Chapter 14:

'They're going to come now and get me just like they did to Jack. She knew what was going to happen to the others if they tried to help. They would be punished and she was going to go to the bad place anyways. The men in white coats were coming. They're coming, she thought. The ones that cut you up. They're here to come and take me and they'll cut me up and feed me to the 'nomilies just like Jack. I watch as Eva falls to the floor and the sound of a gunshot echoes through my head like an endless scream.'

Max shot up in bed, gasping for air. The sheet was tangled around her, clinging to her sweat-dampened skin, but all the while Max was shivering. If she let herself, she could still remember exactly how they all looked at Zack that night so long ago, waiting for what he wanted us to do. For some reason, they had all expected him to order them to leave, to get out of the intolerable hell that had taken their sister. Instead, he turned, and they marched back to their barracks. The sounds of Eva's body being drug away fresh in their minds for weeks afterwards. She never knew why the men in white hadn't come for her. Max clearly remembered lying in bed night after night, waiting for them to take her away. It was a long time before she could close her eyes without worrying about whether or not she'd wake up there in the morning.

Max sighed, flopping back onto the pillows wearily. With a sidelong glance she realized that it was close to three AM. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was when her body betrayed her and gave into those little screw up the scientist made when they made the genetic cocktail that was her. Sleeping was one thing she rarely gave into, and only when she chose to at that. So when she woke up at three in the morning on some unknown day, disoriented and confused, she was not pleased to say the least. She then realized that she had no idea how she'd gotten into the clothes she'd been asleep in, since when she had the seizure she'd been playing basketball in track pants and a tank top, not the flannel boxers and tee shirt she was in now. She rolled her head to the side, stretching her arms over her head; she was even less pleased when she saw Logan asleep in a chair next to her desk. 'That bastard!' She thought as she quickly rolled from her bed. 'That creepy son of a bitch!'

Zack, Syl, and Krit were all asleep, each in their respective beds. Jhondie was in a chat room taunting teenage boys who were never going to get any one screen while she taught herself Navajo on another. Occasionally she'd pick up the crossbow that she'd been toying with all night, lean out the window, and take a few shots at Krit's car. Just because she could. Zane, meanwhile, was taking names and kicking ass at an online computer game. Of course, if the other X5s knew that he was playing Sim City 7000, they'd probably tie a weight to his leg and drop his dead body in the lake.

They all jumped about six feet into the air when Max's scream ripped through the silence. "Cock sucking son of a bitch!"

Jhondie flew out of her chair, grabbing the crossbow that she just cleaned and laid on her desk. Zack, armed with a simple nine millimeter, shoved her out of the way as he kicked open the door. Zane and Syl arrive at Max's doorway a spit second later, Zane with a tricked out handgun, complete with laser sights and pinpoint precision accuracy. Syl's weapon of choice was a homemade pipe bomb.

Logan was still half asleep when he looked up to see Max standing in front of him. He was still disoriented enough to simply be pleased that Max was awake. Then he looked up to see two guns and a cross bow, all aimed at his head. He wasn't even mentioning Syl with her bomb. "Wha-" He started before everyone started talking at once.

"What the hell is going on?" Zack finally got out over the voices. Logan decided it would be best for his personal health at this point to keep quiet, since Jhondie still hadn't put down her crossbow.

"*He* is in my room!" Max hissed as if he'd run over her cat or killed her fish.

There was a bunch of muttered profanity while everyone lowered their weapons. "I'm going back to my chat room." Jhondie muttered as she turned on her heel and walked out of the doorway.

Max eyed the small cylinder in Syl's hand warily. "Mind not using that?"

Syl glanced around the room, which the adjective 'trashed' would be quite applicable. "It's not like anyone would notice. I'm going to bed. Please keep your vocal cords under control, some of us do sleep." Syl might have cared that Max had just woken up, but it was three AM. She really didn't find it necessary at the moment.

Just then, Krit popped into the doorway, a fully loaded AK47 in hand. As usual, he was five minuets late. "Whoa there, cha-chi." Max muttered. "Someone's a little excessive today. What are you going to do with that? Protect the woman folk? "

Zack glanced at Krit's machine gun with a half smile. "Some of us aren't insecure in our masculinity." He said in a sugary sweet voice as he gestured down to his much smaller gun.

Krit scowled before walking out, the sound of his slamming door echoing throughout the house, along with Syl's "Shut the fuck up, Krit!" It was a well-known fact that Syl gets bitchy when she gets woken up before she was damn well ready.

Now that nothing deadly was pointed at him, Logan finally spoke. "I'm sorry if I startled you--" Max cut him off with a simple motion of her hand.

"*I* don't get startled. Your stuff is on my desk." She said pointing to the laptop and files that were sitting on top of the neatly polished cheery wood. "No one touches my desk."

Zane glared at Max. "Your telling me you freaked out and woke up the whole damn house because his stuff is on your desk? Of course he's going to put it on your desk, it's the only place in the room you keep clean!"

"So, what the hell is he doing here in the first place?" Max shot back.

"After the way he saved your ass? He can sit on, sleep in, or own anything he damn well pleases as far as I'm concerned. And instead of freaking out on him, like the psycho bitch you are, why don't you drop the dramatics for five minuets and thank the guy for helping you keep your ass out of trouble. Twice." Zack ranted, thoroughly pissed, before walking out.

Zane merely smirked. The way he figured it, this wasn't the time to be bringing up the thing Logan obviously had for her, seeing as he'd barely left Max's room in the three day's since she had the seizure. "Ditto." And then he was gone.

Max glared at the now empty doorway for another moment before turning back to Logan, who was still sitting flabbergasted in his chair. This had definitely turned out to be an interesting evening for him. People holding guns at him one second, standing up for him the next. Lovely people, these were.

Max crossed her arms impatiently. "Well, you're going to have to give me the 411 on what happened while I was out so I can decide if I am going to chop you up into little pieces or not." Logan winced. She certainly knew how to create inspiration in a person.

"You had a seizure two days ago," Logan glanced at the clock. "Make that three. What's the last thing you remember?"

Max searched her mind, trying to differentiate the reality and the nightmares that had been plaguing her throughout her three-day nap. "I…" She shook her head confused. "Playing basketball, I think?"

"That's right." Logan quickly explained to her what had happened while she'd been out.

Max dropped the defensive stance she'd been standing in since she'd seen Logan in her room. She figured after spending a good two weeks being around Logan, no matter how unwilling that might be, she had his personality pegged. He made a living helping people, or more accurately, he didn't make a living off of it, he just lived to do it. But he was very quiet, almost modest about what he had accomplished. Some people might be inclined to brag about the lies he had saved, the people he had met, and the laws he had changed. So the less he said about something, the more important it was. He barely skimmed over the parts he'd been involved in; Zack hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said Logan had saved her ass. 'Well, hell.' She though as she walked over and flipped on the light. This meant she was probably going to have to be nice to him and she didn't like the idea of it at all.

Logan blinked, started by the sudden onslaught of light to the dark he'd become accustom to. Of course, that was nothing compared to the surprise of at what Max said. "What?" He asked. "Can you repeat that, I don't think I heard you right,"

Max narrowed her eyes. She generally didn't hit people; her brother's the exception, unless there was no way around it. She really wanted to hit Logan. "…Thank…you." She hissed through gritted teeth.

Logan smiled, one quick flash of teeth. Max was sure that the little flutter in her stomach was a direct result of being shot up with speed and sleeping for three days. It had nothing to do with how good he looked when he smiled. "I can say that is one thing I never though I'd hear out of your mouth."

Max ground her teeth together. Being nice was something new and unfamiliar to her. She didn't like it. "You helped me. I thanked you. Normal human behavior, or at least I was taught so in Public Social Interactions class when I was twelve. Now that I am done with that, what kind of time frame did you buy me?"

"I said a five days to a week." Logan said.

"Then I'll go back on the fifth day, it'll keep him from getting suspicious." Max said almost to her self.

"You'll probably slap me for asking, but I'll take the risk. How are you feeling?" He asked in a light tone, but Max knew he was serious. The seizures were scary, and she knew it, so Max figured he had a right to ask.

"My heads killing me and I'll probably be tripping over my own feet for a couple of days."

"That's got to be new for you."

"I guess I missed my ten thousand mile tune up." Max sighed as she rolled her neck in a slow circle, stretching her neglected muscles. "But right now I'm more concerned about taking a shower and getting something to eat, because honestly, I'm starving."

"How about this. You go take a shower while I make something to eat." Logan offered.

"You cook?" Max asked, not even bothering to hide the surprise.

Logan smiled confidently. If she only knew. "Yeah, I cook."

Max eyed him warily and wondered if he was going to try and get even with her for having Jhondie point a crossbow at him. Then she wondered if they had any rat poison in the house. If they did, she hoped he didn't know where it was. "You don't mind? Its three AM, and generally the norms have issues with being woken up at this hour."

"I've had lots of long nights where I wasn't eating dinner till three AM, so this is nothing new."

"Well, I'm not going to turn down the offer of prepared food, since the best I could hope for otherwise would be week old Chinese leftovers." Max said morosely. "Help yourself to whatever's in the kitchen." She continued with a wicked grin. "In fact, I insist, make me something good." Max practically skipped to her closet to pull out clothes, giddy at the thought of real food. She was so pleased that on the way to the bathroom, clothes thrown over one arm, she hit Syl's door with an open hand, and had the pleasure of hearing her screech "BITCH!!"

Logan was putting the finishing touches on the French toast he'd been making when Max finally came into the kitchen. She glanced down at the plate he had sat down on the counter with obvious disdain. "Logan, I hate to deflate your manly ego, but when you said you could cook, I was hoping that meant beyond my meager skills. Anyone with a living brain cell can make French toast."

Logan simply grinned cockily. "Eat." He said, as he sliced off a corner of the light golden bread that he'd just poured syrup on. He held the fork up in front of her mouth. "Then you can grovel."

Max rolled her eyes as she leaned forward and plucked the toast off the end of the fork that was still in Logan's hand. Twenty-one years of intense military training kept her face carefully blank as she chewed and swallowed. "Logan." She said, leaning forward slightly. "Give me the plate or risk injury."

"So you like it?" Logan gloated.

"Quit stalling, give me the plate." Max demanded again, and then simply brushed past Logan to take the plate off the counter herself. She cut off another chunk and shoveled it into her mouth as she carried it over to a barstool and sat down. "This is good." She said, her words slurred by her full mouth. "I haven't had any this good since Ben moved out. What'd you put in this?"

"Cale family secret. My father, who was taught by his father, and so forth, taught me. Ben?" Logan questioned as he dropped the dirty dishes into the sink.

"My brother, one of the X5s. Left about two years ago." Max supplied, too busy gorging herself on French toast to realize that this was the first time she'd willingly talked to Logan about any member of her family unguardedly.

"He just left?" Logan asked as he sat down on another bar stool next to Max. He watched her fork pause on the plate for the slightest second, and could almost see her considering something.

"Ben…well, lets just say that after a mission went sideways, he didn't take it well and basically had a nervous breakdown. Lydecker took pity on him and gave him the option to take an extended vacation and come back when he had gotten over what happened in Norway. He simply never came back, and we haven't heard from him since he left."

Because he felt it warranted, Logan reached over and laid his hand on Max's arm and instantly saw her back tense. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything that was painful to you." He spoke with such sincerity that Max closed her eyes for a second. As much as she hated to admit it, those three days that she, Ben, and Caryn had been in Norway had changed everything for her. It still hurt.

Logan watched her; concerned that he'd said something wrong. Her damp hair was falling in loose curls around her face, so from the side it was hard to read her facial expression, not that there would be one there unless she wanted it to be. "You're really making it hard for me to hate you." Max said. She turned her head slightly and flashed him a grin before taking another bite. "Or maybe it's just the French toast talking."

It was then they both looked down and realized that Logan still hadn't moved his hand. Soon after that they realized that neither of them cared.