Hey, peeps! Here's chapter three! I'm really sorry for making you wait; I was planning to upload this yesterday, but I had major computer troubles. Thanks to everyone who reviewed; it's so nice to know someone out there likes what I'm doing! A special thanks to my proofreaders, Rena and Beth, for their help. Ok, enough yap, on with the story! Logan and the others have gone in search of Max – what will they find?
Confessions, chapter three
Max had managed to get past the Sector Police and out of the city; she was halfway to her destination when the trembling began in her hands. She barely noticed, so focused was she on her goal.
When she reached the clearing in the woods where she and Ben had fought, Max stood very still, letting every memory wash over her. "Ben, I'm sorry," she whispered. "Please, forgive me. Let me know you're in the good place?" Sinking to her knees, she wept for her brother, for the boy who had escaped Manticore physically but who had never been able to fully escape it's teachings.
After several minutes, her tears subsided, and Max went to stand up. That was when the seizure she'd been ignoring struck full force, and she collapsed to the ground, shaking hard.
"My meds. . . ." Max swore at herself as she remembered her Tryptophan pills, sitting in her Jam Pony messenger bag, on the floor of her apartment where she'd dropped it the night before. The tremors increased with alarming severity, and Max was forced to give in to them, curling up in a ball and praying for the nightmare to end.
After several minutes of negotiations with the Sector Police, Logan and the others reached the woods outside the city. "All right; spread out, see if you can find her," Logan directed. "Try to stay within sight of each other; we don't need anyone else getting lost."
They had only been searching for a short time when Original Cindy called out. "She's over here – quick!" When Logan got to where she was, his heart dropped at the sight of Max, unconscious on the ground, shaking in the grip of a full-blown seizure. "She's burning up," Cindy reported, laying her hand on Max's head. "We gotta get her out of here."
Logan gathered Max into his arms, wincing as he felt the heat of the fever, even through her clothes. "We'd better hurry," he said, turning to the others. "Bling, will you drive?"
The ride back to the city didn't take long, but to Logan it seemed an eternity. As he sat in the back with Original Cindy, holding a still-seizing Max, he cursed himself for leaving her so completely alone over the past week. //What would I do without her?// he wondered; as he contemplated a life without Max, Logan discovered that it wasn't a pleasant prospect.
//She can't die, not yet; I love her, I-// that thought stopped Logan cold. //Wait, I love her?// He searched for the basis of that thought, and discovered that it was true. He loved his Dark Angel, and he wasn't about to let her go.
Once back at Logan's apartment, everyone went in different directions. While Logan settled Max in his bedroom, Bling went in search of the liquid Tryptophan that was kept there for emergencies. Kendra and Original Cindy were in the bathroom with as much ice as they'd been able to find, making a cold bath to bring down Max's fever.
Logan found himself holding his breath as Bling injected the Tryptophan into Max. "Come on," he muttered to himself. "Come on, hurry up!" Finally, after several long minutes, the shaking eased off and stopped; both men sighed loudly in relief.
"We've got the bath," Kendra called from the bathroom. "Is she ready?"
"Coming," Logan called back. He gently picked up Max, who was now almost bonelessly limp, and took her into the bathroom. Leaving the two girls to take care of their friend, he and Bling retreated to the living room.
Logan tried to keep his mind distracted by throwing himself into some Eyes Only work. He gave up, however, after realizing that he'd read a file three times without absorbing any of the information. Finally, Cindy called from the bathroom that they were done, and Logan went to bring Max back into the bedroom. She was shaking again, but this time from the cold of the ice bath. Logan laid a hand on her forehead, and was disturbed to find it still abnormally warm. "Kendra, why does she still have a fever?" he asked.
"We couldn't bring it down all the way; it was just too high," the slight blond girl explained. "The fact that she's shivering means it's down low enough that her body can fight it on its own."
Logan caught the slight hesitation in her voice. "What else is there, Kendra?"
Kendra sighed, and gestured helplessly. "I'm no doctor, Logan, but I used to work in a hospital. Patients with fevers as high as Max – well, they were lucky to escape brain damage."
Fear clutched at Logan's heart as he considered the possibility that Max might come back to him only a shell of the woman she had been. "Thank you for telling me, Kendra," he said evenly. "May I have a moment alone with her, please?"
"Try to get her to take these," Original Cindy advised, pressing some pills into his hand. "They should help with the fever. We'll be right outside." Logan noticed that Cindy's usual brash street slang had vanished, an indication of how worried she was.
"Thanks, Cindy," he said softly. "For being here."
Original Cindy smiled. "Anything for my Boo."
Ok, peeps! How did I do? Just so you know, I have no medical knowledge; anything vaguely medical that appears in here, I have no idea whether it's true or not. Please don't flame me; I'll only make S'mores! Please R again, I apologize for not updating sooner. The next bit may or may not be out tomorrow; my supervisor at work wants to have a conference with me, since she'll be on vacation next week. I'll get it out if I can. Enjoy!