In the morning David made some calls, to friends and to local law enforcement, then announced that he would be taking Sasha to town after breakfast. The chief of police had promised to run a background check on him (and Logan silently made a note to do the same as soon as he returned to Seattle). If nothing turned up, a friend of David and Sam's on a nearby farm might be willing to hire Sasha as a farmhand in exchange for room and board.

Meanwhile, Max and Logan sat on either side of the kitchen table, drinking coffee and keeping an eye on Sasha and Maria. Max had escorted them to seats opposite each other at the far ends of the table, where they could see each other but not talk without Max and Logan hearing every word. As she had certainly meant it to, Max's presence seemed to intimidate them. They glanced shyly at each other every chance they got, but said very little. Sasha, clean and dressed in David's old clothes, ate ravenously, as did Max. Logan reminded himself to be sure he left the bottles of wine behind. It was the least he could do considering the amount of food Max had consumed this weekend.

As soon as breakfast was over, Max marched Sasha to David's truck while Logan, Sam, and Maria watched from the porch. Maria said nothing, but when Logan saw the longing in her face, he caught Max's eye and nodded towards Maria. Max looked at Maria for a moment, then back at Logan, then abruptly beckoned to Maria. Smiling, Maria went to the truck. Max closed the door firmly, said something to Sasha that Logan couldn't hear, and then came to the porch.

"You still don't trust him," Logan said.

Max shrugged. "He's a horny young kid. Should I?"

"Maybe not, when you put it that way."

Across the yard, David started the truck. Maria lingered for another moment, leaned forward slightly as if she were thinking of kissing Sasha through the open window, then seemed to remember herself and stepped away. Logan could not look at Max. She had once kissed him ...but that wasn't something either one of them could afford to remember now.

Then David put the truck in gear and began to pull down the lane, and the moment was gone. Maria watched until the truck disappeared down the road, then with a smile at the group on the porch, wandered away through the farmyard, lost in thought. Max said, "Awwww. I love happy endings."

"It's not over yet," Logan pointed out, suddenly feeling contrary. "It hasn't even started. Their first date, their first kiss --

"The engagement, the wedding," Max laughed, refusing the bait.

"Wedding? Don't start dancing yet," Sam objected. "They'll be lucky if David and I let them have that first date. Chaperoned. By both of us." She shivered. "Come on inside where it's warm," she called as she went in. The door closed, leaving Logan and Max alone in the quiet farmyard.

"Maybe they will get married," Logan said, just to break the silence.

Max answered quickly. "That would be sweet. Think we'd be invited?"

"We'd better be."

"Cause I've never been to a wedding."

"You haven't?" Sometimes Logan forgot how much of ordinary life Max had missed, between Manticore and the Pulse.

Max shook her head. "Nope. Never danced either ... but it can't be that hard."

"It's not."

With a mischievous look, Max picked up a broom, bowed, and began to waltz across the porch. Logan smiled.

"You're pretty good. You sure you've never danced before?"

"I don't think so," Max replied, twirling. Their eyes met, and suddenly Logan felt strangely self-conscious. At the same time Max faltered and then stopped, making a show of carefully propping the broom against the porch wall. "Well, gotta blaze," she said suddenly. "You leaving?"

"No. I'll wait for David to get back. Make sure everything went okay."

"Okay. See you down the road, then."

He stayed on the porch until she zoomed away on her bike, waving.

------------------------------------------

David returned later to report that as far as the police chief could determine, Sasha was exactly who he said he was, a young kid struggling on his own. "No ties to the adminstration at Langford, or anything like that," he told Logan in the kitchen.

"Good. I'll double check when I get home, and of course Max will keep an eye on Maria when she comes back to testify. She'll stay with Max and Cindy, and Max will make sure she gets back and forth okay. I don't expect any trouble, though."

"Thanks," David said. He leaned back in his chair. "Max gone?"

"Yeah, took off on her bike."

"She loves that bike."

"She certainly does."

"Wasn't that romantic of you to go get it for her."

Logan met David's eyes. "You think it was romantic. I'm telling you it was strictly quid pro quo. She did me a favor, I promised her oil in return. I kept my promise, threw in a little bonus. That's all."

David grinned. "Funny you should mention promises. Because I'm not letting you out of here until you make a couple."

Logan folded his arms suspiciously. He had given in to Max twice in the last two days and it was probably time to draw the line. "And what might those be?"

"First, I want you to promise me that you'll start doing something for yourself besides working. I'd bet the farm that all you've been doing for the last seven or eight months is working night and day. Just like you did at Yale every time you got depressed. Just like you did after you split with Val."

Logan hesitated. There was something he hadn't told anyone so far, except for Bling. He felt painfully self-conscious about it, though he supposed he shouldn't. Last night he had been rather proud of how neatly and quickly he had maneuvered the chair in the small guest room, especially in a state of complete panic over Max's safety. That was clearly the result of months of hard practice at --

"Wheelchair basketball," he heard himself saying. "I've been playing."

"Seriously?" David asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm not great, but --"

"Good for you, man. I'm impressed. Invite me to a game sometime."

"Well, I'm still working on it, but yeah, maybe ..." He trailed off. His heart was pounding and his face was red. Funny, he hadn't meant to share that secret, yet here he was, all shy and embarrassed, confiding in David. It was something he hadn't done in a long time, and it actually felt rather good.

David was feeling good too, he could tell. For the first time Logan understood that his old friend had missed him. He had forgotten that other people felt anything for him besides pity and sadness. Not knowing what to say, he pivoted the chair from side to side, showing off a bit. David laughed.

"I guess you know where I'm going next," he said, still smiling at Logan.

"Max?"

"Max. Don't you think you're being a little hard on her?" David gently kicked the wheelchair. "You really think she's shallow enough to let this stop her? I just don't get that kind of vibe."

Logan sighed again, but this time without bitterness or anger. "Max is great. I'm crazy about her. But she's got a ... a complicated family situation, and she doesn't need any more complications. Unfortunately, the best thing I can give her right now is a lot of space."

David nodded thoughtfully. "Well, you know her better than I do. But I still want you to do something for me."

"What?" Logan asked warily.

"Try to have a little fun with her. Nothing heavy, no strings if that's the way it has to be. But lighten up, man. Sounds like both of you could use it."

Logan sighed. For a moment he wanted to tell David more, make him understand that his feelings for Max had gone a long way past the lighthearted and the casual. But he couldn't do that without revealing too much about Max, and to be honest, too much about himself. In the end it was easier to say, "I'll try."

"You promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I promise. To try," Logan added hastily.

"All right." David was clearly pleased. "I'm gonna hold you to it, you know."

"I know," Logan said, turning to find his jacket and car keys.

-----------------------------------------------

November 2020


Bling shrugged.

"What's so bad about that? You kept your word, asked her to the wedding, and a good time was had by all. Right?"

"Yeah. Well, sometimes I think it's poetic justice. I worked so hard to keep my distance from her, and now I've got exactly what I asked for."

"Got any leads on a cure?"

Logan sighed. "One or two maybes. Nothing solid."

"Place to start, man. Place to start."

Once again, Logan folded his arms suspiciously. "That's it? That's all you have to say? No lectures about patience? No threats to kick my skinny ass? No promises?"

"Why? Because you're down?"

"That's usually what gets you started, isn't it?"

Bling laughed. "It's one thing to have to sit across the room from her. It's another thing entirely to keep your heart at a distance. That would get me started. But the way you are right now -- I know that ain't the case."

"No," said Logan after a moment. "No. It'll never be the case again."

"There you are. I'm not asking you for any promises 'cause you don't need me to hold you to them. You're stronger than that now." He held out his hand to Logan.

After a moment, Logan shook it.


THE END