A/n: Thanks again for your reviews, everyone. This one is a whole three times longer than the last! It would have been longer, but I couldn't resist the cliffette…

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Chapter 14: Space

Max followed Logan into a small side lab, where he sat, numb with shock. She knew how he felt. The idea that he had a son inside Manticore he'd never known about…

"Go home, Max," said Logan, his voice the coldest she'd ever heard it. "I want to be alone for a while."

"Go home?" Max couldn't believe her ears. "What, you mean my presence isn't required right now? No way, Logan, you can't drop knowledge like this on me and then send me away."

"I mean I need some space," he continued, tone not changing.

"What you need is to pull yourself together and figure out a way to deal with this."

In reply, he just snapped off his brakes and wheeled towards the door.

"Logan! Where are you going?"

"To pull myself together," he said, tightly, leaving her alone. Max just stared after him. His words seemed to have robbed her of the ability to move, cutting through her insides like shards of ice.

Logan never, ever walked out on one of their arguments; that was her place. And he never spoke to her like that. He always cared about her needs before his own, no matter what. Not even when Vertes died had he been so closed off, so introverted. It was like she was talking to a stranger, not her considerate, altruistic Logan, the man who'd stroked her hair all night while she seized on his couch.

The Logan who'd promised not to leave her… had. He'd retreated somewhere into his own head, where she couldn't follow. She felt as if her legs had been taken from under her, too.

Max left the room a couple of minutes later, when she'd remembered how. She made her way back into the main lab, where Jake, Sebastian and Chris all were. Sebastian took one look at her face and told her the news she didn't want to hear.

"He's gone, Max."

"Where?" She asked, her voice sounding small.

"Don't worry, Max," said Jake. "Logan does this sometimes. He'll be back, once he's wrapped his head around things."

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An hour later, Max was pacing the room like a caged lioness.

"Could you stop that?" Asked Sebastian. "You're making me dizzy."

"He should be back by now," Max said, still pacing. Then she stopped, fixing desperate eyes on him. "You know Logan better than anyone, right, Sebastian? Where do you think he'd go? You don't think something's happened…"

"No, Max, I'm sure he's fine. He's probably driving around at random."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing," she said, striding towards the door. "I'm going to look for him."

"That's not a good idea. He'll just run further and take longer if you chase after him."

"He can't outrun me," she said with certainty, pausing by the door. "I'll drag him back if I have to." And then she was gone.

Sebastian sighed deeply.

"I wouldn't want to be Logan when she catches up with him," remarked Chris from his workstation.

"Me neither," agreed Jake.

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