Choices

by Mystic25

UPDATE CHAPTER 28 SUMMARY: Jessie finally asks Max about her past

25. The Honeymoon Period

Choices 25 -"The Honeymoon Period"

Author: Mystic25

Rating: PG13

Summary: Exploring the 'morning after' if you will of Asha's marriage to Zack.

Disclaimer: James Cameron created characters that could've gone so much further had FOX not cancled the show. So therefore I steal out of the greater good. Don't sue please; just throw money.

A/N: After a lovely vacation in Seattle I am now back filled with DA story ideas. You have no idea how seeing so many crows and ravens make you want to write Dark Angel fanfic, haha.

XXXXXXXXXXX

SEATTLE

7:45 AM

"Good morning everyone, we have a special request going out today from a guy who made a permanent hook up with his lady. He says you know who you are, so darlin' this is for you."

"Got me lifted, shifted, higher then the ceiling, and oow ee it's the ultimate feeling

You got me lifted feeling so gifted, sugah how'd you get so fly."

Oh god. Asha kept her eyes closed, hoping against all hope in the universe that she hadn't just hear what she thought she had on her clock radio. Her eyes opened to a small beam of grayish light peaking from behind the Venetian blinds in front of the only window in her bedroom. Even though the light was muted enough so that her senses wouldn't get a shock from it her eyes still took time to adjust. She neve had been a morning person.
She put a hand over her face, feeling the cold metal of her ring on the bridge of her nose. The effect of feeling the band on her skin threw her into a brief kind of drunken haze one would find themself in after they did something either really stupid or really worthwhile.

She turned her gaze fully on the gold metal clasped around her finger. It had been almost two full weeks but the effect of that piece of jewelry on her hand still floored her. Asha Copland, the girl who at seventeen swore she would never get into a serious relationship, had gotten married. And not to just a nice normal guy on the street, hell no, she had hooked up with an elite super soldier. It gave new meaning to being involved with a government conspiracy.

The chosen song was still blasting in her ears causing Asha to groan. She didn't have a problem with hip hop music; she just didn't appreciate some guy singing about his "super fly chick" before ten in the morning.

"Zack!" Asha called out after seeing the empty space on the bed beside her. She had never been able to wake up and find Zack still next to her. In all the times they had slept together – which was also quite a few times before they had gotten married because neither one of them excatly were virgins – Asha had waken up to an empty bed. And apparently being married didn't change that fact.

Asha sat up in her bed searching around for a moment for her long sleeved gray cotton shirt that she had discarded the night before. She found the article of clothing on the floor and bent down to retrieve it, feeling cool air hit her naked breasts. She slipped the shirt on and searched around for a pair of pants. Finding none near the bed she climbed out from beneath the sheets in nothing but her gray shirt and a pair of red bikini cut briefs.

She walked barefoot over her threadbare carpet and over to a walnut stained bureau. She pulled open the first drawer and unearthed a pair of olive green cargo pants from under an assortment of her bras.

She slipped the pants on, still hearing the sounds of the song Suga Suga being belted out of her clock radio.

Ugh, The song was starting to drive Asha crazy. Partly because of the overdone ghetto talk, and partly because the dedication could very well have been for her. Yeah, like Zack would ever decide to go on public radio, too much exposure. Thank god for that.

"Zack!" Asha's voice traveled ahead of her as she reached her living room where she finally found Zack tinkering inside the gearbox of his black Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle. He always hauled his bike up into her apartment building because there was a constant threat of thieves if he left his bike on the street. And Asha never complained because it was a nice bike and she didn't want to see it stolen anymore then he did.

Zack didn't acknowledge her presence when she came into the living room and Asha took a brief moment to roam her eyes over the dark blue muscle singlet that he was wearing. His right arm was turned towards her giving her ample view of the Chinese character tattooed on his shoulder. That was something that surprised her; Zack was so obsessed with keeping a low profile yet he had sat for an artist who marked him with needles and could easily remember his face. Not that she was really complaining about it; frankly she thought it looked hot.

"Hey!" Asha called out after Zack failed to answer her. "You have super hearing, how can you not hear me talking to you?"

"You said my name," Zack stated, not looking up from his motorcycle. He reached for the socket wrench he had laid on the bike's handlebar. "That's a single word that doesn't indicate the start of a conversation." He turned the driver a few times and a loose nut popped out and fell to the floor.

"That's the most elaborate way of saying you were ignoring me that I've ever heard," Asha returned watching Zack retrieve the metal nut from the floor.

"If you wanted someone to constantly pay attention to you shouldn't have married me," Zack said laying the nut he had just picked up on the saddle seat of his motorcycle.

"Hey it was a mutual agreement Zack," Asha informed, crossing her arms across her chest. "It comes with its own set of rules. One of them being I'm you're wife, which means you have an obligation to pay attention to me."

Zack shot her a 'yeah right' look. "You're my wife Asha not my boss." He tightened the gear nut back into place.

"Wife, boss. The parallel is the same," Asha returned.

"Well in that case I quit," Zack replied dryly. He dropped the black plastic cover over the engine and secured the bolts that held it to the body of the motorcycle.

Asha raised her eyebrows at him but she didn't comment. Her years being with Zack had taught her that he was almost always a smart ass and used sarcasm like other guys used sweet talk on their girlfriends.

Zack walked over to the couch where he had thrown his leather jacket, picking it up jacket and sliding it on his body.

"You planning on meeting up with your secret girlfriend?" Asha quipped.

"Something like that," Zack responded, taking the keys to his bike from his jacket pocket.

"Tell her to lay low, because if I get a hold of her I'll make your Manticore training look like school yard fight techniques." While Asha was talking she stepped over to Zack and straightened out the collar of his leather jacket. She traced the ring that hung on a chain around his neck with one finger. "You're lucky you're pretty." She kissed him before he got the chance to offer her any of his wit.

Zack's hands slid very low on her back over the fabric of her shirt. Their kiss lasted long enough for Asha to be breathing hard when she pulled back. "I'll sit here and knit you a sweater while you're gone."

Zack raised his eyebrows and emitted a sound that could be described as a dry laugh. "Good luck with that." He wheeled his bike out the front door.

Asha went to close the door after the bike's fin shaped bumper had cleared the threshold. That was almost your typical newlywed moment. Except for the fact that both of them were fully clothed and not nearly as wanton. Their intimate relationship was great, but Asha had married Zack for an entirely different reason. The great sex was just a bonus. Asha walked barefoot into the kitchen – the small silver ring on her middle toe clinking softly on the peel-and-stick tile. She opened the fridge and found what she remembered was coffee three days ago sitting in a white ceramic mug. She pulled it out, smelling it first to make sure that it hadn't turned, and after deeming it okay, stuck it in the microwave to reheat.

The microwave timer beeped at the same time the phone rang. Asha tried a brief moment of multitasking, trying to pick up the coffee and grab the phone before the machine picked up. But the mug was warmer than she realized and she swore as the cup burned her hand.

Her answering machine had already picked up the call.

"Hey, I'm not in, leave a message." "beep-" Zack's clipped manner had worn off on her.

"Surprise!" The male voice was very familiar. "Just got on leave and had to catch up with my favorite girl. Are you avoiding me? 'Cause you're usually there-"

Asha picked up the phone before the message completed itself. "Hey Dean," Asha recognized the voice of Dean Miller, an old friend from high school. Dean had joined the Marines right after graduation. Since he had no college experience he hadn't advanced easily in rank, but he had made Lance Corporal. His was stationed in Puerto Rico, which meant that he was currently eating up her phone bill with the call, because he always liked to reverse the charges. But Asha didn't mind, Dean was her friend. Almost all her friends were guys. She fit into the boys club early on and as such many girls became jealous of her close relationship with guys and denied her any form of friendship.

"Hey Dean, I call you after eight months and all I get is 'Hey Dean'?"

"If you wanted a little song and dance you have the wrong girl," Asha replied taking the cordless phone and her coffee over to the couch.

There was laughter from Dean's end. "Fair enough. You'll never guess where I am now."

"Embarrassing yourself in front of the local Puerto Rican girls," Asha replied, sipping the stale coffee.

"Close, I'm twenty miles outside of Seattle."

Asha almost choked on her coffee. "You're here? I thought you said you just got on leave."

"Yeah as in three days ago, that's a 'just factor' for the Marines sweetheart. So I took two planes, a train and a very shoddy bus up here because it's been too damn long since I've seen you. I got into town last night. I tried calling you but your phone was disconnected."

"Yeah, the wiring in this area is always going out." Asha let a beat of silence linger in the air. Last night she had pulled the phone jack because these were her first few weeks being married and she was consummating that fact. Of course Dean didn't know that, which would make for a very interesting time if he wanted to meet up with her. "How much time did you get off?"

"Only a week, which sucks cause I promised my mom I'd visit her on my next leave and it's going to be hell trying to get to Ohio after here."

"You should've thought about that before you came up here."

"Ouch Asha, that hurts. And here I thought you loved Dean Miller."

"And here I thought Dean Miller was mostly in love with himself."

"Okay woman enough," Dean ordered in a stiff voice, but there was a playful tone underneath it. "How about we meet up so you can insult me to my face? You know any good dives in the city that haven't been shut down by Marshal Law?"

"You do know you're insulting the same government that signs your paychecks?" Asha reminded, resting her coffee mug on her left knee.

"Uncle Sam can kiss my ass for all the good he's done the country lately Asha," Dean returned. "If anything this government of ours should see a Corporal's way into getting hammered."

"Somehow I doubt that kind of motion would swing with them."

"You're probably right. But that still doesn't let you off the hook for coming out with me and ordering a round."

"Me ordering a round? You shouldn't have Dean."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah I know. Meet up at seven okay? I have some stuff to take care off."

And by' stuff' he means women, Asha thought. She had been his friend for four years in high school. She could practically read his thoughts. "You got a deal. Just don't try to hook me up with any of your buddies. I'm not really into the hard ass soldier type." That was the worst lie in the history of mankind. But I WASN'T into the hard ass soldier type, at least not until recently.

"Since when have you ever denied being fixed up Asha?" Dean questioned. "Normally you just go along with it and string me up by my shoelaces later for matching you with such a crappy guy. Did you finally get yourself a man or something?"

"Would you be jealous if I told I did?"

"ME? Jealous? Now you're talking crazy girl." Dean blew her off. "But seriously I'm glad for you. Bring him along and I'll give him a Marine standard once over free of charge."

"Not that I don't appreciate the offer Dean, but Zack doesn't like to be cross examined."

"Zack huh? Sounds like you snatched away an innocent pretty boy from his club scene."

Asha had to repress a snort. "I would call Zack a lot of things, but innocent isn't one of them. And I wouldn't count on him showing up tonight."

"Off cheating on you?"

"Not all guys live by your high standards Dean," Asha reminded teasingly.

"You really can hurt a guy you know that?"

"Uh huh," Asha returned. "I'm hanging up now Dean, so shut up and I'll meet you at seven at this dive Crash, on Ninth and Steel." She hung up. That was an interesting turn of events. Good thing Zack ISN'T showing up at Crash tonight. I don't think Dean's Marine standard once over would stand up to Zack's steel driven prowess, that is one confrontation I would gladly avoid. I mean it's gonna be hard enough to explain to Dean that Zack isn't just a fling of a boyfriend; he's my husband without having Zack go all Manticore on him.

How the hell did I manage it where I have to tell an old friend about my marriage before I tell the family that kinda came with the marriage?

XXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

"Uh sweetheart, what are you doing?" Logan asked quizzically. He had come into their bedroom to find Max sliding the huge cherry wood chest of drawers away from the wall it normally sat in. "It's a little early for furniture moving."

"You're telling me," Max agreed. She bent down low and started hunting around on the floor behind the bureau. "Found them." Her voice was muffled behind the furniture. She came out a second later with her black and white Nike sports gloves. "Lexie dropped these back here after I told her I was going back to work today." Max pushed the bulky piece of furniture back in place as she talked. "It was her way of keeping me here."

"You can't blame her for that," Logan said of his elder daughter. "I only wish I had thought of it first." Max had been on maternity leave for almost two months. Today would be her first official day back to work at Jam Pony.

"I can't believe I'm saying this. But I'm actually glad to get back into Normal's grind," Max said, surprised at her own words. "I mean no offense Logan, but the life of a housewife is definitely not for me."

"I could've told you that a long time ago Max," Logan teased. "And with you out of the house most of the day it'll give me a chance to work on the secret other half of Eyes Only involving more women and less paperwork."

He said this with such a straight face that Max couldn't help laughing at it. "You better close down that shop Logan Cale. 'Cause there's no way in hell I'm having any bimbo competition."

"I'll take that into consideration," Logan returned. "I mean who am I to begrudge a super soldier?"

"Damn straight," Max returned, then laughed again at the turn their conversation had taken. They had always had witty banter with each other; but since they'd been married it had taken on much more of a playful side. "Speakin' of begrudging a super soldier, where's my coffee?"

This time Logan laughed. "Coming up my lady."

Max stepped over to him. "Don't even think of just kissing my hand." She kissed him fully on the mouth, liking the taste of his new toothpaste.

"The coffee's going to get cold if we keep this up," Logan insisted.

"That's what microwaves are for," Max reminded. She pulled away when she felt something yank away the gloves that she was holding.

"Lexie," Max watched Lexie sneakily back out of the bedroom with the gloves in her hand.

Lexie took off into a full sprint after she saw her mother's eyes locked on her.

Max broke away from Logan and ran after her daughter. "ALexies Marie, I need my gloves!"

She cornered the four-year-old in the living room next to the leather sofa and flung her upside down over one shoulder.

"Mommy stop, I'm dizzy!" Lexie giggled, her head hanging near Max's the middle of back.

"Give me back my gloves baby girl and I'll let you go." Max said pulling Lexie upright in her arms so that she was now facing her right side up.

"But I don't want you to go back to work," Lexie complained, clutching the gloves tighter in her hands. "Why can't you stay here all the time?"

"I'm not gone all day," Max reminded, smoothing down Lexie's hair which had gotten mused up when she grabbed her. "When you went to school these last few weeks I missed you too but I knew you would come home later. You don't want me buggin' you all day tellin' you to pick up your toys, and clean your room, and practice your accordion."

"I don't have an accordion mommy," Lexie told her.

"Oh right," Max agreed. "Then maybe we oughta play your stomach instead," She lifted up Lexie's shirt and blew a raspberry on her skin. Lexie giggled. "You better give me back my gloves or this won't stop." Max blew harder on her daughter's stomach.

Lexie squealed louder. "Okay mommy here," she handed the gloves back to her mom.

Max took them from her. "Thank you," she kissed Lexie and set her down on her feet, patting her lightly on her bottom. "Go get your stuff together for school."

Lexie didn't move and turned back to face Max. "Mommy?"

"What baby?"

"Will you walk with us to school today? Jessie says only babies walk to school with their mothers, but will you anyway? Daddy did it four days in a row."

Max smiled. "You got a deal." The scene was domestication personified, but it wasn't as girly as Max had feared when she was younger. It was just, fitting.

She went off in search of Logan to relieve him of his duties of school walker for the day. "Baby, you hidin'?" She searched through the hallway and finally found him in the nursery changing Lucy's soiled diaper.

She had to smile at the scene. All those thugs and murders that were put away by Eyes Only would never suspect that the All-Seeing Informer changed diapers. "Hey, Lexie wants me to walk her and Jess to school. So you're off the hook for today."

"That's great, because this little girl down here made the most disgusting mess I've ever seen and I've seen the boiler room of your old apartment." Logan wiped Lucy's bottom with a baby wipe, chucking it into the trashcan by the changing station.

"She's a Cale, always getting into a mess and having hired hands clean up after her," Max teased.

"Actually she's more from the Guevara/Manticore line. Getting want she wants by way of insistent prowess," Logan returned, kissing the bottom of one of Lucy's flailing feet. She cooed and squirmed around and he used the distraction to slide a fresh diaper under her. She wasn't even two-months-old and she already had her mother's way of getting to Logan's heart. He snapped the fresh diaper on Lucy just as their other two children came parading into the nursery with their backpacks strapped to them.

"Come on mommy, we'll be late!" Jessie complained, his hands resting on the straps of his black bag. He had fallen in love with kindergarten the moment he was enrolled. Due to Max's genetics he had mastered the basics in half the time of the other students, so much so that his teacher had requested that he be placed in a gifted program. Max still hadn't said yes, she didn't want to isolate her son for his capabilities, but she did give into extra art and music classes the school offered. She wanted him to have a normal school life, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be bored all day.

"Yeah mommy hurry up, Jenny's waiting for me!" Lexie chimed in with her brother, referring to the little girl in her class that she had befriended.

"Aiight I'm coming," Max responded. "Duty awaits." she told Logan who was now holding the freshly diapered Lucy in his arms.

Logan offered her a small smile. "Say goodbye to mommy Luce, she has her work cut out for her."

Max kissed the baby and looked up at Logan. "I always have my work cut out for me baby."

"Oh for the days when all we did was just chase down Eyes Only enemies and avoid black helicopters huh?"

"Oh for nothing," Max retorted. "At least now I can wear a little less black," She glanced down at the tan down jacket, dark blue biker pants and red tank top she was wearing.

"You don't know how appealing you look in black sweetheart," Logan insisted, watching her turn around to face him at the doorway.

"Maybe I do," Max gave him a lazy smile.

"Mommy c'mon!" Jess was tugging at her pant leg.

"Coming baby, coming," Max responded, but not before hitting Logan with a suggestive look. "This isn't over."

XXXXXXXXXX

P.S 12 - THIRD AND WESTLAND

"Mommy you don't have to walk all the way with me?" Jessie complained as they rounded the curved sidewalk that lead to the school grounds.

"Oh but I do Jess," Max insisted, looking down at where he was walking beside her. "It comes with the Momma Contract."

"What's that?" Lexie asked from Max's other side where she was holding her mother's hand.

"It's something mommy made up," Jess said with slight annoyance. "She just wants to treat us like babies."

"Hey I never said that, hun," Max chose to call her son by that pet name instead of 'baby' because 'baby' wouldn't exactly help the current situation. "I just like hangin' out with you guys. Somethin' wrong with that?"

"I like hanging out with you mommy," Lexie said swinging Max's hand.

"Me too baby girl," Max agreed with a smile.

They had finally reached the school grounds of P.S. 12, where Jessie attended Kindergarten, and where on the same grounds was Lexie's nursery school. Due to Martial Law all schools in the city were restricted to two sector to be better protected by the military command stationed in Seattle. The three middle schools and four high schools were crammed together only two blocks away from the lower grades, partially visible from where they now stood through a five-foot high chain linked fence.

Dozens of people were milling about on the gray stone steps that led into the school. Parents dressed in suits and ties, and also torn rags and basic jeans walked with the younger kids to the double front entrance door while the older ones were dropped off by honking cars or faded yellow school buses covered in graffiti. A small playground was fenced in front of the building and a handful of children were crawling all over the monkey bars and swings.

Max watched the kids climb and run around screaming, desperate to get in a few more minutes of play before classes began. If it wasn't for the harsh military command we underwent Manticore could have very well been a school like this one.

"Mom," there was a tugging on her jacket from below from Jess. Max looked down at her son, thinking how he had never called her 'mom' before. Probably more of an inkling of what he would be like when he was older. "Can I go play with my friends before school?"

As mature as Jessie was trying to be he was still very young, and Max appreciated still having him there to ask permission to go play on the slide.

"Not until I get a hello Jess," a voice carried from behind and Max turned around to see Tinga walking towards them tucked in a camel colored double breasted fur lined pea coat. One hand was in her pocket and the other one was just releasing Case who took off in a run when he spotted his cousin.

"Hi Aunt Tinga!" Jess called out seconds before he and Case tore off down the sidewalk to the fenced in playground.

"Hey wait!" Lexie called out after the boys. She grabbed Max's arm, pulling her down to kiss her on the cheek. "Bye mommy." "You better not play without me!" Lexie cried, taking off after her brother and cousin, the single braid that just reached down to her shoulder blades slapping against her back as she ran.

"He owes me a kiss when he comes home," Max said watching Jess reach the monkey bars before any of the others following him.

Tinga laughed. "You could always use some kind of three-point-restraint on him next time. Or you could just give into that Boys Club that's cozying up to him."

"Not on your life," Max returned. She had no disrespect for boys wanting to hang out together, but she wasn't about to stand for any 'girl's not allowed' policies. "Girl's kick ass, remember the T-Shirt?"

"I really need to get one of those," Tina stated with a laugh, tucking her hair behind her ears. She normally wore it up in long braids with a few coiled around the back of her head, but she had gotten a late start that morning and didn't have any time to pull it up. Manticore had made them shave all their hair off and after Tinga escaped she swore to herself that she wouldn't cut her hair. Since the escape she had it trimmed back a few inches but it was still very long so the draping mass of black strands were now blowing in her face from the light cool breeze that blew around them.

The kids screaming in the play yard caused quite a frenzied commotion to all the frazzled looking parents desperate to drop their children off and make it out of the yard before they were late for their jobs. One of them was a tall, fair skinned redheaded woman who walked a small girl with auburn pigtails to the play area. Beside her was a very handsome African-American man, her husband. The Pulse had forced many groups together for the sake of survival but as the man and woman passed with their little brown skinned daughter they were the recipients of several muted, but harsh stares. Even an Electromagnetic Pulse and Martial Law hadn't erased years of dinosaur racism from some people's minds.

The girl took off in a sprint towards the playground equipment, her mother watching and waving at her. The woman turned her head for a moment and when her green eyes spotted Max she waved at her.

"You know her?" Tinga asked in a voice that still sounded soldier cautious despite the casualness of it.

"Yeah," Max responded, waving back to the woman. "Her little girl Jenny made friends with Lexie a few weeks ago." Max finished her sentence just as the woman and her husband were walking up to where she stood.

"Hi Max, I thought I saw you up here." The woman – whose name was Alicia– said when she finally stopped in front of Max. "I saw Lexie so I knew you were probably around here somewhere." She laughed for a moment and then turned to her husband. "I don't think you've met my husband Richard. This is Lexie's mother Max, sweetie," Alicia introduced.

"Oh hey," Richard said with a warming smile. "Jenny talks of nothing but Lexie when she comes home so it's nice to finally meet her mother."

"Hey yourself," Max responded by way of greeting shaking the hand he offered. "Lexie does the same thing with me so I say it's a mutual relationship."

"Speaking of greetings Maxie," Tinga all but kicked Max in the shins for being ignored, but in the end she did the talking. "I'm Tinga, Max's sister."

"Hey nice to meet you," Richard shook Tinga's hand in the same fashion he had done with Max. He was one of those men that could hold his weight with the guys in jokes and bits of off color sarcasm, but in reality he was nothing but a nice guy.

"Same here," Tinga responded looking over Richard's shoulder to the swings on the playground where Case was attempting to climb on top of the metal bars that made up the swinging post. "I hate to cut this affair short guys but I see a matter that needs my attention. Hey!" Tinga hurried over to the fenced in play area. "You get down from there right now baby before I come up there and embarrass you!"

"Kids huh?" Alicia said with a laugh after Tinga left on her tirade. "Anyone who thinks having them is a constant blessing is ignorant."

"Sometimes it pays to be stupid girl," Max insisted with a smile. Children were a handful sometimes but Max had grown up with only the love of kids to sustain her through Manticore so to her it was priceless.

"I'd give you an 'amen', Max but Richard and I will be late for work," Alicia said glancing at her watch.

"Actually I am too," Max agreed. "I'd better book it before my boss decides to fire me for running over my maternity leave by a few minutes."

"Max just shut up right now," Alicia insisted playfully. "I saw you dropping off the kids at the beginning of last month and you were huge but now no one would ever know that you were pregnant. How did you drop so much weight not even two months after having a baby?"

"I have a fast metabolism," Max insisted with a slight smile. She checked her own digital watch. "I really gotta blaze you two."

Richard and Alicia said their goodbyes and disappeared back to their red SUV and Max headed back down the sidewalk towards Fogle Towers so she could retrieve her bike from the parking garage.

It was morning's peak hour in Seattle so the sidewalks were packed with people heading to work or whatever it was they did to make money. A group of mobsters all dressed in black leather passed to the right of Max, some of them calling her 'foxy bitch' but she paid them no attention. A flower peddler had set up his shanty stall almost in the middle of the sidewalk and it caused a domino effect of people heading in opposite directions stopping and running into each other to bypass the stand.

Max ran right into someone going the other way. "Sorry," she apologized then she recognized the woman in a dark denim jacket with her blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail. "Hey, funny runnin' into you here." Max couldn't help herself with the lame joke.

"Hey Max," Asha responded. "Nice pun."

"I try," Max returned with a slow smile, and then eyed the small bouquet of mixed red and white carnations in Asha's hand. "So who are the flowers for? Cause last time I checked, my brother wasn't into the whole sentimental dealio."

Asha laughed at the joke. "No argument there Max. Actually they're for a friend of mine who's in town today. Carnations are cheap and I'm not made of money so it was a good choice." Asha adjusted one of the flower blooms that had gotten pressed together when she ran into Max.

As Asha did this the sun reflected off of something metal on her hand. Max lowered her eye for a moment from the bright glare but she could tell easily from the shape that the object was a ring – a gold band with a wavy etching running over its length. It was Asha's left hand, and she was wearing on her ring finger. The entire observation took only the five seconds Asha spent fixing the flowers she had bought. In those short few seconds Max said nothing, looking back up to Asha's face before the other woman even noticed she was looking at her ring.

"Are you heading into work?" Asha asked stepping off the sidewalk to avoid being slammed into by a group of bikers. "Idiots" she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah," Max answered. "I could only keep up the maternity stand for so long. What about you?" In all her years of knowing Asha Max never knew if the woman had a job. Asha was a member of the S1W, an underground vigilante group. But Max was sure that wasn't a paying job so Asha had to have some other way to supplement her income.

Asha's expression changed at Max's words, "All this time I didn't even tell you what I do when I'm not getting arrested." She said Max's thoughts out loud.

"It's not important," Max concluded. "There are too many people out there already that define themselves by the aesthetics of their jobs. And as a bike messenger that's a philosophy I'm glad I don't take to heart."

"If people work at something long enough it does eventually become a part of them," Asha theorized stepping back on the sidewalk. The crowd on the sidewalks had thickened for the moment, making talking privately impossible. Asha was actually silently glad for it because for some reason she always felt a wave of embarrassment at what she did to pay her bills and appease her landlord. "I do the computer programming, for the hoverdrones." Asha said after the crowd had thinned out. "-One of the black surveillance machines hung suspended in the air at the top of a five-story building. Asha glanced up at it before continuing. "Back when I first joined the S1W one of our first tasks was to take out a series of hoverdones that were conducting illegal data surveillances. The guys I worked with just thought I bribed or tricked a guard into letting me into the company. No one ever suspected that I just walked right in using my own security clearance."

Asha paused for a second, a moment that would give her next choice of words more weight. "They still don't know about my job, and really I don't see it as a problem. Being on the payroll gives you access to things you can't get to on the outside. And I need the money. Being an undergrouder doesn't pay shit." Asha stared at Max, her sister-in-law,-- though the other woman still didn't know that, wanting some form of acceptance from her.

"You gotta do what you hafta do to survive," Max replied honestly. She had never seen the merit in putting other people down for their jobs, so long as they weren't a slumlord or a player.

"I don't know about 'survival' Max. Being on the payroll of the government ensures I can do more then just survive." Asha's words held a trace of malice. Her job was something she did to make money, not because she saw a higher purpose in what she was doing. "Some conversation we're having!" Asha changed the subject off of her because she could see no realistic end to it.

Max let the silence be her response to Asha's question. She knew the other woman was looking for a way out, and Max was willing to give it to her. "I better get going or I'm going to have a seriously unpleasant conversation with my boss."

"Yeah and I got – stuff, to do," Asha responded. "I'll see you around." This line of conversation was new to her. She could talk to men easily, but women were different. Women had insight that would either determine that they liked you or that they wanted to tear you apart.

"Aiight," Max watched her words have a releasing effect on Asha because no sooner had she said them Asha started walking away from her. They were alike in a lot of ways, and because of that reason Max could sense that Asha wanted to tell her something but never got the words to come out past the silence.

XXXXXXXXX

JAM PONY

"The Prodigal Son returns."

Max brushed past Alec and his grin on the ramp that led inside Jam Pony. The place was alive with laughter, milling around, and other ways of wasting time the employees used to keep from actually having to go on runs.

Alec tailed after Max as she made her way to her locker. "I can't believe that with all the cash Logan rolls in you still bother coming back to this penny pinching dump."

"Was there something legitimate you wanted Alec?" Max tacked a picture of Lucy on the inside of her locker door. There were already two other pictures there, one of Lexie and one of Jessie.

"Is there ever?" Alec quipped taking a glance at the picture Max had just put up. "Adding another notch to the Cale belt?"

Max slammed the door of her locker and glared at him. "Want me to add a new notch to your face?" she slipped her pack on and pushed past Alec.

"C'mon Maxie," Alec took the liberty of following her out of the cubby of lockers. "If you can't stand a little friendly slam now and again, then you need to stop getting knocked up."

"And you're about to get knocked upside your head boy," Cindy warned, joining in Alec's one-sided conversation.

"I always love it when you have to resort to using the phrase 'upside your head'" Alec joked, gracing them with a smile that was smug but also sexy.

"You're an idiot." Max returned exasperated.

"Ah but that's why you love me," Alec put an arm around Max and pulled her to him.

Max sighed, but she was smiling. Alec was annoying, idiotic, but he had also become her friend for a reason unknown to her. "You put too much faith in things unseen Alec."

Alec gave her a coy grin and briefly checked her out. "I know."

Max elbowed him in the stomach, making him hiss. He was still licking his wounds when Normal approached the trio with a package in his hand.

"Let's go, this isn't a warehouse for human flesh!" he handed off the package to Max. "Welcome back Max. The next time you wish to procreate there will be an open position for your job."

"I missed you too Normal," Max returned.

"Miss me some other time girlie, right now you have work to do. Bip bip bip!" Normal shouted the last part for the benefit of all his employees that were moving around him like he didn't exist.

"Congratulations on the baby boo," Cindy said. She slung her black messenger bag over her navy blue t-shirt with the lime green sleeves. The bag was weighed down heavily with two packages she had stuffed inside of it. "And welcome back to the grind."

XXXXXXXX

SEATTLE - CHINATOWN

6:55 PM

The open area markets were filled with people standing in front of the stalls, screaming and haggling. One poor woman's makeshift stall collapsed under the weight of the people pounding on it. All her merchandise on display – illegal CD music copies – fell to the dirt causing a scramble of people to descend on it. The woman tried to push them away but the horde was too big and she was shoved aside as people stole half of her inventory.

One of the people – a sixteen-year-old kid – tore through the market's crumbling two-lane road with his bounty. His bicycle was two blocks away and already a small group of Sector Cops were chasing after the looters. Everything they had stolen wasn't even legal to sell, but the Sector Cops couldn't allow the crime to be overlooked, for the sole reason that it made them look bad. The boy came out of the market stalls and onto a paved road where he spied a black motorcycle parked on the curb. The bike was just resting on its kickstand, not even dead bolted to anything.

The kid ran up to the bike and jumped on the saddle seat. He tried to crank the engine but then he realized two things simultaneously. One was that the bike had an ignition keyhole and the other was a hand all but ripped his shoulder out of the socket and wrenched him around the other way.

He stared up into a pair of glaring brown eyes for all of three seconds before he was flung like a toy across the road where he smashed into a pile of cardboard boxes that were stacked against the side of a building.

Zack watched the kid hit the cardboard with satisfaction. He never locked up his bike because it had a specialized lock that wouldn't fit any other device other than the key it was designed for. So if anyone planned to steal his ride they'd have to wheel a big motorcycle away and have to deal with him jumping them. The kid had just found that out the hard way.

Dusk was starting to settle in the sky and the neon lights of businesses were glowing against the backdrop of the fading sun. Zack walked past several exotic dance theatres where woman in refashioned chengosans – refashioned so that they had a huge cut in them exposing the women's middle abdomen and a much shorter skirt – stood outside to attract customers. The women followed his form as he passed. With his brown eyes, tousled blonde hair and toned body he was what some men would call a 'pretty boy' but what women would just call 'sexy'.

One of the women went so far as to run her arm up and down the leather of his jacket sleeve as he passed her. "I show you good time."

Zack turned to face her. She was almost level in his height due to the red satin heels she wore to match her red silk chengosan. Her almost black eyes had been painted a deep smoky color and chunks of her long jet-black hair fell in front them.

"You come with me baby," the woman wandered her hand up to caresses his chest above his shirt.

Zack slid her red manicured hands down off of his body. "I have something to take care of first." He watched her eyes dilate at the prospect of having him in her audience but he knew he wouldn't see her again. He wasn't into exotic dances like Krit, not because he was too snooty for it but because he was a fan of women who seduced to kick ass as opposed who used it to have money slid into their g-string.

He pulled open a glass door a few feet away from where the woman stood and stepped inside the small building, feeling her eyes on him the whole time. The building he entered was small, barely the size of a gas station convenience store. A large wall was covered in designs – mostly Chinese characters, dragons, a few Buddha's, but also with a few erotic poses of women, skulls and roses.

Behind a glass counter was a young Asian woman dressed in a dark blue sleevless scoop neck silk top and black mini with strappy sandals. Her hair was pulled into one long braid that fell past her waist and she was pulling some loose strands behind her ears when she noticed Zack.

There was a flicker of desire that went through her eyes at the sight of him, but it was more muted then the dancers outside. "Can I help you?" she had a trace of a Taiwan accent mixed in her English.

"I came for a readjustment," Zack spoke these words knowing the woman would understand what he was saying. He was standing in a tattoo parlor, not a chiropractor's.

"Jino!" the woman called at someone behind the storeroom. "Watch the front I got a client!" She stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to Zack. "Let's see what you got."

Zack removed his leather jacket, exposing the tattoo on his arm. The woman rotated his arm in her hand to get a better look. "Nice work," she admired the Chinese character on his right shoulder. "What do you want it changed too?"

Zack told her in one word and she went back to the counter to get the appropriate needles and ink.

"Have a seat," she pointed to one of the gray bar stools in a row of five. Zack tossed his leather jacket on an empty stool and sat down in the stool next to it. The woman took a felt marker and drew out the design on his arm to serve as a guide for when she started applying the permanent ink.

"You want any numbing before I start?" the woman asked holding up a tube of lidocane for him to see.

"I'm good," Zack told her.

The woman didn't object. He had gotten a tattoo before so he knew what kind of pain he was going to experience. She loaded the ink inside the needle and changed out the head to a clean one before clicking it on. The needle hummed against her hand as she worked. Periodically she stopped to wipe off the overflow of black ink from his skin with a white rag. It was during one of those times that she noticed the ring looped around his neck. "Your girlfriend give you that?"

"My wife."

This floored her for a second. She worked in silence for a minute. "You don't seem like the type to be married."

"Yet here I am."

He was one cryptic guy, this customer. She wiped more excess ink from his arm. "Is this for her?" He didn't respond so she jumped to a conclusion. "Tattoos outlast marriages, that's why most people regret ever getting them. But it's a hell of a lot more artistic than just a ring." She finished the last section of her design and wiped the area down before covering it with a patch of sterile gauze to keep it from being irritated by clothing until the skin healed. "Price is 30 dollars."

She moved aside so that Zack could get off the stool. He retrieved the loose bills from his jacket pocket, handing her the payment. She noticed that he didn't carry a wallet or any form of identification. Not that he was the first; identity was too undervalued lately.

After he slipped his jacket back on he walked out the door. She watched him leave walking past Jino to put the money in the register, thinking about the manipulation she had just done. His original tattoo was a character that in Chinese meant "seeking" She had changed a few of the strokes and added one more to create the new design, one that, to her, was very fitting way for a man like that to describe his wife.

XXXXXXXXXX

CRASH

7:04 PM

It didn't take long for Asha to spot Dean. He was the only one in the group of people hanging around the bar with a jarhead buzz cut. There was an extreme sports bike competition on the television that was suspended over the bar and a few of the patrons were engrossed in it. Most of the others were engrossed in their drinks or each other.

Dean noticed Asha when she was about a foot from him. He set his mug down and turned around in his stool to face her. "Hey, it's my favorite blonde." He accepted the small bouquet of flowers she offered him. The way he wore the smile on his face was testament to the fact that he had always been somewhat of a goofball, and even the newly hardened Marine look in his eyes did nothing to change that.

Asha rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but she embraced Dean. Boot camp had filled him out judging by the hard muscles she felt underneath his clothes. He's still not as ripped as Zack, but it's nice.

"Dean, get off me," Asha warned after Dean had been holding her a little too long.

Dean pulled away slowly, laughing. "Sorry, I just couldn't help keeping my arms away from your womanly mystique." His eyes were playful. He had played this game with Asha ever since high school. He had always pretended to hit on her just to elicit a response from her. Back then she had been pretty, nice brown eyes, creamy skin. But that had been years ago. The only contact he had with her since then was over the phone or via email. He hadn't seen her since she was eighteen. Now standing here in front of him, she wasn't the same girl he remembered. She wasn't just pretty anymore; she had filled out beyond pretty. Her eyes seemed darker; her haircut was older, her skin glowed more. She had under gone metamorphosis and changed into a woman, and a damn good looking one at that.

"The years haven't been bad to you either Dean," Asha complimented, remembering the slightly bony kid she had seen climb aboard a bus to a training base in Texas. "They probably thought they owed you after riding you as a kid."

"Ooo, ouch," Dean complained. "Damn Asha, that was uncalled for. I deserve better as a Marine then the kid you last saw me as. Just for that you're buying the first round." He reclaimed his seat at the bar.

"Seems to me you already did," Asha stepped up behind him and pointed to the two empty beer bottles next to Dean's elbow. "You started the party without me huh?" She started to pull her hand away but Dean grabbed it and yanked it back.

"Well it seems to me, Asha, that you've been holding out on me," He examined the ring on her hand.

His expression was unreadable from her current angle so Asha pulled her hand away and slid into the empty barstool on his right. "I'll have what he's having," she told the barkeep who nodded, uncapped a bottle of beer and laid it down in front of her. She tried to look Dean in the eye but he kept avoiding her. She couldn't tell if he was really mad or if he was just messing around.

"Dean-"

"Congratulations are in order I guess," Dean took a drink from his bottle and all but slammed it back down on the bar. "The thing I can't get is why the hell you didn't see fit to invite me." His voice was somewhat teasing, but it also contained hurt.

"There wasn't a ceremony Dean," Asha corrected, folding her hands atop the bar. "No one was there except me, Zack and a priest."

"So it is this Zack character?" Dean asked a rhetorical question. "I think I liked it better when I thought he was just some fling of yours." There was a protective note in his tone. Asha was more like a little sister to Dean then just a friend.

"Dean stop," Asha warned. She appreciated the thought that Dean was looking out for her, but his words were a different story. "He's a good man. I wouldn't be with him if he weren't. I don't need a big brother type to approve of who I marry." Asha took a drink from the cold bottle of Heineken in front of her. Dean was sweet, but she was a grown woman, she didn't need anyone's approval but her own. "Besides I think you're really just jealous you got beat out of your chance," She was kidding and she let the mirth show in her eyes.

"Can you blame me?" Dean took the bait, letting a smile slowly creep back on his face. "But since I missed the boat I might as well help you celebrate." He pounded lightly on the bar with his hand to signal the bartender. "Another round, my girl here just got married."

Dean's smile remained while the barkeep filled a pitcher with draft beer and set it down in front of them. "Congratulations," the barkeep smiled at Asha as he set two glasses down in front of her and Dean.

"Thanks," Asha said, somewhat embarrassed at being made a spectacle of. She eyed all of the alcohol in front of her. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"What? That's not your idea of fun anymore? You've changed Asha," Dean said in mock hurt.

"Looks like I caught you at a bad time."

Asha turned around in her stool at the same time Dean did. But unlike Dean she recognized who was standing there. "Zack," that was all Asha said because she really didn't know how to continue.

Zack was eyeing Dean warily, not jealously, but with a glare Asha had seen him use before with his siblings. It was a look of protection against outsiders with his family.

Dean felt the need to stand up because Zack's glare was so harsh he felt like a kid sitting down. Dean gave Zack a once over. He had brown eyes and blonde hair, a basic pretty boy and he was young, almost too young looking; he looked like a college freshman.

"This is Dean," Asha finally said to Zack to break the tension she could feel mounting. "A friend of mine from high school. He's on leave from the Marines." She didn't introduce Zack to Dean because she had already done so in her earlier conversation.

Zack absorbed the information silently, watching Asha sit back down in her stool. Zack didn't claim a seat, instead he stood leaning on the bar next to Asha's stool. He hadn't come there to socialize with a lost begotten friend of Asha's so he wasn't about to kick back.

"Did you finish that errand you were going on?" Asha asked Zack trying to break the silence. She could feel Dean's eyes on Zack, watching his every move to see if he was as 'good' of a man as Asha claimed he was.

"It wasn't an errand, I avoid the system too much to have bills to pay." Zack returned.

Ah there's his great Manticore wit. Dean's gonna either love him or hate him for that. But what do I care? I already love him. "Does it give you a rile to cut down everything I say?" she could fire back with just as much dry wit as Zack, something she had learned to do readily since she had been with him.

"Why do you think I married you?" Zack responded.

Asha rolled her eyes, but a smile came to her lips a second later. She glanced over at Dean. "Feel free to jump in and defend me at anytime old friend."

"You seem to be doing fine on your own," Dean insisted. He finally smiled for the first time since Zack had shown up. There was obvious chemistry between Zack and Asha. He didn't know how long they had been married, but they definitely had been together enough to be really comfortable around each other. "So Zack-" Dean hovered in silence for a few seconds because he really didn't know what to say to the man. "I guess if Asha is taken up with you then you have to be as good as she claims," he laughed dryly, taking a big hit from his beer. "I mean you haven't sent up any of my warning flares." More dry laughter ensued.

Zack glared at Dean with muted hostility. He considered Dean an uneven match to go all out on, but he still didn't like the guy. He was trying way too hard to be Zack's buddy.

Dean happened to glance down at Zack's shirt and notice the gold ring and chain around his neck. The jewelry struck Dean as familiar. "Isn't that your grandfather's Asha?" Dean was sure that the jewelry he was looking at was the same one Asha had shown him three months after her grandfather's funeral. She had said something about him willing it to her.

Asha looked at the ring that was hanging against Zack's neck. "Yeah it was." She had loved her grandfather, but the ring wasn't his anymore. "But now it's Zack's." Asha hoped she didn't sound too angry with Dean, he was still her friend, but she didn't like the line of questioning he was undertaking. Zack wasn't just some random guy she had picked up; he was her husband.

Zack's eyes shifted gazes at Asha's words, and she couldn't guess exactly what it was, but she sensed it had something to do with her clarifying with Dean his position with her. Zack was used to defending people; he hardly ever had someone defend him. But despite how that made him feel he was about three seconds away from throwing Dean against a wall. They guy had more arrogance than he could stand.

Dean caught Zack's glare. "Sorry." His apology was more for Asha then it was for Zack. "I think I've been a Marine too long, the hostility is starting to rub off on me."

"If that's the maximum form of a Marine's hostility, then you're overestimating your prowess." Zack retorted. He erected himself from the bar he was leaning against and walked off.

Asha watched Zack go before turning back to Dean. "I should've warned you about that. Zack's not one to take anything silently."

"I'll bet," Dean tried not to let the sting of Zack's words affect him too much. He had underestimated the man; he wasn't just a smooth talking pretty, boy type.

"Still it's one of the things that attracts me to him," Asha knew she was talking to Dean like he was her girlfriend, but she was comfortable with him in that sense. She turned away from watching Zack and focused her attention fully on Dean. "So enough about me and my life, do you have a secret woman that I should know about?"

Dean laughed; feeling the tension leave after Zack was out of sight. Asha must have gotten harder over the years to marry a man like that. "No, because woman is singular Asha, and I prefer more to one anytime."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey boo, I didn't know you were hangin' here tonight." Cindy greeted Zack with these words when she saw him pass her table. Zack turned to her, and Cindy got a good look at his hazel- brown eyes. She was an out and out all girl player, but Zack was one of the finest white boys she had seen in a long time. She glanced over at the bar and noticed Asha seated there at a stool. "Is that your suga over there?"

"Yeah," Zack answered. He and Cindy weren't exactly friends, but Cindy had as much wit and character as Max so he found himself liking her. "Is Max around?"

"Mmm," Cindy took a sip from her beer, setting it down on the small circular jigged out table. "She's over at the pool table layin' out suckers. Money never changed hands so much outside of Wall Street."

Zack left Cindy and made his way over to the pool table where Max was currently lining up a side pocket shot. She sank the ball, smiling at the dismay on the face of the shaved head white boy she was playing with.

"If my math is correct, the wager was a dollar a ball." Max informed.

The guy shook his head dejectedly and fished out his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, slapping twenty dollars in Max's hand a second later. He slunk away defeated into a darkly lit corner to go drink his last few dollars away.

Alec watched him leave from his vantage point leaning against the wall. "You've cleaned out every loser in this bar Max," he caught sight of Zack. "Well almost every loser."

Max turned around and found Zack standing behind her. "Hey, you wanna lose some money?"

"Like you need more money with Logan as your benefactor Maxie," Zack said.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, coward," Max quipped with a smile. She pocketed her earnings in her leather jacket. "Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful and order up a pitcher."

"Isn't that what Logan's for?" Zack quipped.

"Logan's at home working on a cable hack," Max returned, laying her cue down atop the pool table. She picked up an empty pitcher from the edge of the pool table and thrust it against Zack's chest. "Get those muscles moving."

Zack glared at her but he went to refill the round. It didn't take him long because the barkeep was in a hurry to get back to talking with the leggy brunette who was flirting with him at the end of the bar. He returned to the table that Cindy and Max had claimed and handed Max the pitcher. "You owe me eight dollars."

"Put it on my tab," Max set the pitcher down on the table and refilled her empty glass. She refilled Cindy's glass as well, though she didn't see much of a chance that her girl was coming back anytime soon. An auburn haired beauty had caught Cindy's eye at the pool table and she was currently wining her over in a game.

Zack took the liberty of claiming Cindy's filled glass, taking a hit of the draft beer and returning it to the table almost half empty.

"Long night?" Max asked, seeing how much he had drunk. Zack normally didn't drink so much unless he was in a brooding mood. He didn't answer her question so Max shifted her eyes lower to the ring around his neck, forming a new topic of conversation in her mind. "I assume that still having that ring on means it's official."

"Official of what?" Zack asked dryly, not fully admitting anything, but not denying it either.

"You tell me," Max could be just as elusive as her brother, although she had already guessed as to what they were both talking about. She picked the ring off his chest and examined it. "What's the street value of this?"

"I didn't have time to get it appraised Max," Zack responded.

"Really?" Max said with a teasing note in her voice. "It looks like a pure piece."

Zack grasped her hand and physically extracted her fingers from the ring. "That diamond on your hand is worth a hell of a lot more then this." He eyed the three diamond anniversary band Logan had given her a few years back.

"I already know the worth of these rocks Zack, I've had enough vendors come up to me with a street value, but we're not talkin' about me, we're talkin' about you. But you probably didn't have time to have any value stamped on that ring. Probably too busy appreciating the reason for having it in the first place." A slow smile was creeping over her face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean was pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to the men's room. But it was slow going due to the amount of people blocking his way, mostly guys who were pulling drunken girls off somewhere to have some action. Dean cursed when someone ran into him, spilling most of their beer on his gray shirt.

"Sorry man," a pale guy with spikey brown hair apologized vacantly. He was obviously drunk by the way he slurred his speech. Dean pushed him aside, wiping with his hand at the wet stain on his shirt. The guy staggered off to the bar with his glass for a refill.

Dean finally broke free of the suffocating crowd and was nearing a set of circular tables, all of which were filled up. He approached these tables without paying attention to the clusters of people sitting at them until he caught sight of Zack at one of them, and he wasn't alone. Across from him was a woman with long brown hair, curvy, very attractive. But Dean – who would normally admire a woman so gorgeous – narrowed his eyes at the scene.

That son-of-a-bitch. Dean had known Zack all of five minutes, and he wanted to believe Asha's proposal that he was a decent guy, and he was almost 95 percent there. But seeing Zack sitting just mere feet away from Asha sniffing on another woman made Dean throw out all consideration that Zack was a decent anything.

He worked his way to the tables, hearing complaints from patrons, because he was roughly pushing through them. A glare was already set on his face before he even reached Zack.

He reached the table and stood over it like a warlord surveying mangled goods that someone had delivered him. "What the fuck is this?" When he was angry Dean's voice was gruff and deep, like the rumble from a clap of thunder. Zack and the woman turned at the sound. Now that Dean was closer to her face, he could see that she was gorgeous, but he didn't give a shit about her looks at that moment. Dean didn't wait for a response from either of them. "You think it's fun to be a fuckin' player man? To cheat on something as sweet as Asha and pool up to this cheap bitch-" Dean's words were cut off when Zack leapt up from his seat and locked his hand around Dean's neck.

"You better watch who you call a bitch," Zack squeezed harder, hearing Dean gasp for breath. He had zero tolerance for anyone talking trash against his siblings, especially his sisters.

"Zack!" Max jumped up from her seat "That's enough!" she had no idea who the hell this guy was but Zack could easily kill him if he kept going. She grabbed Zack's arm and pulled him off the guy.

Dean doubled over and grabbed his neck with both hands, choking. His mind was reeling from lack of oxygen and surprise. He knew a lot of strong guys in the Marines but he had never felt such a strong grip in his life, and he had a fair share of bar fights under his belt.

Max watched the color drain back into Dean's face. She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she didn't tolerate being called a bitch. But neither did she tolerate Zack trying to snap a stranger's neck over her; she fought her own battles. "You boys wanna duke it out, do it over another girl. Let's go." She spoke the last line to Zack who was still glaring at Dean. "I said let's go Zack." she pulled him away from Dean. A few people had watched Zack's maneuver and had clustered around the table like kids at a schoolyard fight.

"Break away people," Max warned. "Show's over."

Zack jerked himself free from Max's grip. "I don't need a chaperone." He walked towards the exit of Crash, Max followed.

"And I don't need a pain in the ass hero," Max returned matching his glare. She turned back to where Dean had stood to see him slowly making his way through the crowd. "You wanna tell me what the hell that was about?"

"It doesn't concern you," Zack insisted.

"It sure as hell does concern me, he didn't call you a bitch Zack," Max retorted.

"Stay out of this Maxie," Zack shot back walking to the exit and left her standing alone with a confused look on her face.

Cindy – who had witnessed the confrontation on the way back from the pool table with her hot girl's phone number – sidled up to Max and watched Zack leave the building. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Max answered honestly.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dean, Dean stop!" Asha ordered, halting Dean's actions to pull her towards the exit of Crash. "You want to tell me what you're doing?" She jerked her hand away when Dean reached for it again and crossed her arms over her chest to keep them out of his reach.

A few people cut through them and Asha let them pass without repeating her question, but once they were gone she started in again. "Dean?"

Dean took in her demanding expression before answering. "We've been friends for a long time Asha, I'm just being a friend to you now."

"Yeah we're friends Dean," Asha clarified, "But as your friend I think I'm entitled to know what the hell is going on."

Dean tried to find a way to tell her the truth without hurting her. "I just don't think Zack's the right guy for you."

"The right guy for me?" Asha repeated his phrase in disbelief. "This is still about Zack?" she couldn't believe that Dean wouldn't just let the matter go.

"I just don't think you've known him long enough to be married to him." Dean stated.

"We've been together for two years, so I think being married for only two weeks hardly qualifies as me not knowing him."

"You also never stopped to think that maybe he's too young for you?" Dean was clutching at straws, trying to find some argument that would open a door for him so he could drop the bombshell on her.

"Too young for what?" Asha retorted, irritated at being interrogated. "Zack is 28, the same age as me." Asha wasn't exactly sure of Zack's age, but she did know from Max that he was most likely twelve when they escape happened in '09 so she just had done the simple math, but she did know that Zack sure as hell wasn't an a fresh faced minor.

This threw Dean for a loop. "I didn't know that." He had assumed Zack was younger than that because Zack still looked like a kid.

"I'm beginning to think that even if you did know you wouldn't have cared," Asha snapped. "You've already made up your mind that you didn't like him, and you were just looking for an excuse to back it up."

"I'm just trying to look out for you," Dean insisted.

"I don't need looking out for Dean, I'm a grown woman, and I can look out for myself. You're my friend and I care about you but this issue you have with Zack is going off the table. He's my husband and I love him, and I won't have you back talking him, end of discussion." Asha studied Dean's face, sensing in his expression that he didn't want to end the conversation yet. "What?" the word was said on the end of an annoyed sigh.

"Asha there's something I have to tell you," Dean watched her expression shift from annoyed to super annoyed. He was definitely not in her good graces tonight.

"I've got someplace I've gotta be so you're just going to have to tell it to me on the way," Asha informed and pushed past Dean, walking down the small set of wooden stairs that led to the exit door of Crash. She stepped out side and walked through several puddles of spilt beer and discarded condoms to get to her Jeep parked across the street.

Dean eyed the white Cherokee Asha was climbing inside of. Back in high school Asha had always talked about getting a Jeep. She had saved up money for months from her job as a waitress but all she was able to afford was a used Latura with 90, 000 miles on it. He knew she worked with computers now, and it obviously paid well. "See you finally got your dream ride."

Asha hovered over the driver's seat she was about to climb into and looked at Dean impassively over the roof of her car. "I can go faster than 45 miles an hour in this one so you're going to have to keep up." She slid into the car, her head disappearing from view.

Dean listened to her crank the Jeep's engine and watched her pull away from the building before he climbed inside his red Scion and followed her out.

XXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

8: 15 PM

"Hey," Logan watched Max come through the door of their apartment. "How was the pool game?" He was craned back in his computer chair in his office. The partitions had been left open so he could keep his eye on the kids.

Max slammed the door and didn't answer him, heading into the kitchen.

Jessie looked up from the blocks he was stacking sky high on the coffee table, while Lucy sat asleep in her infant seat on top of the table. He was actually building a replica of the Seattle Business District Skyline to use as a model for a school project. It was a very good scale model and he was adding the last story to the Steklar Multimedia Tower when Max distracted him and made a few of the blocks fall off the top.

"Is mommy mad?" Jessie asked scooping up some of the fallen red block off the table to start rebuilding the fallen story.

"Yeah Jess, I think mommy's mad," Logan agreed standing up from his leather computer chair. Actually he thought 'mommy' looked pissed, but he couldn't say that in front of his six-year-old son.

"Can I have a glass of milk mommy?" Logan heard Lexiee's voice when he entered the kitchen. He found his daughter sitting atop the island counter top, swinging her bare feet back and forth over the edge.

"Is something wrong?" Logan asked watching Max pull down a plastic cup from the cabinet above her head. She poured out half a glass of milk for Lexiee in the same silence.

"Here baby, don't spill it." Max carefully handed off the cup to her daughter, making sure she had it grasped firmly in her hands before pulling away.

"Thank you," Lexie said taking a drink, both hands around the cup.

"You're welcome," Max responded.

"Max," Logan said, trying to get her to say something to him. "Can we talk about this?"

"You don't even know what this is about," Max responded.

"And you being elusive on the subject isn't helping me any sweetheart," Logan clarified, sighing the way he did when he was beginning to get exasperated. "Did something happen at Crash?"

"Nothing to write home about," Max insisted, smoothing Lexie's soft brown hair down the sides of her head with both hands.

Logan could tell that she was just trying to keep busy to avoid talking to him. "See, that scenario doesn't seem to fit judging by how upset you are."

"I'm not upset Logan," Max returned, lying with the ease of someone who had done it for years. She took the empty plastic cup from Lexie when her daughter offered it up to her, and set it on the counter.

"Right, so this is you on a good night," Logan wasn't buying it. They had been together too long, he knew how to read her signals.

Max cut him a look and scooped up Lexie, settling her against her hip. She walked out of the kitchen without elaborating on anything that had happened at Crash. She was still fuming from being cut down by a complete stranger, but she wasn't even in the mood to bitch to Logan about it.

Logan followed Max into the living room where she carried Lexie to coffee table where Jessie was still working on his scale model.

"2000 Hours," Max told her son. "Time to halt the construction for tonight."

"Fifteen more minutes mom, please?" Jessie begged, keeping his eyes on his work.

"Sorry hun it's a school night, negotiations aren't doable," Max stated.

Jessie looked over to where Lucy was asleep in her infant seat on the edge of the coffee table. "Lucy's younger than me and she's still up."

"Does she look like she's awake?" Max asked her son. Already Lucy was starting to coo in her sleep and wriggle her feet like she was swimming, signs that she was deep inside some dream.

"But she still isn't in bed yet," Jessie was stalling to buy time.

"I'm coming back for her after you two get going Jess, I only have so many hands," Max shifted Lexie to her other hip. "C'mon, stalling doesn't work on me babe, move it."

Jessie put down his Legos with a sigh that sounded very much like Max when she was upset and climbed up from his knees and walked over to Max who was starting to head to the hallway that led to the penthouse's three bedrooms.

"Do you want me to put Lucy down?" Logan asked Max.

"Why not?" came her response. "I've already got too many troops to move out."

Logan started to pick up the baby carrier's handle when he heard the sound of the doorbell ringing. "Maybe I should get that first," Logan commented, more to himself than Max because she had gone from the room.

But a second later her sarcastic reply still reached his ears: "Ya think?"

Logan sighed quietly under his breath; whatever was bothering Max was obviously something big enough to brood in her for a while, she wasn't a woman who hung onto petty arguments. He stole a glance at his sleeping baby daughter in her infant seat. "I'll be right back." He headed into the foyer and pulled the front door open.

"Hey, Asha," Logan was a little confused to see Asha standing there; she didn't normally pay calls to him at night. And he was even more confused by the sight of a man who wasn't Zack, with buzzed, what looked like it was once brown hair, dressed in a black sweater and jeans, standing beside her.

"Logan-" Asha was just as tongue tied as Logan. "Sorry, is this a bad time?" Asha felt as nervous as if she was picking up a date at his parent's house. Beside her Dean hadn't said a word. She had no idea why he felt that whatever he wanted to tell her warranted him following her up here, but for some reason she hadn't stopped him.

"No," Logan dropped his confusion for reassurment. "Come in," he moved aside so that Asha and the man he guessed was her friend could enter the penthouse. He closed the door and turned back to the pair that was still standing in his foyer.

"Sorry," Asha apologized to Logan, "This is a friend of mine, Dean Miller. He's on leave from the USMC. Dean this is Logan Cale." She said this all rather hurriedly, wanting to get through the introductions and pleasantries.

"Hey nice to meet you," Logan held out his hand to Dean, being as courteous as his upbringing had taught him. Dean looked a little wary when he shook Logan's hand, looking as equally confused as Logan.

"You too," Dean sounded even more confused when he spoke. He lowered his hand from Logan's and let it hang at his side.

Logan could tell by Dean's body language that he really didn't know what he was doing there.

And Asha could tell that she needed to just hurry up and do what she came here for. "Is Max home?" she asked Logan.

"Yeah, I'll get her for you." Logan answered. He walked Asha and Dean over to one of the two leather couches in the living room. "Have a seat," he gestured towards the couch. When neither Dean nor Asha made a move to indicate that they wanted a seat, Logan gave up offering and called his wife.

"Max-"

"Did you put Lucy down?" Max's far reply echoed from the bedroom.

"Not yet," Logan replied, stopping for a moment, expecting a reprimand from her because she was just in that kind of mood tonight. When none came he went on. "Asha's here sweetheart, with a – friend." He hesitated just a second on the last part because he exactly sure what Asha and Dean's relationship was.

Logan stepped over to the coffee table, forgoing picking up the baby carrier this time, and lifted Lucy's small body out of it and carried her up against his shoulder. Lucy turned her head sideways on his shoulder and her warm baby breath tickled his ear. Logan was glad for the small distraction, because there was something tense about three adults just hanging around somewhere not talking.

"Is that your kid?" Dean's question broke the awkward silence.

"She's one of them," Logan answered. "Children have a way of multiplying on you when you're really in love with your wife." Logan could tell his words put a small crack in the tension in the room because of the small smile that Asha now wore on her face.

"She's beautiful Logan," Asha told him. This was the first time she had seen Lucy. She knew that she had already been born but she hadn't been up to see her yet. Plus the last week had been hell. Even with his transgenic genes, Zack's gunshot wound had taken almost eleven days to heal and left him with a thin scar up the right side of his neck, a constant reminder to Asha of how close he came to dying. And she had been too focused on that, plus marrying him the night after the raid, to think about his niece, their niece. It was weird for her to think of herself as an aunt. She had allowed Jessie to call her Aunt Asha before, but now it was official.

Lucy cooed against Logan's shoulder, like she knew that Asha had just complimented her and enjoyed the attention. Logan smiled and rubbed her back in circular motions with his hands to make sure that she didn't wake up. "I think she just said thanks."

Asha smiled again, allowing the silence to linger until she heard footfalls behind her and turned to see Max entering the living room from the hallway.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of a late night visit girl?" Max asked, walking towards the sofa as she talked.

"Hey Max," Asha stood up from the couch. "I was in the neighborhood-" she stopped herself when she realized how lame that sounded. She had been nowhere near the neighborhood that Max now called home. "Never mind."

Max was about to comment on Asha's flustered speech when the person Asha was with fully came into view.

Dean stared at Max in complete silence, wondering why she was here, while Max did the same, only also wondering what the hell this man was doing with Asha. Dean's comment to Max was still ringing in her ears, making her fist unconsciously close in preparation to hit something.

"Max?" Asha looked at Max questioningly; she hadn't seen Dean's confrontation with Max and Zack at Crash.

"Who's your friend?" Max asked, sounding more snappish then inquiring.

There was a low growl emitting from the corner of the kitchen, and Kaja skulked into the living room standing right up against Max's left leg. The dog's body was tense; her ears laid back, tail erect. She could sense the uneasiness in Max's voice and had gone into a protective mode against what she deemed was an intruder.

Dean eyed the dog warily, watching her bare her teeth as she growled. There were German Shepherds all over his Marine base, guard dogs mostly, and Dean knew how aggressive they could be when they felt threatened.

"This is Dean Miller," Asha clarified. She watched Kaja finally back down at a hand signal from Max. It was fairly obvious to Asha that Max and Dean had issues, though she didn't understand why. "A friend of mine. He has a few days off from the Marines so he came down to visit me. Dean, this is Max, Logan's wife, Zack's sister."

After hearing that Max was married, Dean began festering with new rage, completely pissed off by how Zack and this woman could cheat on their other relationships. But that anger only lasted the short half-second until Asha remarked about Max being Zack's sister. Though Max and Zack looked nothing alike, short of both having brown eyes, Dean knew that that was the least of his problems. "Yeah, we already met Asha." Dean could feel Max's eyes boring holes in his head as well as the eyes of her dog, which still sat glaring at him a few feet away.

"At Crash," Max agreed, keeping her glare locked on Dean. She realized now that Dean had thought Zack had been cheating on Asha, but that still didn't excuse him insulting her. She hadn't been cheating with Zack, and she sure as hell didn't like being called a bitch. So both faults rested on Dean's head, not hers. Max scratched Kaja's head between her ears, her actions making the dog lay down obediently, but Kaja still kept both black eyes on Dean. Max left her there and stepped over to Logan. "I'll take her baby, she might want to nurse before she beds down."

Logan passed her Lucy, confused as hell as to what was going on, though now he sensed that Dean had something to do with Max's present pissy mood.

Max stood there with the baby in her arms, not making a move for the nursery. Dean still hadn't said anything and she hadn't expected him too apologize immediately; he didn't seem like that kind of guy. But she wasn't about to let him off the hook. "Nice seeing you again Dean. Though I'm glad this time you took a step back to ponder the situation before you slandered me as a bitch again. You saved yourself a trip to the hospital." She watched Dean's face widen in embarrassment as she passed him.

"You mind if I tag along Max?" Asha asked. "There's something I'd like to discuss incognito."

"Knock yourself out," Max answered over her shoulder as she headed back into the hallway with Lucy. She passed by the Rockwell painting – given to Logan by his mother – that hung on the high wooden walls, and was about to open the door to the nursery when Asha stopped her.

"Max," Max turned around to face Asha when she called her. Judging by the clipped remark Max had made to Dean Asha had a pretty good idea what Dean had said to her, and she knew Max was justified in being pissed off. "I'm sorry about Dean. I don't know what's gotten into him." Asha sighed. "He's my friend, but he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. You should've heard him go off on Zack tonight, I practically had to lay him out for that one."

"You don't have to explain about being defensive about Zack Asha," Max explained. "Friend or not, if someone badmouthed my husband like that he'd be missing more then a few teeth."

Asha's face contorted in shock for a moment at Max's words. She had come here tonight to tell Max that she had married her brother, but it seems she already knew. "Did Zack tell you?"

"No," Max responded, rocking Lucy gently in her arms. "I just figured it out on my own."

"How'd you find out?" Asha asked, curious.

"Zack's not one to wear jewelry, until recently."

Asha fingered the wedding ring on her hand; Zack never had told her where he bought it, or perhaps where he stole it. But she thought it was very beautiful. "We did it after the raid, with Father Destry."

"I guess this makes you my first official sister-in-law," Max stated, a slow spreading smile coming across her face.

Asha smiled back, feeling a sense of relief wash over her. She hadn't expect Max to reject her, but Asha still hadn't known how she would react. "I guess so. Though I'm not sure if I want to take Zack's last name, seeing how he has none."

Max laughed dryly. "C'mon, you can help me put your niece to bed."

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After Max and Asha left Logan and Dean wound up staring at each other for the better part of five minutes. Logan wasn't sure he had anything decent to say to the other man anymore after hearing Max's remark about Dean before she left the room. He prided himself on being courteous, but he also didn't allow any slander to be spoken against his wife.

Dean could feel Logan's gaze on him beginning to grow hostile. And Dean no longer felt that it was unjustified. Afterall, Dean had called the man's wife a bitch, and insulted her brother beforehand. The dog had moved to sit down next to Logan's feet, resting her large head against his right calf. Her ears weren't laid back anymore, but she had the glint of a warning glare in her eyes, and she was directing that glare at Dean. I'm not getting on the Christmas list anytime soon. Dean thought.

"Nice place you got," Dean's voice sounded pathetically weak as opposed to the way he normally sounded. He couldn't tell if Logan would ever forgive him for the slam against Max, so he tried a tactical evasion technique – changing the subject.

"Thanks," Logan was willing to be decent with Dean, so long as he prevented any more snide remarks from escaping his mouth. "So you met Max at Crash?" the question was very rhetorical but Logan couldn't think of any other conversation starters that didn't involve cursing.

"Yeah," Dean drew out an awkward silence. "I caught her at a table with your brother-in-law."

"Oh, I see," Logan returned taking in the bit of information, already suspecting what had transpired between Max and Dean. "Was that before or after you called her a bitch?" Logan couldn't help himself, the remark slipped. Just because he promised he would be decent to Dean didn't mean he couldn't get to the bottom of a few things.

Dean's hardened Marine exterior crumbled under a cringe. He knew he deserved that remark. "Look man, about that I'm sorry-"

"Forget it," Logan interrupted. "It was sort of a mistake on your part. Besides I'm not the one you should be apologizing too."

Dean sighed, agreeing silently with Logan. "How long have you and Max been together?"

"Almost seven years," Logan replied.

"Is she one to hold a grudge?"

"It depends on the situation," Logan answered. "But I would own up to my mistakes quickly if I were the one in that situation."

Dean thought on something silently before speaking. "I guess I should find her and apologize," he made a move to leave but Logan's voice interrupted him.

"Stay here Dean, she's going to come back this way." Logan insisted. "Max doesn't tend to back down from confrontation that easily."

"Tell me about it," Dean returned. The tension in his voice was starting to loosen a bit after he realized that Logan wasn't going to jump him. "That is one strong woman you married."

Logan released a small smile at that. "It's one of the things I love most about her." He scratched Kaja between her ears like Max had done. The dog didn't lay down this time, but turned her head up to his, resting her muzzle against his thigh, sated by Logan's petting.

Dean watched this transaction in relief. Dogs weren't like people. When they don't like you they don't lie, they let you know immediately and Dean would rather not be on the bad side of a German Shepherd's temper. "If that's an inherited trait then I guess Asha's marrying into your wife's family is a better thing then I realized."

Logan stopped scratching Kaja's head and looked up surprisingly at Dean's remark. Did he just say what I think he did? But Logan didn't have any chance to ask Dean to elaborate more before Max and Asha reemerged from the hallway and stepped into the living room.

"Did we miss anything good?" Max asked looking from her husband to Dean.

Dean dared to glance up in Max's brown eyes, seeing the arch in her eyebrows, like she was waiting for something. "Max I-" He had talked to his Drill Sergeant with more poise than this.

"About what I said tonight, I don't even know you and I jumped to some dumb, half assed conclusions, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't excuse what I said, but hopefully it'll defer any attacks on me until a later date."

Max allowed a small smile to creep on her face at Dean's remark. She could tell by what he just said that he was someone who got too caught up in hostilities, but wasn't really a bad guy. "My calendar's kinda full up this year, so you just got lucky."

Dean returned Max's smile. He could tell that she was still a bit annoyed with him, but it was more muted. "I never believed in luck before, but I guess now's a good time to start as any." Dean checked his watch, mostly for distraction. He had made amends with Max but the entire reason he had come up here at all was to tell Asha about the 'slut' cheating on her with Zack. As amended as his and Max's situation was Dean didn't expect Max to invite him to stay.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome, Max-" he watched the woman's dark brown eys, noting that she really was beautiful. "If you see your brother, tell him – I overestimated my prowess." Zack's words sting rang in his ears as well as the stinging pain from Zack's grip around his neck. He would probably be bruised in the morning.

"I'll tell him," Asha answered before Max could. As soon as I find out where the hell he went. Asha felt awkward again for a moment; she had run out of relevant things to say. Perhaps if she said some formal goodbyes the tension that was there might vanish.

"Sorry for bothering you so late guys," Asha said this remark to both Max and Logan, but she stepped over to Logan while she talked. She looked up into the face of her old boyfriend and suddenly thought about how different things would've gone had they never split up. Logan would most likely have married her because he was a nice guy, and it was the "right thing to do." He would've treated her well, have been a good husband, but Asha knew that neither of them wouldn't have been happy. Formality was not love.

Logan caught a hidden meaning in Asha's look, finding them as hard to read now as they were when he was involved with her. But despite the secrecy of her gaze he could sense satisfaction in her as well. Despite how Logan sometimes felt about Zack, he was good for her. Logan looked down briefly at Asha's hand and finally noticed the glint of gold clasped around her finger. He never thought of Zack to be the kind of man to make a long-term commitment, but Zack was constantly changing the rules about everything.

"I already have more sisters-in-law than I know what to do with, but one more won't alter the chaos that much." Logan said smiling. "Looks like you became a part of my family after all," He said this last part softly.

Asha looked down at her ring with a muffled laugh before turning back up to meet his gaze again.

"Looks like it."

Logan kissed Asha on the side of her face. "Welcome to the chaos."

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Asha and Dean walked out of the penthouse in silence. The glass elevator dinged on the floor a few seconds after it was called and the pair stepped inside in the same silence.

Dean watched the lights on the floor indicator go down. Asha stood a few feet away from him, her arms hanging loosely by her side. He could clearly see her wedding band from where he was standing. One piece of jewelry had turned him into a complete psycho. But it wasn't the ring that had made him go nuts; it was the symbol it stood for. A real world testament that Asha Copland was a grown woman now, with her own life, her own love. Dean didn't care for Asha like a lover. He loved her like a sister, and that was why he had gone so ballistic. He felt that he had to protect her from what he thought was a bad situation. But Asha chewing his ass out told Dean that she could take care of herself.

Asha still hadn't looked at him so Dean instigated the first move and turned his head to her. "Asha I'm sorry - It was pretty shitty of me to think you weren't on the ball with this guy."

"Yeah it was," Asha agreed. She still wasn't looking at him. "There are plenty of little girls who need looking out for Dean, but I'm not one of them."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Dean repeated apologetically, leaning up against the elevator's window. He chewed on his next words before letting them escape his mouth. "You weren't all that together in high school Asha-" He held up his hand before she could comment. "You were smart, but quiet, shy, almost naieve about the world outside your books. That's the girl I remember when I left for Basic. So when I came back and found out you shacked up with this guy who's obviously ran around the life block a few times, I – I just didn't want you to get hurt is all."

Asha finally looked at Dean, a soft, but piercing gaze. "I'm not the same girl that I was in high school Dean, I grew up. I've been through shit that no book could ever teach me about. But Zack's been there through some of the deepest of it. He's hurt me Dean – I'm not going to lie, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk away. He has deep issues, and that's how he deals with them, but that doesn't make him a bad guy; it just makes him human."

Dean absorbed her words before speaking again. "You really love him don't you?"

"Yeah I do," Asha replied quietly, but fiercely. "And he loves me."

Dean felt a sigh forming in his throat but swallowed it to keep it from coming out. Asha and Zack's relationship wasn't a sham at all; it was real. And he finally had to respect that. He stepped over the short distance of the elevator floor and pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy for you."

Asha returned the hug with her arms around Dean's neck. "Thanks."

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Logan raised the wine glass in his hand, leaning over the coffee table to meet Max's eyes. "To Asha and Zack."

Max clinked her wine glass against his causing the Merlot to swish gently inside. She didn't add anything to Logan's toast and sipped the dark alcohol in silence.

Logan observed Max's movements. Although she hadn't spoken a word he could sense that there was something she was thinking about because of the faraway look in her eyes. "What is it?"

"This is just weird for me," Max's voice was low. She set the wineglass on the coffee table in front of her. "For as long as I can remember, my sisters and I were the only women in Zack's life. And now that's changed."

"You don't have to be jealous Max, I don't think Zack will care for you any less just because he's married now," Logan insisted.

"I'm not jealous Logan," Max clarified, somewhat hostile. She wasn't jealous of Asha's relationship with Zack. What she was feeling had nothing to do with jealously. "Zack's been a lone wolf most of his life, but after he met Asha he finally allowed himself to connect intimately with someone else. He's never had that before, not even with us."

"Falling in love will do that to you," Logan agreed hovering his wine glass over the coffee table.

"No matter how many revisionist spins are put on it, love changes your whole perspective. It did with me."

Max smiled gently at his words. "Zack's been through a lot of shit in his life. He deserves to be happy."

"For some reason I can't ever picture Zack as being happy sweetheart," Logan stated.

"Me neither," Max admitted. "But that doesn't mean he can't come close."

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FENTAL AVE

9:30 PM

The front door of her apartment creaked loudly as Asha pushed it open. She knew she should really ask her Super to take a look at it but the man was a slum lord and would most likely try to blame her for messing it up somehow. The door squeaked just as loudly when she closed it and Asha was sure that she had woken up the entire floor with the noise.

She slid the deadbolts in their place and then turned to walk into her dark living room stopping briefly to lay her keys down on the end table by her couch. She started to head towards her bedroom but smacked right into a bulky piece of metal behind her couch.

"Shit," Asha rubbed at the aching femur bones in her legs and felt in front of her to see what she had run into. Her hands made contact with sleek metal handlebars. It only took her two seconds to realize that what she had hit was Zack's bike parked right in the middle of the living room. Which mean that Zack was in the apartment because he would never leave his bike unattended.

Still rubbing the sore area over her jeans Asha went around the motorcycle and continued to walk towards her bedroom.

Like the living room, the bedroom lights were all off, but this time Asha flipped on the small three-bulb ceiling light so she could see. The bed was still haphazardly made from the morning and beside it her small nickel-plated alarm clock ticked on the black nightstand.

The room was completely empty "Zack?" Asha didn't expect an answer, but if Zack's bike was here, he had to be here somewhere as well.

A yawn overtook her. It was only nine-thirty, Asha wasn't planning on going to bed but she was wiped. She wanted nothing more than to crash on her sofa and sip a beer while half watching the late evening news.

She slipped out of her denim jacket and hung it on the foot post of her bed before pulling the gray long sleeved shirt up over her head and hanging it in the same place. Standing there in her red lace bra she hunted through her dresser drawers and pulled out a black spaghetti strapped camisole.

She set the camisole down on the dresser top and reached around to undo the clasps of her bra. She got the first hook undone and then felt another pair of hands helping her with the second clasp.

Asha jerked around – holding the unsecured bra to her breasts with her arm – and stared right into Zack's brown eyes. Her heart slowed down to a normal rate after she saw who it was.

"Can't blame a guy for helping out," Zack insisted quietly. He took the camisole down from the dresser and handed it to her.

Asha let her bra fall to the floor and took the article of clothing from Zack. Her bare breasts were exposed for a few seconds before they disappeared underneath the fabric of her camisole. She wondered where Zack had gone after he left Crash, and as much as she hated to sound like a nagging wife she wanted to know. "Where'd you go?"

"X5's are entitled to a little secrecy now and then," Zack responded dryly.

"Secrecy my ass," Asha retorted. "That line only works on fresh out of boot camp soldiers Zack, not your wife."

Zack glared at her for a moment, seemingly about to counterattack her statement, but then the glare in his eyes died down so that he was simply looking at her. "Sorry to disappoint your visions of me hitting the night spots and paying for cheap action, but all I did was drive around the city until every drug dealer was convinced I was one of their couriers and then I came here."

Asha could tell by the inflection in Zack's voice that he was telling the truth. Also she knew that Zack may have been a smart ass, but he wasn't a liar.

"So what happened to your little boyfriend?" If Zack was jealous, his voice gave nothing away. He just stared at Asha, waiting for an answer.

"Dean's gone to Ohio. His mom lives there and he only has a few days of his leave left," Asha replied. "I don't think it'll make you feel any better but Dean apologized to Max for the remark. Apparently he was confused about a few things."

"You're right, it doesn't make me feel any better," Zack said. "Someone saying they're sorry doesn't magically erase them shooting their mouth off."

"He's a good guy Zack," Asha insisted. "Growing up he was like a brother to me, he just gets overprotective sometimes," Asha gave him a 'you know what that's like' look, but it disappeared a second later. "But that doesn't mean he's allowed to slam people he doesn't even know, my husband included."

"I don't need someone to defend me Asha," Zack told her matter-of-fact.

"Well that's too bad," Asha returned. "Because you do the same for me, and I have to live up to the quid pro quo."

She could tell that struck a chord with Zack. Her eyes wandered away from his face, traveling down his shoulder to rest on his tattoo. She traced the Chinese character with the pointer finger of her right hand. "I know for sure that Manticore didn't give you this."

"Manticore already gave me a mark, this one's mine," Zack insisted. The skin around the tattoo was still tender making Asha's touch hot on his arm.

Asha stopped her tracing and rested her hands on either side of Zack's bicep. "What's it mean?"

Zack's eyes moved up to hers, unblinking. "Found."

Asha could feel the intensity of his gaze, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "I thought a super soldier wanted for nothing."

"So did I," Zack's return was soft, his gaze never moving from hers.

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Oh my

Where do

How do I begin?

To answer the question

I know you've been wondering

Where could

Why could

How could it all be true?

These things

Who's that?

And what's he to you?

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Asha didn't smile but kissed the skin over Zack's tattoo. "And here I thought it was just hot," She found his eyes again, and saw that they had gone liquid, and she felt like she could drown in them. She released her hands from his arm and put one hand behind his neck, but Zack removed it.

Asha was confused, and even more so when nothing on Zack's face suggested that he was mad, or even a little broody.

"You can't initiate everything," Zack informed slipping his hands behind Asha's head and she felt him kiss her, his hands warm on her neck.

Asha moved her hands up to cup the sides of his face, her wedding brushing against the skin of his temple.

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He is

The make you alrighter

The get you through the nighter

The soul defender of anything I feel

The pain remover

Bad times undoer

The joy bringer

The love giver…

He is.

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This isn't as hard hitting as the previous chapter, but Zack and Asha needed a chapter dealing with the new status of their relationship. I think Asha would keep her last name because Zack has none. And if they have any kids most likely they'll take their mom's name. (am I hinting at anything here? You'll have to wait and see, hehe..)

Ahh Dean, he was meant as an antagonist, though it would've been too easy to have him be a complete asshole and have Asha never speak to him again; that's not how things work. He's still Asha's friend, so she has to deal with his attitude.

Finally the song played on the radio at the beginning was: Suga Suga, sung by: Baby Bash, and the ending song is He Is by: Heather Headley. (which I use a lot in my fics, but hey, it's a good song.)

R/R please.

Peace

Mystic