Consequences, Choices, and Confessions
by pari106

Disclaimer and rating in Chapter 1.



Chapter 5
Not quite a month ago…



It was even worse than she'd feared.

Max had arrived at Logan's unexpectedly, hoping to pop the news and get out of there for a while so he
could absorb it. But when she'd shown up, Logan had already been preparing dinner and she'd been
unable to convince him that she couldn't stay. Her heart just wasn't in it. Right now, she'd fight the Reds
again if he told her that was what he wanted. She was just so afraid he'd turn her away after she told him
her secret. She'd do anything to make him happy.

So Max sat at the table, chewing her lip and trying to be inconspicuous about not drinking the wine Logan
had poured for her. She was trying so hard to keep her foot from tapping. She tapped her feet a lot when
she was nervous. And she almost succeeded, too, until they were about halfway through dinner.

Logan knew something was wrong. Max was hardly speaking, and though she seemed to have a healthy
appetite she hadn't even touched her wine. And she was nervous. He knew her well enough to know the
signs: tapping foot? Chewing lip? Oh, yeah, she was nervous. She was adorable when she was nervous.
Well…she was always adorable. But she was particularly cute when she looked all vulnerable and human.
He just wished she didn't seem so shook up. Something obviously had her worried because she had this
look in her eyes like a deer trapped in the headlights.

Finally, he couldn't take any more.

"Max."

Max was absorbed in her pasta and her foot-tapping, and in her thoughts, so she didn't hear him right away.

"Max," he repeated, louder. Max's head shot up in surprise.

"Yeah?"

Logan sighed. He glanced down at their half-eaten dinner and shrugged. He could warm it up later.

"Come here," is all he told her. Then he wheeled away from the table towards the living room. Max sat
there a moment, taking deep breaths. This was it.

Then she followed him.



Logan had moved out of his chair and onto the couch and Max sat down beside him. But not too close
beside him. Logan noticed this with regret in his eyes, but he wasn't about to let her off that easy. He slid
over closer to her and took her hand in his.

Max swallowed. Hard.

"Max…"

Logan collected his thoughts. This was hard. This distance that had grown between them was so difficult.
He'd never even realized how important, really important, their closeness had been to him until it was
gone. He'd give anything if he could go back and get rid of those pictures before he ever even looked at
them. He'd give anything to make the distance disappear again. He wanted Max to know that.

"I think I know what's wrong," he told her, seeing her kind of jolt in surprise.

"You do?"

Logan nodded, looking into Max's eyes. She looked back. God, but she was gorgeous.

He had no idea what it was that was bothering her. But he thought he knew why she wouldn't tell him.

"I know there's something bothering you. And I know you don't want to tell me. You're still afraid to
trust me." It hurt to say those words, but they were true. Max opened her mouth to object.

"No. Logan, I…"

He held up a hand. "It's okay. I know that after what I did…" Logan's words trailed off. He wouldn't say
he was sorry again. The last time they'd had this conversation Max had become furious when he'd
apologized once more. She claimed he had nothing to apologize for and that she was over the pictures.
But she obviously wasn't if she was still afraid to talk to him now. After all this time. Still, he wouldn't
apologize again. Max knew how sorry he was for what she'd gone through when she'd found those
pictures.

"I know that after what I did I need to win your trust back." He squeezed her hand. "And I will, Max.
You can trust me. Don't you know that? Don't you know how much I care about you? How much I…"
Logan' tone became pleading, and then his voice just suddenly disappeared as he realized what he'd been
about to say.

He looked at Max. Her eyes were wide.

"Logan?"

Did she have any idea what he'd been about to say? Hell, she'd probably figured it out a long time ago.
What good would it be to hide now? What had hiding ever gotten him with Max except for more trouble?
Logan swallowed and took a shaky breath.

"Max, I…"

Max jumped so quickly it startled both of them.

'No!' No, he couldn't say that. He couldn't say that!

"Don't say it!" she suddenly exclaimed. She realized she probably sounded crazy, but she didn't care. He
couldn't say it. He couldn't! How could she tell him after he said it? How could she tell him now,
knowing he'd been about to say it?

Logan's expression turned to one of confusion.

"Max?"

Max scooted back on the couch.

"Just don't say it," she pleaded.

Logan shook his head. He had no idea what had gotten her so upset. Was she afraid to hear the words
from him? His feelings wouldn't be any less real if they were left unspoken of.

"Max, I just wanted to tell you that I…"

Max shot to her feet.

"No!"

She sounded so desperate; so afraid. Logan frowned. He hadn't wanted to frighten her. Or to make her
feel trapped. But he couldn't help the hurt he felt that she had to reject his admission so avidly; or the
anger.

"What the hell…"

"I'm pregnant."

Her words froze Logan's own question on his tongue. It froze the both of them in their places. It froze
time, briefly. During which only the sound of two hearts beating, and Logan imagined one breaking, could
be heard.

"What?"

The question was low. Max's eyes filled with tears.

Oh, God, she'd done it. She'd told him. And it was even worse then she'd imagined.

"Logan…"

"What did you say?"

He just stared at her. In a way, Max didn't want to look at him because she didn't want to see the hurt in
his eyes. She didn't want to see the disappointment and the anger, and maybe the disgust, that would come
when she told him who the baby's father was. But she couldn't look away. She sank back down on the
couch. This time, when she put distance between herself and Logan, he let her.

There was silence for a moment.

Then Logan repeated, louder. Angrier. "What did you say?" he demanded.

Max let out a shaky breath.

"I'm pregnant," she quietly repeated.

If Logan hadn't known he was sitting down he would have sworn he was falling. He felt her words that
sharply – as though they were a toppling blow. He'd heard her right. She was pregnant.

She was pregnant.

Logan sank his head into his hands.

That was all Max could take. She burst into tears. But Logan didn't move when he heard her. Or maybe
he didn't hear her. His mind was reeling.

"Logan…"

She wanted so badly to reach out to him, but she didn't dare.

"I'm sorry, Logan. I'm so sorry. This isn't about the pictures, you know that. I told you I'm past that shit.
This is about me. I just didn't…I don't…"

Max's words trailed off. What was she trying to do? She'd just told him that she was going to have
another man's baby. Wasn't that declaration enough that she didn't want a relationship – that type of
relationship – with him? Why was she trying to spell it out?

She was babbling, Max realized. She was scared to death and she was babbling. And she was still crying.

"Who's the father?"

Logan spoke the words so softly Max wouldn't have heard them if it weren't for her advanced hearing. He
didn't even lift his head or turn to look at her. Max felt herself pale.

When she didn't answer Logan finally lifted his head, but he didn't look at her. Max was glad. She had the
harrowing suspicion that those were tears she saw shining in his eyes.

"Who's the father?" Logan repeated.

"Does it matter?"

Max didn't mean for that to sound as it did, but regardless, Logan's face whipped around. His eyes met
hers and they weren't like before. Now they were hard and angry. The blue of his irises darkened until
they were almost black.

"Does it matter?" he repeated slowly, as if trying to understand.

"Logan…"

"Does it matter?" he repeated yet again, incredulously. His voice continued to rise. "I would say it does
matter, Max, since there's a man out there who's about to become a father. You are keeping the baby,
aren't you?" he asked, as though just thinking of this. Concern suddenly snaking through his anger.

Max knew it was a valid question, but she bristled at the accusation anyhow. "Yes!"

This seemed to pacify Logan. Just a little. At least that was one thing he didn't have to worry about.
"You're going to tell the father." He said that as a statement, not a question. Again, Max understood his
concern but she bristled at the order. This wasn't his baby. She wasn't his to order around as he chose.
But this was hardly the situation to argue. Of course, she'd been planning to tell Zack.

"Yes, I'm going to tell the father," she said.

"Who is he, Max?"

"Logan…" Max's features just crumbled. It wasn't right. It wasn't right that anything had to be this hard.

"Who is he?" Logan repeated.

Max gathered her strength. Just as Logan was about to ask again, she spoke. She looked him in the eyes
and spoke.

"Zack," she told him quietly.

Silence.

Logan just stared at her, wondering if he heard correctly.

"What about him?" is all he could say.

He watched a single tear trail slowly down Max's cheek, as if in slow motion. He could feel his stomach
drop with it. His hopes and dreams for their future…they all descended into nothingness alongside that
tear.

"Zack," Max repeated. Then, after a moment more, she clarified with a shaky breath: "Logan, Zack is the
baby's father."

'Zack is…'

Logan would have gladly faced Bruno Anselmo rather than have heard that statement. 'Zack is…' Zack
was the father of Max's baby. Max was having Zack's baby. Max and Zack…

It was Logan's worst nightmare come true.

"You can't be serious," he whispered.

Max's silence, and her tears, spoke for themselves.

There wasn't anything else Logan could say, except: "Get out."

Max looked up at him quickly.

"Logan, please, I…"

"I…said…get….OUT!" Logan spoke slowly, clearly, and by the end he was nearly shouting. But he
would not lose control, he promised himself. He would not lose control…

Even with Logan nearly shouting at her, Max couldn't make herself move.

Then he turned to her again, eyes even harder, voice even harsher.

"Go!" he yelled.

So Max went, beginning to weep as she rushed out the door.

Once she was gone, Logan's resolve crumbled as his own tears began to come. He was left alone in his
penthouse, with only the sound of his own, ragged breathing as company. And only three little words, the
three little words he'd been about to tell Max only moments earlier, to speak to his empty home.

"I love you," he whispered, through his tears.