Day Two
Sunlight streamed through the half open blinds, leaving the room half in shadow, with strips of light shooting through the room diagonally. Logan stood in the open doorway watching Max sleep.
She lay on her stomach, face turned towards the door where Logan stood. A few locks of her dark brown hair lay across her sleeping face. Her hand was fisted at the edge of the blanket, gathering the smooth gray fabric under her chin.
In sleep, Max lost the guarded appearance she carried with her constantly, now looking child-like and serene.
Logan had been watching her for the past several minuets. He'd spent a long time laying in his living room thinking about Max. Something major had happened between them less than twenty-four hours before, yet neither of them was willing to be the first to bring it up. Max looks so innocent when she was asleep, Logan though, yet she'd kick my @ss if I told her that. He was surprised when he woke up before Max, and even more surprised at what a good frame of mind Logan found himself in.
As if she could sense his close scrutiny of her, Max rolled, arching her back and stretching her arms over her head. When she rolled back onto her side, now blinking her glorious brown eyes, she spotted Logan leaning against the doorjamb in front of her. She studied his face, at the same time, he studied hers.
"Hey." Max said after a moment, her voice still husky from sleep. Logan smiled and pushed himself off the doorjamb He walked across the room then sat on the edge of the bed next to Max. "Hey back." Logan replied. They sat there for a moment, just looking into each other's eyes. Finally, Logan broke the silence by asking "So, how are you feeling?" Max sat up and swung her legs over the side so she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Logan. She didn't figure she needed to answer, so she asked him a question of her own. "So…how was the couch for you?" She asked slyly, turning to look him directly in the face. He smiled wickedly at that; know that he was being baited. "I've never regretted my parents raising me as a gentleman more." Logan said turning, so that their faces were inches apart. They both softly laughed.
"Look, I just wanted to thank you, for everything you did yesterday. I wasn't in any frame of mind to do…. Well… anything."
They sat there, face to face, on Logan's rumpled bed. When Logan just continued to stare at her, Max became vaguely uncomfortable. "What, is there something on my face?" She asked, reaching up to brush a curl out of her face. "Well…let me see." Logan said playfully, cupping her face in his hands studying it. "I see, hmmm… two beautiful eyes, a gorgeous mouth, a darling nose. Nope, everything looks exceptional well to me." Logan said playfully in a mock doctor's voice. Max laughed and he let his hands drop. "Well we both know that you can cook dinner. If you are anywhere as near a good breakfast cook, you'll be a god among men. People will hail you on the streets. There will be a parade in your honor. Just please, please, please, feed me!" Logan laughed. "Give me 20 minuets, then we'll see to that parade." Logan began to stand, but he looked at Max and changed his mind. The setting was just too perfect, sunlight streaming through the window, Max rumpled and heavy-eyed, still half asleep, so Logan sat back down and turned to her. "There is one thing I forgot to do." He placed a hand behind her neck, and then they both started to slowly move towards each other. Max reached up, almost shyly, and framed his face with her hands.
Their lips met softly. While yesterday's kiss had been more or less an attack on each other, this early morning embrace was fuzzy and dream like. Over almost as soon as it began, when Logan pulled back.
"Good morning," He said belatedly. Logan then stood and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Max stared blankly at the door for a moment as it shut. A hand fluttered up to touch her lips. She stared a moment more before flopping backwards to lay sideways across the bed.
Max knew with every rational thought in her head that this was the worst possible time to start any sort of a relationship. Lydecker knew she was still in Seattle, Zach was acting like an insane Nazi general, and her place had just torched, destroying most, if not all of her stuff, things she could never replace.
Yet the more time with Logan, the more and more got so confused, she barely knew which way was up. Max was only sure of two things in her life right now. One, she was completely in love with Logan, two, she was freakin' hungry.
After Logan had walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him, he saw Bling putting a brown paper bag on the dining room table. When he turned, seeing Logan walking out of his room, still in the clothes he had probably slept in. "Hey, man, did you know Max's place got hit by the arsonist? I saw it on the news last night."
"Yea, she was here when her roommate called." Logan continued into the kitchen, quickly pulling open cupboard doors and grabbing ingredients. "Do you know how she's doing…Does she have some where to stay-" He got cut off as Logan's bedroom door opened and Max's scurried past him, "Don't look at me, Bling, I haven't brushed my hair." She muttered, grabbing her clothes out of the driver, then turning and scurrying back towards the bathroom. His mouth was still hanging open when he turned back to Logan, studying his boss and best friend for the first time.
Logan was wearing the clothes he most definitely slept in, standing at the counter making breakfast at close to ten am, whistling. What the hell…Bling thought suspiciously.
First off, Logan was always up, dressed, and at his computer when he got there. Second, Logan, as far as he knew, didn't eat breakfast. Next, at most important of all, in the months since Bling had known Logan, he had never, ever whistled. He'd never even hummed along with the classical music he listened to.
Then Bling thought of Max. Max was wearing Logan's clothes. When he had come in, Logan was coming out of his room. Ten minuets later, Max had come out of his room. Sweet Jesus, Bling thought.
"You want some?" Logan asked, not looking up from the batter he was quickly stirring with a wooden spoon.
"You are such an asshole!"
"What…why?" Logan asked, confused. At the same time, he pulled out a saucepan and dumped into it some oil.
"Her house just got fried! I know you guys care for each other, but what the hell was going through your mind!" Bling said in an ominous undertone, keeping his voice down. He didn't want Max to hear, even though he could hear her slamming around in the bathroom.
Not really knowing what Bling was going on about, Logan continued to watch the waffles that were cooking with one eye, and the sizzling bacon with the other. Then he said matter of factly "Yeah, she also probably had mild hypothermia. And not that I'm any expert, but I think she was in shock, because she was pretty messed up."
Bling stared at his back as Logan flipped bacon. "Then why the hell did you sleep with her when she quite obviously wasn't with it."
Logan slowly turned, a plastic spatula in his hand. "Bling, who said anything about me and Max sleeping together? Did you hit your head on something in the last twenty minuets?"
"I am not stupid, I know what I saw. Your grinning like an idiot, she's wearing your clothes, if I am not mistaken she just came out of your room. And you're HUMMING! For Christ sake!" Bling said exasperated.
Bling was shocked yet again for the day when Logan laughed. "You are so off base. Ok, Max is wearing my clothes, because her clothes were in my dryer. She was in my room, because I was on the couch." He gestured towards the couch where a pillow sat atop a neatly folded blanket. "And I am humming because…. I like waffles." Bling knew their was something else, but was so confused, he really didn't want to know. "Well…. Hmmm."
"If you want the waffles, you're going to have to work for it." Logan said.
"You may be up and around now, but between me and Max I am sure we can take you."
Regardless, Bling pulled out plates and silverware, moving back and forth to the dining room carrying in various items Logan set out.
A few minuets later Logan was carrying out a plate of bacon when Max stepped out of the bathroom. They both stopped in there tracks.
Bling stepped out of the kitchen to see Max and Logan standing at opposite ends of the room, staring at each other, grinning like complete idiots. Decided it best, he quietly walked into the kitchen and dropped the empty saucepan into the sink, making plenty of noise. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched couple jump and quickly get back to what they were doing. Bling was willing to bet that inside of six months, he'd be listening to them would be bickering over what color wedding dress Max would be wearing.
The breakfast had gone extremely well, conversation keeping a polite distance form the arson the night before. Max went into Logan's office to call Cindy to see what time they would go over to the scene of the fire.
Logan stood, drinking a second cup of coffee, loading dishes into the dishwasher. Bling carried the last of the cups in from the dining room and placed them on the counter. "Look, Logan, it's evident that we aren't going to working, so I'll get out of your way."
After Bling had left, Logan knocked on the closed office door and told Max he was taking a shower. When he went into his room to grab some clothes, he saw that Max had made his bed. For some reason, Logan found that endearing, and grinned. It was oddly domestic.
About a half hour later, Logan stepped out of the bathroom to find Max sitting on the couch flipping through the channels. Max turned when she heard him walk up behind her. He was now wearing a pair of comfortable looking khaki pants and a black polo shirt. Logan leaned down and places his forearms on the back edge of the couch. "Listen, I am going to go research some stuff, see what I can find out about this jackass arsonist. You need anything?" he asked. Max shook her head. "At three Cindy, Kendra, and I are meeting to go salvage what we can."
"Ok, I'll be ready." Logan said standing up. Max looked slightly perplexed. "What?" Logan asked.
"You don't have to go if you don't want too." Max said.
"Do you not want me to go?"
"No, that's not it, I mean, I thought you might have something to do."
"Well, I did plan on doing something. I fully planned on helping you." Logan said defensively.
"Ok." Max said, becoming defensive herself.
"Ok." Logan repeated after her.
"Ok…." Max said.
"Aren't we both just busting out the vocabulary today?" he asked with a small laugh. "I'll be in the office if you need me." Logan said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.
Max sat, blindly staring into space. She tried flipping through the channels, but all that was on was reruns of sitcoms and talk shows, neither of which interested her. She walked over to Logan's bookshelf, and despite the extensiveness of his collection of books, Max couldn't concentrate on anything there. Finally she decided to try and be at least slightly productive and go see if Logan needed any help.
She had just reached the door and raised her hand to knock, when the door flew open, Logan knocking into Max in the process. Max let out a small yelp as she stumbled backwards. Logan grabbed her arms as she fell backwards. "I was just coming to see if you needed any help." Max blurted out quickly, Logan said still gripping her arms. Logan held her at arms length, studying her with a smile. "Isn't that convenient? I was just coming to see if you wanted to help me out." Logan slid his hand down from Max's upper arm where it had been resting down to twine his finger with hers. He pulled her after him into the room. Max grabbed another chair that was against the wall and pulled it after them.
"Well, I figure with that revved up mind of yours, you can help me figure out if there is any connection to the arsons." Logan tapped a command into the computer and an overhead map of Seattle popped up on screen with 6 red dots on it. "My first thought was that maybe it was the areas of the fires…"
Two hours and countless theories later, Logan pulled off his glasses with an exasperated sigh. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Maybe there isn't a pattern, maybe it is all really random."
"No, I don't think so." Max countered. "There has to be something tying them together. There is always at least one thing to tie them all together." She got up and slowly walked around the room working the kinks out of her neck and back.
"You want something to drink?" Logan asked, rising and returning his glasses to his face. "Yea, sure." Max said distracted.
After Logan had stepped out, Max rose and paced around the room. She turned back to the computer where a list of the arson addresses was displayed.
Max's eyes widened as she ran the addresses through her head. "Wait…." She said under her breath. She stepped closer to the screen, and then started screaming. "LOGAN!! LOGAN, COME HERE!!!" Max shouted. "LOGAN!!" She yelled again as Logan dashed into the room carrying to bottles of chilled mineral water and looking quite startled. "What? Did you-" He was but off as Max grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the computer, practically yanking his shoulder out of joint. "Look! I figured out the tie! Read the numbers for the addresses backwards from the bottom."
"Max, what-"
"Just do it!!"
"Ok, Ok, 3-3-2-9-6-0-0-1-3-4-5-2. Wait, isn't that-"
"It's my barcode number!!!"
A/N: When I originally posted this back in the day, it had been split up into a million sections, but i dont have the time or energy to do all that now, so just enjoy it. That is all I wrote. I got an idea the other day of something I could do, and if I get some positive feedback, I might actually sit down and do it.
Sunlight streamed through the half open blinds, leaving the room half in shadow, with strips of light shooting through the room diagonally. Logan stood in the open doorway watching Max sleep.
She lay on her stomach, face turned towards the door where Logan stood. A few locks of her dark brown hair lay across her sleeping face. Her hand was fisted at the edge of the blanket, gathering the smooth gray fabric under her chin.
In sleep, Max lost the guarded appearance she carried with her constantly, now looking child-like and serene.
Logan had been watching her for the past several minuets. He'd spent a long time laying in his living room thinking about Max. Something major had happened between them less than twenty-four hours before, yet neither of them was willing to be the first to bring it up. Max looks so innocent when she was asleep, Logan though, yet she'd kick my @ss if I told her that. He was surprised when he woke up before Max, and even more surprised at what a good frame of mind Logan found himself in.
As if she could sense his close scrutiny of her, Max rolled, arching her back and stretching her arms over her head. When she rolled back onto her side, now blinking her glorious brown eyes, she spotted Logan leaning against the doorjamb in front of her. She studied his face, at the same time, he studied hers.
"Hey." Max said after a moment, her voice still husky from sleep. Logan smiled and pushed himself off the doorjamb He walked across the room then sat on the edge of the bed next to Max. "Hey back." Logan replied. They sat there for a moment, just looking into each other's eyes. Finally, Logan broke the silence by asking "So, how are you feeling?" Max sat up and swung her legs over the side so she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Logan. She didn't figure she needed to answer, so she asked him a question of her own. "So…how was the couch for you?" She asked slyly, turning to look him directly in the face. He smiled wickedly at that; know that he was being baited. "I've never regretted my parents raising me as a gentleman more." Logan said turning, so that their faces were inches apart. They both softly laughed.
"Look, I just wanted to thank you, for everything you did yesterday. I wasn't in any frame of mind to do…. Well… anything."
They sat there, face to face, on Logan's rumpled bed. When Logan just continued to stare at her, Max became vaguely uncomfortable. "What, is there something on my face?" She asked, reaching up to brush a curl out of her face. "Well…let me see." Logan said playfully, cupping her face in his hands studying it. "I see, hmmm… two beautiful eyes, a gorgeous mouth, a darling nose. Nope, everything looks exceptional well to me." Logan said playfully in a mock doctor's voice. Max laughed and he let his hands drop. "Well we both know that you can cook dinner. If you are anywhere as near a good breakfast cook, you'll be a god among men. People will hail you on the streets. There will be a parade in your honor. Just please, please, please, feed me!" Logan laughed. "Give me 20 minuets, then we'll see to that parade." Logan began to stand, but he looked at Max and changed his mind. The setting was just too perfect, sunlight streaming through the window, Max rumpled and heavy-eyed, still half asleep, so Logan sat back down and turned to her. "There is one thing I forgot to do." He placed a hand behind her neck, and then they both started to slowly move towards each other. Max reached up, almost shyly, and framed his face with her hands.
Their lips met softly. While yesterday's kiss had been more or less an attack on each other, this early morning embrace was fuzzy and dream like. Over almost as soon as it began, when Logan pulled back.
"Good morning," He said belatedly. Logan then stood and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Max stared blankly at the door for a moment as it shut. A hand fluttered up to touch her lips. She stared a moment more before flopping backwards to lay sideways across the bed.
Max knew with every rational thought in her head that this was the worst possible time to start any sort of a relationship. Lydecker knew she was still in Seattle, Zach was acting like an insane Nazi general, and her place had just torched, destroying most, if not all of her stuff, things she could never replace.
Yet the more time with Logan, the more and more got so confused, she barely knew which way was up. Max was only sure of two things in her life right now. One, she was completely in love with Logan, two, she was freakin' hungry.
After Logan had walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him, he saw Bling putting a brown paper bag on the dining room table. When he turned, seeing Logan walking out of his room, still in the clothes he had probably slept in. "Hey, man, did you know Max's place got hit by the arsonist? I saw it on the news last night."
"Yea, she was here when her roommate called." Logan continued into the kitchen, quickly pulling open cupboard doors and grabbing ingredients. "Do you know how she's doing…Does she have some where to stay-" He got cut off as Logan's bedroom door opened and Max's scurried past him, "Don't look at me, Bling, I haven't brushed my hair." She muttered, grabbing her clothes out of the driver, then turning and scurrying back towards the bathroom. His mouth was still hanging open when he turned back to Logan, studying his boss and best friend for the first time.
Logan was wearing the clothes he most definitely slept in, standing at the counter making breakfast at close to ten am, whistling. What the hell…Bling thought suspiciously.
First off, Logan was always up, dressed, and at his computer when he got there. Second, Logan, as far as he knew, didn't eat breakfast. Next, at most important of all, in the months since Bling had known Logan, he had never, ever whistled. He'd never even hummed along with the classical music he listened to.
Then Bling thought of Max. Max was wearing Logan's clothes. When he had come in, Logan was coming out of his room. Ten minuets later, Max had come out of his room. Sweet Jesus, Bling thought.
"You want some?" Logan asked, not looking up from the batter he was quickly stirring with a wooden spoon.
"You are such an asshole!"
"What…why?" Logan asked, confused. At the same time, he pulled out a saucepan and dumped into it some oil.
"Her house just got fried! I know you guys care for each other, but what the hell was going through your mind!" Bling said in an ominous undertone, keeping his voice down. He didn't want Max to hear, even though he could hear her slamming around in the bathroom.
Not really knowing what Bling was going on about, Logan continued to watch the waffles that were cooking with one eye, and the sizzling bacon with the other. Then he said matter of factly "Yeah, she also probably had mild hypothermia. And not that I'm any expert, but I think she was in shock, because she was pretty messed up."
Bling stared at his back as Logan flipped bacon. "Then why the hell did you sleep with her when she quite obviously wasn't with it."
Logan slowly turned, a plastic spatula in his hand. "Bling, who said anything about me and Max sleeping together? Did you hit your head on something in the last twenty minuets?"
"I am not stupid, I know what I saw. Your grinning like an idiot, she's wearing your clothes, if I am not mistaken she just came out of your room. And you're HUMMING! For Christ sake!" Bling said exasperated.
Bling was shocked yet again for the day when Logan laughed. "You are so off base. Ok, Max is wearing my clothes, because her clothes were in my dryer. She was in my room, because I was on the couch." He gestured towards the couch where a pillow sat atop a neatly folded blanket. "And I am humming because…. I like waffles." Bling knew their was something else, but was so confused, he really didn't want to know. "Well…. Hmmm."
"If you want the waffles, you're going to have to work for it." Logan said.
"You may be up and around now, but between me and Max I am sure we can take you."
Regardless, Bling pulled out plates and silverware, moving back and forth to the dining room carrying in various items Logan set out.
A few minuets later Logan was carrying out a plate of bacon when Max stepped out of the bathroom. They both stopped in there tracks.
Bling stepped out of the kitchen to see Max and Logan standing at opposite ends of the room, staring at each other, grinning like complete idiots. Decided it best, he quietly walked into the kitchen and dropped the empty saucepan into the sink, making plenty of noise. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched couple jump and quickly get back to what they were doing. Bling was willing to bet that inside of six months, he'd be listening to them would be bickering over what color wedding dress Max would be wearing.
The breakfast had gone extremely well, conversation keeping a polite distance form the arson the night before. Max went into Logan's office to call Cindy to see what time they would go over to the scene of the fire.
Logan stood, drinking a second cup of coffee, loading dishes into the dishwasher. Bling carried the last of the cups in from the dining room and placed them on the counter. "Look, Logan, it's evident that we aren't going to working, so I'll get out of your way."
After Bling had left, Logan knocked on the closed office door and told Max he was taking a shower. When he went into his room to grab some clothes, he saw that Max had made his bed. For some reason, Logan found that endearing, and grinned. It was oddly domestic.
About a half hour later, Logan stepped out of the bathroom to find Max sitting on the couch flipping through the channels. Max turned when she heard him walk up behind her. He was now wearing a pair of comfortable looking khaki pants and a black polo shirt. Logan leaned down and places his forearms on the back edge of the couch. "Listen, I am going to go research some stuff, see what I can find out about this jackass arsonist. You need anything?" he asked. Max shook her head. "At three Cindy, Kendra, and I are meeting to go salvage what we can."
"Ok, I'll be ready." Logan said standing up. Max looked slightly perplexed. "What?" Logan asked.
"You don't have to go if you don't want too." Max said.
"Do you not want me to go?"
"No, that's not it, I mean, I thought you might have something to do."
"Well, I did plan on doing something. I fully planned on helping you." Logan said defensively.
"Ok." Max said, becoming defensive herself.
"Ok." Logan repeated after her.
"Ok…." Max said.
"Aren't we both just busting out the vocabulary today?" he asked with a small laugh. "I'll be in the office if you need me." Logan said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.
Max sat, blindly staring into space. She tried flipping through the channels, but all that was on was reruns of sitcoms and talk shows, neither of which interested her. She walked over to Logan's bookshelf, and despite the extensiveness of his collection of books, Max couldn't concentrate on anything there. Finally she decided to try and be at least slightly productive and go see if Logan needed any help.
She had just reached the door and raised her hand to knock, when the door flew open, Logan knocking into Max in the process. Max let out a small yelp as she stumbled backwards. Logan grabbed her arms as she fell backwards. "I was just coming to see if you needed any help." Max blurted out quickly, Logan said still gripping her arms. Logan held her at arms length, studying her with a smile. "Isn't that convenient? I was just coming to see if you wanted to help me out." Logan slid his hand down from Max's upper arm where it had been resting down to twine his finger with hers. He pulled her after him into the room. Max grabbed another chair that was against the wall and pulled it after them.
"Well, I figure with that revved up mind of yours, you can help me figure out if there is any connection to the arsons." Logan tapped a command into the computer and an overhead map of Seattle popped up on screen with 6 red dots on it. "My first thought was that maybe it was the areas of the fires…"
Two hours and countless theories later, Logan pulled off his glasses with an exasperated sigh. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Maybe there isn't a pattern, maybe it is all really random."
"No, I don't think so." Max countered. "There has to be something tying them together. There is always at least one thing to tie them all together." She got up and slowly walked around the room working the kinks out of her neck and back.
"You want something to drink?" Logan asked, rising and returning his glasses to his face. "Yea, sure." Max said distracted.
After Logan had stepped out, Max rose and paced around the room. She turned back to the computer where a list of the arson addresses was displayed.
Max's eyes widened as she ran the addresses through her head. "Wait…." She said under her breath. She stepped closer to the screen, and then started screaming. "LOGAN!! LOGAN, COME HERE!!!" Max shouted. "LOGAN!!" She yelled again as Logan dashed into the room carrying to bottles of chilled mineral water and looking quite startled. "What? Did you-" He was but off as Max grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the computer, practically yanking his shoulder out of joint. "Look! I figured out the tie! Read the numbers for the addresses backwards from the bottom."
"Max, what-"
"Just do it!!"
"Ok, Ok, 3-3-2-9-6-0-0-1-3-4-5-2. Wait, isn't that-"
"It's my barcode number!!!"
A/N: When I originally posted this back in the day, it had been split up into a million sections, but i dont have the time or energy to do all that now, so just enjoy it. That is all I wrote. I got an idea the other day of something I could do, and if I get some positive feedback, I might actually sit down and do it.