When Logan finally finished speaking Grace rose without a word and went to the kitchen for something to drink. She stayed there for a while, then returned to the other room where he waited by the window. Grace stood stiffly next to the couch and said, "So let me see if I've got this straight. Max was a genetically engineered soldier raised to become a member of an elite killing force. She died in a raid on the headquarters of ... Manticore, right? And you -" Grace stood up and began to pace around the room, "- you are actually the guy who does the Eyes Only cable hacks, minus your glasses. Have I got this right so far?

"Yes."

"And now you think these ... people are following me? Breaking into my office and my apartment?"

"Yes."

"And you were going to fill me in on all this ... when? Never?"

"Grace, I don't blame you for being angry -"

"Oh, well, I appreciate that -"

"Hey, give me a chance," he said. Grace folded her arms and waited. He went on, "Grace. Except for Eyes Only, these are not my secrets. They are Max's secrets."

"Max is gone."

"But Manticore isn't. Oh, we blew up one facility. But the people behind it, not to mention the people we worked with that night, are still out there. It's my responsibility to protect Max's brothers and sisters, even if she is gone."

That was true. Grace felt some of her anger dissipate. "Do you know where they are?"

He shook his head. "There has been absolutely no sign of them since that night. And believe me, I've tried everything. Wherever they are, they're well hidden. And we need to keep it that way."

Grace shook her head. "Okay, so much for the good guys. But if Max is gone, and this happened months and months ago, why are they showing up now?"

"I don't know, and that's what worries me."

Grace flopped back on the couch, her head spinning. So her first instincts had been right after all. But had she listened? No, and now here she was in the middle of a lot more than a romance. Restlessly she stood up. '"I'm going home," she told Logan abruptly.

"I don't think it's safe for you to go back to your apartment. Not tonight."

Grace sighed Was he just trying to scare her? "Can I borrow your couch then?"

"Sure, but - you don't have to do that, you know." This was supposed to have been their weekend, Grace remembered sadly. And in some ways at least this was not his fault. She softened enough to smile at him, though she made no move towards him. "Look, I just need to think. It's a lot."

"I understand," he replied, and without saying anything more he brought Grace a pillow and blanket. As he turned away Grace impulsively reached out and pulled him back towards her for a kiss. Later, she was very glad about that.

She slept more soundly than she would have believed, exhausted by the evening's events. Sometime during the night, she heard a noise that brought her wide awake, heart pounding. She opened her eyes just a slit and saw the dark figure of a man silhouetted against the window. Terrified, she barely dared to breathe, and then the man moved. Logan? Relief swept over her. Logan couldn't be standing there in front of her, so this must be a dream. When he came towards her he was smiling. Nice dream, she thought happily.

The dream Logan bent over her. "Shhh ... go back to sleep," he said softly. Suddenly Grace realized she wasn't dreaming, and sat up in alarm. "What-" she began.

"It's okay. I told you about this." He took her hand and placed it against his knee, where she could feel hard plastic and metal. "Right now I'm going out. I'll be back. We'll talk more in the morning, okay?"

"This is so crazy," Grace said, and rolled over to sleep again

In the morning he was back in the wheelchair and she thought again that maybe she had been dreaming. "Last night - was that the leg brace you asked me about at the hospital that day?" she finally asked.

"Yes." Grace hesitated, then said, "Why don't you ..."

"A lot of reasons. Wear and tear, for one. It's secondhand, and kind of unpredictable. These days I can't afford new parts, so I try to pick and choose my times." He looked down at his hands, then said, "And ... I told you, I was trying to make myself perfect for Max. I couldn't believe it when I got my hands on this. I thought it was the answer to everything. And of course it wasn't. So now, I don't try to pretend I'm someone I'm not. At least not like this." Grace saw that he looked very tired. She wondered where he had gone last night, but right now she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. She wasn't sorry when he left again, saying he would be back in two hours. She wanted to think. Alone.

But not five minutes after he left, she heard a key in the lock, had a moment of panic, and was relieved to see Bling look cautiously in the door. "Hey, Grace," he greeted her. They had become pals, she and Bling, something she never would have believed that day in the hallway with the cold gun barrel pressed against her head. But today he sounded tired and distracted. Grace wondered if he had been with Logan in the night. She assumed he would head into the kitchen, but to her surprise he stood in the entryway as if he were undecided about something. Then he said, "Grace? Could we talk for a minute? There's something I want to run by you."

"Sure," she said. Apparently she had nowhere to go.

He went to the kitchen and returned with two cups of coffee, one of which he handed to Grace. "You know nobody's happier than I am about you and Logan," he began.

"Uh oh," said Grace lightly, "this isn't starting off well." Despite her tone, she suddenly felt very uneasy.

He smiled. "I'm serious. He ever tell you that it was my idea to have you here for dinner that night? I knew you'd be good for him." Then the smile faded and he said abruptly, "Which is why I hate to say this ... but have you ever considered the possibility that Max might be alive?"

Grace was so taken aback she couldn't speak for a moment. Then she said incredulously, "How could that be? She died in Logan's arms, didn't she?"

"So he thought." Bling looked thoughtful. "But Grace, you work at a hospital. Doesn't it happen sometimes? That someone looks like a goner, then comes back? He doesn't know what happened to her after he blacked out. Nobody knows."

"Why are you thinking about this?"

"You're being followed. Last night we confirmed that someone is watching this place too. But why now? That raid happened months and months ago. There hasn't been a single sign of any of them all this time. And as you know -" his eyes twinkled at Grace "-- we've been pretty careful around here. So there's only one explanation that makes any sense."

"Which is?"

"Someone has reason to believe that at least one X5 is trying to contact Logan. That's why we're all being watched. To set a trap when the time comes."

"Wait. Why on earth would it be Max? Why not her brothers and sisters? You said they're still out there."

"It could be. But the only ones who knew about this place are gone. Dead. The others who worked with us that night never came here. Only to the rendezvous place."

Grace shook her head. "There has to be a simpler explanation than bringing Max back from the dead."

"Well." Bling hesitated again, then said, "What makes me wonder, Grace, is you. Not just that they've been watching you. But that they've searched your office, your home."

"So? They've seen me with Logan. They're just covering all the bases."

"Or ... they're expecting her to maybe show up at your place. Or thinking that she already has."

"My place? She doesn't know me!"

"But she may know about you. If Manticore knows who you are ... what better way to bring Max out into the open, get her back on the radar, than to make her jealous?"

There was a long silence. Then Grace said, "Have you talked to Logan about any of this?"

"No," said Bling. "I wanted to run it by you first."

Abruptly Grace stood up. "I have to get out of here for a while. I won't go back to my apartment. I'll be back later."

She knew it was risky, but she went down by the waterfront. The wind and the smell of salt water always calmed her. She didn't venture down to the beach but walked instead on the streets nearby, going over everything that she had heard in the past day. In the end for her it all came down to one question: was there any real possibility that Max was still alive? Oh, how could she know that? There were so many facts she didn't have, no way for her to judge. In the end she realized that the only choice was to lay Bling's argument out to Logan and let him decide. And if he thought Max might be alive - well, she knew the answer to that too, even if she couldn't bear to think about it right now. Weary, she headed back to the apartment.

When she entered Bling's eyes met hers. Grace nodded slightly. Together, they sat down with Logan and began to talk.

That night, Logan offered Grace the bedroom. She accepted, but despite her weariness she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She couldn't bear the touch of the bed. Eventually she got up, paced, looked out her window, paced again. Once she heard sounds in the living room and looked out. Logan sat by the window, hands in his lap, still and silent. Grace quietly closed the bedroom door and stood by her own window until the sky lightened to gray. She already knew what she had to do. She was just looking for the strength.

Finally she went to the kitchen, made coffee, brought him a cup. Then she said quietly, "I'm going home today."

He continued to look out of the window for a long time, then turned to her and said, "I'm sorry." At this confirmation of what she had feared all night, her eyes began to fill with tears, but she held up a hand and said as steadily as she could, "I thought you weren't into regret any more, right?"

"I dragged you into this," he began.

"Stop it. You're not God. I chose to be with you. And I choose to leave now." Despite her best efforts, the tears began to run down her cheeks, but her voice was strong. "You can't stop me ... so go find out the truth. If ... if there's any chance that she's out there somewhere, she'll need you. She's still believing in you, just like she always has. Go find her." Then she was crying too hard to talk any more. After a while Logan said, "I'm worried about your safety, Grace. I have friends in the police department, and other friends too. I'm going to ask them to watch you."

"Okay." Grace sniffled, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and then said, "There's one more thing I think we should do."

"What?" he asked gently.

"Let me explain."

Two hours later, the Sunday morning quiet was broken by the sound of Logan's apartment door slamming and a man and a woman shouting loudly. The argument moved into the elevator, rang down to the ground floor, and spilled out into the front of the building, where anyone who was curious could see Grace stalking furiously into the street, followed by Logan, rolling as fast as he could after her. They continued to shout at each other for a few moments, then Grace screamed as loudly as she could, "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" She turned and ran down the street, abandoning poor Logan who could not possibly keep up with her, and vanished around the corner.

Finally, blocks away, Grace slowed to a walk, trying to catch her breath. At home, she knew, her heart would break, but right at this moment she was exhilarated. What a scene! If, by some miracle, Max really was alive, they had now sent her a message. Logan was hers again, if someone, somehow, would find a way to let her know.

Grace stood waiting for her bus. She didn't know what the truth was, whether it was too crazy to believe that Max could possibly be alive. But as long as there was even a seed of doubt in Logan's heart, he had to find the answers. And if she really was gone ... well, maybe Grace would find him again someday. She climbed wearily on the bus and leaned her cheek against the cold window. Rain had begun, running down the glass like tears. Funny, she thought as the bus pulled into traffic, I've ended up just like Max. I've lost him without ever finding out whether he loved me.

THE END