Okay I decided all the friends and busybodies could use their own chapter to see what they were thinking. Because you know you all to talk about your friends and their lives behind their backs. It's human nature. :-P

Reminders:

John – Bennett's friend from dinner

Kyle – Bitsy's hubby.

Trix – OC's gf


Chapter Twenty-Nine

Busybodies


"She get hotter since the wedding?" John asked in a low voice as if their wives could hear through the glass door they were hiding behind as the valet fetched their respective cars.

"Max seems to grow more attractive every time I see her," both of their eyes watching his car drive away, after watching Max slide into Logan's car probably a little more attentively than they should have.

"Fuckin lucky ass guy…How old is she?"

"21? Or turning 21?"

"Damn," John's voice continued to remain low. "If it weren't for the Pulse I doubt I would have been able to even score Lisa."

"Yea and I'm pretty sure she's not with him for his money," Bennett smiled, knowing that probably wasn't the case with his friend's marriage.

"Ugh," John muttered with a nod. Mentally wondering as he hadn't been able to stop himself all night what she looked like naked. She was so young, never had any children…

"Your car's here," Bennett turned and smiled towards the women signaling them to come out.

-o-o-o-

Bennett impatiently waited for Bitsy to come to the door. He knocked again.

"Ben, give them a minute," Marianne smiled.

He sighed annoyed with waiting and hearing no response. He pulled out his cell since he couldn't ring the doorbell without waking the hopefully two sleeping children. "Bits."

"Hey you coming home soon?" her voice drawled.

"Yea Bits I'm outside your house, I've been knocking for five minutes."

"Oh sorry, must have dozed off," she proved her point by letting out a big yawn.

He hit end to find his wife looking at him as if he'd grown three heads, "You've been doing everything in your power all night to avoid going home and now you're rushing to pick up Nicky?"

"It's either that or pee in her bushes Mar."

"And here I was thinking you actually missed our son," she replied dryly.

"Some things are more pressing at the moment," he said just barely controlling the urge to hop in anticipation.

"Hey," the door started to open.

Bennett pushed it the rest of the way and ducked in, "Hey Bits," he said as he briskly moved past her not even noticing his son was in her arms.

Bits frowned as she watched him disappear into her house and turned back with a confused look to Marianne.

"If you saw how much he drank, you wouldn't be surprised," Marianne said with a smile as she took her son from his aunt, all while inwardly berating herself for not listening to everyone when they said her marriage would change after having a child. Bennett himself had seemed to regress, he either wanted to relive his carefree bachelor days or to be babied himself.

"Ah," Bitsy nodded, "Kyle's getting Nick's stuff together."

"Thanks," she smiled, "how was he?"

"Compared to my daughter, a saint. How was dinner? What's the new gossip?" Bitsy asked as she walked towards the living room.

"You're right they're sleeping together," Marianne conceded as she took a seat on the couch.

"Told you so," Bitsy said with a smile and a point of her finger.

"You cannot be talking about Logan and Max again," Kyle said on a sigh as he walked into the room, arms full of baby paraphernalia.

Bitsy turned with large eyes, "He's my cousin and he's lying to me."

"Maybe that's because it's his business, not yours," he said coming over and leaning against the arm of her chair.

"He's like my little brother, it is to my business," she replied just as she'd replied about everything throughout Logan's life.

"Huh?" Bennett asked walking into the room confused, "What'd I do?"

"No you," Bitsy replied rolling her eyes, annoyed with him for having gone out while she'd been stuck in the house babysitting, "Logan."

"Him and Max sleeping together," Marianne further added.

"Oh," he said making his way over to a seat, " Logan looked like he was ready to snap my neck when I asked if Max was pregnant last week."

"What?" both females squawked in near perfect unison.

He was startled for a moment before he shook his head, "She's not."

"Why did you think she was pregnant Bennett?" Bitsy asked Logan's childhood confidant, realizing as she had back then that her brother and booze made for loose lips.

He shook his head, suddenly a little slower than he been just a few moments ago. Must be the chair, he thought as he fought to keep his eyes open. "It was nothing, Max was just taking a nap…I thought it was odd."

"I thought Max barely slept?" Marianne asked remembering the little tidbit she'd learned about their current topic of conversation at a previous dinner.

"She did say that didn't she?" Bennett turned towards his wife. He shook his head again, "I don't know she was sick or something."

"Really? She didn't look like she'd been sick tonight," Marianne wondered aloud, she knew most normally became a few shades lighter after an illness, the nose remained dry and red, or dark circles formed that took longer to get rid of than one'd been sick.

"She didn't look sick then either," his eyes widened and he instantly panicked that it had come out the way he was thinking it.

Kyle caught his reaction and stifled a laugh.

Fortunately for him the women were too caught up to notice, "Oh you don't think…" Bitsy asked towards Marianne with a slight tilt of her head.

"Wow," was all she said in response.

"Oh jesus," Kyle said standing.

Bennett just stared out for a moment, something about this was wrong, he just couldn't place his finger on it. Oh yea, now he got it, "Uh Mar she was drinking with dinner."

Both women's faces suddenly fell.

"Oh yea," Marianne remembered.

"I doubt Max would drink if she was pregnant, I know Logan certainly wouldn't let her," he may not know his cousin's 'friend' that well, but he knew his cousin.

"A lot?" Bitsy asked clinging to the last little bit of hope, "I mean I had the occasional glass of wine when I was pregnant with Brittany."

Well that explained a lot.

Marianne shook her head, "Ben's right, she was drinking a Martini when we got there…Not really a pregnant woman drink."

"Do you really want Max to be pregnant?" Kyle asked looking down at his wife's crestfallen face.

She shrugged, "I don't know, it would kinda be nice. The kids would all be so close in age. I mean if we have another baby soon it would mean there would be three little cousins all within two years. The boys all loved being in school together," she pouted remembering their childhood through rose colored glasses.

"Pfft," Ben sputtered. Yea growing up in the shadow of his brother's athletic abilities and Logan's academic prowess. Yea real fun.

"Oh shut up," Bitsy rolled her eyes at her brother, "waaah waah, why does Logan get to do it when he's younger than me."

"There's a reason why your parents avoided you guys like the plague," Marianne said with an eye roll and leaned back into the chair. They actually made her family look normal.

Kyle laughed, while Bitsy and Bennett both looked annoyed.

"Hmm," Bitsy murmured a moment later.

"Whatever it is you're thinking just spit it out, I'd like to go to sleep eventually tonight," Kyle said knowing his wife wouldn't kick their guests out until she had gotten it all out of their system.

"You said he snapped when you asked if she was pregnant?"

"Yea," Ben nodded.

Bitsy bit her lip and her eyes focused downward, suddenly thinking things she'd forgotten all about when she'd returned to the States. "Could Logan…Can…" her head shook and her heart suddenly twisted, "I mean he is paralyzed." She'd just forget. All the time she'd forget the full extent of it, she was so used to seeing him still walking, but he couldn't, not on his own. She continued on since no one was responding, "I mean even if he wanted to could he get her pregnant?"

"Uh," was all Ben got out of his throat.

"I always forget he's paralyzed," Marianne said with a shake. Even when though she'd first met him and he was in the chair, his personality had been so vibrant, you didn't comprehend there was something broken within that strong body.

"Me too," Bitsy said continuing to looked depressed. All those times she'd harassed him about Max…Had she been rubbing salt in an open wound?

Kyle remained silent thanking god he had minimal contact with his family.

Bennett was suddenly aware of the fact that if his cousin had any idea this conversation was going on, paralyzed or not, his cousin would beat the living shit out him…One of Logan's arms was bigger than both of his. "He can still have sex," he said with closed eyes as if, if he didn't see them then he wasn't betraying his cousin.

He opened his eyes and both women were staring at him.

"The doctor when it first happened," he explained. "I don't know the details beyond that. I asked him once and he said that it wasn't that they couldn't have sex it was that they weren't," he winced in guilt, but he was pretty sure his cousin would rather they know the truth than what they were thinking. Not to mention his cousin could spot anything resembling pity miles away.

"Oh," Bitsy said and paused for a moment feeling guilty they were talking about this. "So I am right and they are sleeping together," she smiled and lightened the mood.

Bennett laughed and shook his head.

-o-o-o-

"Hey Max," Trix smiled from the kitchen as Max walked in.

Max's eyes focused in confusion as she took in the brunette in her kitchen pouring herself a glass of OJ to go along with the English muffin smeared with peanut butter. There goes my breakfast, she thought allowing a bit of the pout she was feeling to escape. "Hey," she quickly covered and smiled. "I thought you guys were over at your place?"

She shook her head, "Ken had 'the guys' over…Got too loud for us. So how was your date?" she asked as she bit into the last thing resembling breakfast food in the apartment.

"Wasn't a date," she replied still annoyed at the fact that she wasn't alone like she expected to be and worse her food was being eaten. What was there left for her to eat tomorrow? Can of pork and beans was the only thing she could think of that didn't need to be made.

"Don't listen to her Sug," Cindy said walking into the room. "She let them pluck her eyebrows, it was a date."

Max rolled her eyes.

"No doggie bag?" Cindy sadly looked at Max's bare hands and the counter.

"Wasn't really that kind of place," she said taking off her coat as she walked over to the couch tossing it over.

"So seriously if this isn't her date outfit what is?" Trix jokingly questioned.

"Hmm got enough things going on in my life that I can't remember that far back….Hmm what was it 2, 3 years ago?"

Max scowled, Darren hadn't been that long ago.

"So what were the 'just friends' up to tonight?" Original Cindy smiled. She turned to Trixie, "Last week that couch had more fun than I've ever had with any of my friends."

"Okay as fun as this is, I think I'm going to bed now," Max said with intentionally fake smile. She grabbed her coat and started walking towards her door, "Do I need to put my music on or can you guys keep it down tonight?" she returned the humor to her voice.

"Better put the music on Boo," Cindy smiled.

-o-o-o-

Music didn't work.

Not like anything was happening just a bunch of giggling and straight out laughter and a few barks of words that she was able to vaguely hear over the music.

It suddenly occurred to her that there was a good chance she was their topic of conversation.

Annoyed with that thought she realized she needed to keep herself busy to keep herself from paying attention to them.

Off went the turtleneck, down went the skirt. She caught sight of herself in the long mirror she'd managed to score for just a couple bucks at a swap meet a few months back.

From her swept back hair now looking rather windblown, to the satin black bra she'd been able to wear because the turtleneck was thick, to the black lace thong she'd had to wear because of how skin tight the skirt was, all the way down to the black stilettos with the thick black band. There had once been a pinup in Sky's locker for a few weeks that looked a lot like this.

She wondered what Logan would do if he saw her like this.

She stopped and actually turned to face the mirror, tilting her head as she thought about it and studied herself.

'Probably the most singularly beautiful face I've ever seen.'

She wondered...No she knew that it was pathetic how he actually made her feel that way. All the cat calls and cheesy lines that she had been subjected to…She knew she was attractive. Sometimes she used it to her advantage, most of the time she ignored it, she'd even tried to keep it hidden for a few years under baggie tee-shirts…After all she'd been raised to be a solider, not a girl…The transition had been a difficult one.

Logan had made her feel uneasy and curious with that one look, one statement.

She'd eventually gotten used to it. The occasional compliments he'd throw her way. The more serious and intense, 'wows' and 'amazings' she'd receive when out of casual dress.

She smiled and tilted her head the other way. 'Linda,' he'd renamed her Linda for their trip out to Willoughby. She still couldn't figure out if he meant to name her pretty, if it had been a conscious or unconscious decision or if she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion.

She'd meant to tease him about it, but had forgotten until it was too late to bring it up without looking like she'd been thinking of it.

She suddenly caught herself posing in the mirror, "You're being stupid," she muttered to her reflection. She didn't look like herself, that wasn't her in the mirror, it was a made up doll. She started to tug out the pins from her hair shaking it loose until it fell half flat half unnaturally waved from the style.

She shook her head as she sat down to undo the straps of her shoes.

She realized they'd grown quiet as she stood suddenly realizing her feet hurt from the unnatural position she'd contorted them into.

She frowned at her door and went to go find a fresh pair of sweats to change into since heat was another luxury they tended not to have on a regular basis.

Her sensitive ears picked up a low moan over the music and one drawer quickly shut for another.

Jeans pulled out, tee shirt, sweatshirt, socks…

It was a good night for a ride.


Happy St. Patty's day to those who are celebrating!