A/N: Welp...got some more of this out while I was on vacation. I have another chapter written, I'll see when the muse strikes me to type it up.

Big Apple

Chapter 8

Max was enjoying the comforts of a long, healing sleep when she was awaken by the startling feeling of cold fingers on her wrist. Not wanting to end the interesting dream of blurry colors and cryptic conversation with the man she loved, she pulled her hand free and buried her head under the small mountain of fluffy white pillows. The icy hand was a persistent little bugger, though, and had pulled her hand out from under the thick blanket that she'd uselessly hidden under. Max reluctantly cracked an eye open to see Niva checking her pulse with one eye on the bed and one eye on the small silver watch on her wrist. "I'm fine, damn it."

Niva's mouth quirked into a smile when Max's sleepy voice registered from beneath the pillows. She tried tugging her arm free again but Niva was more determined. "Hold still, Maxie, or you'll screw me up, and then we'll have to start over." Her voice was smooth and warm. It was a voice that Max remembered comforting her last night in her confused delirium of hypothermia. It comforted her again; enough so that she cooperated and let Niva finish taking her pulse with out the slightest complaint. At least, she didn't make the complaints that were raging through her head verbal. "Hmm. It's a little high." She said, which had Max swearing as she sat up. Max swore again, instantly awake, when she realized that she was completely naked. She grabbed the blanket and yanked it up around her neck quickly. "God, Maxie, they're breast, and guess what, I have them too."

"Doesn't mean you get to look at mine." Max muttered as she rightly wrapped the blanket around her and tied the edges in a knot.

"They aren't going to throw me into a fit of ecstasy or anything, one you're my sister, and two I don't swing that way. Now let me change the bandages on your back."

"Kiss my ass." Max snapped and tried to slide out of bed. Her escape was cut short when Niva pushed her back down.

"As soon as you roll over." Max was still thinking of a reply to that when she saw Logan entering the doorway.

"Hey!" She called, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Niva's about to give me a gyno exam. You want to watch? In fact, call Ben and Zack in here and we'll make a show out of it!"

Niva gained a whole new level of respect for him when Logan arched a brow and pretended to contemplate this. "Think we could open it to the public and charge admission?" He darted out of the room when Max grabbed a pillow and launched it at him.

"I can see why your pulse was high." Niva commented under her breath. "If I had that laying around, I don't think I'd ever leave the house."

Max's mouth turned up into a smirk. "It's a trial leaving for work in the morning. Trust me, I've been there."

"Why leave at all? With our flexibility and stamina, we could make any man our sex slaves within a day. Then you take all their money and decent artwork and move onto the next trust fund baby."

"Sounds like you thought that one out really well."

"Didn't have too. The queen of gold diggers adopted me and she's taught me all that I know. I was merely a tool to get child support." Niva brushed past those dark years of adolescence with barely a whisper of a thought. But Max didn't miss that brief flicker of remorse in her eyes.

"Wow." Max replied, trying to lighten the mood. "Your even more of a cynical bitch than I was." Niva smiled at the past tense of that. As jaded as she was towards men, seeing how obviously happy Max and Logan were together, even after the events of last night, was enough to hope that of anyone, they could be happy together.

Niva finally allowed Max to get out of bed once she was done changing the bandages on her back. She slid out of bed, carefully holding the blanket up as she quickly moved to her suitcase and grabbed clothes off the top. "What can I say?" Niva asked from the other side of the room and she carefully threw away Max's old bandages. "We're products of our training."

Before both of them had time to think about it, Max had dropped her clothes on the bed and met Niva halfway. They hugged; long, hard, and tight. "God, its been to long." Max whispered around barely suppressed tears.

"I'd yell at you for that crazy shit you pulled last night, but since I haven't seen you for almost twelve years, I'll let you get some caffeine first." She tried to sound flippant, but the lump in her throat prevented that.

"Let me take a shower and then we'll catch up on the last decade." Max promised.

Still, neither of them was willing to let go quite yet.

When Niva finally walked back into the kitchen after Max locked her self in the bathroom, three pairs of eyes were all staring at her anxiously. "She's completely fine. No after effects from anything that happened yesterday."

Logan smiled, Ben's tense shoulders relaxed, but Zack just stared, no emotion crossing his icy face.

Niva's spine straightened, a direct challenge to her brother, to the point where it was almost painful. Zack's message was clear. Don't get too attached, because he was going to do anything in his power to keep them at opposite ends of the earth.

But he was invited to try, in Niva's mind. She'd just gotten her sister back and she wasn't about to let one pissed off FIC keep them apart. He didn't have a chance in hell when two Manticore females had their minds set.