Logan had gone into the other room when her brothers and sisters came in to console her. He spent the night trying to concentrate on his work, but his mind wandered to Max and her siblings in the other room. He had fallen asleep in front of the computer, again. Later on, he heard someone creeping around him, and the person kissed him lightly on the head. Max, he thought with pleasure. She crept into the bathroom, and he got up quietly to follow her. He met Jondy in the hall, with a concerned look on her face. She signaled for him not to speak, just as Max came out of the bathroom. She brushed past them, and continued to the door. Jondy and Logan followed her.
"Where are you going, Max?" Jondy hissed.
"Nowhere, I'll be back in a few, don't worry," Max whispered. Logan realized that Max had on the same camoflauge uniform she wore when she fist came to him, two days ago. Max continued out the door, closing it in Jondy and Logan's faces. She almost seems bottled up, she never acts like this, Logan thought. He followed Jondy into the hall, just as the elevator door opened for Max.
"Max!" Jondy exclaimed. Max turned to wave at them all before Brinn stepped out of the shadows to grab Max and drag her into the elevator.
"Max," Logan yelled. The elevator doors shut, and Jondy ran to the elevator to press the "down" button.
"Don't," Logan whispered. Jondy looked up at him in surprise.
"She's going to check in with Renfro, the director. She'll be back," Logan added.
"Attention soilder!!" Renfro screamed. Max stood at attention, eyes straight ahead.
"So, Brinn here tells me you were beat up at Logan Cale's and that they probably took out your tracker. Is this true?" Renfro asked, her face an inch away from Max's.
"Yes, sir!" Max screamed.
"Now, this time, I will trust you, and let you off with a warning to never let that happen again, but if it does, I will make sure you will go back to Manticore for more experiments," Renfro hissed. Max shuddered involuntarily.
"Now, I will not require any more meeting, because I believe your "friends" will get suspicious, but remember, bring any of the X5's you can to the warehouse. Do not lie to me and say that they are not at Mr. Cale's penthouse; Brinn has seen them there. When do you think they will be ready to trust you, soilder?"
"I'm not sure ma'am, but I think I will have them in 10 days!" Max yelled.
"Don't think: do. Goodbye soilder," Max turned towards the door, only to see Brinn standing in front of her.
"Brinn, do your thing," Renfro added as she brushed past the girls. Brinn nodded and punched Max in the stomache, followed by a series of blows until Max saw stars.
Logan was in the kitchen, making the X5's something to eat, they had all woken
up an hour ago, and were hungry. Logan figured his culinary skills would be put to the test this week trying to feed eight always-hungry people. He heard a knock on the door, and opened it to find a battered Max. She fell into his arms at the first sight of him. He carried her into his room, followed by five of her siblings wanting to know what happened. They emerged from the room, gathering supplies and things needed to fix Max up.
Max woke up in Logan's bed, with him sleeping beside her in a chair, again. She tried to get up, but realized she was too sore, and flopped back onto the bed. Logan woke up from the activity, andsaw Max trying to get up.
"No, Max, don't try. Just rest today," he said as Max flopped onto the bed again.
"Here, let me get you some breakfast," he added, knowing how Max loved food.
"Fine," she answered. He left the room, just as her brothers and sisters came in, except for Charlie, and Fiona.
"Where's Charlie and Fiona?" She asked.
"Carrying out your orders," Jondy replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh, right," Max responded.
"So how are you sis?" Zane asked.
"Coulda' been better," Max replied.
Logan sat watching Max sleep. It was rare he ever watched her sleep, she didn't need all that much sleep. He enjoyed every moment of it. She had fallen asleep while he was reading to her, like a child does when an adult reads a fairy tale. She was probably catching up on her lost years. He wished he could have been with her at her personal hell, he wanted to be with her all the time. Max woke up, first one eye opening, then the other. She spotted Logan, then smiled.
"It's nice waking up to you sitting next to me," she said with a smile.
"There's nothing else, I'd rather do," he responded, returning her smile. "Come on, I'll make some breakfast," he added.
"If this becomes a tradition, I might just have to live here," Max said, following Logan into the kitchen.
"I can only dream," Logan whispered as he spun around, and held her close. She could feel his warm breath on her face. She smiled, as if giving him an invitation to kiss her. He leaned in for a kiss. The five X5's came around into the kitchen, and spotted Max and Logan kissing, so they quietly sneaked out.
"It's the freakin' love bug, those two," Jondy grumbled. They went back to the living room.
That night, Max and Logan sat on the couch, with her siblings sitting around the TV. They were watching a movie, but Max and Logan didn't notice any of it. Logan had his hand on Max's foot, massaging it, as he looked at her. Max, upon decision, sat up and moved over to Logan. He put his arm around her, and she settled into his chest. After a while of furtive glances, they started to kiss. And kiss.
"Number three," Max whispered with a smile. Logan looked at her, puzzled
"The third, no fourth time we kissed. I've been keeping count," Max added. Logan chuckled and dove in to tickle her and kiss her. She giggled, and Krit turned around to shush them, but had second thoughts. She turned back to the movie.
Later on, Max lay awake, thinking about Logan. She decided to check and see if Logan was awake or not. Maybe I can return the favor and watch him sleep for once, Max thought as she crept down the hall. She crept into his room, just as a dark figure hunched over Logan with a gleaming knife in her/his hand.
"Logan!!" Max screamed as she ran towards the dark figure. She tackled the figure to the ground. In the pale moonlight streaming in through the open window, she make out the features of the person's face.
"Brinn?" Max asked in disbelief. Brinn was supposed to be doing recon, not trying to kill Logan, Max thought. Caught off guard, Max was flipped over Brinn's head, into the wall. Brinn jumped onto the bed, knife once again in her hand.
"Logan, roll!" Max grunted, as she tried to get up.
Logan had woken up to his name being screamed, heard Brinn's name being said beside his bed, and before he knew it, Brinn was over him with a knife. Since he couldn't get up without his exoskeleton, he rolled off the bed, just as the knife intended for him jabbed into the pillow.
Brinn rolled over, putting the knife back into her jacket, just as Max jumped onto the bed. Before Max could touch her, Brinn kicked her. Max bent over to avoid it. Brinn kicked again, and Max swung back, missing it by an inch. Brinn dropped down as Max countered the move, and kicked Max around the knees, causing her to fall on her back. Just as Max landed on the bed, a foot came straight towards her face. She grabbed it, and her foot made contact with Brinn's body as she pushed the foot off the bed. Brinn rolled to a crouching position, as Max rolled off the bed and did the same.
Logan leaned against the wall, watching the girls fight. He had never seen Max move so quickly, she and Brinn were at it so fast, he couldn't tell who was winning. Suddenly, Brinn and Max were in a crouching position, watching each other intently. Brinn glanced at Logan, and suddenly pulled her knife out, lunging at Logan. Max's hand shot out to grab Brinn's wrist as she screamed, "Logan, move!" Logan rolled out of the way again, just as Brinn's body was flipped against the wall where he was sitting. Max kicked Brinn, not missing a chance. She kicked again, this time, Brinn turned over and caught it. She flipped Max over like she was a stuffed animal, and had her pinned against the bad in a second. She hit Max, then hit her again. Just as she was about to kick Max, a blow across the head from Max's foot knocked her to the floor, with Max closely following. Brinn found herself underneath Max, with Max's hand pinned to her throat, cutting off her air supply. Brinn's hand shot out, Max caught it. She flipped Max off her. Max gave Brinn a kick as she fell harmlessly onto the floor.
The X5's were disturbed from their sleep by a scuffle going on in Logan's room. They all woke, none of them sleeping very well. They opened the door, wondering what was going on, just as Max fell to the floor.
"Brinn?!" Syl whispered. They had not seen Brinn since she went back to Manticore, this Brinn they didn't know. While Brinn was distracted, Max took the chance to grab Brinn by the neck and pin her to the floor.
"Why are you here, Brinn?" Max hissed.
"You sure as hell won't get the job done," Brinn hissed back.
"My mission. Now get out," and with that, Max threw Brinn out of the window. Brinn kicked Max as she went out, knocking Max against the bed. Max watched as a hook came up onto the sill. She waited for Brinn to come back for the second round, but heard a swish as Brinn went down. Max went to the sill, and unhooked the hook, making Brinn jump the rest of the way down. Brinn landed on her feet, unharmed. She glared at Max staring at her from the window, and suddenly disappeared into shadows. Max turned back to her siblings, still standing by the door.
"I got it under control, you guys can go back to bed," Max ordered the expectant X5's. They shrugged and closed the door behind them. Spotting Logan sitting on the floor, she picked him up and placed him on the bed. She helped him under the covers, and began straightening the covers. All the while, Logan was staring at her with utter disbelief.
"What?" Max asked, knowing perfectly well what he would say.
"I have never seen anyone move that fast, even a genetically enhanced human. What did they do to you in those two weeks?" Logan asked softly.
Max looked him straight in the eye. All she saw was concern in his eyes. She sighed.
"They did a couple tests to enhance my abilities some more. Obviously they worked," Max replied. "I don't want to talk about it, it was horrible," she added, anticipating what Logan would say. Logan just nodded, and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry, Max, I would have been there in a minute to get you out if I knew," he whispered.
It's ok, it's not your fault," she whispered back, starting to kiss him. He returned the kisses, wholeheartedly. God, I want her so much, he thought as he began to explore her mouth. He pulled her onto the bed with him, still kissing her. They ran their hands over, each other's bodies, not getting enough of each other. Suddenly, Max turned over.
"I can't do this," Max whispered.
"Do what?" Logan said.
"This, us, I feel horrible. Zack wanted…"
"Things to heat up between you two," Logan supplied.
"Yeah. I loved him, but I never loved him in that way. And I never got the chance to tell him. I never got the chance to you either," Max said as she rolled over to face Logan.
"Tell me what?" Logan asked, not daring to believe it.
"That I love you. God I was dying in your arms and I couldn't tell you!" Max exclaimed. Logan grinned as if Christmas has just come early.
"You look like you just got a really good Christmas present," Max observed.
"This is better, god Max I love you too," Logan said as he pulled her closer to him, if that was possible.
"Really?" Max asked in disbelief.
"Really," Logan replied. Max grinned wide enough to match Logan's. "Max, you are beautiful, smart, everything. How could I not?" Logan added.
"Keep going," Max said, as she began to kiss him again. She suddenly stopped, and lifted her head, so she could look into his eyes.
"Logan, could I stay here with you tonight? No tthat,… just sleep?" she asked.
"Sure, Max," Logan replied as Max climbed under the covers. She settled into his arms, his breath lulling her to sleep.
