Chapter Twelve
The next night, Logan arrived back at Max's townhouse, again exhausted despite fourteen hours of sleep the night before. The flight back into Baltimore was tiring enough, but the rush hour traffic off of Baltimore's beltway and into northern western Maryland was full of frustration and several near accidents.
So now he was walking up Max's front stairs, dragging two large duffle bags behind him, wanting to drop where he was. Max opened the door a few seconds after he knocked and stood aside to let him in. For one small second there, Logan thought he'd seen her smile, but in this state of walking sleep, he couldn't really be sure.
"Hey Max." Logan said as he dropped his bags to the floor with a heavy thump. "I think I am about to fall asleep." He said in a far away voice.
"The by all means." Max said as she gestured towards the stairs and her bedroom.
"Nah, I'm fine. Where's Maddy?"
"She's in watching a movie." When Logan turned to walk towards the television, Max tried to speak to him first. "Logan, wait, you should know I." She trailed off as Logan was already out of the room.
"Hey Maddy." Logan called as he sat down on the couch behind where Maddy was coloring as she watched a cartoon on TV.
"Hi Daddy."
Logan was about to say something when Maddy's exact words infiltrated his consciousness. Maddy had just called him 'Daddy.'
Max stood in the doorway and watched calmly as Logan whipped around in his seat o look at her. "Yeah," She said nonchalantly. "Mad and I had a talk while you were gone."
Logan just stared dumbfounded at the back of Maddy's head as she giggled at the cartoon. 'She called me Daddy,' was the only thought that was running through his head, like a broken record.
After a few moments, Max took pity on Logan. "Maddy, time for bed."
"Mommy." Maddy said matter-of-factly in a very adult voice. "I do not feel that I have been properly prepared for bed, and I would like to request that I receive several, twenty to be exact, minuets extended onto my bedtime."
Max rolled her eyes. "Caroline's been letting you watch Oprah reruns again. Nice try, kiddo. Bed. Now."
A grumbling Maddy picked up her coloring book and responsibly turned off the TV. Walking by Logan, she climbed up onto the couch to give him a smacking kiss on the cheek before wiggling away from the flabbergasted Logan and marching upstairs, stomping on each stair.
Max watched Logan for a moment; just to make sure he wasn't about to, like, fall over or anything, before walking off after Maddy to tuck her into bed.
Logan sat staring forward in shocked silence. "She called me daddy." He whispered for himself. "She called me daddy."
"Yeah, Logan, she did." He heard Max say from the doorway.
"Max," Logan said turning in his chair to look at her. "She, Maddy, called me Daddy."
"Yep."
"I don't think I fully and completely understood until she called me Daddy."
Max smiled, amused at Logan's musings, as she walked across the room to sit at the other end of the couch.
"What made you tell her?" Logan asked quietly.
Max shrugged. "She had a right to know, I guess." She paused for a moment. "I guess you also had a right for her to know."
Logan took a moment to absorb this. He reached over and brushed a hand over Max's hand where it rested on the back of the couch. "Max, you have no idea how much it means to me, that you told her. And you not only told her, you told her on your own without me having to b**** at you about it."
Max shrugged, but she was unnerved by Logan's touch, no matter how fleeting it was. "Right."
They sat in silence for another moment, each staring at separate spots on the wall as they desperately avoided eye contact.
"Well, you should know." Logan stated with a small smile. "Cindy and I had words. Hers loud; very, very loud."
Max snorted. "I can imagine."
"Well, I wont go through all of it, but basically, I just wanted you to know." Logan sighed. "That I have let go of being pissed at you for leaving."
Max turned to look at Logan, raising a brow. "What brought that sudden about face on."
"Just some of the things Cindy said, that of this was probably my fault too."
"Obviously." Max said rolling her eyes.
"Not what I was referring to." Logan said laughing softly. "What I meant was, you probably were running because of." Logan trailed off, flushing as he looked away.
"Afterwards." Max finished.
"God, is this déjà vu or what?" Logan said with a laugh.
"If I remember correctly, I said something similar.afterwards."
Max awoke with a start, jerking up in the unfamiliar bed. Disoriented, she waited a moment for hey eyes to adjust to the darkness. When she finally recognized that she was in Logan's room, and she was *not* wearing any clothes, and she was *not* alone in bed, Max let out a small terrified moan.
The small sound awoke Logan, who though he didn't have his glasses on, knew exactly what Max was doing. He reached for his glasses and flipped on the bedside lamp. When he looked up, Max was scrambling out of bed, wrapping a sheet around her as she rushed around grabbing various articles of clothing where they had fallen on their path from the living room.
Logan sat up in bed, his heart slowly breaking into lots of little tiny pieces. "Max?"
Logan watched as she walked back in front of the doorway. "I was in heat." She blurted desperately, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. 'Don't believe me. Don't believe me.' Max prayed as she pulled her shirt over her head.
Logan's heart broke. She wasn't happy. She thinks it was a mistake. "Yeah, I know. And I had drank too much wine."
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Max berated as she sat on the couch to pull on her pants.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Logan berated himself as he picked up his pants off the floor and pulled them on.
"This was a huge mistake. I wasn't thinking." Logan said desperately trying to save what little friendship they might be able to salvage after this.this.best night of his life.
When Max looked up at him, he could have sworn he saw something close to pain in her eyes. But it was gone in a flash as she agreed. "Absolutely. Neither of us were in any frame of mind to know what we were doing."
"Exactly." Logan said as Max pulled on her shoes.
"Right." Max said as she stood.
"Absolutely." Logan repeated as Max searched for her jacket.
"Yes. So long as that is understood." Max said, using the same words she had when she had brushed off the kiss they had shared outside Logan's cabin.
"I'm glad we talked about it."
They both stilled as they saw the irony in the situation, not matter how fleeting it was.
"Déjà vu, huh?" Max said as she fled from the penthouse.
Max and Logan each were in their own worlds as they thought back to that night over four years ago.
"Max?" Logan asked tenativly.
"Yeah?"
"Would you tell me about what happened in the fours years I missed of Maddy's life?"
Max smiled softly. "Sure." Max spoke, starting from the beginning, when she found out she was pregnant, and spoke, inserting little details here, little memories there. How scared she had been when Maddy had been born three weeks premature, the first time Max had brought her home. The first time Maddy had sat up on her own, how she had walked way earlier than she should have. "I guess she like her father in that sense." Max had said. "I used to take her on walks every day, and soon as she could walk, she refused to be wheeled around in her stroller, she only wanted to walk."
Max continued on to talk about her first words, and how amused Max had been when it wasn't 'Mommy' or anything, but 'pizza'. Max spoke of all the little details she could remember from Maddy's life for hours, until she finally looked over to see Logan leaning on his arm, deeply asleep.
Max sighed as she woke Logan up to push him towards the bedroom. As he'd climbed into bed, he said one thing to Max as she stood in the doorway. "Max?"
"What Logan?"
"I wish I could have been there."
Max made a small sound in her throat as she flipped off the light. "So do I, Logan." She whispered into the dark. "So do I."
The next night, Logan arrived back at Max's townhouse, again exhausted despite fourteen hours of sleep the night before. The flight back into Baltimore was tiring enough, but the rush hour traffic off of Baltimore's beltway and into northern western Maryland was full of frustration and several near accidents.
So now he was walking up Max's front stairs, dragging two large duffle bags behind him, wanting to drop where he was. Max opened the door a few seconds after he knocked and stood aside to let him in. For one small second there, Logan thought he'd seen her smile, but in this state of walking sleep, he couldn't really be sure.
"Hey Max." Logan said as he dropped his bags to the floor with a heavy thump. "I think I am about to fall asleep." He said in a far away voice.
"The by all means." Max said as she gestured towards the stairs and her bedroom.
"Nah, I'm fine. Where's Maddy?"
"She's in watching a movie." When Logan turned to walk towards the television, Max tried to speak to him first. "Logan, wait, you should know I." She trailed off as Logan was already out of the room.
"Hey Maddy." Logan called as he sat down on the couch behind where Maddy was coloring as she watched a cartoon on TV.
"Hi Daddy."
Logan was about to say something when Maddy's exact words infiltrated his consciousness. Maddy had just called him 'Daddy.'
Max stood in the doorway and watched calmly as Logan whipped around in his seat o look at her. "Yeah," She said nonchalantly. "Mad and I had a talk while you were gone."
Logan just stared dumbfounded at the back of Maddy's head as she giggled at the cartoon. 'She called me Daddy,' was the only thought that was running through his head, like a broken record.
After a few moments, Max took pity on Logan. "Maddy, time for bed."
"Mommy." Maddy said matter-of-factly in a very adult voice. "I do not feel that I have been properly prepared for bed, and I would like to request that I receive several, twenty to be exact, minuets extended onto my bedtime."
Max rolled her eyes. "Caroline's been letting you watch Oprah reruns again. Nice try, kiddo. Bed. Now."
A grumbling Maddy picked up her coloring book and responsibly turned off the TV. Walking by Logan, she climbed up onto the couch to give him a smacking kiss on the cheek before wiggling away from the flabbergasted Logan and marching upstairs, stomping on each stair.
Max watched Logan for a moment; just to make sure he wasn't about to, like, fall over or anything, before walking off after Maddy to tuck her into bed.
Logan sat staring forward in shocked silence. "She called me daddy." He whispered for himself. "She called me daddy."
"Yeah, Logan, she did." He heard Max say from the doorway.
"Max," Logan said turning in his chair to look at her. "She, Maddy, called me Daddy."
"Yep."
"I don't think I fully and completely understood until she called me Daddy."
Max smiled, amused at Logan's musings, as she walked across the room to sit at the other end of the couch.
"What made you tell her?" Logan asked quietly.
Max shrugged. "She had a right to know, I guess." She paused for a moment. "I guess you also had a right for her to know."
Logan took a moment to absorb this. He reached over and brushed a hand over Max's hand where it rested on the back of the couch. "Max, you have no idea how much it means to me, that you told her. And you not only told her, you told her on your own without me having to b**** at you about it."
Max shrugged, but she was unnerved by Logan's touch, no matter how fleeting it was. "Right."
They sat in silence for another moment, each staring at separate spots on the wall as they desperately avoided eye contact.
"Well, you should know." Logan stated with a small smile. "Cindy and I had words. Hers loud; very, very loud."
Max snorted. "I can imagine."
"Well, I wont go through all of it, but basically, I just wanted you to know." Logan sighed. "That I have let go of being pissed at you for leaving."
Max turned to look at Logan, raising a brow. "What brought that sudden about face on."
"Just some of the things Cindy said, that of this was probably my fault too."
"Obviously." Max said rolling her eyes.
"Not what I was referring to." Logan said laughing softly. "What I meant was, you probably were running because of." Logan trailed off, flushing as he looked away.
"Afterwards." Max finished.
"God, is this déjà vu or what?" Logan said with a laugh.
"If I remember correctly, I said something similar.afterwards."
Max awoke with a start, jerking up in the unfamiliar bed. Disoriented, she waited a moment for hey eyes to adjust to the darkness. When she finally recognized that she was in Logan's room, and she was *not* wearing any clothes, and she was *not* alone in bed, Max let out a small terrified moan.
The small sound awoke Logan, who though he didn't have his glasses on, knew exactly what Max was doing. He reached for his glasses and flipped on the bedside lamp. When he looked up, Max was scrambling out of bed, wrapping a sheet around her as she rushed around grabbing various articles of clothing where they had fallen on their path from the living room.
Logan sat up in bed, his heart slowly breaking into lots of little tiny pieces. "Max?"
Logan watched as she walked back in front of the doorway. "I was in heat." She blurted desperately, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. 'Don't believe me. Don't believe me.' Max prayed as she pulled her shirt over her head.
Logan's heart broke. She wasn't happy. She thinks it was a mistake. "Yeah, I know. And I had drank too much wine."
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Max berated as she sat on the couch to pull on her pants.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Logan berated himself as he picked up his pants off the floor and pulled them on.
"This was a huge mistake. I wasn't thinking." Logan said desperately trying to save what little friendship they might be able to salvage after this.this.best night of his life.
When Max looked up at him, he could have sworn he saw something close to pain in her eyes. But it was gone in a flash as she agreed. "Absolutely. Neither of us were in any frame of mind to know what we were doing."
"Exactly." Logan said as Max pulled on her shoes.
"Right." Max said as she stood.
"Absolutely." Logan repeated as Max searched for her jacket.
"Yes. So long as that is understood." Max said, using the same words she had when she had brushed off the kiss they had shared outside Logan's cabin.
"I'm glad we talked about it."
They both stilled as they saw the irony in the situation, not matter how fleeting it was.
"Déjà vu, huh?" Max said as she fled from the penthouse.
Max and Logan each were in their own worlds as they thought back to that night over four years ago.
"Max?" Logan asked tenativly.
"Yeah?"
"Would you tell me about what happened in the fours years I missed of Maddy's life?"
Max smiled softly. "Sure." Max spoke, starting from the beginning, when she found out she was pregnant, and spoke, inserting little details here, little memories there. How scared she had been when Maddy had been born three weeks premature, the first time Max had brought her home. The first time Maddy had sat up on her own, how she had walked way earlier than she should have. "I guess she like her father in that sense." Max had said. "I used to take her on walks every day, and soon as she could walk, she refused to be wheeled around in her stroller, she only wanted to walk."
Max continued on to talk about her first words, and how amused Max had been when it wasn't 'Mommy' or anything, but 'pizza'. Max spoke of all the little details she could remember from Maddy's life for hours, until she finally looked over to see Logan leaning on his arm, deeply asleep.
Max sighed as she woke Logan up to push him towards the bedroom. As he'd climbed into bed, he said one thing to Max as she stood in the doorway. "Max?"
"What Logan?"
"I wish I could have been there."
Max made a small sound in her throat as she flipped off the light. "So do I, Logan." She whispered into the dark. "So do I."