ignoring the clone as his face went even redder. It was Momma Bosco's turn to shrug.

"I've always just called him Clone," she replied.

"I've never really felt right going by Sam, anyway," added the clone. "I am Sam, but at the same time, I'm not. Not really. I'm more what Sam could have been."

Max felt his eyes crossing. "Okay, I'm officially confused now. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What it means," said Momma Bosco, "is that, based on the memories he inherited from Sam, he decided to do something different. Sam's a detective, right? But Clone here tells me that when he was younger, he was good with technology, and that interested him more than being a detective."

"Yeah, Sam was a huge nerd," giggled Max.

Sam frowned at him. "Shut up, I was not," he protested.

"Sam, you built an arcade game. You were a nerd, end of story."

Sam sighed as his cockroach son spoke up. "Papa, what's a nerd?"

"Candy. Nothing. Never you mind," Sam snapped, perhaps a bit more testily than he should have.

The conversation just sort of came to an awkward end there, no one sure how to continue. The clone picked up his equipment and headed off to the corner of the lab where Harry's mole tunnels used to be. Since Momma Bosco had dismantled the cloning facility after the brouhaha with the clones running amok, she no longer needed them and had had them filled in. The free space was now being used by the clone, but what he was building, Sam had no idea. It was too early to tell, not that it really mattered anyway.

All too aware of the eyes following him, the clone glanced back, his expression anxious. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, thinking of something. "By the way, could you… um… not do that body snatching thing on me again? It's really… er… distressing." He shuddered at the memory.

Max took this opportunity to turn to Sam, pointing at him and opening his mouth to let out a horrible screeching noise.

"Cut that out, chowder head," Sam growled before addressing the clone. "Yeah, sorry about that. The Astral Projector is gone now, anyway."

The clone nodded before turning back to what he had been doing. Sam left him to it, addressing Momma Bosco and the Geek in an attempt to get back to business. "I've gotta get to space to get Max somehow."

"Oh, I've got some leftover rocket boosters you can use," offered Momma Bosco. "You just need something to use 'em on."

"Why don't we just take the DeSoto like always?" Max asked, confused. "It's always worked before."

"Yeah, but that kind of visual gag doesn't really translate well in a text-based story," replied Sam.

"Yeah, but the fact that we may be eaten by a grue doesn't seem relevant."

"However, I think we could ask Sybil to refurbish the DeSoto into a spaceship for us."

Max perked up at the mention of Sybil's name. "Ooo, yes, let's!"

X X X

"You know, I've been wondering why we don't see more of Sybil these days."

"You know she's been busy taking care of her baby, Max."

"Who's the baby daddy, anyway? You?"

"W-what?!" Sam spluttered, stopping in his tracks to stare at Max, painfully aware of the way he was flushing at the suggestion. "Of course not!"

Max raised an eyebrow. "Then who is?"

Sam was about to inform Max of his continuing chuckleheadedness when he realised that it was entirely possible Max had no idea. He didn't know exactly what the lagomorph and Sybil had discussed in the hospital, and it was possible he hadn't seen the baby. This Max might not have even met the giant stone head of Abraham Lincoln, given that he had been drawn out of the original timeline before that even happened. Sam was the only one who had even visited Sybil since his release from the hospital little under a month ago.

Sam decided then and there that alternate timelines gave him a headache. "You know what? You'll find out when we get there."

Max found out sooner than expected. The ground began to shake beneath their feet, as if in time with giant, heavy footsteps. A moment later, a giant stone stovepipe top hat came into view, followed shortly by the statue of Abraham Lincoln himself.

"It was supposed to be a complement, Sybil! Those fertility goddess statues are beautiful!" His tone was petulant as he stomped his foot, back turned to the duo as he talked to someone they couldn't see yet. Walking on further, Sybil came into view, standing on her doorstep and flinging refuse at her husband.

"Complement, my ass! If you think I'm so ugly, why did you marry me?"

"Because-! I-! Oh, screw this!" Abe turned and stomped off. "Stupid woman," he grumbled, nearly stepping on Max as he passed by, not really noticing the freelance police.

Max brushed himself off as he picked himself up from the ground where he'd jumped to avoid a squishy death. "Wait, that asshole is Sybil's husband? Sheesh, talk about bad taste."

Sam didn't reply, but the livid expression on his face spoke volumes. This wasn't the first time he'd come across a scene such as this, and it still upset him. If there was one thing he knew, it was that that was no way to treat a lady.

Sybil stopped hurling garbage and insults when she finally noticed Sam and Max approaching. She wiped hastily at her eyes in an attempt to appear more composed. It didn't really help.

"What was that all about?" asked Max. Tact had never been his forte.

"Max!" Sam glared at his little buddy before turning back to Sybil. "We couldn't help overhearing. Are you okay?"

Sybil sniffled, wiped once more at her eyes. "I'll be okay, but thanks for asking."

"You sure? You don't look okay," said Max, with a strange inflection to his tone Sam rarely ever heard from his little buddy. The lagomorph was serious.

It was clear that Sybil was surprised by this as well. She looked down at Max in silence for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. "It'll be alright, but thank you for your concern, Max."

"Maybe you could take your mind off things by helping us out with a project! It'll help!"

Sybil couldn't help laughing now. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I'm up to that kind of thing right now."

"Understandable. If you change your mind, you can find us at Bosco Tech Labs. …are you sure you're okay?" asked Sam.

"I'll be fine, Sam. Go on with whatever whacked-out mission you're on and don't worry about me, okay?"

Sam didn't seem entirely convinced, but he didn't argue. "Okay. See you later, then."

"Bye, guys." Sybil waved as the two headed off, and then went back inside herself.

Max turned to Sam. "Well, that was a bust. Now what?"

"I don't really know, little buddy." Sam seemed distracted, but Max ignored it as they made their way back to Bosco Tech Labs in defeat.